Memorial Day!

We spent a lot of our Memorial Day exhausting ourselves with physical exertion (a morning run, two bike rides, walking to and from a parade and lots of yardwork) but we had a lot of fun doing it! Here are some pictures from the calmer moments of our day :)

Ruby and Owen



Family picture




Getting ready for the parade




Enjoying the parade




Visiting the fire station before heading home



Mother's Day!

My family blessed me with a super fantastic Mother's Day yesterday! There were a lot of fun surprises but my favorite was the card that Owen, Paige and Pat made for me (see below).

Easter!

 Our Easter was filled with lots of sugar which I think we're still recovering from today...but also lots of family which was really fun. The kids found their baskets in the morning and then we went to see our families and have a tasty meal together. The kids hunted for eggs and were rewarded with more candy. I'm pretty sure this might be their new favorite holiday:)

Party Elements

Here are some of the decorations and food that made up Paige's daisy party! I forgot to get a picture of any food besides the desserts but there were a couple things we made that we hadn't served at a party before (Broccoli, Grape, Pasta Salad and Texas Caviar) and they were really good!

I made Paige a daisy birthday banner and Pat and I also assembled some hanging flower ornaments.



Daisy chains!




Desserts!




Ruby and Owen starting on their sticker sheets.




The kid's party favors were: a chocolate-covered Oreo, a bug finger puppet and a kit to grow your own daisies. 



Paige's Party!

 I already mentioned that Paige was sick on her actual birthday but at her party is where we found out something was wrong. She woke up pretty normally and just deteriorated the rest of the day. I don't think she had more fun than the other kids at the party but there were some highlights (cupcake!).

Next post: party decorations and food!



Biggest smile all day! This was in the morning before the party started.



We were all laughing because Paige blew out her candles before we finished singing! I think we were expecting to have to blow them out for her but she was all business about it!




Eating cupcake with a little help from Uncle Alex.



Taboo!

Pat's Birthday (Part 2)

I told Pat a few weeks ago that we were going to celebrate his birthday with a "beanfeast" (as in, "I want a feast. I want a beanfeast." a la Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka) but he totally forgot so I think it was a nice surprise. (A beanfeast is actually a party an employer gives for his employees so my interpretation of the word was a bit more literal...) I made chili, he was gifted some jellybeans and we had a Cheesecake Torte which I altered to be made with vanilla bean. Cheesecake is not generally my preferred dessert because I don't like how dense it is but this recipe was lighter and I loved it. I was worried that Pat wouldn't approve because he is a cheesecake purist but he liked it too! Happy Birthday Pat!

Pat's Birthday (Part 1)

Pat's 31st birthday was yesterday (happy birthday!) and we got together with his family over the weekend to celebrate Pat, his dad and his sister's birthday which are all a couple weeks apart. After eating a great dinner out we came home for a cookie cake!  



Blowing out the candles!



Dessert and a story





Add caption



Skillet Blondies - I nixed the espresso, dark chocolate, hazelnut and coconut chips in the recipe and just threw in
semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter chips. So good! 

St Patrick's Day!

Top o' the morning to ya! Once again, it is far past the date I am posting about but I'm putting up St Patrick's Day pictures anyway! I've been spending more time scrapbooking than blogging because I'm trying to finish up Paige's baby scrapbook before she turns 2! I'm only about a year behind schedule...but I'm almost done! Back to the holiday-a leprechaun visited our house in the night and took all the cushions off the couch and hid a couple of gold coins underneath, he also turned some milk green and left a trail of glitter. Leprechauns are super sneaky.

A leprechaun did not make this. I did. It might be a leprechaun however, that has made this picture sideways because I can't figure out how to rotate it

Owen was quick to locate the gold coins!

Owen was busy playing but I convinced him to pose

Lucky Duck!