Birthday Week!

Birthday Week 2015 was even crazier than normal.  This year Lucy's birthday fell on a Thursday, the Little girls' on Friday and Lucy's baptism was on Saturday.  Becca and her girls flew in the previous Saturday so we had a few days to play and prepare for the fun.

 The night before Lucy's birthday I set up this birthday surprise for her-she was shocked when they came cascading in!

Lucy's birthday breakfast of choice-donuts. I also surprised her by wrapping every item in her lunchbox like a present.

We sent Lucy off to school and Becca and I started prepping for the twins' party the next day. Conveniently, all the girls are SUPER into My Little Pony so we had one theme for three birthdays. Made decorating a lot easier:)

Making Rainbow cupcakes that Rainbow Dash would love!

We picked Lucy up busting some seriously loud MLP songs, specifically Pinkie Pie's "Make a Wish Its Your Birthday", and drove down to the mall in Pleasanton where we celebrated by Going to Build A Bear. My little girls had never been and Lucy was really excited about it. We gave the girls a choice: pick a Pony or a bear ( you could pick out an outfit as well if you picked a bear). I really thought all the girls would pick a different pony-they have the four princesses!- but only Lydia and Ruby ended up choosing Princess Cadence and Lucy and Joyce picked a bear and outfit. They LOVE their animals and we had a rgeat time giving them personality and stuffing them.

Afterward we headed over the Claires and got Lucy's ears pierced! It was super exciting and she said it didn't even hurt. She picked some colorful gem flowers as her first earrings. Since then she has been super good about taking care of her ears and is really excited to change earrings.

We had dinner at Buckhorn in the mall and then raced home for cake, ice cream and presents with Grandpa Greg and Dad.

 Pony cake!

 

That night I decorated the little girls doorway with balloons they could run through.

On Friday the babies' turned 4!!! On Fridays we have our playgroup-so I turned playgroup into a birthday party-inviting a couple other friends from our new ward too.

Our Rainbow cupcakes turned out super cute.

The differences between boys and girls. When the kids arrived I had MLP coloring and tattoos at the table while we waited for everyone to get there. The boys opted to play and run wild while the girls were thrilled to put tattoos up their arms and color quietly:)

After MLP bingo with M&Ms we played pin the cutie mark on Pinkie Pie.

Took a couple group photos in the "photo booth". We took smaller group shots which were fun and I sent each kid home with a few pics from Katy's mini polaroid.

Opening presents! I had had a good talk with the girls about being hood hostesses and how to receive gifts. They hugged each kid after receiving a gift and said thank you-it was adorable.

The pizza, fruit and cupcakes were a big hit.

 

That evening we went to Grandma Karen's for a delicious dinner, brownie sundaes and presents. Happy Birthday my girls!

April!

April is my favorite month and also my craziest month. We look forward to it all winter because of spring break, General Conference and birthday week.  This year it was especially exciting because Lucy was turning 8. Birthdays and baptism will get their own post because April was full enough on its own.

Jack turned 1 years old!! I watch Jack abut 35 hours a week and have had him since he was four months.  Most of the week he is just one of the family and my girls miss him when he isn't with us. They call him their little brother and we all love him:)

We got to babysit Fox for an hour one night. He is a super happy, adorable baby.

Grandma and Grandpa took the "big cousins" to The Music Man at the Lesher. Lucy was so excited to be included. They had a fabulous time. It is so fun living so close to all our family.

Conference Saturday Danny got a makeover. The girls kept proclaiming how handsome he was. It was a real ego boost:)

Easter Sunday fell during conference this year so right before the morning session on Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Marilyns. I think the girls enjoyed three egg hunts this year..

After conference weekend was Spring Break! Katy was in Utah for half the week but the other half she spent playing with us. Mostly we relaxed all week and did fun errands with Grandma Karen, but after Katy got home we hit up the zoo!

That Saturday a friend of ours was unable to use her tickets to the show Fancy Nancy, so Lucy and I went on an unexpected date! It was a really cute show and we had a fun lunch at Chik fil a with Dad and the girls afterward:)

March

I can't believe I've let myself get so far behind. This spring has gone by so quickly!

So...a bunch of pics to sum up our March:

We celebrated Danny's 32nd birthday!

We started orthodontics. I've been anxious to get started for fear I wasn't starting early enough (Lucy's mouth has slightly terrified me for awhile) but we love our orthodontist and it turns out we started at the perfect time.  Lucy had a somewhat traumatic first appointment because they couldn't place her first spacer (even the  oral surgeon couldn't place it...her mouth is a bit crowded!).  In May she had 4 baby teeth removed and we'll get started on other things as her adult teeth come in.

Lucy had her 2nd grade musical performance. She prefers to be in the chorus and rocks it.

With her best friend Sarah:) We will really miss Walnut Acres.

 (She's going to Valle Verde next year).

 

One Saturday we decided to head out of town and explore.  I can't remember where we ended up now (?!) but it was a beach... 

We had a fun lunch at Cowgirl Creamery.

On the way home we stopped for gas and Danny brought back candy and ponies. 

It was so random and so welcome.

We finally moved the last of our stuff out of Grandma's house! It was so fun to finally have our outdoor toys at our house. This truck is how Danny rolls. Pile it all on and hope it makes it rather than make two trips... Only one thing fell off down the street from our house so this run was a success.

The only rain of the year came in March-and only lasted maybe two days. My girls loved it and were thrilled to finally use their umbrellas.

One Sunday we all stayed home sick so we went to visit the temple. Danny and I reenacted some wedding pics for the kids. I love this pic of my little girls.

These girls love having Jack at our house so much.

We saw the live-action Cinderella with Grandma Karen in full costume.

Joyce was sick all month. Finally found out it was pneumonia (Lucy had it too).

Had a fun family birthday party for Danny and chased the sun set.