Life as we go it: Cousins

Showing posts with label Cousins. Show all posts

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Liam's 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated Liam's fifth birthday for an entire week (lucky little boy). First with our extended family, then with our little family of four, and then with two of his friends.

For his family party we invited his grandparents, aunts/uncles and first cousins. Liam has been obsessed with the Trolls movie and Trolls movie soundtrack so it had to be a Trolls themed party!

Most of the trolls on this table were MINE FROM THE 90's!! A big thank you to my mom who saved them in her basement all these years. And now they're 'cool' again!

Sneaking in some snacks...

It was warm enough to play outside for a bit!

Our big FIVE year old!

Of course the kids had cake pops AND cake.

Liam got some cool gifts, including more Magna-Tiles to add to his collection!

The morning after the party. I love that all of the cousins are so close in age :)

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On the day of his birthday Matt took off of work and we did fun stuff all day:

Birthday breakfast (Liam's choice) of scrambled eggs, strawberries and fresh blueberry muffins.

He opened his gifts from us: a big set of colored pencils

And a Troll

We spent the morning at Possibility Playground.

The lake was beautiful.

That afternoon we walked to Vollrath Park to fly kites

A boy and his kite.

And ended the day with singing and CAKE!

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A few days later Liam had a couple of friends over to celebrate one last time.

Party games and sweets!

Happy 5th birthday Liam. You are the coolest little boy we know, so full of love and energy. You amaze us each day with your stories and creativity. We love you so, so much - Mom-Dad-Chloe

Check out all of his prior birthday parties here:

Liam's 4th Birthday Party

Liam's 3rd Birthday Party

Liam's 2nd Birthday Party

Liam's 1st Birthday Party

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Cheers to a new year

It's hard to believe that we celebrated Christmas almost a month ago already! Time sure flies by when life is busy.

I haven't blogged much because the month of December was a whole lot of BUSY. But now that things have settled back to normal I'm hoping to be on here a lot more :)

I don't have any new year resolutions to share right now. But I do have some photos from the month of December. As usual I took way too many photos, so I did my best to put together a quick little recap of our holidays.

This is the first year we went to a tree farm to cut our own Christmas tree. We attempted going to tree farms in years past but the weather was always cold and windy so we turned around and headed back home. But this year the weather was just right! Crisp but sunny. Liam ran around for a good 1/2 an hour before we found our perfect tree.

My nephew performed in Sheboygan's holiday parade again this year (it's his last year in the South High band before he heads off to college...tears...) so we waited to see him trombone by.

Two weeks before Christmas we spent three nights/three days at Great Wolf Lodge and had a really fun time! We stayed at the Lodge once when the kids were younger & not as mobile. So this time around they were able to go on a lot more of the water slides, which made it more enjoyable for Matt and I too!

Chloe taking a break at the water park A photo in front of the Clock Tower

Chloe in her little wolf ears Resting in our room

They also got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Liam loved them. Chloe, not so much.

We spent Christmas with Matt's family the weekend before 'actual' Christmas Eve/Day. We spent the evening at Matt's aunt and uncle's house, where the kids got to visit with Santa AGAIN (he landed at their neighbors house with reindeer, sleigh and all!) and spent the next day with Matt's immediate family and grandma.

All bundled up and waiting for Santa to arrive Matt's sister, future cousin-in-law and cousin

Matt's cousin & Chloe with a new baby doll Liam and Santa

Breakfast at Nana & Grandpa's house Hanging out with his auntie

Opening many gifts. Lucky little kids :)

On Liam's last day of 3K before Christmas break he performed some songs with his little friends. Oh my goodness, it was so cute!

We spent Christmas Eve & Christmas Day morning at my mom's house. My brothers were their with their families as well.

Rylan and Liam. Best cousins. Chloe and her cousins

My mom has a tiny stocking for each

of her 7 grand kids My mom & my nieces, Isabella and Caroline

Hottie hubby Looking out the window for signs of Santa

My brother Nate and his family My mom + grand kids

In the afternoon on Christmas Day we traveled to Sun Prairie to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family, with her 6 brothers & sisters and all of my cousins. I believe their were 41 people at dinner that night. I love my big, huge family and the crazy Christmas's we share together :)

My brother Jason and his wife Chatting. Mingling.

One of the dinner tables My beautiful grandma, mom and aunts

And the infamous COUSINS PHOTO (my grandma is in there too).
Oh how I love all of my first cousins!!

We drove home on Christmas Day Eve and awoke at our home to celebrate Christmas with our own little family.

Chloe and her new (refurbished by mom & dad)

pink doll cradle Lots of books and dolls for this little girl

Marble Run. Two thumbs up! A few little gifts for Matt

Since Christmas we've kept pretty busy.
Playing in the snow.

Haircuts for everyone. Except for Chloe - lol Trips to the Childrens' Museum

Chloe tending to her baby dolls...so sweet! A trip to the bowling alley

And ringing in the New Year with with my favorite guy!

Happy New Year to you all (a few weeks late)!

May your year be filled with peace, good health and happy surprises!

Love,
Erin

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The Fourth

It's been over a month since I last sat down to work on a blog post. Sheesh!! I could list off a dozen reasons why I haven't blogged in a while (I'm tired at night once the kids are finally in bed, we've been very busy) but I don't want to bore you with excuses! So I'll cut right to it -

We travelled to our cabin at the beginning of July and had a fabulous time! We spent a week up there and I think we could have stayed a few more days, had we planned for it. Matt and I and the kids went up (by "up" I mean to northern Wisconsin) the Sunday prior to the weekend of 4th of July. We had a couple of nights as a family. Then my mom arrived on Tuesday. My brother, niece and her friend, and nephew and his girlfriend, and my other brother & his family of 5 arrived on Thursday. My aunt, two cousins and a boyfriend arrived on Friday. And other relatives, lake friends and neighbors stopped by throughout the holiday as well.

I will let the photos tell the story:

Richter Lake. A little piece a paradise nestled in the Chequamegon National Forest. On our pier (which is finally above water!!) looking out over the peaceful lake. And the new raft we just got!

Enjoying the lake:

- swimming

- looking for frogs

- playing in the water

- Liam on a boat ride with Matt

Liam 4-wheeling with my mom

My nephew and his girlfriend.

The kids having fun:

- playing cards

- decorating windows with clings

- applying peace sign tattoos

- arts & crafts at the kitchen table

Liam and his cousin Rylan became quite the pals:

- sharing a chair

- eating yogurts

- early morning iPad playing

- lunching together

Smiles all around:

- my mom

- my niece Caroline and Chloe

- my brother Jason

- my sister-in-law Nici and nephew Hudson

Every 4th of July weekend we participate in Richter Lake's Annual Pontoon Boat Parade. Everyone ~~gets drunk~~ decorates their pontoon boats and ~~gets drunk~~ meets afterwards at a cabin. This year's theme was 60s Flashback. My mom made this sign to stick on our pontoon boat: