Category Archives: birthday

March 12, 2017 ~ Birthday week!

This week was a fun one as we celebrated my birthday (sans photos of me) and celebrated Griffin’s 4th birthday a bit early with his party over the weekend! The tradition of a bunny birthday cake continues as this year Finn and Kevin picked up the necessary ingredients (cake and frosting) from Giant Eagle and iced and decorated the cake for me while I got to watch. Griffin really enjoyed it, especially the sampling of the frosting as you can see.  Over the weekend we had Finn’s birthday party at the Bounce Club in Powell. He along with 17 of his friends bounced around like ping pong balls for an hour and then we sat down for pizza and some Ninja Turtle Cake. He definitely burned some energy! After the party we headed back to our house to open gifts with all the grandparents and family.  Later that evening we had a progressive dinner with 3 of our neighborhood friends. It was a mexican theme that started with appetizers and drinks at our house (taquitos, chips and salsa/homemade guacamole, and various beers, mexican sodas, and margaritas). Next up we headed to Brian and Lisa’s for soup and salad (jalapeno popper chili – yum!) and then on to Bernie and Alex’s house for the main course of build-your-own enchiladas and tacos. Yummers! Our final stop was at Nate and AJ’s for tasty churros and ice cream. All of the kids had so much fun playing together all evening. Start to finish it was probably 4 or 5 hours. It was a nice time to  have a casual hang out with our neighbors and get to know each other more. We’ve really enjoyed having new neighbors in our neighborhood and especially loving that they have kids. It is so nice for Griffin to be able to go outside and play with other kiddos! Here the boys are praying before their meal 🙂

December 18, 2016

We started this week by celebrating Kevin’s birthday on Monday evening. Griffin and I had gone shopping together so that he could pick something out for Kevin. His choice? A pair of batman pj’s so they could match! He was so excited to give him his prezzie and that night when Kevin put them on he had the biggest smile on his face :).  Kevin and I went out for his birthday dinner with friends Chris, Christie, Chad, and Nicole. It was a low-key dinner at the Bogey finished off by some chocolate and vanilla cake. Griffin was happy to stay at the Howards and play with the girls.  The annual tradition of hanging our ornaments on the Howard’s Christmas Tree.  We got our first real snowfall this week. It happened to be on Tuesday, which was great as I had the day off work and was home with Finn. As soon as I picked him up from school he wanted to go outside and play. So once we got home he headed out to the back patio for a bit and played. Then he ventured to the front yard where he had some fun making snow angels.  Tis the season for baking, right?  Debbie had a cookie making day with Griffin and Sam and they just loved it. And I must say the results were delish! On Saturday we had our annual candy making party at our house. This year we were joined by Mom & Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta, and our friends the Ryan’s, Conrad’s, Manning’s, Vertucci’s, and Kessler’s along with their kiddos. It was a big crowd for sure and we had a lot to accomplish! This year we made buckeyes, decorated already made from scratch (by Amy and kids) sugar cookies, and four batches of hard tack candy (lemon, peppermint, cinnamon, and root beer). The kiddos also enjoyed crafting down in the basement thanks to my Mom, who came up with the craft ideas and led the (at times) crazy crew in crafts 🙂 After the candy making ended we were all pretty beat! But Mom and Dad, Amy, Andy and kids stayed for a pizza dinner to celebrate Kevin’s birthday. Griffin and Greta were enjoying being silly together with their tiger “babies”.  On Sunday Griffin and I headed out on a mission to finish some Christmas shopping. He asked me to hold something which I didn’t want him to have, so I gave him my L.L.Bean gift card to hold since it was attached it a cardboard backing.  We were talking about Christmas and gifts and I asked him what he would like for Christmas.  Out of nowhere he said he wanted a puppy!  Since I was in a parking lot, I turned around with the video on and asked him again.  Watch the next two videos for his response. It was super cute! I had nothing to do with the idea, really, I didn’t.  I sent them to Kevin, who responded, “where did he get that idea? puppy?”.  And my reply, “the front of the gift card because he is on the present box”.  This kid, he cracks me up. But in the second video you’ll hear him talk about how he wants three dogs because Hailey and Cameron went to Heaven and he wants Lily to have a playmate so we can have 3 dogs again. 🙂

December 11, 2016

I love this time of year and I love how I will find Griffin just sitting on the couch cuddling with Lily and admiring the Christmas tree.  He regularly asks about the “Christmas season” and if it is still the Christmas season and how long it lasts. His mind is always working and he continues to surprise me with his thoughts and the concepts he comes up with and understands for his age. While this is a fuzzy picture it is one I love because this is how Griffin has slept since he was born – with his arms under his head. He doesn’t do it all the time as he is typically a tummy sleeper, but when he’s on his back you can usually find his hands under his head. On Tuesday after preschool Finn and I venture up to Mom and Dad’s to help cover the greenhouse for the winter season. It was a dismal day – cold, raining, just all around yucky.  But shortly after we arrived the rain subsided as did the wind and it was one of the easiest covering jobs we’ve done! Here Finn is doing some morning yoga 🙂 On Friday night we celebrated Jim, Brett, and Kevin’s birthdays with a lovely dinner out at Liberty Tavern. Afterward we headed back to our house for cake, ice cream, and prezzies. Nice pic of the birthday boys! Our winter adventure for the weekend was heading downtown to see the Nutcracker. This was Griffin’s first time, although technically I was pregnant with him when Kevin and I went in 2012, lol! We joined the Bethune’s there and afterwards our crews headed to Buca di Beppo for an Italian Feast. It was a fun night!