Happy 30th Amy!!

Ahhh, I'm two months behind in blogging and I'm trying to catch up! I just can't let myself skip some of these memorable events!
On April 18th we finally got to celebrate my sister-in-law's (Amy) 30th Birthday. Her actual birthday was the day before Easter, so they decided to wait and have a big party the next weekend. The party was in the atrium at our church so there was plenty of room for all the kids to run around and play. It was a great party with lots of Amy's family and closest friends! There were a bunch of old pictures of Amy through the years and we all got a kick out of seeing how funny we looked in middle school (that's when my family moved to Eugene and first met the Ruddick family). (:

Amy's sweet family

Katrina, Stephanie, Sandy, Nicole, and Adalie

Macey and Sadie

Josh eating at the kid table. (:

Amy, Josh, & Erin

Opening gifts

Ethan and Macey were very excited to give this special plant to their mommy.

Katrina's Shower

On April 21st we had a baby shower at my house for Katrina and her soon-to-be-arriving son, Cedar . Becca, Mom, and Carolyn (Katrina's friend) helped out with all of the food, which was all low-sugar and low-carb since Katrina was dealing with gestational diabetes. Everything turned out great and we had a full house!!
Katrina painted these letters for Cedar's room.

Sisters

Me, Carolyn, Katrina, Becca, and Mom

Nicole, Amy, and Emma

Griffin laying in his bassinet one last time before passing it on to the Henry family. (:

House Progress

After taking a short break for the holidays, Josh got back to work in February to finish up some of the details in our house. The fireplace was definitely a priority since it is the focal point in the living room. He framed the opening of the fireplace with black granite, then used slate tiles to cover the "chimney".

We are slowly getting window coverings and other small pieces of decoration in each room. We had some incentive to get things done because I was planning to host a baby shower for Katrina in the middle of April.
The Den

Josh recently put the granite tops on the desk in the upstairs hallway.

Master Bathroom

Still a little more tile to finish up around the tub, but it's getting closer. (:

Master Shower

Shelves up in the playroom

Shelves up in the hallway

Easter Sunday

The Greens hosted Easter dinner at their house this year. They did a great job of preparing a great meal and accommodating a large group of people!

The November cousins
(Ronan was there, too, but I didn't get any pictures of him for some reason.)

Macey and Griffin were playing so well together. (:

The dinner table:
Amy, Mom, Grandpa & Grammie Lermo, Charlotte (Jon's mom), Josh & Griffin, Brian (friend from church), and Dad. I was taking the picture and I think Jon was helping with the kiddos.

Since we had everyone together we also celebrated my birthday--and sang to Amy, too. Our birthdays are just three days apart, but her big 30th birthday party was coming up the following weekend so we were waiting until then to give her gifts.

The Birthday Girls!

Easter with the Hechts

We celebrated Easter with my side of the family on Saturday, the 11th, so that the Murphy-Hecht family could join us. My cousin Dan and his wife Brooke had twin daughters in August and this was their first time visiting in Eugene since they were born. My brother also drove down from Seattle for a surprise visit, so we had the whole family together! We filled up my parent's house, but thankfully the weather was nice enough to have an easter egg hunt outside. We all enjoyed getting to know Summer and Kara--it's so much fun having more girl cousins around!
Dan holding Summer and Papa holding Kara

Me with Kara

Brooke and Kara

Egg Decorating!

Mom and Becca

Brooke, Kara, Sadie, and Ronan

We ate a delicious dinner together and then it was time for Easter baskets and an egg hunt!

The Henry Family~soon to be a family of 4!

My mom came up with the idea of having each kid look for a certain color of plastic eggs, and they were hidden with their ages in mind. (: It was a great idea! Even Griffin and Finn understood and had fun searching for their color.
Griffin found lots of yellow eggs! Somehow his little monkey ended up in his bag, too. (: It goes everywhere with him.

Ronan's color was green!

Uncle Erik sitting with the kids as they discovered what was inside the eggs...treats, stickers, money...!!

Papa and Memaw with Kara and Summer

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, April 11th, the boys and I met up with the Greens, the Creager kids, and Grammie at Camp Harlow's annual egg hunt. It was our first time going and it ended up being lots of fun.
We managed to get all 8 of the cousins in this picture--even Emma who was in the Moby Wrap. (:
Grammie, Ronan, Audrey, Dylan, Lydia, Griffin, Ethan, Macey, and Emma

The eggs were hidden in sections for different age groups, and the four of us adults split up with the kids. I took Ronan and Dylan to their area and we waited for the "go". I didn't realize how tough it would be to keep track of the two boys. Dylan took off searching for eggs and Ronan froze and wanted me to stay with him. There were a lot of kids and I think it was overwhelming for him. So while I was helping Ronan get comfortable I was also trying to scan the sea of kids to find Dylan. After several minutes went by, and still no luck finding him, I heard my name being called over the loud speaker. Someone had found him and asked if we was looking for his mom, and he replied, "no, I'm looking for my Gretchen." (: I felt awful, but so relieved, too! He was happy to be found and happy because he found a whole bunch of eggs!

Jon & Amy were with Ethan, Macey, and Griffin (and they kept track of them nicely). (:

Griffin discovered the yummy treats inside the eggs!
Amy took these pictures for me. I had to post them both because only one boy is looking up in each picture. (: They were too excited about their eggs.

It was a fun little adventure and I'm glad we went--next time I'll be a little more prepared for the craziness of it all. (:

Good Friday

This year our church did a drama for the Easter services which were held on Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. We decided to go Friday night so that we could have a more mellow morning with our kids on Easter Sunday. The Chase family also went on Friday night.

All dressed up and ready to go. It takes a lot for Ronan to be willing to wear nice clothes, so I had to be sure to capture him wearing his Easter outfit--bowtie and all. (:

Me, Ronan (4 1/2), Josh, and Griffin (almost 2 1/2)

Sweet Cousins

Becca, Cohen, Aaron, Sadie, and Tyler
(My older sister's family)