Caranci Kiddos Update

Thought I would do a little post on random kid shots, just in their everyday. Enjoy!

Here is a shot I took of Eden in Piper's bed, and it reminded me of a shot of her way back when...look how much she's grown!

I walked in Eden's room to find Harry snug as a bug in Eden's baby doll stroller, enjoying a movie. :) 

We had a picnic lunch in Eden's room on a rainy day. 

I hate to be part of the cliche, but I managed to snap all of 5 pics for Harry's 2nd birthday, totally proving the theory that the 2nd kid doesn't have near the photos as the first. This was at the family dinner, celebrating 4 April birthdays - Jason, Grammy, Kellan and Harry. I didn't snap pics of any of the other birthday babies (except Jason managed to get in on a couple with Harry)! I'm a horrible blogger, but oh well! It is always chaos when we are all together, so the fact that I got any is lucky. He got a new tricycle, camo sleeping bag, train set, and scooter. I'd say quite the haul! We will have a few family things on his actual birthday (April 26th) so I will make sure to be a better photographer for those!

Arkansas Adventure Part 3

We have reached the final part of our adventure in Arkansas! One of the weekends we were there was St. Patrick's Day and a local school was having a festival. We decided to stroll over there with the kids and see what we could find. Turns out the kids loved it! The music and entertainment was wonderful, and combined with perfect weather and yummy Scottish/Irish food made for a fun excursion. 

Here's a little video of the kids' response to the bagpipe group (and don't miss the Bishop walking by at the end!). 

The campus was beautiful:

The bagpipe group was made up of local firemen and they were great!

This couple was part of the Scottish Club in Ft. Smith and they looked so cool I asked for a picture. Plus, anything to do with Scotland makes my heart go pitter-patter. :) 

I know it's silly, but I had to get a picture of this nun (the school is catholic). She seemed so sweet, smiling the whole time. 

People went all out with the Irish garb!

Eden and I got front row seats for the Irish dancing:

So cute!

It was such a fun way to spend a couple of hours! We all enjoyed it immensely. After grabbing some bangers and mash, reuben sandwiches and fish and chips for the kids, we headed home. The festival continued with highland games in the afternoon though, which I'm sure was tons of fun. 

Since this is the last recap of our time in AR, I must say how much we enjoyed every minute (minus the traveling part, perhaps)! It was so nice just to do everyday things with my parents and let the kids spend lots of time with them. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for such a special treat! We love you and can't wait for the beach!

Shmoopy's Birthday

So the month of April is a busy one for us as far as birthdays. Jason, Harry, Grammy, Kellan, Jason's mom (Meme), my uncle, our "adopted" sister Sharon, and two of my closest friends were all born in the lovely spring month of April, so we celebrate for a full 30 days! 

We usually have one combined family dinner to celebrate all of the birthdays, but the kids and I did just a little something for Jason on his actual birthday last Saturday. 

We decorated the music room:

Had just a couple little things for him to open:

A nice monogrammed travel bag from my parents:

 A new pillow!

Eden picked out some candy and a card - she kept saying the dog on the card had pretty teeth and looked like Jasper. :) 

After gifts we took off to Sam's to activate a new membership and get some freebies and lots of produce. 

For dinner that night, Jason and I got take out from Olive Garden and nommed on pasta and cake while watching our latest Netflix TV show. 

Although it wasn't an over-the-top celebration, it was wonderful just to hang out together! The weather was beautiful and we spent some time outside too. I am so thankful for April 6th because it is the day we celebrate my Shmoopy - he is what makes my everyday life amazing. Here's to another year!

Charlotte Ann's 1st Birthday

I'm sure that all 5 of my blog readers already know this, but my brother (Joe) and his wife and daughter (Sarah and Charlotte) just moved back to GA from Hawaii. To say we are excited to have them close by again is an understatement! It means that we can potentially get together for all of the things throughout the year associated with family, like birthdays! It just so happened that their little bean turned 1 year old on March 28th and we were able to celebrate with them. And just in case it has been forgotten, that little bean was named after me! :)

They all got here on Friday evening and settled in for a weekend with the fam. This included Charlotte's birthday and Easter celebrations. This is gonna be a lot more picture-heavy than actual blogging, but I figured seeing pics of a beautiful princess in a rainbow-colored tutu nomming on some pizza and cupcake would be self-explanatory. :) 

Sarah made the amazing cupcakes! I neglected to get a shot of the cake part, but they were multi-colored rainbow cupcakes and were delish!

Her first slice of pizza! Already following after her namesake. Well okay, so her dad likes pizza too. :) 

Cousins!

Do you see the difference? :) 

I have never seen a kid go after a cupcake like Charlotte did - it was love at first bite!

Let me preface the gift opening shots with the fact that it was nearly impossible to get Eden to step back from the birthday girl! 

Finally got Kellan in a shot. :) 

And we eventually gave Eden her own new toy (a microphone, what were we thinking?!) so she would leave poor little Charlotte alone! 

After opening presents we had a little photo shoot. 

CLASSIC Joe :) 

The weekend was incredibly fun and we are SO thankful to have them close by again! It warms my heart to think these cousins will grow up knowing and playing with each other. We only have a few stragglers left in AR... :)