Kate's first birthday party

Kate had her first birthday party yesterday. She was so good! There were a lot of people and she just got passed around and smiled like crazy when she was eating her cupcake. It was adorable! Her theme was cupcakes - get it Cupcake Kate... anyways... I made (and Katie decorated) a million cupcakes and each kid got a cupcake with m&ms, mini chocolate chips, gummy bears, and three different types of sprinkles to decorate their cupcake with. Each kid also got an apron with their name embroidered on it - they were adorable, if I do say so myself. :)

Here she is waiting for her guests to arrive.

 The camera was on the wrong setting during present opening - so about 100 of them are so blurry you can barely see her, but this is the least blurry one available.

 It was really nice outside temperature wise, but since there was a wind advisory we did all the food and cupcakes in the garage. It worked out really well... doesn't make for a very pretty backdrop for pictues, but oh well! Here are Connor and Ryder decorating their cupcakes.

 Here is Seth, Aly, Lily and Violet.

 And the Lands - sitting at the table they brought haha - there would be no party without Katie - no cupcakes, not enough kids tables... Thanks Katie!

 Oh my gosh she is adorable.

 Connor with the final product - a lot of sugar.

 Kate telling us she is one.

Kate is doing so many awesome things! She picks up sign language amazingly fast and we are surprised every time! She signs more, eat, all done, up, milk, water, no touch, and night night - she actually does what Connor used to do when he was a baby - when she is tired and ready for her nap or for bed at night she will crawl over to the steps, sign night night, and say na na (night night) and just wait for us to take her to bed. Adorable. Awesome.
She also does "how big is kate? soooo big!" and puts her little arms in the air. As you see above, she shows us she is one.
She says mama, dada and night night.
She also claps, waves and blows kisses. Up until a couple days ago her clapping consisted of one hand hitting her elbow of the opposite arm. Not exactly a clap, but a couple days ago she just started doing it right! The first time we noticed her doing it was in her crib on the monitor. It was pretty cute - her clapping all by herself in her crib.
She also pulls up on everything! First it started with the couch, but now she can do it up against the wall or fridge, and even a car seat to see an unsuspecting Baby Quentin Harbert and play with him!
She isn't quite into the "cruising" part yet, but if you put a toy she wants at the opposite end of the couch she will cruise on over to get it, but she doesn't do it much just on her own.
Her personality is starting to show through a bit. She does NOT like to be told no. It is pretty funny. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I tell her no. She knows when she isn't supposed to do something because she will look at me while she is doing it and do the sign we made up for no touch - just wagging her little finger back and forth. It is so cute.. Sometimes she does it without signing no touch and if I just say her name in my Mommy voice she will look at me and sign no touch. She doesn't usually actually stop touching, but she knows! haha... She also makes this sad pitiful face when she wants to do something and I tell her no. It is pretty cute.
She is such a sweet little girl and is so loved!

Pumpkin Carving

Connor is ready to carve his pumpkin!

He is pretty nervous...

 

Mark showed him the top and he pulled his arms back as fast as he could... he was not okay with the "slimy pulp" as he calls it to be so close.

Notice how his little arms are behind his back lol

 

This is a fake you out shot... he never got any closer...

 

Although he did go to town with a spoon.

 

Not a great picture, but the only one of Kate. She LOVED the slimy pulp and even tried to eat it!

 

Mark did a fantastic job of carving our pumpkin...

Too bad the face drawer (me) did a terrible job. Failure.  

 

 

Kelsay Farms, big boy bed and the zoo

We have had a super busy last month! Kate is getting so big! She is eating a lot of table food, and she is signing more, up and all done. She says mama, dada and night night (sounds like na na) haha.

We went to Kelsay farms last Friday when Mark surprised us with a day off and had so much fun!

Connor milking the cow.

 Daddy and Connor made it to the top of the hay mountain! (Apparently so did some other kid...)

 Digging through the corn. He loved this! They had a dumptruck, so he kept filling it up with corn and dumping it out.

 A friend of mine just read an article about moms never being in the pictures. This isn't a great picture of either me or Kate, but I do want my children to remember what I look like... so here we are.

 Riding the Moo Choo Express... That's right.... moo choo...

Do you know how hard it is for a grown person to get inside this stupid train?

And with a child attached to their front?

Not easy.

 

Connor has a big BIG boy bed now! He looks so cute and tiny!

 soooo excited!

Making his bed like a good big boy!

 

 

We went to the zoo for Connor and Abby's 3rd birthdays a couple weeks ago. Again with the whole "not a fantastic picture, but my kids need to remember my face" thing again...

 This was so funny! Her little hairs were just blowing in the breeze on the train! It was so cute!

Connor's Birthday Day and a couple other pics

 Connor started his 3rd Birthday Day with a birthday bar, birthday cereal and birthday pancakes with a candle! He wore his birthday hat and had a great breakfast!
He woke up feeling fine, but as the morning went on I realized he had a fever. It was so pitiful. Ringing in the 3rd year of his little life with a fever. So sad. He was basically crying if I wasn't holding him, but he would not hear of not going to the apple orchard like we had planned. I told him he could stay home and watch tv and relax instead and he did not want to! So to the apple orchard we went! He went down the slide a few times, played on the swings for a few minuts, but spent the majority of his time on the big swing with the Lands eating his apple slushie.

 

 Kate enjoying some birthday pancakes

 birthday slushie

 kate loved swinging at the orchard!

 

 

Just some cute pictures and a hilarious video...

 

They look so big!

 Big brother kiss

 

little sister pat on the back

Connor was cracking Kate (and us) up!!

Connor's 3rd Birthday

Connor turns 3 on Wednesday! We had his party over the weekend and it was fantastic! He wanted Lightning McQueen and Mater for his party theme, so I (of course) went a little crazy with it... but you will never see it, because I didn't take any pictures of the setup, the cupcakes, the food, the decorations, the guests, or the present opening. Awesome. Mom of the Year. Good memories.
Here are some pictures I did manage to take.

This was actually the afternoon before the party. He had had his party hat on since the second he got out of bed. He was eating lunch outside at his picnic table.

Kate with Grandpa enjoying all the attention (in her Lightning and Mater dress).

 

This kid could eat cupcakes all day long!

 

This wasn't from his party, but she was in the swing today and LOVED it. So cute. She acted like she was on a roller coaster.  

 

Here she is swinging. Please ignore the part of me growling... when Grandpa did it to her at the party she growled like her brother being the lion on the farm in the next video.

but when I do it I get nothing from her!

So instead of hearing an adorable baby growl, all you hear is just a super cool mom.... growling.

Connor played with his guitar today about 100 times. By the end of the day he had singing, dancing and playing all at once down pat.

 

After Connor's party a few people stayed after to celebrate my birthday. I am 30!! Oh my! Mark make it so special for me. He had a champagne toast for everybody! Thanks to all of you that helped me to celebrate!