Random...

Katie learned to ride her bike without training wheels this weekend. She was a quick learner and could do it the first day, although it was mostly in circles as she tried not to fall over. But by day 2 she was doing great! All she wants to do now is go outside and ride. She's been pretty determined about this. Another good thing...It's actually inspired Jace to even get on his big boy bike. Up until recently he would only ride the little baby bike we had. Now he will peddle by himself (usually) as he putt putts down the road. He's a stubborn one.

Here is Jace with some of his favorite things...some race cars from the movie Cars that he bought with some birthday money. He LOVES them, mostly because Lightning McQueen is sticking out his tongue.

I couldn't resist taking this picture. He has a new thing with bears lately and loves to snuggle them in bed...so cute!

1st game

Katelyn had her first soccer game last night. It was so cute and hilarious...I laughed almost the whole game. Her team did well and won, not that it mattered to any of the kids. I didn't know how she'd do in an actual game, but she did just fine, running with everyone and kicking the ball if it happened to be in front of her. She even had a few good 'runs.' : ) She loves playing soccer and having fun with all of her new friends.

Katie loves her coach. She told me, "Mom, I think she is a great coach because she smiles a lot."

Kicking off.

Making a 'run.'

Boundaries have no meaning for these kids. Their goal is on the right...both teams are almost entirely off the field.

Giving a cheer with her friends on the team. Katie spent a lot of her time holding hands and giggling.

Soccer star...

...well, not quite yet, but she sure looks cute in that uniform! Katelyn had her first day of soccer today. No game this week...just practice...but she had a great time, especially since her friend Taylee is on her team and Taylee's mom is her coach. Her team is called the Purple Dragons. I'm excited to see how she'll do this summer. She's never been in an organized activity before. I think it will be good for her, and hopefully a lot of fun too. It sure made me miss my soccer days!

Lots of celebrating...

Since I last wrote we have had two more birthdays and Easter. We do a lot of celebrating this time of year! First of all, I turned 28. That is getting dangerously close to 30. My 10 year reunion is this year...I can't believe it has been that long already! But I can't complain. A lot has happened in those ten years and I love where I've ended up.
Next we celebrated Gage's first birthday. He dug right into his cake and he had lots of fun with all of his new toys. It's sad he's not a baby anymore, but he sure has grown into a fun little boy!My brother and sister came and stayed with us for a few days while my parents were in China. It was fun having them here and the kids especially loved the company. They celebrated Easter with us. We had fun dying eggs and seeing what the Easter bunny left for us.We also enjoyed some lovely snow earlier in the week. It's almost all melted by now and hopefully it's gone for good. We're ready for green grass and warm weather.

Jace's birthday and photobooks

We celebrated Jace's 3rd birthday last week. He loved all the fun and attention, exclaiming at the end of the day, "I love having my birthday!" He's got a lot of energy and definitely has a mind of his own, but we love that he's part of our family. He sure gives us a lot to smile about.




I have decided to do away with scrapbooking. It was too much stress and I got so far behind after Gage was born. It wasn't really fun anymore and the supplies are so expensive. So...I have taken up making photobooks instead. They are fast (well, faster than scrapbooking anyway) and easy and I only have to do them once a year. They are a little pricey, but you can almost always find a good deal somewhere. Here's a great deal for anyone who wants to do one themselves. Picaboo is offering a free photobook to new customers until March 31. They are originally 39.99 so this is a steal! You only have to pay 8.99 for shipping. I haven't received mine yet, but I'm excited!

Bubbles...

We are so excited for spring...we can finally see our grass and we pulled out the bubbles for a little fresh air fun.

What we've been up to...

This is some of what we've been up to...

Inspired by a friend's blog I decided to do more than a little ponytail in Katie's hair every day. We tried some fun ones, but it all lead her to say one day, "I wish I could live in a house where they didn't do my hair!"

We had some fun visitors in February including Auntie Erica, who is always a good sport to crawl into tiny kid houses, and Auntie Tia and cute baby Dallas.

We had a fun Valentine's party for playgroup one day. The kids passed out valentine's and we decorated sugar cookies. Yum!

Everyone in our family was sick in February at some point. Poor Jace got it pretty bad. Don't mind the yucky looking dinner. The breadsticks were bad, but the casserole actually tasted pretty good.
Gage got his first black eye. He walks all over the place now and has many owies from falling...as well as some Jace and Katie induced ones.
This is my favorite face he makes. We all think it's funny, including him. I also think it's funny that many of our pictures of him are in his highchair. I guess that's where we can get him to stay for more than one second.
Legos have been a hit at our house with people of all ages. It is a wonderful toy!And as a last note, I just signed Katelyn up for Kindergarten. Yikes! I'm so excited, so nervous, and so sad all at the same time. It will be a big change for us, but Katie's so ready. It will be fun to see her learn and grow and make friends.