Finally!

Spring finally decided to grace us with her presence and I'm pretty sure every single person in the state of Michigan is rejoicing with me. We have been spending lots of time outside soaking up the perfect temps and sunshine...when the rain stops for a day.

Back in March, I was called into the Young Women's program at church. I teach the Mia Maids class. Since Dylan was born, I have always taught in the Junior Primary. I loved it for a couple years, but now that I have two small children at home whom I spend vast amounts of time with by myself, I was just irritated being around children for those two hours at church. I am loving working with the teenagers. The leaders in YW are so much fun and the girls are hilarious and have some good discussions. A couple weeks ago, they wanted to do a Photography night for their mid-week activity. Since I just finished taking a photography class, they asked me to teach them some things and then we went outside to practice. We all had a lot of fun.

Most of the girls in my class were able to make it and they all had a great time posing for pictures.

My kids are so so so happy to be able to finally play outside. Especially Dylan. He is loving riding his bike, running around, and practicing skateboarding. He begs to go outside for hours on end...until he finally gets what he wants.

Lena is so easy to please. Sit her on a blanket with some toys and she is happy as can be.

Belated Birthday Post

We celebrated Lena's 1st Birthday while in S Carolina. The months leading up to her turning one were really hard on me. With Dylan, I was so so excited for every new milestone. I am excited with Lena, but it's also bittersweet. I have just loved her as a baby and feel like her first year went by so much quicker than Dylan's did. I'm sure it has to do with how busy the year was, especially since I had a preschooler to take care of. The past year just went by in fast forward. I was certain that I would cry on her actual Birthday, but lucky me, I was able to just sit back and enjoy.

Gram and Pa always take care of their kin on holidays. Birthdays are no exception. Only one and Lena is already a spoiled little Princess.

Her tinkerbell cake

I wanted a special outfit for Lena to wear, but didn't want to sell a body part to be able to afford one. At first I was thinking a pettiskirt, but quickly realized that is the hot trend right now and I refuse to be sucked into hot trends. (other trends I refuse to cave into are skinny jeans, leggings on grown women, boots over pants, and jumpsuits of the one-piece variety) Anyway, my friend Nicole volunteered to make some rufflebuns for Lena. When the package arrived in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised to find not only the bloomers but a way cute tank top to match. Lena looked ADORABLE and I'm so thankful to have such talented friends.

I've been pretty careful to not let Lena have much sugar. I feel like I am partly to blame for Dylan's poor diet and I am hoping to correct some bad habits by altering some things with Lena. Therefore, her smash cake was probably the second time she had a bakery item. I'm not sure she even got a bite of the actual cake, but she was all about the frosting.

The card I made for my sweet little miniature me.

Ogling the presents. Took her a few minutes to figure things out, but she thoroughly enjoyed her loot.

Like I've said before, this girl LOVES Elmo. So, most of her gifts involved her favorite character...books, dolls, toys. She makes sure to give Elmo open-mouthed kisses every chance she gets.

I think it's safe to say that Lena had a great Birthday.