All About Skirts

We have a new obsession with skirts and dresses. Every morning Katelyn wakes up and says, "which skirt can I wear today?" I cannot even convince her to wear her new shorts or capris and if there is not a skirt available she will resort to a nightgown. How did I get such a girly girl?







































This was an extra special day when she went outside in a nightgown, a coat, and her winter boots. Where is her mother?

On a side note - today I'm trying to digest the fact that David Archuleta didn't win American Idol! I became a little Idol obsessed this year!

12 Weeks of Precious

I can't believe my little Jake is already 12 weeks old. Where has the time gone? He is so precious! He is the sweetest little thing I have ever seen. When he was born, everyone kept telling me to enjoy how good he was because it probably wouldn't last. So far they are wrong! He cries a little when he's hungry and grunts at me when he's tired or wants to be held and other than than he is a peaceful little angel.

I had no idea how much this little guy would melt me. I think he's going to be a mommy's boy!

Favorite things (so far!)

Bath time
Cuddling
Eating
Sleeping
Passing Gas (I suggest that is the reason he is so happy!)
Baby talking with his sister

After church

Check out that gut! It can almost prop him up it's so big!

Mommy's Boy!

Spring Day Adventure

Last Tuesday we finally had a nice spring weather day, Katelyn had her friend Bekah over to play (it happened to be Bekah's birthday), and we needed an adventure. SO - with baby Jake peacefully and willingly in tow and the two princesses clinging to the back of the Joovy (have I mentioned how much I love my Joovy?), we went on a walk to a little shopping area a couple of blocks from our house.

I'm sure I looked ridiculous trying to push three kids in a stroller, but I'm over it!





I let the girls go to a ceramic paining store called Color Me Mine and they both painted little ballet slippers. You can tell by the picture how serious and dramatic the experience was.

We then walked next door to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The girls picked out white chocolate covered marshmallows with messy blue sprinkles. We picked up a couple of lemonades and enjoyed the nice day and our yummy treats at the fountain.

I love this picture because they are so happy and carefree!

I'm sure I wasn't prepared for how much drama or how much fun would enter my life by having a little girl. We are all about skirts, screaming, and matching Barbie band-aids. (Note - there are no actual booboos under the band-aids!)

"Boff" my kids!

Katelyn has actually adjusted fairly well to adding a little brother into her space, but occasionally we have little moments of meltdowns. Several times during the past couple of weeks I have been sitting in my rocking chair feeding Jake when I see a sad little face and hear Katelyn say, "Mom, can't you hold your boff kids?" Or my favorite is when I'm carrying Jake around and Katelyn tries to convince me - "You can carry your boff kids, mom."

I'm sure that once we get through this adjustment phase she will understand that I love 'boff' my kids!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of the two of them together. Katelyn is really loving and I hope they will be great friends someday! I am so grateful for them and feel so blessed to have 'boff' of them in our home!

A Visitor!

You all know I shamelessly beg for visitors! Well, Patrick's sister heard our begging and came from Seattle to spend a weekend with us. We had a great time with Aunt Lindsey. We went to the Navy Pier Children's Museum, the mall, Cracker Barrel for pancakes, and Hugo's Frog Bar for steak!

Thanks for making the trip Lindsey!

Katelyn and Lindsey playing in the water at the museum

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!

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!

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!

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!

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