Bounce House Fun

This year, we let the girls decide how and where they wanted to celebrate their birthdays. Natalie and Amanda were unanimous in their decision: "THE BOUNCE HOUSE, please with all our friends from school!" Bounce houses are a favorite among most kids, however, finding an open time slot can be a challenge. Once the venue was confirmed, the girls were counting down the days to the big celebration. But before the cupcakes and presents, it was open play and the Bounce Spot!





Natalie and Amanda pose for a brief moment before all their guests arrive. Shortly after this picture, it was non-stop play for all!

Natalie and one of her best friends Brooke have fun going down the fast slide! (Brooke and Ava are identical twins so we have a tough time telling them apart. Although, Natalie and Amanda seem to do a very good job at recognizing who is who.)

Amanda and Natalie play with the other twin, Ava, in the large donut hole.

Alex getting ready to slide down the other side.

Amanda shows off her climbing skills to the top of the slide.

Nicole, our birthday party hostess, takes Will along for a ride. Can his smile get any bigger!

Will says, "Amanda, move over, I can climb it too!"

Illiana bouncing around in the large mat.

Here, Natalie, Amanda, Ava and Brooke play together in the donut hole. The four of them do everything together.

Will having a quick rest before taking on the maze.

Here Lilly takes a run down the slide on her belly.

Luis takes his turn.

We found Ava hiding down inside the donut hole! Where is Brooke??!!

Will cannot be left out, so he joins the crowd in the great hiding hole!

Natalie and Brooke take another slide together.

Amanda's turn to try the belly flop!

Those that follow the blog may remember our first nanny, Sarah, before she left to have a baby of her own. She married Justin and below is a photo of Justin and their son, Jacob. He is about 9 months old and looks just like Dad!

Here is a group photo of all the kids. Roland, wearing the number 21 jersey, is the oldest kid in the class. ;-)

Evie, Natalie, Ava and Sahar play with the parachute

And finally, the birthday girls climb to the center of the parachute to be recognized for turning four!

Happy Birthday Natalie and Amanda, we love you very much!

Birthday Circle - 4 Years Old

Natalie and Amanda had a great birthday circle celebration at school. Click on the collage to make it bigger.

Beauty Queens

These girls love to get "fancy." Natalie pulled out all of the stops with this beautiful outfit.

Amanda, on the other hand, opted for the demure single strand of pearls.

Sisters

Happy Birthday Natalie and Amanda

Natalie and Amanda turned FOUR on January 3rd. This is a collage of their first birthday celebration, held on their actual birthday. (The girls were lucky enough to have three celebrations!) Click on the collage for a bigger view.

Happy Birthday, grown up girls. We cannot believe you are already four. It seems like just yesterday that you were born. And while some days can be challenging, we can honestly say that you make every day more enjoyable.

 

New Year's Eve

We highly doubt that anybody had more fun than we did at our New Year's Eve dance party. Check it out.

And here are two live action videos to get you into the mood!

The Aquarium

While we were in Atlanta, we took the kids to the fabulous Georgia Aquarium and everyone had a wonderful time. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by this friendly penguin. In the past, Natalie has been petrified of any similar, large character so I thought we might have to duck and cover. Instead, I was presently surprised by her reaction and her decision to get her picture taken with the friendly penguin.

One of our first stops was to see the Beluga Whales. They are such beautiful creatures.

We also visited with the real penguins.

And then we went through the amazing tunnel where we saw a huge variety of fish, both large and small. We also saw a few scuba divers and the kids were scared of them (of all things) because they are the ones who take Nemo away in Finding Nemo. Too funny!

Amanda sure was excited to see all the fish.

Here, Natalie imitates a jelly fish.

And Carson looks like he's glowing while visiting the tropical tank.

It was fun adventure for the young and the not-so-young!

Family

We had an awesome trip to Atlanta to visit Daddy's family. Everyone did very well on the airplanes, which made Mom and Dad very happy and the kids earned their "wings".

Once in Atlanta, we were busy, busy, busy. Here, everyone burned off some extra energy at a great park. It was a bit chilly, which meant that the kids got to wear their fun new hats!

A few shots of Will and Amanda:

Here is Natalie with her cousin, Meaghan:

Natalie convinced Daddy to go down the slide!

To make sure all of the energy was burned off before heading back to house, we got in a couple of games of Red Light, Green Light. Our kids had never played that game before so they thought it was great fun. Uncle Clarence, Aunt Melody and Meaghan showed them how to play while cousin Carson (not pictured) called out the commands.

Back at the house, Will soaked up some affection from Cousin Lizzy and Grandma Zena.

And then hung out with cousin Carson.

Here, Aunt Ann introduces the kids to the English tradition of Christmas crackers.

The audience (Uncle Sheldon, Uncle Clarence and Aunt Melody) look on with great anticipation!

Yay! Prizes and crowns! We like this tradition.

Amanda chills out with Dad.

And then it was time for the grown ups to have dinner and open their crackers.

Later, we were able to capture a nice moment with Grandma Zena.

Aunt Ann and Uncle Sheldon were wonderful hosts, as usual. We greatly appreciate all of the trouble they go through to have all of us in their home. Here is Aunt Ann, Natalie and the wonderful Mocha.

And we close with the big group shot.