School's Out, Sun's Out

It's the end of May, and that means school is over and the sun is shining! This summer is shaping up to be a fun one, but I don't want to forget all the exciting things that May held for us. 

I'm officially declaring May as the month of outside. The weather had warmed up and we spent about every minute we could enjoying the sunshine. We took wagon rides, blew bubbles, rode bikes, spotted deer during truck rides and played in the dirt.

 

On the 11th, Eric and I celebrated 10 whole years of marriage. Every day with this guy is a gift, and we have had quite the adventure in the past 10 years. Looking forward to lifetime together with him.

My mom and dad got the twins fishing poles for Easter, and dad was ready to cash in that gift with a trip to the pond! Brayden had the absolute best time (he probably tied for the most fun with my dad). He was the winner for catching the most and also the biggest fish. Seeing his excitement as he reeled in the fish was so fun. We for sure need to get him back out to the pond to fish again soon.

Here's Brayden with his first ever fish!

He had so much fun reeling them in!

And then here he is with the biggest fish of the evening. 

Ashley loved the idea of fishing. She talked it up real big on our way there and acted so excited to catch a fish with her new pole. Once we started fishing though, I don't think it was as fun as she thought it would be. She did like reeling the fish in, but only wanted to reel in a few fish before she was done.

Ashley with her first fish of the night! 

Ashley and the smallest fish of the night. But as she put it, "I like the small ones because they don't splash."

Mother's Day was a relaxing day with the kids and our moms. While these three drive me crazy on the daily, I feel blessed that God chose me to be their momma.

Katie turned O-N-E on the 26th, and we celebrated with pizza and a truck ride. You can check out my full blog on her first birthday here. 

We had her party on the 28th, and she was showered with lots of love from family and friends. 

Since her favorite food is pizza, I knew I had to make that the theme of her party. Check out this cake my mom made. She nailed it!!

Katie was not really into eating her cake (nothing like what the twins did on their first birthday), but she was still cute as could be as she ate her little cupcake.

And I had to sneak in the picture of Ashley and our cousin Emmy. These two are the true definition of besties. I hope their bond continues to grow and they don't grow tired of each other by the time they are older ha!

That night we headed to Palestine for food and fun with friends. The kids jumped in a bounce house, swung on the swings, ate smore's, shot up rockets, played with glow-sticks, and Brayden even rode a hoverboard with the help of Brandon. I'd say the evening was a success!

Memorial Day we went to Montrose for Mass with Eric's family and then headed to his Aunt and Uncle's house for even more food and fun with family. 

 

 

The past two days we've definitely kept things a little more lowkey that our weekend had been, and I think we were all thankful for the slowdown. Now we are refreshed and recharged to enjoy what June has in store for us!

Katie: One Year

365 fun filled days with you, sweet girl. How did we get so lucky?

This month we spent lots of time outside. Katie has loved exploring the great outdoors. She doesn't mind the dogs anymore (as long as they don't lick her face), and is also now OK with grass. If the twins are doing something, she will be right there. Once she starts walking, I don't think there will be any stopping her!

Katie enjoyed a little time at the lake watching Brayden and Ashley catch their first fish.

And she helped me celebrate Mother's Day. 

I was able to get Katie in the studio (with a lot of help from Eric) to get some one year pictures taken of her. 

And this last one is Katie in a dress that I had had when I was Katie's age. We couldn't find a picture of me in it at mom and dad's, but if I do I will add it to this post!

This crazy girl is crawling up, around, and through anything and everything. 

She loves to be involved in whatever you are doing. Here you can see her helping pull weeds from the landscaping. 

But honestly, if she is where you are, she is as happy as can be.

Her favorite thing is to do whatever Brayden and Ashley are doing (with mom being a close second). 

She loves standing up on the couch, clapping her hands, and truck rides.

Her favorite places to pull up to stand include her high chair and the panty. She isn't walking on her own yet, but she will cruise furniture and has attempted letting go when she is standing up. If you hold her hands, she will start walking while holding on, but leans forward a lot, so I think we are a bit before she starts walking on her own. 

I would officially say that she is able to say "mama" and uses it all.the.time. If I leave a room, she might come crawling after me just saying mama mama mama. Eric tries to get her to say "dada", but she knows mom is the best and isn't giving him that satisfaction. She does think he is the funniest thing, and will almost always push his kisses away when he tries to give her one (with the most ornery smile on her face of course). But, she does give him more kisses than she gives me. 

 

Katie has four teeth fully in (two on top and two on bottom) and has another tooth about halfway in on the top, making almost 5 teeth. She's decided that real food isn't as bad as she originally thought, and loves to chow down on some pizza.

She weighed 18.4 pounds this morning and is about 29.25 inches long according to our measurements at home. She has her one year check up next week, and I'll update this post after that with official measurements from the doctor. 

Katie is in size 3 diapers and has been rocking size 9 month clothes this month, but I'm going to be changing out her clothes for 12 months today. 

Schedule wise, we wake up around 6 and follow 3 hour wake windows. She usually goes to bed between 7 and 7:30. She gets four 6 ounce bottles. I ran out of breastmilk this month, so we've been doing a mix of formula and whole milk, and are now on just whole milk. We've tried the past few days to get her to drink her milk out of a cup, but she pushes every cup away and will pout until we put it back in a bottle. I think we will try offering her milk in her cup at meals instead of water so she realizes that cups can hold milk too. 

Favorite toys would probably be her high chair, the kitchen chair, or the couch ha! She hasn't really gravitated towards any specific toy lately and more wants to be standing up or doing whatever Brayden and Ashley are doing. She loves bath time with them and trying to jump on their bed while they are jumping. 

She does enjoy reading though, and after getting her jammies on, she will go to her bookshelf and pull off a book to look at. Her current favorite is Never Touch a Zebra. 

Dislikes would include being left out and having to wait too long to eat dinner. 

Katie has always been a rockstar sleeper and hardly ever wakes up through the night. She is a belly sleeper and while I usually find her laying flat, I know she does sleep on her knees throughout the night because they are red in the morning. Look at this sweet picture taken on her last night before turning one!

We are celebrating Katie this weekend with a pizza party, but I'm hoping today is filled with her favorite things- Brayden and Ashley, pizza for dinner, and maybe a truck ride around the block. Happy first birthday sweet girl, we can't wait to keep watching you grow!