Happy 5th Birthday Lia!

A little pre-party practice...taste testing the cake ;)

Lia enjoyed a birthday week, with a special day (the actual one) falling before daddy got home from his latest trip, and then a party on the weekend, after he got home. She received birthday morning presents, including ones sent with love from Nana, Grandma and Granpap, and Uncle Jeff, Miss. Tracy and Anevay- what a lucky girl! She went to have her panda bear stuffed at Build a Bear (not that she had any desire to interact whatsoever with the gal there!), and had a fun McDonalds playland dinner. She was so glad to have some friends join us for a panda party, complete with our proud Panda cake! :)

 

(couldn't resist capturing this angelic moment..)

Just was too cute playing on mommy and daddy's bedroom floor, writing away in her book like she knew how..

Ellie's Break and an Easter Adventure

 My darling baby girl had a nice two week length of time to enjoy (or me, enjoying her...), being on spring break. We just hung out the two weeks she was off..started with that big snowfall, and settled into some activities like learning to sew (pictured here)...

 Fun times opening Easter goodies from Auntie Tanya...

 Playing our new Bejeweled game (had no idea it was an ap- we saw a commercial on Nick Jr. and it looked neat...right up their alley- sparkly jewels!)

 Decorated Easter eggs...

And then we planned a big adventure for Easter- a trip to Chicago!

 Here are the cuties in Nana's Easter outfits enjoying a little cruise on the lake, Easter morning...

Even the Easter bunny found us on the boat!

 A visit to the aquarium on our last day..

One of the greatest things lately is Lia's kite she chose while shopping in Chicago. As soon as the weather instantly turned "spring"last week, they were outside almost every day. This kite has them running across the backyard and field- it's hilarious... "Run Forest, Run!"

 They did it though, and were so proud to have gotten it up quite high..

The last weekend of break, we ventured downtown Indy to explore..found a cool music museum

Our "Monument Circle".. 

We ended up at a ballgame the next day, at Victory Field, Indy's not quite major league but quite impressive baseball experience. I'll post more pics as I receive them from a friend...