Shark and Jack Fish

For Jack's birthday, he received a fish tank from his BFF, Kayleigh.  She has one and when we go over there and he gets to see them, he loves it.  Craig was not excited about bringing these special creatures into our home, but he has agreed to allow it.  On his birthday, he got the tank and we went and got his new pets.  On the way to the pet store, he decided to name them Shark and Jack Fish.  He has enjoyed them and they have found a home on his dresser.  I am finding they poop a lot, but hopefully, I can put off cleaning the tank for more than a week.

Jack with Shark and Jack Fish.  Side note - he chose the outfit.

Jack Fish on the left and Shark on the right.  Aren't they exciting?

Finally, look who turned around in their carseat yesterday?  I have 2 big kids now!

Kate is 1!

One year ago tomorrow, our sweet baby girl was born.  I remember going to the ultrasound and telling myself that it was going to be a boy just so I wouldn't be shocked if it was a girl.  There she was, all girl, with chubby thighs and everything on the ultrasound.  As soon as that 8lbs. 3oz. baby came out, I loved her so much and thought, "she looks just like Craig!".  She has grown and changed over the past year, but she is still just as sweet and cuddly as the day she was born.  She adores her brother and melts our hearts every time she smiles.

One Day Old

3 Months Old

6 Months Old

9 Months Old

One Year Old

We can't wait to see Kate change over these next few years.  We can't wait to tell her about Jesus and see her personality develop.  She is an amazing little girl and we are so thankful to have her in our lives.  She also shares a birthday with another special person in our lives - Aunt Kiki.  Happy birthday to our sweet, baby girl, Kate and to another special lady, Kimberly.  We love you both so much!

A Backyardigan Birthday!

Friday was Jack's official birthday and I have to say, I was little emotional about it.  This is the first year I realized he isn't a baby anymore and I was sad.  But, I love him getting older and I still have one baby, Kate.  Friday we ran some errands, got a Happy Meal and picked up his newest pets, Jack Fish and Shark (more on them later).  Saturday was the party.  We had a great time and it was nice to have family and friends to celebrate with.  Jack was excited and I think a tad overwhelmed with all the craziness and went to bed when we got home that night.  Kate seemed to really like the attention and was showing off.  It was a great weekend and the best part was celebrating the birth of our wonderful kids.  Thanks to my parents for hosting, too.  We appreciate the space!

The Birthday Kids

Ready for Cake!

Post cake-tastrophie

Jack is 3!

Jack - "Birth" day

Jack - 1 Year Old

Jack - 2 Years Old

Jack - 3 Years Old

Jack - you are a wonderful, sweet boy.  You are 100% boy and love being outside, playing with cars and trucks and watching sports on TV.  You can also be the sweetest with your baby sister and all your cousins and friends.  You bring so many people such happiness.  Your daddy and I love you more than we thought we could.  Our prayer for you is that you grow into a godly man who serves the Lord.  You will be an amazing father and husband one day and we cannot wait to see you grow.  We are blessed to be your parents.  

North Carolina - Day 3

I left with one day to go on our trip to North Carolina.  Saturday.  Who doesn't love Saturdays?  We got up and went to the airport.  No, we weren't leaving, but we went to see plans take-off.  They have this really cool area called Observation Park.  It has a deck to watch the planes and you can hear the tower talking to the pilots.  They also have a little playground area and little runways for kids to run on.  It is a cool place and Lane and Jack loved it.

Jack and Lane ready to take-off

Kate's turn down the runway

Next, we went to a huge park and had a picnic with the lunches we packed.  They also had some old houses at the park and we just let the kids run around.  I got some great pictures of Lane.  Jack had a bag of Vanilla Wafers with him with a stuffed mouth so, I didn't get too many of him.  It was nice and relaxing and perfect before naptime.

Sharing snacks

We headed back to the house and the kids napped.  When they woke up, they did a little more swimming, we ate dinner and then headed out to this awesome ice cream shop downtown that had ice cream and gelato. It was like a coffee shop and had horse saddles at a bar to sit at.  There were books and chess too.

A little coffee/ice cream shop reading

Thomas (and Jack) coming down the tracks

It was a busy, but wonderful day.  We got up the next morning and left about 9.  We got home a little before bedtime.  We and the kids were tired from traveling, but we seemed to have recovered.  We hope to get back up there again and visit our wonderful hosts, Mike, Leeann and Lane!

And, check out my photography blog.  I have some great shots there of our weekend.

