Grandma Jan flew into town on Thursday evening and Aunt Kolleen drove up from S. Oregon with Aralia and Zaiden (and she gets major props for braving the long drive with 2 kids solo! :) on Friday evening.
Grandma Jan meeting Alyssa for the first time:
Aunt Kolleen and Alyssa:
Excited for their birthday weekend!
This was a new experience for us to have a bunch of people around our baby, we didn't bring Tycen & Shaylie into crowds until they were over 6 months old (since they were premature and born during cold/flu season)! I was a little nervous to have our brand-new baby girl around so many people at one time, so I did what I love to do most, held her close to me! She was such a trooper and pretty much slept through most of the festivities :)
Having fun with their cousins:
Grandma Jan, Aunt Kolleen and cousins Aralia and Zaiden got to watch Tycen and Shaylie's soccer game on Saturday morning :)
Aunt Mar flew in from LA on Saturday afternoon...meeting Alyssa for the first time:
Aunt Katrina & Uncle Ulrich were the last to arrive on Saturday evening. They were so sweet to make the trip up from the Bay area. They could only stay less than 24 hrs but we are so grateful they came!!
We bought Tycen and Shaylie new doll houses for their birthday, which we kept hidden in their boxes until the night before their birthday. Scott assembled Tycen's fire house/police station and my mom, Katrina, Ulrich and Mar all worked together to assemble Shaylie's doll house...I had no idea it'd be so complicated :/ I really don't know what we'd have done without all of their help! They really saved the day for us!!
Normally I enjoy assembling furniture and I was planning on doing it all myself or at least helping, but I ended up getting very ill the night before Tycen and Shaylie's birthday. I'm still not sure what caused it and I'm so grateful that it pretty much only lasted that night...but, it was a rough night. I was throwing up all night and it was pretty scary because I was so nervous that Alyssa would get sick (praise God she didn't get sick!). It also affected my milk supply, so the poor girl was a little hungry until I could keep enough fluids down to replenish
:(
Tyce and Shay were so excited to wake up to their new doll houses in the morning of their birthday:
Tycen got a truck/dinosaur transformer from Shaylie:
Shaylie got a Cinderella doll from Tycen:
And they both got a cash register from Alyssa:
Daddy made Tycen and Shaylie special birthday pan-'cake's for breakfast:
These pictures are too funny...
Blowing out candles:
Shaylie's so proud of herself:
Encouraging her brother, "keep trying Tyce, you can do it!"
Our neighbor, Dan, had promised the kids that he'd make them his special gingerbread pancakes when their baby sister was born. He surprised us and brought them over on their birthday! MMMmmm, they were yummy!!
Fun with Aunt Mar and Grandma Jan:
Katrina, Ulrich, Kolleen and kids came over after breakfast...
Aunt Katrina and Uncle Ulrich got the kids some coloring things:
Aralia and Zaiden got Shaylie a Belle doll and horse to go with her new dollhouse:
And they got Tycen a insect/bug net and book :)
Kai and Oma came over for a bit before Tyce and Shay's birthday party, too (Gramps was in Australia). It's so hard to get a good picture of these 3 kids...always moving :)
Tycen has been asking for a motorized car for a while now and I was never a big fan of the idea only because I would rather he ride his bike or scooter...or run...or jump and play...you get the idea, anything active. Well, Scott had mentioned it to his dad and leave it to Papa to spoil his one and only grandson with exactly what the little guy wanted :) It technically is both Tycen and Shaylie's and the deal was that they have to keep the car at Papa and Grandma Kathy's house so that way it's their special treat to drive it when they go to their house and visit. And I have to admit, it is pretty adorable watching them drive this thing!
They were surprised with this gift after their birthday party when Grandma Kathy and Papa came over to wish them a 'Happy Birthday.'
Aunt Katrina and Uncle Ulrich went directly from Tycen and Shaylie's birthday party (**more pictures and details on their party to come :) to the airport. Grandma Jan and Kolleen and kids stayed until Monday so we were able to spend some more time with them before they left.
Having lunch together before Kolleen and kids had to make the long drive back home:
Having my mom and sisters here was so nice! And as you can see from the pictures, I even shared Alyssa a little bit! :) It was was nice to be able to spend some extra time with Tycen and Shaylie...we even finished their first homework assignment. I know...what?! Homework?? In preschool? It's ok, it was pretty harmless :) They got to pick the pictures and apply the stickers. Shaylie also wanted to draw a picture of all her family members :)
We had such a wonderful birthday weekend for Tycen and Shaylie. I was a little nervous about their birthday this year because I knew it'd be so close to when Alyssa was born. I'm so grateful that it turned out so special for them! And I honestly cannot say enough about how wonderful my family is!! We feel so special that everyone would travel so far to spend this time with us! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love you all so much!!
