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On May 29th, we celebrated the 33rd birthday of the world’s greatest Dad!  Why is he the best Dad? (From the viewpoint of Natalie)

1.  He’s STRONG (balancing 25 lbs in the right arm, 35 lbs in the left – that takes skill!)

2.  He loves the same fav foods as me – peanut butter, waffles, bananas and OJ!  Lovin’ this birthday tradition!

3.  He helps my little bro and me all the time – just in this pic, he’s helped Elliott into his high chair, put on a big, get his food and will clean that mess up afterwards!

4.  He’s super goofy, silly and funny.

We’re the luckiest!

Our kids have been blessed to have met and known 6 great grandparents (both of my grandmas, though Grandma Mary passed away before meeting Elliott, and amazingly, all 4 of Jordan’s grandparents).  At a time when a friend recently lost her mother, we feel really lucky to have healthy grandparents and even great grandparents!

Mammaw and Pappaw (Kathy’s parents) visited this past week.  They did a pretty phenomenal job of keeping up with the kiddos.  The week’s schedule was:

Mon: Birthday/Anniversary picnic at the Zoo (Jordan’s 33rd bday and their 62nd wedding anniversary)
Tues:  Playing with Elliott at Park West Park
Wed: Farm Zoo (on Nana’s gardening day – so Natalie tried spinach and radishes!?!), which included climbing on hay, a picnic, seeing cows/pigs/goats/chicks, petting a chicken and climbing a tractor (Only the kids did the climbing stuff! M&P get around well, so they may have been able to do those too!)
Thurs: Another bday/anniversary dinner celebration on the actual day (Thanks Nana for another meal this week!)
Fri: Baking and other playing at N&P’s house (usually just Natalie’s day but our nanny couldn’t come in, so they took both kids for 2 hours!)

I took 20+ pics of these 4 on the bench – in most, an adult was looking at Elliott.  Here, Elliott was looking at Mammaw.  Good enough!

Hey – why aren’t you looking at me, Mammaw?

Hey!  Big Sis – wait up!

Um, are you sure its okay I touch her?

The Kennedy Clan visited us from South Bend this weekend and our friend Vanessa who lives downtown joined us too – yay!  A big thanks to Jordan’s parents for hosting a  yummy dinner at their house and the Kennedy’s overnight.  (We’ve never tried sleeping 9 people in our 1000 sq ft condo – it probably could have worked, but I think everyone slept better with the extra space.)  Speaking of sleep, I begin typing this as Jordan, Natalie and Elliott are 2+ hours into their recovery naps.  (I just woke up myself).  In 27 hours, the combination of us made 17 trips to the park, 6 trips to the zoo, 2 trips to a museum, 11 trips to a BBQ (Jordan had 3 under his belt), 6 trips to Starbucks, 1 magic show and a few games of dress-up.  Whew.  These kids – ages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 – are busy ones!

Thanks for an awesome visit, Kennedys!  A big shout out to Clare, age 2, for keeping me in the know with what my kids are up to – she told her dad who told me where Elliott was and also told me when Natalie had a little #2 in her pants (AH – suggestions here?!?!  I’m tired of the lax commitment on her part – I just bribed her with “7 days of always going #2 in the toilet = 1 princess costume from the Disney store”.  I hope it works, for many reasons.)

Here are a few of the highlights caught on my phone (Thanks for the awesome visit!):

Nana and Pop took Natalie out on Friday. JAC joined too! Loving the warmer weather.

We’ve got a walker!  Elliott’s been a bona fide walker for at least a week – a full two months earlier than his big sister (aka Nah-Nah, his 3rd word).  That may b/c he is desperate to keep up with her.  Or, perhaps he’s desperate for outrunning his dad, as was the case at the park tonight.

Combine the walking with a love for nakedness and bike helmets (both modeled after his big sister), and you have a whole lot of cuteness walking around in our house.

Just try to catch me Mom!

Pause.  Short break to check out this awesome dryer.

These two have spent even more time together than usual, as hand foot and mouth hit preschool last week – and therefore, our house this week.  Poor Elliott has a lot of sores on his legs.  Good news is that once the fever breaks, you’re clear, so we can still have visitors this week. (Consider that my PSA b/c the info online is rather unclear about when kids are “in the clear”.)