North Carolina - Days 1 and 2

As I stated in my last post, we drove to North Carolina this weekend to visit some friends that moved there a few years ago.  Mike and Leeann are great friends and they have a wonderful little girl, Lane, who is almost 2.  We left Wednesday night and stayed halfway.  The kids did great on the trip up (about 4.5 hours) and everyone slept pretty good in the hotel room once we got settled.  Jack slept with me.  He woke up about 6:30 and kept whispering stuff to me until about 8.  We got up, ate breakfast in the hotel and hit the road!  We made it there about 3 o'clock with a few stops and lunch.  We waited for Mike to get home from work and headed to Red Robin - yummmm!  Jack got a balloon which made his night, and then headed back their house to get settled in.  Before the kids went to bed, we did a little dancing and playing in the living room.

Mid-Dance Hugging

"Shout" - Great Song

On Friday, Mike had to work, so Leeann and Lane took us to Marbles Kids Museum.  All the stuff is kid-friendly and they had a great time there.  You can dress up as different people, shop at a grocery store, play life size chess, climb a pirate ship, etc.  I think Jack would have played with the train table for hours.  We had to drag him away.  Craig was a great sport without another adult male there.

We came home after a quick bite to eat and the kids napped.  That afternoon we hung around the house and the kids played outside for a bit before dinner.  They also have a dog, Jake.  We were telling Jack on the way up about Jake and he wanted to see Jake when we got there.  You can't miss him, he is 120 lbs and quite tall, but the sweetest dog in the world.  

Kate looking for Jake

Laney and Kate playing

Cutie Laney

Jake and Jack

We ate a great lasagna dinner and the kids watched some Backyardigans and the big kids chatted late into the night.  Good times.  

I will be back with day 3 and lots of pictures!

Kate's First Steps!

We made it back from our great time visiting friends in North Carolina.  The kids were great, we had a great time and we are so glad we went.  More on the trip later, but we had an event on Friday.  Kate has been standing up some and I was holding her hands and let go.  Lane, our friends' 2-year old daughter, was standing in front of her (with food, so definitely an incentive for Kate) and she took 4, well like 3.5 steps towards Lane.  Thankfully, Leeann was taking pictures and she got it on video!  Also, pardon my "shocked" voice on the video - it is quite annoying.

Birthday Shirts and More

I've had the sewing bug recently since I picked up some new patterns and fabrics for Fall.  Here are a few things I've done recently...

Kimberly helped me pick out this cute owl fabric.  I used the Bonnie Blue Madison for the top and the Bonnie Blue Hallie for the bottoms.  When I first did the pants, I thought, "oh no, Kate is going to look like a scarecrow".  But after, I got them on her, they weren't too bad.  What I am thinking about some of these fall and winter outfits is I will add solid long-sleeve shirts under them when needed.

This jumper was made because she needs more church clothes, but I loved the color of the corduroy and look at the applique!  Penguins are just too cute!

Finally, I got their birthday shirts done.  I used iron on transfers (I got them on Ebay for $2/transfer) and bought plain t-shirts.  I think they will look so cute.  Also, if you didn't remember, the theme is The Backyardigans.  I also made Kate a birthday skirt to go with the shirt.

When I ordered them, I got a blue #1 and a pink #3 (the order got mixed up), so if you know someone whose kid likes the Backyardigans and needs one of these, let me know.  I will be back next week with stories from our trip to North Carolina to see friends!  We are excited!

Standing Kate

Well, we officially have a stander.  We should have a walker soon as much as she is cruising through the living room today with the walker (which that video can be seen on the kids Shutterly site).  I know some parents prolong their kids walking, but I love it.  It is so much fun to watch them toddle and grow.  Just another little blessing from God!  Please excuse my pj-clad, lounging son and "baby" voice I seem to always to talk to her in.

Horses and HUGE Bubbles

August has begun and that means birthdays (hence, the birthday background)!  That's right, Jack will be 3 on the 20th, Kate 1 on the 28th and Kimberly will be well, older, on the 28th too!  The days are fast approaching, but we are excited.  I have started moving out some of Kate's "baby" toys and waiting for her birthday so she will have more "big girl" toys.   That sounds so weird, but she will be walking soon and officially be a toddler then.  Here is one of her big girl toys that she got last Christmas from Craig's aunt.  We got it out of the box the other day and it has been fun for her.  She likes to rock back and forth and it looks like the horse is bucking when she does that.

The other day I took Jack out to play with these giant bubbles we got.  They were a lot of fun.

Lisa, Kayleigh and Brian got to see them yesterday and I think the adults had more fun than the kids.  For some reason, big bubbles are just awesome!

My fall sewing has started and I have projects in the works.  I hope to share some of them with you soon!