Leah's Third Birthday Party

We had Leah's third birthday party the weekend before her actual birthday - we were hoping that we would have it early enough that Sweetie wouldn't make an arrival before (or during) the party!  It worked out and it was a beautiful day for a party.  The weather was so warm, in the 70s, so we spent most of the party outside.  It was great.  Our guests at the party were Nana and Poppa, Aunt Gina, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, Omi and Opa, Aunt Susi and Michael, Aunt Linda, Uncle Chris, Nick and Jason, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Randy, Joe and Amanda, Uncle Chris and Joe, the Santaguidas and the Langes.

In the days leading up to Leah's birthday, she changed her mind every day about what kind of cake she wanted.  One day it was a heart cake, another day a princess cake, another day a fairy cake.  I think at one point or another she also asked for a 3 cake, a hockey cake and a butterfly cake.  In the end, I made her a heart shaped cake with fairies on it.  Leah LOVED it - she said it was exactly what she wanted!

Heart fairy cake

And cupcakes to go along with - decorated by Daddy!

An artsy shot of the cupcakes

The party started around noon.  We had appetizers and hung around outside talking and playing lawn games.  We had lunch about an hour later - meatballs and pulled pork with different salads and sides.  It was yummy food and we very much appreciated everyone helping us out by bringing some of the food for us!

After lunch we brought all of the gifts outside for Leah to open.  It was such a nice day that we couldn't resist spending as much time out there as possible!

Loading up the present table.  In the background you can see one of Leah's early birthday presents - the playhouse in the background is from Nana and Poppa.

Mike, Joe and Cam playing lacrosse

Tag lacrosse maybe?  I'm not sure what they were doing, but Cam LOVED playing with his big cousins!

The birthday girl waiting very patiently to open her gifts

Kinsella men hanging out - Uncle Chris, Joe, Grandpa and Poppa

Awwww - Jaime and Jeff

Are we at a gun show?

 Time to open presents (with help from Amanda and Cam)

Leah opening a present from Omi and Opa - it was a beautiful red dress that Omi made!

Leah opened most of her gifts sitting on Amanda's lap - she loves her cousin Amanda!

Digging in to her next gift

Hugs for Aunt Linda

Leah was very excited to get playdoh

Pretty birthday girl

Great-grandma watching the action

Hugs for Aunt Cathy

And hugs for Uncle Randy

Winking Abby

Relaxing Joe

She is just so darn cute!

Hugs for Joe - he didn't want to crack a smile, but who can resist a Leah hug?

And hugs for Uncle Chris too

This gift is almost bigger than her!

Inside the box was a sock monkey that Great-Grandma made for Leah - so cute!!

Hugs for Great-Grandpa

Aunt Gina and Uncle Matt got Leah a Tigger stuff animal.  Leah bounced around with it, just like one should do with Tigger!

Leah was very excited to get rollerblades from Mama and Daddy.  She has been wanting to use Cameron's for a while now, so she was excited to get her own.  With princesses on them!

Hugs for Aunt Susi

Hugs for Emily

Hugs for Aunt Gina

Pretty Bridgette

Goofy girls

We went inside for Leah's cake because it was a bit windy outside.  Windy enough that even having the sliding glass door open was blowing out the candles!  So everyone piled inside to sing to Leah.  She liked the attention and singing just for her.

Blow out the candles!

And then lick the frosting off the bottom of the fairies

Everyone wanted a fairy to eat frosting off of

Yummy birthday cake!

We spent the rest of the party playing outside.  It was a wonderful party, Leah had a blast and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Cameron's Lacrosse Game

Cameron is playing lacrosse this spring and has been really enjoying it.  They started off the season with a few practices inside in the gym, but are now outside and playing games.  He is really good at it, especially since he hasn't played on a team since the first season he tried when he was three.  I think his hockey skills definitely help out, but he has also figured out scooping and running with the ball.  Here are a few pictures from his last game:

They start out the games in a scrum like normal boys games.  Cameron is over on the right hand side of the picture, in the lime green jersey and black pants with a red stripe.

After the face-off, there are lots of pile ups like this one where they are all crazily scooping for the ball!

Cameron (in the middle of the picture) taking a shot

Cam running with the ball

Going for a loose ball

He's got it!

He shoots, he scores!  (And Mama actually captures the goal on camera!)

All of the kids take turns being goalie.  Here is Cam in goal.  They wear helmets and chest protectors when they are in goal, it is very cute.

High fives at the end of the game

Cameron is LOVING playing lacrosse and has been playing it at home all the time.

Fun at the YMCA

This weekend there was a Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA.  They had a bunch of activities and booths set up for the kids to check out.  Cameron had a lacrosse game in the morning so we decided to check out Healthy Kids Day before that.

There was a fire truck out front of the YMCA.  What kiddo isn't excited to see a fire truck?

The kids got to climb in the truck and sit in the seats

And they got very nice fire hats!

The mascot from the Syracuse Silver Knights indoor soccer team was there.  Cam didn't care that it was a team mascot, he only cared that he got to battle with a knight!

And get his picture taken with a knight!

Leah, on the other hand, was petrified of the knight and practically crawled up my legs to get away from him!  She did not want to be anywhere near him, did not want her picture taken with him, and was very concerned that Cameron was even so close.  It was funny because she has more or less gotten over her fear of characters, but I guess maybe not when they are huge tall knights!

