Thanksgiving on the Beach!

Thanksgiving 2011 was a little extra special this yr! We got to spend 8 days in Clearwater, Florida with Nana, Papa, Johnny & Josh!

The trip started at 4:30am the day before Thanksgiving. The kids were such troopers! A little tough to wake up, but then all smiles on the way to the airport.

First time on an airplane was super exciting. They were a little nervous during the first take off, but soon learned to love the feeling.

Kate and Will got to meet the "driver of the plane" as Will called him. Their names were welcomed over the intercom and they each got a 1st flight certificate and pair of wings from the pilot at the end of the flight! Super fun!

Hello Florida! We've been up for 14 hrs straight!

Ahhhhh, the beach at sunset.

Kate walked right into the ocean with all of her clothes on! She loved it!

"What is the water doing?"

Honey, we made it!

So great to be back in Florida with my family. We went every winter when we lived at home. It was great walking down memory lane again.

Johnny is always having fun with the kiddos.

Thanksgiving dinner.... sealed with a kiss.

A great balcony right on the beach outside our bedroom. Perfect!

A 3 hr tour. Started out great and sunny. Ended up cold, windy and rainy! Can't tell by the picture though!

And the beach time begins.... let's bury Will!

First piece of art..... a sand turtle.

Then we buried Kate!

Josh joined the party as we built our sand shark.

We loved our days on the beach watching all the boats go by.

Piggy back rides around and around.

Our sun bathing cutie!

"Want to see my muscles?"

Running into the waves!

The evenings were filled with fun and games like "Left-Right-Center" TONS OF FUN!

One day we visited the Clearwater Aquarium. The home of "Winter" the famous dolphin who lost his tail who is now the star of the hit film "Dolphin Tale". Here Kate and I got to hold Winter's prosthetic tail.

Hello Winter!

Winter and his friend Panama, another rescued dolphin that lives at the aquarium.

1 rainy day led to lots of time in the hot tub!

Kate was brave and tried all kinds of new food on the trip. Alligator, mussels, octopus!

Some was good and some was not so good!

Hunting for sea shells on the beach was always fun.

And lots of swimming lessons in the pool with daddy and Papa.

We even found the cutest little candy store. Otherwise known as Heaven to my little ones.

There are some definite perks to being little.... you are the best hider in "Hide & Go Seek."

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. It was a trip of a lifetime full of great memories! We are so thankful for such a fabulous family!

Early Halloween & Birthday Bash!!

The tradition in our little Clive neighborhood is for every family to pick a Holiday or Event to host a big party for everyone. Our wonderful friends Jason & Shelly always host the Halloween Party each yr. And each year I have to sit down & determine our family theme. This year, Will nominated the idea of "Super Heros!" We all loved the idea with the exception of Brett. I had it set..... Will: Spiderman, Kate: Batgirl, Brett: Batman, & Myself: Catwoman. Well, as you can see, my hubby doesn't always like to go with the flow, so instead, he decided to shake things up a bit. Rather than the Hero, he would be the Villian. So the Joker he was!! Scaring the you know what out of his son as soon as he put that wig on! I didn't know Will could jump that high!!

The party was a blast! Will immediately found his love, Abby, a.k.a "Dorothy". They played & played, occasionally stopping for a sugar cookie here and there.

Super Heros was a popular theme this yr! Superman, Wonderwoman, Batman, & Robin all attended. I had to get my pic taken with Batman before the night was over. I begged my hubby to be Batman, but the villian succeeded.

SCARY!!!! Kate really thought it was cool that her dad was the scary Joker that everyone was talking about. Many kids would say to her, "Hey, did you see that scary Joker over there?" She'd reply with, "Ya, that scary guy, he's my dad!"

Will found the slide in the backyard. He went down, and down, and down it again.

Some of the award winners of the night. On the left, we have Tom Hanks and Wilson his Volleyball Friend from the movie "Castaway" who won most original costume. And the "Joker" who won "Overall Best Costume", Finally, we have Pabst Blue Ribbon and his Beer Maid.

