More Vacation

 I know; I'm ridiculously spoiled, but yes, the girls and I got to spend some time with family last week. Since we returned on Saturday, Elli has asked me about 3,492 times to go to Papa and Nonna's house.  I think she had a good time.

 Although we love to see all the family, time with the ever-growing and changing cousins is perhaps the most precious.  We even got to celebrate these twinsie-cousins' birthdays, born only thirteen hours apart.

 In addition to seeing our beloved family, we also got to meet some baby-friends.  As you can tell, Baby C was pretty enamored with Cara, but she played hard to get.  :)  Pretty hilarious, considering his mama was her daddy's first kiss at the age of three or four.  I think they probably even got married several times over in the elaborate play dramas invented by older siblings.

 The weather may seem like a minor detail, but for me, I soaked up every cool spring breeze I could, knowing it could be my last.  Thank you, Lord, for one more week of spring this year!

 Elli and Micah continue to grow in their friendship, playing more and more independently.  Oh, how they love to laugh together. The hammock was a big hit, although not so much for lounging as for rolling and flipping and tickling.

 The last night we were there, we had a birthday celebration for Papa, Cara and Brynn.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to dress my girls up in matching dresses.  Who knows how much longer that will be cool!  

Yum.  I could just eat them up!

Can you believe my little girl is one??? No longer my little baby.  Elli told me this morning that Caroline is getting so big, and she wants me to get a new baby in my tummy.  

Not so fast, big sister.

 I am so enjoying this stage, challenging as can be, and I know it will be gone in a blink.

(Thanks, Aunt Marty for the pic! I love it.)

 Brynn practices her walking any time someone gives her a hand, and I expect to hear any day now that she's off on her own.  We got to bond on this trip, and I am just in love with this silly, spunky sweetie!

 What a special time with some of our favorite people.  Our summer trip can't come soon enough!

Celebration

This past weekend was good.  Very good, in fact. 

Not only did we get to enjoy a long weekend with both sets of parents, but we got to celebrate two special little girls!  On Saturday, we had Elli's birthday party, which was fun and crazy and silly as only a room full of three-year-old's can be.

 Loosely western themed, we made construction paper cowboy hats.

 

We played some "snake in the boot."

We sang "Happy Birthday" to this special girl, who specifically requested blue "tuptates" for her birthday treat.

We had a pinata.

This picture never gets old.  He went all Braveheart on that pinata.  "Freedom!"
And Elli was all, "Boys..."

The bouncy castle was our grand finale, and it never disappoints.  Elli has such sweet friends, and having them come over was so special to her!  (And thanks to Gwampa for letting me have your pictures!)

Although Caroline slept through a good portion of the party, she did get a kick out of the balloons afterward.

On Sunday, we got to celebrate Caroline's baptism.

The service was so sweet and memorable.  Caroline didn't cry at all, and we loved having both sets of grandparents there.

I loved how after the actual baptism, we walked down the aisle and our brothers and sisters in the Lord had the opportunity to pass the peace to Caroline.  You can also see Caroline's favorite part of church in these pictures - name tags.  She will dive towards anyone (stranger or friend), as long as they are wearing a name tag. 

We praise God for two such special reasons to celebrate!