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!!!

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...