Happy 5th Birthday To Marin!!!

She was so excited to go to school with her birthday treat.. turning 5 is pretty exciting!

I just love this picture of her {just before going to school} 1st picture as a 5 year old!!!

After school the birthday festivities began. We had a special lunch on the red "special plate" and lots of extra special treats all day long. {She also had the usual breakfast... cinnamon rolls with a candle on top!} She chose a Happy Meal from McDonald's as her birthday dinner & then the "party" began. Just family & a few neighborhood friends over for cake & opening presents.

Here are the girls with their new American Girl Dolls!

Margaux with Lana & Marin with Lanie

{Margaux got a 1/2 birthday present since she didn't get many presents on her birthday... it was right after Christmas!}

 She got what she wanted... another American Girl Doll {Lanie} & Lego Friends {she got several sets} She also got a stack of clothes & a new game.

Here she is with the cake she picked out & designed herself. She was very particular about how she wanted it to look. She told the lady EXACTLY what she wanted. "Small cake with a big blue bow in the middle & cupcakes all around it with dots!"

The 5 of us...

I still can not believe she's 5 already. We had a great day & had so much fun celebrating with her. We love you so much Marin!! xoxo

Here is our little athlete! She's playing soccer for the first time this summer & loving it! I took this picture before she got her team shirt so I'll have to post another soon. Maybe even get some action shots of her on the field!

She's on the same team as one of her bffs Keira {also our neighbor} so that has definitely made it more fun for the two of them. They are two of the youngest girls on their U6 team, but they don't seem to mind! I think Marin's favorite part of each game is the drink/snack that's provided when the game is finished!!! Definitely motivation to keep playing! haha

And here is the other athlete of the family... this is after he completed the Cellcome 1/2 Marathon two weeks ago. It was a HOT one... 90 degrees by 8:30a.m.!!! It was his first time doing the 1/2 instead of the full marathon. He picked a good time to run the half because it was hot enough that they cancelled the entire marathon. Thankfully, Gary had already finished before they called it quits. It was a great training run for him since he'll be doing a triathalon in two weeks!!! Go Gary!

Happy Memorial Day! We ended the long weekend by enjoying a Memorial Day parade with our neighbor friends...this photo was Maeve's only time out of her stroller, she was trying so hard to get out of Margaux's arms & break away!

The kids had a blast & brought home WAY too much candy! Although we were HOT, HOT, HOT they still had a fun time.

The almost 5 year old enjoying the dancers...

Too loud for this one!

We're prepping for Marin's birthday today... can't wait to celebrate with her tomorrow. She's soooo excited. One more sleep! xoxo

We've got a walker!!!

I was doing the dishes on Thursday & looked up to see her walking across the toy room! She's such a big girl already. The big smile on her face was priceless. Definitely so proud of herself! The months go by WAY too fast.

These pictures are from my mom's  house. She was obsessed with the bright pink flowers...

And this is where she's been spending most of her spring/summer so far... in the stroller! Not sure she'll be as content strolling along now that she's walking. But this photo shows exactly how she rolls... enjoying a snack with one of her feet up on the tray! It's so funny but every time we put her in the stroller her little foot goes right up.

I love those cute toes!

Sorry I've been slacking once again. The weather has gotten warmer & we've been outside every night. I have lots to catch up on! In the past two weeks, Marin has started soccer & we've gone into full blown summer mode...no dinner before 6:30pm, late nights outside playing & forgetting when the last time we bathed the kids was!!! lol

Above is a picture of the girls on my dad's new {HUGE} 4-wheeler. It's way bigger than his last one & he just loves it. One of the only positive things about our neighbors having to move to St. Louis is them having to sell this thing. Sure made my dad {and the girls} very happy to have a new toy! I'm working on editing some photo jobs {wedding included} & then I'll get to blogging again. I've got some great pictures of the girls I can't wait to share.... xoxo

My Grandma & Grandpa Goessl {the girl's great-grandparents} returned home this week. They winter in Arizona. We were at their doorstep within an hour of their arrival! The girls were so excited to see them since we haven't since October!

My Grandma brought them this white coconut. We got it out & poked a hole in it that night after bath time. Here is Margaux with the "nut," she was very hesitant to try it, but all smiles!

Marin was very eager to try, she dove right in & said "It was soooo good. Tastes like cotton candy!"

Once we drained out all the juice {filled the entire cup right in front of Marg}, Gary cracked it open. They were thrilled to see the inside & thought it was so cool.

Thanks GG! We're so glad you're home!!! xoxo

With the weather not being as nice the past week or so, we've brought out all of our winter activities once again, like playdoh! I found these super cute printable activity pages to use with playdoh & the girls had a blast with them. Just print, laminate & play!

Here is Marin giving the crocodile orange teeth!

And Margaux posing silly for a picture while making apples for the apple tree...

Carrots for the bunny...

And then a playdoh girl that Margaux created {with my help!}. She HAD to have earrings!

I'm not usually the biggest fan of playdoh but the kids love it. This particular day I had a lot of fun with it. Must the the addition of the printable mats. Makes it all more interesting! xoxo

Hmmmm...what tasty snacks can I find in here??

