Dave turns 54!

Birthdays are for celebrating. 

As Dave's birthday approached we tossed around several celebration ideas. We decided on dinner here with the kids, Dave's meal of choice was grilled pizzas. The pizza turned out great even though we are slightly out of practice. Dessert was Dave's favorite, chocolate bundt cake with white icing. The kids helped me decorate the cake, so needless to say, it was full of green and pink sprinkles. It was a mellow and perfect evening. 

We celebrated with family last evening and really wanted to keep it focused on downtown favorites. We met for drinks and apps at Prairie Berry followed by dinner on the patio at The Market, we ended the evening at Crave on their patio. It was fun to walk everywhere and appreciate the vast improvements of downtown and the absolute perfect weather. Dave and I are both moving a little slow today but still feel a high after the fun we had. We are so grateful for everyones enthusiasm for Dave and I am so thankful that I get to party plan for such a deserving guy. It reminds me of when I was in the hospital after I delivered Sully. A nurse walked in and made the connection that I was married to Dave (he works with many of the staff there when he does OB cases). She quickly said 'so you are Dr. Munce's wife? He was the most eligible bachelor around here for so many years!' As perfect timing and life collided, fate stepped in and yes, I am the lucky one. But he is lucky, too :). We compliment each other so well and I am proud to call him mine. Between our kids and our life, my cup runneth over. 

Happy Birthday, babe! Its just going to keep getting better.

Daddy's girls in matching clothes.

Bayern Munich matching jammies.

Daddy takes the princess to Hy Vee. 

Dave and the kids and birthday fun.

Sarah, Troy, Dave, Lauren, Matt, Cassandra, and Ashlee. 

Dave and I. 

The whole group!
Sarah, Cassandra, Ashlee, Matt, Paul, Mary Ellen, Troy,
Suzie, Dave, Matt, Lauren, Maggie, Liz, and Jeff. 

School is out for summer!

Sully had his final day of preschool last week and Greta joined me for the preschool party. It was fun to see all of the kids and their parents and to have one last gathering.

Sully has grown so much over the last year. For the first 4-5 months of school, he was unable name anyone in his class and he would say so little about school. He would often cry at drop off, but would calm quickly with the help of his teachers. By the end of the year he could name his two best buddies, Jack and Alex, was dressing himself, buckling his own car seat, and totally knew the drill. He has grown so much in the last few months, we are so proud of him.

Sully will continue with Miss Jean, Miss Jaspers, and Miss Amy (for speech) through the summer along with a camp or two. Greta will also continue with Miss Jaspers through the summer and she cannot wait to start with Miss Jean one morning a week in the fall. Piper will hang with me :).

We look forward to park and pool days this summer, and are really hoping to finish up with outside projects so we can get house things off of our mind for a year or so. We are currently getting ready for sod, prepping to replace the driveway and waiting for the rest of the fence to go up. Hopefully a couple of these things will happen this week. Ill get back to some before and after photos of the last spaces when the outside is done. We hope to do some landscaping and to replace the shutters after we have had some recovery time (probably next spring). We do have a short punch list that we are also slowly working on. In time, in time ;).

Costume day. Police man/Chase.

Celebration day at Kindermusic with Maggie. 

My early riser.

Adventures with Miss Jean.

First day of school (Sept '15).

Last day (May '16).

First day (Sept '15).

Last day (May '16).

Fun at the Falls after speech. 

Hello May!

We are well into May and its been jam packed with fun activities and warm weather...finally!

As soon as we returned from California I bought a new attachment for the stroller so Sully could ride on the back and it has been life changing. I feel like we are so much more mobile. Im not afraid to take them all on a stroller ride to the park, or to go visit Dave. I wish it had an odometer on it as I can't even begin to imagine the miles we have walked over the past almost four years (what!? I can't believe Sully will be four soon).

In the last week, Dave and I have had two date nights, I have work two evenings, and threw a baby shower, oh and Mother's Day. We are so busy having fun. I feel like my life has opened up since Piper turned six months and since I started working one shift per week. It is just enough to get out of the house and to miss the kids, and for them to miss me. It has put a spring in my step. We have been able to schedule the shifts for when Dave is early out so we have babysitter coverage for about 5 hours during the day which also gives Dave an opportunity to hit the gym. My parents have been helping by picking Sully up from school, which has been fun for both Sully and them. We are still figuring things out around here, but it is safe to say we are headed in the right direction.

On Saturday morning Maggie and I threw a baby shower for our friend Sonia Schumacher. She has been waiting her whole life for this baby and it was so fun to honor her. Maggie and I work so well together, picking up the slack where the other leaves off. She will claim that she picks up after my messes, but we all know its just the opposite ;). Mega thanks to Dave for taking the kids so I could have the house to host. Saturday evening Dave and I went to Art's Night, an annual auction which has turned into one of our favorite outings of the year. We sat at a table with some neighbors for the second year in a row and had a blast. Many of the couples bought art which really brings the level of excitement up. AND, my mom annually gets her art selected, it was exciting to see her's go for $1,000, in the top 15%...yay mom! We can hardly wait until next year.

