Surprise Party

First of all, we kinda went "blog crazy" today. I was so busy, especially this past week helping plan Mom's surprise 50th birthday party, that I haven't been putting new pictures up on my blog. Well today while Elsie was taking her nap I got ALL caught up . I think I put up five new posts before this one! Here is a picture of some of us on Saturday morning getting the hall all decorated and ready for my Mom (Grandma G.).

Here is Matt filling up balloons and getting some help from three of his nieces!

Emmy doesn't know what to think of those balloons...

The Birthday girl finally arrived. I think she was pretty surprised! We loved seeing her so happy. She definitely deserved her party!

Here she is with Rick, getting ready to blow out her candles.

My cousin Becky made the beautiful cake . Thank you so much Becky for all your hard work. It came our absolutely perfect!

There were lots of good things and treats to eat! I thought this was a cute shot of Kimberly getting some chocolate!

The kids played around with the karaoke machine. From the look in his face you can tell Luke thought that was pretty neat! :)

Russell took the opportunity to show off his rubber band ball once again, which is always growing and growing. Quite an interesting hobby I must say.
Here is John and his girlfriend...

and Theresa and her boyfriend Anthony.

Elsie loved all the attention she received.

Elsie and Grandma G. towards the end of the afternoon. A few minutes after I took this picture Elsie let her balloon go.

It was wonderful to have all my siblings together to celebrate our Mom's 50th. All eight of us that is!

Here we all are again with our Grandma and Grandpa H., Mom and Rick, and our significant others and children. What a big group!

A Nice Visit

Last week we received a surprise visit from Matt's Aunt Becky and Uncle Bob. Elsie was very happy to meet them. She was also happy to be able to stay up past her bedtime! Thanks for visiting!

Stuck

This morning I was working on something a few feet away when I heard a little voice calling "mama, mama"! That's when I found a baby in a predicament!

A Lovely Day

Sunday turned out to be a nice day, so after going to see Jenny and Georgia in LA On Broadway (They did a terrific job by the way!), we spent some time outdoors. Elsie went to see Grandpa's cows for the first time. She was so excited and just kept shrieking! She loved the cows and couldn't get enough of them. This made Daddy very happy. ;) I think she may have scared them a bit though! Later Elsie got to go for a walk with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Cara the dog. It was so nice to get outside and so relaxing that Elsie decided it'd be a good opportunity to take a nap in her stroller.

My Little Butterfly...

Little Pianist

While looking through boxes the other day, we uncovered this little keyboard that used to be Matt's when he was little. Well it's just the right size for Elsie and she just loves to "play" it!

"All Done" Face

When Elsie is all done eating, she let's me know by intercepting the spoon, and then proceeds to rub her icky hands all over her face. So here is her "all done" face!

Happy Faces

My First Easter

This year Mommy and Daddy hosted Easter dinner at our house. So after church we had lots of company! I got to visit with a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins. I got to meet my Uncle John for the first time. He is funny! We missed you Aunt Cassie and Great Grandma and Grandpa! Hope to see you soon! ;)

Here are my Uncles (Mommy's brothers), Benjamin, John and Russell.

Here is my Aunt Theresa and Uncle Ben.

And of course.... my cousins and I!

Us babies stuck together!

Here is my handsome boy cousin.

Ava is so proud of her baby brother Brendan!

Here are all the guys looking kinda suspicious. They are just coming in the house after hiding almost 100 Easter eggs outside for our egg hunt! Thank you for bringing all those eggs Grandma G.!

With limited hiding spaces, a lot of eggs were hidden in footprints! Mommy thought that was pretty funny. Here are Josie, Georgia and their Mommy. Looks like they are good finders!

Way to go Ava!

Time to check out the front yard!

When we got back inside the big girls opened all their eggs to find lots of goodies and little messages from Grandma inside! Ava just opened one to find a message that said "whoever opens this egg is a very pretty girl". By the look on her face she appreciated the complement! We had a lovely day from start to finish! Thank you all for such a wonderful day!

Oh, I almost forgot! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa S. for my yellow ducky! Wish you could have been here!