Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend with your families.  Here in P town, Owen woke up to an Easter suprise.  For us it was a mini preview of what Christmas is going to be like this year.  He was so excited to see those baskets full of goodies!  We woke up early and went to mass at 9 with the Cooneys, which was outdoors and perfect for little ones, and then headed over to their home for brunch afterwards.  Bri made these super yummy eggs with basil and zucchini, and then a potato hash with steak in it, it was to die for, she also made bread, scones, and red velvet sanwiches.  I contributed with some easter egg cake pops (what else:-), a tall stack of crepe (courtesy of my new crepe pan from my mom . . . . love it), and my sister made cinnamon rolls.  Owen and Kellan both had a lot of fun until they began to turn back into pumpkins around 12:30 so we headed home for a nap and Eric and I joined him, it was heavenly and lasted 3 and a half hours!!!!  Then we headed over to our friends The Gages for afternoon treats.  We got there just as Angela was setting out the desserts, icecream cake, more cake pops, cupcakes among other things.  Owen was right at home with everyone there, and found a cool riding toy that Ava also wanted to ride . . . . the same one:-)  So she climbed on in front of him, and you can see what he thought of that below:-)

All in all a fantastic day, and we all slept like ROCKS that night!

My very own frying pan!

Curls DON"T like hats! . . .no, this is not what I wore to Church!

Dynamic Duo!

Me and my friends

The girls and I have changed our walks to start from one of our houses so that we can have a little playdate afterwards.  Then Owen comes home and CRASHES for like 3 hours, its awesome!

Sammy, Findley and Owen

Kellan and Owen

Watching these boys together figuring things out is hilarious!  I hope we are able to keep up the schedule because I have them most incredible time with the girls on our walk and then just watching the babies explore their world and learn that there are other little people to play with:-)

March for Babies Rain or Shine!!

Lissette, Eric, Matix, Kevin, Kellan, Bri, Me, Angela, Chad, Remie, Owen, Eric, Chris, Kat and Brian

Okay, so we woke up this morning to freezing temperatures and rain!!!!!!!!!!!  WTF Phoenix, don't you know we have plans today:-P  No matter, we bundled up, babies and all and all trekked out for a 5K walk in support of healthy babies!  Kat saved the day with about 10 garbage bags that we used to cover exposed blanket on the strollers.  Owen had his orange down jacket, two thick blankets, and then a garbage bag like a sleeping bag to keep him warm and dry.  Our very good friends The Creels had a sick baby and couldn't make it out to join us, we were bummed, but completely understood, I just wish Mike in particular had been able to see the shirts all together in person, but hopefully the photo does it justice, it took a lot of nerve for us to unzip our jackets, and it was hard because our hands were numb! 

I didn't go to the walk last year because Owen was still too small, so it was a new experience for me.  We saw a couple of Liam's nurses there and Sue (Liam's first Primary Nurse almost since day one of life) had Liam's name on the back of her shirt, which brought me to tears.  It was very moving to look at other people's team shirts with names and gestational ages of babies, lots of shirts in memorium of lost souls.  I saw a team shirt with two sets of tiny footprints with angel wings and it said always in our hearts our sweet angels and had the short dates of their little lives.  It really humbled me, and was a strong reminder of how lucky I am to have Owen in my life, I could have a shirt like that, and I don't. 

We're in Phoenix?  Seriously?!

Amber on the left was there to hand Liam back to God in his last moments, and Sue his first primary wiped snot and tears from my face with her own shirt when I held him for the last time.

Anyhow, looking at our team photo, I am again humbled and grateful to have such loving friends and family that will come out to support us and such a deserving cause even in foul weather, I never seem to be able to find a word stronger than thank you, but to all our friends and especially to Mike Creel and Pink Mouse for designing and printing such a kick ass shirt, thank you.  Thank you, Thank you Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Emma turns One

My neice Emma Rose Damko celebrated her first birthday at the end of March. We traveled out to Cali to celebrate with her. Christine did an AMAZING job on her party it was just so beautiful! I already have my wheels turning for Owen's number 2 in just six short months! Where does the time go! Here are some pics of the day.

Dessert Table

The theme was cupcakes, these are felt cupcake ornaments Christine found at Christmas time!

My first baby necktie and pettiskirt!

Little Princess!

Walking!!!!!

I'm such a sclacker on my posts!  (recurruing theme alert:-), anyhow, as of the end of February Owen is officially walking, and as of about a week he can now get up without any assistance!  It is so awesome to have him toddling around after me, I love it.  He has also pretty much mastered opening doors (and slamming them shut!), so all the toilets are locked and during the day, pretty much all the doors are locked too:-)  He is fascinated with Mikey's mouth (gross) and LOVES being outside.  We have a lemon and orange tree in the front yard and he loves getting a piece of fruit in each hand and then parading them around the yard until it is time to taste them.

We visited my family for a week right when he started walking and it was a blast.  We went into San Francisco a few times and visited Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and The California Academy of Sciences.  I hadn't been to the latter since highschool and the whole thing was renovated and redone.  It is really nice and includes the Steinhardt Aquarium which is stunning, and a four story living rainforest encased in a bubble (which if you just blew out your naturally curly hair and curled it you should NOT enter. . . . if only I had thought of that advice BEFORE I went in!), and a living roof where there are all native plants growing all over the roof for energy conservation and other environmental benefits.  It was way cool, and I hope when we head out there this summer we get to go back!  Anyway, my parents treated us the whole week and even babysat one night so we say our FIRST movie since I went on bedrest (I know), The Fighter.  It was awesome!

Back here in Phoenix, we have been toiling away Eric has been working very hard, and I have been trying to finish all of my projects for my new niece or nephew to be, my niece turning one and a bunch of projects I have planned for our house!  Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have time to post pics and links for them.

I hope all who read my blog read my post about March of Dimes and is walking or has donated, if not there is still time and I'd love to see your smiling face this Saturday!!