Fireworks

This summer has definitely been the summer of family. We have enjoyed several event this summer with my family and also the Martin family. It started with Kate's birthday and just kept going. Next was the Forth of July and a bunch of my in-laws came over to the house so we could all do our fireworks together. It was a lot of fun and my kids love playing with theirs cousins.

A Few months ago......

I know it has been too long since I have posted but couple of months ago Kate turned 3!!

We had a Mickey Mouse and friends themed party and had a bunch of family show up.

Kate being the picky eater that she is doesn't really care for cake, ice cream or cookies so we went with with donuts. We had a great time and the house was sort of ready for company. We had just moved two weeks before.

Nightmares

Since moving to the new house Natalie has had a few nightmares or she wakes up and is confused about where she is. This has never happened before so I find myself staying up later so I can be there as soon as possible for her. The first night we stayed here the girls were sleeping in the living room and Paul and I were in our room. (unfortunately everyone was on air mattresses) Natalie got up in the middle of the night and crawled into bed with Paul and I. Some time later Natalie sat up and screamed at the top of her lungs. Besides that it scared the crap out of me she laid back down and went to sleep. We have had one other episode like that and a few where she woke up looking for different things. I didn't think moving would have that much of an effect on her but obviously it did. Kate of course is fine and just sleeps through the night.....snoring.

Camping with the Martins

Warning.....this blog is going to be a long one but a lot happened that weekend and the pictures turned out good.

We did spend a fair amount of time sitting in a circle and catching up. It was good to see everyone!!

Amos had a lot of cool boy toys so Katelyn grabbed a seat on his lap and had some quality uncle Amos time!!

Tristine brought the family pet with them and Natalie and Kate loved it. Kate really loved it and I was totally grossed out. It was a rat whose name just happened to be Katelyn as well. The rat liked to hide in Tristine's hood and as you can tell Kate was determined to find....too bad they had already put it away. I think at some point we will be getting Kate some type of rodent for a pet but I am talking like a hamster or bunny not a rat.

One of the days that we were there a group of about 20 of us decided to go horse back riding. I was expecting a short route on flat terrain but that was not the case. We were going straight up and the trail was rocky but it was a lot of fun. At some points we were going down hill and all I could think about was the movie "The Man from Snowy River" (I think) when he is riding the horse down the snowy hill and he falls off the horse and the horse rolls over him. I didn't think that was going to happen but some of the hills were pretty aggressive.

Just hanging around waiting for the first group to take off. I promised Kallie that I would only put the cute pictures on the blog. Kallie's horse was the funniest thing alive. Her horse had gas the entire trip and I just happened to be a couple of horses back. I don't think I have ever heard a horse fart so much in my life.

Paul loves to cook when we go camping. His dad came over for breakfast and I think Paul was inviting everyone that was walking by.

Grandpa and Sherry had bubbles and donuts so the kids were over there whenever possible. I can't wait to do this again. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. The girls loved playing with their cousins and hanging out with Grandpa.

ER visit

Kate had a small accident and we took our first visit to the ER. My aunt Laura (Mimi) was helping Paul and I by watching the kids so Paul and I could get some yard work done before the move. It just so happened that she fell out of bed and I got a call around midnight saying to we need to get to the hospital. With the personality that Kate has I kind of knew that ER visits were in our future. I am kind of glad that the first one didn't happen on my watch just because Kate is walking around telling everyone that "I hit Mimi's bed". Lucky for us no stitches were necessary just glue. We took pictures at the hospital on my phone and it didn't look to bad. When we were walking out of the hospital Mimi asked if Kate screamed and Kate turned around and said "No Mimi I didn't scream". She actually did really good and only cried when they woke her up to clean it out. She wasn't upset about them cleaning it out just pissed they woke her up. Natalie of course is just drama.....worrying about Kate the whole time. A couple of weeks later Kate poked her eye and ran into the room crying with her hand over her eye and Natalie of course replies with "oh no not again".

