• Breakfast Pancakes
• Morning visit from Mila
• Hanging out with Janaina
• Bowling
• Movie Theatre (Despicable Me)
• Dinner at Not Your Average Joes
• Presents…lots of presents!
• Family…Mommy, Daddy, Avery, Emerson, Harper, Janaina, Ludmila, Papa, and Grandma

Now that is what turning 6 looks like!

I typically write two blog posts a month and with my last post being three weeks ago, I’ve been feeling like I’m overdue.  I haven’t had much out of the ordinary to write about.  Our weekends have been pretty ordinary….those cold winter days don’t make me want to do too many of the fun outdoor activities on our standing “to do” list.  Instead, we have been content going to the gym weekend mornings and spending a few hours most weekend days doing “homework”, primarily activities centered around sight words. With the school day being so long and the few hours each night being so short, having the weekend as an opportunity to catch up is appreciated. But realizing we could use a little something to spice up the weekends and realizing the official dates in which the girls were turning 5 1/2 and 3 1/2 were coming up, we decided we would celebrate half birthdays.  Avery and Emerson’s was last Saturday and we celebrated with an ice-cream sandwhich purchased from Trader Joe’s earlier that day.  Harper’s was today and we celebrated with pancakes for breakfast and mini ice-cream cones for dessert.  And we have already sang Happy Half Birthday to Harper three times today!  She is feeling quite special today! Ironically Harper’s half birthday falls on the anniversary that Justin and I started dating (16 years today!).  We never realized it because I guess we don’t celebrate half birthday’s very often…but this year we did and it was great to break up the ordinary!

This past Sunday we celebrated my mom’s 65th birthday and my grandma’s 89th birthday.  We had dinner at Chef Geoff’s…food was good, service was good, the girl’s were well behaved, and my mom and grandma enjoyed and appreciated their gifts and the fun night out. Happy Birthday Mom and Grandma!

This year we celebrated the girls 5^th and 3^rd birthdays with a big backyard party complete with moon bounce, swings, ball pit, food, drinks, family, friends, and a heat index of 107 degrees!  I was so worried about rain in the forecast…I didn’t think I had to be worried about excessive heat.  It was HOT!  Our outdoor party turned into an indoor and outdoor party, but I was totally okay with that as it was hot…too hot for some folks.  We had 59 people…25 kids and 29 adults….family, family friends, neighbors, and school friends.  With the size of our backyard and the various rooms indoors people were hanging out, it really didn’t seem like that many people.  I took some pictures for documentary purposes but it wasn’t my priority as I was trying to play hostess and socialize at the same time.

Avery and Emerson had a great time hanging out with their friends. Harper was content hanging out with Ludmila and Karolin.

Karolin made each girl a cake and Ludmila made the chocolate balls!  Both were delicious!  We sang Happy Birthday to each birthday girl!  Harper did not like the attention.

Karolin and Lumdila also made sugar cookies (cupcakes and trains) for favors that were decorated and plated so beautifully and I completely forgot to take a “before” picture of them.  By the time I remembered, there were only a few left and this picture hardly does their art work justice.

Many escaped the heat inside.  While they may look like they aren’t having a good time (I mean just sitting at a party), I think everyone who went inside was actually enjoying the cool air condition and not moving.

Despite the excessive heat, we all had a great time! Happy 5th and 3rd Birthdays Avery, Emerson, and Harper!

Then….

Now…..

Happy 5th Birthday to my first born little ladies!  I seriously still can’t believe that you are five!  It really seems like just yesterday we were bringing you girls home from the hospital. I hope that you’re relationship together continues to grow strong with each passing day and that you always remain the best of friends.  I hope that you always have a passion for life.  Reach for the stars my “baby” girls!

It’s hard to believe but my first born babies turned 4 last week!  This was the first year that they were both truly excited about the anticipation of their birthday.  We decided last year that we weren’t going to have a big birthday party this year….this year was going to be strictly a family celebration.  We knew they remember their birthday party from last year particularly the moon bounce. I knew that we needed to talk up their family birthday celebration so they knew that this year’s celebration was going to be just as exciting if not more exciting than their party last year.  We spoke about the upcoming birthday on a daily basis probably starting a week before their birthday.  They seriously were so excited…every day waking up and asking how many more days until their birthday.  

