Heritage Days 2012

Today we headed "uptown" to celebrate Princeville's 175th anniversary at Heritage Days.  We went up for lunch and I thought that the rides opened at noon, but I was wrong (hey, everyone once in a while, it happens!).  The parade didn't start until 2 and then the rides opened after.  It wouldn't have been an issue, but Alan and I had a wedding reception to attend at 5!  So while Colson napped a bit, Alyvia and I headed to the parade with Jenn and Ally Johnson.

This girl is a pro at the parade thing!

Cole and Daddy joined us after the parade and we helped Livi burn through her tickets as fast as we could!

If there is face painting, count on Livi to want it!

We even got Cole to ride with Sissy!

The kids both seemed to have a good afternoon and we made it to our wedding reception on time :)  I wish I had gotten a pic of Alan and I at the wedding, but no such luck...maybe next time!

Dancing Queen

Here are 2 videos from Alyvia's dance class.  She is very serious during dance and she pays such good attention to her teacher.  Bless her heart, she has a little fall in the 2nd video but continues on :)

And this little cheese ball kept smiling every time I pulled out my phone/camera

I love my babies!

P.S.  Sorry the videos are sideways, I don't know how to fix them!!

Our new toy

With our growing family, we decided that we had to sell Alan's jet ski last fall.  It wasn't really designed for a family of four (now five!).  So, Alan did some shopping around this spring and found us something that is more family oriented-our own boat!  Although I'm a little nervous about the investment, I have to admit it's fun to have :)  We took it out for the 1st time on June 14th with Anne and Finn joining us.  We put in at Chillicothe and headed downtown to pick up Nana too.  It was a good first run!

Snacks on the boat are the best!

Finnegan enjoying the cuddy

My 3 favorites

Our family

Then we went out again a couple of days later for a little early Father's Day family day.  We headed North to Henry to check out the water that way.  Alan found a little cove that we could anchor in and Alyvia convinced us to let her swim :)  We had such a fun  family day!

Livi was worn out on the way back!

 I don't know that I'll always be so happy about it, but right now, I'm so happy we have this boat!

Summer Activities

Summer has officially started at our house!  Alyvia is doing both swim lessons and dance class this summer.  Last Wednesday she started dance, Broadway Bound, through the Peoria park district.  She was so excited and she loved it!

It's a combination tap, ballet and jazz introduction class.  She paid attention the whole class and tried her very best-I am so proud of her! 

Today we started swim lessons too. This girl is not afraid of anything I tell you!  She got right in the water even though it was a bit chilly this morning.

With work, dance class, swim lessons and play dates we should have a really busy summer!

Birthday Bonanza!

We have had LOTS of birthdays this month!  We were supposed to have 2 birthdays on the 3rd, but one got cancelled because of sickness :(  We were still able to go to Landrie and Channing's birthday party at Fondulac farm park.  The kids had a lot of fun!  Considering Landrie's mom just had a baby 9 DAYS before the party, it was a great place to host it and have somebody else do most of the work :) 

We started out with cake and ice cream

Then we got to go around the farm park and feed the animals

Colson wasn't too sure about feeding the animals at first!

Alyvia & her friend Lizzie jumped right in!

She works on the farm regularly!

Playground fun to wrap up the party!

Then today we celebrated our friends Lawson and Ethan's 1st birthdays at Danielle's house.  We had lunch, opened presents and then played outside!

Emme, Sienna, Channing, Livi and Cole

Landrie and Reese join in on the fun

Colson played a little tee ball

And the birthday boys thoroughly enjoyed their cake!

We are thankful to have so many friends to celebrate with and have fun!  We are looking forward to many more playdates this summer!

A Person's a Person, No Matter How Small

Tonight, I hosted a baby shower for Anne and Finnegan.  I was so excited to do this for Anne and Finn!  I went with a "Dr. Seuss" theme and it was so fun!  I got my invitations on Etsy and I loved them-I would post a picture, but my phone number is on there :)  I got all the decoration ideas from Pinterest (love!)

Here are my Truffala Trees from The Lorax.  Styrafoam craft balls wrapped with a boa.  They were so easy to make and turned out really cute, I wish I had done more!

I love diaper cakes!  For Anne, I made The Cat in The Hat themed diaper cake. 

I didn't get a good picture of my One Fish, Two Fish chandelier :(  I loved the fishies though, they were so cute!  My centerpiece for my table was red and white daisies in a vase with blue gems on the bottom.  Around the top of the vase I wrapped blue fluff.  Then some swedish fish hung out there for snacking!

My lighting on my camera was off for some of the pictures, but this was my kitchen island where all the food was set up.  My mom made ALL of the food and it was so so so good!  We had Wocket in My Pocket pitas (ham, egg salad or chicken salad), Green Eggs & Ham deviled eggs, Oodles of Noodles pasta salad, Red Fish, Blue Fish Berry Salad (blueberries & strawberries), Pink Ink Yink Drink (pink lemonade) & Beezlenut splash (red punch).   Yummy!!

I ordered the cake from Le Bakery.  Delicious red velvet on top and delectable chocolate cake on the bottom layer.  I ordered a Cat In the Hat to sit on top, but it didn't come in time :(  Not as cute as it could have been, but absolutely delicious!

My entry table with more red and white daisies.  My mom also brought a container filled with red, white and blue candies that sat on this table.  As people walked in, they guessed how many candies were in the jar.

We played 2 other little games and watched Anne open all of her lovely gifts.  I realize now that I didn't get a picture of the guest of honor and his mommy :(  He was a trooper though and didn't make so much as a peep as he was passed from person to person-such a good boy!   I had so much fun getting ready for this shower and the turnout was totally worth all the work.  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did welcoming baby Finn!!!