First, happy mother’s day to my mom and Grandma-extraordinaire.  As a kid, some of my fav things to do with her and my sisters were baking Christmas cookies, reading all the time and going swimming (at the Y, at Kaukana, at Black Creek).  As a grown-up, some of the things my kids like to do best with Grandma are reading, acting out scenarios with dolls/figurines, and playing kitchen/tea party.  (I’m sure cousin Trevor would substitute at least one of these for ‘trucks’)!

Second, happy mother’s day to Nana, who is actually in France right.  I am of course, forever grateful for the amazing son she raised and she’s a super fun, loving Nana too.  She regularly picks up each kid for a special outing – here’s a recent trip to the Children’s Museum (Natalie had been wanting to go for weeks – thanks Nana and Pop!)

Finally, thanks to Jordan for planning such a fun Mother’s Day, which included:

1. Elliott sleeping in until 5:55.  (Okay, Jordan probably didn’t plan this one, but it was a treat!)

2. A family bike ride, to a playground with a packed lunch

3. An hour work-out at the gym

4. A trip out for ice cream (Natalie’s idea on a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day)

5. A locket with pics of the two best kids in the world

6. A picture album showcasing Elliott (to match the two that I’ve gotten for Natalie)

We never got a pic of both kids and me.  Not for lack of trying.  Natalie showed a grumpy face a lot.  At least for me.  She really enjoyed a walk to get ice cream (pic 1)… and the thought of giving Issy a walk home (pic 2).

A month or two ago, Natalie’s preschool told us that a photographer was coming in to take pictures and the kids could where whatever they wanted.   Ok, whatever.

Last week, we get an email with proofs of all the kids.  Natalie’s pictures is, of course, ridiculously adorable.  And for a single 5×7 pitures, you too can have this photo for just $115.  What?!?!!  Yeah, the packages go up to about $350 and get cheaper per picture, but to purchase even one pic is a minimum of $115.  And I’m quite sure that preschool is getting a cut of that.

It’s extortion-by-cuteness.  So despite the cuteness, I’m not going to give in.  Fortunately, there is no shortage of cute Natalie pictures!

And today got to 91 and felt like summer!

Check out these cuties. Big Sis and Little Bro lovin’.

Loving my hand-me-down car. (Mom’s note: Pretty sure big sis is not going to like this)

Ha! You crack me up, little couz!

On my Wednesday day off, the kids and I had a super busy day.  After nap #1, we went to the zoo.

Are you taller than a polar bear?

Aardvark, aardvark, come out wherever you are!

After lunch, Natalie requested going to the park by Nana and Pop’s house.  We instead opted for Cummings Park, next to the zoo.

Hmmm… not exactly sure how I’m supposed to get on this swing like my big sis.

Here I come!

Ride ’em Cowboy!

Natalie also had her first pee crouch experience as well.  (Note to self: Take portable potty with you everywhere – you never know when your daughter will decide to pee 10 minutes after you ask her to go, when there’s a conveniently located bathroom.)  I’m happy to report, dry undies and pants, in thanks to the fancy positioning, with my support.  Hope that wasn’t TMI.

NOTE:  YOU WILL WANT TO VIEW THIS POST FROM A COMPUTER – NOT A MOBILE PHONE.  Also, the images below load really slowly.  You may want to walk away and come back in a minute.

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Given that Erin and I take about 500 pictures per month and keep half of them, I’m a bit of a nut about organizing and editing them. I back up everything in Google Drive, and recently, I noticed something crazy.

Google automatically added those pictures to Google Plus and then automatically bedazzled them! By “bedazzled,” I mean took similar pictures and made moving gif files. It’s actually pretty cool. Check out some below!

Elliott: "Hey Mom, this is awesome!" Natalie: "We never do anything fun." (while sitting on a carousel)

"Hurry up, what's taking so long? FEED ME!"

My favorite birthday-candle-blowing-out-assistant ever! Hands down.

Natalie: "Oh Mammaw, you are a hoot! Tell me more."

Pretty cool, huh?!  Google even had one where they added snow!

Now I’m probably going to take five pictures every time just to see what Google does to them.

As if I needed a reason to take even MORE pictures…