Birthday Boom

Baby Sister reached the terrific twos milestone on Saturday. It's hard to believe she's been around for two years already.
Listen as she says "uh oh" after she blows out the first candle. Too cute!

Hard to believe this was her just two years ago.

Gift opening time!

Jessica enjoyed the presents just as much as Kathryn.

Kathryn had free hands because Nate took over opening gifts for her.

Not only does Nathan plan the birthday parties, but he's also the designated gift-opener.

In case you can't understand what's being said, Nate is reminding Baby Sister that it's her birthday... as he sits there and unwraps her gifts.

These dolls just don't compare to the real baby that Aunt Lexi brought.

Boomba kept trying to trade her baby dolls with whoever was holding Allison. She offered two dolls in exchange for one real baby.

More gifts. There has never been a shortage of gifts on either of these kids birthdays or Christmas.

Time for cake!

I was warned about the black frosting when I picked up the cake. It stains everything it comes in contact with.

More of my messy girl.

She ended up in the tub after her cake eating.

At least she's showing a little improvement in her eating skills. She didn't get quite as messy as last year.

She loved her baby dolls, but they just don't compare to the real thing.

Aunt Lexi let her hold Allison for about 15 minutes to get it out of her system. She held her so long she almost fell asleep herself.

She was so happy holding Allison. She was so grown up and gentle while holding the baby but the second the baby was taken away from her she threw an immediate two year old tantrum.

Kathryn got a new tricycle for her birthday. Here she is trying it out for the first time.

Just like a big brother to block his little sister on the sidewalk while she's trying to learn how to ride her new tricycle. That was definitely a "Joe moment."

Birthday balloon sharing.

Boomba Pix

Before I move on to Boomba's birthday I have a bunch of random pictures to post of her and a few of Nate. She is one hilarious little girl and she doesn't even try be, which makes it even more hilarious!

Bath time bubbles.
It cleaned off so now it's considered to be a cute Boomba incident.
How could I get mad when she was looking up at me so cute with marker all over her arms.
I got fed up to the point that I didn't allow my kids to eat indoors for a few days. They make the hugest mess when they eat.
Typical activity. Pulling wipes out and walking around the house "cleaning" up stuff.
I don't know. Just a funny picture of Nate.
Daddy puts her in pig tails.
Just a cute little Boomba picture.
She has a serious shoe fetish. She wants to wear every pair of shoes she sees laying around. Steve's boots.
Sliding outside.
She wanted to wear my boots too.
Smoothie break.

Welcome to Florida, Laura!

Nathan is always happy to have one more person around, which is why he is so excited to have my cousin Laura around now. He didn't really even know of her until she moved down here, but that doesn't make any difference to him. He can't wait to hang out with her more often. We'll see if she feels he same!

Uncle Joe, Pregnant Aunt Lexi, Jessica and Laura came over for dinner one night a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if Laura ever comes back over after spending a night with Nate, Kate and Jess (as well as the rest of us). I can't say I blame her if we don't see her again for a long, long time. Between Jessica's attempt to flush a pumpkin down the toilet and Nathan's crying fit at 11 p.m. because Steve and I flat out told him we're not buying a minivan after he begged and pleaded for one after he watched Joe and Lexi back theirs out of the driveway.

Typical dinner behavior with my family.

Less Is NOT More

Why stop with one hair bow when you can use them all?

Notice her shoes. She pulled these out of my closet before we left to pick up Nate from school and who am I to tell her she can't wear heels to school at the age of almost 2.

Fishing with Daddy and Opa

Nate took his first fishing trip with Opa and Daddy a couple of days ago.
They just went down the street, but apparently that spot was Nate's lucky fishing spot because he caught his first fish. Daddy and Opa will probably try to call that beginner's luck because their fishing trip didn't turn out so well!

New Baby Haggerty

I am pleased to announce that I am the proud aunt to my new little niece Allison Camille Haggerty, born November 13. I was delighted to make a trip out to Pensacola to hang out with my girl JQ while Joe, Lexi and Allison were at the hospital. I got to spend her last few moments as an only child with her. I made sure to get a video of it.

Holy Cow! This is a big sister!

Joe and Lexi are going to have to put Allison either on a high shelf or in a cage of her own to keep Jessica off of her.... look at that death grip she has on Bunker.Thanks for the fun evening JQ!
I don't have any pictures of Baby Allison just yet. I didn't get to meet her because I had to come home early before school Monday morning, but I will meet her tomorrow and I can't wait. Look for more pictures later, or if you know Joe too you can just look at his blog.

Birthday Bouncing

I've got to do some quick catching up. We are so busy I don't even remember half of what we do until I look through my pictures. Good thing I carry my camera with me everywhere I go, or else my entire life would be a blur.

Nate and Kate attended a birthday party for Nate's friend Maddie last Saturday. He had a blast bouncing in the bounce castle.

This picture is funny because out of all 10 kids that were at the party, the dog knew that my kids were the messiest eaters and he had the best chance of getting a taste of that pizza from one of them, especially Kate.

Thoughts on Nebraska

Nathan has been interested in learning about the various landscapes across this great country of ours. We look at pictures online of each state. He really likes the states with beautiful trees, mountains and beaches. Here are his thoughts on Nebraska.

There you have it. Nebraska is missing everything Nate finds interesting because God forgot to make Nebraska beautiful.

School Drop-Off

On the days that I don't teach at school, Nate gets to get dropped off at school like the rest of the kids. He really likes those days. Standing up through the sunroof has become the new "cool" thing for his class to do in the drop-off line in the mornings. They yell "Hi So-and-so!" to each other and fill each other in on exciting things they have going on in their lives. (While Kathryn in strapped in her car seat mad as can be that she's left out.)
It would suck to be a kid in the class without a sunroof.

Happy Halloween

Kat recovered from her sickness in time for the Halloween celebrations. Good thing because I would have been mad if I wouldn't have been able to dress her up and show her off.Ringo Starr came out for another appearance with Kat.

We went to a community celebration, Orangefest, which was held at their school. There was trunk-or-treating and bounce houses and slides and games and popcorn and cotton candy, as well as a ton of other stuff.
Kat didn't understand that you don't actually eat the candy as you get it.
Nathan just stopped asking for candy and started opening it up himself.
So much for having to choose... popcorn and cotton candy.
Then we came home and handed out candy. Well, the kids handed out candy while Steve and I hung out on the front porch.
There they are handing out candy to the kids. Actually, I just noticed Kathryn is eating the candy.

Kathryn wasn't ready for trick-or-treating to be over. She still wanted to hand out candy. She was trying to get the kids who already came to our house to come back. Nate was yelling to the kids, "Hey! We have more candy here!"

Nate already decided that he's going to dress up for Thanksgiving too. He's going to be John Lennon.