Visit to Virginia/DC Part One!

We had way too much fun in DC to only do one post, so here is the first!!! My Mom moved to Virginia a year ago for work, and we were all SO sad to see her go. My whole family lives in Grand Rapids and I already feel so far away from them - Virginia seems forever away! The good news is she moved to a place that is GREAT for visiting though. Since it has been a year since she moved away, we decided we should get out there for a visit, and it was a blast.

Elyse was SO excited to ride on the plane (as you can see from the picture above!). She has been on a plane before but she was too little to remember, so it was fun to fly with her for the "first" time. The funniest part was when we were waiting to take off and she kept asking when we were going to "blast off"...love it! The plane wasn't very full so we sat in rows across from each other so they could each look out the window. They were VERY well behaved, and since it was only 1 1/2 flight, they were pretty well amused by the plane trip itself for most of the time. They gave the girls little kids packets with a coloring book and crayons and it also had a little tiny set of wings that were stickers. Elyse made Kenny put the wings on her back so it would look like she had wings on - that girl cracks me up!

When my Mom first moved to Virginia, she called to tell me about this fountain that is in the middle of an open air mall with shops and restaurants. The water shoots out of the ground sparadically and she called to tell me how many kids were running through it and squealing they were having so much fun - she couldn't wait for the kids to come visit so they could do it too! On the first night we were in Virginia we grabbed a bite to eat and let the kids run in the fountain. They loved it and my Mom was so excited to get to see them running in it. We actually went back on our last night there too because the kids wanted to go in it again so badly! It really wasn't that warm out by after dinner and the water was COLD, but the kids couldn't have cared less. Lexi was even brave enough by the second night to go stand in the middle of it where the water sprayed in a circle all around her and got her drenched! It was pretty cute :)

The first full day we were there, we made the trek into DC to do some "touristy" things. My mom only lives about 40 minutes outside of DC, so it is perfect for visiting there as well. We rode the Metro there, which the kids were pretty excited about. We spent most of our time at the National Museum of Natural History, since we heard it was the most exciting museum for the kiddos. They were in awe of the huge dinosaur skeletons, and I have to admit, I was too!!! Lexi loved the Terradactyl - the wing bones were unbelievable. Elyse liked the really small animal skeletons because they looked like baby animals (of course!). As you walked around that section in a circle, it led you through the phases of Evolution - which was a little difficult to explain to the kids, but at least they got a mini lesson :) There was also a pretty cool section all about bugs, and the kids got to watch a Tarantula feeding. Elyse's eyes were HUGE the whole time, but she wasn't nearly as big of a scaredy cat as I was expecting!

There was also a small room that was a hands on area for the kids. There were tons of things to look at through microscopes and lots of activity boxes about all different science topics. There was another section with clothes the kids could put on from around the world which Lysie really enjoyed! Overall, the kids and the rest of us loved the Museum. They are still talking about all the things they learned there!

Two New Millers!

The Millers have expanded! We welcomed into the family this summer two new Guinea Pigs - Vanilla and Stripey!

We haven't exactly had the best luck with pets, most recently with the desertion of our rescue dog Tyler, who ran away about 8 months ago. For the past couple of months we started fielding questions about when we were going to get a pet again. Me and Kenny were both dragging our feet, but the kids persisted! We had a family meeting, did some research and decided that Guinea Pigs were the way to go. Lexi took on some extra responsibilities around the house for a couple of weeks to show us that she could be responsible for a new pet, and she did very well.

We hadn't decided exactly when we would be getting the Guinea Pigs, until I got a call from Lexi one Saturday morning while grocery shopping saying they were in the pet store and could she "pretty please" bring the Guinea Pigs home! Kenny is a little bit of trouble!!! Definitely wasn't up for being the bad guy, so that was that!

