Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Children at work


Last Thursday, Patrick's firm had a bring your children to work day. Unfortunately (for me), our children were too young to attend! We decided to go to downtown Chicago and visit Patrick at work anyway!

We went to the Shedd Aquarium first and had a great time! We love the aquarium and Katelyn even knows many of the animals by name.

We then went to visit Patrick at the end of his work day and talked him into taking us to dinner. It was so fun to see his new office (What a view!) and meet many of the people he works with.

Despite a little 5 o'clock traffic stress while both kids were screaming, we had a wonderful trip and a great day.

I love Chicago and now I know that I can manage taking the kids by myself!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Katelyn is THREE!

I sincerely cannot believe that my little princess is three years old! April 20th was the long awaited day. Where does time go? Katelyn was SO excited about being three because all of her friends are already three.

Because her birthday was on Sunday, we had her little birthday party on Saturday morning. That, of course means that I was up until after midnight on Friday night trying to create some sort of castle cake mess. I have never professed to being a cake decorator and from here on out will probably be a birthday cake purchaser, but Katelyn wanted a castle and this was my best effort!
I used my cousin Melanie's recipes (her amazing cooking blog is my only motivation for cooking) and the frosting was a marshmallow frosting. It tasted wonderful, but was either not the right frosting to make a non-leaning castle or it was way above my skill level. (I venture to guess it was the latter!) Oh well, Katelyn thought it was amazing!

She wanted to have a Cinderella party so we had a Cinderella explosion! She was a beautiful, sweet little princess in her new Cinderella dress.
The girls dressed up, painted their nails, and decorated magic wands so they could go to the royal ball. Patrick was designated the part of the handsome prince. He was a good sport in helping paint nails, dance, and minimize princess drama!

So let's be honest, when you have a birthday party for your three-year-old it is as much for the mom (I admit, that's me) as the girl! I became a disneyoutlet.com addict and found little Cinderella dolls and matching Cinderella t-shirts for all the girls. They looked so cute!
From what I understand, three is the new two so we'll enter the three-year-old phase with caution! We sure love our little Katelyn and have loved every minute of her first three years. She is truly our source of entertainment, joy, and drama!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Idaho Adventure

Katelyn, Jake, and I returned last week from our first fly-with-2-kids adventure. I was a little nervous to be in the air with 2 kids by myself, but they were amazing! We had a flawless experience traveling. I was a walking advertisement for the Joovy stroller! If you haven't ever seen one, check it out!!!






One of the highlights of the trip for me was that we were able to spend some time with my grandparents. Grandpa and Grandma Walker are always so sweet to visit with and Katelyn and Jake loved them. Living so far away from family has taught me to cherish the times we get to be together, especially with my aging grandparents.



Katelyn was completely spoiled with love and attention. We had a little birthday party for her since her birthday was only a week away and she thought she was the princess of the place. Aunt Stacey and Uncle Travis made her day by giving her 2 little dancing outfits. I'm sure they don't realize that now every morning I have to be the mean mother by telling her she can't actually wear them in public!

We had a wonderful weekend with Travis, Stacey, Kurt, Michelle, Kevin, and Katie all coming to Rexburg for the weekend to see us. Thanks guys!



AND - we dug out all the scrapbook albums that we needed to determine that our little Jake is an almost identical look-a-like to his Uncle Kyle.



Seeing uncle Kevin with hair was a new experience for us! Katelyn tried very carefully to tell Kevin "I like your new haircut, but I kind of don't really like your curlers." How's that for trying to be tactful?

Thanks Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Brad for letting us crash your house! We can't wait to come back!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Daddy Day

This morning when Katelyn woke up she asked me the same question she asks me every morning. "Mom, where can be my dad?" When I answered her back that her dad was downstairs in the kitchen instead of "daddy's at work today", her entire face lit up and she said, "I can't believe I didn't even remember that today is Daddy Day."

Katelyn wants Daddy to wash her hair, Daddy to help her get dressed, Daddy to help her with her newly potty trained bathroom issues, Daddy to pretend to be the handsome prince (as opposed to Mom pretending to be the mean stepmother), and Daddy to take her to the park. That being said, I don't know who loves Daddy Day more - Katelyn or Mommy!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Encore Anyone?

This post is specifically dedicated to encouraging family members and anyone else who needs a good laugh. Katelyn has never been in a dance class and she certainly doesn't get her skills from her mother, but somewhere she has picked up a real flare for the dramatics!



Enjoy!



Dancing Queen


A Whole New Song


And finally. . .The Pout