Happy Birthday my little mermaid!!

Hannah's request for her third birthday party was a "pinkalicious mermaid party". Try putting that on an invitation! She absolutely LOVES the little mermaid and the color pink so that is what she got! We had a little birthday party with her other two and three year old friends including Madeline, Sophia, Annie and Ryan. We decorated cookies and had a dance party and Hannah had a mermaid cake. She was in heaven and to top it all off she received all kinds of mermaid / princess presents including a mermaid swimsuit, mermaid magnet dolls, princess purse and princess chairs. My little mermaid is the big three and I can hardly believe it!

Hoppy Easter!

The Easter Bunny made its way to our house this year! The kids came downstiars and were so excited to look for their baskets and their eggs. They found all of their little "treasures" and we had to work on limiting their chocolate intake by 8 am! We went to an Easter service right in our neighborhood and I attempted (I really did Mom!) to try and get a picture of all the kids in their Easter outfits. You can see that I didn't have that much luck. They did love dancing to the music at the Easter service!! We then went to the Greiners house and had an Easter brunch and Easter egg hunts for the little ones and the big ones. We had a beautiful weather and an amazing day!

Floridays

Spring break was spent at Gaga and Papa's house in Florida. We had a GREAT time!! The kids absolutely loved the beach and the boat. We took the boat to a great picnic spot and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We went to the beach quite a few days and the water was like bath water. Caroline loved looking for sea shells and knee surfing with Daddy. Hannah had her mermaid and loved having Ariel swim in the ocean and she wore her floaties and just floated around. Even Andrew couldn't get enough of being in the ocean. We had great warm weather and warm water! Gaga and Papa had a special mermaid birthday cake for Hannah to celebrate her birthday a little early and she loved it!! We had a great time hanging out with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Tye and Abby and Dean. You would hardly think that Caroline and Abby hadn't seen each other in a year -- they were instant friends! The girls also made friends with the lizards at Gaga and Papa's house as they loved to chase them and finally caught one. Our Floridays went by quick and we were sad to go -- until next time -- thank you Gaga and Papa!

Swimming with the fishies!!

We took a day trip down to the Aquarium of the Pacific with our neighbors and the kids absolutely loved it! There are two story aquariums with every kind of fish imaginable. The kids loved the tropical fish and Hannah kept wanting to know when she could swim with Flounder. She even asked one of the docents there if she could get in the aquarium! Andrew was infatuated and kept yelling "Fishies!!" (not sure if that is how you spell it!). There are beautiful exhibits there where you can get really close to the animals and go through tunnels with the aquarium surrounding you. We had a great day!

Beach Days

We have been lucky and have had some beautiful days in February. One of them being Caroline's actual birthday. The kids were getting over being sick so I took the kids to the beach by myself and they had the best time...chasing the waves, digging in the sand, finding treasures, flying kites, you name it. I texted Trent to tell him how thankful I am to be able to stay home with them and not miss these kinds of days (yes, there are other days I would like to miss but we try not to think about them!).
Another day we went to a local State beach and it was wonderful as well. Great hiking and treasure finding. We are hoping for more beautiful days like this!!

Caroline the Pirate turns FIVE!!

When we asked Caroline what she wanted for her 5th birthday, she said a pirate party -- of course! So we did...everyone dressed like pirates, we had a treasure chest pinata, pin the treasure chest on the "X", a scavenger hunt and freeze dance. She loved every minute of it and luckily it was a beautiful day so we could hang out outside. The kids practiced their "Ahoy matey's, shiver me timbers and arghhh!" all day. Hard to believe my baby is turning five already!

Run like the wind!

Caroline did her first race before she even turned five. Our church was sponsoring a 1K fun run and she was excited to do it. She started off quick at the starting line and ran the entire thing like a champion. She was so proud of herself as were Mommy and Daddy. It was very exciting to see her do it!