Late Winter Snow

Just when we thought we had escaped winter without any major snow... 

March came in like a lion...

... and left like one, too.  Seriously- this was taken right after the first day of Spring!  Joergen wanted it to be spring so badly that he started mowing the snow.  Give this kid some grass already, Mother Nature!

At this rate, no one will need to even dye Easter eggs-- you can just toss plain ones right in the snow and they'd be hidden :-\

Joergen is 4!

Continuing with the season of birthdays... next up is none other than our sweet baby J!  (Who would probably greatly prefer that I no longer call him that!)

Joergen's birthday fell on a Thursday this year, so we celebrated as a family that day before having his birthday party that Saturday.  Liam was so excited to give Joergen his present that he woke him up first thing on his birthday morning to do so.  I love their sweet and generous hearts!

After school and work, we played outside for a bit before presents and cake.  Joergen proudly wore his birthday crown from preschool and couldn't wait to try out all of his new tools from GG and especially his bug catcher from Liam.

This picture perfectly sums up Joergen at 4 years old.

Present time!

Joergen was so excited for his gift from Mom and Dad-- a pirate ship!  He had played with one at the Sullivan's house several weeks earlier and had been talking about it ever since.

What's a birthday without a treat?  We had cupcakes that night to save the big cake for Saturday (but I don't think the birthday by minded one bit).

Make a wish!

That Saturday, Joergen was ready to party.

Ninja party, that is.

And so was everyone else!

Our York and NJ families arrived that afternoon, along with several neighbors and even a visit from my college girlfriend Carly and her sons James and Nate, who were coming through town on their way back home to New York.  Liam and James picked up right where they left off at the ND game last fall.

Joergen wanted a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and it of course had to be a ninja cake.  Yes, sensei! 

Will, Liam, Joergen, and Colin

Joergen had lots of help opening his presents, and lots of fun playing with his new toys!

It was an awesome day, and we can't thank everyone enough for celebrating with Joergen!

Now, in the weeks leading up to his birthday, Joergen had made it very clear that part of his birthday celebration had to include a sleepover with Colin.   Well, hearing this, Liam felt upset for his poor cousin Genevieve, who would surely be heartbroken if not invited to Joergen's sleepover!  Fair is fair-- so Liam had his own sleepover in NJ with Genevieve, while Colin stayed with Joergen here in KoP.

First, Joergen had to teach Colin how to "properly" holster his weapons.

a.k.a., shove them down your pants.

Then, they giggled until they fell asleep.

And finally, the next morning, they dressed like Storm Troopers and made hand guns out of pop beads.

Now that's what I call a party!

Happy birthday to our sweet, imaginative, big-hearted, curious, funny worker-man Joergen.  We love you to the moon (to which you'd reply, No Jupiter!) and back!

St. Patrick's Day Parade 2015

2015 marked our 4th year of marching with the Notre Dame Club of Philly in the Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade... and I'm pretty sure it was the coldest year yet.  I shiver just thinking about it!

Things started out fine on the train:

And good friends at least make you feel a little warmer!

TJ, Joergne, Liam, Brigid, and Kara

After what seemed like an eternity, the parade finally got underway.

But before long, this...

...turned into this:

(I do love how he finagled his glove so that he could both keep his hands warm and suck his thumb!)

But despite the raw cold, nothing could compare to the excitement of getting ready to stand on the platform in front of the judges and the TV cameras.  These guys were such troopers and did an awesome job representing ND Philly!

Mom's Birthday

The men of my life gave me a wonderful birthday this year.  They cooked me an awesome dinner (from Marcus Samuelsson's new book!), gave me more presents than I deserve, and even made me a homemade birthday treat!  Seriously-- Dad made ice cream sandwiches from scratch, which made for one of the yummiest birthdays yet.  Thank you Anthony, Liam, and Joergen for such a special day!  You make getting older a-ok :)

Genevieve is 2!

Guess who's 2...!

I can't believe our little G is already 2.  She is a fun-loving, shoe-loving, Elmo-loving, busy and beautiful girl, and we have loved watching her grow over the past year!

Aunt Jackie threw Genevieve a very cool Sesame Street themed birthday party, and we all had a blast.

Make a wish, Genevieve!

When it was time for her to open her presents, she was in awe of the life-size Minnie Mouse from Nana and Grandpa.  So cool!

Colin, Aunt Jackie, Genevieve, and Uncle Tim

No party would be complete without wearing other people's shoes, and no one does it better than this girl!

Genevieve loves to dance, so we gave her a CD of Elmo singing songs with her name in them.  Try as you will, it is not easy to get the sound of Elmo saying "GeneVIEVE" out of your head!  Aunt Jackie even taught the kids how to do the Macarena:

Liam took a break from his lesson to hang with Grandpa and his canine cousin Lilly:

Meanwhile, it was Monkey Pile on Uncle Connor!  Joergen always has fun whenever he is around.

Aunt Jackie planned a scavenger hunt for the kids, where they were looking for hidden shapes and colors around the house.  It was so clever and fun!  I loved the look of determination on Liam's face as he went hunting for the items on his list.

Oh, Joergen and Liam-- blending right in with the background, for sure!

And now, a word from our sponsor:

Happy Birthday, Genevieve!