Katie's 8th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday sweet Katie Grace!  She wanted an ice skating party and that is what she got.  What we didn't realize when we booked the party that we would be doing three private skating lessons to get her ready, but they paid off.  She had a great time and was very confident on the ice!

 

The best present Katie could have gotten was that her friend Sidney came to the party, she misses her 1st grade friend a lot and was so happy to have her there!

All the girls had a great time and looked adorable in their matching scarfs!

 

Sugar Plum Brunch

Katie and I were invited by our friends Monica, Rylee & Makenna to the Missouri City Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy Brunch at the Quail Valley country club.

Katie and I had such a nice time.  She was truly excited to get dressed up and have girlie time!  The room was decorated beautifully and we got to meet a lot of the dancers, then the girls all piled up on the floor so they could see the mini performance.  Katie is now begging to see the whole ballet again, we will have to try and work that into our holiday schedule!

Enjoying our last few days of summer

The Innocence of Competition

In May Katie joined her first competitive swimming team, First Colony Gold. Having stayed in swim classes year round and participated in the swim team class at her swim school she was ready. The first few practices the group was split between those who could swim across the pool and those who couldn't. Katie made the could team, this is our learning year.. We still have to figure out each week where we are supposed to be and how everything works, and Katie is learning about being in a race. Her natural instincts don't generally inspire a need for speed and we are working on that and while she is not the star swimmer on the team, she is the one with the biggest smile. She loves everything about being a part of this team and because of that I am willing to get her to practice four times a week and spend hours in the heat on Monday evenings sitting around to watch her spend about 2 minutes in the water!

Tonight was our fifth swim meet, and Katie loves swim meet days. Mostly she says she loves to relax between races, really I think she loves the camaraderie of the girls. Real friendships are forming and she loves the hours spent just hanging out with these girls that are her age!

I was so proud of her tonight, as she was sitting in the ribbon chair alongside some of her teammates, she cheered on her friend, rallying her teammate who was desperate for a first place blue ribbon..... And the friend got it, and Katie cheered for her even more. Katie is not in this for the first place blue ribbon, what excites her is participating, and tonight was so pleased with her two 4th place ribbons because green is mommy's favorite color... Maybe next year she will bring home a blue one for Daddy, but until then I will be very proud of my cheer leading team player, she will always come first for me!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Our little Lukey has turned two!  I don't know where these past two years have gone, but we sure have been busy... Luke is such a little joy to have around and always has a smile on his face.  We have started potty training and it is going great.  He is so proud of himself and we are of him!  His favorite foods are grilled chicken and all fruits.. not a big veggie fan!  Luke loves his bed time routine and his favorite book is Happy Birthday Thomas.. it was a library book, but he got his own copy for his birthday.  We sing every night either Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or we hum Brahams Lullaby.  He is still in his baby bed, but I doubt it will be that way for long.  His bed is getting pretty crowded with bear, Mickey, and his nene (blanket) and now his new prized possesion his Percy pillow pet from Nana.

He loves to play roll call games with all of our family member names and this usually happens at bed time.  Last night he was telling me all of his friends names in his bed and he continued with all of his loved ones. 

We had several birthday celebrations, first at a splash park with our play group friends, then his birthday party at home with friends, then on the day breakfast out with the family and an afternoon at the pool!

His birthday party was a huge sucess... it was all about his favorite things.. trains!  We had a conductor come and give the kids a train ride around the neighborhood and Thomas was the theme for the rest of the party.  The kids all looked so cute in their matching Thomas t-shirts and all of Luke's presents had a train theme.. he was so excited!  Andy had lots of fun setting up the new tracks for the kids to play with and we now have more than enough trains to go around.

Teeny Weeny hunt

Our latest obsession has been to collect tiny little colorful balls left behind at parks from some sort of toy ( I have hunted for this particular toy without success).

Iwas first introduced to the colorful little balls by the son of a friend who gave them their name. What started out as a cute little game where each kid was happy finding one or two has today turned into a full family obsession!

My pockets are currently full of these tiny little balls covered in dirt and the majority were collected by my husband!

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Colors Blue Birthday Card

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