Griffin's 3!! (And he has been since May!)

I realized, after all these posts, that Griffin's 3rd Birthday Frog Celebration never got posted on our blog! They've been on Facebook for awhile, so many of you have already seen them!

Here are a few pictures from the big day, for 2 complete albums click here and here.

The birthday boy! I can hardly believe Griffin is already 3!

The table ready with lots of frog decorations!

Frog cupcakes, a cupcake cake and oreo frogs! A total sugar high!

Since Griffin finally got to move up to a big boy bed, he also got a really cool new sheet and comforter. He picked this out, straight from the IKEA catalog! That's my boy! ;-)

A happy birthday boy!

His favorite foods, chicken enchiladas, black beans and cheetos (but he only got the latter because it was his birthday)!!

Clearly his favorite present of the day, the ESPN Better Batter set! Thank you G.G.!

Blowing out the candle!

Exhausted after a long day of partying!

Congratulations Matt! Your Party was a Photo Shoot...I Mean... A Success!

We had a family get together to celebrate my cousin Matt's graduation a couple of weeks ago. It was a really neat day, getting to meet so many new people, including Matt's birth mother and grandmother, amongst other family and friends. It was such a beautiful reminder of our own adoption as sons and daughters of the King. We also had loads of fun, munching on yummy food and enjoying lots of great conversation!

When it came time to pick out a gift, we knew something traditional wasn't going to cut it for Matt! So, we gave him a snow cone maker, complete with all the trimmings. A college guy needs to have something like this in his dorm room right?!

His parents surprised him with this nice gift! Rahul says I need to get one, I'm just worried I wouldn't even know how to use it!

During the party, Eden enjoyed swinging on Aunt K.K.'s front porch and I got a chance to snap a few sweet pictures of her in the process.

I'm always a sucker for sweet little toes!

Little smirks!

And yes, big brown eyes!

I even managed to get a good one of the two of us together, which usually never happens since I'm always behind the camera! Thanks to my parents for getting this sweet one of the Agarwal girls!

Eden's favorite animal is officially the bunny, so when she saw this on the front porch she was so excited. Currently a bunny is only a "hop, hop!" but when she sees one she gets so excited!

Eden loves her Grammie and I love this picture of the two of them together!

Sarah and Shelby spent some time swinging with Eden too. Here's Eden gazing up at Shelby with such adoration!

I love this one of them having some girl talk! Can you see Eden's tiny hand on the back of the swing?

Finally, I was able to convince the boys to join Eden for a few minutes- few is the key word- but I did manage to get this awesome sibling picture!

And... I couldn't leave this one out of the post either. It's actually one of my favorites from the day!

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Congratulations Matt! (And thanks for all the photo opps too! Now if I could only get ahold of the one of all of us together this post would be complete!)

Did You Ever Wonder?

This post is probably the strangest thing I have ever posted- the deconstruction of a baseball!

One evening while Bill was here, he and Rahul were talking about baseballs and decided it would be fun to cut one open. Guys?! Apparently, this isn't the first time Bill's done it to an old worn out ball, so he was quite experienced! (Can you actually be experienced at something like that?)

After the leather, there is string...

The remains turned inside out!

I think I must have fallen asleep for the rest of the science experiment, but I heard there's a little ball in the center too!

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Gee, I wonder if this is the kind of fun I'm guaranteed to have as the mother of 2 boys!

113 Years?

I once heard this story about some girls who thought it had been 113 years since their parents had been out to a movie! That just didn't seem right! So, we had the pleasure of spending the evening with Abbie and Allie while their parents enjoyed a well deserved date night!

I'm starting off the post with my favorite picture from the evening, one of the three girls all cuddling up together. Aren't they so sweet? It's funny how girls just kind of gravitate towards one another. Eden started playing and following them around almost instantly. They were playing with babies and bunnies, pushing shopping carts and doing all kinds of girly things. It was great for Eden, who was no longer "forced to play" with boy toys! :-)
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Now, here's how the rest of our evening went...

We started off by making some Very Hungry Caterpillar Books. In my mind, it was a great idea, (especially because I knew it would be a safe activity for Allie), but put 4 kids all at varying skill levels to the table for one project and it can be one crazy experience! I think Griffin ended up illustrating his book, but never actually nailing down the storyline. Oh well, they all seemed to have a blast!

Eden started saying "Abbie" while the girls were here, so this picture is fitting. Don't worry, Abbie wasn't even close to dropping Eden. (I promise Renee!) She was well supervised and in all truthfulness, Eden was only about an inch off the floor!

Next, it was time to make homemade, individual pizzas.

Allie really loves her cheese!

While the pizzas were baking, we passed the time by making butterfly sugar cookies- remember we made caterpillar books?!

Griffin actually got into the pizza making process a little late, since he was still cleaning up a puzzle mess, so he was working his Italian magic, while Abbie was perfecting her baking skills!

Renee, you should know, they totally bragged on what a great cookie maker you are!

But eventually, Griffin got his turn!!

He loved it! Can you tell from that smile?

The kiddos went nuts with the sprinkles! They turned out to be beautiful butterfly cookies though, with all those layers of sugary crystals!

Collin wanted to show off his multi colored creation too! I have no idea how he ended up with black sprinkles on one of those, but I should have known they might be a little "dangerous!"

Still trying to convince the girls there was simply no more room on the cookies for sprinkles!

The big taste test....

Look at that face!

Yum!

I told you black sprinkles were "dangerous!"

Check out the bottom of the pan when all was said and done!

After some cleaning up, it was Wii time! Just imagine the combination of sugar and video games! Whew! I was exhausted! :-)

We have been so blessed to meet some pretty special families since we moved to the area and the Blains are one of them! Their love, strength and passion for our Lord never ceases to amaze us! Renee pours into Collin on Sundays and he comes home singing and talking about all he has learned from her. The boys adore Abbie and Allie and Eden just loves having girly company!
We are so thankful that Allie and Abbie got to spend some time with us just hanging out and having fun!

Wally and Renee, please don't wait another 113 years to have a date! Our doors are always open for your sweet girls to come and play while you escape for awhile! Thank you for sharing them with us!

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Thanks to Bill too, who was the official "photographer" for all the messy projects! I still have no idea how you managed to stay clear from all the flour!