Kate's Baptism

 Kate was baptized by her Daddy at the Hanover, NH building on June 21, 2014.  It was a beautiful day with friends and family.  She was baptized with her friend Callie, who we are sad is moving this summer!  We are so proud of our beautiful Kate and the choice that she made!

Toothless Kate

Kate's 2 front teeth were getting really wiggly and, as much as I was sad to see her lose her baby teeth (and perfect baby teeth smile and just grow up period) once they started to get wiggly they were looking pretty icky. She was wiggling them on her own but then every night after I brushed and flossed her teeth, Daddy would take a turn wiggling them. He is the tooth pulling master and has pulled out all her teeth. As much as I like teeth, I don't think pulling teeth is for me. So on January 29 she was laying in his lap and then all of a sudden she sat up and it was gone! She didn't make a sound and all of a sudden she had a big grin on her face and it was gone.




 

 Clara wanted in on the picture taking too

   

The next day we went to the temple and I took some picture of my one tooth Kate.  She sure is beautiful!

 








Then the next week the same thing happened with the second one and it was gone too. Now we have a toothless Kate!


 

Sawyer wanted some pictures taken too



One with a silly face



And Clara did not want to get her picture taken but I tried anyway

Her last?

Kate's 2 front teeth on the top are wiggly. She has lost 4 on the bottom but still hasn't lost any on the top so her smile hasn't really changed. I am dreading when it does (although I know she will still be my beautiful Kate) and every night when I floss and feel the wiggle I think, I need to take some pictures of you before your smile changes forever! And every time I do take pictures of her I wonder if it will be the last with those teeth. The end of my baby Kate smile. sniff sniff.





Of course Sawyer wanted in on the action too






And then so did Clara...still in her jammies!

Interview with a 6 year old

What is your name?  Kate
How old are you? 6
What is your favorite color? hot pink
What is your favorite toy?  Barbies
What is your favorite thing to do? go to Disney World
What is your favorite place to go? to Disney World
What is your favorite movie? Tangled
What is your favorite tv show? Octonauts
Who loves you the most? you (mom)
What is your favorite book? Harold and the Purple Crayon, Rainbow Fairy books
What is your favorite dinner? spaghetti
What is your favorite snack? granola bars and apples
What are some things you can do now that you are 6 that you couldn't do when you were 5?  gymnastics

skiing

Kate came home from school today and told me she didn't have school tomorrow. And tomorrow is a Tuesday. I vaguely remembered getting something about parent teacher conferences on the 6th but I Tuesday was such a random day! Does it make me a bad mom I am so out of the loop? So I went on the school website to check it out and sure enough, no school tomorrow! But while I was on the website I found pictures of Kate's last day of skiing! Here are a few that all have her in it. I know the group ones are small but just look for the girl in really dirty, pink snow pants and a brown coat.
ps, have you ever seen such gross snow pants in your life? She wears them to school every day and they are stained like that. I think its because we haven't had much snow and they spend a lot of time rolling around in the wet brown grass!

ski lessons

Kate had her second day of after school ski lessons today. It was must colder, windier and snowier than the first day but she still had lots of fun. I was so proud to see her coming down the hill! It made me wish I could go skiing with her someday. (She promised to teach me everything she knows!)

We got there a little early to pick her up so we could watch her. I bundled Clara and Sawyer both up but it was too cold so once we found her and took this picture we got back in the car to wait. We sat in the back so we could still watch her go down the hill.

When the lessons were over we found Kate and headed into the lodge to gather her things. By this time, Clara had fallen asleep and looked pretty snug.

Then we came home and warmed up with hot chocolate!

my girls

As soon as I saw Clara I thought she looked so much like Kate. I have since looked at pictures and confirmed it. A ton of people tell me Clara looks just like Ryan, which is what I heard when Kate was born too. Although now I get strangers telling me how much Kate looks like me...so who knows? All I know is that I have 2 beautiful girls!

So proud of Kate!

