Happy Birthday, Madelyn and Hello Spring!

Such a hugely overdue post. We've been so busy the past few months so it's been hard to find the time (and frankly the energy) to blog. But it's important to me to keep this "baby book" up to date, so better late than never! This post has over 100 pictures from the past few months, so take a seat!

We're so excited that Mother Nature finally decided to let Spring arrive! It was a long and cold winter,  and although a fun one, I was really looking forward to being able to take the kids outside to play (without having to dress them like the abominable snowman).

Some pics from our first after dinner stroll:

I love this picture, just sheer joy. :)

Easter

Before we knew it, Easter was just around the corner. The kids were excited to dye Easter eggs, though with Mady's food allergy, it was a bit of a challenge. But determined moms will do anything for their kids, including blowing out egg contents to rid them of any potential allergens. It was all worth it and the kids created some really fantastic looking eggs!

Aiden showing off their work!

Before having Easter dinner with Vic's family, we were excited about giving the kids their Easter baskets. It really was the first year I spent some time putting them together.

My cuties dressed up for Easter dinner.

I think they really do love each other (although I will confess I asked (made) Aiden give his sister a kiss).

The kids had such a hard time sitting still for this picture!

Digging into their baskets!

Last year we took the kids to Bunnyland at Butler's Orchard for their Easter Egg hunt (which really is just a bunch of eggs laying out in several small fields). Aiden loved it, as he is my little collector, and with Mady being older this year we figured she'd enjoy it as well. It was hard to get there though, since the weather was so erratic during the weekends (either rainy, cold, or super windy). But we hunkered down and took them on Bunnyland's last weekend...

... and it was pretty windy and cool. But the kids were good sports and it ended up warming up as the day wore on and they had a great time.

Aiden loved collecting the Easter eggs. I haven't quite been able to figure out why he likes it so much!

Aiden wanted to get his face painted and picked Spiderman!

Butler's Orchard also has a large slide that you go down by sitting on burlap bags. Every year Vic asks Aiden if he wants to go and every year my cautious Aiden says no...  but not this year! Twice he went down and had a blast! It's nice to see Aiden being a bit more adventurous, although I have to admit, I think his baby sister has something to do with it.

Happy Birthday, Mady!!

Believe it or not, my baby girl turned 2 this year. I know I say this in every blog post, but I seriously have no idea where the time went. It seems like only yesterday I was cradling a small newborn with a head full of hair in my arms... and now my baby girl is a full fledged toddler with a killer smile and personality to match. 

Mady celebrated her birthday 4 times this year! We had different parties to avoid having one big one, so we could spend quality time with all the people we love most without Mady feeling too overwhelmed.

Mady's first party was at Build-a-Bear Workshop. Mady adores stuffed animals (remember, Panda?), so we thought she'd have fun choosing and creating her own. We invited the "usual suspects", all our close friends and their kids. We had the party at the mall, which ended up being great since they had a kid area right outside the store and we could have lunch afterwards.

Some pics we took while waiting for our party to begin.

Time to Build our Bear!

Handsome Kai!

Uncle Mark with Jaden and Mila.

Mady's bear is all done!

Aiden made Curious George, complete with a Spiderman costume!

All the kids with their creations. They look miserable, but I promise they all had fun. This was the only picture we had where you can kind of see Mady. That darn bear she picked was almost as big as her!

After building our bears, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. Aiden and Mady actually love it there, and they have some allergen safe food that Mommy loves.

Later that night we celebrated Mady's birthday with Vic's family. We always love when Grandma, Grandpa, the Aunties, and the whole family come over to spend time with us and the kids. Mady and Grandpa have quite a special bond. :)

Mady's next birthday celebration was with Grandpa Gordon and Uncle Brian. Grandpa Gordon made delicious hamburgers for the occasion and it was nice enough outside for us to hang out on the deck while he grilled. 

Aiden and Mady are dancing machines!

Usually on the day of their birthday, Vic and I take off work and take the kids on a fun mini- trip. I had been itching to see the Cherry Blossoms, but again, the weather was so uncooperative and it ended up being rainy and cold on 4/14. So Daddy went to work and Mommy tried her best to do something fun. It was a Tuesday so Aiden was at school in the morning, but Auntie Jen and Kai were home that day so Mady and I went to bother them. Auntie Jen had cupcakes for breakfast!

So it was a great way to start Mady's birthday.

After I picked Aiden up from school, I decided to take the kids out to lunch. Yes, CPK again. It's always a safe bet! It was nice having lunch out with the kids, something outside our usual routine on Tuesdays. The kids were so good (almost usually so), that I actually got complimented on what angels they were! (hehe)

My cheesy birthday girl.

That night when Daddy came home, we celebrated Mady's birthday with cupcakes after dinner.

Mady loved hearing us sing "Happy Birthday". <3 at="" blowing="" by="" candles="" getting="" good="" out="" p="" quite="" s="" she="" this="" time="">

To make sure Aiden didn't feel left out, we sang "Happy Tuesday" to him. :)

Typical... she only ate the icing. 

FINALLY, the weather started to cooperate and we were able to take the kids to DC to visit the museums! Aiden had been watching this episode of Daniel Tiger's neighborhood where the kids go to a bug museum. He'd been asking Daddy for weeks if we could go. So off we went! (To the Natural History Museum).

Of course the day we went to DC happened to be the same day as some huge parade, so traffic and parking was a nightmare. Daddy ended up dropping me and the kids off at the museum so we could head inside while he parked the car.

