Happy Birthday, Great Grandma Jackie!

Ok, so I'm a month behind again.  I'll try to catch up here this week.  We'll start with our birthday party for Great Grandma Jackie (as Carson calls her) back on May 7th.  We invited my Grandma, my parents, my sister and her boyfriend Dave, my cousin Michelle and her son Tyson, and my cousins Josh and Mandy and their daughter Macie, over for a family party to celebrate Grandma's birthday.  It was a beautiful day out, so we spent most of our time outside.  We explored in the yard, played catch, rode the dirt bikes and four-wheelers, played with bubbles, played on the swingset, in the sand box, and in the playhouse, and just visited.  Everyone but Grandma took a turn (or two or ten) on the dirt bikes and four-wheelers.  We all had a blast! 

We had a simple, casual dinner of grilled burgers and lots of delicious side dishes, topped off with Grandma's favorite dessert - angel food cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries.  Yum! 

It had been a few months since we'd gotten the Moores together, so it was great to catch up and spend some good, quality time together.  And we are all so thankful to be able to celebrate our Grandma's birthday with her.  We're looking forward to many more get togethers this summer!

Happy Easter!

Last Sunday was Easter.  We went to church in the morning with Kevin's parents and brother.  Then we went over to Sara's parents' house for an egg hunt and family dinner.  We were thankful we were able to see both sides of the family on such a special, blessed holiday.  We hope you were so fortunate to spend time with those you love as you celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  Happy Easter!

Welcome, Anthony Michael!

Last weekend, we took a drive down to Rochester Hills to visit our good friends, Ben and Kati, and to meet their newest addition, Anthony Michael. What a precious little boy, he is! We all just fell in love with him! Carson adored him, but he did not want to hold him. He wanted to be near him at all times, though. And he told us after we'd left that he "just loves baby Anthony already, but I think he will be lots of fun when he grows bigger and can play with me!". :)

Congratulations to Ben and Kati!! And thank you for sharing your beautiful baby boy with us! We look forward to many fun times and memories ahead with our little families! :)

Rebecca Turns 3!!

A few weeks ago, on April 16th, we made another trip west to Grandville (near Grand Rapids) for our niece's birthday party. This was Rebecca's 3rd birthday, but her first party, so we were very excited to finally celebrate her birthday with the family! She had a Disney princess themed party, complete with her own Disney princess dress with matching bib and bag that her mom (Kevin's sister) made for her.

Mary made another awesome birthday cake to go along with the theme, too.  A tiered cake - the top tier was chocolate and the bottom tier was white.  It looked great and fit the theme perfectly!

These kids are growing up way too fast! I still remember when we met Rebecca for the first time at just a couple days old. It's hard to believe she is already 3!

We had a great time celebrating Rebecca's special day and look forward to more birthday parties in the years to come!  The kids all had a blast playing together, as always.  They even put on a little dress-up fashion show at the end of the party for us all!

Sorry the pictures are all quite dark.  I haven't had a chance to try brightening them up and Kevin didn't change the settings on the camera before shooting them.  :o)

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!!

Weekend Fun!

This weather this weekend has been amazing!  It is 82 degrees and super sunny today - we are LOVING it!  We've spent nearly all our waking time this weekend outdoors.  Here are just a few snapshots of the fun we've been having and the work we've been doing this weekend.  (and yes, I'm just a little perturbed with myself for forgetting to reset the ISO before snapping all these cute outdoor picture... d'oh!) 

Rolling the front lawn...

Over-seeding the front lawn (that was newly planted this past fall)...

Of course, you have to water new seed (we thought it was supposed to storm today??)...

Carson is an especially happy little man with the sprinklers going.  :)

Jet got a new toy from Tractor Supply... it's a horse toy, but he is LOVING it...

Wading in Lake Holleboom... :)

Splashing in puddles is just oh-so fun!

We set up our new tent early yesterday morning to make sure we were happy with this model... camping this summer is going to be SO fun!

We are looking forward to having more fun this afternoon and evening once Carson is up from his nap, too!  Gotta enjoy this nice weather while it lasts because you just never know what tomorrow brings (weather-wise) here in Michigan!

Birthday Party Weekend... for Cousins

Back in mid-March, we had a weekend full of cousin's birthday parties.  First up was Mackenzey's party on Saturday night (March 12th) up in Bay City.  Mackenzey is 2 years old and is such a doll!  She and Carson have so much fun playing together and Carson is always looking forward to seeing her.  He was especially excited to visit her new house and play with all of her fun toys.  He fell in love with her drum set... I think we know what we're getting him for Christmas this year.  ;o)  He and Mackenzey put on quite the drum concert for us. 

Mackenzey had a zoo themed birthday this year.  Greg (Mackenzey's dad) made her cake again and did a great job!  Everything on it was edible (and delicious)! 

We had a great time at the party and enjoyed visiting with the family.  It was great to see Jorie's and Greg's new house, too.  It's an awesome house and all the improvements they've been doing look fantastic! 

On Sunday (March 13th), we headed over to Sara's Aunt Ann's house for cousin Tyson's birthday party.  He turned 1!  Hard to believe!  All these kiddos are growing up way too quickly!  Carson and Tyson had fun playing together and it was great to visit with some of Sara's dad's family, whom we don't see often enough. 

Tyson is walking all over the place and keeps up quite well with the bigger kids.  He is quite the handsome little dude, too! 

Tyson had a sports themed birthday party and had a great cake made up of individual cupcakes that were frosted in one solid layer!  What a great idea! 

Tyson got to enjoy his own personal cupcake.  He wasn't too crazy about the feel of the icing on his hand, but he did enjoy eating the cupcake! 

It was another great, fun-filled weekend spent with family!