FUN with ONE

In the last few weeks before baby Olivia was due to arrive, I started getting a little sad about losing one-on-one time with Kate.  She's at such a fun age and is a lot of fun to just hang out with, and I knew that things would never be the same again once her little sister was  born.  So, we tried to pack in as many fun activities as we could to make sure Kate knew how special she is and how much we love her.

I didn't get pictures of everything, but here are quite a few of our special times with our special girl...

playing at the GR Children's Museum

Play Doh!

a wagon walk in the snow

frozen yogurt at Bloop

Kate's special art project for her big girl bedroom

playing at the library after story time

gymnastics graduation

On the last day of Kate's Tumble Bugs class, each of the kids got to have their name called, and then took a turn showing off their skills.  Kate walked the balance beam, did a somersault, and ended with a very emphatic 'ta da!'.  

It was so much fun to watch her.  I'm so proud of my Kate and all that she learned in just 6 weeks.  I hope we can do another class soon!

My big 3-0

I turned 30 this year.  30 used to sound so old, but now it feels pretty young.

To start off my special day, we went for a hike at Paris Park.  Kate loved riding in the backpack.  We saw lots of wildlife out even though it was super cold, and the sun even came out for a while:)

Saturday afternoon we didn't work on the basement.  We took naps:) It was fantastic.

Then we went out for sushi for dinner.  As usual, Kate rocked the edamame. She even ate half of a California roll all by herself.  We were some proud parents.

It was a perfect day.

V-Day 2014

Because my birthday is right after Valentine's Day, we tend not to do a whole lot to celebrate Valentine's Day.  This year I was also super pregnant, so we (I) really didn't feel like doing a whole lot.  We ended up deciding to just have a fun day with Kate and then make a nice dinner once she went to bed.

Kate and I had a great day.  Matt was able to come home a little bit early to hang out with us.  And we enjoyed a kid-free, quiet dinner.

baked brie appetizer

chicken parmesan and roasted asparagus

It got too late - and we were too full anyway - to make our molten chocolate cakes for dessert.  Not to worry, though, we had them during Kate's nap the following day:)

Happy Love Day!

January in review

January flew by.

And some days it felt like it would never end.

We had more snow last month than all of last winter (over 8 feet).

And we've spent pretty much all of our free time working on the basement, preparing for another baby, or getting Kate's new big girl bedroom ready, so I just haven't found the time to sit down and write.  I'm going attempt to re-cap the entire month of January, so hold on!

Kate rode the carousel with Daddy at the mall

so silly!

my big helper

Kiss cookies:)

we made lots of footprints in the snow

we made snow ice cream

"daddy needs some too"

we got to see out-of-town friends:)

we finally got our new couch! and we love it:)

Kate got another stomach bug...I got lots of snuggles (and then the stomach bug)

"I'm just reading them my picture"

"I'm going to draw a sailboat for all my friends"

and Kate moved to her big girl bed - more on that later:)

Tumble Bugs

For Christmas, my brothers got Kate a gymnastics class at the Y.  She absolutely loves it.  She asks if we can go to gymnastics almost every day, and she has so much fun when we're there.  She loves to practice what she's learning at home (especially for an audience).

A few weeks ago, I wasn't feeling super great, so Matt came with us to class.  I got to be the picture taker:)

For my own memory, here are the things she's learning/doing at class:

• pike sit
• V sit
• hopscotch
• two-foot jumps
• pencil rolls
• balance beam
• butterfly legs
• "apart/together"
• somersaults
• tunnel
• parachute
• backward somersaults
• lots of running
• airplane
• he-haws
• standing on one foot

Like Daddy, Like Daughter

Aren't they precious? I'm a lucky girl:)