Back packs

So my cousin Emily bought the girls back packs for Christmas and they have come in handy lately. Actually they have made things so much easier for me these last couple of weeks. With the move and the craziness lately at least something is easier. The girls look really gross in this picture but I think we had already been driving in the truck for at least a couples of hours that day. The girls love their back packs and they get to load all of their stuff in it and I think it makes them feel important. They are just perfect. I even showed them to my sister-in-law and she said they were really cute and wouldn't mind having some for her kids.

Outside fun

The warm weather is finally here!!! We bought the girls a bubble machine to help occupy their time outside while Paul and I worked on the house

It was so nice out that after the girls played with the bubble machine for awhile we decided to break out the sprinkler.

The girls had a lot of fun and I didn't really work that hard outside because I was to busy taking pictures.

The benefit of playing outside all day is the crash at night. It was an early bedtime which aloud me to blog tonight.

Mother's Day

I got my first homemade mother's day gift. Natalie made me Popsicle stick frame at school. I am so proud of this gift now the trick it to keep it without the girls breaking it. I had a good mother's day. Paul let me sleep in till 11:00 and made the kids breakfast. I got an iphone and they girls got me gift certificates for some itunes. They rest of the day we spent packing and cleaning and getting the house ready to put on the market. We are so busy lately that no matter what holiday comes up no one gets a full day off. Over all it was a good day!!!

School Pictures

Natalie had school pictures and they turned out so good. She actually smiled!!!! She never smiles for pictures. I think the key was that I was not there. They also took graduation pictures and I bought so many pictures it was out of control. I know that it is over the top because she still has one more year of pre-school but what can I say it is my first time with school pictures.

Teacher's week

It was teacher's week a couple of weeks ago and one of the days you were suppose to get a small gift for your teacher. So Natalie and I went to the mall and spent the day shopping for little things to put in a basket. It was a lot of fun and Natalie was thrilled the day was just about her. We went into See's candies to get e box of chocolates and they were giving out samples. Natalie took her sample and inhaled the whole thing a once. It was funny cause it was to big that Natalie couldn't even chew so she was drooling chocolate all over the store.

Camera shy

When I got home from Mexico I was so excited to see the girls that I was taking pictures like a crazy person. The girls finally got tired of it and wouldn't even look at me when I pulled the camera out.

Daddy's Mii

Natalie wanted to create a Mii that looked like Paul. The big tummy needed to be there according to Natalie.

Mexico

We had the best time in Mexico. It was so relaxing and warm that I almost didn't want to come back. I think if we didn't have kids to come back to we might have stayed for another two weeks. The resort that we stayed was amazing. There was no need to even leave the resort if we didn't want to they totally catered to us.

The grounds at the resort had bird cages all over with all different kind of birds. Paul and his brother Amos got to go fishing and they caught an 8 foot sail fish.

There were lizards all over the top of the building sun bathing. Thank goodness they stayed up there and didn't come down to visit me.

Over all we had a great time and I can't wait until we go again!!!!

Babysitter

I have finally found a babysitter for my girls. It is my fault that it took so long (to picky) but I have one now that I completely trust. We have always used my Aunt and while there is no replacement for Mimi it is nice to have someone close by and who can watch them at our house. I have had a couple babysitters in the past but I always had a uneasy feeling about them. I figured you can't be to careful when it comes to your kids. Natalie gets so excited when Paige comes to visit and Kate being Kate doesn't really care who is watching her. Paul and I are happy because we get to get out more now. Paige also has a younger sister so when she gets to old and wants to start doing things with her friends on the weekends we have a backup.

Posed pictures

I took the kids to kiddie kandids to get the traditional posed pictures and they turned out OK. Natalie is going through a phase when she smiles she pulls her chin in and wrinkles her nose. These are the very tame pictures some of Natalie's face expressions were over the top.

Kate got her hair cut recently but I think we might cut it again. She is still getting all kinds of food in it and it still gets in her way.