So far the Guinea Pigs have been ideal pets. The girls love them (especially Lexi) and they are very low maintenance. They are still a little skiddish so we continue to get to know each other and slowly but surely they are getting more comfortable around us. Every morning, Lexi makes sure they have their food and water - and gets them a little treat, usually carrots. She has been a great pet owner, she even noticed when Vanilla had an eye infection all on her own! A couple of weekends ago, Kenny and Lexi even built them their own deluxe cage to give them a little more room. So the kids are happy and Mom is happy - works for me :)

Look Who Can See!!!

Last school year, Alexa got a note home from school that she had not passed the routine eye exam they provide for all of the students. I actually kind of brushed it off thinking they must send one of those notes home with anyone who had missed a couple of letters. We had absolutely no clue that Lexi was having any problems with her eyes. We followed up with her regular doctor at her seven year check-up and sure enough she completely failed the standard, "what's the smallest line you can read" test. Guess we missed that....whoops!!!!

Since the problem was only with one of her eyes, we were really hoping there might be some steps we could take like patching before we had to move to glasses, but no such luck! We took her to a Pediatric Opthomologist and he confirmed she would need glasses (AND maybe patching too - yikes!). Alexa already knew glasses were a possibility so we had already been talking about it a bit. She seemed a little nervous about it at first - especially her friends thinking she looked funny. We really tried to use it as an opportunity to talk about how everyone has things that make them different then, that she was beautiful no matter what, as well as how to handle it if people did say things to her that weren't very nice.

It seemed to work because when we actually went to pick out glasses she was actually pretty excited and couldn't wait to get them back. I didn't want to spend a gazillion dollars, but I also really wanted her to have something she felt good about wearing every day. The good news is we found something that both of us were happy about - purple frames with just a little bit of bling!!! She looks adorable in them - oh yeah, and she can see a lot better :)

My Latest Project

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my digital scrapbooking software and just finished my latest project with it! Since I bought it a couple of years ago, I have mostly been using it to make invitations and single page prints, but this was the perfect project to make a book - an ABC album for Elyse. This is one of the pages out of it. I did one page for each letter after brainstorming all of Elyse's favorite things and making sure I had pictures of all of them! I meant to get it done for Elyse's third birthday, but clearly that came and went!!! So it was a fun, out-of-the-blue surprise for Elyse when it came in the mail last week. She was SO cute with it - it made me so happy how much she loved it. It is so great that all of her favorite things and people are all in one book AND it's a good learning tool! I couldn't help but smile when Elyse told me it was her best book :) The night we got it, Lexi got out the book I made for her a couple of years ago and Elyse got her new book and those were the two books we read for bedtime. Awwww...books all about and for them...makes me happy :)

Coupon Crazy

I learned about the crazy, incredible world of coupon shopping about 5 months ago, and I've been addicted ever since! A friend from the Mom's Club introduced me to her friend Laura, who does a coupon blog and teaches classes for new coupon shoppers. I hosted a class for her and some of my friends and off I went. I have cut our monthly grocery bill by a third and have enough food stockpiled to feed us for a good long while!!! Gone are the days of paying for toiletries, paper products, cleaning products and lots of our food! So I am fully aware that this sounds dorky, but I had to post the above picture anyways :) Laura did a contest on her blog where five of her followers got to see what they could buy with a $5 Target gift card. I was one of the lucky shoppers and the above picture was my shopping trip. In the end, I never even used the $5 gift card since Target ended up paying me $.30 to buy all that stuff!!! Now that makes shopping fun :) And it won me the contest and another gift card to Target. Can't wait to see how much more I can buy with it!

Precious Lexi!

