Morgan had her 3 year birthday on Dec 29th. I have to say again that birthdays right around Christmas sure are hard. We had Christmas day presents, gifts on the 28th from my parents, Morgan’s birthday gifts on the 29th, and gifts on the 30th from Gavin’s parents. On the 31st Morgan came out in the morning and asked ‘Mommy, I open presents.’ I think she thought that’s just what she does now. I don’t blame her, but I’m sure am glad they are done with!

Anyway, her party was a lot of fun. I had found this cake on this blog a few months ago (yes, same blog as the photoblocks below), and knew I had to make it. I convinced Morgan (pretty easily) that a rainbow party would be so much fun. (she really didn’t have any strong opinions about her party to begin with). So, we went with an all-rainbow theme.  We invited 2 other families that we spend time with, so we had 6 kids here total, plus the grandparents.

First off, here is the cake (for pictures of the inside, scroll down):

The guests arrived at 4, and they all made rainbow necklaces out of fruit loops.  Well, some preferred to just eat the fruit loops (who needs a necklace anyway?).

Then they moved on to pushing skittles down the hallway with their noses.  I had cleaned the floor, but if I knew how much my hallway would be licked and slid on during this game, maybe I would have *really scrubbed the floor!  Here is Sammy J working her skittle down the hall.

Then they moved on to making rainbow designs with tissue squares.  I had taped up clear contact paper, they stuck on tissue squares and we put another piece of contact paper over it so they could bring home their creation.

Hannah worked very hard on her design.

Then it was time for cake, rainbow fruit, and of course, rainbow jello.

The inside of the cake:

Mackenzie hung out with her Nana and Memere the whole time.

After everyone left she opened her birthday presents.  One of our gifts for her was a little purse that had a phone, keys and 2 lipsticks in it (I had removed the credit cards - I don’t think that’s something a 3 year old needs to ‘play’ with).  I really don’t wear lipstick much myself, but Morgan knew right what to do with hers!

It was a very fun birthday!

We had a fun Halloween this year. I have a friend whose kids love costumes, so Jackson had his pick of what he wanted to be from the stash that she had. He quickly chose Batman because of the *awesome wings that came with it - this pack that went on his back and wings that sprung out when he pulled the cord. He loved it. Morgan was a princess by default, and Mackenzie was the giraffe for her first Halloween, just as the other 2 kids were for theirs.

All dressed up.  Now bring on the candy!

We went to a party thrown by a friend of a friend - someone we knew, but not well.  There were a few other friends of ours there as well, and plenty of kids.  Afterward we all went trick or treating together in their neighborhood.  It had started drizzling again by this point, but with the goal of candy, the kids didn’t seem to mind one bit!

Princess Morgan with her candy loot.

Batman extending his wings

Our unhappy giraffe.  Why are we out here in the cold and drizzly weather anyway?  I’m tired!

Approaching another door.  They got really good at saying trick or treat!

When we got back, Gavin set up the black backdrop and took some pictures.  We bribed Jackson and Morgan with candy if they cooperated.  Mackenzie didn’t quite get that, and had this crinkly bag that I took away from her right before this picture.  She didn’t like that much.  But this is such a classic picture!

And we did finally end up with a cute on - yes, Mackenzie is eating a bag of M&Ms. Anything to make her happy!

We had a short, but very fun, vacation in Charleston this week. We went primarily to spend time with our dear friends, Joel and Amy Woodard, who just moved back from Slovenia. We spent a lot of time with them while we were in Slovakia, vacationing together and getting together whenever we could. It had been 2.5 years since we last saw each other, yet this week it felt like hardly any time at all had passed.  We drove in on Tuesday, leaving a day later than planned because Jackson spent Monday throwing up all day.  It seemed to be a 24 hour bug because Tuesday he was tired but feeling fine.  We then had to come back Friday because of a camp program this weekend.  So we packed as much as we could into our 2.5 days!

