Turning 30

I turned 30 yesterday. The thought of turning 30 was a little hard to take but Erin made my birthday as pleasant as possible.

Erin surprised me with a trip to Motor City Casino with friends and family. I thought I was clever by finding out Erin was surprising me with the night at the casino. I was right about that part, but she held on to the surprise that she also invited my dad, brother, 3 uncles, and 3 good friends.

We had a great night while my mom stayed with the kids.

On my actual birthday (surprise party was the preceding weekend) I woke up early and ran 10 miles before work. I guess I proved to myself that 30 is no different than 29.99.

If the aging process wasn't bad enough, I have 3 wild kids giving me grey hairs every day. The boys are 14 months and masters of destruction. Every minute of the day is something new with them. Climbing, fighting, pooping, running, eating, throwing, yelling, opening, ripping...it never ends. Sometimes we have to stop yelling and just take a few pictures.

After the weekend at my parents they finally gave in to sleep.

Twins are 1 year old

We did it! We survived the first year of twins. Looking back, it was pretty awful for 3 months and has gradually gotten easier since. Erin is a tremendous mother and carried a huge load very well.

Sadly, as 2nd and 3rd children their 1st birthday did not get much fanfare. We squeezed in birthday parties at other family gatherings and the boys missed most of the parties because they were napping or really crabby. On their actual birthday Erin worked all day and had a commitment at night, Jack was constipated, and we didn't do anything to celebrate.

We did make a train cake for their main party.

The boys were a crabby disaster all morning and slept through dinner, so their entire meal was birthday cake and ice cream. No complaints from them, though.

This is what happens when we try to have a photo session with them. Here was an attempt at 1 year old pictures.

First, mild compliance but not much time because they walk away almost instantly.
Next, distraction keeps them calm for another 10-20 seconds.
Then, the enforcer holds them down but things start getting out of control.
Finally, chaos.
And then the good child :)

Evelyn Turns 3

Our little girl turned 3 earlier this month. We scattered 3 birthday parties over the course of the month with the final one Easter weekend.

All 5 Elenbaas grand kids.

Easter egg painting with Grandma Gail and momma.

My cake this year.

Evelyn wasn't being cooperative, so we took an 80% family picture.

Erin turns 30!

About 4 months ago Erin told me for her 30th birthday she wanted a surprise party and to go to Mexico. I knew her request was partially a joke, but I know there is some truth in all of Erin's jokes. So I started planning.

We decided to spend Erin's birthday weekend in Chicago. My surprise was to have 4 of Erin's Calvin friends meet us in Chicago and hang out with us for the weekend. As far as I know it was a complete surprise to Erin and she was very pleased.

We had a short, but great time downtown for the weekend. On Saturday night we dressed up and went to the Broadway show Billy Elliot, which was really good.

It felt like we spent most of the rest of our weekend in restaurants. We went to P.F. Chang's, Rock Bottom, a Mexican breakfast restaurant, and The Cheesecake Factory within a 20 hour span.

Erin received a very fitting Chinese word in her fortune cookie.

P.F. Chang's

It was a beautiful and warm Sunday to walk the Magnificent Mile. On the other side of the canal in the picture below they were filming scenes from Transformers 3.

I also fulfilled one of Erin's biggest birthday wishes...shopping at H&M. I was really glad Sarah and Berniz were there to shop with Erin.

The Cheesecake Factory!

So I think I made Erin's transition to 30 a pleasant one. Happy Birthday Erin!

Birthday Parties

Our weekend was booked with friends, family, parties, and gatherings.

On Friday night we hung out with Trevor and Amy at Holland State Park.

On Saturday we celebrated Evie's 2nd birthday along with the twins' first birthday.

For Evie's 2nd birthday I chose a bear cake. Thanks to the Veldhof frosting recipe my decorating was MUCH easier and faster this year. It also looked a lot better than my last 10 cakes.
Evie is going to be a great babysitter soon.
Grandma and Grandpa Elenbaas gave Evie $2 for turning 2. She proudly carried her greenbacks in her pocket all night.

Cottage Week

For the first time in 5 years (since graduating from college) I've had enough vacation to take time off for a long cottage weekend. It was awesome. We shared the time with my parents and siblings. We had plenty of time for golf, running, boating, basketball, swimming, walking, and socializing.

Evie loved the water slide. She likes normal playground slides, but really couldn't get enough of sliding into the lake.
Evie proved she's growing up by nicely sitting with her cousins Andrew and Jacob, and her 3rd cousin Esther.

Grandpa E's highlight of the week was tubing with the naughty one.

Always an adventure...

To top the weekend off we celebrated Erin's birthday! My cake this year was another marble creation. I thinned the layers enough to make a quadruple-decker. It didn't look as imposing as previous years, but tasted just right.