No More Tears!

2010 was the year that finally all of our Cajun Cuties were brave enough of the giant rabbit to get within photographing distance of him. However, Miss Ramsey was enjoying a very fun day with friends at a performance of Oliver! that her BFF Amelia was playing in, so Ramsey wasn't with us yesterday when we attended the Easter egg hunt at our community park. Luckily, getting a picture of the Big, Huge Bunny Rabbit (Curran's words at age 2 when he was too terrified to go near him) surrounded by all four of my children--or the lack thereof-- is not causing me to lose any sleep. I do think it's funny, though, and I wanted to make sure to point out that Ramsey being 12 1/2 is certainly not the reason she isn't in the photo. My silly Ramsey may actually never grow too old for a hug from the Easter Bunny! :)

The Final Six Months as a Pre-Teen

Miss Ramsey

12 and 1/2 years old

Our First Day of Spring

Just when I was thinking we'd made it to springtime warmth and sunshine, the first day of spring showed up here in Kansas, and she brought with her about 6 or more inches of snow! I saw first day of spring photos of my friend Emily's kids in swimsuits on a beach in Florida. I saw first day of spring photos of my friend Patty's kids in swimsuits hiking and swimming at a lake in North Carolina. That looks heavenly!

Meanwhile, here in Kansas, there were no swimsuits, lakes, or beaches in sight on that first weekend of spring! Nah, it looked like this, actually:





























Luckily these guys are easy-going and find a way to appreciate whatever comes their way, so they had fun. And even more luckily, the temperatures climbed quite nicely so that every trace of snow was gone about 48 hours after these pictures were taken!

What Would We Do Without Our Little Boy?!

Aaron and I became parents for the first time in 1997. 8 years and 3 daughters later, we became the parents of a little boy for the first time. I wondered for awhile if I'd know what to do with a little boy! Soon enough it all fell into place, and Curran Patrick has been such an adorable and perfect little blessing to make our family complete. It's impossible to imagine not having him and the millions of kisses he gives everyday, nor can I possibly imagine what we'd ever do without him! He is such a little boy in every way! We've all had so much fun going through photos from the past few years to put together a tiny snippet of the many expressions (not to mention hairstyles!) of our little boy through his first 4 years of life in this beautiful world.

More Birthday!

In the early afternoon of Curran's birthday we drove a few hours south to spend some of our spring break days in Branson, Missouri, a place my family loved to go when I was a kid.

St. Patrick's Day has always been such a fun day to me, but of course it is especially wonderful now that our little fella claims it as his very own. He kept noticing everywhere we went that people were all dressed in his favorite color that day! We found a great place to have a really fun birthday dinner, and all the staff at the White River Fish House made a big fuss over him on his special day!

I'm trying not to get all sniffly and sad upon seeing this picture of my baby boy over half the length of his mommy already...
























Just a couple more tiny gifts back at the hotel later that night along with a billion more happy birthday wishes. I lost count of how many times I heard "This is the best day of my life" coming from the mouth of my sweet little boy that day. :)




Aside from our little Tiny's birthday, the highlight of our trip was the time we spent at Silver Dollar City. I am laughing at how pitiful I was at being family photographer, though. Too busy having fun myself to capture all the fun of the kids this time around. This is seriously all I got from two full days at that park!

Alaire and the boys shooting at targets on the Flooded Mine ride (battery pooped out before I could even snap the big girls)




Happy Frogs


Daddy and Alaire on the Hi-Lo Silos






We sure did enjoy all the warm, sunny days of spring break. We wore ourselves slam out playing so much. We were pretty surprised to find ourselves driving back to KC through a snowstorm, though! Even more surprised to return to our house on the first day of Spring to find 6-8 inches of brand new snow on the ground (pics of that to come soon, I'm sure...).



What a fun week!

Happy Curran Patrick's Day!!

Today our baby boy is 4 years old! I have so much to say about what that means to me but will save it for another time. Right now we have big birthday/spring break plans and are taking a family trip to Branson for the next few days... leaving NOW!

These are just a handful of quick pics from our little family birthday celebration this morning to give everyone a little cuteness to get you through St. Patrick's Day! Have a happy, lucky day!