Molly & Tallie's Birthday Bash!

While we were in Annapolis for Commissioning Week, we also got to celebrate Molly and Tallie's birthdays. They were born only 4 weeks apart, and since we were all together in between their birthdays, we decided to throw them a party! We were blessed to have lots of loved ones to celebrate with us. Nana & Grandpa, John & Linde, Cameron, Uncle Alan, Uncle Bruce & Aunt Margie, George & Kathy Cooper, and Uncle Jack & Aunt Bev McCready were all there, and we were so glad that the girls' new aunt, Amanda, could come and celebrate too, despite a busy week of wedding preparations.

Our little birthday girl took a little while to wake up and get used to the big crowd of people that had appeared during nap time.

Just a few of the guests - I guess none of the ladies sat still long enough for a picture.

The girls weren't sure what was supposed to happen with those candles.
Cutie-pie matching outfits!
(Thanks, Piper, for letting Molly borrow yours.)

They sure enjoyed the frosting!

Elijah and Piper enjoyed the food, and the party favors!

Presents! Lots of matching gifts. Too cute.

Tallie just loved the balloons!

Happy Birthday, little girls!

And one last photo of the matching cuties, stolen from John's blog.

A few more pictures of Molly eating frosting (and other birthday fun) are up on Picasa, facebook, and John's blog. Enjoy!

Commissioning week

We just got home from a long and crazy trip up and down the east coast. I'll have to post about it all in sections, so more photos and video coming soon!

First we headed south to Annapolis, Maryland (after a quick, fun overnight with Patrick's sister, Diane & family - thanks guys!). My brother, Cameron, just finished his four years at the U.S. Naval Academy and we got to join lots of friends and family there to celebrate Commissioning Week - a whole week of events leading up to graduation. My parents rented a house for the week and we had a great time enjoying some of the events, and also just hanging out together. The kids especially enjoyed playing with their cousins. The grown-ups attended the Garden Party, got to meet classmates and mentors, and got a private Cameron-lead tour of campus. We all got to walk around campus a few times, and I think we managed to see most of it. It's very pretty, and there are lots of monuments and such to see. We also got to see my cousins, Andy and Diane, and their kids one evening for a long-overdue reunion, but I forgot to take any pictures (duh). I also forgot to take pictures at Cameron's graduation party. You can see some from that night (including a very sweaty family picture of us!) and more over on my brother John's blog (including posts here, here, here, and here.)

Reading with Uncle Cam

Taking a break on Grandpa's shoulders

Pipes and drums

Patrick and Elijah got to go to the Blue Angels show - it was amazing!

Lots more photos of the little girls' birthday party and graduation, and maybe even some videos coming soon!

Spring carnival

On Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the spring carnival at Patrick's work. It's aimed at the college students primarily, but they had fun things that our kids could do too and we enjoyed it. The weather was sunny and warm and perfect for spending the afternoon outside. It was great fun, and it wore us all out!

They had a giant (fast) slide that our kids LOVED. I wasn't sure how Molly would do, but she wasn't scared at all. The first thing she said was, "AGAIN!" All the rides and things were free, so we did the slide over and over. I love that we got some pictures of the looks on their faces on the way down - you can see how much fun they were having - and Molly's hair is hysterical.

She had her tongue out and a huge smile every time.

Ready to go again as soon as she was stopped.

He loved it too -they were both racing to get in line again as soon as they got down.

The multicultural student union was painting international flags for the college students. Elijah got Thomas the Tank Engine on both cheeks. I don't think his face painter had prepared for that one, but he did a great job winging it.

She's a Rhode Island girl - gotta love Del's!

Mmmmm ... funnel cake for snack.

The kids also had a great time in the giant bouncy house. There were only a few other little kids there, so they put them all in at once (in between the large groups of rowdy college kids). They had lots of room to run and fall down.

The kids had hot dogs for dinner at the carnival and we headed home, all very tired after such a fun day.

Molly

Just some pictures of our little miss from last week:

More of Miss Molly's fashion

Yesterday, Molly was quite opinionated about her clothes again. She picked out a pink shirt, pink pants and pink socks. Then she added this pink and white headband ...

and her monkey backpack.

She put on her pink shoes, but then she changed her mind ...

and decided on her red rain boots.

Then changed her mind again, and put on her plaid skirt.

Oh, Molly, you make me smile.

Sunshine day!

Today has been our warmest day of the year so far. It almost feels like summer! The kids wore shorts and we had a great time playing outside and enjoying the sunshine. Molly and Elijah both came in for lunch tired and hungry, with rosy cheeks and sweaty heads. We'll be heading back out after naps!

Wearing hats.

Riding bikes and playing in the sandbox.

Dandelion chains.

King and queen of the hill!

Molly's stroller and other news

I am a little behind on posting this ... but Molly got a baby stroller from Nana & Grandpa for Christmas. It arrived a little after Christmas, and we decided to save it for a little while since the kids already had so many fun new things to play with. So a few weeks ago, Molly got a surprise present. She is just thrilled with it, and Elijah is having a blast with it, too. (Although it does seem to do a lot more crashing into things when Elijah is steering!)

Ooooh, what's this?

Aha!

Love it.

On Friday we got to spend the day with my cousin Jackie and her family. They did the driving this time (thanks guys!) and we had a great day. The weather was warm and sunny (finally!) and perfect for being outside. We met at a park by the ocean and played at the playground and watched a huge cargo ship go out to sea, and had a nice picnic. Molly tripped on an uneven transition from grass to sidewalk and fell on her face and got a nice bloody lip. It was traumatic for a moment, but she got over it. She does have a nice fat lip now. Elijah got his first sunburn ever. I think it must have been from leaning over the light colored sand all morning, because everyone else was fine. I guess I have to start paying close attention to their hats and sunscreen again! We went back to our house so that Elijah and Molly could take their naps, and spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out and playing outside. We went to Five Guys Burgers for dinner and then to Cold Stone for ice cream before Jackie and Luke and the kids headed home to take care of Jasper the dog. It was a really good day.

Yesterday (Easter) we had a really nice lunch together at church. Fellowship meals are always a little crazy and loud because we have so many little kids and the basement fellowship hall is all hard surfaces and echos like crazy, but it is always a good time. This week everyone really stepped up and brought a great Easter feast! But we had a scare when Molly pushed her chair and booster seat over backwards (while she was sitting in it) and she landed hard and loudly on the hard linoleum-over-concrete floor. I think the whole room stopped breathing for a minute, but she seems to be just fine - no blood or bump or anything. We watched her carefully all afternoon and evening for signs of injury, but haven't seen anything unusual. I'm breathing again now, and very, very thankful that she is OK.

Happy Easter!

Recovery

The perfect medicine for a quick recovery:

snuggles

and baby laughter!