Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Ella's Second Birthday!

Well, it happened.  My baby girl is turning two years old tomorrow.  I simply cannot get over how fast the past 1.5 years have gone (yes, the first six months go very slow for me).  It's crazy.  Since I am flying out in the morning, I will be missing my baby's birthday.  As a result, we decided to throw Ella's party the day before which really is fine since she doesn't know the difference.  Since my parents are watching our three kids the first two days that I am gone, we decided to hold the party at their house since we were going to be there anyways.  My mom kindly agreed to provide the birthday dinner if I brought the cake.  I wrapped Ella's gifts, made a cake, and packed up all of our stuff and headed off to Issaquah.  Ron also drove all the way from Tacoma after work to join us for the evening.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and a wonderful way to celebrate our sweet Ellie's birthday!


This is the butterfly cake that I made for Ella's birthday.  


After eating a delicious, salmon dinner, we had Ella open her gifts.  She was so funny as she insisted on immediately removing the tag off of every present the second she opened it.  As a result, Ella spent the majority of the gift opening time running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen where grandpa was sitting with scissors to cut the tags off.  What a silly girl.  Here she is opening up her princess umbrella.


Lia helping Ella open up her Cinderella baby doll.


Lia loving papa.


Ella with three generation of women who love her!


Helping Ella open up her Frozen dish set.


Checking out Ella's pink, school bus.


Cheese!


Ella trying out her new school bus.


Ella lining up her new dishes.


Logan and Ella checking out the play dough set with grandpa's help.


Ella waiting for us to sing after the candles had been lit.


Ella checking out her cake after blowing out her candles (with a little help).


Ella carefully taking out her candles.


Ella giving us one of her silly smiles before diving into her birthday cake.


Ella eating away!


Sisterly love at the end of the evening.  
We sure love you, Ella!

Monday, March 28, 2016

Easter 2016

We wrapped up a busy, Easter weekend last night after a few fun events.  Saturday we were able to attend our ward's Easter brunch and egg hunt which was a first for all of us.  Luckily this ward activity fell right in between Logan's swim lesson and Lia's softball practice.  Saturday evening, Lia attended the Women's Broadcast with me for the first time since she is now eight.  We went with Bella, her new friend who lives up the hill, and her mom.  It was a fun mommy-daughter outing and the girls did a great job listening to the broadcast.  We enjoyed donuts and milk afterward.  Sunday morning started out with the kids finding what the Easter Bunny brought them followed by a hunt around the house before breakfast and church.  We finished up the day with dinner and a second hunt at my parents' house in Issy.  Although we have been blessed with some amazing spring weather several years in a row, this Easter turned out to be cold and rainy.  So, unfortunately, grandma had to hold her Easter egg hunt in the basement for the first time, but we all survived.  It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad that we were able to spend some of it with my family.


We were treated to a visit from the Easter bunny at our ward party.  Lia was the first kid to jump on the bunny's lap and pose for a picture.  I blame this behavior on all the pictures she has taken with Disney princesses and other characters.


We tried to get Ella to pose with Lia and the Easter bunny.  She wanted nothing to do with it!


The kids were more than happy to hunt for eggs outside the church after brunch.  Here is my boy finding an egg.


Logan and Ella running along looking for more eggs.


Logan spotting another one.


Ella showing off one of her finds.


After Lia finished her hunt, she came over and helped out Ella.


The girls heading out of the flower bed after Ella finished finding all of her eggs.


Our three, cute kiddos after all of their hunting was done.


The bunny wandered outside after the hunt and, once again, Lia found herself sitting on its lap.


On Sunday morning, all three kiddos ended up in our bed before they went downstairs to find their Easter baskets.


After running downstairs together, Logan immediately spotted his Star Wars light saber bubble wand.


Lia immediately screamed over the new kitchen for her AGD doll house!


Lia posing next to her Easter loot.


Ella was hilarious and immediately put on her sunglasses and grabbed her ball and Beanie Boo animal.  Here she is all ready to go!


Logan showing off her new nerf gun and bubble wand.


After checking out their baskets, the kiddos began their hunt.  Here is Ella finding one of her eggs.


And Lia hunting away.


Lia helping Logan find some of his eggs.


Logan working hard.


Our adorable kids after their hunt was complete!


And the kids hard at work on their third egg hunt of the weekend in grandma's basement.  Here is Ella in my old room.


Logan working hard in the storage room.


And Lia looking in the apartment room.


We finished up Sunday evening opening up a few birthday gifts for the March and April birthdays.  Here is Ella hugging her new, stuffed elephant with Lia and cousins Vivi and Callie.


Ella giving us her fabulous, camera smile from Callie's lap!

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Logan's 4-Year Photos

I had to bribe Logan with a toy of his choice at the store to get him to agree to put on his "church clothes" today and smile pretty for the camera at the studio, but luckily it worked!  My sweet, now four year old boy tried his hardest to pose for the less than stellar photographer.  Although several pictures looked pretty forced, I am happy to report that I got at least two poses to enlarge to hang on the wall and to give to the grandmas...and that is all I ever need with my children's annual, photo shoots.  I just can't get over how grown up my boy looks in these pictures.  He has gotten so tall this past year and is such a handsome, little thing.  I love you, Logie boy!