Birthday Surprise, and Fossil Rim

Over Memorial weekend, the Marschners came to visit!  Shannon basically woke me up at 2:30 in the morning and totally surprised me out of sleep.  Their flight was supposed to get in much earlier but bad weather had them circling and their rental car situation went from bad to worse(no car seat for Brendan even though they had reserved one!!).  So Chris snuck out of the house with a car seat around 1:30 and got them back here to wake me up.  I think Tom, with Chris' help, had been planning this since March!  I honestly thought I was dreaming when she came in and sat on my bed.
There really is nothing better than spending time with my twinnie, but its even more special when we get to be together on our birthday!  We sort of just hung out and did fun kid stuff, like the splash park and walks around the neighborhood, but the highlight was Fossil Rim.  I have been wanting to go there since I heard about it a few years back, and it was pretty fun!  Feeding animals from your car?  Elia was in paradise.
With our awesome new minivan, we were able to scrunch all 4 adults and 3 babies in one car!

Love

Loving the new sunroof

Prob my fave pic of the day!

Little loves!

Gianna's Birthday

Lucky for G, her birthday landed on a built in bad weather day, so the 3 of us had the day off!  We did birthday pancakes, and then I took the girls to the splash park.  It was our first water adventure of the season, so they were delighted!  We ended the day with a trip to Zinga with Daddy and Uncle Patrick.

Day before her birthday at school- she brought in leftover MLP cookies!

Happy Birthday pancakes!

Splash Park!

Love this action shot!

Zinga Froyo

Elia's Birthday

Chris and I both took the day off, and Grandma and Grandpa, and Patrick were still in town. To celebrate her birthday we all went to the Rough Riders game.  It was pretty darn hot, but we had a great day together!

Not many people can say they have a twin AND a mini-me.

Really excited about a present!

Our tradition of birthday pancakes morphed into birthday frozen waffles!

 

Grandpa discovered a momma duck with 11 ducklings.

My beautiful 4 year old!

We probably played longer at the playground than we actually sat and watched the game!

Her birthday crown from school.

Birthday Party

This was the pic on the invite.

The birthday party was a little early, but it worked out since Grandma and Grandpa were in town!  Aunt Jenny, who just started a cookie and cupcake business with grandma, sent the most adorable My Little Pony cookies.

While in town, grandma made yummy raspberry and vanilla cupcakes.  Elia helped.

This is the first year we did not have a party at home.  After calling bounce house places etc, I found this awesome indoor play ground in Carrollton that is open to the public on weekends, and you can reserve tables for parties for FREE!  It was a huge success, and we ended up spending about the same amount as we have in the past, because really all we had to pay for was the food.  No pinata this time around.  We saw some old friends and G invited all of her new friends too.

MLP shirt!

rock climbing.  this place had it all!

I was running around like crazy so I didn't take many pictures.  

St. Louis: Hanging with the Family

Right before we left.  I hid away some of theirbday presents, plus new packs of crayons etc. for the car ride. 
They were so excited to get in the car.  However, they weren't so excited by the 5th hour.  Or the 9th.

We got in late Friday night so this is the first time they hung out with the cousins-
helping grandpa make banana split pancakes!

Hello Kitty Bingo, of course.

Blanket fort.

Colin taught G how to make rainbows.  

Sweet Baby Anna!
 I was totally reminded of Elia, as she wore a lot of her old
clothes and has the same coloring and cute chubby cheeks!

Ryan graduated from SLUH!  Looking good there Ry.

Deep conversation while they took Elmo out.

Grandpa reading

Filling the bird feeder

Happy Birthday Ice Cream at Oberweiss

Always always helping!  This was right before G accidentally swung
the hose right overElia's head and got water all over Elia!

St. Louis: My 30th Birthday

I celebrated my 30th year of life with my St. Louis Family, and it was so much fun. We rented a 12 passenger van and headed to Fast Eddies for the night. All my sisters were there and a few high school friends. No kids. It was AWESOME!

All the sisters in front of the van.

My HS BFF

The 30 year old twinnies!

Gianna's Birthday

We celebrated G's birthday similarly to Elia's.  Waffles with a candle and we opened presents before Daddy went to work. 

Then we spent a leisurely morning at the splash park.  I think Elia might have had a drink or two of that water because she got sick later that night.

Anyway, after Chris came home, we headed over to Five Guys.  Ever since Gianna saw the sign for the 5 guys opening in Carrollton, she has been planning to go there for her 5th birthday. 

Waiting in line at 5 Guys.  This is literally seconds before Elia got sick on the floor.

Once home this evening, we watched a cartoon before bed.  Elia got very sick again, so we spent the rest of G's birthday awake time cleaning up after her.  Say a prayer this is just a quick bug and that G (or anyone else here)doesn't get it!
Her life so far: 1st 3 years, 4th year, and 5th year:

Almost 4.  May 2011

4 years, 3 months.  Always helping in the kitchen!

4 and a half at the zoo.

4 years, 9 months.  Getting ready for V-Day

Exactly 5 years old!  These are her new accessories from Grandma.  I cannot get over how old she looks!  She was so excited to dress up!