more December 2015

Just getting a little deep conditioning in (avocado):

We went to see the Christmas trees and model train at Frederick Meijer Gardens, and the girls were excited to find both of the places daddy works: Van Andel Institute on the left, HDVCH on the right:

The Saturday we went to get our Christmas tree was not snowy at all, and it was probably about 50 outside.  Oh well, we found a beautiful tree and the girls had fun running all over the tree farm!

Uncle Bri Guy came to visit for a long weekend in mid-December.  We got lots of Christmas shopping done, and lots of hang out time in as well:)

One night while Matt was working, I took the girls to the live nativity with my friend Sarah and her two little ones.  The girls really love each other.

Downtown Market on a Saturday morning

And then one day right before Christmas, it was warm enough to take a walk outside.  Seriously, is this December or October?

farm visit

We spent the first weekend of December at the farm, visiting family, and hanging out with Bri Guy as he recovered.  We took the girls to see Santa at a Christmas tree farm, along with Paul and Nikki and Anna.  Kate thought it was great.  As you can see from the picture, Liv was terrified.

decorating with Aunt Tessa

There was lots of playing and laughing and cousin time.  We are so very thankful for Brian and the way God is healing him, post-tumor.  It's been a pretty amazing journey.

playing outside in December

crazy weather we're having!

November happenings

Aside from Kate's birthday, we had a lot more fun in November...

warm enough to play outside!

playing at the mall treehouse (aka the germ tree)

frozen yogurt

'bunk beds' on the stairs

playing Barbie's at Thanksgiving

Play Doh at Thanksgiving

the girls were so sad to say goodbye to Bryan after Thanksgiving

big hugs from Liv

Kate's 4th Birthday

Kate's birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we had a full day of celebration! Matt made her favorites - chocolate chip pancakes and bacon - for breakfast, and we spent the morning at Catch Air. Both girls had a blast, and both were very tired little munchkins by the time we got home.

After lunch and a nap, we had Kate's birthday party.  Most of our families were able to be here, and that made it really special for Kate.  She requested a flower party this year, so we did lots of flower-themed things.  The best part was spending time together.

A little bit about Kate at this age, mostly for my own memory...

• she loves reading books and coloring and doing crafts and projects
• she likes to help me in the kitchen, especially if we're making something sweet and she gets a taste:)
• she's getting super tall
• she likes most girly things - dresses, jewelry, etc.
• still loves Frozen and all things Elsa
• she feels her emotions fully...happy or sad, she's all in (I "break her heart" on a weekly basis by not letting her do something she wants to do or have a treat she wants to eat)
• she's still not super tough, and she's kind of klutzy - not a great combination - lots of bruises and lots of tears
• knows most of her letters
• can count to 20, but she always skips 12
• she's pretty musical - likes to sing and dance and put on shows for us
• loves to play with her friend Paige, who lives across the street
• she eats a really good variety of food (and mostly healthy), but she's the slowest eater in the entire world.  we're talking 45 minutes to an hour for breakfast!
• she seems really smart to me (I'm probably a little biased)
• she likes to boss Liv around, but is getting better at collaborative play
• she's very creative
• she's our firstborn sweet, spicy, sort of crazy, funny girl and we love her so much!

ballet and tap class

Once Kate turned four, she was old enough to do a combination dance class; ballet and tap.  The ballet was definitely more advanced that the 2-3 year old class, and the tap was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.  There were 7 little girls in her class and watching them try to balance and tap their feet and watch the teacher was absolutely adorable.  The moms aren't allowed to sit in the class anymore, so all of my pictures are snuck from the doorway.  Kate did a really great job!

baby #3

I've done a really, really bad job of telling people that we're pregnant this time around.  We had our 20 week ultrasound on November 3, and I still wasn't sure if I wanted to find out the gender or not, so we had the sonographer write it down and put it in an envelope for us.  Later, we opened it to find this crazy surprise!

We told the girls first, and then our families, and then our friends.  I'm still getting used to the idea of a boy, but we are very excited! Bring on the blue!