Happy Birthday to Me!

So I'm 34, but I did have a fantastic birthday weekend celebrating with many of my nearest and dearest. 

Nay-nay and Pop-pop joined us on Friday night, and Pop-pop was out bright and early working in the yard to make sure everything was spic and span for the b-day gathering.

Memo & Augs traveled down on Saturday morning from SoBo for the birthday bash. The summary: we sat on the deck, enjoyed Prosecco and various Belgian beers, ate delicious grilled shrimp & veggies and a watermelon, tomato, & basil salad, watched the kids play, then blew out the candles on a scrumptious coconut cake made by the master baker herself, Memo!

Getting some snuggle time in with Meghan and Clara.

Entertaining himself in the saucier.

Putting a fresh coat of "trim" on the house.

Meghan having so much fun with her first chance to play on steps.

 

 

Playing with a discarded cork, what else?

Hanging out with Daddy.

Snuggle time with Mommy.

Blowing out the candles!

Enjoying the tasty cake.

Later in the day we swapped Meghan's beautiful smocked dress for a short sleeve and pants outfit that Clara used to wear. Of course you know what that means!

Recently one morning Jack started spinning and chanting, "One, a two, a penny, hot cross buns." It's become quite the fun game with both kids. Now it's evolved to include falling on the ground or a nearby chair as you'll see. 

On Sunday morning we attended Clara's friend Carmen's fifth birthday party which was held at Pullen Park. Nay-nay and Pop-pop were able to play around the park with Jack while Brec and I celebrated with Clara at the party. The party goers got to ride the Carousel! Here are Sophie, Clara, and Rosalind freeze-framed on their animals.

Meanwhile Jack was having lots of fun swinging with Pop-pop, 

playing with the "blowing in the wind fan"(Jack's term for windmills, steering wheels, and pretty much most things that he can spin), 

and jumping off rocks.

After the party we had lunch at Player's Retreat where we enjoyed the outdoor patio dining. Meghan had her first taste of lemon

and had lots of fun playing with my cup of ice.

We finished off the meal with popsicles from Loco pops and headed to the Farmer's Market for some flowers to plant with Pop-pop to jazz up our back yard. What a great birthday weekend!

Meghan Is Mobile

As always posts are out of order, but that's how I keep you on your toes. You actually have to read what I say to find out when we are on the blog. :) 

As described in an upcoming post, after Clara's last day of preschool (which at this point, seems like a distant dream), we started off our summer V-K by traveling to Richmond for a long weekend. At this point Meghan had mastered sitting up by herself and was starting to move around simply by sitting and rolling. By Sunday morning though she made what appeared to be her first real "crawling move" (much like a football move determines whether or not a reception is complete). Next thing you know, Monday afternoon upon our arrival back in Raleigh, I plop her down next to the trampoline, come back, and this is how I'm greeted. 

Standing! and she couldn't be more proud.

Standard.

Here she is in action. Now she's really started moving with a purpose and crawling to different rooms to explore. 

Clara's Fifth Birthday Weekend

Now that we're all caught up on spring break, we can move on to the next big event... Clara's Fifth birthday! We have birthday weekends rather that simple birthdays at our house. :)

Friday afternoon Nay-nay arrived to help out while I ran errands to prepare for Saturday's birthday party. Jack helped scrub down the new backyard house.

Dino cake coming out of the oven late Friday night.

Saturday morning bright and early!

Clara grabbed a little snuggle time with Meghan in the crib while wearing twin pj's.

The house looking sharp with the super-sized Happy Birthday balloon.

Playing on the swing set.

The final creation, a pink pound cake dinosaur with blue spines, teeth, claws, nostril, and eye. Use the picture of the pan below to aide visualization. Not quite as dinosaur-like as I had imagine. Served with strawberries though, it was the dinosaur strawberry shortcake that Clara requested.

Clara blowing out the candles at her party

Enjoying the delicious cake.

Molly, Clara, & Sasha

Sophie, Blythe, Kate (front); Molly, Clara, Sasha, Kierstin, Janie (back)

The party entered new levels of chaos: the opening of the presents

Meghan up from her wonderfully timed morning nap to join in the festivities with a party blower.

Relaxing in the backyard post-party. Exersaucer on top of the trampoline = Super Saucier!

Do I have something on my face?

Yes, I really think I do.

Jack loved the balloon. Sadly it met an early demise because of his devotion.

Post-party present opening euphoria

Hard to believe that 5 years from when this picture was taken, we were headed to the hospital to welcome this little girl into our life!

Sunday, the actual big day - Clara Jean is five years old.

Twin PJ's again!

Present time. Narrow gauge engines to go with the new "Man in the Hills" set.

Jack observes all this present hubbub and thinks, "when it's my turn, I'm going to stretch out opening presents all day long."

What could Nay-nay have possibly gotten her?

Kaya!

Looking at the American Girl doll catalog is almost as much fun as getting the new doll.

Snuggled up with Nay-nay & Kaya reading Kaya's story.

Birthday girl!

Again, this time in her crown

In Nay-nay's car on the way to Foster's for birthday lunch!

At Foster's 

Later on after lunch, Meghan happily waking up from a nice, long nap.

Out back enjoying the swing

and the saucier

Me and my girls

Cake time (again).

Blowing out the candles on her birthday

Still tastes delish second time around.