happy (belated) 7th birthday, zoey!

Happy 7th Birthday, sweet Zoey! Sorry your birthday post (and party) were a week late. Second grade is going well so far and you are as sassy and quirky as ever. We love you so much, and hope you had a great birthday!

Actual birthday (September 8)

Some of Zoey's Favorite Things:

Color: Pink

Book: Sparks! by Ian Boothby

TV Show: Adventure Time

Song: What am I to You?

Animal: Dolphin & pug

Friends: Grace & Emelia

Pastime: Making books

Toy: iPad

Food: Mac & Cheese

Ice Cream Flavor: Cookie Dough

Little family shindig (September 9)

The big partay! (September 16)

happy 9th birthday, ellie!

Our sweet Elliott turned NINE yesterday! I just can't believe my baby is nearing double digits. Whaaat? To top off her birthday weekend, we also got to celebrate Mother's Day. What a special day, celebrating with the gal who first made me a mom!

Happy 9th birthday to my beautiful Elliott Rose! You bring joy to my life every single day with your gentle soul, loving personality, infectious smile, and creative mind! Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back!

Some of Ellie's Favorite Things:

Color: Blue & Purple

Book: 5 Worlds and Land of Stories

TV Show: Yokai Watch

Movie: Spiderman (all of them!)

Song: I Can See a Rainbow (frrom My Little Pony: The Movie)

Animal: Dogs & Cats

Friends: Sasha, Jamira, Dahlia, and Petra

Pastime: Reading & Playing Videogames

Toy: LEGO Boost

Food: Mac & Cheese

Ice Cream Flavor: Cookie Dough

happy 6th birthday, zoey!

Zoey recently celebrated her 6th birthday (one day after starting her 1st grade year at school!) She has grown into quite the little girl, with a HUGE personality, and a lot of brains to boot. Zoey, happy birthday to you, sweet thing. Mommy, Daddy, and Ellie love you so, so much!

Zoey and her bestie celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago at a sleepover she shared with big sis and friends!)

The Mommy-made Zane cake topper, for today's family party!

Looking good up there, Titanium Ninja!

Let's hope all of Zoey's birthday wishes come true!

GR8T!

It's great being eight! Elliott turned a whopping 8-years-old on Friday! Even though she just broke her mouth* practicing some hardcore ninja moves on the playground last week, Ellie is having an awesome, albeit low-key, birthday weekend. She's in amazing spirits, and she just recently answered questions for her big birthday interview:

Happy birthday, lovely little Elliott! You are growing up to be such an kind, imaginative, smart and loving person, just like we knew you would!

*[Facebook Post from May 3, 2017] Ellie update: Just left the oral surgeon's at Cooper in Voorhees. Xrays showed the bone that holds the top teeth is broken (but the teeth are not loose from the broken bone). She also has lacerations all along the top lip/gumline. One of her baby teeth that as of yesterday was not exposed is now popping through due to the injury! The doctor fastened a wire around most of her top teeth to act as a sort of cast while the bone heals. They're not 100% sure if the permanent teeth will be saved, but there's a good chance. She will be on a liquid and very soft food diet for a few weeks, as she cannot put any pressure on the top teeth. On a side note, Ellie underwent the whole procedure WITHOUT numbing and shed not one single tear; she was so cooperative and such an amazing patient. Ryan Middleton and I are so darn proud of her!

zoey turns five!

It's hard to believe that my littlest baby turned FIVE on Thursday! She is such a trip, but then again, she always was! Here are some of her favorite things, and a photo of her awesome birthday cake (thanks Gramma & Pop-pop!) We love you, sweet Zoey!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

happy 7th birthday, elliott!

I seriously can't believe it's been seven years! Seven years since Ryan and I became parents and welcomed our little Elliott Rose into the world and into our lives. She is such a creative, smart, caring, funny, and loving kid, and we just love her to pieces!

The annual "Favorites" are in!

Ellie's "Spotlight" photos for first grade

Presenting to the class...she did such a great job and we were so proud!

Slightly squished up Minecraft cupcakes for school

Testing out her new wheels (thanks, Grampa!)

someone turns 40, plus renaissance faire fun!

Can you believe it? My main squeeze turned 40 this past week!!! Happy birthday, Ryan! We love you so much! Can't wait to bust out some oldies on our sweet new "record player"!

Happy 40th, my love!

How did we celebrate Ryan's birthday, you ask? We shared a birthday morning breakfast at Friendly's, went out for dinner (a few times) and then topped off the week with a heaping serving of RENAISSANCE FAIRE fun!

Mere words cannot adequately describe a good Renaissance Faire (and yes, the "e" is mandatory, and preferably pronounced, as in "fair-ay" -- at least in my little world.) I love the feeling of stepping into another time and place, one that probably SUCKED if you actually had to live it, but is completely enchanting nonetheless.

Knights! Knaves! Kings and queens! Even mermaids, witches, pirates, creatures on stilts, and of course, completely inappropriate and uncalled for cleavage! Puppeteers, acrobats, jugglers, musicians, and magicians abound!

Better yet is when you manage to sucker family friends into joining you at said Faire. We were thrilled to have the Tennants by our side to brave the cold temps, rain, snow (I kid you not) and cleavage. Massive turkey legs were devoured by all in attendance. Huzzah!

Knight & jester

Not all the wee ones were taken with the puppet show!

Circus Stella

The rugrats, all caged up!

A true Renaissance man eats like a Neanderthal.

Mother and daughter turkey gnawing

Let the joust commence!

Lady and Lord Middleton

The grounds were gorgeous!

I had a great day!

She was out within 5 minutes.

happy 4th birthday, zoey!

The blog police are sure to arrest me; it's been a whopping 3+ months since I've lasted posted anything (ack!) It's time to remedy that, because I certainly can't let one of my girls' birthdays go by without a proper blog shout out. So, even though this is a bit belated, I would like to say HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY TO ZOEY, MY LITTLEST PEANUT! (And believe you me, at 29 lbs. she is indeed a peanut!) Here are some pictures of our birthday girl, who, by the way, is now also a preschooler!

ellie turned six!

I guess it's old news at this point, but I still want to shout it from the rooftops...on May 12, my first baby turned SIX YEARS OLD! Whaaaaat?

Happy birthday, Elliott Rose! Mommy ans Daddy love you oh so much, more and more everyday, if that's even possible! You're so kind, creative, and smart, and I couldn't be any prouder to be the mom such a sweet, amazing kid.

Posing for Pop-pop's camera

Family birthday dinner at her favorite, Houlihan's

Frozen birthday cake from Gramma & Pop-pop (and Sweet Eats!)

With her "second" best friend:)

Birthday smiles