Katie

Katie left to go home on Friday. She was with us for almost 2 months and as always it was hard to see her go. This year was harder because Pete was older and understood she was leaving us.

The summer started out busy and exciting. Katie was excited to be here and the kids were thrilled to have her. She was very entertaining to two small children, I had someone to talk to, and I had someone to help me if I needed it. The biggest help for me was I had an extra pair of hands to carry things whether it be stuff or a child. And if I needed to run inside to do something or put the dishes away I would just ask Katie to watch the kids for a second while I got it done.

Let's just say having a 13 year old in the house this summer was challenging. The dynamics of taking care of a 13 year old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old were completely different. They have completely different needs and wants. Teenagers these days are so distracted by electronics. They consume their lives. Katie would go for hours without eating, drinking, or peeing. She was constantly on her phone texting, on the computer playing games, on her iPod Touch playing more games or watching movies/tv, on her iPod listening to music, on her Nintendo DS playing games, or watching TV. It was a constant battle trying to get her to do something other than these things. And if I did get her off she pouted and moped around until she was allowed back on. Kids rely on these things for constant entertainment and their happiness really. Playing outside, being with the family, playing cards or a board game, etc just doesn't cut it for kids these days. And it's something I am going to have to get used to. How will it be when my kids are older? Much worse I am sure. So I guess this is good practice for me.

Anyway, overall our time with Katie was wonderful. She is really a sweet girl and for a 13 year old isn't that bad. She loves the kids and the kids just loved her. We did a lot of fun things together and made a lot of fun memories. Pete misses her. Last night at dinner he reached for her hand to pray and she wasn't there and he said, "Big Sissy." We all knew what just happened. So we prayed for her instead. Jamie looks for her when she wakes up in the chair she was always in. And again I deal with trying to someday explain to the kids that Katie is their sister but has a different mommy that she lives with. They are blessed to have her though and we were blessed to get the summer with her. I am just nervous about next summer when she is 14, then 15 and 16. Yikes.

Here is Katie saying goodbye to Jamie as she left for the airport on Friday.

The Moon

Pete loves the moon. He looks for it every night. He finds them in every book. If he sees one in the sky he makes sure everyone knows it's there, and looks at it. And keeps looking at it. It's weird because P. and I don't have any particular love of the sky or astronomy. In fact, we both think space exploration is kind of silly. If you ask Pete what he wants to be when he grows up he says fireman, or astronaut. And he wants to drive a bulldozer, golf cart and truck like daddy. He says, "someday." :)

This week there was an incredible moon in the sky. It was full, yellowish orange and huge. We all enjoyed watching it rise and staring at it in the sky above us.

Here is Pete, and his moon.

1 Year Doctors Appt

Jamie had her one year check up today. 21 pounds, 29 inches. 50th percentile of weight and 75th of height. Everything looks great. She is doing well in all areas and the doctor was impressed with her curly hair and long eye lashes.

When we were in the waiting room I overheard a woman say she had six kids. I piped up, "You have six kids!" She said yes and I asked how she does it. She says it gets easier with every kid. You are more relaxed with every one and the older ones can help out. I envied her. I want six kids.

Jamie did just fine at her appointment. She cried for a bit after her 4 shots but recovered quickly when I showed her pictures on the wall of babies and horses. At one point she remembered she was hurting and cried again. Thank you God for a healthy, happy baby girl.

Here is the little sugar ball waiting to see the doctor.And here are Pete and Katie eating their snacks while waiting for Jamie to see the doctor. Pete is a giant goof ball these days. Mom taking a picture=making a silly face for the camera. And yes, those are his snow boots. He wanted to wear them yesterday to the MOPS picnic at the park and I said no. So today, he wore boots.

New Fun

This is the new fun thing. A jeep! A bright pink Barbie Jeep! :) And it is so fun. Our wonderful friends the Fords handed it down to us last week. They purchased it for their 3 year old daughter as an incentive to get potty trained and it worked. And they enjoyed it for over 5 years now and last week it became ours to enjoy for many more years to come. Pete was dying to drive it the night we got it but we needed to buy a battery. Then the battery needed to be charged for 18-24 hours. So, we had it up and running Saturday night and it was a blast. Apparently it is even a little faster than normal jeeps due to some rewiring on the Fords part!

