Summer weekends mean pool, parties and fun!

The family capped Memorial Day weekend by celebrating Ellie's birthday at Ba's house. Our little princess looked like a regular Shirley Temple. 

Ellie is overjoyed when she opens her Kristoff and Anna set of dolls.  

Everyone sings Happy Birthday as she blows out the candles for the (next to) last time... there would still be cupcakes for her actual birthday, of course! 

This weekend we had perfect weather to celebrate Leena's seventh birthday at our pool.  Ellie loved her floatie and was quite good at paddling after her sister. 

Evie and "Pec the Toucan" were inseparable. 

Ellie is such a ham. 

Finally, today the whole family got to play in the new playset in our backyard.  Evie checks out the treehouse...

... before she and little sis try going down the slide together.  Probably an experiment we won't recreate.  

It's a Jolly Holiday for Ellie!

The girls are wearing matching pajamas and matching smiles as they get ready for Ellie's big day to celebrate her third birthday party! 

The theme, of course, picked out by Ellie, was "Mary Poppins!"  We had a lot of fun with this one, as you can see from the London rooftops.  "Step in Time" is Ellie's favorite song and we created a chimney sweep for her to practice her moves (although she is best at twirling like Mary does).  We also filled a teapot with purple carnations for the song that cracks her up (naturally), "I Love to Laugh".  

Ellie is also great at singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" (note the Votes for Women tail detail). Yes, we have watched the movie quite a bit.  

Daddy added some more rooftops and chimney sweeps on the wall.  He had to listen to both Mommy's and Evie's critique on his placement of Bert.  

  

Of course, the fun project of the morning was creating the fondant cake, with rooftops, carousel horses, and the practically perfect Poppins on top! Fondant is always quite the adventure.

Evie surveys the food table, filled with marshmallow "chimney sweeps," caramel apples, cheddar penguins, Mary Poppin-corn, spoonfuls of sugar, and blue jello cups with white clouds/black umbrellas.  Later to come were the penguin bananas (a somewhat failed experiment) and raspberry ice.  

Our little angel walked down the stairs and posed with Mommy and Daddy to get the party started. 

Look at our  little angel! Growing up so fast! 

Ellie was very attached to Evie during the whole party. Here the girls are dancing to the Mary Poppins soundtrack, doing Step in Time, of course! 

They also loved the moon bounce - Daddy had found one in the shape of a carousel that went perfectly with our theme. The kids stayed in there for hours!

Ellie blows out the candles on her cake with the help of big sis. 

Everyone crowds around to get a piece of the cake! 

Ellie digs into the fondant part of the cake, which she actually enjoyed. 

She runs in to recruit Daddy to jump in the moon bounce with her. 

Whew, Ellie looks all tuckered out. 

Good thing this moon bounce is like one comfy pillow. 

Daddy runs after the girls around the moon bounce as they giggle with glee.  What a delightful party.  It was practically perfect in every way. 

McDonald Cousins Birthday Bash

While Mom was down in Florida for Aunt Amy and Uncle Karl's baby "sprinkle," Dad and the girls rode up to New Jersey to see Bebe, Popi and the girls' cousins. 

Before the  party started, Bebe opened up her homemade Mother's Day gift.

It's a ceramic frame painted and decorated by Evie with a picture of the two girls in their Easter bonnets.

The party began at Jenkinson's Amusement Park in Point Pleasant. The cousins first started on a little train trip around the rides. Evie and Ellie (and Molly and Julianna behind them) are scouting out where to go next.

After jumping on the flying elephants (or the Dumbo ride as Evie called it), it was time to hop on the swings. Evie was trying to give Dad a low five while Ellie was simply holding on.

Next up was the boat ride -- you need a steady hand to steer and Captain Ellie was at her finest.  Evie made her presence known by clanging the bell.

Finally... the Spinning Dragon.  Julianna, Stan, Molly, Evie and Ellie enjoyed the Spinning Dragon as long as Uncle Dave wasn't spinning it!

Back at Bebe and Popi's house, it was time for cupcakes, candles and crooning!  Happy birthday to Stan, Julianna and Ellie -- all born within a week of each other (though not same year). Stan is patiently waiting for the song to end so he can blow out the candle...

...and eat his cupcake!

Bryn also loved her cupcake with a beautiful icing mustache. Once Bryn showed off her talent, it was only a matter of time before others joined her mustache prowess.

Molly's mustache seems to have a German influence.

Evie seems to be less mustache and simply a dirty face.

After cupcakes it was time to open gifts. Ellie received a new favorite book, Don't Push the Button as well as a Repunzel wig (among other generous gifts!), which she now wears nearly every day -- including to bed! What a birthday celebration for everyone!

April Showers bring May flowers, and lots of nice days outside to enjoy...

Despite a couple of rainy and stormy days, it has been great to be outdoors and enjoying the warm weather again.  A couple of weeks ago we had a delightful brunch outside where the girls and Bryn and London enjoyed their chocolate chip pancakes (but particularly the whipped cream), while the adults sipped mimosas and enjoyed quiche.  

On Mother's Day, we also had a delightful dinner outside with Ba and Opa.  Evie decided to toast Moms everywhere. 

Evie reads Ba her Mother's Day card... 

 ... while Ellie is preoccupied with watering the plants. 

Evie proudly poses with the frame she had painted for Ba. 

Ellie shares a kiss and a laugh with Ba. 

Later Evie helps Mom open her gifts, including two beautifully decorated handmade candles from the girls (but coordinated by Daddy who had discovered Pinterest). 

Spring Fest has sprung!

The family headed over to Ba and Opa's for a delightful day at SpringFest at the Lorton Arts Festival and delicious ham lunch at Ba and Opa's. 

Ellie and Evie embraced the coming of spring with arms wide open! 

This is Evie's coy smile.

The girls had a blast on the Polar Express obstacle course - poor Mommy could barely keep up!  

The giant slide at the end was the highlight!

The girls had a lot of fun hula hooping away - Evie puts an extra swish in her hips!

Ellie gives it a try, but much prefers pretending to be a circus tiger jumping through the fiery hoops.  The girls visited many stations to learn about how to better take care of our planet.  When we got home, we planted some herbs and sprinkled some seeds in our garden. 

The Last of the Egg Hunts

On Easter afternoon we ended our holiday with a fantastic egg hunt at our neighbors the Dechoretz's. Ms. Yamina had all sort of fun activities planned, like the egg spoon race where Ellie cheered on her sister.  It was also great to see Jen and Andrew again who were visiting on an East Coast tour.  

  

 The kids were let loose for the hunt - Ellie proudly swings her basket as she searches for the final eggs of the season. 

Evie finds a well-hidden egg buried in a bush. 

The kids plop down to go through their bounties and take a little nibble here and there. 

Andrew proudly displays his colorful eggs in his basket.