March Recap

March has been a month full of parties! Ellie turned 6 and had her party at the gym...

... Russ joined in on the fun - since him and Ellie share a birthday, he figured it was partly his party too.

On his actual birthday, we served Russ breakfast in bed

 and later that night, my family got together and celebrated all the birthdays in the month of March: Auburn, Russ, Ellie, and Kaitlyn.

The little girls put on a dance recital for us. (Ellie's costume was the best!)

For a Spring Break treat, we took all the kids to the zoo. It was fun to have Tayler, Kaitlyn, and Sophie with us for the first time... even though Sophie missed out on most of the fun since she was sick and sleeping.

Next up - Russ, Noah and I joined the Hess family in Palm Springs for a little getaway hosted by Megan. We had such a fun time hangin with them and playing games, laughing, eating junk food, shopping, and swimming!!

We got to spend part of Kaitlyn's birthday with her and did something special... go out to eat, somewhere other than fast food! The Red Robin waitresses sang to Kaitlyn and gave her free ice cream for her special day.

Kaitlyn also chose to go swimming during her birthday weekend. The kids had fun in the water but I was freezing as it was on the chair. So instead I snapped some pics...

We had our families over for a party Sunday night to celebrate Kaitlyn for one more day. I never got my camera out but it was a happenin party... or at least it felt like it with about 30 people in my little house!

Finally, Noah has had his first 2 t-ball games and they are so much fun to watch. He was so proud that he got 3 "home runs" during the first game (since he was the last batter and got to run all the bases every inning). I also overheard him tell his dad on the phone that his team got "3 TOUCHDOWNS all because of me". LOL!

Go #12!

It's been a fun & busy month - but we're ready for April! Uncle Brad comes home in less than 2 days - Noah is having a countdown.

Happy Happy Birthday Kaitlyn Dear!!

This is Kaitlyn

a.k.a.

Kate

Katie

Skateland

(and many more I'm sure)

Kaitlyn's got a smile like her dad's ... when she smiles, her eyes smile too. I love the way her face lights up when she's happy! When I first met the girls, I went on and on about how cute Kaitlyn's personality was. She makes friends easily, she is helpful and fun to be around, she's very creative, and today she is 10 years old!

Happy Birthday to this special member of our family!

Birthday Time!

We've got a busy weekend coming up so here it is in advance... a birthday shout out to the one I love!

Russ is 'the favorite' in our family! He's the one that we all fight over - me, Noah, and each of the girls. We all want to be the one who gets to sit next to him, or cuddle with him, or be the center of his attention. He is fun to be around - he is goofy and knows how to have a good time. He's got the cutest smile AND he can make the best ugly faces! I love it! Russ is considerate and kind. Date night with him is my very favorite thing. I love spending time with him. He and I have so much fun together and I ask myself daily how I got so lucky. He is a great father and husband. I love him "infinity" (as Noah told him a few nights ago - haha)!

Happy Birthday Cowboy!

Russ and my niece share a birthday so I can't post without saying Happy Birthday to my Ellie Girl. I can't believe it was 6 years ago when we wore our matching pink striped shirts to witness her birth.

Happy Birthday Elles!

Valentine & Snow Fun

The weekend of Valentines Day, we headed up to the snow. Of course we had to make a stop at our favorite store (Wal-Mart)... cuz Russ said he forgot to get me a V-day gift. So this is what he came up with. hahaha - not really. But in addition to the groceries, for some reason Russ wanted to get bandanas for everyone (and as my sister put it - "that is $6 you will never get back"). We became the bandido family. Why? - good question!

Sophs lookin pretty! We just got up and left that morning - nobody's hair got combed.

Other than the few times the truck got stuck in the snow - we had so much fun!

Russ gave us some wings on this ride down...

This is probably my favorite picture. I love how the kids are having so much fun and Russ is at the top watching them with a big smile on his face.

Cute sisters

Russ made Sophie some warm "boots" out of gloves...

Russ was wishing he brought his snowboard... we made do with the sled instead!

Tayler makes orange and red together look GOOD!

We had a fun time with our sweethearts at the cabin... but made it home in time to get cleaned up for my family's Valentine Progessive Dinner.

I took one picture then got lazy... here we are at the first stop - my parents' house for Italian Sodas. From there we hit up everyone's houses and had a good time together.

The next weekend - we went right back to the snow! From my "snowboarding" experience down a little tiny hill with a sled, I thought I would have a lot of fun trying the real thing. So I was excited when Russ invited me to tag along with him & a friend. We took Noah for his first time but unfortuneately didn't make it to Sunrise before the ski school started. That would've helped Noah and I a lot!

Instead, Russ became the instructor. I have so many pics of him helping Noah - I love it. He is such a good step-daddy to him.

My first time down, I fell backward and landed on my wrist - OUCH! I stopped before hurting myself even more - what a waste of money! At least there was good food in the lodge! That made up for it. ;)

Noah and I enjoyed sitting out in the snow and watching for Russ to come down the mountain over and over again. The weather was actually nice - considering that we were dressed warm!

This season was my first to enjoy the snow so much - I'm excited for more next year!