Pete was a little scared at first. It actually has some pep to it and can be a little loud while running. He drove a little in the driveway with P. running beside him and got out. I was nervous it wasn't going to be as big of a hit as I thought it was going to be. So I got in, very carefully, and drove Pete around. He liked that. Jamie did too. She loved watching us race around here and laughed the whole time. Like hysterically laughed. Then I drove Jamie around. She loved it. LOVED it! She laughed, giggled, waved, bounced and pointed. That little girl, she is going to be such a daredevil someday. That juiced up Barbie Jeep will be doing jumps and going off cliffs when she gets behind the wheel.

We had a great idea. Put the jeep in low gear and see how Pete liked it then. It worked. Perfect speed for him. He drove it by himself for at least 20 min. It was so nice to have the field next door and the large driveway to drive in.

Here are the pictures. What a fun experience. And what fun memories we will have in the future. And what a great gift to receive from our friends. Thank you to our dear friends the Fords for this fun new addition. The kids love it and we can't wait to have you over so you can see the kids live in action! Tonight we are going to wash it and take it back out for a spin!

Fun Stuff

The kids are having a lot of fun lately. Here is their fun. They have something else new that is a lot of fun but I need to go to bed. Stay tuned......

Riding Sandy the horse at Meijer.Climbing on the kitchen chairs.
Playing with mama.And playing with big sissy and Abby.
Doing Katie's homework book and celebrating completion of her last page for the summer.Being pretty and walking.
Brushing Jamie's new teeth for the first time. Pete took these pictures for me since no one else was home. His finger was over the flash but I like the way it turned out.
Playing outside on a beautiful summer night.

They love playing in their cribs together. They bounce around and land on each other and laugh like it's the funniest thing in the whole world.
(And yes, Pete is ALWAYS naked.)

Park

Took the kids to the township park the other day. Jamie is starting to be able to enjoy more things now like the park, the library, etc. She climbed up stuff, went down slides (with help), and played in the wood pieces for a long time. Pete is getting more daring. He went down the biggest slides by himself and even tried them headfirst. Yikes.

The Dog

This is where the dog hangs out at mealtimes. She eats well these days.

Jamie Walking

Milestones

Jamie started walking. She is up to 5 steps. I got a good video of it last week but Pete is walking around naked in it and I decided not to post it online. :) And she has two teeth now. The first one came in last week and the second broke through yesterday. Or maybe the day before.

Messy

Did I mention Jamie is a messy eater? This is her eating a Nutri Grain bar.
My blurry lens after she grabbed the camera.Ah, I got it in my eyes. Oh wait, that is me rubbing it in my eyes.Had to add this one in there. Dried prunes between her eyes.

Garage Sales

Last Thursday morning Katie, Pete and I went out for donuts and garage sale shopping. I found a fireman costume for Halloween for $3. It is in perfect shape, fits Pete perfectly and is nice and warm for our usually very cold Halloweens. And Pete absolutely loves it. It was about 90 degrees last Thursday but he wore it twice. How cute is this?He found his winter boots to complete the fireman look.

I also found a bunch of craft kits that a little girl was selling. She had done one or two of the crafts in each box and was selling the rest for $1 a box. Katie and Pete have recently made picture frame/mirrors and candles. Here are the kids candles.

Pete

I noticed I haven't posted much about Pete lately. Poor little guy is getting left out in all the Jamie excitement of late. Here is my little man having some ice cream the other day. He prefers chocolate (that's my boy). And he prefers bulldozers. He loves them. Pete helps me sweep the kitchen floor a lot and I give him a nickel or so for helping me out. Today I asked him what he is going to buy with his allowance and he said bulldozers! And he is getting sillier by the day. Definitely finding his humorous side and he knows what will make me laugh. I was trying to get a picture of his chocolate mouth and he was trying to be funny!

