Shay's Next Party

We were able to have the Sturm family down on Sunday to help Shay celebrate her birthday for the 3rd day in a row.  She loved it!
Taylor and Kailey were able to make it and all the girls had a great time playing with each other, between eating cupcakes and opening gifts!
Both my grandma's were able to come and join us for the party and pizza dinner after, it was very nice to see them.  Alyssa asked a couple times if they would be the horse to play- they laughed and thought watchign would be a better idea!

Shay and Millie's Party

Since Shay and Millie both have birthdays in mid-March, we decided to have our 2nd annual combo birthday party.  This year it was at our house, with tacos and cakes as the main menu items.  Shay wanted a purple cake with flowers and butterflies, while Millie wanted a wonder woman, castle, rainbow cake - they were both good :).  We had a fun time celebrating with the Erickson clan, Amma, Papa Bill and Grandma Ginger.  It was fun to see the girls enjoy each others company, they loved the double birthday.

 Shay (5), Millie (4)

Happy 5th Birthday Shay!

Brett and I can hardly believe we have been parents for 5 years.  We can remember being at the hospital nervously waiting her arrival like it was yesterday!  Shay is loving, sensitive, rule following, pleasant, princess loving, creative, artistic, so much fun to be around and now 5 years old.  Wow!  She is so excited to go to kindergarten this year, go skiing this summer and have lots of time to hang out with Dad and Alyssa once the weather turns warmer.  We are so happy to be the parents to such a wonderful little girl!  We love you Shay!

It (Finally) Happened!

We have had many of our college and highschool friends have babies, starting around 8 years ago.  Thankfully all the bundles of joy have been pretty healthy, and of course very cute!  We have enjoyed watching all these kiddos grow, with new babies coming still.

If you were counting  both our college roommates children and my close highschool girlfriends who are out of state- here is the list (as best I could in birth order) of the kiddos: Saul, Liam, Declan, Emmit, Breck, Owen, Eli, Tate, Mauer, Cullen, Kellan, Samuel, Anders, Chase, Jasper, Eli, Asher, Lucas, and Cameron. 
Notice anything?  Yes, we have 19 boys born in a row.

But last Thursday, May 14th something different happened.  Nora Mae was welcomed into this world by parents Amie (my roommate), Pete and big brother Eli.  Congratulations- we are so glad she is here!

Sisterly Love

Shay and Alyssa are like most sisters, I am assuming, where there is a fine balance between love and annoyance.  Both girls love to play with each other- whether it be hide and seek, dress up, playing in the bathtub, drawing, reading books or dancing, they can't wait to have sleep overs on "stay at home days" and like to sit RIGHT next to each other when watching cartoons.  But they also know how to push each others buttons- very well! 

Melting Already

Snow has been hard to find this winter.  Although there have been plenty of snowstorms, it seems that they are followed by 3 to 4 days of weather in the 30's, so there has been little white ground covering this winter- which has been a bummer for most of us.  So our last snowfalll we made sure we got out there that day to build snow people (there is a boy and a girl snowman according to Shay).  The girls loved it, and not everyone can say they have built a snowman while wearing a dress.