One of Steve’s nicknames for Kate is “Angel Girl”. Whenever he says “Where’s Angel Girl?” she points to herself and sometimes calls me “Angel Mommy” and Steve “Angel Daddy”. Here are our Angel Girl’s 2 year old pictures. She is an ANGEL!!
One thing that is so fun about this picture is Kate has a fascination with benches. No matter where we are, or what we are doing, if we pass a bench she has to sit on it (and of course wants everyone else to!). If we sit on it for 30 seconds she is content. She just wants to sit on it!
When Kate was 1 her fascination was with garbage and garbage cans (which she called “gargage”). No matter where we were she always pointed out the garbage can and loved every opportunity to throw garbage away. She would get more excited over that then a sucker!!
Her latest fixation is on Semi’s (which she called Semti’s at first, but now says it correctly). Anytime we are driving anywhere we constantly hear “another Semi… another Semi… another Semi… a yellow Semi… a blue Semi… a purple semi… a gray semi… see more Semi’s?” She is a chatter box!!!
It was 8 a.m. and Kate wanted a popsicle. I told her it was time for breakfast. So, she quickly gobbled up her baked oatmeal (one of our favorite breakfasts!). She said she was too full to eat her strawberries. Then she asked for a popsicle. I told her she could have one after lunch. She continued to ask for one and I just ignored her requests. Then, out of nowhere she said, “Fine, eat strawberries!” She marched back to the table and ate her strawberries, then asked for popsicle again! I guess she thought the reason she wasn’t getting one was because she hadn’t eaten all her breakfast. Well, I got such a kick out of it I let her have a popsicle. After all, she did eat all her breakfast!
Here is Kate riding her favorite ride at Lagoon… “Bulgy the Whale”
A few days ago, while eating breakfast, Kate said “sing to Joshua” and she started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She sang softly and sweetly to him. I asked her if I could record it and she could watch it (usually the only way I can get her to do it). So, she sang for the camera. The version I got was a little more boisterous than the first, but is still cute!
One day I was wrapping presents and had some blue netting out I was thinking about using. Kate saw it, picked it up and said “Pretty! Have it mommy?” She has played with it everyday since. (In the first picture, if you look closely, you will see that Kate has put on her plastic swim pants over her pajamas!).
A few weeks ago we got out the bouncer for Joshua. He LOVES it, just like his big sister did. After seeing Joshua in it Kate decided she wanted a turn. She doesn’t quite fit in it the way she used to!
Joshua’s first reaction when we put him in…
Then a couple of minutes later when he realized how cool it was…
On June 6, 2010, Sam, Steve’s youngest sibling, received his Eagle Scout. All 4 of the boys in Steve’s family have received their Eagle Scout. Impressive!! Here they are all together…
L-R: Joshua (future Eagle Scout), Steve, Sam, Matthew, Norman (brother-in-law)… not pictured is Adam who is in the MTC.
The whole family minus Adam, Rachel, Alex, Abigail, and Eliza…
We’ve had a great time celebrating! We were in Colorado for Kate’s actual birthday (June 13), so we had a little party before we left with some of my family and a few friends, and again on Father’s Day with Steve’s family.
Kate loves Barney, and especially Baby Bop. I thought it would be fun to make her a Baby Bop cake. I found a picture on the internet that I liked and based it off that. I was nervous, not knowing if it would turn out. I was so happy when it did!! I had a lot of fun making it for her.
Kate LOVED the cake, which made all the time spent so worth it. When she saw it first thing in the morning she squealed and said “Baby Bop! Eat it now!” I told her we had to wait until Emmy and Papa came. Well, as soon as they showed up she said “Eat cake now!” When it was time to open presents she wasn’t interested in that, all she wanted to do was eat her cake.
Party #1… opening presents…
Family and Friends…
Party #2…
Family…
This picture is not actually from Kate’s birthday, but as I was posting pictures I realized that Steve is not in any of them! How awful!! He was taking picture a lot of the time. Thank you for the wonderful pictures, Steve, and I’m sorry I didn’t think to make sure you were in some of them.
Happy Birthday, darling Kate! You bring so much joy to your family. We love you very much!!!
Joshua is at a point where he is changing so quickly. He now rolls over from back to stomach and stomach to back and manages to cover quite a lot of space doing so. He is also sitting up, however, hasn’t quite got his balance figured out yet. He still has a ready smile for anyone and seems to find great joy in being alive. His big sister enjoys playing with him more, now that he is a little more grown up.
Joshua sitting up. My favorite part of this video is when Kate says “Good job, buddy!” She is very encouraging to Joshua and says this a lot, as well as claps when he accomplishes something. It is very cute and very sweet!
This is a picture I took of Steve and Joshua this morning as I was leaving for choir. It cracks me up!
p.s. It is 2:45 a.m. I am up blogging at this hour because I am listening to my sweet boy cry, and cry, and cry, and can’t sleep. His sleeping (or lack of) has gotten out of hand and he gets up several times a night. So, this is the first night where we are having him cry it out and learn to fall asleep without his mommy. Going on 2 hours now… I just hate it!
Steve recently had a conference in Colorado. The kids and I went along with him. We had a really nice time. We went a couple of days early and spent time visiting people from my mission (I spent most of my mission in the Colorado Denver South Mission). Then, while Steve was attending his conference, the kids and I continued to visit people. I also had the opportunity to watch Steve present at the conference, which was especially enjoyable. He did a great job!! Here are a few photos from our trip. (Liz, you will appreciate these!).
Saturday night we visited the Christopher’s. I’m sorry to say I forgot to get pictures with them!! There youngest daughter was 4 years old when I was there. She was teased that she was my little shadow because she followed me around everywhere. Well, now she is almost 16 and as tall as me!!!
We spent Sunday with the Coleman’s. We went to church with them, and then had a nice dinner at their home afterwards. By the end of the day Kate was calling them Grandma and Grandpa.
Monday we spent the day with Mary Jones, and later met up with her husband Ed. Mary is my angel friend. I love her so dearly, as do my children!
On Tuesday I picked up Mary and we went and visited the Black’s. Bill Black was the Ward Mission Leader in one of the wards I served in and baptized several people we taught, including Mary. Last time I was in Colorado I tried to visit them, but they weren’t home. We were very grateful to find them home this time.
That afternoon I had the opportunity to meet up with my trainer from Brazil (where I started my mission). Stephanie and her husband live there (for another 2 weeks, anyway) and we had a fun time catching up on life. She is expecting her first baby!!
That evening we met up with Kathy Gaschani. We were supposed to spend most of the day with her, but she ended up spending the afternoon at the doctor’s office. We are grateful for the little time we did get to be with her.
Wednesday sweet Mary met up with us so she could watch the kids while I attended Steve’s presentation. I was so happy to be there and grateful to Mary for making it possible. Then we headed home.
It was a quick, but memorable trip. I so enjoyed seeing dear friends from my mission again. The last time Steve and I were there I was 6 months pregnant with Kate, so it was especially nice having the children with us. Thank you for letting us tag along, Steve, and for making this all possible.
Here are our Angel Girl’s 2 year old pictures. She is an ANGEL!!
We are grateful for the little time we did get to be with her.