Their birthday was on a Tuesday this year and I took off the whole day and Justin took off in the morning.  We started the day with breakfast at Corner Bakery.  The girls had only eaten their once and truthfully it was before they were one so I think they really just accompanied Justin and I there for dinner one night while they drank their bottles.  Corner Bakery is right by my office and once every other week (okay sometimes every week) I usually treat myself to a medium Hazlenut coffee and an avocado and spinach power thin panini.  While it truly is delicious, I often take note of all the other things on the menu including the pancakes, eggs, and bacon platter that has everything Avery, Emerson, and Harper could all share and still get what they like most.  

So we went there for breakfast and the girls all split that one platter and the additional side of fruit I got them.  After breakfast, we headed to Clemyjontri Park.  It was a hot day but the girls had a lot of fun…on the swings……

hanging out in cars…

playing hop scotch….

walking on bridges…

on the merry-go-round….

taking family pictures…..

(okay so that was like pulling teeth…..Emerson especially doesn’t want to take her picture quite often)…so we took a few without her.

After some time watching, she decided she wanted to join in on the fun. 

After we got home, Ludmila made the girls lunch.  Harper was sleeping during this time so I used this time as an opportunity to have some one on one time with Avery and Emerson individually to read them portions of their annual birthday letter.  Emerson sat through most of it and enjoyed hearing what I had to say.  It was so neat to be able to finally share it with her.  Avery sat for the first paragraph of hers and then decided she wanted to do something else…..very typical!

After lunch, I took Avery and Emerson to ballet, along with Harper.  They were in a summer ballet class that meets twice a week and they are flourishing.  It is so neat to see how much they have progressed and how well they are doing in the class!

Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Adele came over to the house for dinner and we all ate take out from a turkish kabob place.  We were going to have Reston Kabob but it turns out they had closed so we had to come up with a very quick back up plan being that it was only when I attempted to place the order did I find out.

After dinner the girls opened up more presents from Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandma Adele.  The felt very special having been opening presents all throughout the day! They also received many Happy Birthday calls from other family members (GiGi, Uncle Russell and family, and Karolin). 

Finally it was cake time!  This year the girls got to pick out their own birthday cakes!  Emerson picked out Rapunzul and Avery picked out Sophia The First!  

We sang Happy Birthday to each of them separately.  They each made a wish and blew out their candles. 

We tried for some more family pictures!

We knew with two cakes we would have A LOT of cake left over so earlier that day, I sent a text out to our neighbors and invited them over for cake and ice cream. 

Truly it was a great day and the the girls had a great time turning four!

I imagine that with all three girls having birthdays within one week of another, we will likely be having joint parties and extended birthday celebrations for years to come.  We decided to go big this year….and I mean 65 people big and a moon bounce slide combo. Going into it, I knew that we would probably alternate years with doing big birthday celebrations and other years with doing smaller family gatherings.  This was a year for going big though.  I think in part it had to do with last year’s birthday celebration being small as I was 38 weeks pregnant.  In part it also had to do with the fact that we had just moved in to our new house with an awesome backyard and many of our friends had yet to see the place.  So maybe the girls’ birthdays was just an excuse to have a party?!?!?  We decided to have the party on August 16 which was after both birth dates which allowed us to focus on enjoying their actual birthdays without having to focus on the party too much until the week before the party.

Even though we were having a big party for the girls, we still couldn’t let their actual birthdays go by without a small family celebration. Avery and Emerson’s birthday breakfast consisted of a ceral bar with a candle in it. They both were thrilled with blowing out their birthday cereal bar, so much so that I started to wonder if the afternoon presents were even necessary!   We had a quick breakfast so that we could be at Kid Junction when it opened at 10:00 as their birthday was on a Monday and Justin and I each were able to take the morning off, but only the morning and not the whole day. The girls had a great time playing and the grocery store is still by far the favorite room of the girls. What was super awesome this time was that Harper truly got in there on all the fun this time and was not only pushing her own shopping cart, but also she was pushing it backwards AND laughing about it because she knew exactly what she was doing.  For some reason the girls weren’t really into the slides and mazes this year as they had been the previous two times we were there….they were scared of them this go around….with the exception being the “baby” slide area.

