Happy 3rd Birthday Jack! It's so fun watching you grow and learn. You make us smile daily with the fun things you say and do. We're so proud to by your mama and dada. Love you!

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet Kaitlyn! You bring us such joy with your precious smile and joyful heart. We're thankful everyday that God blessed our family with you. We love you so much!

And one bonus of the big brother. We sure love him too.

OK I may have a few random posts in between my summer catch up posts. And here is a random one for ya.

Jack is my question guy lately and I love our little talks together. Today we got into a discussion on energy while driving in the car. I think the conversation started with him saying something about Mike being old and I said something about him not being old (because I know I'm young and we're the same age) and that daddy has a lot of energy. That led to what gives us energy and then we talked about healthy foods and what energy lets us do and so on. After that beautiful lesson, here is what my boy took away:

Jack: Carrots give us energy
Me: Yes, that's right.
Jack: Apples give us energy
Me: Yes (Feeling pretty proud that my lesson was productive)
Jack: I want to eat a house and get lots of energy.
Me: What?
Jack: Mama, you had energy coming out of your nose yesterday.

As you can see...the focus got a bit lost, but he was pretty entertained with his comments.

Then we went to an indoor bounce place for a special treat with Mike. Jack introduced himself to a little girl while bouncing by saying "Hi, I have energy!"

And here he is...refueling himself for a whole pile of questions tomorrow and dreaming of new ways to let that energy out. I can't wait!

And something extra for those who might be interested... while at the bounce place walking around in socks, I stepped right into an accident a little girl had apparently had. The socks are no longer with me, but I did take advantage of the large hand sanitizer bottle they had.

Wow! So we have a few things to catch up on. Looks like we left you at Kaitlyn rolling over...oh my, that feels like forever ago. A lot of great things have happened since then, Disney, my cousin's wedding, Sunriver fun, Kaitlyn crawling, Jack just being his funny self. I'm determined to at least touch on all of the above in the next several posts so stick with me. I think I'll start with my cousin's wedding back in August.

I love how weddings gather people. As our extended family keeps growing, it's pretty fun to get everyone together at one event. The kids had a ball and we had a great time too.

Here is my beautiful cousin and her groom.

I love this one of grandpa praying over Seth and Jennifer during the reception.

Dancing the night away. Nina and Jack on the floor. This is one of my new favorite pictures with Jack. The boys showing off their dance spin moves.

And finally... a pic of a good group of guys who got to go golfing the day after the wedding.

The Saturday before last, Kaitlyn picked up a new trick. Poor thing doesn't get any encouragement from her parents. :) We're amazed at how quickly she's growing and showing more and more of her personality. She's our joyful girl and we love her!

Pigtails have arrived!

So much to catch up on. I'm not sure how time is passing so quickly, but we're trying to enjoy every moment. It's hard to believe Katie is 5 months old and Jack is looking more and more like a little man everyday. Here are a few recent photos.

Our girl on her 5 month birthday

Jack enjoying a delicious smore courtesy of an impulse by his mama, a quick trip to the grocery store, and a lovely fire by his dad. Sure the sun was out and it got a little toasty inside our house, but it was all worth it!

OK...she didn't really have any, but we wanted to include her in the moment.

My boy looking so handsome even with his black eye from his run in with the futon. What a tough guy.

Enjoying every bite!

Speaking of bites (nice transition right) Kaitlyn got her first taste of rice cereal this week, and Jack got to give it to her. She wasn't as sure about that idea.

"Open up sister. It's delicious."

"Hmmmm."

"Are you guys sure about another bite...."

"...cause I'm not so sure."

"This is actually pretty good!"

"Yeah, I like it!"

"Hey, how do I get more of that stuff?"

Pretty soon she was reaching for the spoon and trying to feed herself. Next up...avocado.

So our little girl is growing! It's hard to believe she's already 4 months old. I took her in today for her checkup and shots and got her new stats. She's 24" now (49th percentile), has a head measuring 16.5" (75th percentile), and weights in at 15 lbs. 3 oz (81st percentile...yes that's right...81 and we love every little roll!) She's healthy and happy and we have so much to be thankful for. Here is a picture of her from today.

And a few other shots for your amusement:

Katie's scalp was dry so after some great advice from my mom I decided to put a little bit of baby oil on it. It definately did the trick, but I took mom's advice to the next level and decided that if a little was good...more was better! I slathered it on her little head and here she is after two attempts to wash it out.

After 5 attempts. Looking happy, but still oily. :) I finally gave up and we got it out the next day. I still claim it as a victory becuase her scalp is looking lovely! Next time..less oil for sure.

On another note, I was so proud of Jack today. He got a surprise booster shot at the doctor's during our visit and he was a champ. He went before Kaitlyn and I told him how he could show her how to be brave. He totally did. Cried for 30 seconds and then said, "I'm brave!" One more Jack story since I have a captive audience. I was busy on the computer the other morning and heard Jack playing in the kitchen. I went to check on him and found this:

What a little organizer I have! Now if he could just get to my closet.