DC Trip: Day 1

We're hoping our time in the east is starting to come to an end.  This is a bittersweet thought, because of this we decided to use some of our remaining vacation time to explore the east.  At the end of May we ventured over to Washington DC.  We were very lucky that my cousin, Brian, who's doing his residency in DC was willing to let us bombard him for a couple of days.  We had such a great time catching up with him!

 Day One of our adventure we headed first to the Natural History Smithsonian.  The kids espeically liked seeing the animals.

skeletons,

 and the mummies.

 Do you think we look like crazy tourists?!

 Washington Monument

 When we tried to walk by the White House everything was blocked off because someone was leaving by helicopter.

 Jaxson is really into the bunny ears thing, it's hilarious. :)

 Vietnam Veterans Memorial

 Lincoln Memorial

 This is what the girls thought of Lincoln,

 and this is our Jaxson at his best.

 Our three cuties

 the Jefferson Memorial

 It was a hot and busy day, filled with lots of walking but we loved it.  The kids did well overall and Keith and I really enjoyed seeing the sites.

One Year Pictures

I still can't believe our little baby is ONE!!! This year has flown by! On her birthday I was able to throw together a quick photo shoot and here are some of my favorites.

It surely wasn't easy trying to get her to sit in her chair and smile at me with all the balloons around and I surely got a workout running back and forth.

 I know I'm baised but I think she's the cutest baby ever!!!

Party On!

 On Keilie's actual birthday we celebrated at home with our little family.

 This is how I usually start my day, with this beautiful girl smiling at me.  I LOVE my job!  Today she had two very excited siblings running in to sing happy birthday to her.

 She loved playing with her balloons!

Kenna was a great helper and wanted to be apart of all the party planning.  Her favorite parts were the cake testing and balloon placing.

 Later it was time for cake and presents.

 Because she had already had a cake smash party a few days ago with friends, she knew exactly what to do with that cake.

 And was super excited that it was happening again.

 That's one big cupcake for one little girl.

Much to her dismay, we didn't let her destroy it by herself this time.

 But she quickly forgave us once we gave her some in her chair and quickly shoved it in her mouth.

 Once it was gone, she started signing 'more' as fast as she could.

When that didn't work she tried the trick Grandma Shinney taught her, lick it clean!

Now, that's one happy baby! I can't get enough of that crooked smile.

Then her siblings spoiled her with some gifts.  Jaxson made her this homemade rattle, which she loved!

I can't express how much joy this girl as brought to our family.  I LOVE watching Jaxson and Kenna interact with her.  These three make my heart happy!

Party Time!

One of my really good friends here, Stephanie, has a cute little boy who is 5 days older than Keilie.  Stepahnie for some crazy reason wants twins, and since she doesn't have any yet, I was more than willing let her borrow my baby for a day so we could plan a twin birthday party.  It was an afternoon filled with amazing food, even better company and two cuties going to town on cake!  Good times in Michigan!

Stephanie and I with our 1 year olds!

Birthday boy, Ron, and Birthday girl!

The cute cakes and banner she made for the occasion!  Stephanie is pretty much like Martha Stewart and you see more of her amazingness at her blog.

 I love this pic because Ron is so sweetly looking at Keilie but Keilie can't take her eyes off the goal, yeah I'll claim her!

 She didn't even want to go for her cake first, she wanted Ron's and he didn't seem to mind that she was stealing it right from under his nose.

 It sure didn't take her long to figure out how purely blissful cake can be.

 She was loving life!

She kept looking at us while she chowed down, she seemed to be amazed we were letting her do this.

Not much better than a 1st birthday bash complete with cake mash! Thanks Stephanie!