Party Day

We had Jamie's first birthday party on Saturday at our favorite park down the road. It was a beautiful day for such a wonderful celebration. I spent most of the week preparing for the big day so it would be perfect for my little girl. The party included all of our closest friends, a dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, fruit and some really good potato salad made by our friend Connie. Katie planned some games for the kids. Some adults even joined in the fun. We opened some kind generous gifts from our friends and family then Jamie dug into her cake. I made two butterfly cakes, some butterfly sugar cookies, brownies and a small heart cake just for Jamie to enjoy.

Jamie was a doll. We had to wake her up early from her nap to take her to the party. You never know how that is going to go but she was a perfect little angel. She sat for a long time eating her dinner and smiling at everyone. She let different people hold her and considering I wouldn't let her down to crawl around in the dirt and tree sap she did really well being off the ground the whole time. Especially for a girl that is practicing her walking every chance she gets. Katie's games were a lot of fun for the kids. Then we opened presents. She wasn't very interested in them. We tried to direct her attention to the opening of the gifts but she wouldn't have it. She had this one pink squishy ball that had been a game prize and she concentrated on that while Katie and Pete checked out all the new stuff. She was blessed with a lot of nice gifts and both her, and I will enjoy them for a long time to come. Then we had cake. Jamie liked squishing the icing and cake through her fingers the most. She took a few bites but nothing too major. And as usual she managed to get very messy but cute messy!

Here are some pictures of our special celebration. This was at dinner. She ate like half a cantalope. And in front of her is a darling birthday cake hat that our dear friends the Coash's bought for her. Jamie doesn't put up with hats but we got a few really cute pictures of her with it on and it currently sits on a shelf in her room for all to see.
The two cakes, cookies, and some presents.Opening gifts.
Trying to get into the cake before she was even strapped into her chair.Finishing it off. Classic.Happy being messy.
My sweet boy at the end of the evening waiting to go home.Our family. Me and my big one year old. At home before bed. She put her favorite beaded necklaces on and chewed on a few candles before hitting the hay. She was up really late that night, too late. Must have been all the birthday excitement. All in all it was a perfect evening with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who joined us to celebrate our sweet little girl. We love and appreciate you all for being a part of our lives and Jamie's life.

What is Jamie like at 1 years old? The first thing that comes to mind is sugar and spice. We call her Sugar Ball and she is definitely full of sugar, and lots of spice! She is starting to walk and can take 2 steps before falling. Her favorite word is uh oh. She waves to a select few people and her dad is her favorite person to wave to. She loves her dad so much and gets so excited when he comes home from work. Jamie loves her brother too. They love playing on our bed, flopping into the comforter and pillows and on top of each other. She loves to be chased, loves to splash in water and loves to play in the dishwasher. Jamie is not a sleeper. She would rather be awake crawling around with her necklaces on. Jamie is full of life. She has the sweetest full faced toothless smile. Her head is full of ringlet curls that are so adorable. She still loves to eat but is getting pickier about the stuff she does. She loves fruit! Jamie is the messiest eater you have ever seen. Seriously, it is ridiculous. She puts stuff in her mouth, chews it up, pulls it back out, plays with it a bit, puts it back in, drops some of it down her shirt, in her diaper and on the floor then grabs for another bite. Jamie's eyes are to die for. They melt my heart every time she looks at me. And lately she has looked so tall and strong. Today I called her my baby girl and P. said she isn't a baby anymore. She doesn't look like a baby, but she is still my baby. My favorite thing Jamie does is when I get her up from a nap she wraps her arms around my neck and shoulders and pulls herself close to me. It's kind of like a big hug and she just holds on like she is so happy to be held by me. I love singing her to sleep and watching her eyes get droopy. She is a smart little girl who loves to get into trouble. She wants to be on things, in things, eating things and breaking things whenever she can. She hates having her diaper changed and will fight you every time. And don't even think about wiping her mouth and hands after a meal or you will hear about it. And at the end of the night before I go to bed I look at her on the monitor and she is sleeping like a frog, like she did when she was first born. Happy birthday to the sweetest little gift from God. We love you more than words can say.

Happy Birthday!

My little girl is one today!