Spring is (Almost) Here

The kids got a chance to enjoy the sunny weather before the rain a couple weeks back. 

"Glamping"

Big and Little

I once thought Charlotte was a replica of Lucas. Nope, I was wrong. Evangie is the exact replica of her older brother. Char is a close second though.

Lots of sunny memories will be made in this tent

This past week was also Spirit Week. I firmly believe that Spirit Week is secretly a "Kill Your Parents" week. It's tiring dressing them up. I'm glad everything is back to normal this week.

Pajama Day

Disney/Hero Day

 International Day

Crazy Hair Day

Green Day

While the kids are at school, I get alone time with Evangie. Today is the start of the fourth quarter at school. I'm definitely going to milk this last quarter before I have to think about school stuff again. 

She's not that innocent

Another future shopping sister

Always getting into trouble

Always snacking

Evangie is a great cruiser nowadays. She is able to stand on her own, but when she realizes she's standing without any support, she just plops herself back down again. On weekends when the older kids are around, she does not exist in pictures (yet) because she's always being carried. One day, Evangie, one day...

Bookstore on Saturday

Char (and I) want this!

Taco Thursdays

Shopping @ TJ's... three kids, three carts

Riding ponies at church

 Besties?

I had to snap this picture from last night! I have never witnessed a more intense love/hate sibling relationship before. They are the best of friends, they are the worst of friends...

 And it's Spring tomorrow! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Evangeline

Our little Evangie is now one! I still remember those horrible first few months when she was a newborn while I juggled a newborn as well as two school aged kids. Now things are more normal, sorta. It was hard, but the transition from two to three is still easier than the transition from one to two. 

Her last monthly pic

Our little family celebration on the 27th

Look at this smiley cutie

To this day, Evangeline is still the smiliest Shinn. She is okay with anyone holding her and is okay with anything. The hardest part with her is her craziness. She is afraid of absolutely nothing. When we're out in restaurants, she takes advantage of the high chairs because she knows she can squirm out of it. One day, she's going to eat it... bad! 

We had a decent sized celebration for Evangeline this past Saturday. Before this event, I was debating whether to skip this party or not. It's not like she'll remember anything. However, I couldn't shaft the third child. So, we celebrated at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

 Little monthly wall

Before walking into the party room

My little Evangeline poster

 Older kids with their balloon animals

 Carb lover

My baby girl

 Singing happy birthday to the clueless lady

 Totally clueless about her presents, too

And now I have a one year old, five year old, and almost seven year old. What a crazy life... it does get pretty crazy at home on weekends. 

 Happy birthday, baby girl!

Seattle Trip - Winter Break

Before Evangeline turns one, we took a quick trip to Seattle over the kid's Winter Break. Back in the day, I would map out the best restaurants to try and go on my foodie trek. Since kids came into the picture (almost seven years ago!!!), vacations are more tiring than staying at home. I went into this vacation without much of an agenda at all. The two main landmarks I wanted everyone to check out was Public Market and the Space Needle. We went to 1/2 of those places. The Space Needle was closed due to construction during our time there, lame! Instead, we spent half the day at a children's museum. At least the kids had a blast...


Judging by the way we're dressed, it's much colder in Seattle


Grubbing at the hotel lounge


First stop!

Had to find the gum wall 


Had to take a tourist-y picture here


I wonder how fresh their seafood tastes

.... and their fruit 


I wish our supermarket was this colorful


Stopping to check out the flowers

Stopped by the first Starbucks 


Signs are important


Yup, we're total tourists


Beautiful Seattle backdrop

 Say hi to the tallest man

My little artist 

Where are we?

Monorail robot (or something)

 Mom made them take a picture in front of this sign

 
Can't go to Seattle without eating some chow-dah

Goodbye Seattle

One thing I learned while in Seattle is that people are not friendly at all. Hello "Seattle Freeze" (not talking about the weather here). We survived with three kids and no car. If that's not a victory, I don't know what is!

Happy Charlotte Day

Our little (middle) baby turned FIVE on Valentine's Day! She was so excited about her birthday. I guess these kids equate birthdays to presents and parties. Lucky bums...

Birthday morning

She wanted a watch just like her brother

Happy five year old

Little family cake celebration

We had two parties for this little lady. The first was at Chuck E cheese with her school friends. 

 Waiting for the guests to arrive

With her besties

Happy birthday, Charlotte!

Her second party was with all of her cousins. We had a special art project at home and then all the kids asked for the jump house to be set up. Luckily the backyard was clean and the weather was nice.

Art with Ms Tamm

Little artists hard at work

Their work of (he)ART

Unplanned backyard lunch

A pizookie instead of a cake

 She chose Chili's for her family birthday dinner

Charlotte has definitely grown this year. It's easy to tell that she's grown physically since I (still) have to store away all her size 4 clothes. Ever since her baby sister was born two weeks after she turned four, she's really stepped it up as a big sis. My biggest concern was that Charlotte, being the former baby and all, would grow extremely jealous of her sister. The opposite happened! Charlotte is probably the best older sister you can ask for. She's extremely patient with her baby sis and does a great job taking care of her. 

Char loves to draw pictures and her stick figured people have evolved to nicer stick figure people. Remember those cute bunny people she used to draw? She outgrew that! She loves cats (hello, cat lady) and is in love with Pusheen (aka KiKi). This year she's fascinated with Num Noms and Pusheen, as well as making aquabeads/Beados. 

And that's Charlotte in a nutshell. Happy birthday, my little Valentine!