Jillian’s Graduation

How can it be that my sweet baby niece who was just born is graduating high school already? Sunday I got teary eyed sitting in Mass watching her receive a special blessing as she starts a new path in life. I’m excited that her new path will bring her closer as she will be attending MMU in the fall, but I can’t believe how quickly it all went. It was awesome watching her cross the stage and having her seminar teacher move her tassel confirming her graduation.

Then it was off to the party!! So many people came out to celebrate Jillian and congratulate her accomplishments. As she greeted guests it was so clear how much she has grown from the shy wall-flower she was. She is so ready for the next step and I couldn’t be more excited for her!

Double Digits

Saturday we celebrated Emma's 10th birthday! I can't believe she is hitting double digits already. She continues to love to read, imagine, build and draw. Her infatuation with Harry Potter has spilled into an interest in all things magical...and unicorns seem to have her heart right now. She continues to crack us up each day with her quick wit and perfectly timed one-liners and I love the joy that radiates out of her smiles. It has been a hard year for her at school, but she continues to love learning and is navigating her relationships with maturity beyond her years. Her heart remains on her sleeve and though her emotions are often times hard to parent, she spoils us with her resiliency, kindness and forgiveness. She is equal parts bows and curls to scraped knees and belches...and I can't imagine her any other way. 

Celebrating all the magic that this girl holds.

Matching unicorn horns. [Her shirt does read, "part unicorn"]

Not bad getting clothes for your birthday when they are magical!

These two could have played catch for hours. 

Johnson holiday party

Last weekend we headed to the Johnson's for their 10th annual holiday party. I can't believe it has been 10 years (and lots of kiddos) since the creation of this neighborhood get together. Since then, only 3 families still even live in the old neighborhood...the rest have all moved! It just goes to show the importance a neighborhood can have on where you choose to spend your time and who you allow to help you raise your children. What started as a few fun neighbors, solidly grew into a few great friends! 

Different neighborhoods couldn't separate these two.

None of us still live in the same house we did when we first met, yet we still come up with lots of reasons to get together. 

Go Hawks Go!

We were so excited for the Hawks to make the Rose Bowl so when we found out that most of my family didn't get the game, we had to rectify that problem. We spent the afternoon eating, drinking and trying really hard not to yell at the TV. Though the game was not what we had hoped for, it was a fun excuse to get together once again to continue the holiday fun. We kept our optimism for a while, but once reality sunk in, we cheered for a great season, then broke out the games. 

Cheers to a New Year! The girls loved popping a confetti popper after the game and switching Hawk festivities to a glorified New Year's party!

Complete with a toast! Notice the rest of us were over the game so we decided to play cards...there is only so much of a Hawkeye loss one can take.  

The girls spent their time fairly evenly between Mario Kart and Tapple. Love having awesome cousins to hang out with!

NYE

We headed down the street to celebrate with neighborhood friends for NYE this year. The girls were super excited about the fun glasses and tiaras to ring in the New Year with their friends. I love being able to spend time with people that also enjoy including their kids in festivities, so that we can have the best of both worlds...celebrating with other adults, yet not having to leave behind our kids. It was a perfect mix of hanging with friends, but being able to still celebrate with the girls. 

All decked out with their fun glasses ready to go!

This crowd knows how to celebrate.

The girls have been excited to play Pie Face for a while. I have zero desire to have this game at our house, so it was great that they could play it with friends.

Countdown to the (11pm) New Year...noise makers ready!

Food, games, drinks, and friendship...what else do you need?

A sparkling grape juice toast to make the New Year official!

Love midnight kisses and hugs with ALL my favorites!

Holiday party

The Johnson's holiday party was, as usual, a great time. In all the fun, the hours slipped away and I forgot to take many pictures, but we all enjoyed seeing our friends, indulging in yummy treats and celebrating the upcoming holidays.

Halloween

With the beautiful weather, Halloween was a fun-filled day. It started off rainy and cold with soccer games, but Emma had a morning basketball game as well keeping us warm and dry. With a 30-24 come from behind victory she was basically on cloud 9 all day. We then headed to a cold, wet soccer game for Grace. They lost 3-2, but she scored one of the two goals, so it helped soften the blow of the loss. With our busy day, we figured we would squeeze in Mass as well so we could enjoy our late night trick-or treating without having to worry about getting up early. 

