Rewind

Since I've gotten quite slack keeping up to date, I thought I'd go back and add in some pictures and videos from the past few months.  Big things have been happening here!!  Okay, not really, but it just makes me feel better.  The gap is just way too big.

Rewind back to February, er, March, whatever.  Brian turned 30!  We took him on a little weekend vacay to Helen, GA.

There was some fishing (they didn't catch anything),

hiking (if I recall this was right before she bit the dust)

 Yep, there she goes...

and road rash (and that ended those shoes).

 And my gift to Brian, some good ole fashioned zip lining!  We're so cool.

More of March...

I like to document these moments when I'm actually letting them get dirty.  I'm not such a stick in the mud after all.  Get it?  Stick in the mud?  ...Brian's one lucky guy.  I'm cool AND funny:)

Those eyes!  I don't think I'm ever going to get past it... a blue eyed, blonde haired baby.

We attempted the pigtails.  It's still too early.  Hopefully she'll have a tad more hair to work with when she's 2?

April!

A little April Fool's Day fun.  Frozen milk and fake lunches for the kids.  Brown "E"s and whoopie cushions for Brian.  Which, by the way, he totally fell for:)

He was so embarrassed.  I don't feel bad.

Easter.  I had planned on retaking these pictures because they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.  A certain somebody kept crying and climbing out of the basket and running away.  So I decided these would be their 'spring' pictures and I'd have cute little Easter ones of them in baskets and blowing bubbles.  Well, that never happened.  Thus the 'spring' pictures remained their 'Easter' pictures.  This little photo session ended in a bloody toe.  I have these pictures saved in a folder labeled 'pain'.  And it was, in every sense of the word:)  

But here's the beauty of it, all you see are their little smiling faces, everybody getting along.  What sweet little children!  That's because that's what I want you to see...

...MOST of the time...but the one behind the camera knows the truth.  Sometimes you just gotta take it for what it is and Let It Go (you know you just sang that line from Frozen in your head).

  

Odds and ins

We call her 'Baby Pain'.  And she is.  She really is.

Lucky for her she's cute though, so I guess I'll keep her around.

This is what we like to call the ultimate slip n slide.  Step 1- Stake two slides together.  Step 2- Add soap.  Double the length, double the fun!

Maddex is super cute in this video.  Babies are so clueless sometimes:)

April 15 (my birthday), but more importantly, Aiden lost yanked out his first tooth!

He waited until Easter Eve to cash in on his tooth.  Needless to say, the Tooth Ninja and the Easter Bunny had a little run in.  Blaze kicked the EB's cottontail:)

He pulled his other tooth a week later.  Like Ella, he had shark teeth too!

Brian took the girls to Disney on Ice.  They were so excited!

I think that about sums things up.  Now to get ready for Aiden's birthday!

Seven Already?

Well it just so happened that our annual beach trip came early.  I had found a deal for Dunes Village but the kicker was that the 'deal weekend' would fall on Ella's birthday.  So I asked the kids if they wanted to wait and go later.  They didn't...big surprise.  Ella was all for going to the beach to celebrate her 7th birthday!
We came home with a hermit crab AND a tadpole.  We have since released the tadpole-turned frog and I'm waiting for the stench of the crabitat to hit.  ...We don't have great luck with crabs.  Here's a video of our trip.  

Fast forward to this past weekend, the official birthday party.  Ella decided on an 'Art Party'.  This actually came together really easily.  Guess it helps when I've got a whole closet full of art supplies though.  This was probably the most low key party we've had.  And my most minimal!  I actually didn't construct anything this time!  Unless you count the construction paper chains...

She wanted a carrot cake (who knows why) and I let her decorate it herself.  She'll tell you all about it in her video.  I also took her to the grocery store and let her pick out the snacks she wanted.  One of the break free moments in which she is in full control:)

They started out doing water color paintings.  Ella picked out these doughnut soaps to make, so I had the kids take turns doing the steps in the mean time (they took about 45 min to set).  Then they made their tin can stilts.  I debated about letting them paint them, but I think the foam stickers were a good choice.  We came back to the doughnuts and finished frosting and putting sprinkles on.  They really were cute.

Brian passed out humongous slices of cake.  Aiden was pretty stoked.  Ella said next year she's having chocolate:)  Live and learn I guess.

I just have to add this of Maddex.  Coming down to a room full of more than the usual number of kids is quite the wake up call:)

I let Ella record before her friends got here, so naturally it's a little all over the place.  Here's a little video montage of the party.  Happy 7th Birthday, Ella!