Our sweet Thomas is 4-years-old and over the last few weeks he’s been spoiled with well deserved celebrations. His actual birthday is March 27th but we kicked off the parties earlier in the month during our visit to Palm Springs, CA. His two requests were lemon cake and balloons and it should surprise no one that Grandma and Grandpa Kladder delivered.
You can read more about our family spring break trip to Palm Springs, California here.
Round two of parties took place back at home including treats at school, a second lemon cake at daycare (God bless our Barbie!) and a pizza party with family over the weekend. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jason got him a super cool U of M football uniform that’s sure to make an appearance later this Fall during Halloween. Thomas received roller blades that he took for a spin around the house, a football and a basketball - we quickly had to set rules about throwing balls in the house.
And, last week we took Thomas on his very first Mom + Dad birthday date. He picked ‘video games’ so we took him to Chuckie Cheese for 45 minute of unlimited fun, French fries and wings. He was on cloud nine.
We are so proud of our boy. He is happy, kind, goofy, and full of energy. We are lucky he is ours.
For Easter, we spent two nights in Chicago with friends kicking off our holiday celebrations. Marcus and Colleen, who were married back in February, invited us into their new place to break it in and catch up on how married life is going - spoiler alert, it’s great! Friends Charlie, Brittany and their girls joined us over the weekend which made the weekend for the kids double the fun. The guys golfed 18 holes on Saturday while us ladies drank mimosas back at the house. Colleen surprised the kids with lots of Easter goodies and games including bingo, scavenger hunts and coloring eggs.
On Easter Sunday we packed up for Schoolcraft to my parents house for dinner and more Easter treats from Grandma. Family Easter events were cancelled last year due to Covid and this year my Mom took it as her opportunity to go totally overboard - our candy drawer back at home is embarrassingly full. The majority of the afternoon was spent standing around the Green Egg in the garage roasting meat and taking turns holding baby Brianna. Later that night we skidded back into Grand Rapids just in time for baths and bedtime.
And while we missed out on Easter church service again this year we are delighted by the recent Mars Hill announcement: MHGR services beginning May 2nd! It’s an evening service starting at 5p and takes place outdoors in the parking lot of East Congregational Church. Feeling hopeful and excited. If you’re interested in more info on MHGR you can find that here.
Spring has officially arrived here in Grand Rapids (despite the dip in temperatures this week) and we’re heading into the second part of April with lots to look forward to including our first born’s sixth birthday, the beginning of golf leagues and Natalie’s very first soccer game. See you in May!
POSTSCRIPT - Things worth mentioning…
MDRD - If you haven’t gone yet, do! It is such a stellar addition to the GR culinary scene with THEE best views of the city. On our last visit we dined with neighbors and had a great time. Check out the chocolate dessert (cotton candy tree) pic below… wowza!
GR Skate And Event Center is open for business and we are fans! We had fun with neighbors last Friday skating and ‘rolling’ right into the weekend together. Their pizza’s not bad either!
Fleur de Lis - A cocktail recipe I made for our friends in Chicago last month that we loved. If you like gin, ginger ale and St. Germain… this cocktail is for you.
