Wedding/Family Reunion

While Marlon and the kids were in NJ for Memorial Day weekend, I was able to fly down to Atlanta for my cousin Lindsay's wedding. I hadn't seen most of my relatives on my mom's side of the family in MANY years...maybe 15 years for some of them?! It was so great to reconnect, catch up with my cousins who are all grown up now, and spend time celebrating a beautiful wedding!

The Family

Here are Jon, Josh, and I with our "Granddaddy"! He is such an amazing man--he's in his 80's and still works full time--6 days a week! He's such an intelligent, sweet, and gentle man and it was great to spend some time with him and hear him share stories of his past in the Navy and stories of my mom as a child. :)

Kendy, Renee, and I

Our Family (minus Marlon, the kids, Nolan and Mia)

Lindsay (AKA the Beautiful Bride) and her dad, my Uncle Phil

Bride and Groom-Lindsay and Paul

My mom, her siblings, and their dad

Sprinkler Fun

These pics will speak for themselves...fun with sprinklers!

it's a crime it's been so long

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. I have so much catching up to do! Let's rewind back to last month and Alex's birthday...

We celebrated by going out to a Hibachi restaurant for dinner. Our neighbors Desiree and Adelaide came along, too...totally appropriate as Adelaide is like my third child sometimes! Alex had been to a Hibachi restaurant for her 3rd birthday--but we hadn't been back since.

We had a few moments of apprehension for Alex with the big fire at the beginning (although I'd say Adelaide didn't really get over that initial flame--I don't think Des will be taking her back anytime soon!)

In typical Kellan fashion, he watched with a lot of interest and oohed and aahed at it. He found it fascinating!

We returned home and celebrated with my homemade cake--chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream inside, covered with chocolate icing and a ton of sprinkles--right up Alex's alley!

Alex continued her birthday celebration over Memorial Day weekend with Marlon and his family in NJ. They went to the US vs. Turkey Soccer game in Phila. then celebrated with all of the cousins/extended family with a little picnic afterwards. I missed everything since I was in Atlanta for my cousin's wedding, but Marlon took a bunch of pictures so I could see what I missed!

Daddy and the kids

Kellan, Matt, Carter, Alex, and Pop Pop (apparently they're having fun but you can't get them all to look at the camera!)

Aunt Lauren helped Alex make and decorate her own cupcakes for her party (I'd imagine she ate more icing than she actually put on the cupcakes!)

Pop Pop and all of the grandkids

Alex's first attempt at Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Pop Pop, Carter, and Kellan

I will post next about Alex's birthday party (yes the 5th birthday continued for over a week). I don't have a ton of pictures so I will have to steal some of Renee's!

Happy 5th Birthday!

I can't believe my "little" girl is 5 today. Where has the time gone? You will be going to kindergarten in just a few months!

Your daddy and I were so blessed when you made us parents 5 years ago. You were a wonderful baby, a somewhat difficult (strong-willed!) toddler, and you're growing up so quickly before our eyes.

You are my picky eater, my dramatic girl, my energizer bunny. You have endless energy that I wish you could share with me! You love your brother dearly and you are the best big sister he could ever have asked for. You love to help "mother" him and snuggle with him when he needs it (wonder how long that snuggling part will last before you just want to lock him out of your room!)

You love chocolate like me. You share my queasy stomach and have to deal with car sickness. You share my teeth and their attraction to cavities (sorry!). You are told how much you look like (a better looking version of) your daddy. You love soccer, dance, and gymnastics--if I ask you to choose your favorite you can't pick just one--unless daddy is in the room then he convinces you to say soccer!

Alex and her dance teacher Miss Liz

You are full of life and laughter. You love to be tickled. You love to be chased by your daddy (as long as he doesn't hide from you and try to scare you). You continue to have an aversion to most movies--we still haven't figured out the reason behind this but we hope that you will someday grow out of it! You have added Cinderella to the short list of movies you will watch--you still prefer to stick to TV or videos.

You are mommy's girl--you love hanging out with me, helping with gardening, planting flowers, washing dishes (sometimes). You love pink and purple. You love wearing dresses every day.
getting ready for her sleepover at school last week

I love our time we spend together at night before bed. You are looking for reasons to keep me in your room so you're always wanting to talk to me about your day, what we have planned for the weekend, and anything else you can come up with. You often come up with your deeper, more thought provoking questions at night, too. You love reading your storybook Bible and asking questions about Jesus, which I love. Your love for Jesus is growing and it's so wonderful to see. We want you to continue to grow up with a loving heart, a heart that loves God, and be a person who wants to love and care for others.

I hope the day doesn't come where you no longer want me to snuggle with you at night, pick you up and give you big hugs--because I love all of these things so much! It makes all the difficult, frustrating moments with you pale in comparison to the special moments we share.
Your dad, Kellan and I love you very much. Happy 5th birthday big girl!

some videos for your viewing pleasure...

Last night was Alex's family night/preK graduation at school, and I am attaching a video of her "performance" as a flying squirrel. She did such a great job and we were so proud! She was supposed to be one of two flying squirrels but the other squirrel was a no-show, so she carried the part on her own! (I must add that last night before bed I was telling her what a great job she did and she said "but mommy why did everyone laugh at me?" That bothered her so I tried to explain that they laughed because she was very cute and did such a good job. I told her that mommies and daddies don't laugh at little kids to make fun of them, they laugh because they like them and like to watch them do cute things.) Sorry the video is so long--I couldn't quickly figure out how to edit it. She makes an appearance at the beginning then again at the end.


Here are a few videos of Kellan at his last gymnastics class today. He and his classmates (all 3 of them!) pretty much had free reign over the gym for the entire hour. They were able to play with/climb on everything, and they had a great time! We're sad this class is over--I plan to sign him up again in the fall since he enjoyed it so much.

Visit to PSU

A few weeks back we headed to Penn State for a soccer alumni weekend. We were able to spend time with some old (and new!) friends, watch some soccer, enjoy some famous Penn State eateries, hit up the new Creamery, and make a long overdue visit to the nittany lion shrine.
Below are some highlights from our trip...

Kids running around Rec Hall

Family Pic at the Nittany Lion shrine

We were able to spend a lot of time catching up with Marlon's friend Michael and his wife (as of TODAY!) Katie. They are a wonderful couple and we are so glad Michael has met someone so great. The kids love Katie and enjoyed getting to know her.

Michael and Marlon---old friends

Father and son

Alex, Michael and Katie

Alex and her new friend

Marlon and Michael on the field together again

Kellan taking a break from practicing his soccer skills

Marlon working on Kellan's technique

Kellan is off and running!

My favorite shot--enjoying the tree stump in Michael and Katie's backyard--the lighting was just perfect!

farm day-2010

The months are just flying by these days. We are less than a week away from Alex's 5th birthday, and Kellan is 26 months old. I have a lot of catching up to do before we head into 3 very busy weeks with Alex finishing up school, dance, family trips, Alex's birthday and party...if I don't post about what we've been up to for the past month I may never be able to catch up!

At the end of April we went on Alex's annual school field trip to the farm. I brought Kellan along with me this time and it was fun to experience it with both kids. It was a hot sunny day (just what you DON'T want at a farm--it smelled lovely!) but we had a great time.