Maeve LOVES hanging out in the pantry these days. She crushes things, eats dust/crumbs from the floor & whatnot. But lets talk about the important stuff {her shirt} & yes, her mom does rock! {lol}

I can not get enough of this picture of her! She looks like such a big girl & those little teeth are just perfect. What you don't see are the two HUGE teeth that just cut through up on top. She's walking along the furniture more than ever & even standing with out holding on to anything. She's gotten pretty confident & gets so excited when she stands alone. I feel like it won't be long & she'll be walking. She's such a happy baby & we all just love watching her grow. The big girls get so excited when she does something new. And, I almost forgot, she's says HI! {All day long.} Now that she's got it down, it's all we hear. What a cutie pie! xoxo

Our first trip to the zoo this year! Gary took a few days off last week while Marin was on spring break so we spent one morning at the zoo. The girls were so excited & I was excited to see how Maeve would react since it was {sort of} her first time at the zoo. She went last year but was so tiny & just slept the entire time in her seat. Just as suspected, she LOVED it. So much to look at!

Here are the girls with my grandpa Ray's memorial stone. We always make a stop there & have a conversation about how wonderful he was and how much he's missed. xoxo

Not much has changed since last year, Marin & Margaux still love feeding the giraffe the most. Their long, black tongues are sooo funny!

Margaux's turn... {Her hair is getting so long!}

Maeve was a little unsure, but couldn't keep her eyes off of them. As long as Gary had her, she was okay. Such a cute moment. It's just so fun to see her experience new things.

Margaux was to silly to hop into this picture, still cute though.

We're looking forward to many more zoo trips in the next few months as the weather warms up a bit. We were lucky enough to get there at lunch time {for the animals} and were able to watch many of them being fed. The kids thought that was the best! xoxo

Talk about late! It's taken me a bit to get these pictures posted, that's for sure!!! We had so much fun coloring Easter eggs this year. The {big} girls really took their time & colored some great eggs. They've definitely improved their technique since last year! {Lots of bi & tri-colored eggs}

Maeve love her {Maeve} egg so much she wanted to eat it!

Wouldn't be complete with out a silly Margaux picture. Her faces just crack me up!

And Miss Marin with her BRIGHT blue egg. She was sooo proud of how dark it got! This was her first & only solid colored egg. She got fancy after this one!

I love this photo. Maeve's first Easter Egg!

And we're done...One last photo before we {mom} clean up!

I was amazed at how much they got into the coloring, although it still didn't take long to color 2 dozen eggs. I think they would have done about 4 if I had them. Next year I'll do another dozen. LOTS of egg salad afterwards!

I L.O.V.E. these pictures. I've been telling Gary that he needs to snap more photos with ME in the pictures. {again, I'm always behind the camera!} But these turned out so cute. I love them all sooooo flippin much. How could you not???!!!

And one smiling one...

I look forward to many more mommy/little lady shots. Poor Maeve was just exhausted. She's just cutting her top {huge} teeth so she's been a bit clingy & chewing on everything. Her tooth brush is a huge favorite...well that & stalks of celery! {Which I find all over the house when she's done with them!}

She's such a doll. xoxo

One more sleep until Easter Day is here & the bunny arrives! The girls are soooo excited they can hardly stand it. I'm just thinking about the massive amounts of sugar they'll consume in the next day and a half! Yuck!

Here are the girls with Gary at the Piggly Wiggly Egg Hunt.

Marin only wanted the pink & purple eggs. It didn't take long for her to realize that she needed to get past that & just grab her eggs!

She NEVER looks at the camera these days. She smiles for every picture but she's always looking away! Hopefully just a phase. She's darn cute no matter what!

Maeve's first encounter with the Easter Bunny. It's amazing that we actually got a picture of her looking at the camera. She couldn't keep her eyes off him. Not quite crying but she definitely knew he wasn't normal! So cute.

Really bad lighting, but we had to get a picture of her with him. She wasn't thrilled!

xoxo

Look at those adorable cheeks! I just love this picture of Maeve & her friend Mr. Aardvark.

I was setting up my backdrops to do a newborn session & decided to snap a few shots of Maeve with her favorite stuffed friend {aside from her owl luve that she sleeps with!}

She may not like me someday for this picture, but for now it's absolutely adorable! xoxo

Look at the fun you can have with friends in a boat just sitting in the driveway!!! Who needs a lake/water??!! Here are the girls with their neighborhood friends in the Lieuwen's boat. They were having so much fun just pretending & honking the horn. I love Cooper with the vest on! And Maeve even made the picture! {The 70/80 degree days are gone...we're down to the 50's, but we'll take it. Anything is better than snow!}

And this was a few nights ago... I was cleaning up the kitchen & Gary told me to peek in at Margaux. She was all by herself in they toy room just ironing away! Apparently she needed her American Girl blanket wrinkle free! It was so cute & the board is just her size.

Of course then Marin had to have a turn both ironing & having her picture taken...

That same night we had our friends over for dinner. We had a great time visiting with them & the girls LOVED holding their little Grady. He's one month old. What a sweet little guy. It's amazing how different Marin was holding him vs. Maeve 9 months ago. She seemed so grown up!

And then Margaux enters the picture! Notice both girls are wearing these crazy gymnastic outfits that they borrowed from the neighbors. So goofy!

We're now counting down the days until the bunny {Easter} arrives. Five more sleeps!

xoxo