We headed up the street to meet the Lakes to start off our trick-or-treat night. 

It was nice to have Halloween on daylight savings so it was still a little brighter out to see to trick-or-treat. 

All 6 girls were pretty excited to get started, running house to house.

We ended the night at the bottom of the street with a party at the Ketels house again this year. The girls loved the spider crafts and Mark and I enjoyed a night of catching up with friends and neighbors. 

Pool Party

With all of the craziness of end of the school year, packing for our road trip, and getting all of my grades in and room cleaned at school, I missed a few posts. Just a few retroactive photos to help us remember our summer fun.

Memorial day was a blast with Norah's birthday party, a trip to the farm, and then a pool party with friends! Our neighborhood has some pretty great families in it!

Norah is really liking the water and this may be the first summer in a LONG time that I will actually be able to be in the water without a child attached to me! So looking forward to a relaxing summer around the water now that they are all pretty self-sufficient.

90th years later...

A few weeks ago at Marie's funeral, we had a bit to catch up with Dorothy and after a bit of chit-chat she was sure to confirm that we wouldn't miss her 90th birthday. She greeted us at the door with a kisses and hugs and was so excited we could participate in her special day. With so many people waiting to celebrate with the birthday girl we didn't slow down the line with a picture, but it was fun to see how cherished and celebrated this special lady is. 

Grandma and her girls...

Em and Mo loving the birthday cake.

Justin provided awesome live music the girls liked dancing to.

Off to the farm for a little more fun.

Happy birthday, Lovella!

While the older girls were at the daddy/daughter camp out, Norah and I headed to Washington to celebrate with Lovella as she turned 4! We had a great afternoon at the Y, playing games, basketball, and running off some energy. Lovella was all smiles at her Minnie party, and everyone had a blast! 

Happy 9th birthday!

Grace chose a Parisian theme for her birthday this year. Though a trip to Paris was on her radar, it was not on ours! :) However, she was excited to welcome in her new AG doll, Grace Thomas who is a Parisian baker and loves all things Paris. 

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With a crazy week of birthdays, Easter, and leaving for Florida, Grace's wish for an Eiffel Tower birthday cake was low on my priority list. However, we thought a tiered cake with a little Eiffel Tower on top would do the trick. 

It was a beautiful day out for playing with friends and family.

So hard to believe she is already 9!

Jump around...

Jump up, jump up and get down! Emma chose AirFX to have a friend party to celebrate her birthday this year. She was sad that a lot of her friends couldn't make it since it was over spring break, but she was pumped to get to celebrate with those who could. Since she's not really in need of any more birthday gifts, she picked a charity that she wanted her presents to go to this year. With her love of babies, she decided to have a party in support of Birthright, so she loved opening all the baby gifts. Despite a sprained ankle and a whole lot of pain about 30 minutes into the party, our birthday girls toughed it out and had still had a great time.  

Rory, Alison, Delaney, Emma, Josie, and Winnie after jumping.

We kept the LEGO theme going strong with LEGO cupcakes!

Ready to celebrate, she was really excited about having a party room with a balcony!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Everything is Awesome!

Saturday we celebrated Emma's 7th birthday with a LEGO party! She had a great time celebrating with all of her family and a few friends. She, of course, chose pizza for dinner, and it was a beautiful day so the girls enjoyed some outside time too. We got to babysit Lovella Saturday also, so it was super fun that we were able to extend the party a few hours with some extra celebration time.

That's a whole lot of girls.

Everyone knows Emma well...she got a ton of LEGO's.

Playing hide and seek...these 6 need some help it how to keep quiet while hiding!

Gotta love when parties last long enough that they morph into pajama parties!

I was pumped when Emma chose a LEGO theme, it was super fun making this cake.

Blowing out the candles...she assures us she made BIG wishes this year!

Vetters Baby Shower

I love a good baby shower...and this was right there at the top. We headed to Tiffin Saturday to celebrate with the Vetters and welcome their soon-to-arrive little boy into the world. Since it was a diaper party they were able to get a good jump start on a stock pile for the weeks to come. As with any baby shower, it was complete with games.

Let the races begin! 

Beer in baby bottles...what good dads. It was a fun night to catch up with everyone and get ready to welcome this sweet babe to the world.