6th birthday surprises

Now that Mikayla is 3 months passed turning 6 years old, I thought I should get to sharing her special day! I was on top of it for blogging about her Pinkalicious birthday party with friends, but there were so many other special pictures I wanted to share for her "real" birthday, too!

The day before her birthday, our family of four went on a date together and we surprised the kids by taking them to John's Incredible Pizza (a game place) to celebrate Mikayla's birthday. She really wanted it to be a surprise, so just before we got there I had the kids close their eyes.

 We're here!

Excited...you think?!

  Enjoying some lunch before heading off to the games.

 Game Time!!

 After Disneyland, this ride was a piece of cake!

 I think she's getting too big for this kind of ride...so sad.

 Love the expressions!

After lunch and game time, we headed to stop #2 for her second birthday surprise. Mikayla had been talking about wanting to get her ears pierced over the last few weeks before her birthday. I didn't see any problem with it at her age (although I had to wait until I was a middle schooler!) and neither did Ryan, so we decided that she could do it for her 6th birthday. However, we kind of kept saying "I don't know, we'll see" to Mikayla every time she asked because we wanted her to be really surprised. We showed up at the mall and told her what was happening. We also had the talk to let her know that it would hurt, so she could be prepared for that.

Excited and ready!

 

Getting a little nervous...

 Here it comes...

 Ouch!

The gal said that she didn't even flinch, 

but you can see it in her face that it hurt.

Happy that it's over!

 

fun times on Easter!

We had a great Easter...very low key, but fun with family! It was the first Easter in a very long time that my parents have been around to help celebrate, so it was super special for us!

I must admit it was quite the battle to pull out this one picture below. They just weren't in the picture taking mood and momma was getting a little frustrated, so we just took this one and called it good. I got smiles, so what more could I ask for I guess? 

We had a little mishap on Easter. Austin found the Easter bunny stash under a blanket in the office and Mikayla was devastated that he had spoiled the surprise! Typically the Easter bunny leaves the baskets on the front porch for the kids to find. I guess that's one way to find out there's no Easter bunny. Despite the initial tears, the kids still loved all of the goodies they found inside their baskets.

After church, we headed out to my parents' house for Easter dinner and time with the whole family.

{Easter 2012 Family Picture}

{Daddy & Son}

{Mommy & Daughter}

{My Beautiful Girl}

{My Handsome Boy}

We came a little early to my parents' house before the rest of the family arrived so that we could dye Easter eggs. I found these cute Easter aprons during last year's Easter clearance. Not sure how long they will willingly wear them, but at least for this year...

Then ALL the cousins arrived...

And it was Easter egg hunting time...

Great Grandpa J came for the fun, too...