Katelyn's 4th

So I am now getting into planning mode for Katelyn's 4th birthday party. It'll most likely be January 12th this year but please no one save the date just yet. Of course when I asked Katelyn what her theme this year would be (I gave her a few options to choose from) she immediately said Rapunzel! So the Tangled movie is our theme this year. I'm really excited for it and can't wait to see how things will turn out. I love creating the invites each year for the kids and I've got lots of ideas! For the most part this is what I got at Walmart minus the cups. When I showed them to her she got so excited! I had to remind her that her birthday isn't for awhile!!!

The Disney website gives tons and tons of ideas and I'll probably use some of them for decorations. I love getting the chance to be crafty! I'm looking forward to her party this year actually, even though I'm dreading the fact that she'll be four!

Just in case and for family members, we got Katelyn the 3 in 1 Crayola Easel for her birthday... I'm hoping that she loves it! She's becoming an artist since she's started pre-school. It has a dry erase side that comes with markers and magnets as well as a chalk board side that comes with chalk. There is a shelf under that holds everything (smart move Crayola!) and it has an area on each side that can hold paper for coloring...we aren't going to allow painting because we don't want that mess in the house, she can paint at school!

Happy Thanksgiving and Birthday

On Thanksgiving day we went to Kevin and Hillary's who graciously hosted lunch for us, Brad's parents and Hillary's parents and sister. It was such a great day and the kids had so much fun together. Katelyn and Jack were running around the house and then Mitch would be shortly behind also running! We appreciate all of their hard work on the delicious food, man was it good! Katelyn and especially Mitch did a great job eating as well. On a side note, Mitch likes pumkin pie! We want to thank Kevin and Hillary for having us.

Happy birthday to my mom who's birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately we weren't able to see her on her birthday because we were elsewhere and also because she had to go into work at very early hours. So we celebrated Friday evening, we had a nice dinner and Katelyn spent time using her as a jungle gym!

All in all it has been a very good weekend for our family and we are thankful for everyone that surrounds us - family and friends.

Happy Halloween!

Disney on Ice

On Sunday Katelyn and I went to 'Disney on Ice' and we both had a blast. It had been a surprise for her and I finally told her before we left that we were going to a show that would have all of the princesses including Rapunzel! I let her wear her Rapunzel dress and she loved that she could wear it out. She was super excited and couldn't wait to leave. Once we got there we saw all of the stands that held anything you could imagine to buy including light up toys. I gave her the option of one that she could have and she picked a light up tiara. We also got a bag of cotton candy. During the show she would clap and dance along with the princesses as well as somtimes sing along! She recognized almost everything we saw which included: Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. There was also Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan with Captain Hook, The Lion King, Snow White and the dwarves, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Tangled (with her favorite Rapunzel), the characters from The Frog Princess and then at the end all of the Princesses with their Princes came out to dance. When Rapunzel came out Katelyn was screaming and smiling, she finally got to see her 'favorite'! I took in every moment with her and we had the most incredible time together. She asked me last night as I put her to bed if we could go again. I told her when it comes back we will definitely go again!

Xmas shopping 2

I will try and update with any gifts I get the kids so no one will buy duplicates or it could even give some ideas!

I bought Katelyn a pink Leap Pad 2. I know she loves all things technology so hopefully she will love this. Not to mention it is pink!

Xmas shopping

Normally I do NOT start shopping for Christmas until after Thanksgiving but I was in Walmart all by myself recently and was walking through the toy aisle when I picked up my first gifts for Katelyn and Mitchell. I don't have any ideas really for them so I'll have to come up with more ideas! But I thought I'd post my purchases so no one else will buy duplicates.

 Katelyn is in love with Rapunzel and I've been wanting to get her the Barbie version, so she will be getting the basic one that has an extension and a brush.

Mitch loves beating on anything so I thought this musical drum would be perfect for him!

Welcome Fall

Its pretty clear to us now that fall has arrived. The temperatures have dropped and the leaves have started turning. I love this time of year. We picked pumpkins yesterday which is something I love to do as a family. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera. Brad and I each picked a large pumpkin and Katelyn picked one for herself as well as one for Mitch. She did a pretty good job I'd say! I also picked out a pretty white one with an idea of what to do with it here at home. I decided it would be pretty with a cursive type D on it and display it somewhere in the house. It turned out great but let me tell you it is hard to use a sharpie on a cold pumpkin!!! I had to go over areas 3 or more times! I will still do it again next year though. Brad has an idea of keeping the seeds and trying to plant them ourselves for next year...we'll see. Here are some pictures of our pumpkins and some of our decor.

This last picture is of Mitchell crying. Apparently no one was paying attention to him so he started bawling for no reason. Yes, my son is a cry baby!

A Princess in a Wedding

Yesterday was my little sister's wedding. I was the matron of honor while Katelyn was the flower girl. Although she thought of herself as a princess. She did look beautiful in her dress with her hair all done up. And boy oh boy she couldn't wait to dance when it was all over! The entire day was spent with the same question being asked, "mommy when can I dance?". Eventually we got to that point and she was able to boogie!!! Here are pictures from that day.

1st birthday pictures

So here are the pictures from Mitch's first birthday party. He had a western themed party that included a 'Woody' from Toy Story cake and cow print tablecloth. We had so much fun and enjoyed every minute!

 The tablecloth and decor.

 Some of the decorations before they were put up.

 Mitch's 'smash' cake.

 Western boot balloon.

 The main cake.

 Brad put his tractor out in the front yard for fun.

 The banner I had made with Mitch's pictures throughout the first 11 months.

 The birthday boy!

 Opening presents.

 He was intrigued by this puppy that could sing and dance!

 Yay!

 "Happy birthday dear Mitchell, happy birthday to you!"

 Yum, he loved it!

 A shot of family and friends.

After getting cleaned up, Uncle Kevin thought this was a good look!