Addison Marie turns three!

Our niece, Addie, turned three years old on September 16th and we were all invited to her house on the 18th to celebrate.  Addie sure knows how to throw a party, there was yummy food, fun games and of course, CAKE:-) She is a sweet little girl and I can't believe she is three already, time moves too fast these days!  Here is a little video of the day, we all had so much fun!!

Happy (early and SURPRISE) Birthday to my mom!

My mom's birthday is September 12 so imagine her surprise when we celebrated last Friday night at the Honkers game:-)  A little background:  The Honkers are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Rochester that our family has taken quite an interest in over the years.  We faithfully attend at least a few games every season and usually do so in the comfort of a luxury box or the esteemed patio compliments of my dad (thanks dad!!!!)  No long beer lines or waiting for food for us, it's delivered to the box/patio prior to game start and available on demand.  Good living.  This year's day to be on the patio was August 5th and Dad decided to use the opportunity to surprise my mom with family and friends waiting for her when she arrived.  Like I said, her actual birthday isn't until September 12th so she was caught completely off guard as most of us would be 5 weeks before our actual birthday:-)  It was a beautiful night and we had so much fun celebrating my amazing mom and enjoying yummy food, drink and of course, the game...

I think we surprised her:-)

Cousins!  Josh - Marc - Brian

Blaine - Tressa - Jen

Olivia - Terry - Blair

Dad - Laura - Cody

Grandma Sissy - Kyle - Rosie

Gloria (Go-Go) - Robin

No game is complete without the YMCA!

Jen - Marc - Callan - Slider

Josh - Dad

Avery

Payton - Madison

Slider and the birthday girl!

"Don't worry officer, they only rode across the street this way":-)

Josiah turns TWO!!

So I know I say this all the time but seriously, where DOES the time go??  I had to stop from ordering 1st Birthday supplies and remind myself that Josiah was indeed turning TWO this June 25th.  Wasn't he just born a few weeks ago??  In some ways it seems like that and in some ways it seems like he's always been here because I can barely remember life without him:-)  He is such a funny and sweet little boy and Seth and I comment often at how incredibly blessed we feel that God gave him to us to raise.  He was so excited about it being his birthday and we planned a froggie themed party because his BFF Froggie was in on the planning:-)   He has recently taken to Barney and Elmo also but Froggie remains his fave.  He also is old enough now to understand birthday parties and that a party means CAKE!  Or in our case, puck-cakes (cupcakes).   I have to say a HUGE thank you to Cindy and Vanessa who helped with the food since I pulled a genius move and scheduled his party for the day after we got back from vacation.  I did take the easy route and order the puck-cakes from Sam's along with 6 dozen buns for the BBQ that I made and froze before we left.  Don't judge me too harshly, I really intended to make his birthday cake but in the interest of maintaining sanity, I went with the "let the experts do their thing" route this year.  We were lucky that most of our family and friends were able to make it to the party and we had B-E-A-utiful weather that allowed us to be outside!  Here are a few pictures and a video from the day.  Our little baby is two...*sniff*...seriously, where does the time go?

Yummy lunch at the new picnic table from Grandma and Papa!

BFF Froggie aka Master Party Planner/Overseer

Lilypad Jello Jigglers...thank you interwebs for the grand idea!

Puck-cakes!

"blowing" out the candle

Froggie hunt!  Look at Norah and Madi's concentration!

"Yay, we found another one!"

"Wow!  Thanks for the new wagon and dinosaur Uncle Noah!"

New wagon from Nana and Papa!

Two years old = two puck-cakes!

Spring has sprung!

