Juju's 3 Year Hello Kitty Party

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Juju Bean!  She has been looking forward to her big day for some time and SO very excited to have a Hello Kitty Party at Charlie Safari!  

The cupcake eating part was certainly one of the highlights of the day.  Sweet sugar...mmmmmm!

Charlie Safari is one my girls' favorite places to be.  What's not to like?  Bouncy houses, slides, sports, token games, and food!

 Julie was lucky to have so many cousins in town for the occasion!  It was the perfect venue for lots of kids to run around, go crazy, and have fun!

Julie definitely loves her Grammy!

JoeFish decided to take her for a ride on his motorcycle!  I'm not sure he will be invited to our next party. ;)

 Pizza party time!!

All the cousins and friends made the party so fun this year! 

 Julie got so many presents I'm afraid she was completely spoiled!  Barbies, mermaids, fairies, animals, kitchen sets, candy, and so much more. Family and friends were so generous.  Julie has been kept busy at home since!

 This bop-the-shark game was Juju's absolute favorite!  She spent every last coin she got wailing on these bad boy sharks!

 Dane and Grant were quite the little soccer players!  Again, it was so great to have the Marstons in town for all the activities!

We love PINK!

 The moment I knew I was fated to have a girl: 
Dave meets me during his lunch break at the hospital for the ultra sound and gender reveal. He is carrying a box of donuts. "They are pink frosted and blueberry," he informs me. And THEN says, "Only, they were ALL out of blueberry."  We are gearing up for even more pink in our household!  

This baby is a thumb sucker already!  I think she is going to be an active little girl because she kicks me like crazy all day long!!  With past pregnancies, Lizzie was pretty active.  Julie was more sedate.  The activity held true to their personalities after birth.  If that's the case with this one I'm in real trouble because she is FULL of energy!!

Mother's Day

 We took a couple pictures and sent them to Grandma and Grammy to wish them a Happy Mother's Day! (both amazing women) I am so grateful for my super mom that raised me and taught me about good values and loving life!   The little fam celebrated me as well... Dave and the girls made sure I had a super relaxing day and took good care of me.  These two girls are the reason I get to celebrate the holiday and I am so lucky to have them!

 Having kids is one of the greatest things in life.  All parents, including myself, love to complain about our kids. I suppose it makes for better conversation and gets you more sympathy.
 TRUTH: They are hard work.  They make you crazy at times.  They require personal sacrifices.
MORE TRUE:  They are worth it.  They love you, and you are their world.  They teach you selflessness.

 Mother's Day was enjoyed and a great time to reflect upon these girls that are my little treasures and the most important aspect of my life right now.  I don't mean to leave out the hubby, but we will talk more on Father's Day!  We love him too!

THE kitchen project

It's DONE!!!  The kitchen remodel has been a work in progress for a long time.  We started by ripping up the white linoleum (with blue flowers) and tiling the floor a couple years ago.  Then, about a month ago we decided to finish the job and refinish the cupboards and install granite counters.  This has been such a time consuming project its a huge relief to be done!  Every night we would work into the wee hours stripping, sanding, varnishing, applying polyurethane and it always took about 10 times longer than expected.  But, now that its done it was so worth it!  We love our new kitchen.  There's a lot of heart, soul, and love in there now.

This before picture is terrible. I know.  Its all I could find.  I can't believe we didn't get a good before picture!

 Here's a close up to see our motivation to take this project on...ugly water damage and wear.

At least I have a midway picture.  So I can never forget the chaos of living in the midst of a kitchen remodel. the best part is when you have no running water!  Experience the bad to appreciate the good, right?

Grandma and Grandpa

 We love when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit!  When they arrived they were full of exciting news!  They're moving to Utah! They are buying a business and soon to be building a new house.  Its great that they will be so much closer to us but still kind of sad that they won't be in Chicago. They will have moved before this Christmas, so visits and holidays will certainly be different!

Grandpa and Grandma definitely kept us entertained... and vice versa.  Let's just say there was ALOT of laughing that week.  The visit was too short, but we hope to be seeing more of them once are a bit closer to our side of the country!

And they brought a surprise with them- doll furniture and barbies!  This activity has provided HOURS upon hours of fun at our house.  Its all very sentimental too.   The furniture was hand made by my Grandma (scroll saw, painting, sewing, building,etc.).  The clothes were designed and sewn by my mom.  I have great memories playing with these barbies for hours on end when I was little.

Now, I just HAD to get a picture of this little setup, created by Lizzie.  This doll is all packed up and ready to go!  This is just how Lizzie prepares to go anywhere.  She's a little hoarder at heart and tries to carry all her belonging with her where ever she goes.  So funny to see her little habits portrayed by her dolls..haha.

April Fools!

I had the best time fooling my girls this year.  This is how Lizzie explains what is happening in this picture:

"I came downstairs and ALL my animals came down to use the potty.  Lalaloopsy was sitting on the potty and taking a really long time!  Everyone was waiting and the line was reallllly long!" This was perfect because these girls have pure imagination.  hehehe.

They thought it was hilarious when they started to pour their cereal to find it was all mixed up!  Lizzie poured the Mini Wheats and got Cheerios. Julie wanted Cookie Crisp and got Chex. 

The girls helped me make some brownies but when the timer went off and we pulled them out they were very surprised to find brown paper E's!  I asked, "How do you like your BrownE's?"  Lizzie responded by taking a bite out of the paper and pretending to eat it.  Julie said, "I don't like these!"  After teasing them a bit I pulled out the REAL brownies and THEN they thought the whole thing was pretty funny.  Lizzie said, "I want to April Fools Daddy!"  So we headed to DHA and tricked Daddy and Papa at work along with many staff members.  The girls handed a plate with tin foil over it (Brown E's inside) to each person and asked, "Do you want some brownies?"  Then, would immediately burst out (before anyone had a chance to look) "We April Foolsed you!!"  

Easter

 It snuck up on us and came early this year....Happy Easter!

A little Pre-Easter excitement.  We begin our Easter festivities with stretches..lol.

 We had a couple egg hunts.  One at Grammy and Papa's house.

 Love an Easter egg hunt with a view!

 The traditional coloring eggs activity!  The girls went wild with colors and stickers.

 And another egg hunt at the park with friends!

 

The kids loved the egg hunts and all but we had the best time learning about the meaning of Easter each night during Holy Week.  Dave was a part of the Savior of the World production this year so we incorporated the music into our lessons (along with interpretive dancing from the girls representing the pre-Easter events).Hah!