Avery and Emerson had plenty of cards to open during the day including one from GiGi and Papa Mac that contained a Minnie Mouse Crown that literally took Mommy longer to put together than Dadddy’s frozen pizza took to cook.  Sadly, I think it would have taken me even longer than 15 minutes had Karolin not been in the room to give me a hint as to what I was doing wrong….sad, I know!

The birthday celebration continued in the evening with some Chinese Food for dinner courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa followed by a small little cake and ice cream courtesy of Giant. 

The celebration continued into the evening with opening of presents including a new kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa.

Turning three also meant “big girl” beds, which meant taking off the railing and putting on the crib rail!

Fast forward one week and one day, and it was Harper’s birthday. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Harper’s 1 year photo shoot.  

We celebrated with a cake for Harper, which she wanted no part of whatsoever, and cupcakes for everyone else.   

I had actually made two cakes the night before her birthday…one for her Harper and then one for everyone else.  I was multi-tasking (making dinner for the current night) the same time that I made the cakes that I totally forgot to spray the pan with Pam, which equated to a disaster and a cake that I couldn’t serve.  Thus the gourmet store bought cupcakes, which turns out I probably didn’t need due to the fact that Harper wanted nothing to do with the cake.  Harper’s big presents were her very own baby doll and Pottery Barn Chair from Grandma Barbara and Grandma Adele which she was pretty excited about as she loved playing in Avery and Emerson’s chairs.

The Big Party!  The Big Party was Saturday August 16 and it was a hit. Justin and I for once decided to go all out….although money is always a consideration, we decided for this party it really wasn’t.  That included a moon bounce combo that truly made the party and really made the party a backyard party and eased my concerns and the obvious about our house not having a walk out entrance from the dining room or living room.  The kids had a great time playing in the moon bounce and some of the younger kids had a fun time hanging out in the ball pit.

The majority of our friends were able to come.  We also had plenty of family including Grandma Adele, GiGi, Uncle Russell, and the entire Petchenick clan.  We also had a few new neighbors who we look forward to hanging out with more in the future.  We of course over estimated on everything with regards to how much everyone would eat and drink so we had A LOT of left overs, but most things especially the beer will not go to waste.  

We had two awesome cakes that Karolin made from scratch that were delicious.  Everyone gathered to sing happy birthday and mid way through I realized I forgot to have someone video it :(.  I thought about having everyone sing a second time but decided against it.

Really though it was a great party…my only regrets were that I didn’t get to have meaningful conversations with some of our friends…but I knew before the party started that would be the case and we didn’t get better pictures…but again that was attributed to us trying to enjoy the party and not being so focused on capturing the event. We heard from most everyone that the party was awesome.  I even made goodie bags (which wasn’t in my original plan) but I’m glad that I did as I think the kids thoroughly enjoyed them as evidenced by Camden on her way home from the party….note to parents….check your rearview mirror if your kids are quieter than normal…lol. 

And because we didn’t get a chance to take any pictures with Grandma Adele at the party we took some the following day at Mom and Dad’s house.

I’m hoping that as the girls get older my chances of getting a picture where they are all smiling and looking at the camera at the same time will increase…oh well…at least these make me smile.

Our girls are popular girls!  The first three Saturday’s in March they have had a birthday party.  Since their friends are all actually the children of our friends maybe that just makes Justin and me popular!  Actually we feel very blessed to have so many close friends.

