Spring sports & a trip to the zoo

Max played t-ball for a couple of seasons but this year, we signed him up for coach-pitch.
They get 5 pitches from the coach and if they don't get a hit, they bring the tee out.

Unfortunately, the team was pretty poorly run with infrequent practices and last-minute cancellations...but he sure looked cute in his uniform!

One of the games got a lot colder than anticipated!
Luckily, Daddy gave his sweatshirt to Lucygirl so she could warm up!

Max's favorite sport is basketball, followed by soccer. He wasn't really loving baseball - maybe a little too slow-paced / boring for him. I thought he'd love being the catcher since it's more action - and again, how cute does he look?! - but he said he didn't really like it...

Some soccer shots:

Max scored 3 goals in each of his first three games! Very exciting!

Max made himself nice and comfy in the back of Troy's car during one of Lucy's games!

Lucygirl is EIGHT!

Lucy was super excited about her upcoming birthday...counting down every day on the white board in her room!

I told her she could have a "friend birthday party" every other year and she had her first one (at Paint & Bake Ceramics) when she turned 6 which meant she got to have another one this year, when she turned 8.

The friend party in addition to her family party meant two parties and two themes...
She agonized over the decision but decided on Descendants for the family party and mermaids for the friend party - since they'd be swimming at the party.

I got an iron-on image online to make her a t-shirt for her Descendants party and she was very pleased with the finished result (lucky for me!).

Descendants party fun:

Max loves his cousin Alli!

With lots going on this year, my mom couldn't make Lucy's birthday cake this year. I think both of them were a little sad about it - they usually have a lot of fun looking online for ideas and Lucy sure enjoys testing GranJan's talents (and she has never disappointed). I ordered this one from Meijer and hoped for the best...

Luckily, it was tasty and - more importantly - Lucy was pleased. It came with a Descendants mirror on top so she was most excited for the little souvenier! 

Party peeps

She want to bed that night after her party for the last time as a 7-year-old and the next morning, when she woke up...she was EIGHT!

Of course, we went to Busken before school to get her free birthday cookie (and a birthday donut!).

She wanted Max to join us for the morning festivities. He quite enjoyed his donut with blue icing.

New birthday shoes! Sparkly!

Oh and Max found a hidden rock outside of the store that morning! 

After school, we went to Recreations Outlet to play for a bit.

The birthday girl got to choose the restaurant for dinner that night - LaRosa's...what a shocker! 

After dinner, we headed back home and sang "Happy Birthday" to her and ate more of her Meijer cake...yum! 

The next weekend, it was time for her friends birthday party! We invited all of the 2nd grade girls from her school plus one 1st grader and almost everyone could make it! Hooray!

We got there a few minutes early to snap a couple of pics before the girlies started to arrive.
They started in the "tubes and tunnels" area and climbed and played and bounced on the trampolines and made lots and lots of noise! Lucy started opening her gifts while we were out there to make sure she had time to get through them all. Her friends had fun handing her the gifts they'd picked out for her.

Next, we headed back to a party room for pizza, "Happy Birthday" and cake. But soon enough, it was the moment they'd all been waiting for - time to change and SWIM!

Lucy got a new swimsuit and mermaid tail for her birthday from GranJan
I had her try the suit on before her party to make sure it fit before I packed it
When we got to the changing room...I realized I'd forgotten the top!
She had swimsuit bottoms (and the new tail, thank goodness!) but no top...
I was freaking out and apologizing like crazy but she said she could just swim in her t-shirt - no problem
whew!!!

We had the pools to ourselves for about an hour and all of the mermaids seemed to have a great time. Happy birthday, sweet Lucygirl!