Just Reminiscing. . .

. . .that was fun. . .

Happy Birthday Kayte!

This ensemble, all Kayte! She has good style-am I right?

My little girl turned 6 yesterday. She was born just one day shy of her due date and it was a gorgeous, sunny fall day. Somehow it mustered up a few snowflakes, although I never saw a cloud. She was only 6 lbs. 1 oz. but long. She arrived during the doctor's lunch hour (convenient!) and it took her all afternoon under the lights to warm up enough for her first bath.
Somehow that seems like only months ago, not years.
Suddenly her legs have gotten really really long, she can sound out words, dress herself, and dress her little sister too! She is kind and quiet. Sometimes she just disappears and you will find her playing in her own little world or reading a stack of books to herself.
She is emotional and has a bit of a temper, but she is fearless and learning to be brave about her bonks and skids. Her favorite thing to hear is "your daddy will be so proud of you!" She beams!
She is a cheerful little sunshine, unless she's tired and then she is a puddle.
She loves the outdoors and rarely notices the cold. She likes to tease her daddy about the coming snow.
She loves tradition! That means hot chocolate on snow days, donuts and streamers on birthdays, popcorn on movie nights, and new ornaments on the day we put up the Christmas tree.
She loves being the oldest and is responsible when I ask her to watch Sara in the tub, feed Ben a bottle, or read to the kids when they need some entertainment.
She works hard at her violin practice and has a flawless memory. She loves the twirling part of ballet. She learned how to ride her bike this summer.
She doesn't want to get her ears pierced and asks that I please do not ask her again until she is at least 10. She wants a dog when she is 12 and she plans to ride her bike to school when she is 10 (we'll see!).
She has lots of dreams and plans. She wants to be a prima ballerina and a grandma, but she would rather not give birth ever (It hurts! She blames Eve!) She wants to live in Disneyland when she grows up and she wants to go on a trip on a ferry and a hot air ballon and a taxi cab and a wagon, just like the bunnies in her favorite book.
She told me the other day she is going to be Clara in the Nutcracker someday and for years and years.
Time has gone so fast and the busier we are, it just goes by even faster! I just want it to slow down!
But I can't wait for the years ahead with her! She is a joy and we love her!
Happy Birthday Kayte!

Kayte Turns Six!!!

Kayte had a big day! She spent the morning on the river with her dad, and insisted that Will come along too, which took zero convincing, of course! Kayte and I had a Happy Meal date for lunch, and she got a mini-Barbie as the prize, bonus! That night we did pizza and presents and then all the family came over for a huge, super-fast, super-choatic cake party with lots more presents! It was great and she loved every minute! And of course, it was over all too fast and time for bed!
(You might notice Ben didn't make it to the party. He conked out at 6:30 and wasn't the least bit bothered by the loud partying just outside his door :)

I love this shot! Cute!

Everyone helping out. . .

Kayte, posing in her new ballerina pjs. Will, trying to take off her head? or dub her a knight?
or just be a pest? :)
Still, Kayte liked that shot the best. . .

Kayte's Birthday Tea Party!

On Friday Kayte had a little tea party to celebrate her birthday! We are trying to limit the really big birthday parties to every couple of years, so Kayte got to choose one friend, besides her cousins, to come celebrate with her. So Lucy was our guest.
But since Kayte has two cousins her age and two siblings she wanted to invite, it was still quite a big party of six!

Presents, yeah!

Kayte's cousins, Ava and Georgia! They are all getting so tall!

Turns out no little girls really like tea, even very sugary pink passion tea. Creme puffs weren't a huge hit either.
But everyone loves peanut butter finger sandwiches and sugar cookies shaped like butterflies!

The party festivities only lasted a half an hour, so they went to play in Kayte's room with the Sweet Streets. Kayte thought the party was way too short and didn't want anyone to leave. . .well, there was more partying to come!

Fishing on Kayte's Birthday

Kayte requested a steelhead trip on her birthday and I was forced to oblige. Will and Sara decided she would need a new fishing pole for her birthday and they selected a perfect Barbie rod for the first time steelheader.

One of the things I like most about being a Dad and taking my kids fishing in the morning is sneaking downstairs to wake them from their slumber. It's great to watch them snap up and jump out of bed so excited for an adventure. But for that to happen, I need to get out of bed and that didn't happen this time. Instead of me waking them up, I was greeted in bed by two eager fishermen wondering why I hadn't come down yet. Whoops! Never trust alarm clocks! So 1 1/2 hours late I jumped out of bed and in a flurry we hit the road with not much time to actually do any fishing.

