We've had a birthday!

My baby has turned 4! It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years with this bright-eyed little one.


This called for a party! She'd been talking about it since Nate's birthday in March. "I want a yellow and pink birthday party at City Park." So that's what we had.


In case you thought these photos came from a magazine...they were from Elly's party. I happen to have a good friend who's a photographer who appeared with camera in hand... Meaghan can make all things beautiful with that thing!


Guess what...it's my birthday!


Look at all these adorable kiddos! Elly loved having her friends with her to celebrate.


The youngest having a birthday is kind of nice with older siblings as helpers! Mac wanted to be in charge of the pinata. He almost got hit a couple times...


Nate wanted to do facepainting. Sorry to all the parents that had to scrub for hours to get that off! By the way, Elly's was done at a carnival the night before. Nate's good...but not that good! :)


Get that loot!


This is one happy girl!


Some words that I would use to describe this little one...sweet, loving, inquisitive, outgoing, fearless, chatty, loud (we know she didn't get that from me!) and on-the-go. She's a bundle of energy that's cute, likes dresses, yet a tomboy all in one. God knew the little girl that would complete our family. We just love her to pieces!

Battle of the Bros!

Mac and Nate have been playing soccer this Spring on a U8 and U7 team. Each of these divisions only have 3 teams, so Nate plays a U8 team twice and Mac a U7 team once...and you guessed it, they ended up playing each other this past Friday night. It was a great game! :)


Can you find them both intensely watching the ball?! Nate is always intense...and Mac upped his intensity this game playing against his brother.


Go Mac Go! Mac was worried that Sam wouldn't cheer for him since he's Nate's team's assistant coach. Of course Sam cheered for him, and I think both teams thought it was fun that two brothers were playing each other.


Gotta love the headband... :)


Mac hit his teammate on this one... It was hot and Mac's team in particular seemed out to lunch for most the game. Bummer for them, but it did even out the playing field for a younger team!





The boys started off the second half both playing up front. THAT was really fun to watch. They came up against each other quite a bit...just like playing in the backyard.


After the game, they were all smiles and very hot. So after a goofy picture, we went out for some ice cream!

Mac's Piano Recital

Mac started taking piano lessons about 10 months ago. He has always loved music and has had a great ear for it. Piano lessons have been great for him. He's not always the best at practicing...but he does enjoy it. :) It's been tough the past two months with soccer and piano, but I'm proud of him for keeping up with everything. One of my friends teaches him and her students do a piano recital before Christmas and then again in the Spring. They play at a senior living center which is really fun. The piano recital is listed as an "event" on their daily activity board, and I think they really enjoy the kids playing for them. I missed recording the intro to his song, but here's most of Mac playing "Morning has Broken."