30 December 2013

Kate's birthday

Birthday doughnuts! A great tradition.


The beautiful birthday girl.


Baby Jude locked himself up in baby jail. It made me laugh.


Kate requested a Fancy Nancy birthday. Since we were just having family over, I didn't feel the need to make it too Fancy. We decided to have everyone put on some dress up accessories to make themselves fancy. And we had pink decorations and a pink rose cake. Kate was pleased.

Nate's fancy accessories. Love him.


Aunt Heather and Baby Margaret joined in the fun. The birthday banner is left over from last year.



Kate selected Tropical Punch Kool Aid to flavor her frosting. It came out a beautiful color, and the taste was interesting, but not bad. Kind of delightful in its own way.


Li'l Brooklyn all dressed up.


I also did Kate's hair fancy. To her, fancy means using all of the little clips we had in the house. So we did a Cinderella bun with all the butterfly/sparkly clips we could find. Kate was pleased.



She was excited about everything!


Doc McStuffins doctor kit from Mom and Dad. Score.


Kate had a great birthday. It was the day after Thanksgiving, which was a little stressful for me, since we had just had my family over for dinner the day before. It's hard keeping this house clean, I tell you! I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving, but dinner was amazing and we had a lot of laughs. Ethan's friend Kimber joined us. My kids adore her. Only one dish was burned and disgusting. The kids made place cards for everyone. We even scrounged up a few decorations for the table. Good times.

novemburrrr

Another giant blog catch up. Maybe someday I'll be good at regularly updating this thing...

Here's from the beginning of the month:

Kate sleeps in weird places. I have so many pictures of her wedged in random places in her room.


Kaylee and Baby Jude. She is so good with all the kids. Best niece ever!


Jude learning to hold up his huge noggin.


Gray trying to help Jude hold up his huge noggin.


A note Colin wrote to his teacher. Apparently it was Wear Boots to School Day, and I didn't know. I hadn't bought Colin new snow boots yet, so I kept telling him he couldn't wear boots to school. But then it was explained to me just how important it was to wear boots to school, so we pulled out his old boots and the note was obsolete.


One of my sweet lego houses. Gray put the interior together.


I don't know why he was so sad here. I'm sure it didn't last long.


The many faces of Baby Jude. I love when babies learn to smile! (This is him circa 6 weeks old.)









Gray loves his brother, which is great.


I have no words for this picture.


Colin has really blossomed into quite the imaginative artist. His notes and drawings crack us up.



I bought the boys suits to wear to Kenny Larsen's wedding in December. When the suits arrived in the mail we had to try them on. Gray was not happy—to take it off! He threw the biggest fit when it was time to take his new suit off.


We cleaned the garage out to the point where we can once again fit a car inside! It's been over 6 years since this was last possible. I'm thrilled that I no longer have to scrape ice and snow off of my car. And I don't have to haul the baby out in the rain/snow to get to the car. It's been a dream getting the kids into the car these days. Happy happy happy.


And speaking of getting kids in the car, here's Jude, in all his cozied up glory.


I hosted a Lego Duplo house party on November 16th. I applied online and was accepted, so I was sent over $100 worth of Duplos for FREE! All I had to do was invite people over to my house, let them play with the Legos, supply them with treats, and post a picture of everyone online. Done and done. I decided to be generous and give away 2 of the 6 sets I was given to people who came to the party. I was going to hold a drawing, but only 2 friends showed up, so they both got to take home a prize. (This is the story of my life when it comes to parties. I always invite a ton of people over. And then no one shows up. And then I cry.) My siblings came upstairs to make it look like my party was more successful. Oh well, at least the treats were good—mini fruit pizza tarts, snickerdoodle cookie cups with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, mini brownies, and mini lemon cupcakes with pink lemonade frosting. My kids went nuts for the treats, as you can plainly see. And the Legos are awesome—Disney's Planes and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It totally saved me a bundle on Christmas gifts, because I didn't have to buy any Legos for my Lego-loving kids.




Almost everyone who was there.


Jude sporting a cloth diaper. I haven't started putting them on him for reals yet. Maybe when he's a little bigger and I'm a little less lazy. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with the laundry due to his burp cloth consumption; I don't think I'd be able to handle washing diapers every other day too.


I love this football onesie. A great buy.


Nate wearing three Lego crowns after the party.


And now he's holding a pineapple.


And now he's wearing the pineapple in his crowns.


Colin all gussied up for a hot date with Aunt Hannah.


Kate sporting her new bathrobe from Aunt Hannah. Hannah spoiled her with birthday gifts early since she was going to be out of town on Kate's actual birthday.


Silly, smiley Jude.




Big, fat, naked Jude. Not really, but he is getting bigger and bigger every day!


I'm so glad the other kids love him.


Look, his Halloween shirt is finally starting to fit! Happy Thanksgiving!



A Thanksgiving craft Kate made at preschool.


All three big kids playing nicely (and quietly) together in one room. I love Legos!