GG is 94

Our amazing Grandma had quite the birthday celebration this year.  We are so thankful for all that she has done for us over the years that we wanted to take some time out of our busy lives to celebrate her.  Nicole and Victoria flew in for the long weekend to surprise GG...

GG was very surprised when her grandchildren and great grandchildren began coming in to tell her happy birthday.

 Grayson loves his GG...

He especially loved helping her blow out the candles...

We squeezed fresh lemons to make these amazing blueberry lemon mimosas...

The boys were wild and rowdy...

And Victoria was as sweet as can be...

We loved our visit and having most of our family under one roof for a couple of days.  And we loved celebrating one of the special people on earth Maxine, our GG.

Easter 2016

I have been a very bad blogger this winter, I promise I am not giving up on it entirely.  Now that Owen doesn't nap, it is really cutting into my productive alone time.  I will update you all with some pictures and a recap of our chilly winter but first I am going to blog about our Easter.
This year we had several fun Easter egg hunts prior to the actual Easter day celebration.  First we had an Easter egg hunt with Victoria and Luke while GG was visiting (more on that visit in another blog)....

Then it was time to dye our own Easter eggs....

Our next Easter celebration was an egg hunt at Clay Terrace.  We saw the Easter bunny...

Met up with some of our neighbors...

And had an egg hunt...

The next day the Easter bunny brought the boys some goodies...

Then we were off to Ohio to go to church with Mimi and Poppy...

We had such a nice day in Piqua.  The boys had yet another Easter egg hunt after church and we had a lovely lunch filled with family and delicious mimosas!  I must have had so much fun that I didn't take one picture until we got back in the car to come home...

Happy Easter to all!  

Christmas Continued...

On Christmas eve morning we went to Martinsville to take this lovely lady to breakfast...

and spoiled her with some special treats...

Then we came home and went to mass at our new church Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.  We were told the 4:00 mass would be crowded and to get there early, boy were they right.  The church has 3 separate masses during the 4:00 hour because it is such a popular mass time.  We arrived 30 minutes early and the church was already full.  So was the school cafeteria mass, we were sent to the school gym where another service would be held.  The priest said because all three rooms were completely full there were over 5,000 people in attendance just at the 4:00 mass.  They boys were VERY patient...

If you know my boys at all - you know that they love their mama and they also love to fight over my lap.  I had to find a spot for both of them on this night...

After mass the boys were VERY excited to give each other the gifts they bought for one another at the local toy store...

Then we ordered pizza and watched The Elf on the Shelf...

And of course we left out some cookies and milk for the big guy oh and a few carrots for the reindeer too...

Then we snuggled in bed to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas"...

 When we woke up Santa had arrived...

 The boys had so much fun opening presents and getting excited about each and every one of them.  It is really great that Owen and Grayson are so close in age because all of their presents were really for the both of them to enjoy...

 And of course there was fighting...

And some dress up time...

I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a white Christmas but we made the most out of the warm weather and went out for a ride.  It was warm enough for light jackets. So many neighbors were out taking walks or bike rides and kids were out playing with their new toys.  It didn't really feel much like Christmas but it was a beautiful day....

That night I made a non-traditional steak dinner...

And we drove around to look at some Christmas lights, yes this is someone's house...

We had such a nice Christmas but were definitely ready to celebrate with all of our families.  The week before Christmas my mom flew in from Arizona for a quick visit.  We took her to the Children's Museum and to the Cheesecake Factory for a little peppermint cheesecake...

Then the Drapp family came to spend the weekend with us.  We had a nice cozy weekend with them and the boys loved every minute of the added attention they were receiving...

Here's Uncle Brian reading Owen a story in his spiderman tent...

On New Year's Eve the Majors family came to Indiana.  The adults went out for dinner and drinks....

while the grandparents babysat the little ones...

The next day we took them swimming at our local gym that has an indoor waterpark...

And then they played basketball with the big boys...

And of course had to get in a boy cuddle or two...

The next day we went to my Aunt Dorena's house for our last Christmas celebration...

 She got out a bucket of Brent and Eric's old legos...

 And Grayson tried to open everyone's presents...

he didn't like to be told no...

We had such a great holiday season with all of our families!