Mother's Day was perfect. We woke up on Sunday morning and the kids gave me my Mother's Day gift which was a pot of planted flowers they had done the previous day with Dave. It was so sweet. We followed that up with breakfast here and a walk and then lunch and naps. We went to my parent's for pizza after. It was mellow and relaxing. I'm SO thankful to have my kids. They are all so sweet and silly and they fill my heart. Oh, and Dave. Mucho thanks to him for being supportive and helping us to survive this wild (but fun) time in our life.

The amazing stroller. 

Checking out Grandma Banana's art submission for Art's Night. 

Piper tries bananas. 

Oliver kids sleep over, we do nails!

Playing and sleeping in the secret room (Greta slept in her crib :)).

This diva is tired after a morning of fun
(she is sneaking in a car snooze).

Piper is 6 months old!

10 years at Avera! 

Shower cohost selfie. 

Cohosts and guest of honor. 

The spread. 

The flowers, courteous of Maggie's garden. 

Art's Night fun with the Weisses, Balouns, Kimbers, Fritzes, and Edelens. 

Mother's Day love. 

"Punder and mightening is scary, lets hide GG!"
-Sully, almost 4. 

Playing dress up with Piper
(yes, Sully wiped out again, that poor face)!

Sully helps daddy hang our Art's Night purchase.

Park fun with Greta while Sully is at school.
Her tongue matches her shirt and shoes.

Family Photos.

Every time we go to California, we try to line up photos with our favorite photographer, Melissa McClure. She took our wedding photos and she does such an an amazing job. Ill add a few of my favorites.

Coronado 2016

We navigated uncharted territory and took the whole family to Coronado last week. We had a great time, despite some flight and normal toddler issues. Believe it or not, we will do it again, like once a year, tops ;).

Our early flight out was cancelled due to the Denver airport being closed. It came as a mega surprise as we had everything at the ticketing counter, and by everything, I mean all three kids, three carseats, carry ons, a stroller, and two large suitcases. We felt like we were in a bubble. How did we not know ahead of time?! No notifications or anything. We had to reload the car and keep busy until our flight which had been rebooked for 3pm. The rest of travel connections were rather uneventful. Piper had a great first flight but melted down in my arms for the entire three hours of the following flight. By the time we had landed, she had puked all over both of us, fortunate for her, I had a change of her clothes, unfortunate for me, I was left to let the vomit dry and smell of it for nearly four hours. I did have a couple of tearful breakdowns wishing she would just sleep. We survived.

California was great fun. Our only decisions were beach, pool, ice cream, and where to get take out for dinner. Our only commitments were daily naps for Greta and Piper and a photo shoot with our wedding photographer (photos to come soon). We did get out to the aquarium one day and to story time at the Coronado library, which the kids enjoyed. The kids had a blast. Sully loved the beach and was so happy to just be jumping over the waves. Greta was more fond of the baby pool and loved to jump in and splash to her heart's content. Piper went with the flow and was just happy to watch the other two. Dave and I completely enjoyed watching them explore and gain confidence in their new surroundings.

We did have a bit of drama, Piper had a fussy few nights and the culprit was her two front teeth with finally popped through about halfway through the trip. Greta was forced to sleep in a twin bed which I'm certain she loved, and especially loved to come in and find us in the middle of the night, followed by Sully, which ended with Dave taking them both back to their room and sleeping with them as Piper was up so often in the night that she would wake everyone up. Every night was a sleeping circus. Sullivan wiped out in the condo one evening and split his eyebrow on a table which landed him in the ER. Fortunately he only needed skin glue, but he will end up with a battle wound. He was so brave. We were so proud of how he handled everything.

We had such a great time, but we were happy to get home and get everyone back in their own beds, even if only for the first few hours of the night. We are already looking forward to next year.

Lots of photos!

Flight out, Dave relaxing ;).

Flowers for the week. 

Everybody say 'beach day!'.

Family photo (first of many). 

Sand castles with daddy. 

Beach nap.

Dave and the kids in the twin beds pushed together.

Big girl! 5.5 months.

Dog beach photo. 

Moo Time.

Heading to the pool. 

Baby pool fun. 

Coffee at The Del. 

Sweet and sassy.

Scripps Aquarium. 

Sam photo with the La Jolla cove behind us. 

Piper! 

Library fun. 

Daddy and Piper.

Mama and Piper on a beach walk. 

Sully being so brave. 

Greta, Dave did her hair :).

Finally, a photo of me and all three! 

Heading home, waiting for Dave to get a cart.
My instructions: everyone get in your seats! 

Three sleepers on the flight home.