Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Maeve enjoyed so many fun things this holiday. She had 3 Easter egg hunts - one at school, one at Church with Jan and Steve, and one in Uncle Scott and Aunt Morgan's neighborhood. She did not enjoy the Easter bunny getting too close to her. You'll see her look in the pictures at the egg hunt making sure that bunny wasn't coming too close to her.

We also had a visit to Great Grandma Joanne's house where she received stickers, candy, and her first money (guess we'll have to get her a piggy bank to keep her coins). Maeve also enjoyed a visit to Will's house last night where I can only imagine they ran around for two hours because she was exhausted when we got home. We enjoyed dinner out for Theresa's birthday!

We enjoyed bringing her to Church where she read her new books from her grandmas and grandpas and listening to the wonderful music, especially the Toccata in D minor. Morgan and Scott had us up for brunch where my favorite treat was being served - puppy tails (cinnamon twists) from Isle Bun and Bakery. They are amazing.

The Easter pictures this year had to incorporate her favorite thing about Easter - jelly beans (just like her father)! We painted an egg picture and then matched the colors of jelly beans to the color on the egg. And then unprompted Maeve sorted the colors in each of her Easter eggs and then ate them all. She is doing so well with her colors and counting.

We hope you enjoyed Easter!

Our lucky charm

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We were very excited to take pictures this past weekend when it was 70 degrees out. You can see that Maeve was very excited to run around outside. We hope it warms up again soon and stays that way!

We are all looking forward to welcoming our new lucky charm with a due date of just over 1 month away! And then we'll finalize our trip to Ireland this fall for Bernadette's wedding once the baby is born. We're excited to travel back to Ireland - we haven't been there for 10 years. Crazy how quickly time flies.

Maternity Photo Shoot - Baby #2

Thanks to a brand new camera, a husband photographer, and Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve's photography and location to take some pictures, we have some maternity pictures for Baby #2.

Pregnancy is going well besides the typical ailments of backaches and now restless sleeping. We are now just under 2 months to go until the due date! You can make guesses anytime on the gender and the birth date. Eric is convinced it's a boy and Kate has no feeling one way or another this time around. We aren't sharing names but we have narrowed it down to a few favorites for a girl and a boy! We can't wait to meet a healthy baby at the end of all of this!

Oh and the theme for Maeve's classroom last week was 'family' so here is a thumbprint drawing of her family. She's starting to pick up on the fact that things are changing soon. She now says 'baby in mommy's tummy coming soon.' She will be a great big sister!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from our little Valentine, Maeve! This was the first year that she handed out Valentine's cards to her friends at school. She brought Minnie Mouse cards, of course, and some stickers for the 12 other kids in her classroom. She really loved making the cards last weekend and spelling out her name. She received some cute cards, stickers, candy, bubbles, and even sunglasses from her friends at school. Most of the cards had tattoos with them too (but we threw those away for this year). I guess we'll have to step up our game next year!

We enjoyed a party at her school on Friday afternoon where she decorated a sugar cookie with frosting. Guess who didn't even eat a bite? Maeve (and Mom, too - guess we know where she gets her dislike for cupcakes and sugar cookies :) )

We hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones!

Grandma Brigid's visit

In preparation for Baby #2 and because Eric was on a ski trip, Grandma Brigid came to town. We had a great time entertaining Maeve at the Zoo, at the Ice Castle and at gymnastics. We also went out to eat with Uncle Scott, Aunt Laura and Grandma Jan and Maeve got a compliment because she was so good (and they told me she could make loud noises since she was squealing with delight because the food was delicious!) The new Eric Carle exhibit was fantastic and a big hit with Maeve and Grandma Brigid and Grandma Jan.

Maeve is talking so much, she has the memory of her father (ie remembers everything!), and is now counting. Check out this video from 2 weeks ago at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve's house.

We did do some prep work to get prepared for Baby #2. We washed and organized bottles and we cleaned the "gender neutral" clothes and organized them in the nursery. Only major thing left to do is get the car seat back in the car and set up the pack 'n play and we still have (hopefully) 2 months to go!

Happy Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras!

Even though we don't have parades and it's 15 degrees outside, we are still practicing our bead throwing and catching. Maeve hasn't mastered the catching part yet but hopefully we'll get to go down there in a few years and she'll be a pro!

We're taking the day off from work and school to spend time with Grandma Brigid before she leaves tonight (and Eric comes home from his ski trip tomorrow). I never had to go to work or school while living in New Orleans so seemed like the perfect day to take off and enjoy the last few pieces of King Cake.