I thought I would share a cute Lexi story. Lex has always been such a sweet, gentle little girl. She has a big heart and an even bigger conscience! It bothers her so much when she has done something wrong or made someone else upset. It even bothers her when other people aren't doing what they are supposed to do - so she is a rule follower to say the least! To top it off, she has totally stored away every lesson she has ever learned about how God would like us to behave! Gotta love her :)

So in our house there are certain words we call "yucky words". Not really swear words, but words that just don't need to be said by little girls who are too cute to say those things! One of them is "stupid". So one day I was talking on the phone to my friend Lori and the kids were playing in the next room. About 1/2 hour later, Lex joined me in the kitchen to help cook dinner. Here is the conversation that ensued:

Lex: So you know when you were talking on the phone you said a yucky word?
Me: I did? Oh Lex, I didn't realize that!
L: (very matter-of-factly) Yeah, It was the "s" word.
M: (already trying not to laugh) Oh bug, I didn't mean to do that.
L: Actually, you said it twice.
M: Lexi, I'm sorry honey, I really shouldn't have said that.
L: (with the straightest face a kid could possibly muster) Oh Mom, you don't have to be sorry to me - you should say sorry to God.

It was seriously all I could do not to bust out laughing. Thanks Lex for that little manners reminder!!!

Playhouse (part one)

WARNING: Letting your girls pick the color of their playhouse and paint it themselves can result in a startling pepto bismal color, lots of spills and two *very* happy little girls!!!

Over our staycation Kenny decided he wanted to do a project for the kiddos. We decided we couldn't do a new playset this year, but the kids had started asking for a tree house, which got Kenny to thinking. After looking at some plans we both agreed that instead of building something new, we'd make something we had even better! The people before us built a nice sized shed in the backyard, conveniently located near all the kids outdoor toys. Although at first Kenny was a little reluctant to give up his shed, he got on board pretty quickly and was very excited to make the shed into a playouse for the girls.

Kenny did a really great job drywalling the playhouse and mudding it. That left the walls all ready for the girls to paint!!! I really wanted them to pick out the color themselves and of course, it was pink! It is quite pink! And painting was a mess! But the girls are thrilled, and it was pretty cute to see them so happy. So this is the beginning of the "Pinkalicious Playhouse"...more updates to come soon!

To the Rescue in Columbus!

Kenny's sister Val lives in Columbus with her husband Paul and their two kids Robbie and Izzy. We found out during our staycation that their Nanny unexpectedly quit so at the first chance we could me and the girls packed up and headed down there to help out. We hadn't had a chance to hang out with them this summer so it was a great excuse! Me and the four kids had a few good adventures during the day (although the rain did NOT cooperate!). We mostly just let the kids play though and enjoy each other's company, with a little bit of the park and of course ice cream mixed in! I think the highlight for the kids was baking, decorating and (mostly) eating cupcakes for Val's birthday, which we were happy to celebrate while we were down there. I drove home after three days wiped out, but happy to have had a chance to see the Cooks!

Trip to the Waterpark!

As part of our week "staycation" we thought it would be fun to take the kids for a couple nights to a waterpark hotel. We've been wanting to take them to one for a while, and thought this would be a perfect opportunity. So the Zehnders hotel waterpark in Frankenmuth it was! It was a perfect little getaway. It was only a little over an hour away, only a little bit of packing and a BLAST for everyone! The hotel was really, really cute - the whole thing was decorated in a elf/fairy theme - which the girls thought was adorable. There were lots of mushrooms, flowers, frogs and little fairy houses - too cute!

Alexa loved the waterpark from the moment we stepped foot in it! There was plenty to do and she pretty much loved all of it. She was a little timid to try out the waterslides, but once she did she was hooked. There was one slide that you could go down on your bummy and she tried that one out first. She worked herself up to the blue slide that you needed an inner tube to ride down - which was really dark in parts and pretty fast, but she decided she liked it despite that! It took the most coercing to get her go down the green slide called the "perilous plunge" but Kenny convinced her and once she went down it we couldn't get her off of it! The picture above is hard to see, but it is of the two of them coming out of it and the end - their faces were too funny!

Soooo...Elyse talked a big game when we saw the waterpark through the windows, but it took her a little while to warm up once we got in there. She was all concerned about the loud noise, getting sprayed and really the whole thing in general! Gotta love her :) Luckily, by the next time we went back in she had decided it wasn't so bad, and soon enough she was really enjoying herself! Elyse's favorite part was the little swings in the toddler area. We eventually convinced her to try out the little slide for the smaller kiddos, and she was also hooked once she realized how much fun it was. Her excited little face coming down it never got old!

One of the coolest parts of the waterpark was this big huge bucket that dumped water out every so often. The bucket was at the very top of the waterpark and it slowly filled up. When it was getting close to filled, a bell would start ringing - which warned you to either get out of the way (or get in the way if you were feeling brave!!!). After much anticipation, it spilled over and drenched the whole area below it. Me and Lex thought it was pretty fun to stand under it every once in a while and get drenched - which you can see happening in this picture!

In addition to the waterpark, we fit in a little time for a trip to Bronner's where the kids picked out a Christmas ornament, some fun in the arcade, and of course, ice cream! Seeing as it was a Miller family rule when Kenny was growing up that ice cream be eaten every day on vacation, it only seemed right that we also adopt the rule! It really was a wonderful trip for us. The kids had a great time and we had a wonderful time watching them have so much fun! The kids already want to know when we will do it again, and hopefully it won't be too long before we do :)

A Lost Tooth!

Lexi has been SO concerned about her teeth falling out since her friends teeth started falling out a year ago. We kept reassuring her that it was one thing she did NOT need to worry about! Everyone's teeth fall out eventually, she just had to be patient! She was pretty excited when she could tell they were starting to get loose a couple of months ago. When an adult tooth started growing in behind her loosest tooth we knew it wasn't going to be long. Well tonight it was incredibly loose but she didn't want to pull on it so I told her if she went upstairs to brush them it would probably fall out, and sure enough it did. She was SO excited :)

She said she wanted to write the tooth fairy a note, so I let her go back downstairs to write one. When I came down, I found her writing this note, which I thought was so incredibly sweet. She was working so hard to make it legible with her poor little hand in her cast. I couldn't help but smile! What a sweetheart.

Kenny's mom made these little pillows for the kids and their friends when they were little, and she held on to a few. Not long ago when we were visiting them, she passed this one on to Lexi to put her tooth in for the tooth fairy. Lexi was thrilled to be able to get it out and tuck her tooth in the little heart pocket.

Lex put the little tooth pillow in between her pillows on the edge, so the tooth fairy wouldn't have to work TOO hard! Sure enough the tooth fairy visited and was nice enough to let Lexi keep her tooth as requested. She also left $1...what a nice tooth fairy! The girls were pretty excited this morning that a real fairy had visited their house :)What a fun milestone for all of us!!!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July weekend. Kenny had Friday off and we were home until Saturday after nap when we headed down to Kenny's parents house in Ohio for a nice cookout and fireworks. The kids were excited to wear their new Fourth of July shirts - handpicked by Mom with a little activist flair to them - a little Peace and Love for the Fourth of July :)

We are normally pretty strict about bedtime but figured we shouldn't ruin all the kids' fun so we let them stay up! The only reason I felt a little bad was because they normally are a little crabby the day after they stay up late and we were leaving them the next day at Grandma's for a couple of days - real nice to get the kids crabby and ditch them!!! But Grandma said she didn't mind so it was decided!

We went one town over where there were fireworks being held outside a High School football stadium. There was a big huge open field, and plenty of room. We weren't quite brave enough to head into the crowds in Toledo, so we were happy to see some good fireworks without all the congestion. We actually had a lot of fun waiting for the fireworks to start. Poppa was in a troublemaker mood and kept picking on people (which of course Lexi thought was a ton of fun as you can see from the picture!). There were races and snuggles and some good family time! Both kids really liked the fireworks, although Elyse needed her ears covered the WHOLE time they were going on. The highlight of the fireworks for both of them was the one that went off in the shape of a smiley face! Overall it was a great Fourth of July and it made me happy that the kiddos had a good day! :)

Gavin's Wedding

Gavin is a good friend of Kenny's from UofM and we were thrilled for him when we found out he was getting married. We knew the trip to Tennessee for the wedding was going to be an adventure - but we were up for it!!! It was well worth the trip and truly one of the most spectacular weddings I have ever been to.

