Happy Birthday Papa

Just wanted to wish my Dad a very Happy Birthday today!

We spent Easter with him, and as tradition, we celebrate

his birthday and the little one's birthday together!

Strawberries, shortcake, and whipped cream are tradition!

Dad: Have a great day!

We love you so much!

Four

Elaina.  

Ellie. 

E.

Monkey. 

 Baby.

She is the most amazing little creature and I'm blessed

to call her my daughter.

Four years ago today, she graced the world with her

presence and has added sweetness, and spice, and smiles

to our lives and to the lives of everyone who knows her.

Many more photos to come of her special day,

but for tonight, just one.

Happy 4th Birthday baby!

Happy Easter

What a wonderful day!

Mass with my loves, a day with some family, beautiful sunshine

and warm weather....

(And more sugar than you could know what to do with!)

It was a really great day!

Much needed.

Even more appreciated.

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (NIV)

 It was a Happy Easter indeed.

~~~

But tonight, I struggled a little.  Struggled because tonight is the last night I have a baby.

Tomorrow, my youngest... my little one... my BABY will turn 4.

4.

3, well 3 is still "toddler"... still a little bit of baby.

but 4?  

Nope. 4 means she is no longer baby, and yes, it makes me a little sad.

Elaina tells me all the time "Mama, I'll be your baby forever"

and she snuggles up and lets me rock her whenever I need to... 

I'll just have to trust her, I guess.

I guess it's appropriate that on a day of New Beginnings, I look to a new 

chapter of parenting.  (Pre)School age kiddos... ugh, how did this happen?

(yes, I'm being dramatic... just bear with me.  Mother's are allowed

to do that now and then)

Oh... and here's a random picture of Boone.  I kinda miss the old man.

Alex's Shower and Bachelorette

Last Saturday we got one step closer to the big wedding!

We had a Bridal Shower for Alex at my mom's house, and then

went out and celebrated that night for her Bachelorette!

Alex was a lovely Bride-to-Be and I'm so SO excited to be

a part of all this with her!  

I love you so much Sweetie!

The countdown is ON! 

:)

Enough already

April 4th

This is APRIL... it's supposed to be SPRING!

Remember?  April Showers?

Not April SNOWSTORMS!

UGH. Dammit.

Mother Nature... Enough Already!

The move (part 1)

Luck was with us!

We got the house!

We don't close on our wonderful new home until the end of May,

and are currently residing with my (wonderful, obliging, caring, magnificent)

in-laws for an 8 week period, but we got it!

The inspection went great and we are So So excited for this new chapter!

Can't wait to show everyone the new place once we're in and settled!

That said... yesterday I drove away from the house I've called home for nearly 8

years for the last time.  It was insanely bittersweet and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend a 

few minutes sobbing on Ryan's shoulder in the empty shell of our house.

We were married while living in that home, brought our babies home there, 

essentially turned a single floor house into a beautiful, fully finished home!

There a million memories there; happy, fun, emotional... I've truly "grown-up"

in that house and will take all those moments with me.  

Bear with me as I work through this with some photos.

From moving in, to moving out.

Where we started - 2006

Fall 2013

painting that damn big wall

~Packing...

 ~Loading

We have to say Thank You to so many people for helping us with this process...

Mom and Alan, you two have been wonderful! Dad, Anderson's, Bjorn, Cory...

thank you all so so much!

 ~Apparently figuring out where we're heading!?  ;)

 ~Ready to go (at least 1 of the 3 loads)

Thank you Cory for again letting us use the truck and trailer (and storage)... you're a lifesaver!

~Making the final sweep and saying goodbye

last photo in our first home

just moved in... Summer 2006

moving out- Spring 2014

Driving away

Looking forward to the next chapter and taking all the warm feelings from this home with me.

And here's a quick peek of our current residence and what's to come....

the doors to the girls "room"!  (Thank you Barb!)

the new routine

THUMBS UP FOR OUR NEW HOME!!!

Getting Lucky and hoping for more (luck)

This past weekend Ryan and I had a pretty eventful weekend!

On Friday we met his sister and niece and spent the night at The Depot Renissance Hotel 

in Minneapolis.  It was the first stay in a hotel for our girls and they thought it was pretty

awesome!  The Depot has a fun watermark the girls loved to play in and they were all

worn out by the end of the night!

The next morning Kris, Ryan, and I got our Green gear on and got ready to Get Lucky!

We participated in the Team Ortho "Get Lucky 7K"!  

It was "brisk" that morning and it was very handy to be able to just walk out the door

of the hotel to the start of the race!

I rather enjoyed myself and felt fantastic at the end!  Ryan wasn't quite as happy, but I

was thrilled that he ran with me!  Thanks babe!

It was a beautiful course and so fun to see everyone decked out in green from head to toe!

12,000 people ran the 7k and another 8,000 crazy people participated in the half marathon 

in St. Paul (Ryan's other sister Kim was one of them)!  

So much fun!

I clearly was excited... please disregard my obnoxious expression

Us and our (very cold) good luck charms!

Yes I am!

That night, my parents took our babies home with them and we met up with friends for 

a night out!  Always a fun time!

On Sunday we decided to take a look at a house that peaked our interest a little bit and 

we figured it wouldn't hurt to walk through their open house.... 

Well, tonight we sit and wait for word on the offer we put in today!!

Keep your fingers crossed for us and lets hope the luck of the Irish is on our side!