March madness 2010

March is only 1/2 way over...but I thought I'd catch up with my blog posts while I had a chance! We have been busy-as usual. We had my gradparents come and visit for a week at the beginning of the month, they were surprised at how much the kids had grown-especially Parker. We have also been to the park a few times with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins Quinn and Noelle. We love to play outside! Hailey and Whitney got a "playhouse" for the backyard to play in-they sure love pretending to play house. I don't have a picture of it yet-but it's super cute.....white with a pink roof and purple door and windows. It has a little sink inside and a little dining table connected to the back of the house. There are 2 chairs that fold out of the house for the girls to sit at the table. They love it! The weather has been beautiful, mainly staying in the upper 70's, but we did hit 84 yesterday-I forgot how hot 84 can feel!! We had to turn on our air conditioner for a few hours to cool the house down. I threw a "surprise" 30th birthday party for my hubby-and he WAS surprised-but that's a whole post in itself-soon! Other than all of that....we are doing our normal things and having a good time and enjoying the nice weather. We have to enjoy it while we can before it gets too hot!

Picnic at the park in Wickenburg

Whit on slide


Parker loves to swing

Having fun at the park together

Doing an edible craft

Yummy craft

Mr. Blue Eyes!

Baby whit

Papa and Parker

They are 75 years and one day apart

Hailey thinks.....

The other day we went to Costco to get a few things, and as most of you know.....you always have a lot more in your cart than you want to when checking out. One of these "extra" purchases was a new dress-up dress. It's a formal dress 1 size bigger than Hailey wears.....but $12 for a little wedding dress....come on-you can't even buy material for that price!! I had to get it. She wore the dress over her clothes throughout the store. They didn't have one close to Whitney's size, but if Hailey had a dress on....then Whit had to have one on too! We found a lime green dress that's really cute for the same price-something she could wear as dress-up or to church. My girls LOVED all the attention they received while walking through the store in their beautiful dresses. Many people stopped us to "Oooooh" and "Awwwww" over them. We bought the dresses and then went over to my parents house to play and show off the dresses. Whitney chose to substitute the green "Tianna" dress for her normal BATGIRL outfit-no surprise there. The girls wanted to go outside in their dress-up clothes to swing and pick flowers-but I said "no". The dress Hailey had on was new, white, floor-length, and it had rained earlier that day. I didn't want it getting ruined the first time she wore it. Hailey threw a little fit and asked me "Why" a billion times-but in the end I stood firm on my decision. Hailey was mad at me. She started pouting and went and sat down on her grandma's lap. I was just a few feet away when I heard her conversation with grandma. Hailey thinks that I'm her "Evil Stepmother" who doesn't love her. She continued to say that I don't love her and I don't do ANYTHING for her. This was all said in a dramatic tone....followed by the poor me whine..... of coarse. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I was an evil stepmother who didn't love her and did nothing for her! I spoke my mind and reminded Hailey that I had just bought her a new dress, and then got ice cream afterwards, I made her lunch a few hours ago, I bathed her the night before, I did her hair, and drove her to grandma and grandpa's house to play, but it's true: I don't do ANYTHING for her! She got over it in about and hour and wasn't mad at me anymore. I was "Mommy" after that...not the "Stepmom" anymore. I couldn't help but laugh at this whole experience. It was even funnier when I had the chance to tell Dan about it-we both laughed and laughed! I wanted to make sure I wrote this down so I could blackmail her with it someday. What a funny kid!

2010 Extended Family Pictures

For Christmas we gave my parents a family photo session. We all had such a fun time...and at the same time worried about how the pictures would turn out-especially with 5 kids! They turned out cute. Annaka did it again....she's got some magic. This is my (katie's) side of the family: parents, brothers, sister in law, niece and nephew, and my little family. This was the PERFECT gift for them. There are TONS of pictures too-I just love them!

Me and my Mom

Love this one of my girls...we told them to give each other a kiss...and they BOTH actually listened to me the 1st time and ended up kissing on the lips! They thought it was so funny!

The kids just decided to look in the window...so Annaka snapped a shot-so cute!

Baby Whit is such a Ham for the camera....

Parker lovin' on Uncle Bret

Hilarious! I never knew my Dad could jump so high!

My Dad and Brothers

I LOVE this one of all of us walking

Just being silly!

This one reminds me of that saying, "All because two people fell in love..."

Dad and Mom

Valentine's Day 2010

The Friday before Valentine's Day the girls and I made some sugar cookies. We pulled our hair back, rolled out the dough, used the cookie-cutters, baked the cookies, frosted them, and then decorated them with sprinkles! We had a good time..and delivered the cookies to Grandma and Grandpa. Cousin Noelle and uncle Jason came over to help us decorate some cookies, then took a plate home as their Valentine gift from us. Papa and Lala were out of town for Valentine's Day...so we sent them a picture of the cookies we made them. We then spent the next few days eating whatever cookies were left!

Hair pulled back to cut cookies

Dough

Cookie Cutters

Ready to bake!

Yum....yum..

YUMMY!

I'm sorry I have to brag....but how could I NOT brag about these beautiful flowers?!

Dan and I celebrated our Valentine's Day on the Friday before the holiday. He first came home from work with these beautiful flowers....red roses are my favorite. We went to see Avatar in the theater...and enjoyed the whole 3D experience. After the movie we went to PF Changs for dinner. We then headed home for a full-nights sleep.

That's right...my parents were brave enough to offer to take all 3 kids for the night!

Thanks!

WE HAD A GREAT VALENTINE'S DAY!

Disneystore Princess Party

The Disney Store occasionally does a Princess Party. The girls wear their favorite princess costume, get some free snacks, and then get a paper crown with a chance to earn some jewel stickers to put on it. The jewels are earned by learning how to be a princess...and a member of the staff teaches all the girls how to curtsy, wave, good posture, how to daintily hold a tea cup, and how to walk gracefully. Needless to say, everyone passes the test. The store then gives you 20% off of any item that has to do with a princess. Yep, that's the gimmick. What's great though is when you find some dresses on the clearance rack that have princesses on them...and then get an additional 20% off of the clearance item!! Free cookies, crackers, juice...and the girls get to get all dressed up. It sure beat staying at home. I packed a sack lunch for the girls and myself and after the party we went to the food court to eat our lunch. The only one that wasn't completely in heaven was Parker. He was looking around at everything going on...and had a look on his face like, "I'm stuck with all of these girls again?" He did enjoy lunch. All in all, it was a fun trip doing something different and fun...without spending a lot of money!

Parker at lunch

This picture's so funny...it looks like they're mad at each other! Looking at all of the princesses in the store.

Crazy!!!

My 2 princesses and thier prince

A couple of cakes for Kinslee

I have had some fun making cakes recently. Practice, practice, practice....that is what makes you better-right?! My friend Kinslee was having some complications and was put on bed rest...so I took her family a meal and made them cake for dessert. It was a good opportunity to practice my buttercream techniques....which need MUCH more practice. Kinslee also had a surprise shower...and I made the cake for her gift. I hadn't done a tiered cake in awhile..so I gave it a try-again....trying the whole buttercream thing. It didn't turn out how I had envisioned...but it was alright. It tasted good...I guess that's the most important thing. You learn something else each time you make a cake-that's for sure!

Kinslee

Shower cake

Dessert for family