Our friends Rodd & Kacie organized a shrine visit for the boys and a tea party for the girls. The dads and sons drove up to Yarnell to do the Stations of the Cross, say a rosary, eat lunch, and recite the Litany of St. Joseph at the beautiful shrine up there. Meanwhile, the girls had a nice tea and snacks at Kacie's house.
The multiple choice game Bobbins put together this year was a lot better. We had all the usual suspects over and we had a great time.
Standard outdoor party, since it's actually nice out during O's b-day. Featha, B, and kids made it down.
We also had a special guest all the way from Tennessee: my cousin Jonathan and his girlfriend Jess. His mother is my mom's niece. They were driving around the country in her RV, seeing the sites and using their gym membership to take showers. Bobbins, of course, told them to park a night on our street and hook up to our electrical box, which they readily accepted (they could turn their heater on that way). They also loved Uncas and had him sleep in their bed. It was fun and different and a little uncomfortable. They hiked our mountain the next day before taking off for Colorado. Wish I could've joined them on the hike, but I had work.
Without Julia and Gaia, and very pregnant, Bobbins still put on our annual Valentine's party with friends. The roast beef sliders and desserts are the highlights for me and everyone else. It's a lot of work but fun to host.
We celebrated Edward's 2nd birthday at our favorite pizza joint, Pizza Heaven on 7th St. Ned's godparents, Zach & Mary, and their kids joined us.
We had our now second annual Valentine's Day party with a few other couples in February. Bobbins went overboard with the food again, but it was delicious. We played the same game as last year, with only a few answers changed. Bobbins and I actually did better this year than last, thankfully, and didn't finish in last place.
There's a fair number of us with birthdays in August (now add T Fish), so for the last few years our friends Kevin and Jess have hosted a bash at their house. This year was the first at their new house in northeast Phoenix. Poor Karin was stuck by herself, since her English isn't that great and there were no kids her age. But our kids had a blast, esp. when Kevin gave them all rides in his bobcat. The group photo are the ladies. We took a group shot of the birthday celebrants, but can't find it...
We had our girls vs. boys game of catchphrase, like last year, and it was either a tie, or the boys won.
One of Bobbins' mom friends turned 30, so it was a big get-together at their house. Her husband, Will, took on the task of BBQ-ing for everyone and did a tremendous job. It was a nice night away from the kids, except for T Fish, who went to his first party at age 2 weeks. This photo is Bobbins with her besties Jessica and Mary. The theme was yellow, which these ladies loved.
Maddie and Maya (roughly the same age as MM and JoJo) had a joint birthday party, Frozen-themed, a couple weeks ago. MM, unfortunately, was sick, so she stayed with Bobbins. JoJo had fun by herself. I got to spend some time with our godson Matthew (Maddie and Maya's little brother).
MM's been saying she wants to take dance and/or ballet this summer, and she certainly showed how much she loves to boogie and cut a rug at this party.
Like last year, we ventured over to Bobbins' friend's Mary's sister's house for the St. Patty's block party. Lots of good Guinness, music, and friends again. Our slow internet messed up the order of the photos below, so it starts from the end of night and works backward. By the end, JoJo was tired and the music was too loud, so she crawled in Mary's stroller for a respite. The photos of MM and Jonah are them about to start a race through a bounce house.