This was also the first time Gavin had been to Charleston, and the first time our kids had ever been to the beach.  We had beautiful weather, and even got quite a bit of sun on our faces (Morgan especially - her face is still very pink even 2 days later!).

Warning - this post will have LOTS of pictures, I just couldn’t decide.

Day 1 - We spent a good portion of the day at the beach at Sullivan’s Island.  There were hardly any people on the beach, the sun was shining brightly, and the kids (especially Jackson) absolutely loved playing in the sand and wading in the water.  I didn’t realize how warm it would be so I didn’t pack any bathing suits, but Jackson pretty much got completely soaked in his jean shorts, and didn’t mind a bit.  He was very upset when it was time to leave.  Guess we’ll have to plan a beach vacation sometime soon!

Yup, Morgan is in a diaper.  Her capris got wet and off they came!

Abigail Woodard had fun helping bury Jackson in the sand.  She is 3, and we have decided to begin their courtship. :)  They had a great time playing together this week.

Day 2 - We spent the morning at the Children’s Museum in downtown Charleston, had lunch at a great Mexican place, then walked along the Battery and found a park where the kids played.  That evening we had dinner together with the Woodards.

The museum had an art room and the kids enjoyed painting outside.

You can sorta see her sunburned face in this picture.

Jackson decided to stick with the color orange.  Very bright and cheerful!

Poor Mackenzie.  She didn’t get a decent nap for 2 days straight.  She took mini naps when she was able, usually up against Gavin or I, and was constantly being woken up.  She was a trooper though, and is still definitely our laid back, go with the flow, child!

Amy is 35 weeks pregnant with #3.  Definitely one of my dearest friends, we connected from the first time we met.  As did Gavin and Joel, which makes it just so much fun to hang out together.  Friends like this are rare in life, and we are so glad that they are on the same side of the ocean as us once again!

What happens when you have 2 tired girls?  Lots of crying, and thankfully a Daddy who can laugh it all off (versus Mommy who can get rather stressed out!)

And another one of my little peanut… just cause she’s so darn cute!

And of course we wait until the *very last minute to take a picture of us all together.  How come that always happens?  Our families have grown quite a bit since we were last together - see that picture here.  We were quite the sight walking through downtown Charleston with 5 kids ages 4 and under, and a very pregnant Amy!  We look forward to lots more vacations and fun times together (and of course the continuation of Jackson and Abigail’s courship. )

We spent the weekend at my parents’ house in South Carolina. My sister Melissa and her husband Dick flew down from Chicago and we all had a fun 4th of July celebration.  We got some great pics of the evening!

What would the 4th of July be without watermelon…

and cotton candy…

and slushies…

and handstand contests (I think Melissa won)…

and bands singing all sorts of fun music (Jackson was enthralled with the band)…

and my sweet kiddos!

I think Mackenzie enjoyed her first 4th of July, she was mesmerized by the fireworks!  She had almost fallen asleep on me when they started, and was just straining her neck to see them.  Here she is with her Aunt Melissa and me…

The whole family:

On Monday we had some HUGE storms in the Atlanta area with rain and very strong winds.  If you have been to our house, you know that we live on a very wooded lot.  The power went out at about 9 am, and I was listening to the wind and branches falling on the roof.  Some of them were loud, so around 9:30 I went outside to make sure none of them had done any damage.  The wind continued to blow for the next couple hours, and at 11:30 I left to go to the grocery store (who also ended up having no power), and then to get Jackson from school.

We got home around 1:00 and the kids were eating lunch, when Jackson said “Mommy, look at that tree!”  I looked out the window and what I saw about made my heart stop.  The largest oak tree in our backyard had fallen completely across the yard!  It was a live oak, but had grown up right next to another tree, so the root system was not enough to keep it upright.  It had thankfully been leaning away from the house, because it was about 10 feet from our bedroom window where Mackenzie sleeps.  It would have destroyed part of the house, for sure.  I went out later and snapped some pictures.

