Sophia Turns 5!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl, Sophia. She is 5 years old!! We had a great party today. We had a Sweetheart theme for the decorations.
She had some friends from preschool at her party this year and the little neighbor boy, along with her cousins.

Sophia received a lot of fun gifts and had a wonderful time playing with her friends and cousins all day. Thank you to everyone who came and helped make her day sooooo special!

Griffin wasn't left out thanks to Uncle Richie. Here he's posing with his new baseball set. He also received a gift from the Eerkes family. He played and played all day, couldn't even stop to eat!

Parents' Tea at Preschool

Sophia's preschool hosted the annual Parents' Tea. They sing all their songs and then each child gets to say what they would like to be when they grown up. Sophia said she wanted to be a ballerina teacher. So cute!
There was a nice slideshow. Here is Sophia with her friend, Isabella (who also does ballet with Sophia).

After the activities were over we headed to the playground. Sophia likes to be a lion or T-rex or something and run around chasing her friends roaring at them like a crazy lady. Lots of her friends loved this game, even though it seems Sophia is the only one who is ever the lion...

Our Newest Family Member

We have a new baby nephew!! Marisa and Richard welcomed their first baby on May 12th. Baby Don (named after his Grandpa Don) is healthy and such a beautiful baby. He looks a lot like his daddy to me at this point. Richie and Marisa are just over the moon, so in love with him. Richie was able to take 3 weeks paternity leave, which is so awesome for him because he LOVES babies! I am actually surprised that he is even sharing Baby Don with anyone. :o) Sophia and Griffin are so excited about their new cousin.

Happy Birthday Daddy

My cute husband had his birthday last week. The kids helped decorate his cake and helped pick out some treats for him. The Hussey's came down to celebrate and have dinner with us. Another fun evening. Happy Birthday, Hun!

Some of you have asked me before what the kids do while I decorate my cakes... Well, Griffin has figured out that if I'm decorating, I'm done with the mixer. That's when he likes to sneak in with his stool.

And speaking of Griffin - he had his surgery last Thursday. They found a hernia while they were in looking for the missing testicle. He's all stitched up and a little black and blue and greenish in the affected areas. Poor little guy. But he hasn't skipped a beat. He's just as happy, silly, and active as ever. Nothing slows this little guy down. He seems to be recovering just fine and we will go have a little check on things with the doctor next Wednesday. Tacoma Mary Bridge was great and Dr. Ghandi, our pediatric urologist, is said and has proven to be the best. We are all very grateful.

Mother's Day 2011

We had a nice Mother's Day this year. Kyle snuck out early and brought home McDonald's for breakfast and some doughnuts. I was also surprised with a beautiful flower pot for the front porch. After that we went to the Olympia Golf & Country Club for brunch with all the Hussey family. Here are a few of my favorite pics. I'll try to get them all uploaded to Kodak later today to share.

Sophia and Abigail (18 mos.)

Griffin helping out his little cousin on their walk to the window.

These two are so cute together now that they are both big toddlers.

Just the "blood". Zach and I weren't allowed in this next pic... Totally kidding! We just like to say that.

Kyle took the kids for a walk on the dock. It turned out to be such a beautiful day!

After that we headed to Don & Deniece's with everyone to celebrate Kimberly's birthday. Another beautiful day with the ever-growing family!

Fishing Season Opening Day 2011

The kids were able to cast a few lines out at Great Grandpa Dick's last weekend. They are always amused by the fish, and we were lucky to have sunshine again this year. Sophia was glad that our friends, Dave and Carol, brought their granddaughter who is 6. She is a very sweet girl and they loved playing together. Griffin and I went out later in the day, which was enough for both of us. Kyle had a lot of fun also, as he usually does. He always looks forward to this day every year and tries to keep the tradition alive. It was a great day and here are the few pictures I took while I was there.

Easter Day

Easter morning was great. The kids found their baskets and DUG IN! Sophia is not big on sweets, so she was excited for her books and other treats. But Griffin Boy is such a junk food junkie! He had most of his chocolate bunny eaten in about 10 minutes!
Griffin also received a pack of Big Boy undies! Thomas & friends, of course. He loves them.

From Mom and Dad (since it wouldn't fit in a basket) - a new Little People Noah's Ark set. They are both really enjoying it.

Griffin loved his undies so much he kept saying "cheeeeese" so I would keep taking his picture!

Our pretty girl received some new sparkly headbands and stick-on earrings. Two of my favorites as a little girl.

We got cleaned up, dressed, and headed out to church. After mass we went to Don & Deniece's. The kids had treats there as well. It was nice that my Mom joined us there for dinner also. Sure made it easy on us!

So after hours of candy and excitement, what do you do with two little ones? Turn on Thomas and get out the TV ears! They had some much needed down-time.

After the break we had an indoor Easter egg hunt. Sophia found the golden egg with $20 inside!

It was a lovely time with our family. Happy Easter to all!

Easter Eggs

We colored our eggs on Friday evening. The kids loved it and were very serious about it, too!

(Don't mind the little fetus doll in this last pic. Gift from Grammy Karen...)

We webcammed with Grandma and Grandpa so they could share in the fun.

There was much less of a mess than I expected, so I had a great time as well! Happy Easter!

Birthday Season

It is birthday season in this family! Griffin just had his birthday (as well as his Grandma Deniece) and Sophia's is the last weekend in May. But it seems like there are a million birthdays in between. I'm sure every post in the next month will be about someone's birthday. This one is about my cute nephew Carson's 4th birthday. Hopefully my other sweet nephew Baby Don will soon have a post about his Birth Day!

Carson was very excited to have a party and everyone

there to play and to open all his cool presents. So sweet.

His mom and dad surprised him with a pair of goldfish! He was so excited about each gift. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Griffin was pretty cool watching with his hands in his pockets.

He's been very clingy to me lately. He had to take his hand

out of his pocket for a little bit to just hold mine.

My kids LOVE the Barbie Jeep. Lauren and Carson are

so good at sharing and letting our kids have a lot of turns.

It was such a nice time - and SUNNY to top it off!

For more pictures, look at my album HERE on Kodak Gallery.

Griffin's Birthday Party!

Griffin had a GREAT time! He loves all of his new stuff and has been very busy the last few days. Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate! You can view the rest of the pictures on kodak HERE.