My Crazy Kids

...lots of crazy things going on around here. I think we are finally settling in to a pretty good groove since Judy Booty was born. Kate is getting happier by the minute about having him here and he is smitten with his mommy. I swear, my self-esteem jumps every time he smiles at me.

Jude can fit in to his size 6 months Jason Boland and the Stragglers shirt. I'm pretty sure he's a fan. I was playing "If I Ever Get Back to Oklahoma!"



In spite of it being 105 degrees outside, Kate insists on wearing this hat. Notice her shirt too. Are my kids trying to tell me something?

More Birthday Fun

...realizing the last year has gone by way too fast. Last year Kate looked like this



Now she looks like this! Here she is listening to the audio card from her Ginny and Papa Steve.



Kate made it clear that she wanted cupcakes for her party, but I wanted her to have something on her actual birthday. One day last week I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She replied, in a very serious tone, "Um, I want a pie!"
A pie? Had she suddenly turned in to her godmother Brandy, who thinks cake is pretentious and wants a wedding pie herself? Of course Brandy was more than proud of Kate's request for a birthday pie.



She loved eating the whip cream off the top of the pie with the candle. When Michael handed her a spoon for her piece of pie she used it to continue eating the topping off the whole pie, rather than just her piece.



Kate is in to dancing. That meant lots of new costumes for her birthday. Mom brought back this little number from Vegas. Kate now wears it every day, and who can blame her?





Jude, who we now lovingly call Judy Booty, was in on the birthday fun too. (I'm sure he will hate us later for the nickname, but oh well!) He loves to watch his big sister and she always makes him smile.



Like Kason, Krece, and Kate, Jude LOVES his Ginny. What's not to love? My mom was the best mom ever, but she is an even better granny.



We have a new fence and it made our yard bigger. We can now use it! Kate has been outside every night and to add to the fun out there she got a new "jump thing" that is just her size. Michael and Papa Steve spent a couple of hours putting it together, but it was well worth the effort.





Okay, so here is one of the highlights of the weekend. Never, I mean NEVER, has my dad played with dolls. He's a good dad, but he has his limits. However, Kate has different ideas. She gives him no choice but to do whatever she tells him to. I LOVE IT! This weekend I saw my dad play with a Barbie, use water colors to paint princesses, and play with My Little Ponies. I'm sure he thinks it's sissy and that's why he has never done it before. I see it differently. It takes a real man to do those things. Way to go Kate! I can't wait for her to dress him up and put make-up on him. You know that day is coming!



I have to say this was one of the best birthday weekends I have ever had. It was so much fun to watch Kate enjoy turning 3. Her party was way better than I could have ever imagined, we got to see my parents, we watched her with her sweet friends, and we completely enjoyed our little girl. We. Are. Blessed.

Kate's 3rd Birthday Party!

...our Baby Kate's 3rd birthday party! We were all so excited to have her first friend birthday party. This year all of her school friends had birthday parties where friends were invited, so Kate started asking if her friends could come to her party months ago. Knowing Kate like we do we had to find a place that was low-key enough that it wouldn't overwhelm her when all of the people showed up. We weren't really sure where to find a place that would work for us since the kids are a little too young for a swim party and we knew Kate wouldn't handle that many people being in her house touching her things. After a lot of searching we found the place for her party: Holly Hop Ice Cream Parlor. The place is really cute (think 50's soda fountain) and has great ice cream; it also has a juke box that kept the kids dancing and we had run of the place. It was perfect and I think everyone had a great time!

She was so excited about her party, that every morning for the past week she would wake up and ask if it was time for her party yet. We kept telling her once Ginny (Granny) and Papa Steve showed up it would be time for her party. When they came in on Friday night she was sooo excited. We had our fingers crossed for a good birthday party since she had been looking forward to it for so long, and fortunately the party did not disappoint. 12 of her little friends came plus their parents, which was a great number. Here are some pictures of the party:

The birthday girl with mommy and daddy before the party started. She was so excited, she wanted down to look at her party stuff.



The goodies table. The little gift boxes for the kids who came were super cute. I think all of the kids liked the fun stuff inside too...who doesn't love jelly bracelets, slinkys, pencils, and stickers?



The cupcakes were from Peace o' Cake. They were strawberry with cream cheese icing, and man oh man were they yummy!



The calm before the storm. I think the decorations turned out really great!



The birthday girl waiting for her friends. She was sooo happy.



The kiddos decorating their pinata sacks. I was surprised how seriously they took this and how long it kept their attention.



Indoor pinata...no bats required!



The pinata was a big hit, and I think the beginning of a birthday tradition for Kate.




Amanda telling everybody the good news that it was time for ice cream!




Papa Steve and Jude hanging out and napping.



All of the kiddos eating ice cream. For those of you who live in Lubbock, Holly Hop has really good ice cream. I'm not sure what it is about pre-school aged kids, but they can drink juice with just about anything. Kate has never really cared for juice much, but as you can see from the picture the kids didn't mind a little juice with their ice cream. Not a pairing that would show up on the Food Network, but whatever.



Kate was all about blowing out her candles this year. Last year, she really didn't get it, but this year the candles were serious business.




Kate's friend Taylor was helping out by bringing Kate her presents to open. Taylor is the social organizer of the friend-set.



She has such sweet friends; they got her some neat gifts for her birthday.



All good things must eventually come to an end. After the party I was putting Kate in her car seat to go home, and she gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear..."Daddy, thank you so much for my party. I loved it. I love you." I almost melted into a happy pile of sludge right then. The party was nothing over the top or too fancy, but it was simple, fun, and everybody (Kate included) had a great time. It will be hard to top this birthday. Happy 3rd birthday Kate!

