Reaching the Summit

Matt described that last week felt like we climbed Mount Everest, and I have to agree it felt that way at times!  It was Teacher Appreciation Week, Cinco de Mayo (plus a Spanish class celebration!), the first week of Little League games, the final preparation week for the McFadden Spring Fling show, Evie's birthday, Mother's Day, and the Spring Fling performance of Mary Poppins.  And it rained all week.

We didn't want Evie's birthday to get lost in the shuffle of the busy schedule, but she had to be a little bit flexible about her celebration since her Irish Dance performance was on the same day as her birthday.  We began her special day on Saturday with homemade cinnamon buns and she opened her gifts.  She had a little bit of down time, and then we picked up her free Starbucks drink and she headed to the final run-through of her dance performance and then the show itself.  The show was an Irish Dance version of Mary Poppins, and Evie played the part of Mrs. Banks.  The dancers did an excellent job, and Evie had a huge group of family and friends there to support her.  At the end of the show, during the thank-yous, the entire auditorium sang Happy Birthday to Evie, which was really special!  To cap off the night, we went out to a hibachi dinner at Koto with the other champ dancers from McFadden to celebrate.  

She woke up at 7:15 on a Saturday because she couldn't wait to open her gifts!

Shark hairdryer was a big surprise!

Homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast

Noah agreed to do any activity of Evie's choosing for her birthday!

Trying out the new hair appliance

Evie and Amos - aka Mr. and Mrs. Banks

This was Evie's face when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her!

Champs dinner at Koto!

The fabulous five that are headed to Nationals in July!

Even though we did a lot of fun things to celebrate on Saturday, it didn't truly feel like Evie's birthday to her until she had her family party!  Sunday, we dedicated the morning to celebrating Mother's Day, and then we shifted gears and got ready for the family birthday celebration at our house.  Delicious food, great company, and some hilarious cousin moments finished off the weekend-long birthday celebration for our now 14-year-old.  It's hard to believe that next year at this time, Evie will be able to get her permit and start driving!!

Mother's Day salon treatment

Evie made me a beautiful paper flower bouquet

Mother's Day festivities at Boxcar Bakery

This week was a lot about Evie, but Noah has been doing great with the start of his baseball season.  He is playing in the Majors in Little League now, and it feels like real baseball!  Noah is holding his own, playing well in the field, and he has had a couple of hits, too.  He had his first chance to play catcher on Saturday, and he worked really hard to do a solid job in the cold rainy weather.  

Noah as catcher and Grandpa Tom as the umpire!

In his free time, Noah and his buddy have been brainstorming how they could start a sunflower seed business, because they all love eating them during baseball games.  They came up with a cool logo, and have been having fun coming up ideas for all the flavors they could make.