We started our trip down to Tennessee on Thursday and stopped at Kenny's sister's house in Columbus for the night so we would have a little bit of a jumpstart on Friday. We were glad that the trip could include a short but fun chance to hang out with Val, Paul and the kids! Since it was Easter weekend, Val made sure the kiddos got to decorate Easter eggs, which was very nice since we hadn't had time before we left town. We got going bright and early Friday morning for the rest of the trip down. With just a few stops, we were right on track to get to Chatanooga in time for the Friday night dinner, until it started torentially downpouring and then we came to a complete stop on 75. We were stopped for over an hour and by that point everyone was out of their cars, and in true Southern style had made good friends with all the people out of their cars around them! It was pretty entertaining!!! We finally started going again and it turned out a tree had fallen across the highway. It wasn't until we saw the news the next day that we realized we had been in the farthest outskirts of a tornado! Yikes! We were a little bit late but made it in plenty of time to enjoy the festivities.

Gavin's fiancee Amee's family is from India, so we were excited to experience a wedding like we had never been to before. It was more amazing then I ever could have anticipated! It was truly a two day wedding extravaganza! Friday evening there was dinner and incredible dancing. They had everyone join in on a traditional Indian dance that involved some simple dance moves done with everyone in a circle. The girls thought it was a BLAST! I was SO tired but they didn't want to stop so me and Kenny had to start switching back and forth taking them around! The dancing was spectacular and the clothes were even more amazing. Lexi was very jealous that she didn't have a fancy, beaded outfit to wear too :)

Saturday morning was the actual wedding. It began with Gavin's friends and family meeting outside of the hotel (which was across the street from the Convention Center/wedding location). Gavin was ushered into a horse drawn carriage and the crowd was directed in front of it. Then they turned on loud Indian dance music and we literally danced Gavin's carriage from the hotel to the Convention Center. It involved several stops where the men gathered together and showed off their dance moves, which is what the picture on the right is. The girls thought it was a ton of fun, especially when we pulled up to the Convention Center and Amee's family and friends were lining the street clapping and cheering for us! The groomsmen lifted Gavin out of the carriage and carried him on their shoulders into the building where the ceremony began. The ceremony was filled with beautiful Indian traditions but also incorporated several different traditions from other cultures. Amee's wedding dress was SPECTACULAR and the decorations were amazing. It really was incredible to watch. The girls did a great job making it through the long ceremony and through the luncheon afterwards.

But the fun did not end there!!! After an afternoon break (aka NAP TIME!) we were invited back to the convention center for drinks and appetizers, followed by dinner and the reception. There was so much eating, drinking, celebrating and speech-giving that dinner didn't even begin until close to 9pm! Luckily the girls were so fascinated by all of the festivities that they were very well behaved. Dinner was traditional Indian food and was delicious! Even though it was late, we felt compelled to stay for some of the dancing since it was what the girls had been looking forward to the whole weekend! They were happy to go out and start the dancing even while everyone else was finishing up dinner!!! But the real fun started when eveyone else came out onto the dance floor. It was a great party - the girls were exhausted or we would have stayed even longer!!! One really great part of the weekend was enjoying some time with Kenny's best friend and roommate from college and his family. They live in Seattle so we very rarely get to see them so it was a treat to spend a weekend with them.

That Sunday was Easter and a very long ride home. The Easter Bunny was nice enough to leave little baskets in their carseats in the car which delighted the girls. We left at 9am and got home at 9pm but miraculously the girls were wonderful in the car. We were all happy to be home but greatly enjoyed the two days of an amazing celebration!

