She's a dancer!

Tonight was Kate's big night! After months of dance lessons and weeks of talking about how fun dancing on a stage would be (in an attempt to avoid a dance recital meltdown similar to a giving a prayer at the microphone in Primary meltdown) I totally felt like she was ready!
We spent the day running some errands and I bought Kate some glitter for her hair which she carried with her the rest of the day and was so excited to put in her hair. Once I got her hair done and her dress on she kept running back and forth from the mirror to me to "see how beautiful" she was!
We decided not to take Sawyer so we could enjoy the entire performance without distraction which was so nice! We headed downtown and found the swanky Wortham Center where her recital was held. We just so happened to walk in right behind her friend Dillon which was a blessing when I went to drop off Kate at the back door (where she was going to color and eat snacks and wait for her turn...we had prepped her on this many times) and she had a small beginner of a meltdown. Once I told her to take Dillon's hand she did and then meltdown only lasted about 4 seconds. phew. Then Ryan and I walked over to the front door and found our seats in the front row. We weren't allowed to take any pictures or videos in the theater so I just sat back and enjoyed the show.
**side story** When we were in the middle of one of our prepping for the dance recital conversations I told Kate we couldn't take a video camera in and she said, "only Kristens can't take video cameras in?" I laughed.
Kate was the last dance before intermission so we got to see some really cute and really funny dances before it. As each one finished I started to get more and more nervous for Kate. I didn't see a single kid burst into tears in the middle of the stage and I didn't want my daughter to be the first. When the time came I watched her march onto the stage and my heart melted! She did the entire dance and looked adorable doing it! I couldn't have been more proud!
I'm excited to get the recording and rewatch it. Its funny because the entire audience kept laughing really hard and I kept asking Ryan why they were laughing because I didn't see anything funny (I had my eyes on Kate, of course!) and then I saw the cute little youngster that just started in January showing off her really sassy attitude. It was pretty hilarious. Hopefully it didn't ruin the recording though!
After she danced it was intermission and we went to go pick up Kate at the stage door. (They let all the little kids go first so we could leave after intermission.) I had bought some flowers at Target and because I wasn't shopping alone Kate, of course, saw them. I told her they were surprise flowers and we weren't going to talk about it anymore and that got her pretty excited. When we got to the theater and I got them out of the trunk she kept asking me who they were for and I told her I brought them just in case I saw a good dancer at the recital who I wanted to give them too. She was thrilled when she was done and she got her flowers! She told me she was like a princess and like a girl getting married! Once we got outside and I was taking pictures, I snapped the first one and she said, "Did I look like a princess?" She, of course, did!
After the picture taking we walked around downtown and found a place to eat. We sat outside and enjoyed the cool evening weather and the scenic city life while we enjoyed some pizza. It is so funny to see Kate enjoying her time with her parents and without her little brother!
By the time we got home we were all pretty exhausted but it was a fun night. I am very pleasantly surprised and oh so proud that she did as well as she did!

Twins!!

I was so excited to finally meet these beautiful little boys and they didn't disappoint! They were as cute and as handsome as can be! They are my first set of twins and I must say, I need to work on my baby whispering skills times two! I could get one content at a time but never together...until they were swaddled in their parents arms right where they should be!
Thanks for letting me spend some time with you guys today and letting me meet your little men!

getting ready for summer

You probably have all been looking at the blog and asking yourself why I have let Sawyer's hair get so long. I have been thinking about getting Sawyer's hair cut for a while but haven't really cared enough to try and find a place to get it done and pay the money for it. When I told my mom that she said, "Dad would send you money for a hair cut!" (he isn't a big fan of the long curls!) So I finally buckled down and took him to Great Clips. He fell asleep in the car on the way there and I didn't know what was going to happen. They got us right in and I sat him down and he just sat there and stared the whole time while the lady cut his hair. He even drooled out the side of his mouth...the poor kid was tired! But the lady was so surprised with how well he behaved! I had told her I wanted it short but I was still envisioning some curls in the back. So here we go....

Before...

Starting to get it cut....Look at those curls fall....Ta da!!

