Snow

Like so much of the US, we just got TONS of snow!
I tried to take Paul out in it, but it was just too much snow for him to walk in.
Plus our noses almost froze off. Here are some pictures before the huge snow fall:





Here is the snow after the storm. It is as high as the picnic bench, almost as high as the table!



Also, Kate just had her 6 month check-up and here are the stats:
Weight 19lbs 3oz
Height 28.5 inches
She's still an inch ahead of Paul, but a couple of pounds behind. We'll see how long that keeps up.

Update

Katie Bug
Yesterday was Kate's Half Birthday! I can't believe she is already 6 months old and is now closer to being a one-year-old than she is to being a newborn.

I love this picture of Kate even though she isn't smiling because to me it looks the most true to what she looks like in everyday life (except that her hair is usually very messy in real life). It is an image like the ones I have of her in my head that I want to freeze forever. She spends a lot of time just looking around and observing. Unless you interact with her one-on-one that is, and then she lights up and is very giggly and smiley.


Kate is rolling all over the place and pretty close to sitting up, but isn't quite there. She is getting more and more fun every day as her little preferences start to shine through. I can no longer be on the computer or eat with her in on my lap because she just goes crazy trying to get the keyboard or my food. It is fun to see her start to really like certain things.


Thanksgiving
Some friends invited us to their place for dinner and everyone had a great time. Here is Kate watching football with Dad.



It is hard to tell in the picture, but her hair is getting pretty long and is in her eyes most of the time. So by the end of the evening our friend, who is a hair cutter, was nice enough to trim up the extra long hairs in the back and give her some bangs so that her hair isn't in her eyes anymore. She looks like such a big girl now!


Later that evening we decided to give her a taste of Thanksgiving so Kate got sweet potatoes for her first food. She ended up eating the whole jar. Here is the video (and a good shot of her new haircut)


Paul, Halloween, and Everything else
Paul still keeps us going. Lately he's been really into trains which means I spend most of my time building tunnels and bridges for him out of blocks.






I can't not post a picture of Paul as Mickey Mouse for Halloween. I think it was the highlight of his year. I wasn't even going to dress him up, but some friends let us borrow their boy's Mickey Mouse costume and Paul was in heaven. He wore it all night long at the church Halloween party and never even tried to take the gloves or hat off. The rest of the weekend he kept asking to be Mickey Mouse.



There is finally some snow on the ground and Paul is loving it. He wakes up every morning asking if he can go outside. He loves to hear the snow crunch under his feet. Unfortunately for him I'm not so eager to get him and Kate and myself all bundled just for the adventure, but sometimes he gets lucky and we head on outside. Here are a few shots of us enjoying the snow.





And here is my wonderful family

Pictures

I'm long over due for a blog post so here are a bunch of pictures to make up for it!

Kate at 4 months:

4mo stats:
Weight: 16lbs 14oz (97%)
Height 26.5 in long (97%)

I don't have very many pictures of Kate out and about because she usually looks like this (or facing inward and sleeping -my favorite way to get Paul out of the house without disrupting Kate's nap time):


Fall!







I love those chubby cheeks




I didn't realize how much hair she had until I put it in a little pig tail. So much fun!


And of course there is Paul keeping everything fun and exciting.






It has almost been a week and Paul still hasn't stopped talking about his cousins Eli and Emme who were just here for a visit. We had a blast enjoying all the wonderful things about fall and eating a lot of great apples.










After a long day, who can resist Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

All about Paul

Happy Birthday Paul!

Paul turned 2 last week and is becoming quite a big boy.
He loves to run, jump, hop, dance, wiggle, climb,play ball, hang on bars, lay upside down, spin until he is dizzy, and do just about anything active. Thank goodness for playgrounds!

While his first love is anything high energy, he also has lots of other fun interests...

Paul love building tall towers:


Thanks to Super Why! he now knows the name of every letter in the alphabet and likes to play the "alphabet game" on the computer (typing):


He just started coloring!


And he loves his best friend Jaden


Paul had his 2 year old check up yesterday and here are the stats:

Weight: 32lbs
Height: 35 3/4 in (couldn't they just round to 3 feet)
Shoe size: 8 1/2 XW

We took Paul shoe shopping and sure enough, he is out of the toddler and into the big boy sizes. He loves his new tennis shoes and even insisted on wearing them to church the next day.


Paul got everything a 2 year old could want for his birthday, the only problem was that he was sick and couldn't have friends over to enjoy them with.

Here's the big guy on his big day





Happy Birthday Paul

All about Kate

Kate is 3 months old!
I can't believe how fast she is growing. Oh how I wish I could freeze her in time. She is so precious.

My favorite thing about Kate is her smile. It just lights up the room. She is very content being alone, but when someone comes up and smiles she just starts beaming. She always returns a smile, even if it means she has to take a break from fussing or is nodding off and barely has her eyes cracked open. I never get sick of it.

Here are some pictures of her awesome smile





And here she is doing the what she does best, hanging out in the bouncy seat



I love kids in pajamas!


We sure do love her

Tall Kate

I know Kate is almost 2 1/2 months, but I finally took her in for her 2 month check up and yep, she's a tall drink of water. She's even taller than Paul was at 2 months. Here are the stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 5oz (97th percentile)
Height: 24 1/2 inches (above 97th percentile)



Poor Kate was not happy about the vaccines. When she was awake she was crying, but luckily she slept far more than she was awake. I put her down for a nap at 5:30pm and she slept until 4:30am! Too bad Paul still woke me up at 1am and 4am. He usually sleeps better than that.

Summer Time

"Yea Summer" as Paul would say

Between visiting family and spend as much time outdoors as possible, we've sure been enjoying summer.

We had a great time having lots of family around for our summer vacation. Paul especially loved all of the attention from his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. I wish I had more pictures! Maybe we'll just have to visit more often.



Paul came home with a special treat - the love of water! Since our trip we've tried to spend more time at the lake, in the pool or at least enjoying some of the splash pads near the parks in our area.









Kate is so good to just come along for the ride! I'm sure glad she likes carriers because I don't how else I'd keep up with Paul.





While we were home with family we got to have Kate's Baby Blessing. What a great day.









Since we've been home Kate hasn't taken a break from growing up. I can't believe how big she is already getting.




She finally graduated from a port-a-crib into a big girl crib. I was going to take back Paul's crib and move him to a bed, but I gave up before trying when I found this crib on Craig's List for a great deal. I can't believe we are a two crib family, but my back is already thanking me for it.





Here's a little clip of Paul playing baseball. When my aim is on, his batting average gets up in the .500 range. He loves it.