Birthday Parties!

We have 4 nieces & nephews with April birthdays! We celebrated with Madison (9), Nolan (7), Emma (5), and Jack (3) this weekend at their birthday parties! On Saturday we went to Alma to spend the afternoon with Emma & Jack, and today we had a party with Maddie & Nolan. Lorelai had so much fun at both of them! She loved playing outside and in the playroom at Emma & Jacks, and had a riot dancing and playing with balloons at Madison & Noey's! And of course, she loved the cake at both :)

Eating with cousins Emma & Jack

"Cheese"

Jack & Emma opening presents

I feel that she looks way too old here!

Dancing with Abrina & Madison

Madison & Nolan opening presents

Abrina is so affectionate with Lorelai, they love each other very much!

Aunt Kellie ("cocky") made them a Mario Cart cake!

The Melville kids (minus one)

Field Trip!

Lorelai's class at Appletree took a field trip to see the butterflies at the Meijer Gardens. We put all of their carseats on the bus and ventured out! I wish I had gotten a picture of them all in the bus, they were so darn cute and excited! One of Lorelai's new words is butterfly ("yai") so she got to test it out a lot! We also took a visit to the children's garden, we were blessed with a nice enough day to let them splash in the water a bit!

Lorelai and her friend Emma were holding hands . . . so cute!

They did so good walking around with so many people!


She found a butterfly!

Lorelai loves anything to do with water!

Lorelai with her friends, Emma & Addie


Lauren & Lorelai hiding from us behind the "kid" door :)

Easter

So, I started out so good the first week, updating my blog . . . now I will try to catch up :)

Easter was a lot of fun this year now that Lorelai is so much more interactive! We got up early and found our Easter basket. The bunny was not so clever in hiding it this year, as she was too busy getting everything ready (promise to do better next year) :) ! After tearing through the basket (and eating a peep or two) we headed off to church. She sat about half way through and it was Josh's turn to chase her around the lobby, so church was quite enjoyable! Then we ventured off to Tracy's for some fun! The kids had an egg hunt and we had a lot of good food! Lorelai was tuckered out for the day when we were through. She did a lot of good playing!

Checking out her Easter Basket!

So Cute!

First experience with Peeps . . . she loved them!

Sorry the picture is sideways, but it is the only one I could take, as she was not cooperating!

Outside looking for eggs (she didn't get it)

Isabel, Lorelai, and Abrina hitched a ride with Grandpa :)

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, and Appletree is closed to observe the day. It was so nice to have Lorelai with me all day! Everyone thinks it is so great she can be with me throughout the day everyday at Appletree (and don't get me wrong, it definatly is the next best thing), but it is hard to see her during the day. But I do get to be there for all the big milestones, so I really shouldn't complain! We got up this morning and went to the doctor. Lorelai has been tugging on her left ear for the past few days, and I noticed draining. Sure enough, ear infection. This is the first one since the tubes, so almost a year infection free! Then we picked up Josh and went on our first excursion to the zoo! She loved the animals! Her favorite was when the worker picked up a starfish for her to touch . . . she didn't want to leave! She also got her first "sex ed" lesson from the bears, but I will leave those pictures out :) Then we met up with Tracy and the kids to go shopping for "80's prom dresses." After 12 consignment shops, we didn't come up with much. Anyone have any hanging around?? Here are a few pictures from today:

Lorelai has always loved fish!

She was nervous to touch it at first, but couldn't get enough after!

She didn't care much for the goats, especially after he tried eating Lorelai's coat!

The zoo tired her out!
(ps: thanks EB for helping me with the cut/paste thing w/ pictures, it saved me a lot of unneccesary stress!)

Easter Eggs

So today was a fun new experience for Lorelai. . . we painted Easter Eggs! She wasn't too sure what was going on at first, she just wanted to drink the colored water :) But she sure got into it! Everytime she would put an egg into the water, she would say "Down!" We have a tradition with Easter eggs in our family. Everyone takes an egg and we go around the room and try to crack each other's "ends" of the eggs. The one with an egg with no cracks wins . . . however this year (thanks to Peanut), we will all be beginning with cracked eggs :)

Here is Lorelai helping to get the bowls ready


Putting the color tablets into the water


We started out pretty clean and organized . . .

Then she started "re-doing" all of the eggs because there were no more to color :)

Go State!

So I am still pretty new at this, I think I may need some help! It is such an exciting day, I thought I should post! It is the MSU vs. UNC Championship game and I am so pumped! The last championship game they won was my senior year at MSU and the atmosphere on the campus was great! We have even been getting Lorelai ready (she can already say "Go Green")! Here is a picture of us before the Final Four game (and MSU day at Appletree):

And of course, we had to have some MSU cookies . . .

First Blog

So I thought I would give this blog thing a try, seeing as I enjoy reading everyone elses'! I am hoping to use this as a way to keep family and friends updated on what is going on with our family, seeing as we are always so busy with work and our day to day lives. Hopefully I will figure all this out soon, and maybe even be able to post some pictures!