Pure Love

Easter Bunny

This morning we took the kids to see the Easter Bunny at the mall. Evan ran right up to him and told him that he wants a big chocolate bunny for Easter. Claire slept right through the whole thing. What a great age for both of them, neither of them are scared of the big stuffed bunny!!

Baby Portraits

My friend Abby took these of Claire last Wednesday. She was a week and a half old in these pics. I love how they turned out. It's amazing to me how much Claire looks like Evan. She really is just a smaller, girl version of him. I've got to pull out some old pics of him off of my discs and post them side by side.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The dads and their girls!

Audrey (4 mos) and Claire ( 2 1/2 weeks)

Uncle Kevin, Claire & Evan

Audrey, Kaila, Evan, Claire, Pierce and Stephen

We got to celebrate the morning of St. Patrick's Day with Kevin, Kate and the kids. Here are some very cute, green pics :)

Claire's 1st Disney Trip

Uncle Kevin, Pierce, Joe & Evan

Hi Mom!

Her first time at the Magic Kingdom

Joe's brother Kevin and his family came to visit us this week. Yesterday, we all went to the Magic Kingdom together. Again, a second child, who is only 2 1/2 weeks old, does not seem to stop our movement. However, I did have a few panic attacks about having an infant in the mass crowds of people. Despite all that, it was very fun going to the Magic Kingdom with them. I also got to finally ride the Goofy Roller Coaster with Evan. I have never been able to go on it with him because I was pregnant the whole time he's been big enough to ride. It was the highlight of my day to go on it with him and see him ride with kids hand up in the air yelling "AHHHHHH".

Orioles Spring Training Game

Having one child did not slow Joe and I down with all the traveling and activities that we like to do. However, I thought having two would. Silly silly me. I found out that the Orioles have their spring training in Sarasota and thought, what a great idea for the four of us to travel there to see them play. What about our 2 week old and the 4 hour round trip drive? She'll sleep of course. And that is just what she did. I never got any pics of her there, because she was strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn. However, her big brother had a BLAST at the game. As you can see he and Joe were all decked out in their Orioles gear. Evan charmed all the people around us and had them all laughing when he screamed as loud as he could to the baseball players, "Hit the ball to MEEEEEEEE!". Sadly he did not get a ball at the game, but he did get a new Orioles shirt. Now we have 4 Orioles shirts for the rotation, thank goodness!

My little DJ

Looking cool as ever....DJ Evan!

Photo Shoot

Here I am trying to be artsy with this ADORABLE hat and flower that my friend Abby gave Claire. I love it and was trying to get some good shots for the birth announcement. These were taken yesterday, March 8, when Claire was 10 days old. It was also her due date yesterday and Joe & my 8th anniversary. Who could have imagined how blessed we would be 8 years later, with 2 beautiful children and a wonderful almost 6 year marriage.

The Puzzle Master

Evan is fantastic at puzzles and he loves to do them. Here he is (dressed as Peter Pan of course) with the latest accomplishment, a Yoda puzzle, for kids 5 and older. He completed this puzzle about 90% by himself. I'm pretty sure I couldn't finish that puzzle myself!

Our First Family Picture

We couldn't get everyone looking at the camera at once, but here are our first shots of us as a family.

Off to Virginia he goes

Evan had so much fun with his Uncle Bryan and Aunt Laura while they were here, he insisted on going with them back to Virginia. We asked him if he wanted us to pack him up in a suitcase and he said yes. Thankfully for his sake, he fit in the suitcase and was placed in their back seat. I am sure glad he didn't go, though. We sure would have missed him!

Family

Here are 3 of the 4 grandkids and 2 in utero in this picture. We are just missing Maxwell. So exciting that there will be 2 more babies born into the family this year. Bryan & Laura's baby boy around June 19 and Charlie & Shannon's little one around October 3.

Fun with bows

Okay, so maybe they do look a little ridiculous on a few day old baby girl, but I had to try out some headbands and bows that we got as gifts. I love the headbands (thanks Aditi) and bows (thanks Abby & Tara) too much to not try them out. She does have plenty of hair for all of them. She'll be sporting these in a few weeks, but for now, maybe I'll just let her enjoy being a baby and not my little doll :).

Snuggled in her favorite position

Claire loves to be held up close to your chest, she must love the sound of our heartbeats. This picture shows how light her hair is. It's not really light, but not black like a lot of pictures make it look.

Orioles Fan in the making

Evan is the #1 Orioles Fan! He LOVES his Orioles shirts (he has 3) and must wear one every day. I can get him to school in a different shirt ONLY if I promise him that he can change as soon as he gets home. When Bryan & Laura were here, I let them take all the baby boy clothes home with them they wanted, and we came across this baby Oriole's hat. Evan insisted we put it on Claire immediately and here they are, the 2 #1 Oriole's fans!