Aiden loved the bug exhibit (Mommy not so much). It's amazing how many bugs at the museum were the same as the ones he'd seen on the Daniel Tiger episode. He knew the name of so many of them! It made me smile to see him teaching his baby sister about the different bugs and what they eat.

Poor Daddy missed the whole thing. By the time he had found parking, we had already been through most of the exhibits at the museum. But we had enough time to have some lunch and walk around the National Mall.

My kids love fountains and water, so on our stroll we took a rest at one so the kids could play.

The kids were not pleased when I made them turn away from the water for a picture. This was the best one I got. 

DC was a lot of fun, despite the pain of driving there, but I was so sad that we missed the Cherry Blossoms! It's the first year we didn't make it to see them in full bloom. Darn weather. 

BUT... Hooray for Spring!

Warmer weather means more time at the park!

I'm happy to see Aiden more comfortable in his own skin, climbing and jumping around at the playground. He's usually very timid and overly cautious, but I think seeing his baby sister running around without a care in the world has made him more open to trying new things.

Another thing we've been doing a lot of is feeding the ducks at Rio. It's amazing how much fun the kids have doing it. I usually pick Aiden up from school and take the kids to lunch (yes, yes, CPK again- but this time at Rio) and afterwards I let them feed pieces of bread I bring for the ducks. On nice days, we can be there for over an hour and a half with me just sitting there and watching them smile and laugh as they throw bits of bread into the water, trying to make sure each duck gets their share. It's moments like these that I wish I could stay home with them all the time.

Now leaving the ducks is quite a different story. I usually have to preface the entire thing with "when the bread is gone it's time to go home"... and their cute little faces smile and nod with their hands out waiting for a piece of bread. When the bag is actually empty, however, there is a lot of "more please!" and frowning faces. We've have one tantrum on record (can you guess from who?), but after threatening them with never returning, it's been much better. One point for Mommy.

Another fun thing we did this month was celebrate Noelle's 2nd birthday. She had a great train party at Cabin John Park. Noelle's dad is the son of my Mom's best friend, so it's always nice to see her... kind of like seeing my own mom.

Conductor Aiden had a blast on the train!

Kai and Aiden waiting to board the train!

Group selfie with the gang!

Mother's Day was just a couple of weeks ago and Vic surprised me with a massage and a Mommy's Day brunch with the kids. One point for Daddy!

Aiden

Aiden will be starting school full time in August, so I'm trying my best to spend as much quality time with him as I can. Aiden will be 4.5 soon and it's pretty bittersweet for me. I love watching him grow into a little gentleman, more independent and outspoken, but I'm so sad that my little baby isn't a baby anymore. I'm relishing in the fact that he still wants me to hug, kiss and hold him... because soon he won't want me to!

Aiden is quite a jokester, loves to laugh, and as Daddy says, has the best giggle. 

I posted this picture as an ode to him graduating from his daily nebulizer treatments! Now it's just during cold season and when he's sick. Aiden is definitely enjoying being free of that thing!

My little man loves to read, sing and dance. He loves dinosaur chicken nuggets with special sauce and ketchup. He's my little collector and is into Disney Planes and Curious George. He tries to reason with us every day, this for that, and likes to brush his own teeth and put on his own shoes, without any help from Daddy and Mommy. He loves to play with bubbles and water, and has the most vivid imagination. 

He's my happy place.

Mady

My Mady is just beautiful. She has a smile that melts my heart and a giggle that is infectious. I love to hear her say "Mommy? Where are you?" in her sing-song voice, and she gives the best hugs. She loves to sing, especially "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen (she calls any character from that movie "Anna"), loves music, and dancing to any beat. She's my girlie girl, she loves shoes, makeup and brushing her hair, but she's also my little tomboy in that she loves playing catch, chasing her brother, and is not easy fazed by much. She loves chicken and french fries, and remains faithful to her Panda bear (who she affectionately refers to as "Mao Mao").

Ruby slippers!

Trying to be a big girl (eating corn like Daddy).

She loves all her stuffed animals... sleeps with 4 of them!

Mady loves balloons!

She is my heart.

We have an amazing family photographer that I met through a friend of mine from graduate school. She hit it off with us, and our kids, immediately and we've been having her take pictures of us about every 6 months. I wish I had thought to do this with Aiden, but with Mady, I always ask her to take what is now called one of our "standard" pictures... Vic throwing Mady in the air. We initially started doing it because Mady loves it and it always makes her laugh, which came in handy during one of our first photo shoots. With Mady turning 2, I got a chance to look back at some of them to see how much my baby has grown and changed. I wanted to share:

Mady at 6 months (taken by me at the Pumpkin Patch)

Mady at 1 year (at Brookside Gardens)

Mady at 16 months (taken by me at Butler's Orchard)

Mady at 18 months (at Centennial Park)

Mady at 2 years (at Kinder Farm Park)

I love the look of sheer and genuine joy on her face. While looking through these pics, I also noticed we had another pose we did somewhat routinely.....

Mady at 1 year

Mady at 18 months

Mady at 2 years

We'll have to add this one to the "standard" list. People often say that I'm crazy for taking pictures so often, but I love being able to capture the kids in the moment since they change so much, so quickly. These are like my memories frozen in time, they're priceless. 

The kids are growing up fast and they are growing closer together. They still fight, bicker and have issues sharing, but they really do love each other. Mady kisses Aiden every night before bed and Aiden is usually one of the first ones to ask Mady if she's "ok" if she falls. 

LOVE!

Summer will be here before we know it and we have a jam packed few months ahead of us. WE CANNOT WAIT!

My two little peas in a pod. Please stop growing up so quickly.

Photo Cred: Sweet Splendor Photography (Seriously, love her!)