As you can see, there are no curls left. But I know they will grow back and I take comfort in the fact that I have a while until I have to pay money to cut his hair again! When Ryan got home he we surprised him with it and his response was, "I could have done that with my clippers!" (I know that is true but, again, it wasn't the haircut I was envisioning!) And all night long we would ask Sawyer, "Where did your hair go?" and he would smile really big and touch the back of his hair and say, "Where did it go?"
Today at the gym the ladies were complimenting him and one said it made his eyes stand out more. I had noticed that too. So it was a successful hair cut and now he is ready for summer!

dressing up

I don't know if it is the fond memories that I have dressing up or how much fun it is to watch kids with their imaginations, but I am a big fan of dress up clothes! Sawyer has been known to put on a dress or two but it doesn't compare to the fun Kate has with girl friends!

2 and 4

My kids are officially 4 and 2 because we had their Dr's appointments today. (Sawyer is having a hard time holding up 2 fingers so he's going with 4 like his sister.) The nice thing about their birthdays being so close together is I can combine the Dr's visit into one!

I had prepped Kate all week for her shots and she kept telling me how brave she was going to be. Then she woke up this morning and told me she wanted to go to the Dr next week instead of today. She would then burst into tears at random times throughout the day. So much for being brave!

We got there and when we were called back Sawyer walked right up to the scale, pointed and said "Ohh!!" The nurse asked him if he wanted to get on and he stepped right up. Kate then followed his perfect example! He was equally excited to get measured for his height and then we headed into the exam room. (Where Kate burst into tears again.)

When the Dr came into the room he said, "Who wants to go first?" to which Sawyer said, "MEEEEE!" I sat him up on the table and he let the Dr check everything out without a fuss. I had some questions about Sawyer and the Dr ended up giving us a referral to an orthopedic guy to look at Sawyer's legs. (He is a bit pigeon toed, and although it makes for the cutest little toddler run ever, I guess we're going to get it checked out!)

When it was Kate's turn, she burst into tears and wouldn't sit on the table until I promised the Dr wasn't the one giving her shots. She was brave through the exam.

Then came the shots. The nurse recommended Kate go first since she was obviously dreading it the most. When I picked Kate up to put her on the table, she latched on to me in the tightness grip I've ever seen (arms around me neck, legs around my waist) and I had to pry her off me. I held her down and she actually tolerated the shots just fine and stopped crying the second we let go and I gave her a pack of fruit snacks. I guess the anticipation was the hardest part!

Then it was Sawyer's turn. He had just witnessed the massive fit his sister had thrown but he let me pick him up and put him on the table and he only whimpered once when the shot went in. Then I put him on the floor, he ripped off his bandaid and handed it to me and then asked for his fruit snack.

After the appointment I rewarded both kids with a water gun from the dollar store which we went home and played with.

Here are the official stats:

Kate at 4
Height: 41 1/4" (75th percentile)
Weight: 33 1/2 lbs (25th percentile)

Sawyer at 2
Height: 35" (60th percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs (50th percentile)

roadkill

While driving in the car:

Me: "Oh no!!"
Kate: "What?"
Me: "The car in front of me just ran over a squirrel."
Kate: "....is it a pancake?"

Discovery Green

Wednesday we headed down to Discovery Green for playgroup and we just love that place! It is funny to think how far Kate has come from our first visit there. She loves it and just runs straight through all the fountains. Sawyer, however, is exactly how Kate was at 2....a little bit of a scaredy cat. He did enjoy himself on the very edge, putting his hands in every now and then and he loved to hang on the sculptures in the dry playground. (He looks like a little monkey!) It was a fun place to play and have a picnic and we are excited to go back and escape the heat more times this summer!

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day has come and gone but it was a fun day for me. My family had been sickly the week before and we were still recovering and, even though Ryan was sick, he still made the day special for me! After we woke up we realized that Sawyer was too sick for nursery so Ryan was going to stay home with him. Ryan then took his getting ready for church energy and put it all into a super mother's day breakfast with bacon and waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. He had the kids write a little sign for me and they were so excited to show me.

Kate and I got to church really early to make copies of the Mother's Day cards for the kids to color in Primary. She also helped me set up the chairs in the Primary room...which is probably her favorite thing! (Really she just drags out one of the small chairs about 3 feet and stands and waits for me to come and get it...so I'm using the term "help" loosely!) Here is the outside and inside of the card Kate colored for me. I glued Hershey kisses in the center of all the flowers for every kid in Primary!

