The other birthday boy

Just a quiet celebration at home with oreo pie for number 3-1, but Ryan is taking off this weekend for a NASCAR race with his brothers and friends, which will be anything but quiet.

April Showers

Lots of fun racing straws down a river following a major thunder storm.

Two in one week

A quick follow up to my previous post. Elizabeth lost another tooth (on her own accord) on Friday. Now with two whole dollars from the tooth fairy, I took Elizabeth to the Dollar General and she picked out a bow and arrow set.

Term of Endearment: Pumpkin Face

When Elizabeth was two she crashed into the coffee table, damaging her two front teeth. She cracked the root on one tooth and damaged blood flow to the other. Hence, the green tooth that many of you have seen. Still the teeth stayed alive and caused no problems for the next three years. We were very thankful that they didn't have to be pulled, so they could serve as place holders for her adult teeth.

Now she has reached the age where kids start to lose teeth. She is on the earlier side with FOUR loose teeth, two top and two bottom. Unfortunately, the green tooth started to decay a little faster than the others and was causing problems. No pain, just an abscess, but we didn't want one rotten tooth to mess up the whole mouth. So out it came via the dentist.

Before

After

Ryan took her to the appointment, she had the tooth extracted without sedation, was touted as the model patient (they must have some really terrible kids at this dentist), and was back at school within the hour. She told me she didn't even cry.

Elizabeth is so excited to look like jack-o-lantern. There is one other kid in her Kindergarten class who is missing a tooth and she told me she is now his twin. In exchange for her tooth, the tooth fairy brought her a $1 and a lollipop, which she took to school today to show all of the kids in her class.

Birthday Boy

The birthday masterpiece. The singing.

Make a wish...

The first cupcake. The second cupcake!

Big Wheels Action Shots

I think you can tell by the photos and the movies, that we all had a lot of fun with Gina-Mom, Michael-Dad, Katie and Austin. We can't wait to visit again. Thank you for making our trip so special and memorable.

Happy Easter!

While Ryan was working in Ohio, we took the opportunity to join him up there and visit family. The weather was absolutely beautiful for Easter, and the kids got to wear their new Easter outfits from Gram. In the morning, we went to Easter Mass. The kids were actually very good during the service, but still thought the best part of church was the playground out back.

After church, we headed over to Billy and Annie's house for lunch, a family reunion, and an Easter egg hunt. It was nice to catch up with some of the Melink crew that I haven't seen in a couple of years. Nana Melink is still going strong, and enjoys watching the flurry of activity that kids, grandkids, and great grandkids bring to her old house. Katie and cousin Lily are the best mother's helpers that I have ever met. I was ready to pack them in my suitcase and bring them home. Dan and Janine are as sweet as ever, and they brought their youngest daughter Eva with them. Eva is not so young any more. She has graduated college, engaged to a Marine, and ready to start the next phase of her life. Gina and Mike have more energy than any parents I know and were able to give Ryan and I a welcome break as they chased after all the kiddos.

Lots of love, laughter, and chocolate, it was a good day.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Just for Laughs

It is a bleak and rain day here, but this cheered me up.

Elizabeth must have gotten those moves from her father. The girls are getting more use out of their tap shoes at home then they ever did at dance class.

Counting Sheep?

Last night as the girls were laying in bed talking, Ava asked "Liz, can you help me count to 100." They made it to 39 before it disintegrated into calling each other "meanie" and I had to put the kibosh on all talking.

32nd Birthday

All of the family visits are over and Ryan is working in Ohio this month, so it was a pretty quiet birthday for me. Ryan sent some beautiful tulips and tasty chocolates to help me celebrate the day. Since the kids can't use the stove yet, and I didn't really want to settle for a plastic piece of cake from their play kitchen, we set out on a mission to find a yummy ice cream cake. Three places later, success!

The girls sang me happy birthday, and then we dug in.

The damage!

No cooking, no clean up...Happy Birthday to Me!

Oma and Opa

The next round of visitors were my grandparents, the kids' great grandparents, Oma and Opa. They came for a week and quite quickly adapted to our hectic lifestyle. The kids were more than happy to entertain Oma and Opa with songs, dances, books, toys, and games. The girls made Oma play Uno a million times. Opa gave me a hand fixing the "slide of death" in the backyard. Still there was plenty of down time for them to relax and enjoy their great grand children as they zoomed by on a bike in a blur. I was so happy that they could come down and just be a part of our lives, everyone was sad to see them head back to Pennsylvania.

Little Bit of Lovliness

A lot of hours of work but it looks awesome on the new owner, goddaughter and niece, Reina.

Ryan's brother, Bill was had to come to town for a medical conference and he brought the rest of the crew with him. It was great to spend time with Annie and the kids Reina and Liam. We took in a play at the children's theater, rode the train in the park, and went for a dip in Gram's hot tub, among many other things. Annie was in charge of picture taking, so pop over to her blog at The Wee Knights to read and see more.

End of (Another) Season

Gummy Bears Winter T-Ball Team These kids played so hard this season and I am very proud of them. Due to the shortage of players and teams for the winter season, we played the 5-6 year old age division as well as the 3-4 year olds. As soon as the little kids saw the big kids hitting without a Tee, they had to try it also. By the end of the season, the two Elizabeth's were consistently hitting coach pitches and even Ava (my youngest player) hit a pitch at the last game. The boys weren't bad either. They excelled at throwing with distance and accuracy. Best of all, the kids just really got along well and enjoyed playing together.

See ya next season!

Beautiful Day

Immediately following Elizabeth's Birthday party, a cold front blew in. I am not kidding. The temperture dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes and we were stuck indoors for the next few days. Luckily before Grandpa had to head home to mountains of snow, we did get to go out and enjoy one day of beautiful San Antonio weather. A trip to our favorite (and closest park) was in order, so that the kids could stretch their legs and Elizabeth could try out her new birthday scooter. Next year, she wants a skate board! I am not sure how my dad managed to elude all pictures, but I promise he really did come for a visit and the great pictures above are compliments of him.