Mother's Day 2018

We went over to see Pau Pau and Bak Bak on Mother's Day! We picked up lunch on the way over. We haven't seen Bak Bak in a very long time!  James was a little grumpy and did not really enjoy the visit so he looks a bit sad in these pictures.  We were able to get a picture of 4 generations of family!

 

We didn't realize Maddie had candy in her mouth during this picture.

4 Generations!

Riding a Fire Truck at Otto's 3rd Birthday Party!

On Sunday we went to our friend Otto's 3rd birthday party! They had the best surprise for the kids - a real red fire truck!!  It was a hose truck that had been converted with seats at the top! The driver took us on a surprisingly long ride! We drove all the way to Comiskey Park (Yes I still call it Comiskey Park!) and back to our friends house. It was a very chilly and windy ride up there!

Mia and Saveer's 3rd Birthday Party at Pump It Up! (with video)

On Sunday, I took Maddie over to Pump It Up in Lincoln Park for her classmates Mia and Saveer's joint 3rd birthday party!! Pump It Up was SO MUCH FUN! It had 2 big rooms filled with inflatables that even the parents could go on!  Maddie had so much fun and loved it when I would go onto the inflatables with her!

Pictures and some cute videos are below. The video at the bottom is of her dancing with her classmates after lunch.

Christmas Cookies with the Basques!

On Sunday morning I took both kids (by myself!) over to our friends house to decorate some Christmas cookies!  Maddie had a blast, she loved using the different decorations to make cookies. She made one for herself and one for Joseph. But most of all, she loved eating all the different kinds of sprinkles! She also had a fun time playing with Lily and Simon! This has become somewhat of a tradition for us and our friends, and we love it!

I LOVE Maddie's cheesy smile in this picture. She's so happy because she is eating a bowl of sprinkles!

Maddie's 3rd Birthday Party & James 2 Month Party! (Video)

We had a combined party for both kids!  We celebrated Maddie's 3rd birthday and also invited over extended family to see James at 2 months (as opposed to the typical 1 month since the events were so close together).

We even got a video of the room full of friends and family singing Happy Birthday to Maddie!

We had a blast and it was so great spending the day with friends and family!

Ivan's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday afternoon we headed over to our friend Julie & Paul's house for their son Ivan's first birthday party!

Maddie had lots of fun exploring and playing with Ivan's toys. She especially loved his toy car and it was the first thing she played in.

Our friend David got some really great photos of Maddie enjoying her cupcake with blue frosting! In fact she only ate the frosting and didn't touch the cake!

Iza's 4th Birthday Party at the Blast Zone

On Saturday morning we drove out to the suburbs for our friend Iza's 4th birthday party at a place called The Blast Zone! It was a blast alright!  There was a big jumping area with trampolines and foam blocks. There was a huge tube area with slides. And there was a track of cars shaped like bath tubs to drive around in!  Maddie had a ton of fun!  We had pizza and cake and then went back out to play for a little bit before heading home.

Otto's 2nd Birthday Party!

On Sunday we drove out for our friend Otto's 2nd birthday Party!  He was going to have pony rides again and a petting zoo!

It was a chilly May day!  I forgot a hat for Maddie but luckily had my own hat in my pocket she could wear.

Maddie loved sitting in all of Otto's cars and pretending to drive around. She was NOT interested in the pony rides at all, she was in fact a bit scared of the ponies. She didn't show much interest in the petting zoo either until Joseph showed her she could feed them some hay!

She loved singing Otto "Happy Birthday!" and of course loved getting her own slice of cake!

Maddie's 2nd Birthday Party!

On Sunday we celebrated Maddie's birthday with local friends and family! We had a total of 10 kids over (including Maddie) and lots of friends and family - we had a great time!!  We set up a big inflatable pool with tons of ball pit balls! The kids had a blast! And we think the adults did too!

After a while we brought out the cake and Maddie was so excited to sing and more excited to eat her cake!  It was also Uncle Jeff's birthday, so Pau Pau got him his own cake and sang to him as well. Everyone was so excited to eat TWO birthday cakes!!

We had a lovely time. Thanks to all our friends and family who came out to celebrate Maddie's 2nd birthday!!

Lots of pictures and videos below!

Ball pit fun!!

I crocheted Maddie this dress! The 2 will be removed so she can wear it later.

Dress off, zoning out to some Elmo on the TV before bedtime.