Dad's Birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Dad's birthday.  JP had been helping the trio to each make him a gift.  It was top secret and he would call each one up to his room to work on it.  When it was time for the party, everyone was excited to sing Happy Birthday and eat his favorite dessert- DQ ice cream cake! 

Yum Cake!

Caitlin had the silliest looks on her face that night:

(I have no idea why Ryan wasn't in any of these pictures.)

Opening gifts- JP was excited for Dad to see what they had made:

Artwork from everyone!  Dad thanking Maddi for her picture:

Checking out Caitlin's masterpiece:

JP's own series of special artwork.  The first was "Dad Got the Biggest Fish in the World":

Next up, a sports picture of Dad beating his opponent in hockey:

And lastly, Dad's favorite Spongbob character "Squidward":

It was so neat to see how proud JP was of all of the presents.  Again, I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of Ryan or his picture.  Maybe he wasn't in a party mood?!

Valentine's Day 2011

We had such a nice day today with just enough little extras to make the day special.  When the kiddos woke up there was a balloon and a little 3-piece box of chocolates waiting for each of them.  Balloons are always such a big deal around here and everyone, including JP was excited.  I made cinnamon rolls as a breakfast treat.  I thought I was doing good to just have a little chocolate in the house & then Joe surprised me with a huge box!  Hopefully he'll help me eat some!

We had a nice dinner and then a special fruit pizza for dessert.  We finished off the day reading one of JP's old books- "If You Were My Valentine".  He's a pretty sentimental kid and when I told him I was getting ready to read it to the trio, he got in on the action too.  Here's some pics throughout our day of all my little Valentine's! (I missed taking a pic of my Big Valentine!)

Valentine's Treats:

JP eating his special breakfast before school:

I was impressed I got Ryan to wear a red shirt!  He usually tries to veto anything that doesn't have a police car on it!

Maddi, Mom won't mind if we draw on our chocolates, its kind of like paper.

Going for a ride with our balloons:

So cute!

 Did I mention how much these kids love balloons?

 I don't even know what to say about this picture- it just cracks me up! Oh- and it was in the 60's today, normally I wouldn't let my kids go barefoot outside in February!

Finally!  We got JP to be in some pictures too!

...and of course his pal Spencer!

Our Valentine's Dessert:

Reading to (almost all) my Valentines!

Super Bowl

Here's a few pics from watching the Super Bowl tonight.  You will notice JP was not in the pics.  He had a friend over and thought it was more fun to play Wii than watch the game.  We were rooting for the Steelers for really no particular reason other than JP said he wanted them to win.  I told the girls that their shirts (which we previously referred to as their CU Buffalos shirts) looked like the Steelers and they kept saying "Go Buffalo Steeler" all night!  The snacks were definitely the most exciting part of the game!

The game held their attention for a little while:

Go Buffalo Steelers:

Ryan was the only one who actually ate a cupcake.  The girls never wanted a real dinner, so no cupcake:

Ryan did let Caitlin try on the ring that was on top of his cupcake:

Soon they found other things to do.  Actually, Ryan does this everyday.  He take off the couch cushions and lines up all of his cars. Over & over & over & over...

Caitlin was so proud of herself for being able to open pistachios on her own:

Is there anything better than a little Richard Scarry?

Meeting Gus

On Friday, JP and I headed over to Sean & Anne's house to meet August (Gus) who arrived Monday night.  He was so cute and slept the entire time we were there.  JP had fun hanging out with George and I loved getting to hold a peaceful baby,  Welcome to the family Gus!