Maddi's Birthday Weekend

We went to Ohio this weekend for Maddi's 1st birthday party and Mother's Day.

Maddi had lots of fun at her party. It was ladybug themed.

Ladybugs hold a special place in my heart in relation to Maddi. The night before I went into labor with her I was a bit stressed out in anticipation and when I looked up there was a ladybug crawling on our ceiling. At that moment, I felt that all would be right and that I would be having a baby girl. The ladybug can be associated with Mary, and I really felt like she was with me at that moment. It was pretty surreal.

I really wantedMaddi's party to be homemade so I made the invitations, decorations and cupcakes. It was so much fun!

Our little ladybug

Checking out her fancy new shoes

The special birthday girl chair

Ready for her birthday cupcake

She went for it right away but wasn't so sure about it after...

Trying some icing

Poor Owen. He REALLY wants to like chocolate and sweets, but just doesn't.

Contemplating Life

The boys love cupcakes though

Maddi had lots of fun opening presents.

A New Baby Doll!

The Cousins in their ladybug antenna

Brett and the girls

Thomas and AnaKate

Playing with Playdoh later in the day

On Mother's Day we had a lovely brunch with our extended family.

Our fun Mother's Day Card that we made

Such a nice weekend. Can't believe our little girl is going to be 1.

Brother-Sister Fun

Just a little video of the kiddos having fun together:)

Fun Weekend!

This weekend my Dad and Stepmom came to visit from Florida. It had been a few months since we saw them in person so it was great to have them come spend a few days.

On Saturday we went to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Something fun with the kids to get everyone out of the house.

The kids enjoyed watching the whales and dolphins under water.
And looking in the large aquarium where there was even a diver feeding the fish and turtles.
The special exhibit was on jellyfish. It was really neat and beautiful. They were so peaceful to watch. Too bad they are not so fun when one is in the water with them.

upside down jellies

white jellies

Blubber Jellies

Baby Jellies

There was a fun penguin exhibit that also had a play area so kids could pretend they were penguins. Cute!

seadragons

Coral Reef

Seahorse

Climbing Around

Owen, Brett and Barbara went to the park on Sunday.

Maddi had fun hanging out at home with her new toy from Papo.

And she had fun hanging out with Papo over the weekend.

Hugs

Maddi's Model Pose

Wrapping Papo around her finger

Being silly with the PBS Kids photo app

It was a great weekend!