Here’s the view from the side of the yard, so you can see where it was in relation to our house/window (and the tree that is left standing that it was attached to will need to come down as well):

A view of the full length of the tree, and how it got caught in the branches of another tree across the yard:

And a view of our backyard right now!

I still don’t know when exactly it happened.  I would have thought I would have heard the snap of the tree breaking, but the wind and rain was so loud, I might not have.  Because when I left to get Jackson the wind had mostly stopped.  I sure am thankful all turned out ok!

The second egg hunt of the weekend was Sunday afternoon at our neighbor’s house.  Each year she hides probably over 100 eggs in her yard, the ivy, etc, for her neices and nephews to come and search for.  She invited us last year, but we had already had plans, so this year we joined in on the festivities.  She gave Jackson and Morgan a bit of a head start since they were significantly younger than the other kids.  But after the egg hunt the day before and realizing all the goodies that were IN the eggs, it took no time at all for them to run off and start collecting!

Jackson’s basket is close to overflowing:

Morgan spots and runs after an egg before anyone else can grab it!

Only problem is that neither the kids nor I need this much candy!

The first egg hunt of last weekend was Saturday morning at our pastors house.  About 20 kids (at least) ages 6 and under came and searched for plastic eggs containing all sorts of sweet goodies.  The kids were a little timid at first with all the other kids, but soon got into it!  Thanks for the great Easter baskets Nana!

When I asked Jackson a while ago what kind of cake he wanted this year, without hesitation he said ‘bulldozer!’. So… that led to a construction theme for his party, which we had on Sunday at a local park. The weather was beautiful, and he was allowed to invite 4 friends (the age he was turning). Most of them have younger siblings around Morgan’s age, so we had quite the crowd there.

If you have kept up with this blog for any length of time, you know that I enjoy making cakes. It’s not something I do very often or have much time for, but birthdays are the perfect excuse for me to spend hours making a cake. I don’t really enjoy party planning or anything like that, but I love making these cakes. Here’s my repertoire I posted about previously. Last year I made Jackson an airplane cake, and knew I had a lot to live up to after that one, but I think the bulldozer came out pretty great! Gavin helped a ton with getting the right dimensions and adding a lot of the detailed piping at the end (there is even an air vent on the back!

We played some games where the kids had to push little dump trucks with sand through cones and empty them out, and they also had to throw some sand bags into bowls.  For their prizes they got construction hats and tool aprons (courtesy of Home Depot)

This is one of Jackson’s best buddies, Abe:

The blowing out of the candles:

And Jackson can always eat some cake!

Both sets of grandparents were in town for the occasion, so Morgan had fun with them, as well as some of the other younger kids.

Overall, we had a great time, and loved celebrating our sweet Jackson!

March 1st brought snow to Atlanta - yeah!!  We had known it was in the weather forecast, but I was trying not to get my hopes up too high.  Toward the end of church I turned and looked out the window, and it looked like it was raining snow, it was coming down so hard and wet!  Over the course of the next few hours it turned more fluffy, and stuck enough to leave us an inch or 2 on the ground - not much, but for us in the South, quite the excitement!

Walking out of church, Morgan was just mesmerized, as it was the first snowfall she really experienced - she was just a baby when it snowed here last year (see Jackson’s ‘noman’ here).  We came home and quickly changed into outdoor gear and went out to enjoy our winter wonderland (even Mackenzie got out for a few minutes!).

Morgan was deciding she was getting a little chilly in this picture, although ended up staying out for quite a while longer:

Mackenzie stayed snug as ever in her warm little outfit (Morgan wore this quite often through the Slovak winter when she was tiny)

I’m sure the snow is over for the year, after all it is rare to even get 2 years in a row with snow down here.  But I sure loved it, and so did Jackson.  And it should be almost 70 degrees by the end of the week.

Melissa and the rest of the US Paralympic Swim team (and some other Olympic athletes as well) got to go visit the White House a couple weeks ago.  Because she carried the flag, she got to present a gift to the President, and got the pictures below:

You can read more about it on her blog.