There was a table for an agency that did music lessons for kids.  They had a tiny kid-sized violin that the kids could try out.  Leah was able to do a good job with help from the teacher.

Cameron didn't need much help and actually did an awesome job making actual music (as opposed to the screeching strings that most of the other kids were making).  This kiddo definitely has some musical talent in him!

Outside they had a station where the kids planted a tomato plant, face painting, a bounce house and some other things set up.  Cam and Leah got very excited when they saw this guy coming across the field:

It is Crunchman - the Syracuse Crunch hockey team mascot.  Leah was definitely NOT afraid of him and was so excited to see him and give him a high five.

Guest Post: Overnight on the Cruiser with Cub Scouts

Today's post is written by a very special guest poster - Poppa!  He is writing about a fun trip that he and Cameron took with the Cub Scouts.  Without further adieu... Poppa's post:

During the 3^rd weekend in April Cameron’s Cub Scout pack was scheduled to sleep overnight on the WWII cruiser “Little Rock” in Buffalo.  Since this was a bit close to his new brother’s/sister’s real birthday Tim W. thought it might be better to stay close to home.  I therefore gladly accepted the task of sleeping overnight with Cameron on the cruiser.  Uncle Chris is one of the pack leaders and his sons Patrick and Joe are also scouts so the four of us left mid-day on Saturday for Buffalo.  We arrived around 4 PM and were led onto the ship along with 55 other scouts from Cicero, NY and hundreds of cub, boy, and girl scouts from all over the North East.

Patrick, Joe, Cameron, and friend in front of the Heavy Cruiser “Little Rock” (which we slept on), the Light Cruiser “The Sullivan’s”, and the submarine “Croaker”.

Our pack was given the largest bunk room, which was filled with enough triple bunk beds to sleep 80.  Cameron, Joe, Chris, and I quickly grabbed some bunks close together while Patrick went off to the other side of the bunk room to sleep with his friends.  

Our beds in the bunk room – Cameron and I slept head to head in the bottom bunks, Joe and Chris slept in a middle bunk across from each other. 

We had about 30 minutes to explore the ship before we all had to gather in the main ship’s conference room to get our orientation.  At the orientation each pack was introduced and then we were all given a lesson in Navy terminology.  Cameron seemed very interested in this and showed off his knowledge the next day when we got home by regaling everyone with all sorts of Navy words (hatchway, bunkroom, head, mess hall, etc.).  After a quick fire drill we were free to explore the ship for another 30 minutes before dinner.  

Standing in line for mess call.  We told the boys to take whatever was put on their plates without complaining because there were no seconds and someone would eat whatever was left over. 

Dinner turned out to be the same for everyone: chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, corn, milk, and desert.   Cameron and Joe dug into the dessert first and weren’t too interested in the rest of the dinner (mostly because we had stopped for an afternoon meal on the way here; Chris knew we wouldn’t get to eat until around 8 PM and the boys would be starving if they had to wait that long for dinner).  

After dinner it was time for more exploring before the movies started.  We saw the rest of the Cruiser and toured the submarine next door.  

A passageway in the Cruiser.  This one actually had a lot of room to pass; most of the hallways could barely fit two people side by side. 

In the Croaker submarine control room – is that an early model ship control system like Mama works on at Lockheed Martin?  

Heading through the engine room on the way to the torpedo room.  

Deep down in the bowels of the Cruiser Little Rock.  They put a girl scout troop 3 or 4 decks below where we were sleeping. It must have taken them 15 minutes to get to the mess hall or to one of the 3 “heads” on the ship (which were all on the main deck).  

After more exploring we watched a Disney movie and then went to bed.  At 1030 taps was played and it was lights out.  Cameron of course wanted a few stories (all of which featured him scoring the winning goals in the 7^th game of the hockey playoffs) but then fairly quickly fell asleep.  I found it surprisingly easy to sleep in spite of much snoring and various items being dropped by the people sleeping above me. 

The next day, Sunday morning, we were woken up at 6:30 AM for a quick bunkroom inspection and breakfast.  After that we explored the Light Cruiser berthed next to ours, “The Sullivans”.  

All the stairs in and around the ships were VERY steep.  Cameron at first went down very slowly but soon he was very good at quickly going up and down them.  

Cameron and Joe keeping the skies of Buffalo safe from any enemy aircraft marauders. 

We ended the day with a simulator ride (Cameron went twice) and then headed home.  It was a wonderful way to spend time together! 

The Evolution of Sweetie - Baby Bump Pictures!

As we get close to the impending arrival of Sweetie, here are some pictures of the progression of Sweetie growing inside Mama's belly!

Week 24

Week 25

Not much of a change over the next few weeks, so we'll skip those.

Week 30

Here comes the true bump - Week 32

Week 34

Mid-April - Week 37

And now a few outtakes from pictures with the kids.  They LOVE Sweetie and they love my belly!!

Kisses for Mama's belly

And snuggles from Leah

Love these kiddos - all three of them!

Hello in there Sweetie

Hugs for Sweetie

Love for the belly

They were trying to make a heart with their hands.  It didn't work out very well and there were about 20 pictures of them making a triangle on my belly!!  Very cute effort though. :)

We'll add more pictures as the belly keeps growing!