Sunday, July 29, 2012

Happy 5th Birthday Alyvia!

Our baby girl is 5, it seems unbelievable.  How could this little baby

have gotten this big already?

And how did she come out with all of that dark hair?!  She was beautiful then and is now.  She is the prettiest, smartest and sassiest girl I know :)  She is a WONDERFUL big sister and has a very caring and sensitive heart.  She is the best girl we could have ever asked for and I hope she had a great 5th birthday!  We started celebrating on Wednesday after dance class.  Alan and I had told her for quite a while that she could get her ears pierced (or as Livi calls it, peered) when she turned 5.  So we took her to Claires on Wednesday evening and she did it!

She had to do one at a time because there was only 1 worker at the store.  After the 1st ear she said "I don't know if I can do this again" :)  But she did and it looks so cute!!

After the big event, we went to Osaka for dinner to celebrate-mmmmmmm.


On Thursday evening, Livi and Nana headed up to Chicago so we could go to American Girl on Friday.  Mommy had to work, so I met them at the hotel late Thursday night.  Friday morning we drove into the city and went to American Girl Place.


Kanani came with us and got her hair done at the doll salon

We ate lunch in the cafe with Kanani and her new friend Ruthie





Nana, Alyvia and her girls
It's such a fun tradition that we have started to celebrate Livi's birthday, I love going almost as much as she does!

On Saturday, her actual birthday, we finally had her birthday parties.  In the afternoon we had a birthday Luau for Livi's friends from preschool.  It was our first girls only (no mommies) party!  She was ready at 9 a.m.

...the party didn't start until 1 :)

When her friends finally arrived, the "Hawaii party" started!

We did some crafting first
and then the girls went outside to jump in the bounce house and beat the pinata!

They actually tore the pinata apart with their bare hands!
Then we went back inside for presents and cake!

After cake, the girls painted their nails and played.  I think it was a pretty successful party and I hope they all had fun! 

In the evening, our families and the Shane family came over for a birthday luau cookout!  We kept our party a little smaller this year and it turned out great!  I felt like we got to actually enjoy the party and talk with our families.

The kids got to destroy another pinata

 Colson and Brenner skipped the pinata and had fun driving around the yard together!
Cute Cowser boys!
The kids posed for some pictures before we got more cake and ice cream :)
Alyvia & Dylan Shane, birthday buddies

Rylie, Kinsley, Reagan, Alyvia, Dylan


We were EXHAUSTED by the end of the evening, but it was SO worth it.  I hope Alyvia had the happiest of birthdays that a 5 year old can have.  We love her so much and celebrate every day with her!



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

23 weeks

Baby girl is 23 weeks gestation today-viability!

We don't want to meet her quite yet, but we are so excited to see her little face in a couple of months :)  Alyvia has been saying multiple times a day how happy she is to have a baby sister.  We love you new baby girl, keep growing!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Baby C #3

Today we got to find out the gender of baby #3...FINALLY!  Baby was so good and cooperated right off the bat :) 


Alyvia and Colson announced it to everyone...


We are all super excited to meet you baby girl, especially your big sister Alyvia!  November can't come soon enough :)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

LOTO 2012

We spent the last week in Lake Ozark, MO with the Snyder family on vacation!  We all look forward to family vacation every year.  Unfortunately, Shane couldn't join us this year due to work, but his girlfriend Lindsey still came along :) 

Everyone (minus Papa the photographer)
 We did a lot of boating, eating and some relaxing too.  It's hard work to travel with 2 kids....although I suppose it will seem like it was easy when we have 3 next year-ha!  Colson didn't sleep the best, but he did great in the water.  I thought he would be terrified to swim, but he turned into a little fish by the end of the week!  We could hardly keep Alyvia out of the water :)  That girl is a mermaid at heart!


We ate at all of our favorite places, Paradise, Topsiders, Backwater Jacks, Shorty Pants, JJ Twigs & a couple of new places, Captain Ron's & Wobbly Boots.  LOTS of good food :)






We spent most mornings around the house and swimming off of our dock.






Did a little fishing with Daddy and Papa



In the afternoons we would head to lunch and then a cove to relax in.  A couple evenings we went out to dinner too :)




 On Thursday night, Alan and I took the kids miniature golfing for the first time.  Livi got a hole in one on the 3rd hole!  Colson actually did pretty good, considering he's not even 2 yet.  He only used his golf club as a weapon a couple of times-ha!  We had lots of fun:)








 We had a great time together-it's something that we can always look forward to every year!