Then in Sacrament Meeting the Primary sang "Mother Dear". I didn't know it as well as some of the others so Kate and I practiced it all week. I helped walk her up there and she sat down next to her friend Summer and then refused to stand up when the chorister directed her too and she didn't sing a single word. Oh well. The rest of the Primary did really well. It was really cute because when they sang, "A person bright and lovely is my Mother dear!" They all held up pictures of their Mothers that they had drawn the week before. Here is Kate's.

After church I was pretty tired so I had Ryan feed the kids lunch and I closed my eyes for a little nap...and woke up 4 hours later! I couldn't believe I had slept so long but it was much needed after a long week of sicknesses! Then Ryan BBQed some burgers and I got to oovoo with my family while we talked to my brother on the phone who is serving a mission in Calgary Canada and then we ate some strawberry shortcake. (Can you tell I have a thing for strawberries and whipped cream?) After dessert I opened my present and pleasantly surprised to find tickets to see Wicked! My husband is very thoughtful and always thinks of the best presents! (oh man I look excited in this picture!) So it was a great day filled with lots of love. I am so grateful to be a Mom!

Sherlock Holmes

I finally got to see Sherlock Holmes on Saturday and I liked it. I had a small girlhood crush on Robert Downey Jr from watching Heart and Souls over and over again. Anyway, the whole time I was watching this, I was remembering this sketch from Jimmy Fallon. It made me laugh!

Girl's just wanna have fun

Also known as Sawyer and Daddy's first father/son camp out!

At FHE every Monday night, after the opening prayer, we conduct our family business where we talk about what adventures we have planned for the coming week. When Daddy brought up the camp out "only for boys" Kate burst into tears. All week long she would randomly cry and say things like "Why is it just for boys?" and "I like camping too!" I promised her lots of fun Mommy/Daughter time but she really was inconsolable.

Friday came and we spent the afternoon getting the boys ready to go. Kate did break out into one "But I like to go camping as a family! I want to go with them!" tantrum and I debated just sending her with them. What could it hurt? But I decided against it. When the boys were mostly packed, I told Sawyer to give Kate a squeeze and say bye bye and he looked at her, took her hand and said, "go!" and then started walking her towards the car. It was adorable! I love how much my kids love each other! We finally sent them on their way (with no tears!) and the first thing I did was give Kate her camera. Usually it has to sit high on a shelf until Sawyer is napping but I promised her that with him gone, she could use it all night. (All of the following pictures are courtesy of Kate)

The next thing I did was turn on Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun and we jumped on the bed together. Then Kate got out her pink nail polish and had the manicure I had been promising her all week. Then some fellow camping widow friends called us and we went out to a girl's only dinner! It was so much fun! We were lucky that someone's husband left her with the car because Kate and I were stranded!


Dinner was yummy and it was great company! Thanks girls!

The biggest promise I made Kate when we were left by ourselves was that we could watch a movie and eat popcorn together. When we got home, in preparation for the movie, I decided to make a camp fire of our own so we weren't feeling too left out from the boys. (Actually, what really happened is I accidentally created a huge stove top fire with the popcorn popper. I'm talking major adrenaline, almost burned down the house, totally glad everything is okay kind of fire!) We then watched a movie and ate jellybeans.

Throughout the movie Kate kept saying "I'm tried!" but when I tried to put her to bed she would tell me she wanted to watch the movie. It didn't end until 9:30, way past her bedtime (and the next day she was telling her Grammie she stayed up really really late into the night!) When I told her to go get her toothbrush, she started to cry and said, "I don't want to do it without Sawyer!!" Poor girl! I finally coaxed her into bed and she went happily and slept in this morning.

We woke up today and ate french toast, did some art projects and watched cartoons but the whole time she kept asking when Daddy and Sawyer were coming home. Daddy called about 20 minutes out and I told her she could keep an eye out by the window until he came and she colored patiently next to the window until I heard, "There they are!" We watched Daddy unload our neighbor's bike from our spying vantage point and then ran downstairs to welcome him home. And when I said him I meant Sawyer. Kate ran right by Daddy and straight to Sawyer. (I have to admit that I did too!) Sawyer excitedly told us about the "Bish" (my new favorite word of his!) and the other animals he saw. I would ask him a question like, "Did you sleep in a tent?" and he would say, "mmm....yeah!" It was a fun girl's night but we're both glad to have our boys back.Here are the only camping pictures Ryan brought home:
Next time I'm sending Kate to be their official photographer!