Erin Go Bragh!

Spring is in the air!  

And I think that's why I've always loved St. Patrick's Day.  Or maybe it's because I love food, and it's a great excuse to cook a fun dinner and dessert.

Here is my proof that Spring is in the air.

I love this tradition of bringing in the seemingly dead pruned branches and encouraging them to bloom.

This is from my mom's forsythia bush. It's so nice to see color!

Usually I do one of plum blossoms as well, but didn't get to it this year.

Sporting the green!

Meili helping me make our traditional rainbow cupcakes.

I didn't get any good finished pictures this year, check out the previous years I guess.

A sneaky leprechaun brought gold coins and St. Patty's Day tattoos.

Sofie was suspicious of the paper footprints...

Derek was gone this year, so we had our dinner at Grandma and Grandpa A's.

Same as years before, we had Shamrock pizzas.  

This year I added in some guacamole.

(there's a pic of the rainbow cupcakes in the background...)

Some lime sherbet drinks

Cousins joined in for some dessert.

Nice to see so much green in a dreary early-spring world.

Bath Time With Ollie, Pinterest Style

I enjoy Pinterest. 

 It's full of fantastic ideas and recipes all in one spot.

  Every once in a while those ideas are actually helpful.  This was one of those times.

The laundry basket bath for little ones that don't sit that well.

He was still a little unstable and slipped a few times, but it was nice to be a little more hands free than usual!

He loved having toys in close range.

As he gets a little more stable I'll whip out the bigger rectangle basket.

Thank you Pinterest!

And here is an unrelated picture.

He's working on sitting.

  But his favorite activity is still rolling and scooting all over the floor, so he doesn't usually last long!

The Birthday!!

Meili turned 3 last week.  She is so dang precious!

Last year I was too sick and pregnant to enjoy her birthday, so this year meant a lot to me.

Breakfast candles!

French Toast is one of her favorite foods.

Daddy and Ollie getting ready to go swimmin'

I'm so dang sick of this winter, so we had an indoor swimming party!

We have an awesome aquatic center that has a giant slide, lots of kiddie slides, a hot tub, a lazy river, and a few different pools.  It was way packed, but so nice for a change!

Ollie was mesmerized by all the splashing.

Sofie was so happy to be back in the water!

Ollie hated it.

Lots of cousins for Mei to splash with.

Back at home we had lunch and cake.

The birthday princess.

(not sure what this look is...)

The 4 sillies.

She loved ALL of the gifts she got.

Especially her Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys.

Whenever I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she would sing, "Yo Ho here we go, together as a team!"

Bubbles in the ccccccold.

Cute fat toes in Meili's new toy.

They were playing "damsel in distress" in Meili's Princess castle.

And also, what's a blog post without a darling picture of this cute fat baby?

He loved having all the cousins to play with at the party.

Valentine's Day

I love having little girls on Valentine's Day.  

They appreciate all the hearts and pink and ooey-gooey lovey stuff.

Our traditional valentine breakfast. Heart shaped little toasts, pink eggs, and strawberries (this year all I had were chocolate ones, so they got an extra treat!)

Our homemade Valentine boxes.  The girls loved the monster teeth and googly eyes.

Sofie's princess monster.   She was very sad her 'F' fell off. :(

The spread.  My girls are all about placemats.

The girls got heart grilled cheese sandwiches while Derek and I enjoyed grown-up food, homemade french dip sandwiches.

Our yummy cupid floats. 

(which to be honest, were kind of gross, but cute!)

This, however, was not gross.  At all.

I made a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

Those are supposed to be hearts...

Love was in the air.

And my little love muffin. 

Ollie Updates!

Ahhh!  He's growing too fast!

Here are some highlights from Oliver's last couple months.

First solid food.

He looks happy, but he hated it.  Gagged on it.

Eventually I just gave him the spoon to play with.

Until he jammed it down his throat and started crying...

Grabby toes!  I LOVE this stage with babies.

They entertain themselves with their chubby piggies.

The bumbo!

He loved being able to interact with everyone at face level instead of laying on the floor.

And lots of drool.

This was Ollie's favorite spot.  His swing.  He took AWESOME naps in this. 

Unfortunately we had to break him of the habit and teach him how to sleep in his crib.

It was a tough week, but we did it.

See, he slept like a rock in this thing.

Tummy time became more fun for him.

Less fussy.

He's the happiest baby of mine so far!

Getting a little more mobile.

About 2 minutes after I took this picture, he rolled over for the first time!

Building up those muscles for crawling!

This face is my sunshine.