Happy 2nd Birthday Tyndell!

Happy SECOND birthday to Tyndell Eve! This past weekend, we had a little picnic party for sweet Tyndell to celebrate with some of our close friends and their kids and some family at a cool park on the beach - with Elmo theme in tow! It's a beautiful park that my parents introduced us to and we thought it would make a nice place to hang out for her birthday too. We just played on the playground, ate some pizza and snacks and cake, and then opened some awesome gifts. My Aunt Anthe and Uncle Paul came down from NC to celebrate as well which was so amazing to see them. AND I have to give major major props to my Mom for conceptualizing and executing the most wonderful and beautiful Elmo cupcakes anyone has ever seen. The icing was very very red, as you can see from Tyndell's lips. We were so afraid that it was going to stain every kid there! We are secretly hoping Tyndell is more into white muppets or polar bears next year as opposed to red monsters/animals haha. She absolutely loved them and in fact, refused to eat pizza until after the birthday song so she could have a cupcake first. Anyway - it was a wonderful way to celebrate and we feel so loved and thankful to have such amazing people in our lives to love on our sweet girl. Thanks everyone!!!!

Second Annual Baker-Ahrens SeaWorld Holiday Weekend

Again - only had a few iphone photos to share of our Second Annual Baker and Ahrens Family SeaWorld Holiday Weekend which occurs the first weekend of December but they are some cute ones. I wish I had gotten one of myself and Keri-Ann though! The girls - Tyndell, Reilly Sue, and Regan had a fantastic time enjoying the animals and kiddie rides. I think we can all agree that our favorite part is the North Pole/Santa exhibit with the hot chocolate! Photo/Video project to be oncoming....

Ahrens' Thanksgiving Visit

So....bad news....our camera magically bit the dust! So all the fun things that have been happeninig lately with the holidays, we haven't been able to capture as well as usual. But luckily between the iphone and some cute pics sent by Dad A, I can share some fun moments from Mom and Dad A's recent visit over Thanksgiving. I took a day off from work and the Moms and I got to have a girly shopping day which was super fun (see matching Mom shoes!) and we took the Ahrens' to Morakami which is always lovely. We also got to do lots of coloring while they were here - one of Tyndell's favorite things to do right now is to trace her hands and feet so Grandad definitely helped out with the full body version as you can see! Also - since Tyndell's birthday is coming up and they wouldn't be here for the party, we had our own little mini-birthday party with a cake and some presents on their last night. Great visit and fun had by all! Unfortunately, I didn't get any Turkey Day specific photos but I'm sure you all know what that involved....eating, eating, and eating....yum! I love Thanksgiving!

Fall 2010 Family Photos

At the beginning of October, we had some family photos taken by our lovely friend, Karyn (title link will take you to her website or you can use the links at the right for In Bloom Images), and I just wanted to post a few of my favs! We went down to South Inlet Park in Boca which had lots of diverse scenery in a small space. Tyndell is at an age that is super hard to photograph so I was overjoyed to have a couple of good ones to capture this curious and busy phase of her life, even if it did mean that Elmo was in the family photo. As you may see below, I've used some of these to make our Christmas card for this year so I should get those in the mail in the next couple of weeks. I just love seeing the updates from everyone in December and just knowing that people you don't get to see as often as you like are thinking of you is just so nice and special.

Christmas Cards to Come!

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Back to Morikami

Yesterday we shamlessly skipped church and decided to go take a walk at one of our favorite places in Delray Beach - Morikami Museum and Gardens. Before Tyndell was born, Jeff and I used to go here all the time and take walks but we haven't really been since Tyndell's been born. It's the most beautiful Japanese garden you've ever seen and it's so peaceful and lovely all the time - we adore it. They also have a pretty incredible bonsai collection. Anyway - we got our annual pass again and had a great time revisiting the garden and seeing how Tyndell would like it. I think she liked the turtles in the water and the "kids view of Japan" exhibit where she got to play in a pretend Japanese kitchen - notice she ditched the chop sticks for a hands-on noodle experience!

Annual Dol-Fans Outing

This past weekend was our annual Miami Dolphins game outing! Every year Jeff organizes his office and anyone else that wants to come along to go to tailgate and watch one of the home games and this year we got tickets to the Dolphins vs. Titans game. Our great friends Brennan and Beth came down from Atlanta, Donald came out from Jacksonville, the Pizza Night crew, Jacob and pals, and the amazing Lauren also came to join the GeoSyntec-ers. We had a great time - weather was pretty nice in the morning but stinkin' hot up in our 400 section! Tyndell loved the tailgating and made it through the first half of the game before she tuckered out and we had to leave but some of the other kids made it through since they didn't start as early as we did. Great times had by all! Thanks to everyone for coming out and great job to Jeff for organizing this whole event!