happy 30th melissa!!!
Today is April 16th and that means that its Melissa's birthday. I met her when she was 15, so I have now known her half of her life. I love her for the beautiful woman, mother, daughter, sister and friend that she is. She makes everyone's life better and I'm glad that I get to call her mine. Happy birthday Melissa...the best is yet to come.
-jay
spring break
We had a great spring break and if you still get a spring break we hope yours went well too! We took a few day-trips and got to see some of our favorite people in some of our favorite places. First off...the zoo with the Pakizers.
Charlotte wanted to match some of the animals so we set her up with a giraffe print onesie and she fit right in.
Here she is taking a look at some monkeys. We often make comments about how Charlotte resembles a monkey, so once again she fit right in.
Obligatory family shot.
Great silhouette of Charlotte peeking at some bengal tigers.
Besties enjoying the beautiful weather we had for our zoo trip.
Next stop, down to the outer banks for a few days with 3/4's of the Smith family. The kids as usual, having a great time together.
Kaleb and Kathryn's aunt Amy picked up some of those colored bubbles and fun ensued.
It appears that Charlotte is bleeding, but nope, just some purple colored bubbles!
The next door neighbors had a great little dog named Ally, that Charlotte absolutely adored. I like this action shot because it looks like both of them are running
The three of us went for a long walk on the beach (which Charlotte can now add to her eHarmony profile of things she enjoys).
Because the Smiths are midwesterners like us, we decided to make some Cincinnati style chili and Charlotte was not shy around it whatsoever.
If you're still with us, we rounded out our spring break week with a trip to Northern Virginia and Washington DC to visit Akim, Meg and Baylor. The kids are only 6 months apart, so they loved every minute spent playing together even though Baylor is much older and more mature than Charlotte :)
Great shot of Meg and Baylor playing in the tot lot in their neighborhood.
The kids romping around the equipment.
And finally, we stopped by the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. It was the centennial celebration complete with all of the parade elements you would expect.
The kids didn't take morning naps, so by the time we got to our spot on Constitution Avenue they were zoned out. After about 45 minutes they got interested and started to check things out.
Charlotte deep in thought...
Like mother like daughter. We wonder where she gets her hairstyle from?
President and First Lady 2055.
After the parade a quick diaper change that ended up being a few minutes of pant-less fun.
And thats our spring break. It went by quickly, but we had a great time. Big thanks to both families for letting us crash with them and spend a few days together.
easter sunday
We had a great day, we hope you did too!
We started the day with a surprise left by the easter bunny himself. He forgot to cover his tracks, so we knew it was him!
He left goodies for everyone!
We quickly got ready for church and snapped a family portrait before we left.
Of course we had to have photos with both mommy and daddy.
And one taken of all of us by Josh after lunch.
This picture just makes me laugh. A man and his dog and his girl.
As the day was coming to an end, we all relaxed a bit.
Catch you on the flip side!
-melissa
here comes peter cottontail...
Most children are frightened of an oversized rodent sitting in a rocking chair wanting tons of children to sit on its lap. Charlotte is not most children.
We went to Williamsburg yesterday, did some shopping and stopped off to see the easter bunny. I really had my hopes set on a photo shoot with a real live bunny. But I am really glad that we decided just to stop and say hi to the big guy.
She thought he was amazing.
And cried when it was time to go.
She was sad until we gave her these silly foam ears.
And then some delicious goodness from Sno-To-Go. Soft serve ice cream mixed with a snow cone...amazing!
He thought so too!
Coming home, she was exhausted after a long day!
In honor of our cute little bunny meeting the easter bunny, here is my super simple directions for bunny cupcakes! You need candy for nose and eyes, I used jelly beans this year. Small marshmallows for the cheeks, and big marshmallows cut in half and dipped in sprinkles for the ears.
And tada, you have one bunny cupcake that kids of any age can make! I have been making these for years with my school kids and they always love them!
Hope everyone has a great Easter. We have plans for the zoo today with some besties and then a delicious dinner planned for Sunday.
-melissa