Evan's Daddy Date

On Saturday, Feb. 14th Evan was Ben's valentine. Ben and I went out the night before and spent a night away in celebration of his birthday and I guess Valentine's Day, too. So, on Saturday Ben took Evan to the Monster Truck Ralley at ESA for his "date with daddy". Ben said Evan was a little scared at first because it was so loud, but he ended up LOVING it. He came home with a huge grin on his face. He loves cars. What's better than huge trucks with huge wheels doing jumps and smashing other cars?

Notice the blue cord coming from Evan's ear?

We were going to buy some ear plugs for them to wear because I knew it was going to be loud, but we ran out of time. I guess it was because fortunately they were giving them away for free. Score!!

As much as he loved the trucks, the motorcycle doing a flip in the air was his favorite part.

Another cake

I made a cake for my sister to take to a baby shower for a friend at work. Obviously, it was for a baby girl. I thought it was pretty cute.

Little baby booties. Kamri saw them and said, "Shoes!"

All about Kamri...

She's 2!!

My little baby is 2-years-old.

Here she is at about one-month old

Now all grown up - 2-years-old

We met Grandma and two of her cousins, Blake and Sabrina, for lunch at McDonald's.

Then some of her other cousins came over to help celebrate for a couple of hours. They were so excited to get to watch a movie and eat popcorn.

Later that night we had cake and ice cream.

Grandpa, Trina, and Misti came over to help us eat it.

I made a Clifford cake because every morning we have about 20-30 minutes from the time we get home from taking Sara to school and Evan has to leave for school. When we walk into the house she says, "Woof, Woof?" asking to watch Clifford. It is one of the only shows she gets to watch and I wait to hear her ask for it.

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I know everyone says it, but it is so true. I can't believe it was two years ago she joined our family. I can't imagine our life without her. She is such a joy. She makes us laugh every day - over and over again. She loves attention and is now getting into the "WHY?" stage. She is very curious and asks questions all the time. It's fun now because I can see her little mind working and a lot of times I know what she's thinking before she says it. Kamri, you are a joy. We love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! ***************************

It seems like the last week has been a week of a lot of changes for her.

We snipped her binky!! It's been about 7 months where she's only had her binky at nap time and bedtime. We decided it was time to get rid of it all together. So, Ben let her watch him cut it off. She was little confused at first and still tried to put it in her mouth. When we put her to bed she asked, "Why you cut it, guys?" It just about broke Ben's heart. It took a couple days of her asking for it and telling me "Daddy cut it". But now, we are officially a "no binky" family (for about 3 months).

She also used the potty on Saturday. We decided to bring it out just so she would get used to it being in the bathroom. She was so excited about it she wouldn't get off. We gave her a book while she sat on it. That night before bath we put her on it to see if she would go before she got in the tub and SHE WENT!! She hasn't shown much desire since so we aren't pushing her, but it's a start.

She started climbing out of her crib. I went to check on her during her nap and found her sleeping on the floor behing the rocking chair. So.......

that afternoon I took down her crib and put up her "big girl bed". Here she is saying, "I a big girl, now"

She has actually done pretty well. She got out once the first night, but has since stayed in her bed and slept really well (as far as I know). Way to go, Kam Kam.

Visits with great-grandpa

My grandpa only lives a few minutes from us so we try to make it over to his place as often as we can (although it probably isn't as often as he would like). I didn't have Young Women's last Wednesday so we went and visited him. My kids love to visit great-grandpa and ask all the time if we can go. Every time we go he has ice cream for the kids and likes to spoil them with it. He's 91-years-old and lonely so he loves to have his grandkids come over.

The first time we went over he dished some ice cream out with a big spoon. We had this awesome ice cream scoop that makes it so easy to scoop ice cream. We gave it to him and he now talks to us about it all the time.

Enjoying their ice cream

I guess I didn't give Kamri enough of mine. She had to beg him for some of his.

The Big 3-0!!

Monday was Ben's big day. He turned the BIG 3-0!! He is now in the "30's" crowd. To celebrate the day Kamri and I baked him some homemade Oreo cookies and took them and some balloons to his work. It was cute seeing her walk in holding the bouquet of balloons and saying "Happy Buh-day Daddy".

We had dinner and then my mom and dad came over for fruit pizza and opening presents. Kamri got some practice in for her big day.

My kids thought it was terrible that I only put one candle on his pizza. But it was easy for him to blow out.

Happy Birthday Babe!! I'm not that far behind ya.

Sara's first big date....

Each year our city puts on a Daddy Daughter Dance near Valentine's Day. We totally forgot about it last year so this year she was so excited to go. Ben put some balloons in her room that, when put together, said "Sara, will you be my Valentine Date." She answered him with a balloon on his steering wheel at work that said, "YES!!!! I want to dance with you tonight." She was SUPER excited. We got her dressed up in her pretty red dress, did her hair, and put some make-up on.

Ben came to the door .) and rang the doorbell to pick up his date. She was a little embarrassed. She ran and hid in her room. He surprised her with a corsage. And to be honest, she thought it was pretty but it kind of bugged her a little. But it was fun (for me) for her to have it.

The happy couple

My brothers and brother-in-law brought their girls, too. Although I'm not excited for her to turn 16 and start dating (in 10 years) it was kind of fun for me to help her get ready for her "date". It brought back all the excitement of getting your hair done, make-up, corsages, and pretty dresses that comes with high school dances. Like I said, I can wait but it gave me a little taste of what is to come. So fun!!!

Pregnancy update....

This was me last Tuesday at the 24 week mark. I feel like I have grown sooooooo much in the last 6 days since this was taken. My stomach is getting heavier, I'm out of breath a lot, and I have a hard time getting up out of my chair. But it is so fun!! I love feeling him move inside. Tonight while we were trying to start Family Home Evening he was really going at it (or in Sara's words "He's having a rockin' party in there"). I hurried the kids to the floor where I was and put their hands on my stomach. He usually stops whenever they try to feel him, but tonight he was kind and made both of their day. Both Sara and Evan were so excited to feel him! You should have seen the look on their faces. Even Kamri was excited even though she didn't really know what was going on. They love to kiss my belly and give the baby kisses. They are going to be such loving siblings. We are all so excited to have him here but I am glad to have a few more months to get ready.