Happy Birthday to Our Sweet Kate!

...our sweet girl is 3! Wow, how did that happen? It seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital getting ready to have her, and somehow we are now the parents of a preschooler. It's hard to believe that the tall, chatty, beautiful girl grew out of the small 5 pound package we were given 3 years ago. At her 2 week appointment her pediatrician said she was precocious. We're not sure why she said that, but it's so true. She never stops moving, loves to pretend to be anything from a kitty to her cousin Kason, dances all the time, loves to color, can sit and read books with us for hours, prefers a tutu to just about anything, and loves to eat macaroni and cheese. She also has her quirks, like her refusal to wear anything denim. Her vocabulary is somewhat amazing and her memory is down right scary. Don't tell Kate something unless you are prepared for her to remember it forever.

Now she's a big sister. Although she isn't in to holding Jude, she definitely likes to help out with him. It's been neat to watch her love him, in spite of her occasional bouts with jealousy. We are excited to see how she continues to grow and make us laugh. We love you Kate and thank God for blessing us with you.

2 Months Already?

...realizing how fast time flies by. I realized it with Kate, but adding a second kid makes time fly even faster. Jude is 2 months old today and I feel like he was born yesterday. I try to make a conscious effort to soak it all in since we most likely will not have any more children (not sure that's my idea but probably the safest thing for me). He is already so long that we had to go out and buy 6 month pajamas because he could not straighten his legs in the 3 months ones. He has rolled over once already and his head control is amazing. I think he will reach all the physical milestones well before Kate did. Let's hope that's how he makes up for being more quiet than his chatty sister! That girl's vocabulary and syntax are amazing. I hope he has the same level of speech...just not as frequent! Just kidding...it keeps us laughing.

Let me just say that when this little boy smiles at me I melt a thousand times. He loves to smile at everyone, but clearly prefers his mommy. At least that's what I think!

Oklahoma Vacation

...happy 4th of July! Wait, that was 2 weeks ago already??? We're behind, what can I say, we've been a little busy these days. The whole family had so much fun during our Oklahoma vacation. It was so hot though we didn't do a lot of stuff during the days because Jude just can't handle being out in the heat yet. Every day over 100 was not enjoyable for any of us, but especially not our little guy. We did however manage to have fun and do a few things, so here are a few pictures of our trip home.

Jude's first baseball game! We all went to watch Kason play in the Johnny Bench Classic in Binger, OK. It was hot, but still a lot of fun. (By the way, nothing says summer in Oklahoma like daily multiple trips to Sonic.)




Kate discovered this year how much she loves going to baseball games because we went to a few games in Lubbock of our friends' daughter. What she really loves are ring pops, which is her "ballgame food." Kate and Krece had so much fun together; she loves Krece and they play really well together.


In fact, it was so hot that after spending some time at Jason & Kaci's house, we left Kate there with the grandparents to go watch Kason's second game so she could keep playing with Krece. We went back to Choctaw and laid in the A/C with Jude! It's funny, but if you put a few tutus, crowns, and butterflies in Krece's room, it would be Kate's dream room. She loves to play with animals, barns, tractors, trucks, and farm equipment toys.


Jude with his Uncle Jason and his Papa Steve



Kate's 4th of July outfit. She was so excited to finally get to wear it, and to go to Greenfield to have breakfast with her cousins Kason and Krece.


All the cousins together! Not sure Kason is looking too comfortable holding Jude here, but he came back around later and actually asked to hold him again. This time, I think he enjoyed it a little more.



The end of the day for Kate on the 4th. After several family functions, a trip to Greenfield, swimming, and running around...she was officially finished.


Later in the week we took Kate to OBU in Shawnee to walk around, because she became fascinated with where her parents went to school. Michael has a lot of Bison in his office at Tech, which Kate calls "Buffloats," so we had to take at least one picture of her with one. The only thing she was upset by at OBU was that she didn't get to see the princesses who lived there. Apparrently she thought the chapel was a castle, and in her world, princesses live in castles.


It was still so hot during the week we decided to skip the zoo this summer and head for the science museum. Kate had a blast and especially loved the John Deere tractor and all of the train stuff. She even mustered up the courage to slide down the giant slide in the middle of the museum. Michael and I are still amazed she did that, since she is usually a little shy around lots of other kids.


Having fun during lunch at the science museum. She is really doing great being a big sister, and we have seen her happiness return after those rough first couple of weeks!



My great friend and college roommate Becky brought her two kiddos down from Tulsa so we could finally see each other. They have been living in North Carolina and Tennessee the past few years, so it had been a long time. Her little girl Ellie (holding Jude here) was so sweet and wanted to hold Jude all the time. It was always funny to see Becky and I together because she is 5'0" and I'm 5'10". Ellie is 7 and she and Kate are about the same size and they were the same size shoes. Too funny. It was great seeing them and catching up, and I hope our kids can be friends growing up now that they are living close again.


All of our kids thoroughly enjoy Oklahoma. Sophie loves to follow the sun throughout the house, and Kate loves to play outside any chance she can get. Kate loved playing with the water hose on this trip and successfully soaked anyone who dared go outside with her.




Kate and my Dad have a special thing they do together now just before bed time. They feed the deer together. This trip Kate did everything by herself (under Papa Steve's supervision). She scooped the deer corn out into the bucket, carried the bucket out to where they feed, and poured the corn into the different feeders. It's one of her favorite things to do in Oklahoma, and I'm sure she will always have fond memories of feeding the deer with her Papa, just like I do of feeding cows with my Grandpa.


The trip was fun, and while we were there for a while, still seemed much too short. We caught up with good friends, spent a lot of time with family, and just caught a much needed breather.