The rest of Kat's birthday

Kathryn requested to go swimming on her birthday. 

There are several geothermal swimming pools close to us, so we went to our favorite one. 

In fact, it had just re-opened that very day after being closed for maintenance. 

We had a lot of fun. Mainly, we tried to keep our children (Maxwell, the wild child) alive. 

We paid extra to have the whole pool to ourselves...Just kidding. Only luck.

After swimming, we met Michael's parents at our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. 

When the owner found out it was Kathryn's birthday, she brought out a special dessert for her. 

Kat was even nice enough to let them relight the candle so Max could blow it out too. 

 Then we went back home to open presents and have cake.

Kathryn got a stroller, pajamas, I Spy game, My Little Pony set and Fancy Nancy Books.

The Ponies and Fancy Nancy were a huge hit. And Max hasn't let go of the stroller.

Again, so nice of Kathryn to be such a good big sister.

 

 

 

Kathryn wanted Jello Cake for her birthday.She had it last year, so she wanted it again this year.

Happy birthday my sweet and darling daughter! We love you so much.

October wrap-up

Row 1: Kathryn is really into nails right now and she requested to paint mine; My home-boy and girl with their pet dog; Max holding Sam during family movie night; Play date with a friend.
Row 2: Me and my boys; Fish pond at our ward harvest party; silly face Kat; More of me and my boy.
Row 3: Money from the tooth fairy; Max at ward harvest party; Cousins and friends at the park in Utah; Mike and Max at the park on our Utah trip.
Row 4: Daddy daughter breakfast date at our favorite restaurant; Max literally chewing rocks; Kathryn sporting our silly purple clown wig; My darling little baby Sam.

 And of course, during the month of October, there was a pumpkin that needed to be carved (grown by us).
Kathryn, Maxwell and I contributed a little bit, but the real work was done by Michael.
I think that's how it goes every year. He's a pretty good sport to accept the "requested" challenge.
He even carved the pumpkin to look like Kathryn this year, missing tooth and all.

 On Halloween, Michael's technician came over on her lunch break to paint Kat and her friend's nails.
They were over the moon with excitement when I told them she was coming (we love you Yo Yo)!
She even painted their nails to match their Halloween costumes (blue and purple). The girls were in heaven.

We stopped at the pharmacy to visit Daddy.
Normally we help pass out candy for the community trick-or-treating event, but we were short on time.
The kids did get to show off their costumes, and we ran into one of Kathryn's darling friend.

The kids made a quick trick-or-treating stop at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

This was the only picture I got of all of them together.

Maxwell was a dinosaur, but he wouldn't wear the hat without his own hat underneath.

Kathryn was a perfectly perfect Cinderella. 

And Samuel was a monkey, which was the same costume Max wore two years ago.

We rushed home and I made homemade pizza for dinner while Michael took the kids trick-or-treating.
One of Michael's part-time technician and her family joined us again this year.
It was a fun and busy day. The kids consumed WAY too much candy and stayed up WAY too late.
But that's the fun of Halloween, right?! We had so much blast.

Two and some

(Picture by LM Photography)

Do you see that mischievous smile?

This little boy knows what he wants in life, and he is determined to get it!

Maxwell is now two (and a few months) years old.

And man oh man, I never knew what it was like to have a two year old until him.

Before Samuel was born, Maxwell had a small vocabulary.  

He babbled A LOT, but he didn't have many understandable words.

After Samuel was born, his language kind of exploded. And he is getting better every day.

I think it helped him to be around people who didn't know what he wanted or needed.

He had to work harder to get his point across.

He was always so sneaky too.  He understood so much more than he ever let on.

And the lack of words made for a lot of temper-tantrums.

But that has continued even though he is speaking more...so maybe it's just his personality.

This boy can throw some full body temper-tantrums.  He's pretty good at them.

I once asked my dad if he thought it was my parenting that has made him this way.

He reassured me that Maxwell is so strong-willed because he is a fighter.  

He has been through so much already in his short life.  I think it's probably a little bit of both.

And also because he is two. I have to keep reminding myself of that little fact. 

I know I'm being biased, but Maxwell might be the most adorable two year old boy ever.

He has such a charming personality. He is a ham and loves to be the center of attention.

He loves to entertain. I remember Michael blessing him with a sense of humor during his baby blessing.

He said Maxwell's sense of humor would draw other people to him. I believe that with all my heart.

He has a lot of cute idiosyncrasies. He gets very attached to things.

Right now, he loves hats, shoes, socks and his pumpkin flashlight from Halloween.

