Kate's 5th Birthday, Rapunzel Style!

Our sweet Kate turned 5 this month!  What a milestone!  On her birthday, Josh and I took her out for a special date while a friend took care of Jill for us.  Kate wore her "fanciest" dress (actually, it's a flower girl dress that I wore in my Aunt's wedding when I was 5), and we took her to the Cheesecake Factory.  She was so surprised when the waiters sang Happy Birthday to her and brought her an ice cream sundae, which was her first of two desserts because you can't go to the Cheesecake Factory without ordering something sweet!

We gave Kate the movie "Tangled" for her birthday, which she's seen a few times but we didn't own.  Kate had been asking for months to have a Rapunzel/Tangled themed birthday party.  So, I gave it my best effort, and thanks to Pinterest we came up with a few fun ideas...like a donut tower, Pascal party blowers, and a Flynn Rider pinata, which the kids hit with a frying pan of course.

Jill modeling the Pascal blower.

Our own Flynn Rider!

Some of the pinata pictures cracked me up...the kids seemed to hit poor Flynn with such gusto. 

Such sweet friends!

Opening presents with the help of many hands.

Pink?  Frilly?  Yes please.  Needless to say, the feathers from this boa are all over the house now.  Looks like a pink goose was strangled in our living room.  Thanks Papaw and Nana.  :)

What Rapunzel wouldn't be complete without her pet Pascal?

That night, we lit the Rapunzel lanterns and let Kate stay up late to enjoy them.

 

 

Happy 5th birthday, Kate!  We're so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who shared in making this a special day for our little girl.

Easter Celebrations

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend at my parents' home in Elkhart. Grandma planned a combined egg hunt/treasure hunt with "Resurrection Eggs." Kate followed all the clues, while Jill got a little side tracked once candy was discovered.







Easter morning, on our way to church.


I believe this is the first family picture since my brother and his girlfriend Sherrill have become engaged. We're so excited to welcome her into the clan! It was fun to hear about all the wedding plans and to share in their joy! Sherrill is so creative and has such a wonderful style sense...I know this wedding is going to be amazing.


We are truly blessed. Happy Easter to all. He is Risen!

Ski Trip 2012

Thanks to a very kind invitation from some friends, we had the opportunity to join them on a 5-family ski trip in Utah last week. Jill stayed in Texas and enjoyed some extended time with the grandparents while the rest of us suited up for the snow!


The view from our bedroom at the lodge:



On the slopes with Josh.


Girls ski day with Sunee.



This was directly after Kate's first and only day at ski school...she was just a little tired.

Although Kate did well at ski school (we sneaked some video of her going down the bunny slope), she much preferred just to play in the snow. So, for the remainder of the vacation Kate's time outside consisted of eating snow, sledding, and eating more snow. There were 13 kids at the house--needless to say Kate had a marvelous time and played non-stop.



We made some great memories and are so grateful to our friends for including us in this fabulous trip!

Dinosaurs!

We recently took the girls to see the Dinosaur Park near Bastrop. Basically, it's a walking trail through the woods with life-sized dinosaur replicas throughout. Living Social had a 50% off deal, so we took advantage of it and enjoyed a fun day trip.

Jill's Barnyard Birthday!

Jill turned 2 on January 12, and to celebrate her birthday we had a few friends and family over for a barnyard themed party. We dressed the part, and had some fun farm crafts and treats!

The kids decorated their own barns with farm animal stickers.

Then we headed outside for a few games, like farm animal charades.





Back inside for some healthy snacks (before getting all sugared up).

And then, the good stuff. :) Jill picked the sheep cupcake, I think because it was covered in marshmallows.

Jill really enjoyed opening her presents. She was so excited about each gift. (Thank you to our sweet friends and family!)

Signing "Thank You."

Happy Birthday, Jilly billy! We love you so. You already have such a distinctive personality. You are spunky, silly, and sometimes downright hilarious. When you do test boundaries, you are quick to give hugs and apologies. Your snuggles can (and do) melt anyone! You and Kate are becoming such great playmates. It's so much fun for your Dad and I to watch. We pray that you two will grow into lifelong best friends. We love you and look forward to the wonderful developments and blossoming personality that your third year will bring!

A New Accessory

Our beautiful girl is now donning a new accessory...glasses! Thanks to a very thorough vision screening at preschool (and a diligent screener who caught what our pediatrician's office missed), we discovered that Kate has an eye condition similar to what her dad was diagnosed with in elementary school. She has one strong eye and one weak eye (amblyopia). We were concerned that she may have to wear a patch to strengthen her weak eye, just as Josh did as a child. We took her to a pediatric opthalmologist, who told us the current research says to start with glasses, and if things don't improve then a patch may be the next step. We're praying that the glasses do the trick, because a patch just doesn't sound like fun at all. But, for the time being, we are so thankful that Kate loves her new glasses! And, doesn't she look all grown up!

Kate and Kiwi

In Kate's preschool class, every child gets to take Kiwi the monkey (sort of the class mascot) home for a weekend. They are told to record their adventures with Kiwi and take pictures, then add them to a class journal. Kate was so very excited for her chance to take Kiwi home. He went with us everywhere!

They made bread together, enjoyed snacks, went to mom's allergy doctor's office, and even took a trip to a local farm with Adelaide & Abe.