bday boy

he's been waiting for months and it finally came.

connor had his 5th birthday!!

he's been looking forward

to turning 5 for quite some time now.

he knows that when he's 5, he gets to go to kindergarten.

we had lots of fun celebrating.

complete with:

his first friend party {shared with his best bud briggs}

trip to md's office for ear infections in both ears

special drinks for lunch

trip to the aquarium

chicken pot pie bday dinner request

sugar cookies for bday cake {shaped as circles & u's}

family nerf party/war

cupcakes, homemade ice cream sandwiches & ice cream bar

and lots and lots of fun!!

mabel's valentine

this year for valentines day,

connor & mae each got a new pair of flip flops.

for mabel, it was love at first sight.

after falling asleep that night...

and the next night...

oh, the flip flops have been worn every day {and night} since.

that girl loves her shoes.

the year of the rabbit.

happy chinese new year.

we had a fun celebration with friends and family.

not to mention the awesome fireworks

set off from on top of our frosty todem pole.

still trying to figure out the camera in the dark.

i needed to bust out the tripod.

nonetheless, i still think the pics are pretty cute!

eagle day

the kids and i went to eagle day last saturday.

we saw lots of eagles and had tons of fun.

we probably saw 60+.

plus we heard thousands of swans. that's right, thousands.

(we saw them too through a fancy telescope).

the eagles and swans are truly beautiful birds.

those black & white dots beyond mae were a few of the eagles.

connor loves this.

every year, he's got to see how he measures up!

dance like nobody's watching.

mabel and i have been going to a mom & tot

dance class once a week for the last few months.

it's been so fun and stretched both of us out of our comfort zone.

i'm not the most coordinated when it comes to rhythm!

so for documenting purposes,

connor has been coming to class and been mr. photographer.

some are pretty classic.

all are precious.

and a few are not allowed to be seen by others!!

icicles

for fhe this week we loaded up the car

and headed to midway to see the ice castles.

it was one of the coolest things ever!

we got there just in time to see the everything

before the sun went down,

then went to dinner @ dairy keen,

and headed back to see it in the dark.

thanks to punkin & papa dave for such a fun night!