On Sunday I got a call from someone in Primary telling me Kate had a talk that day. We had missed 2 weeks of Primary because we had stake conference and then it was Memorial Day so we weren't told beforehand. I was wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing...she didn't have to stress and worry about it all week but she also didn't have a week to mentally prepare herself. We sat down together and wrote out a talk. She wanted to write it all by herself. When we got to Primary and it was her turn, I took her hand and lead her up to the podium and with a slight prompt from me (but without much hesitation) she read the entire thing herself! It says: "Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to love him, trust him, and keep his commandments. The first Article of Faith says...(We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost). I know Jesus lives and died for our sins. I know he is there for me when I am sad or scared. Jesus wants us to help others. This morning my little brother got hurt and I went to get his blanket to make him feel better. I know Jesus wants us to love others and keep His commandments."

She read the entire thing herself and even had the 1st Article of Faith memorized so she said that without any help too. I was so proud of her courage! Ryan was sitting in the back listening and he said he really couldn't hear her (even when we were practicing at home she was REALLY quiet so I knew that would happen!) but even if no one heard, we were still very proud.



Also, today was the kid's last day of swimming lessons for this session and I was planning on not doing lessons through the summer. The kids both did awesome. Sawyer follows all the directions like a champ and is great at going under the water. He loves swimming out to Daddy by pushing off the step underwater and gliding towards him all by himself. His back float definitely needs some work, his legs are always going crazy! But he has lots of time. Kate is such a good swimmer! She advanced in everything her class had her do. Today after class her teacher, Dan, asked her to come with him because he wanted to see if she could do something. He took her over to the big pool (25 m) and stood her on the edge and then he got in a distance from her and asked her to jump in and swim to her. She does this all the time, but as she did it and got close to him, he started walking backwards and encouraging her to keep swimming. When they got halfway down the pool, Ryan and I had to stand up to see her and we were both laughing thinking about what she must be thinking in her head....none of us knew what Dan was wanting her to do until she started doing it! We cheered her on and she made it all the way to the end by herself!!!! On the way down she passed an elderly water aerobics class and all the ladies were clapping and cheering for her after she was done. Dan said that because she can swim the entire length of the pool she can join the swim team they have there and we are going to look into it.

After we were done swimming and we were changing in the locker room I told Kate I was so proud of her, not only for being so good at swimming but also for being a good rule follower and listening to her teacher in class. She really is the best little girl and I am so glad she is mine!

My big girl

Last night I had just climbed into bed when I heard a door open and I knew a kid was going to be coming into my room and I would have to climb back out and put them back into bed.

Instead, I heard the faucet in the bathroom run, someone getting a drink, and then the door shut as they returned to their room.

It was one of those times that it really hit me what a big girl Kate is. I am trying to change my perspective from wanting to cry whenever I think about how grown up she is to loving it. She is the greatest girl and I love her so much. Even though she refuses to stop growing.

Interview of a 5 year old

What is your name? Kate

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite color? pink

What is your favorite toy? my new doll

What is your favorite thing to do? play

What is your favorite place to go? swimming

What is your favorite movie? Cinderella

What is your favorite tv show? Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Who loves you the most? Mommy

What is your favorite book? Sleeping Beauty

What is your favorite dinner? spaghetti

What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks

What are some things you can do now that you are 5 that you couldn't do when you were 4? Go on some roller coasters

