Sunny Springtime

We are so happy to welcome Spring here! We have had a great time with our wagon (a Christmas gift from Grambie and Grandpop that is finally getting good use!), sprinkler, tree swing and picnics at the playground. 

That's not our garden in the picture above-- we still have a long ways to go on the house, especially outside! We have been slowly chipping away at projects. Katherine is a happy helper. You can see her painting skills here:

We hope you are all enjoying the flowers and spring time too!!

God Bless Andrew Richard!

Congratulations to Andrew as he made his first communion this Sunday! We were honored to celebrate with him, and pray the love and joy of Jesus remains i his heart always.

After Mass we enjoyed a fun party at the Koes' house. Katherine jumped right in with the boys and tried climbing the "mountain." She only made it as high as the treehouse, but has been talking almost nonstop about how she wants to climb another mountain with her cousins' help!

It's always a joy to see what a talented and passionate boy Andrew is growing up to be, and we are so proud of him on his first communion day and always!

Happy Birthday Oma!!

Many blessings to Oma on her birthday! While we couldn't celebrate with you today we enjoyed our time together in DC just a couple weeks ago!

Today the first tulips bloomed in Pittsburgh too! We hope your year is filled with flowers, sunshine, and true joy!

Alleluia! He makes all things new.

Happy Easter! Since today is celebrating Jesus' new life and the Resurrection, it seemed at least as good a day as any to restart our blog! :-) 

We had a beautiful Easter celebration today. We finally made it early to Mass (but it was so crowded we were still left standing!) and enjoyed Easter egg pancakes, egg dyeing, a trip to a park for playgrounds and disc golf, and a fancy Easter dinner. 

We were lucky to have the Easter bunny visit last night! He brought baskets for our whole family including Baby! Mommy is happy to share Baby's extra candy with him/her!

We are wrapping up our evening with a quiet walk and hopes that our two sugar-rushed bouncy girls will enjoy some rest soon. 

Happy Birthday Aunt Mary Beth!!

We wish Aunt Mary Beth the happiest of birthdays! We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than spending the day with her in Texas! Our family has been on an extended road trip, starting in Pittsburgh last week, stopping in St. Louis to celebrate Aunt Beth's wedding, then spending awhile with our Texas family in Houston. 

The girls are having an awesome time in Houston, playing cooperatively and even sharing for minutes at a time! 

 Aunt Mary Beth's celebration was complete with cookie cake, time at the salon with Mommy (which was largely a treat for Mommy!), and a trip to Build a Bear Workshop! Katherine and Marie each built a new friend. Katherine picked Applejack from My Little Pony, and Marie picked a classic Bunny. 

We turned around for less than 10 seconds and Marie made herself cozy in this coupe accessory. Don't worry, we didn't let her drive it home!

Katherine immediately insisted on joining the fun. :-)

Thanks, Aunt Mary Beth, for such a special visit! May your year be filled with good health, great joy, and every blessing!

Step by step !

We've made a lot of progress on the house recently-- most notably for Mama is that all of our clothes have finally been unpacked, sorted, and put away!

Probably more impressive has been all of the work Daddy has done on the attic and kitchen. 

We recently traded in both of our Civics for a minivan, which has been incredibly useful for house projects! Here's almost all the wood we used for the attic ceiling and some walls. 

We got a ton of this work done this weekend thanks to a visit from Grambie. Grambie helped out around the garden, house, and  we all enjoyed some special time together. 

Ocean City!

We've had an awesome start to our week in Ocean City! The Cousins stopped by our house on their way out, and we got to show them around the town. Andrew and Alex were most excited about playing video games with Uncle Ted, and Luke enjoyed fishing in our local pond. 

The weather in OCNJ has been just about perfect, and we have made it to the beach pretty much every day. Katherine is brave as soon as she sees the waves, while Marie takes a couple minutes to warm up to the water and sand. 

We have also enjoyed Mack & Mancos, Kohrs Bros ice cream, mini golf, games, and most of all, some great time together with our family!!

We still have a few days left to make more memories, and we will be sure to take lots of pictures to share with you too!