Sleepover...Finally!!!

For whatever reason Elyse got in her little head that she really, really wanted to have a sleepover and of course her overnight guest of choice was Anna! She asked me and Lori frequently (perhaps incessantly) when Anna was going to sleep over. Thankfully Lori and Sean were nice enough to let us borrow Anna after the Princess Night so Elyse could finally have her sleepover. The girls were so excited and very cute. Alexa and Anna are much earlier wakers and might have gotten Elyse up a little too early so we had some grumpiness the next day, but overall it was a success and Elyse was very happy!

Princess Night

This is the second year in a row we've gone to the Princess and Superhero Night in Farmington. The girls really enjoyed it last year, so we were really excited to go again this year. Kenny wasn't able to come with us this time, so we brought Lori and Anna along with us instead!!! The girls got all dressed up before we had to leave. As per usual, Elyse decided to do things in her own unique little style, but - you know, the world needs all kinds of princesses, right?!

Farmington does a really good job putting on the Princess Night. There is a GREAT dj who does a lot of fun things with the kids. Lexi even got in the middle of the circle at one point and showed off her princess dance moves! Both of them got their nails painted and their faces painted. The highlight of the night for Elyse was definitely the big bouncy thing. It was definitely a night fit for little princesses and I was glad they had such a great time! Hopefully we'll get to do it again next year :)

Matchers!

My goofy little girls think it's fun to wear clothes that match, which they call being "matchers". Outside of Christmas dresses, I don't often buy them outfits that match (and Kenny does not like it when I do!!!) so when I get the request from them to be matchers, it usually involves trying to find things that are alike, like jeans and pink shirts. So it was a treat for both of them when Nana got them an early Easter present - matching princess shirts and sweatshirts! They were thrilled on the morning that they both got to wear them. We decided to take a couple pictures to send to Nana over email with a "thank you" note and the girls were being absolute hams, so I got a few good ones. The picture of the two of them cracks me up because it is so indicative to me of their own distinct little personalities. I have no idea where Elyse got the idea to stand like that and I love that she is wearing her winter boots event though there is clearly no snow. Such an "interesting" little girl that Elyse!!! And then there's my Lexi - such a sweetheart and a great (patient) big sister. And of course, it makes me smile to see them hugging and loving on each other! Gotta love it!

You Might be a Little Crazy if...

So, yes, I am a little bit NUTS! I just might be Type A :) So now that I have admitted that up front - I can tell you my story!!! One of the new rooms in our house is home to some comfy seating and all of our books, so the kids have coined it the bookroom. Our bookshelf with the kids books just wasn't working anymore and it was driving me NUTS! You couldn't find a book to save your life and the kids were happy to pull ALL of them off the shelf to find one. So I decided to do something about it. I devised a new organization method and we switched bookshelves to one where we could spread the books out a little bit. We divided the books into catagories and color coded them with colored stickers. (Yup...I know...a little crazy!). The absolute best part about the project was how excited and into it Lexi was. She stayed with me the whole long afternoon while we worked on it and loved organizing with me. Tee hee...a little mini me in training :) It was a little bit of an undertaking, but when I caught the girls enjoying all the books they could now find, and Lex reading to Elyse - I knew it was worth it!

Connor's Baptism

My nephew Connor was baptized the beginning of March. This is my sister Kerry's second little boy and being the unbiased Aunt that I am - I think he is SO stinkin' CUTE!!! His baptism was just a few days after I had my gall bladder removed, so I wasn't in the best of shape, but I was very happy to be able to make it to the baptism, even if I was moving a little slow! Kerry's husband's family is from the Ann Arbor/Detroit area, so the baptism was near by and then people were able to come back to our house afterwards to celebrate.

