Clara's First Birthday

 I can't believe Clara is one already!! Why do babies have to grow up so fast? Clara is such a fun, sweet, happy little munchkin, and we are so truly blessed to have her in our family.

We celebrated her birthday a day early on Sunday the 12th (Mother's Day) out at my parent's house. We had dinner, and then decided to open some presents before having cake. 

Clara waving at the camera

 After presents, it was time for cake. Clara got scared as soon as everyone started singing, and started to cry! I felt bad for her, but it was a little bit funny.

She quickly calmed down though, and was able to 'blow' out the candle, 

with some help from her big brother and sister.

To make things simple, we picked up a chocolate cake from Costco, (which by the way are so good) and just cut her off a big piece. She was a little timid at first, but once she had a taste, she really dug in.

This last picture is my favorite picture from the night. She makes this scrunched nose face all the time, and John and I had been talking about how we just had to get a picture of her making it sometime, so we could remember it forever. Well, scrunched nose smile + messy cake face + first birthday pretty much equals the cutest picture ever. I love it!

Preschool Zoo Field Trip

Makenna's preschool went on a field trip to the zoo. Since we have a membership to the zoo, attending wasn't anything new for us, but going with all of Makenna's preschool friends was a real treat for her. We are lucky to have such an amazing zoo here in Omaha, and are happy to have any excuse to visit!

All of the preschool kids

Hudson and Clara got to tag along for the trip too!

 Touching star fish at the aquarium

Misc April

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from April.

A fort that the kids built outside with the sandbox

Clara snuggling with Hudson. She loves her older brother and sister!

Throwing dirt out of the pot

Hudson with Jane from our trip to MN - what a doll!

Minnesota Vacation - Waterpark of America

After a full day at Mall of America, we decided to check out a few other area attractions on Thursday. First, we spent the morning at the Science Museum of Minnesota, which was free for us because of our membership to the Children's Museum here in Omaha. We then spent Thursday evening at the Water Park of America, which is hooked onto the Radisson hotel in which we stayed. Because we went during such an off season time, we got a great deal on an awesome hotel room with bunk beds, and then on Thursday evening when the water park opened, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!! It was pretty awesome! It was actually snowing outside (crazy MN weather), and we were inside playing in the water...pretty fun! John and I also took advantage of the empty water park by taking turns going down the big slides while the other stayed and played with the kids. Everybody had a blast!

Minnesota Vacation - Mall of America part 2

Once we were able to pull the kids away from the rides, we also enjoyed a few other fun things at the Mall of America. The first was lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which of course the kids loved. 

We also made a stop at Build A Bear, where Makenna got to pick out and make a bear. She was so excited about her bear. I've decided that 5 must be the perfect age for Build A Bear. Hudson was interested, but decided to pick out a different souvenir from the trip. 

 Sharing the love from her heart with the heart she was going to put in her bear :)

 Filling her up

And cleaning her off afterwards

Minnesota Vacation - Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America

We decided to take a family vacation to Minnesota during the middle of April. We wanted to go somewhere not too far away, and somewhere where the kids could have a lot of fun. We had been to Minnesota and Mall of America last February while I was pregnant with Clara, and the kids had really loved it. You can see the post about it here.

So on Tuesday April 16th we loaded up the car and headed north about 6 hours. We first had dinner with some of our favorite friends from business school, the Stansels, and then stayed at a hotel right next to the Mall of America. On Wednesday we spent most of the day at the Mall. We first went to Nickelodeon Universe to let the kids do the rides. Because we were there on a random Wednesday in the middle of April, the Mall was EMPTY!! It was so awesome! The kids could just go on the rides over and over. There were a few other families there, but it seemed like we pretty much had the place to ourselves. (On a side note, Makenna will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall, and I will miss being able to travel and visit places like the zoo or children's museum while everyone else is in school.) One of the things we love about Nickelodeon Universe, is that there is no admission fee. We got each of the kids a wristband for unlimited rides, and then as an adult you can accompany them on lots of the rides as their chaperone for free. Makenna was even tall enough to go on some of the roller coasters, so John and I got to enjoy some 'big' rides for free. We had SO much fun!!

Here are pictures of some of the rides.

Wonder Pets Flyboat

Diego's Rescue Rider

Carousel

Clara was so good to hang out in her stroller watching the 'big' kids go on the rides.

 Rugrat Reptarmobiles

 Balloon Race

John's Birthday

We celebrated John's 32nd birthday this month! His birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so it was nice to be able to spend the day with him (rather than have him gone at work all day). The kids were super excited to have him open his presents, so we did that first thing in the morning. We then had nice breakfast before heading off to church. That evening, we had some friends over to have cake and ice cream with us. Happy Birthday John! We love you!!