Kate's first ER visit

I love Costco. Costco always brings back memories of going with my mom in Tucson all the time and, of course, large chocolate covered ice cream bars....mmmm....
Unfortunately here in Houston we don't have a membership so we rarely get to go. Yesterday we were excited to head to Costco with our friend Melissa and her daughter Summer. We ate samples, picked up some jerky, vanilla and ziplock bags and then checked out and headed over to the food court for lunch. After we were done eating Kate and Summer headed to throw away the trash and, for some reason, Kate did a sudden and fast 180 and ran smack into the cart. I was a little ways away and I saw her fly backwards and then Melissa picked her up and started carrying to her. I started saying, "oh, she's okay!" but then Melissa said, "actually she's bleeding." Sure enough, above her eye she was bleeding quite heavily (as head injuries tend to do). As soon as I got to her I headed for the napkins and started applying pressure. I had several nice people ask me if I needed help, got me ice and then fortunately there was a Dr there eating pizza who came and introduced himself. I don't know if he was a pediatrician or not but he definitely had the bedside manner for it because he was totally sweet and reassuring for Kate. He looked at it and reassured me that there wasn't blood in the cornea and that her vision would be fine (which I wasn't even thinking about...but it was nice to be reassured of anyway!) and then he even took my hand, which was visibly trembling quite a bit (thanks Dad) and told me everything would be okay. He directed me to go to Texas Children's Hospital ER. I was so lucky that Melissa was there because she immediately offered to take Sawyer.
So Kate and I headed alone to the ER, singing songs and saying prayers the whole way there. I walked in and checked in and it really wasn't long before they called us back. (The nurse told me it was a lucky time to be at the ER because it was randomly really slow.) Everyone was really sweet. They brought Kate crayons and coloring pages. After a few people looked at it they decided to do 3 stitches and they taped a cotton ball of lidocaine on it, which took the pain away. Kate eventually calmed down and we had fun coloring. After about a 45 minute wait they came in and started setting everything up. They have a special person at TCH who comes in just to entertain and distract the kids while scary things are being done. Most of what she does you need your eyes to experience so mainly she just talked in a sweet voice. Kate calmly laid down on the table and closed her eyes and let them drape the paper over her. They had told her that her job was to sit as still as possible and she took her job really seriously, she did not move or talk or anything. They did the 3 stitches without a hitch and everyone was really impressed with how easy it was. Afterward Kate got a popsicle, juice box and some stickers and she ate them while we waited to be discharged.
After we left the hospital we headed to Target so Kate could choose some jellybeans from the jelly belly wall and a toy. She chose a Sleeping Beauty Barbie (her first Barbie!) and we also got Sawyer a Buzz Lightyear. I was glad we did because when we finally got to Melissa's 6 hours later (Thanks again Melissa!) he immediately ran to us and started crying. I can only imagine what he was thinking as we left him with Kate sobbing. He was easily consoled with Buzz!
The first night with the stitches she woke up at 3am crying and telling me her bandaids fell off, which she must have dreamed about because they were definitely still there. She has been really careful with them but she really hasn't complained about much pain. I am so proud of her, I think she has really handled everything like a big girl. And I'm just excited to see how it heals and what beautiful scar she's left with!
These pictures were all taken at the ER with my phone so pardon the quality.

My very own makeup

Kate has recently been declaring things her "very own". I think it is from Primary when they got to bring home their "very own CD" of songs that we listen to in the car. So when Sawyer went down for a nap one day, Kate asked if she could put on her very own makeup. She sat down at her little table with my bathroom mirror in front of her and spent a lot of time on it.
(I feel a little like a "toddlers and tiaras" mom posting these pictures! Next thing you know I'll be teaching her how to shake her groove thing in heels and a poofy dress!)

But I just KNOW she would win!

Primary Talent Show

Today was the Primary Talent Show and it went really well! When we first started talking about it, I was telling Kate what it would be. How it is on a big stage with lots of people watching and you get to stand and do your talent. She was really excited and said she wanted to sing. We practiced singing (the song changed from day to day) but I knew deep down that we would both probably end up standing on the stage while she shakes her head and says she doesn't want to do it. So we came up with something better.
We decided it would be even more fun to dance with our friends. We made ribbon wands and matching shirts and we got together and practiced the day before. (we didn't make a routine, we just showed them some moves!) I had much more confidence that Kate was going to actually perform!
When it was their turn, we put them on the stage, turned on the music ("Girls just wanna have fun" by Miley Cyrus) and she danced and jumped and twirled her ribbon with a big smile on her face! They were adorable!

They also enjoyed their front row view of all the talents (from light saber fights, roller skating, lego building, and instrument playing) while eating popcorn and candy! What a fun day!

Sawyer was a trooper and sat in his chair the whole time, even though I was running around helping with various things. The candy definitely helped. But if you look into his eyes, those are the eyes of a boy who ran out of his room at 5 am this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep. Ah, the joys of a toddler bed.

And here is a picture of Kate and her name tag. She has gotten really good at writing her name and she writes it on everything!

The talent show was a success! I just hope its preparation enough for her upcoming dance recital this spring!