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!!!

Kenny is OLD!!! :)

February is full of birthdays for us. I was pregnant with my sister-in-law and one of my best friends at the same time and all our babies decided to make their appearance together on the 5th, 8th and 10th of February. So by the time we get to poor Kenny's birthday on the 13th we are usually all Birthday'd out! Seeing as though this year was a special occasion (aka that Kenny is old!), we made a special effort to make sure he got some proper celebrating!

The birthday person always gets to choose their meals for their birthday at our house, so of course, we had Taco Pie for dinner! Followed by the best part of the night, which was Kenny's cake (get it? almost to the "top" of the hill?!?!) . I was by far the most amused by the cake. Other people thought is was kinda funny, but I seriously couldn't stop laughing whenever I saw it....ahhh, at least I can crack my own self up! Later that night we went out with Sean & Lori to Lucky's in Novi. It was a great time and everyone had a blast playing their favorite games. Kenny was the big winner at Deal or No Deal and the ladies seriously helped with the ticket collectioin by playing the rediculously addicting token dropping game. And then of course we got things for the kids with our tickets! The celebrating continued the next night with Kenny's family in Columbus at Liberty Tavern. Kenny even got his own special tshirt that said "I got my bell rung at Liberty Tavern!" compliments of his sister Val. It was a good weekend and a fun celebration for a very deserving guy. Happy 30th Kenny...here's hoping the next 30 are just as exciting as the first 30 :) And so we embark on our thirties...