Anna Kate's 1st Birthday

 We had Anna Kate's birthday party at one of the many great parks in Dayton.  It was great weather, we had good friends and lots of yummy cupcakes :)

 We had 3 different kinds of cupcakes: chocolate cake with cherry vanilla frosting, white cake with mint chocolate frosting, and strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.  Anna Kate's "smash" cake was strawberry cake with white frosting.

 This was the party favor of a flower pot with seeds planted and a lollipop.

 We had a great picnic lunch for everyone of brats, pasta salad, veggies with hummus and watermelon.

 Papa and Nana with Anna Kate at the park.

 She did eat some of it.  She enjoyed her cupcake more than the big cake :)

 Happy girl on the slide!

The sweetest big brother!

Visit From Papa & Nana

 Papa and Nana came to visit for Anna Kate's 1st birthday!  We had a great weekend.  We had some yummy ice cream, went to a great neighborhood park, had Anna Kate's 1st birthday party, a great birthday dinner, Columbus Zoo, and much more!  Weekends are just too short.

Anna Kate's "I'm tired, my teeth hurt" fingers in the mouth look.

Anna Kate has been walking with everything, but just won't let go.  Here she is pushing her new slide across the floor-so proud she is!

Visit From Nana-Great

Nana-Great came to visit us in Dayton the first weekend in May.  We had a great time showing Nana around.  We went to a couple ice cream places to treat Nana; went on a nature walk at Eastwood Metro Park; Young's Dairy for more ice cream and the Air Force Museum.  We had such a great time with Nana that we wished it could have been longer.  I miss seeing Nana every week.  There are days I wish our kids could see their grandparents every week like I did growing up.....one day, one day. :)

 I had to hold Anna Kate up for this picture :)

April Trip: Visit with Grandparents

We combined our trip with Jarred's conference in Baltimore.  It was an easy way for all of us to be together for a couple weeks and give us more time to see everything.  While Jarred was at his conference, I took the kids to see Poppi and Lyn for a night and then to Nana's for a day where we also got to spend the night at Uncle Ken, Aunt Andrea, Samuel and Treasure's.

 Caleb and Poppi went walking with their "walking sticks" in the yard, then played "house" in the shed.  They were gone for a while, so I went searching for them only to find Caleb making Poppi coffee, ice cream, and who knows what else.  It was so cute.  Caleb loved the "house" and opened and shut the door over and over again.

 Poppi was trying to wear Caleb out for me for nap time, so Caleb would push the ball down the hill, then go  chase it and push it back up the hill.

 We had a great time with Poppi and Lyn.  We missed Jarred, but it was good to get to visit the "great" grandparents.

 The next day, we went to Nana's and spent the day visiting.

 Our last night on our vacation, we stayed with Uncle Ken and his family.  They raise chickens, so we got to see how they do things.  It was quite interesting seeing their business production.  Caleb enjoyed seeing all of the chickens too.

 His favorite part was riding on the tractor though!!

April Trip: Next Stop

After Josh and Karina's, we headed to the Baltimore Aquarium.  It was a lot smaller than I had remembered from when I was little, but it was still a lot of fun seeing Caleb and Anna Kate's reactions to all of the fish and the dolphin show.  We had a great time spending the day together!

April Trip: Third Stop, Baltimore/Andrews AFB

We headed to Baltimore after my sister's to hang out at a great hotel for a night with a pool, huge complimentary breakfast, great family dinner and just "us."  I didn't get any pictures of the pool because I didn't want to get the camera wet with both kiddos, so take my word for it, both Caleb and Anna Kate had a great time.  The next day, we took our time and then headed to Andrews AFB to stay with some good friends, Josh and Karina, from Dayton.  They had just left the end of March, so it was good to see familiar faces.  They were gracious to have us stay with them in their "temporary housing."

  Josh showed Caleb his guitar and drum.  Caleb LOVED banging on the drum and strumming the guitar.