our series of unfortunate events

I was able to laugh about this a few hours after it happened, so I thought it would be good to write it down to remember it.  At the time, it was SO not funny.

Sunday, December 7, 2014 7:30 pm

Matt is in California for a Hematology conference

I had just arrived home after a Christmas party at our friends house (16 adults, 13 kids - pure chaos) where Kate varied between temper tantrums and stealing toys from all the smaller kids and Liv wouldn't be set down or held by anyone but me

It's past Liv's bed time, so she's crashing and cranky.  As soon as we walk in the door, I take her upstairs and give my phone to Kate so she can watch Curious George (because I'm awesome like that)

I'm feeding Liv, when I hear Kate come sobbing up the stairs: "Mommy, I peed on myself"

I immediately stop feeding Liv and set her down, so she starts screaming

I take Kate into the bathroom to clean her off, all the while, she keeps repeating, "This is terrible"

Liv comes to find us and almost crawls down the stairs

Kate has a temper tantrum when I leave her to rescue her sister from going down the stairs

I finally get Kate cleaned up and put Livvy down for bed

Liv is now super over tired and won't go to sleep

I let Kate keep watching Curious George so I can rock Liv again

Once Liv is finally asleep, I take the trash and recycle outside and down to the road

Kate locks me out of the house (not entirely her fault...I locked the door because Matt was gone, and she shut it while I was outside)

Thankfully we have a spare key outside

Needless to say, once both girls were asleep I got in a good workout and went to bed!

winter walk

what's a winter walk without hot chocolate?

Froze U.P.

Every year, the Hematology Oncology group at HDVCH does a Christmas party for all of their patients and families.  For 23 years, the party has included a play, written by one of the attending physicians.

This year, the play was a take on Frozen, called Froze U.P.  In Matt's theatrical debut, he played the part of Kristof.  My mom and I brought the girls to the dress rehearsal Wednesday afternoon so they could see daddy in action.  Liv watched intently and Kate LOVED it.  She was so excited to see Olaf and Sven and Elsa on the stage.  She got to meet 'Elsa' afterwards and it was probably the highlight of her year.

It was hard to have Matt gone extra nights for rehearsal, but totally worth it for the kids to have such a fun night out.

trolls dancing

Sugar Plum Fairy

Santa asking Elsa to come to the North Pole to make snow for the reindeer

weekend with Bri Guy

Brian came up to spend a weekend with us in late November.  It was filled with Christmas shopping, playing with the girls, and lots of culinary goodness.  We made homemade sausage and ricotta stuffed ravioli with mushroom cream sauce on Saturday night for dinner and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning before church.  It was super fun.  The girls really like their Bri Guy and had tons of fun with him.

YUM!

Sunday morning snuggles and books

9 months

Olivia is already 9 months old! Crazy how fast time flies.  She is army crawling all over the place now and can pretty much get anywhere.  And she's into EVERYTHING.  I always thought my house was relatively clean, but she finds any and every little thing on the floor and it goes straight into her mouth.  Gross.  She has gotten very good at going from sitting to crawling and back to sitting up on her own.  She really likes to play with door stoppers.  And anything Kate has.

She said her first word this month! Daddy.  Not da-da, but a true Daddy.  It was so sweet.

Liv is sort of settling into a 2-nap-a-day routine.  She goes to bed around 7:00 and has been getting up between 6:30-7:30 am.  She started sleeping through the night again on her own, and that has been really nice.

She still has a bit of a feisty personality, and seems to know just what she wants.  She's very observant, and she's funny.  Her giggles and laughs bring so much joy.  She loves peek-a-boo and keep away; she initiates both of them now.  She's pretty much over pureed baby food and just wants to pick up her own food and feed herself.  But, she still doesn't have any teeth, so her options are sort of limited.

Livvy is getting more and more fun every day.  We are really loving watching her grow.

first snow fun

Kate and daddy had a 'dark snow adventure' the night of our first snow.  While I was putting Livvy down for bed, they ran the gas out of the mower and stored it under the deck.  They also got out the snow blower, snow shovels, and Kate's sled.  The best part was that Kate got to have a flashlight.  She loves flashlights:)

watching the snow fall that morning

more Daddy!

Kate's birthday parties

Kate celebrated her 3rd birthday "Tessa Style," meaning that she had several birthdays, spanning a few weeks.  Her first one was here on her actual birthday.  The following day, she had a (Frozen) party at the farm with the Pridgeon side.  And then over Thanksgiving, she had another (Minnie Mouse) party at home with the Kadzban side.  Wow, that girl is loved!

coloring with Hadley

dancing with Hadley

blowing out her candles:)

loving the Minnie Mouse balloons!

this girl loves puzzles!

Minnie Mouse bow-tique 

Minnie cookies

Happy birthday, sweet girl.  We love you so very much.

The big 0-3

For some reason, two doesn't seem that old to me.  But three seems really old! Kate is three!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Kate's big day this year.  In the morning, Aunt Tessa and Grandma and Grandpa Kadzban came with us to SkyZone (an indoor trampoline park).  Kate got to jump and jump and jump and bounce as much as she wanted, and she LOVED it! Oh, and they had Disney music playing, so we did some dancing too:)

they even had an Olaf - what more could you ask for?

After naps, we met daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Kadzban at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse.  Kate has been there before, but only for sushi, never the hibachi side.  We did hibachi for her birthday, and it was really fun.  At first, Kate wasn't so sure about the open fire in front of us, but the chef joked with her, and once she had some edamame, all was right in the world.

best attempt at a family photo:(

After dinner, we put Livvy to bed and then Kate got to open presents.  This was such a fun birthday; it was one of those days I really didn't want to end.

Kate is becoming such a little person these days.  She has such a huge vocabulary and speaks very clearly.  She uses words like actually and probably in sentences...correctly.  It's crazy.  She also has funny words for certain things that totally crack me up:

vinivan = minivan
tater totter = teeter totter
begainst = against
unds = undies
cooks = cookies

She's stubborn.  She's sensitive.  She's sassy.  She's extremely smart.  She's super fun.

For my own memory, she's wearing size 7 shoes and mostly 3T clothes.  She can still get by with 2T shirts, but the pants are too short.  She goes to be between 8:00 and 8:30 pm and is up between 7:00 and 8:00 am.  Still taking one afternoon nap, usually around 1:30-3:30.

Fun memories from Kate's 3rd year:

• playing in the snow last winter
• finishing the basement
• moving to her new big girl bed and bedroom
• gymnastics class
• becoming a big sister
• Tulip Time and the Peanut Store in Holland
• riding a bike
• visits with Lincoln and the Hammer's in TC
• becoming a cousin
• doing projects with daddy
• tea parties and cooking in her play kitchen
• toddler time at the library
• playing outside with Griffin and Paige
• Side By Side Bible study and learning Bible stories and memory verses
• walks around the pond
• swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's pool
• lots of cooking and baking with mommy
• Boyne
• potty training! (ok, not a great memory, but we're glad it's over!)
• being the flower girl for Laura & Sasha's wedding and Justin & Tessa's wedding
• darkness dance parties
• lots of arts and crafts
• Frozen
• sidewalk chalk and bubbles
• first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house
• sushi with Bri Guy
• getting another uncle