Baby girl's school pictures

Addison's school pictures came in and I am thrilled with them. So much so that I almost cannot believe that these are Lifetouch. She was in a mood that morning wanting to wear pants under her dress. We managed to compromise on plain black rather than a printed pair and thankfully, they came out super cute. Love that sweet pea! 

First day/Last day

Because I love a good comparison....

I put him in the same outfit for the last day as he wore the first day. I can't even believe it. The baby face is gone. He's down some teeth. His clothes aren't as loose. He's a couple inches taller. He can READ. I can't believe I have a first grader already! 

Carter/Addison birthday celebration!

Even though Addison's birthday is not until June 13, we decided to do a little combined birthday celebration for the kids last night. We were having an impossible time finding a weekend for a normal party we'd throw, so we opted for a small friend celebration! We are doing a little party for the kids in NJ closer to Addison's birthday in June, so it felt right to do this one closer to Carter's birthday (and it actually fell ON his actual birthday because Friday worked in everyone's calendars!!). 

We let them each pick two friends to go to Build-a-Bear Workshop and Dairy Queen after. Carter picked his best friend from his kindergarten class (James) and one of his old friends from daycare and a current best friend at kindergarten and his after school program (Austin). Addison picked two friends from her class at school (Alayna and Cassidy). 

They each got to pick a bear and clothing for it. Since it was an actual party, they had their own "guide" who played games with them, too. Carter and Addison also got cute "extras" for being the birthday kids! 

(to say they were excited is a MASSIVE understatement!)

One of the little boys wasn't there yet but they were happily posing for pics, and I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to snap this one!

Best buds! :) 

The heart ceremony -- making wishes, rubbing the heart on their heads (for smarts), bellies (so they're never hungry), kisses (so they know they are loved), etc.

Getting all sewn up!

Time for baths! 

They had so much fun and it was an effortless party--we showed up, had a blast, paid, and left! No set-up or clean-up (AMAZING). We then went to the Food Court for Dairy Queen...blizzards all around! :) They handed out favors to their friends and that was that...a perfect combined birthday celebration!

The month of birthdays

A couple weeks ago, my mom celebrated her birthday. We decided to do a fun "girls night in" this year at Michelle's house. We planned a light dinner, cake (of course), a craft and general hanging out. There were about 15 people there and we had a great time. We made a lemon sugar scrub from Pinterest (if you had any doubt) and it turned out really cute!)

I made a 4 layer chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, mostly because I thought the 2 layer cake looked too skinny. Soooo I made another cake and made it super high. Mmmm. 

Mom and her daughters and DIL

(Brad's birthday was in here too but I don't have any pics--whoops!! We celebrated at their house with burgers, wings, cake and homemade ice cream!)

This year was also my dad's 60th birthday. He didn't want anything big so we did a steak and seafood night at our house. We had steaks, grilled garlic and lemon shrimp, bacon wrapped scallops, and a baked potato bar. 

We opted for a birthday "pie" because we are all caked out from the previous birthdays! HA! 

After dinner we went to the driving range. Since my dad loves to golf, we thought this was a great option! Those poor other people at the driving range who were trying to focus and practice with 5 little kids running around. :)

Well, that summarizes the April birthdays, but we don't get too much down time. Carter's is just next week! :) :) 

Easter 2016

Well, I seemed to have forgotten to blog for a very long time. Let's chat Easter, shall we? You know, since it's almost summer. :) 

We had a fun small group Easter brunch this year which was super fun. Courtney made these adorable bunny pancakes for the kids, we ate too much food, the kids played games and we, of course, had an Easter egg hunt! 

Church was SO good on Easter Sunday too! After church, we came back to the house for a bit with my parents and Bradley (Ashley was working) before we headed to Haucks. The kids opened their Easter baskets. 

At Annette and Randy's -- pictures before lunch. Always a hit with the kids (sarcasm). :) 

Family pic -- not the best but we'll take it! 

Later in the afternoon, the kids got their Easter baskets from Gramma and Pa. To say there was mass excitement (and major chaos) is an understatement. 

We had a lot of fun and the kids hunted something like 200 eggs -- it was pretty crazy. We rounded out the day with rousing games like Password, Pictionary, etc. A good day!! 

Mommy/daughter curls!

I have the joy of being home with my littlest peanut every Monday night while Seth and Carter are at Trail Life. Most nights, we clean a little, play a game, or just hang out but last Monday, she wanted to do curls. So we did! She absolutely loved the fuss over her hair and how her and mommy looked the same. I see it in this picture--a little mini-me! :) Love that sweet girl!

I love you because...

Be still, my heart. I'm so glad that sweet boy loves my kisses because I think I do it 1,000 times a day. He just has the most kissable cheeks in the world. (And he promised me that even when he has a wife, he'll let me smooch him whenever I want. YES!)

First (and last) night of dance

Spoiler alert: winter dance class was a bust for us. Miss Addison has been begging to go to dance class so we got her signed up (in the ONLY program I could find that wasn't full), purchased her dance outfit and went to our first class.

How PRECIOUS is she?!?

Here she is on her first night. We encountered our first problem when we arrived: all the other girls have been together in this class since September and Addison was joining mid-course. So...they knew much, much more than her and she definitely felt awkward. We also found that since the girls (ages 3-4) are prepping for their recital, a lot of the class is focused on routine practice. Since she had no idea any of the moves, she was confused and easily lost interest, taking her good old time to go to the bathroom, go to the water fountain, etc. 

Long story short, I spoke with the owner and she thinks maybe mid-course isn't best and that we should re-enroll her in the summer when they have 2-3 day camps, or even wait until the fall when the new academic year begins. So, she will be bummed. I will have spent an ungodly amount of money on leotards and shoes, and we'll try something again in the future. She was the cutest dancer ever though. (Not that I'm biased or anything.)

The Blizzard of 2016!

I'm not a fan of snow, but I'm not going to lie to you--I was kind of excited when I heard we were going to get 8-14" ON A WEEKEND (when we have no where to go!!) two weeks ago. It definitely started snowing Friday night but when I woke up Saturday morning, I had no idea just how much snow was going to be out there. Before I even got out of bed on Saturday, I looked at my phone. I saw one of the news stations said on Facebook that the snow totals had been "increased significantly" overnight and they showed us in the 30-36" range. I laughed because they are never right. But as the day went on, I was starting to wonder if maybe they could be right this time. It was coming down FAST. By about 10 a.m., there was so much snow that Seth had to snowblow a path for Bentley to even walk in it at all. 

The kids played outside in the snow for...10 minutes maybe?! They were cold and the wind was blowing so hard, so it wasn't exactly enjoyable. 

It stopped snowing sometime Saturday night. Our yardstick said 35 inches but we couldn't be sure if that was correct or not until the "official" National Weather Service numbers came out. But when they did--WOW. Mechanicsburg had gotten 36.9" of snow--the largest blizzard on record (even beating the Blizzard of 1996 that I remember vividly...and by TWELVE INCHES!). 

We didn't see a snow plow until Sunday night--and even then, the plow job was a bit dicey--so needless to say, things were getting a little crazy in our house. Imagine a hurricane. Inside. In every room of the house. Toys everywhere. Clothes everywhere. :) 

Carter's school was closed Monday through Wednesday, Seth was closed Monday and Tuesday, and even I had off Monday which is rare in the higher education world! It was warm all week and into the next, so almost all of it was melted. But then we got another 4 or so inches, so things are white again. Spring, come quickly! :)

Note from Carter

This precious note was placed outside our bedroom door Sunday morning and was the first thing we saw when we walked out of the room. Words cannot describe how much I love that sweet, sensitive little boy.