Okay...so follow this if you can! Luke's cousin is Tina, who married Luke's best friend from high school - Vince. Luke and Kerry's first little boy Patrick was born just shortly before Vince and Tina's little boy, Vinny. Luke and Tina have an uncle who is a priest - Father Vin, who baptized both of them when they were babies. Patrick and Vinny were baptized together by Father Vin after they were born and Kerry and Luke were Vinny's Godparents. Shortly after Luke and Kerry had their second, Connor, Vince and Tina had a little girl, Sophia. So naturally they got baptized together by Father Vin, and this time Vince and Tina were Connor's Godparents. Did you get all that?!?! Either way - it was a wonderful family celebration of the two newest arrivals :) This picture is of Father Vin with Connor and Sophia - too cute!

I SUCK!!!

Okay...officially the worst blogger EVER! This is definitely NOT meeting my original goal of keeping a written log of our family. So I'm going to try and catch up a little and give another shot at KEEPING UP! Here's for hoping I can do better :)

My Grumpy Pants is TOO Smart!

There are so many reasons I love Elyse, most especially because the girl has always had a unique style all her own! Since day one, she has been extreme, especially with her emotions. She can be laughing hysterically one minute and bawling the next (and then back again!). It's definitely never half way with her! Luckily, I have learned to smile at her grumpiness as well as her cheerfulness!!!

I was trying to catch an impromptu moment in the car of Elyse "talking" on the phone, but I like the video I got even better! It captures grumpy Elyse very well, and it is a glimpse into her being a little too smart for her own good! Listen for the part where she asks what is blinking...that is definitely the red light blinking on the camera that it is recording, which she clearly figures out! I hope it makes you laugh as hard as I did! :)

Celebrating February Columbus Style!

As I mentioned before, February has been a party-filled month for the last few years. This year we took the celebration to Columbus to celebrate the usual February birthdays (Elyse, Kenny and our nephew Robbie), but had to add in Valentines Day, baptisms and Izzy's first birthday...whew! Now THAT is a party (or 2 or 3!).

We had a really great weekend in Columbus. We did most of our partying on Saturday and saved the baptism celebration and Izzy's party until Sunday. Mine as well spread it out a little, right?! :) One of the highlights of Saturday was that my sister-in-law Val made mini heart cakes for each of the kids to decorate themselves. They had a blast and they turned out as sticky, sugary masterpieces! The kids had a great time playing together - Robbie taught the girls a few hockey pointers on his new "rink" that takes up half of the kitchen and Lysie unearthed and dusted off ALL the baby accessories in the house! It's always really fun to see them playing together, we just wish it could happen more often. It is so important to all of us that the kids are not just cousins, but also friends, so we make a huge effort throughout the year to get them together (just wait for the upcoming summer posts about Camp Miller and Camp Cook!!!).

It has taken Val and Paul a while to decide where they wanted to get the kids baptized, but recently found a United Methodist church that they felt really was a good fit for their family. We were all excited to be able to celebrate their baptisms with them. It was especially meaningful for me and Kenny who were asked to be both of their Godparents - what a special blessing! Both Izzy and Robbie were great for the ceremony, with a few funny stories to tell. One of the best parts was when the priest asked Robbie if he could pick him up to actually do the baptism and right into his microphone Robbie emphatically said "NO!". We also got a good chuckle when the priest was talking and all of a sudden Robbie says "I want Lexi to come up here with me!". Perhaps the best was when we all sat back down and Robbie looked at his new lamb someone in the congregation had made for him and said, "why did they give me a new dog?" Priceless!

After church we FINALLY got to celebrate Izzy Bear's first birthday. She was a riot with her cake - it was incredible how sweetly and gently she shredded the cake to pieces! I'm pretty sure she liked it :)

All in all it was a great weekend. Lots of family, lots of fun, and LOTS of cake (except for poor gallstone Sarah!). And we survived the month of parties in one piece and probably only a few pounds heavier!!!