Modes of Transportation

It is getting really hard to convince Natalie to go on a walk anymore. She would much rather stay home and play outside, so we've been trading in our daily walks around town for some driveway cruising. 

Chicks

Sadie and Eli, our friends across the street, just got even cooler. We already spent most of our evenings playing with them before, but now they have baby chicks!

Party!

We celebrated Max's birthday with a big family party at the park on Sunday. Max had a great time, so great that he didn't really want to be bothered by cake and presents. He handed his cupcake away, and these two presents in the pictures are the only two that I didn't open by myself, but our little guy had fun, so the party was a success.

One!

Max is one! How on Earth did that happen? And was he really ever as small as he looks in that first picture? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it was just a year ago that he joined our family because it seems like he has been here forever.

At one year old Max gives the sweetest kisses, and is still quite the mama's boy. He has a little ornery streak of which I'm sure we've only seen the beginning. He is happiest outside and gives me a daily workout chasing him back up the driveway away from the street over and over again.

We had been having a rough week (teeth? Isn't that always the answer?) so I was a little worried that he was going to fuss all day on his birthday, but he must have known it was his birthday because he was in such a good mood. We made a trip to the donut shop, played with cousins, ate Chinese food, and played outside with his new water table. We really had such a fun day.

We had cupcakes with supper tonight, but Max still isn't so sure about cake. He mostly just picked at it and then threw pieces on the floor. We'll try again at his party on Sunday.

And, finally, this one was too cute not to include. I can't quite remember what he was mad about here, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that he and Natalie were working on "sharing". It's his party, and he can cry if he wants to.

Happy birthday, Max!! We love you more than you'll ever know.

Harvey County Kid Fest

I'm starting to ease Max into dropping his morning nap, which means I have to keep him busy in the mornings so he forgets about being tired. Our morning distraction on Saturday was Harvey County Kid Fest, which turned out to be a lot of fun. They had booths set up with activities and prizes for kids up to eight years old, and after completing so may activities each kid got a new book. Natalie had a blast! Max just watched most of the time, but he had fun playing on the playground equipment at the end.

Strawberry Gardener

Natalie's favorite thing about going to my parents' house last summer was getting to pick strawberries from their strawberry patch, so this year Grandpa John planted Natalie a little strawberry patch of her own. I'm only slightly nervous about keeping them alive. Chris and I don't have the best record when it comes to plant survival, but hopefully with Natalie's help we'll have some strawberries this summer.

We are the Easter people

Even though I woke up 30 minutes earlier than my usual Sunday wake up time, we were still racing out the door 90% sure that we'd have to sit in the balcony at church like we did last Easter. (Surprise of all surprises - we arrived well before the opening hymn and were able to squeeze into a pew in the main body of the church!) When I set my alarm the night before, I was sure that we'd have enough time to take a family picture in front of our newly blooming tree, but the breakfast of attempted bunny-shaped cinnamon rolls must have taken up more than its allotted share of time because we had to reschedule the photo shoot. We were so busy having fun with family in Yates Center the rest of the day that we ended up taking our Easter Sunday pictures on Easter Monday evening. Fake it until you make it, I guess!

Max has grown up just a little since last Easter:

The Easter Bunny knew we were going to be out of town for Easter, so he came to our house Saturday morning.

Happy Easter Monday, everyone! 

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people, and hallelujah is our song." -- Pope John Paul II

Easter Eggs

We didn't color Easter eggs last year because we were a little preoccupied with four-day-old Max, so we were excited to dye them for the first time with Natalie this year. We weren't sure how big the mess would be, so we took it outside.

Irish

As an O'Halloran she gets to wear St. Patrick's Day shirts all year round.