First was Chase’s party.  Chase is Rich and Kristin’s son and he turned two.  His party was at his house in Purcellville.  It’s over an hour drive to get there but we took Rte. 50 in order to have the scenic view.  It was actually a beautiful day with the first signs of spring.  The girls slept much of the car ride there and when we got there Avery was ready to explore and Emerson was content to sit and take it all in as usual.  The girls wore their matching Zara dresses courtesy of my sister.  I figured they didn’t have much time before they outgrew them!  We had a great time at the party. Rich and Kristen are good hosts and since we were among all our friends this mommy and daddy really did have a great time. 

On a side note, this party was the first time we had seen a few of our friends in awhile so some of our friends found out at the party that we were expecting again.  The funny thing is one girl after another revealed her pregnancy.  While we already knew Augusta was pregnant (due at the end of May), and Kristin was pregnant (due June 1), it wasn’t known by the masses that I was pregnant, or Casey was pregnant (due end of July) or that Leigh was pregnant (due October).  It was actually pretty funny.  Besides Augusta who was already in her third trimester, I swear my belly was bigger than everyone elses!

Here are some pics from Chase’s party.

The following Saturday was Camden’s 2^nd birthday at Clemyjontri Park in Great Falls.  Camden is Casey and Eric’s daughter.  The weather forecast was not looking good even through that morning; however, once we got to the park it warmed up some and actually turned out to be a good day.  Camden had a Minnie Mouse theme and the girls, especially Emerson, were not impressed with Minnie.  It was the first time they had seen a dressed character, courtesy of Eric’s mom, and they were just not having it.  The girls had fun playing on the playground especially on the slides and the train. While I was impressed with the lunch food, the girls are picky when outside their routine, so they ate mostly fruit.  At least they didn’t throw the food that they didn’t want.  The party wore the girls out so much that Avery even fell asleep on Mommy for about 20 minutes during present time.  They missed their morning nap but when we got home, we put the girls down and they ended up sleeping for several hours.

Here are some pics from Camden’s party.

The following Saturday was Dylan’s 2^nd birthday at Little Gym in Ashburn.  Dylan is Danielle and Matt’s son.  This was the 2^nd time we had been to a party at Little Gym…that same exact Little Gym in fact with the same exact instructor.  The first time we were there was when the girls were about 10 months old.  Emerson was crawling then but I don’t think Avery was yet (I have to go back to look at her baby book…I can’t believe I already can’t remember!).  This time the girls were able to participate in a lot more which was neat.  They definitely enjoyed it especially the rings, the tunnel, and the basketball hoop/balls.  It was a quick party…scheduled for 1 ½ hours and the last 15 minutes is really for the staff to clean up so they really do throw you in and out.  Truthfully, I am not certain that much more time was necessary though.  The girls enjoyed the party!  Justin didn’t bring his camera in since he knew the expectations of being able to leave the girls unattended were almost non-existent, but he did take just a couple with his phone.   

Besides that first weekend of March, the weather hasn’t been very warm. In fact, we have had over 4 inches of snow on two different occasions in March…once this week and once two weeks ago.  The past few Sunday’s we had been hoping to take the girls downtown.  If it was nice we were going to have a picnic near the Washington Monument.  We did that exactly a year ago on a sunny Sunday towards the end of March.  We were hoping to see the Cherry Blossoms but they had peaked early last year and nothing remained.   The girls were not yet eating solids but we timed it around their bottle time so while Justin and I were having a picnic catered by Cenans bakery, including plastic utensils to cut a baguette, our girls were drinking their bottles on a blanket.  They weren’t mobile yet.  I imagine the experience will be quite different this time. If it wasn’t that nice but still fairly mild, we thought about taking them to the Museum of Natural History or possibly the aquarium.  But the truth is I like being outside and I love the start of spring so I am hoping that this weekend is going to be nice.  So far the forecast isn’t looking great, but it’s not too bad so I am hopeful!  The Cherry Blossoms have not peaked yet.  They are expected to peak midweek next week which means that this weekend could potentially be very busy downtown especially considering it is Easter Sunday and Spring Break for many.  Part of me is a little scared of their mobility amongst the masses but assuming the weather is nice, we can find a space to park downtown, I’m up for the challenge.