A Butterfly Birthday

Katheryn turned 5 this year.

And that is a pretty big deal!

A couple of months ago the planning started, and Katheryn said she wanted to have a butterfly/fairy party

We have started a tradition of dressing up for birthday parties (of course what is more fun than that?!)

And Katheryn really enjoyed her tea party birthday last year.

She had a couple of wishes for her birthday. She wanted a pinata (done) and a bouncy castle (unfortunately I had to nix that idea)

 The pinata was definitely a hit (not literally).
I had no idea that they made ribbon pinatas and was worried about giving a bunch of kids a big stick. Luckily I have a friend who knows about these things and each kid got a ribbon to pull.

 And then the collecting began.
The older kids (who cared the most about what was there) got the most.

But everyone left with a loot-box of toys

After a candy-filled Easter last week, there was only the minimal amount of candy. Most of it was little toys and stickers, glow sticks, dinos, princesses ect.

 I got a nice mom and Katheryn shot! With both of us looking and smiling.

Katheryn was full of smiles all day.
And had a lot of fun with everyone who came.

Everything she got she was thankful for, she opened and looked at all of the cards. Every times she opened something she said "Oh wow"

She loved the butterfly cake, and blowing out her candles. For the first time she really enjoyed a house full of people singing happy birthday to her!

And of course the house full of butterflies, fairies or other bug-creatures.

The fun-filled day ended with the kids asking to go to bed, but first we had a get a quick sibling picture (complete with rackets that they did not hit each other with - this time)

Happy Birthday baby girl! 5 years is a such a great milestone!
So much has changed in the last 5 years and you have brought such joy to all of our lives. Our lives have completely changed and life is so much better than we ever could have imagined it to be.

Doctor Nick is in

It's time for a check-up!

Nick was a very gentle doctor, and did the full medical-kit with his cousin.

 Then cleared everyone for play!

Smile-time

Any time there is something to dress up for, I am always hoping to get some pictures of the kids together.

First we had to practice the squinty-eyed smile!

Then the laughing face - everyone say "bunny poop"

And finally success! Two kids, looking at the camera, eyes open, what could pass as a smile on both faces.

 And I think that I matched them pretty well too!
For both family days!

They were actually pretty good posing for pictures this weekend, they always wanted to see how the picture turned out afterwards!

We had smiles all-around this weekend, in front and behind the camera!

Believe in the Bunny

As an adult it is sometimes hard to stop and appreciate the things around you.

But the holidays pauses everything.

And lets you take a moment to look through your children's eyes.

And to make things as fun as you can.

With 3 different egg hunts!

It didn't matter that they were chocolate, if they had something in them or not.

It was the excitement of finding something!

 So the Easter Bunny had to step up her game for Easter Sunday morning.

Putting things high, and low.

The was a surprise for the kids when they woke up

So that the first thing we heard in the morning was the excitement of discovery!

 And our morning started with some more exploration, and only a small amount of chocolate.

Of course it did give us an excuse to do some physio and reaching exercises.

We had a house full of laughter and excitement!

We should hide stuff around the house every morning!

After the hunt the kids luckily had some downtime with brand new mermaid and pirate chairs
And some books to read

And we had lots of smiles

 Hoppy Easter! From our family to yours!

The Egg Hunters

We have a family filled Easter planned for this year. Katheryn and Nickolas are both a good age to enjoy it!
Friday was spent with Kyle's family.

We started with some good ole-fashioned egg decorating!

Both kids concentrated so hard in putting the right stickers on, and Nick wanted to make sure that there was no egg left behind

And then it was eating time

There was lots of fun for the day. Like decorating some cookies (while mommy hid eggs around the backyard).

I can't tell if Nick looks younger or older in this picture?
It took us forever to get Nick smiling - he loves to squint and smile at the same time, or hold his smile up!

The the Hunting began!

The girls (at least Katheryn) tore through the area, taking all the eggs in her path. Like an egg-tornado!
I was behind her saying, no Katheryn, leave the easy ones for the boys! Go farther back!

I eventually came to my senses and realized that it was important for both kids to have fun, and not just help Nickolas to find eggs. And Nick had help to find the super-low, and the super-high eggs that tornado-Katheryn missed.

All kids got to fill their basket with eggs, and have fun!

And we had a group of very happy hunters!

 I even got them to both look at me and smile at the same time!
(Notice Nick's squinty-eye smile)

And then it was heading inside with the bounty!