Praise God, spring has arrived!!!  We spent the weekend doing "springy" things including fighting off the inevitable change of season cold for Seth.  Friday night we spent the evening with the Davidson's and helped Aubrey "spring" into her 2nd year of life as she turned one and had a very fun party!  Josiah's favorite part?  CAKE!  This boy definitely inherited his daddy's sweet tooth:-)  Aubrey on the other hand wasn't so thrilled about the cake, she was much more excited about the chicken sandwiches, she inherited her mommy's love of everything chicken:-)  I neglected to take any pictures but imagine a house full of family and fun and you'll get the image:-)

Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather to the fullest!  Josiah started the day donning his Twins gear to celebrate the season starting (yes, we know it started Friday but we choose not to claim that game as official, we will just call it an embarrassing practice round).  Josiah also had to sport his shades most of the day since he now declares that things are "too bright" and likes to have his glasses on...even indoors.  Yes Jan, it's a lot of look:-)

We stopped at Grandma and Papa's to say hi and play a little Ring around the Rosie with cousin Addie who was staying with them because she got a new brother on Thursday!!   Bennett Michael Myran arrived safe and sound as is an absolutely adorable little peanut!!  We are SO excited to have another cousin to love and spoil!!  Welcome Baby Bennett and congratulations Vanessa, Erik and big sister Addie!!(pictures coming soon!)

Cousin Addie and I are so cool!

Thanks for the "samich" Grandma!!

Saturday also had us joining a good portion of my family for a nice long walk and yummy lunch (thank you Auntie Jen for organizing!) followed by a 3 1/2 hour nap for Josiah, guess this boy has been missing the fresh air as much as the rest of us!  Hope everyone else was able to enjoy the warm weather too!

All the kids on the walk: L-R is Nick, Miles, Ellie, Josiah, Olivia, Sophia, Jocelyn and Callan (snuggled in his stroller but he's there!)

Auntie Nykki and her boys!
Josiah (21 mos), Callan (2-1/2 mo), Miles (2 1/2 yrs) and Henry (14 mos)

Busy Birthday weekend

We had two birthday celebrations to go to this weekend and had a blast at both.  Josiah's favorite part is the singing and of course, the cake and ice cream!  We ended the weekend at Nana and Papa Mike's with bathtime and a diaper dance:-)

Grandma gave Addie and Josiah kites as an early Easter present so we decided to bust them out and see how they flew....pretty no?

"Come on 'Siah!"

Hangin' with Uncle Josh

Happy Birthday Papa!!!

New skills ala Maddy:-)

Happy 6th Birthday Jack!!

Happy 6th Birthday Kaylie!!

"Can we have cake now??"

Seth is Jack's godfather...many of you will remember him from
our wedding where he was the VERY enthusiastic ring bearer:-)

Cake...dominated!

All clean after my bath in Auntie Nykki's big tub!

"Let's do the Diaper Dance!"

Sweet moves boys!

All PJ'd up and ready for bed!!

Josiah turns ONE!!

Somehow a year has gone by since we welcomed Josiah into this world and as you parents out there know, it just doesn't seem possible that in 12 short months he's gone from a 6 pound 12 oz newborn who slept 23 hours a day to a 21.5 pound crawling/almost walking, babbling, curious little daredevil who has a new "trick" every day!! But the impossible became possible on Friday when he turned one! Unfortunately, he was feeling under the weather so we spent the day relaxing at home but having extra cuddle time with the little guy was just what the doctor ordered for both of us! Luckily he was feeling well enough to enjoy a birthday pancake that morning and was fever-free by Saturday for the big birthday bash! And by bash, I'm referring to his first cake eating experience. Normally, the small cake given to the guest of honor (called a "Smash cake") gets a few pokes and maybe a handful of cake or so taken off before the child loses interest. Not our boy! He was all about the cake from the moment he tasted the frosting and let out a loud "Mmmmmm". Let's just say that the poor rubber ducky didn't stand a chance against this little one:-) I am posting several pictures from the day. We have video also but it's too big to upload here, I'll have to see if Seth can edit it down so we can post it because it's definitely blogworthy:-)

Opening presents...he was SUPER spoiled by everyone, a big THANK YOU to all!!

These books were my favorites growing up and now have been handed down to Josiah...thanks Nana and Papa!

"Thanks for my new water table Grammy and Papa, I love it!!"

It's a Rubber Ducky party!!

Before the smashing commenced...

A few shots of Josiah's adoring (and highly amused) crowd watching him tackle the cake:-)

Christmas card worthy family picture?? We'll see:-)

"Yes!! I smashed it good!"

Time to get clean...first stop, pool to rinse off and then to the real bathtub for soap!

All clean and scrubbed up:-)