Take Me Out to the Ballgame Part II

Kate's party was a huge success. So many of her friends came to celebrate with us (well, and watch the game ;). As soon as we walked into the gate, I ran into my best friend in high school, and finally got to meet her two adorable children. We have lived in the same city for over a year now, and I am very ashamed to say, still have not gotten our kiddos together to play. It was so fun getting to see her family again.
As I'm sure you already know, Kate love, love, loved being the center of attention all night. We've been to several birthday parties lately, so when Kate woke up the morning of her birthday, she said, "Mom, is this going to be my special day, so all the presents will be for me this time?" What can I say, she had to get something from Brad ;).

We got Kate this little t-ball set for her birthday, and Brad took all the kids over to a play area in the ballpark where they took turns hitting. A couple of people not with our party wandered over and offered to pay $1 to hit :).

Miss Lea Anne, Mr. Jon, and Chelsea gave Kate a bag full of dress up clothes. Two of her favorite things in the bag were this veil and some clip on earrings. She only takes them off to sleep.

She didn't really like any of her presents...

And Livie didn't much care for her cake...
Friends at a ballpark with a Costco cake makes for a really great 4th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Kathryn!

It's hard to believe that our "big girl" is FOUR!
We've been borrowing Aunt Heidi's copy of Sleeping Beauty for a while now, and without mentioning anything to the girls (because I really didn't think they would care), I bought a copy for us, and gave Aunt Heidi's back. Kathryn has been telling me for a while now that she would really like to have the Sleeping Beauty movie for her birthday - one she could keep, and that she didn't have to give back to Aunt Heidi. Being the good (aka cheap) mother that I am, instead of telling her that I had already done just that, I kept it a secret, then as she was sleeping last night, wrapped up her copy of Sleeping Beauty and put it in front of her door, so that she would have a package to open first thing on her birthday.

It worked! When she woke up, she came running in with the present:
K: "For me?!?"
M: "Yes! It's your birthday, remember?"
K: "TODAY??? It's June 30th today?!?!"
M: "That's right!"
K: "So, I'm not 3 anymore?!?! I'm 4 now???"
M: "That's right!"
Once she finally settled down from being four, she opened her present and was ecstatic. Really, no one would have known that was the very movie that had been sitting in our entertainment center for the last two months. But she was so curious as to when I got it, and how I had kept it a secret from her:
K: "Did you get it at the store the other day? At Target? Or Wal-Mart?"
M: "No, I ordered it a long time ago. On the computer."
K: "Oh. Then did you pick it up at the store?"
M: "No, when you buy stuff on the computer, they mail it to you."
K: "Ohhhhh! So actually, the mailman gave me this movie for my birthday!"

Tonight we'll be celebrating at the ballgame - assuming it doesn't rain - with family and a few close friends. I'm so thankful for the little "big girl" that God chose to be part of our family. Happy Birthday, Kate! We love you!!

Looking back

I just happened to be flipping through some June photos, and accidentally landed in the June '08 file. I was just in shock at how much these little girls had grown, so quickly. I feel like I should literally be able to watch them sprout if they grow this much in one year.

Speaking of growing up, it has definitely been on Kathryn's mind a lot lately. I must have said, "Kathryn, you are growing up too fast" one too many times, because now she is obsessed with it. It started one day when she was telling me about what she was going to do when she grew up:

K: "... and I'll get married, and we'll live here with you and Dad!"
M: "When you get married, you won't live with Mom and Dad anymore. You'll get a house with your husband, and you'll live there with him, just like Mom and Dad live in their own house."
K (almost in tears): "But I can't live here with you anymore? Will you miss me? Will you be so sad???"
M: "I will be a little sad, but that's what God says to do, and so I'll be happy, too, that you are doing what God says."
K: "Mom? I don't want to grow up. I just want to live here with you."

Ever since then, she will just come over to me at random times throughout the day, give me a big bear hug, and say, "Mom, I don't want to grow up too fast, because I want to live with you. I just love you so much." I have to push back the tears as I tell her that when it's time, she'll be ready. I am so thankful to God for the three little girls He has given us to raise, and I pray we will bring them up to be invaluable servants of His.

A cookie kind of day

It's kind of a sad and lonely day around here today. Our good friend Chelsea called last night saying that she was going to Aunt Hannah's house, and wanted to know if Kathryn would like to tag along. Our little girl? On a trip all by herself?? She was such a big girl packing up her things and putting them in her backpack. Of course, she was ready 3 hours early, but still carried her backpack around with her all morning. When Chelsea got to the house, she went around giving her hugs, and all I could think was, "she'll be a teenager before I can blink". I love my little girls so much, and it's so hard to see them growing up so fast... and remember to let go a little as they do.


Sad doesn't begin to describe what Livie was feeling as Kate pulled away. She was downright depressed. Thankfully, this Mama had something up her sleeve! I had whipped up a batch of sugar cookies and had them chilling in the fridge this morning, ready to be cut into shapes and decorated when we walked back in from waving goodbye.

Success!

A special skirt

Being a crafter myself, there is not much that I appreciate more than a home-made gift. I know how much time and effort goes into thinking of something to make, then actually bringing that project to fruition. My good friend Jessica made this sweet little skirt for Maggie for her birthday this year. She did such a great job on it, and I just love it. (We won't talk about how it shows off Maggie's pot belly ;) I tried to get it up and over, but that was much, much worse...)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

This year we signed Kate up to be a "Knot Hole Member" of the Indianapolis Indians. Basically, that meant we could pay $14 for her to get in to every game this season for free. For all the home games, Arby's sponsors "Two for Tuesday" buy one get one tickets, so on Tuesdays, our whole family can get into the game for $9. We have been two times so far this season, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls live for it. Every morning when they wake up they ask if we'll be going to a baseball game. Right now, they are pretending that they are there. They even got "the blanket" out of the closet and have it spread out on the floor of their room.

This past Friday night we talked our good friends Dave and LeeAnn into going with us. We weren't sure if they would say yes, since it would cost their family over $30 to get in, but they were sports and said they would come anyway. They were next in line to get their tickets when a guy grabbed Dave and told him he had 5 extra tickets that he couldn't use, so the lucky ducks ended up getting in for free! They were especially glad they came then :). Of course, I won't tell on Dave and what a cheap wad he was when he wouldn't even pay $1 for Caleb to throw the ball in the inflatable pit. His story is once he was reminded they got in for free he was totally fine with it ;).

Dave is such a kid-magnet. I felt so sorry for him because all 5 of the big kids were hanging on him all night. We got stared at quite a bit with our apparently large families (LeeAnn was babysitting one little girl, but since when is a family of five super-sized??) Brad was standing off from the blanket and overheard a couple of guys talking amongst themselves: "Did you see those people over there? They have like 10 kids under 3!"


Maggie found the bag of M&M's all by herself, and was totally content.


Brad's parents are coming next week, and we'll all be going together! We're all super pumped about that! Kate has already been praying about it :).

Has it really been a month?

Our baby turns 1!