Kate Turns 2!

Kate turned two on 6/29 so we had the family over for a little birthday celebration. I love this expression on her face when she sees that she has a Dora cake!

Kate & Grandma Lamoreaux

Kate with cousin Ry-ry

Gift time:



As you can tell, it was quite the Dora birthday. She even got a Dora Slip-n-Slide and the other kids insisted we bust it open that night!

Kate's grown up so much this past year. She finally started talking and putting words together (she had me worried for awhile). And she is definitely independent! She saw all of her siblings sleeping in big kid beds and she would throw quite the fit about having to sleep in a crib. Every night she'd say "Blake's bed" or "Hayley's bed" because she'd rather be in a bed than in her crib.

So we finally turned her crib into a toddler bed (first time I ever did it with 4 kids since I had my kids so close together we just kept moving the next kid in it!)

She's done pretty well with it - - except for nap time. She wants to wander and I hate that part. But at night she's done really well! She stays in there all night and doesn't leave it in the morning. She still cries for us to come get her!

Here are a few favorite things Kate loves to do at 2:

* Loves spotting "Donalds" all around town and is the first to see the Golden Arches every time!

* Loves to eat hot dogs, french fries and anything else with ketchup

* Loves anything Princess or Dora related

* Loves to play with her baby dolls and stroll them around the house

* Loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

* Loves to say prayers all by herself (don't even try to help)

* Loves to go on golf cart rides with Grandpa

Brent's Bday Weekend

Brent's bday fell on a Saturday this year and I wanted to do something fun to celebrate. I decided to surprise him with a weekend stay-cation at the Arizona Grand Resort. I've heard how fun the water slides and pools are there so I booked us a room and asked my mom to watch the kids. Except the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted Blake & Hayley there to join in on the fun. So we left Kate & Chloe with grandma and told Brent we were just heading to lunch without the little ones. After lunch I drove him to the hotel and I think he really was surprised! But the best surprise for Brent? It just happened to be both the h.s. girls volleyball and cheerleading tournaments there that weekend, so he really enjoyed watching all of them pool side. Oh boy! Floating around the lazy river. I thought the next pic was kind of funny because I never realized there was some kid sort of drowning next to me until I uploaded this. Hope he's ok.

Here are the crazy speed slides that Hayley went down over and over and over again. I went down them once - - and that was enough for me! There were slides like this on the boardwalk at Ocean City and when I was her age, I loved going down them just as much. Not so much anymore.

Brent went down several times too but soon was complaining that he thought something was out of place.

Whenever we visit a hotel, my kids favorite part of the hotel room experience is jumping on the beds. And maybe we're bad parents, but we totally let them.

I couldn't stop laughing when I looked over and noticed that Blake had jumped a little too far:

They also thought this was the perfect Narnia closet.

For dinner, Brent felt like Mexican food. We headed to On the Border.I can't tell you how much fun it's been lately to just bring the older two kids out with us. We've gotten a babysitter for Kate & Chloe a few times this summer and gone and done things just with Hayley & Blake. Amazing how fun a dinner out can be with kids when none of them are under 4 or require a high chair. Just a few more years and then they'll all be old enough to really enjoy at restaurants! Not that these two didn't act silly still . . .

After dinner, we were debating whether or not we should hit the movies. My kids are usually in bed around 8, but Night at the Museum 2 was playing at 9:30. We asked the kids if they thought they could stay up for it, and of course they said yes. Brent and I were surprised that they actually did! Cute movie.

Fun birthday weekend. Love you, Brent!

Broadway Kids

Hayley attended a Broadway Kids camp this summer and loved it! It was for a couple of hours every day for one week and then Friday night they put on their show. This year the theme was TIME and so each song went along with it.

Hayley's group's first number was "What Time Is It?" from HS Musical:

She was so nervous because she only had 6 minutes to then change her outfit for the next number. . . . Footloose (time to dance). We had to come up with an 80's outfit so we headed to Goodwill and actually found a pretty good one for $5 bucks. Can't beat that! It's now her favorite outfit that she'd wear all the time if I let her.
If the kids want, they can audition for a solo part. Hayley was so excited to get a solo part in Footloose since it was her favorite song. Here she is running up to do her part:



Next up was 9-5 (time to work). Hayley looked like she could totally be an office professional - reading glasses and all!



Third song was "Food Glorious Food" (time to eat). Now Hayley has a very low voice and I was shocked when she came home on Day 3 and said she had been given another solo. . . the last line of the song when they sing "Glorious Food" about an octave higher than the entire song. I guess she was positioned front and center when the song ends, so they asked her if she'd come to the mic and sing that last line as a solo. Oh goodness. That's not in either of our voice ranges, but we practiced and practiced and she nailed it! I was so proud of her!

Time for curtain call:

Our little star! She not only received roses, but Grandma L gave her a very special gift. Little ruby earrings that were Hayley's great grandma's! Precious.
Some of Hayley's fansChloe was on the edge of her seat the whole performance. The littlest age group (4-6) did an Annie song -- her favorite movie. And Chloe has been singing Annie songs non-stop now. She can't wait to be able to be in Broadway Kids next year!

Cherish's Shower

We threw a shower for Cherish in June. She is one of our RS teachers and anyone who knows her, loves her. She is so cute and is an amazing teacher. She just graduated in nursing and is expecting her first baby (boy) in just a couple of weeks! I haven't thrown a shower in years so it was fun to put this one together (and nice because so many helped!)


Andrea, Cherish & me:



The food:

I got the idea from my sis to make personalized water bottles with the baby's name:

Andrea was in charge of the games. Because Cherish is so petite, we were able to do the "guess the size of her tummy" game. Unfortunately, most of the guests were waaaay off! Good thing Cherish has a sense of humor!

Next was the "guess what candy bar is melted in the diaper" game. Some really got into it . . . Gift time!The party favors: