5th Birthday

I'm not sure how it sneaks up on me every single year but our little lady just had yet another birthday! On May 29th she turned five. She's a funny, sweet, loving, smart, energetic little girl and had a FULL weekend of festivities. We were all exhausted, hence the 10 day lag in getting this posted =)

She started her birthday with special "5" pancakes by Daddy

Then we picked her up for a special b-day afternoon and she wanted to have lunch on the rooftop of a Mexican food place (she's totally my kid!) we love.

Then she chose to go to jump city and jump for 2 hours. The brilliance of doing this on a full belly of Mexican food (and possibly a margarita or two) is debatable.

Family selfie on a jump break

That night we had pizza and cupcakes with the whole family, here is her cake

Who is happier about those cupcakes? Might be a draw.

Posing in her new Doc McStuffins coat

Then we had a one day break (Saturday) before her friend party on Sunday. It was at the gym where she takes gymnastics lessons and here's the crew:

Another cupcake cake - this time "5" and Doc McStuffins themed:

Opening her presents with her friends

Happy birthday K!!!

Vacation!

Our first beach vacation was a huge success =) We had an amazing time and watching our little miracles discover the sand, waves, etc. was so much fun. Our travel days were long and exhausting but worth it. Back in the days when we were struggling with IF we use to plan beach vacations as an escape after failed cycles...now it is a celebration of all that our family has become. My heart is so full!

We managed to see and do everything we wanted to in Myrtle Beach. Our outings included a pirate cruise, walk on the boardwalk, ride the skywheel and the aquarium.  But the majority of our trip was spent at the beach and the water parks at our resort. The kids both enjoyed playing in the sand and jumping the waves each morning for a few hours but once sand had reached places it shouldn't we would head in for lunch and rest time. Then the afternoon/evenings were spent at the water parks. 

This is in their first five minutes of feeling sand and salt water for the first time =)

Love at first site

For K too

Nothing like wiggling your toes in the sand

Ice cream!

Cuddles with Daddy on the skywheel

Only picture from vacation with all of us looking the same way and smiling (for the most part)

Headed in from playing in the waves

All ready for their pirate cruise

The crew all ready for the cruise

C getting ready to fire the water cannon

Ready for the beach - come on Mom & Dad!

Doesn't it look like he's adjusting the horns on his hat?

If only the kids would have smiled for this picture...

The look of pure joy!

C really took to swimming - these little life vests are great!

The water slides were a big hit and this is the first time K went by herself

C loved going down over and over again but he would cover his face like this at the bottom...and then beg to go again and again

There was so much brother/sister love on this trip 

Headed out for our last morning on the beach

What a beautiful morning!

Playing in the sand 

Every morning we built a hole for them to play in and they loved it 

K getting buckets of water for the hole

May!

I love May! Here in Colorado the grass is just turning green, leaves are budding on the trees and the early season flowers are in bloom. It also happens to be M and K's birth month which is always fun. To add to the excitement this month we are also taking our first big family vacation to the beach =)  I am 80% excited and 20% terrified. Most of the unease is about the travel to and from which will include a 4 hour plane flight and 4 hours of driving each way *EEEK* I have a pretty good travel kit put together but if anyone has miracle travel tips I'm all ears!

Now to catch up with the cuties from the last few weeks:

Little man loves to "ROAR" when he wears this shirt. Isn't he looking BIG?!

They are still very kind to each other and I'm pretty sure are each others favorite people in the whole world, totally heart warming!

K has been taking swim lessons 2x a week to prepare for our vacation. She's doing great and can almost do a front crawl by herself now.

Trying on their beach garb =)

Playing a little hockey in the drive way. Notice the giant dumpster we have by our shop? It's a month long project to clear junk from the house/shop/etc. This project will be done right before we leave for vacation in a few weeks and it'll feel great to have it done. We bought the house from my parents almost 8 years ago and this has been needed since then. All good things in due time, right?

Hopefully our next update will have all kinds of vacation details. It's the first time either kid has seen the beach so I'm hoping everyone has a great time!

Spring has Sprung!

Well, it seems like a monthly post might be the new norm. We do what we can, right?

M and I celebrated our 9th anniversary and enjoyed a nice fondue dinner followed by this sunset. The kids had a great time with the grandparents while we were out for a few hours. Win-win! 

The weather has been up and down, with mostly nice 60 and 70 degree days but also a few snow storms. This was one of the first warm weekend days at our local park. 

This is the lake at the same park. C has officially lost the baby look and now is a little boy *sniff* He turns 21 months next week so it was time I guess.

This month we've had a couple illnesses to contend with - a yucky tummy virus that stuck around for 10 days and a few colds. May I ask why the vomiting only happens at night?!

This is K on one of her tummy bug days home from school.  We decided to get out for a few minutes of fresh air. It was the first time she took our dog for a walk and she was so proud. Can't believe she'll be FIVE next month *EEK*

K got this tractor for her 2nd b-day and C is loving it right now. He also seems to love his hat...and will leave it on, awesome!

The Easter bunny left trails of jelly beans from their door to the upstairs gift spots. This is C refusing to put the handfuls of jelly beans in his basket *ha*

They are trying to be patient while everyone gets ready for them to do the hunt

C got the hang of putting eggs in his basket =)

K is pretty darn good with a hula hoop! She got it from the Easter bunny.

Such a happy little guy!

Pictures!

First update in over a month, wow. Things have been good! Not much out of the ordinary really, the little's are still growing like little weeds, we've had a few colds, been busy with the work/home routine, etc. To cover this much time maybe it's best to tell the story in pictures and captions =)

We had a warm start to February and little man was out checking the fence lines of our property. To our amazement he enjoys wearing his baseball hat (from grandma) and leaves it on!

On Valentine's Day we enjoyed a nice picnic up in the mountains. After lunch the kids picked out 100+ pine cones and decorated rocks with them. Fun was had by all.

We had some serious snow in February and enjoyed some sledding in our yard. Temperatures were in the teens though so it was a short adventure.

To be honest they'd rather just eat snow from a bowl inside most of the time but who can blame them =)

K had her first visit to ChuckECheese, as you can see she really didn't like it much ;-) She was pleased to find out on this day she turned 4 and 3/4. Don't ask me how we ended up on the quarter system.

C tried out the strider for the first time and was so-so about it.

They are both at such fun ages and have us wrapped around their little fingers - with smiles like this you can't really blame us, can you? 

Here in March M and I will celebrate our 9th anniversary with a trip to the Melting Pot (YUM!). Not a day goes by we don't count ourselves as some of the luckiest people alive to share this path with each other and these two amazing little ones!