He went through a phase of wearing his hat. He even had to wear it during his naps and at bedtime.

He must wear shoes all day long. Sometimes I have to convince him to take them off when he sleeps.

He loves to sleep with the strangest things like pumpkins, binoculars and paper fans.

He is a kind, loving and sweet boy.  He loves to give hugs and kisses all day long.

His smile melts my heart. And he has the most beautiful blue eyes and long, dark eyelashes.

People always comment on his Gerber baby face.

I love his blond, blond hair. It's fun having a towhead running around the house.

He is such a boy. It's amazing how ingrained it is in his little body and personality. Boys are fun!

A new tie

I just could not stand how cute Max looked on Sunday as we headed out the door for church.

He was wearing his very first tie. I had to convince him to keep it on so he could look just like daddy.

I bribed him and Kathryn with candy so I could take a quick picture before leaving.

As we walked in the chapel, Max ran to Michael and snuggled into his shoulder. Precious boy.

I hope he grows up to be just like his daddy too.

 I love this picture below. I didn't realize what it looked like until downloading it on the computer.

It looks like he is saying the prayer, with  the help of his big sister.

He has been getting very good at saying the prayer. I love to hear his sweet voice repeat what we say.

A few nights ago, Kathryn actually asked to help Max say the bedtime prayer.

 Michael was at a meeting for the evening, and it had been one of those trying nights.

The kids had probably been fighting over something while Sam was crying. 

That's how our evenings often go. I just wanted to get them into bed, so I considered forgoing the prayer.

But then, Kathryn asked if she could help Max say the prayer. I smiled the entire way through.

My heart was happy.

Kathryn's 5th Birthday Party

We couldn't have asked for better weather for Kathryn's birthday party.

It was an absolutely beautiful day.  Knowing that, I planned the party to be outside.

We went with a nature theme, and I think she was pretty happy with the end result.

On the Agenda:

The kids made terrariums, or fairy gardens. Although, we did not have any living plants.

They went on a nature scavenger hunt around our yard.

And then they made their own trail mix. 

Kathryn opened her presents on the blanket under the "tent".

And there were cupcakes of course!

Kathryn is lucky to have so many sweet and special friends! (And so am I :) )

(Thank you to my friends who helped with Max and the party.  You guys are awesome!)

F I V E

(Picture by LM Photography)

I can't believe my little girl is five years old now.

This is the birthday I have been dreading...only because it means she is growing up far too fast.

She has been anxiously waiting for it. Five means all sorts of cool things, like kindergarten (sniff, sniff).

Her birthday was the end of last month...better late than never though.

Oh how I love this girl!  She is truly amazing.

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.

She came into the world 10 days early (go figure). She was ready, and darling as ever.

She has grown into such a beautiful big (little) girl.  

At the age of five, Kathryn is as smart as a whip. 

She has an amazing memory and remembers the most incredible details about her life.

She loves people and makes friends easily.

Although, she can be shy sometimes if she feels uncomfortable.

She loves to help. She always wants to help me with things around the house.

And she loves to be my little babysitter. Sam adores his big sister.

She wants to do what is right and always tries to do what we ask of her.

She loves her family and loves when we spend time together.

Kathryn loves to read, dance, sing, play with her dolls and ponies, and dress up.

She loves to color and draw. I absolutely love her drawings of fairies and princesses.

She loves to do crafts and she is always up for a project.

Kathryn is an organizer and a scheduler, and always has to have a daily plan.

I love you my darling little (big) five year old girl. I hope you have the best year!

Love Always, 

Mommy

Brotherly love

You can see why I never leave these two alone together very often.

Max has SO much love oozing out of him, I'm afraid he will squash Sam like a bug.

But he has been getting a litter better about being softer and gentler.

His death grip has loosened up a bit.

I picked Max up from nursery recently, and the teachers informed me that he was the class comforter.

Every time a child is hurt or upset, he is right there to comfort them. Sweetheart boy.

He is like that at home with his little brother too. Most of the time, that is.

I hope these two little boys grow up to be the best of friends.

Congratulations Councilman

Congratulations Councilman Higbee!

Last night, Michael was elected to a four year term on the City Council.

He has served on the City Council for the past 2 1/2 years,

And was originally appointed to fill a vacant seat shortly after we moved to town.

He has done a wonderful job for our city.

There were a lot of financial issues that he walked into,

But he has done his best to be conservative with our taxpayers' money.

He has been an effective leader and wise in his decision making.

I am proud of you honey and support you all the way!