Birthday Bonanza

With family birthdays in April, May, and June, a post devoted to birthdays seemed appropriate.  Read on to see what we did to celebrate.

The kids made Ohio State pictures for Danny's birthday.  They turned out so well!  He has them posted up in his office now.

We weren't able to celebrate Colin's birthday at Glen's Sports Barn last year due to COVID, but we made up for it this year!  We made our way to the barn a couple of weeks early to avoid baseball conflicts.  We invited friends from school, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse.  There were lots of kids!  And they had lots of fun.  For most of the time, they enjoyed playing dodgeball.  They played a little basketball and some catch on fly.  They barely wanted to stop playing for pizza and cake!  They all had a great time and we're thankful for everyone who helped make Colin's birthday extra special.  

 

During the weekend of his actual birthday, Colin's baseball team had a tournament.  We went to a teammate's house that night for a party & got home really late.  Danny and I were up into the wee hours making a surprise for Colin!  His reaction when he opened the door in the morning was, "Whoa...jeez!"

Ready for his game on his birthday!

13 days later, we did the same thing for Cadence!  She knew it was coming so her reaction wasn't as funny!

Cadence also had a tournament (out of town) during the weekend of her birthday.  She opened gifts before we headed to Zanesville for the weekend.

We had to get her birthday photo before we headed out the door!

Since Colin had games that weekend as well, I took Cadence to Zanesville.  She was being goofy before her first game started.  She refused to take a selfie with me.

Cadence didn't want to do anything special with her team for her birthday (I guess she didn't want all the extra attention), but her teammates were sure to make her feel special.

I called the hotel ahead of time and mentioned that it was Cadence's birthday.  I asked if they'd do anything special (I was thinking maybe a card and some cupcakes) for her.  Boy did they go above and beyond!  Not only did they get cupcakes, they also got her so many balloons and other decorations, party hats, a fun pillow, a diary and fun pens, and way more things that I can't even remember to list.  The Hampton Inn in Zanesville made her day!

Since Cadence didn't want a party for her birthday, I asked her what she wanted instead - she wanted Gracie to come spend the weekend with us.  So that's what we did!

That Friday we grabbed ice cream from Little Ladies Soft Serve.

There was a balloon artist there while people stood in line for ice cream.

The next day we surprised Cadence with her ride for the weekend.  Danny and Colin went to pick it up from the airport Hertz rental car.

It sure was fun!

Her next request was Star Lanes for arcade games and bowling.  Gracie brought matching outfits for them to wear.

After that, we took the long way downtown, checked out the shops, and went to campus and spent some time at Ohio State.

And grabbed some doughnuts at Buckeye Donuts.

On Sunday morning, we grabbed breakfast at Northstar Cafe and spent some time at Easton.

We made her favorite Nestle Tollhouse bars and sang Happy Birthday that night.

Our nanny was on vacation that week, so I took off Monday and Tuesday from work.  On Monday, the kids and I spent some time at the dam and went swimming at Alum Creek Lake!

We met Rhonda at Bob Evans near the outlet mall in Jeffersonville and Gracie went home from there.  We had a really fun weekend with our cousin!

Our Girl

So many blog posts have focused on Colin and his sports, that I wanted to have a post dedicated to Cadence and what she's been up to lately!  Cadence is blooming into a beautiful young lady.  She's so helpful and often does things without having to be asked.  She's sooooo crafty!  Lately she's been creating crochet creatures.  She can watch a YouTube video and teach herself to make almost anything.  She's still into music - she's recreating AJR songs on the piano and learning to play the clarinet in band.  In addition to band at school, she's also in choir.  Over the summer, she even took voice lessons while taking a piano break.  She's becoming interested in babysitting and loves hanging out with Little Landon while at the ballfield.  She's into comfy clothes nowadays and will paint her nails or want her hair braided from time-to-time.  She still likes to boss around Colin and act like his third parent, but I know she loves him and genuinely likes playing with him when it's just the two of them.  Check out the post below to see what Cadence has been getting into.

After piano lessons, Cadence still likes to take a stroll around the square before we head home.  How could I tell her no?

We were having fun taking pictures with the rainbow

She learned how to make some balloon animals!

When I have time, and I think about it, I practice French braiding her hair.  I did a pretty decent job really quickly one day.

She let me snap some shots before her first 10u tournament game.  She was a little nervous, but excited to play.

Post game

The girls 10u team was basically thrown together using the girls from the rec team.  In total, there were 12 girls on the team.  They didn't even have to try out.  What started as a rec team, bloomed into a pretty awesome travel softball team.  They made contact with the ball more, made some great plays, grew more confident, and made some friendships.  Cadence enjoys playing softball, but I think what she really likes is being around the girls and having fun.  They make up some crazy cheers and act goofy sometimes.  I think that's what Cadence likes best.  We're glad she's developed this bond with the girls.

Here's Cadence after a double-header where she hit a home run - from a beautiful BUNT!  The ball went right where it was supposed to when you hit a bunt, and she was able to make it all the way home!

Poor Cadence wasn't feeling well the day of her spring recital.  We stayed behind while the boys went to the ballfield for Colin's final day of his tournament.  Cadence was able to get some rest that day, but still did not feel like herself that night.  She rallied, made it through the recital, and played, "You've Got a Friend in Me" (from Toy Story).  We're so proud of her determination.  She gets up on that stage in front of a crowd full of people and hammers out her song every time.

 

Our new favorite ice cream joint is Little Ladies soft serve.  They have a truck that parks in Galena on Friday evenings during the summer months.  We stopped by one night after some baseball and softball.  We convinced Cadence to try some.  She wasn't a huge fan, so every time we've gone thereafter, she just gets hot fudge with Oreo crumbles.  Still sounds good to me!

The Marinellis got Cadence some Kraft shredded cheddar cheese earrings!  She still loves her cheese!