Emmie's 3rd Birthday!

In June, we celebrated a very special little girl's 3rd birthday- our cousin Emmie! Kenna was very excited not only to receive some mail addressed to her, but also that the invitation asked her to pick out her favorite princess outfit to wear to the party! Kenna chose her favorite one, a medieval-style princess gown that Papa and Mimi gave her about a year ago that she has loved almost to death- we had to hand wash it to clean it up a bit for the occasion!

She was so excited to pick out all her princess accessories, all the way down to her high heeled dress up shoes, and that Mommy had wrapped Emmie's present in a princess bag!

We ran a little late waiting for little brother to wake up from his nap, and when we got to Emmie's house, Princess Cinderella was just arriving too! Her dress was beautiful and her hair perfectly in place, just a princess should be. She started by reading us a story about herself and Prince Charming, of course.

 Kenna loved sitting with her best princess buddy, Emmie, who was also dressed like Cinderella!

Princess Cinderella brought lots of fun activities and surprises with her for all the girls! Things like face painting, dancing to princess songs, and stickering their very own princess crowns with their names on them. Kenna chose a rainbow on her cheek for her face painting, and was so cute waiting patiently and watching while Cinderella painted her. Here she is working on her stickered crown kit:

After birthday cake and lots of yummy pink treats, Every princess got to take a picture with Cinderella, and then Uncle Jason and Aunt Alisa very thoughtfully included a copy of it in everybody's thank you notes! What a thrill to meet a real life princess!

Finn on the other hand, was very careful to stick close to his Daddy and make extra sure he was not mistaken for a princess.

As we wished Princess Cinderella and each other goodbye, Kenna was given a princess art set with markers as a party favor. She was high on all the princess girly goodness! (The two pieces of cake she ate probably had nothing to do with it!)

She still loves to play dress up in her purple stickered crown and use her princess markers. Happy birthday Emmie, and thank you for letting us come play princesses with you!

Baby Ella and Grannie's Visit!

On May 7th, we welcomed a new addition to our extended family- our baby niece and cousin, Ella Kathleen! Kenna could hardly contain her excitement that there's a new girl in the family, so Kenna, Finn, and I went to the hospital to meet baby Ella! Of course, the first thing Kenna wanted to do was hold baby Ella. Between Finn being cranky and me trying to help Kenna hold her, I was thankful Aunt Alisa was able to take a picture for us:

We three girls, squished into a very deep-seated hospital chair! Kenna was so excited! It feels like not that long ago we came to see Ella's big sister Emmie in the hospital just after being born, and now there's a new little tiny girl in the bassinet:

 Of course, when there's a new baby in the family, we all get extra excited because that is sure to mean that a visit from Grannie is coming! She came to town to help Jason and Alisa adjust to their new addition and she also usually comes in May to celebrate Jason's birthday. We had lots to celebrate as a family this month!
We stopped by Jason and Alisa's house to see baby Ella and to go to a birthday dinner for Jason.

 Grannie never forgets special treats for the older great grandkids. She and the girls had a great time playing bubbles!

 Finn was not quite walking at this point (he was so, so close!) but could not stand to see Evan, Uncle Jason, and Daddy playing basketball without him. We kept trying to keep him happy with his own ball there in the soft grass, but he insisted on crawling out across the driveway to get to the big ball. He did is so much that his poor little knees and tips of his toes were scraped and bleeding a little! He is all boy and apparently feels no pain when it comes to keeping up with the big guys.

While the big kids were riding bikes, Finn got a helping hand from Grannie to try a scooter for the first time! He is so determined to keep up with his sister and big cousins. We're all impressed at how well Grannie keeps up with all of them too!

After playing, we met up with Papa for Jason's birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse. It was a little wild with four tired kiddos (mostly mine were the tired ones since we skipped naps that day!) but we had a fun time together.

 

We also all shared in Uncle Jason's dessert- happy birthday!

 We obviously take ice cream very seriously in this family.

 Here is one more photo of Ella a little bit older now, that I also had to borrow from Aunt Alisa. We just don't see these cousins of ours often enough! With that beautiful dark hair, I think she looks just like Uncle Jason! Welcome to the family, baby Ella!

Sprayground!

Earlier in the summer we made a date with Aunt Alisa, Evan and Emmie to go to the "sprayground" at Triangle Town Center mall to play in the water! Several times now we've been at the mall and have seen kids playing in it and I kept telling Kenna we would do it another day. So we did!
All three of the kids totally LOVED it. It's basically a large patio that has small openings where the water shoots up randomly. Kenna always has such a blast with Evan and Emmie- they are the perfect ages to really be able to play well together and all be interested in the same things at the same time (4 and a half, 2 and a half, and 2). Meanwhile, Alisa and I sat in the shade with Finn and chatted potty training strategies.

We got there as soon as they turned it on, and had it all to ourselves for a little while. It was so nice to see the kids run wild and scream and not have to chase after them! The best part, of course, was wondering which spot would spray when and waiting for it...
So exciting!
If there is any type of water nearby, even the tiniest little parking lot puddle, my sweet waterbug is up for it. This girl LOVES water.
What a great time! We'll definitely have to do this again before the summer is over!

Emmie's Luau Party!

Our sweet niece Emerson turned 2 this month and her parents threw her a super cute luau party! Kenna had an absolute blast playing with her cousins and their friends... dressing up in a grass skirt and leis, playing in a backyard pool, and playing in the sprinkler for the first time!
The happy (and adorable) birthday girl!
Little best cousin friends, only six months apart:
One of Kenna's favorite foods right now is pizza... I think she nabbed this piece off someone else's plate after polishing off her own!
The luau theme made for a really fun summer party! Alisa made their whole house and back porch colorful and tropical, and I absolutely loved the beachy cupcakes!
Kenna went a little "mardi gras" with all the leis... apparently she thought you were supposed to collect as many as possible!
And Finn was awfully cute enjoying the party with Daddy. Love this little man!
The Deans (minus Evan)- Happy Birthday Emmie Grace!

Family Dinner!

Last week we went out for a family dinner to celebrate Nana B's birthday (which was actually this week, happy birthday!). We were going to try out a new Italian restaurant near Wakefield, and we got a call from Granddaddy right before we left the house... we were supposed to get there a little early and be ready to sing happy birthday because Nana was getting an extra special surprise birthday gift:

a new car!

The faces in this next photo are hilarious... Kenna is pointing at the car, Nana didn't realize right away that it was for her, and Sandy had driven up in it just minutes before she got there! (Granddaddy looks like maybe the surprise didn't quite go like he thought?)
After all the excitement, we went inside and enjoyed a delicious Italian-bistro style dinner and lots of fun cousin and grandparent time! Love these girly girls:
Check out that cheesy pizza!
A little mister also had a September birthday! Beckley boy turned 2 on September 10th!
Kenna enjoyed helping herself to Granddaddy's chicken parm and sweet tea... luckily he is always gracious enough to share!
Coloring with Nana B:
After dinner we each got to take a little spin in the parking lot in Nana B's new toy... Happy Birthday Nana B!