Kayte focusing and waiting for a big fish.

Grandpa, with help from the kids, landed the first fish. It was a sucker but the kids really don't care.

Grandpa with another feisty sucker.

Well, no birthday steelhead, but Grandpa caught a good number of suckers to keep it interesting and the hot chocolate didn't hurt either to make the day successful.

I have to admit I'm very happy and thankful when my daughter wants to spend part of her birthday fishing with her Dad!

Six months old. . .

On the eve of Kayte's sixth birthday, I need to just quickly mention that little Ben turned 6 months last weekend!
His second little tooth finally popped through (and yes, he's still drooling!)
Just after he turned five months old, he started rolling over onto his tummy. This frustrated him to no end in the middle of the night, but after awhile he got used to it. Two weeks later, he figured out how to roll back onto his back, and now there is no stopping him! Take your eyes off him for 30 seconds and he is upside down and backwards already!
He takes two bottles a day, and can hold it himself!
He loves to be kissed and tickled, but he wants to be facing forward while being carried - he wants to know where he is going, not where he's already been!
He sleeps 7:30 to 7 and often takes a two hour morning nap (which means he spends his waking hours in the morning in his carseat commuting his siblings to and from school.) He will sleep 2-3 hours in the afternoon too!

Today, Sara was reading him a book and he was carefully following along. Then he looks into her eyes and rests his fat little paw on her shoulder. She smiled at him and he rubbed his hand down her hair. It was so sweet, I would've paid a million for a video camera to appear! Sara was won completely over too!

Domestic Bliss

Cookies for Kayte's class tomorrow to celebrate her big birthday #6! Yah, I know, six!

It is rare I have a quiet afternoon for country music and baking. But as my mom has taken off with three of my four, and the fourth is cooperating by taking a long, hard sleep, I am alone, music up loud, singin' along, and hangin' with my KitchenAid!
Don't ya just love Fall?
(By the way, I found these very cool frosting tubes in coordinating colors that make your cookies look really pretty! I got 'em at Winco! :)

Dusting. . .

I found Sara with a Huggies Wipe dusting this table, carefully lifting each movie, dusting underneath, and then lining them up in a row.

Very thorough!

More fun at the Wallawas. . .

The poor elk head was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Will used him as target practice the entire time!

Can you find Brooklyn? This is where we found her napping. She was not happy to find herself here when she woke up! But notice the comfy cocoon her parents had put her to start out.

We put Ben up high so he could talk to Hudson.

Snugglin'!

Kissin' Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Mom!

What better way to celebrate a birthday than a vacation with family?

It is easy to have a huge celebration when you have so many grandkids! They do love parties!

A Cup Full

I've just settled in my chair with a glass of wine and some cold pizza and I again find myself musing on my cup full of blessings. We spent this weekend in the Wallawas with my family. Highlights include a room full of twin beds so all the cousins can stay up late chatting, hot chocolate in Grandma's cabin in the morning, pancakes, shooting the fish with a sling shot, shooting the elk head with a bow and arrow, running from the elk, exploring a 'real-live' forest, jumping on the beds, play dough, popcorn, and movies. And for the adults, baseball, shopping, hiking, feeding the rainbow trout, and the yearly newlywed game (Joe and I are standing champs for the last two years! Yeah, we love each other the best :)

The "twin bed room".

Disney Bingo. Madison kept jumping up and down yelling "I have it. I have it!" But Ava took awhile to get anything at all, and in her own words, "I got skunked!"

It was sunny when we got there so Brooklyn and Sara played outside. They are just getting to the age where they are starting to have fun playing together.

Sara, entertaining Hudson.

Big Sis!

Kayte is always such a huge help to me!
She is feeding a very hungry Ben while I got dinner ready for everyone else.

Growing Boy

I gave Will 4 peanut butter cracker sandwiches. I came in to find 8 open-faced crackers smeared with peanut butter.
"Why did you take those apart?" says I. "Now it's going to be all messy."
"Mom," says he, "I'm a big boy! I need more protein than just four! See! Now I have eight!"
Ahh. . .he's right!

"CAT"
Will learned to read and spell out his very first word! Yeah Logos!

My foot. . .

. . .Will's shoe!