Kate hung out with her friends up in a tree a lot of the night. It was pretty cold outside, but she didn't mind at all. Go Batgirl!!!

Joker & the Host with the Most, also known as the Mad scientist that evening. 100 people attended this fabulous event that night. I have never laughed so much in my life! There's something about getting to dress up and play make believe that brings the crazies out in people! It was a great time, and we're even more excited because we have a few more costume parties to attend yet this yr. to make the fun last as long as it possibly can. I wonder if I'll ever get that Joker to come and join me on the Hero side? Probably not!!

Last weekend was Brett & my birthday as well, so Nana & Papa made the drive up to celebrate with us on Sunday. Now I know you are looking at this pic and may be wondering, "Wow, did she really forget to take that costume off of her son the night before!" No, I didn't forget. Will is just convinced that he TRUELY IS SPIDERMAN! So he had to wear it around the next day as well.

Papa & Kate carved a pumpkin. The guts were the best part for both of them. EWWWW! GROSS!!!

Kate showing off her gymnastic ability to Nana & Papa before dinner.

Dinner was great, followed by candles, singing, and cake. Nana was so smart to get those candles that never blow out this yr to fool us! Not such a good idea with a 5 yr. old around. She blew and blew and blew until the....... snot flew out up over the dessert, into the air, to land right in front of Papa on the other side! Grosss, but super funny!

Will's lungs aren't as strong as Kate's, so no snot blowing with him. He just loved to sing to his Mommy & Daddy. This yr, Will picked out a little mermaid figurine that he insisted that I must have. Pretty funny, maybe I'll keep it on my desk at work. All in all, it was a great bday weekend!

Happy Birthday Kate & Will !!!!

September is BIG BIRTHDAY MONTH at our house, and this yr. Kate turned 5 and Will turned 3. I am so blessed to have these 2 little munchkins! They are the light of our world!

Will has really matured in the last yr. Partly because he has another "Mommy" a.k.a big sister who loves to teach him everything she knows. His bday theme was Lightning McQueen and Cars, Cars, Cars!!! In addition to receiving every car ever made, he also wanted a fish just like his sister. So we added an addition to the fam......world meet Nemo!!! He joins Kate's fish Cheryl as a new member of the family! And believe it or not, he's still alive to this day!!



Kate has wanted her ears pierced FOREVER!!! I told her she could get it done when she turned 5 and she held me to that. We went to Claire's to get the task done. Here, she's getting prepped with the little dots. I didn't realize that Kate's little earlobes tip outwards a bit, thus it took 3 tries to get the dots symmetrical before the big stick.

Thank the Lord for the 2 girls working at Claire's that day. We're killing 2 birds with 1 stone here. Ready, set....... GO!

And look at her, NO TEARS!!! She was amazing! Didn't even flinch. I was stunned as I was so prepared for the huge meltdown. My cash was in 1 hand, car keys in the other, ready to dart out the door with a screaming 5 yr old in my arms. But NOPE, she just looked at me and asked, " Can we go look at earrings now?"
I am still shocked about this!

Kate & Will had separate bday parties this yr. Kate invited a few friends to a Fancy Nancy party at Glazed Expressions to paint pottery. Her she is, the little princess waitng for her friends to arrive.

A few stats on the 5 yr. old princess.....

She absolutely loves KINDERGARTEN!!! She love socializing on the bus, learning to read, going to art class, and playing instruments in Music class. I love seeing her excitement getting on and off the bus each day and hearing about all the exciting things going on at school. She weighs in at 41 lbs and 40 inches tall (50% tile for both). She can sit in a booster seat now in the car, so she feels really grown up buckling herself up. She started in a soccer league this fall. It is slowly growing on her. Each week she gets more comfortable with the idea. She loves to work out with Mommy as much as she can. I think she may be a runner someday. She loves to dress up for school each day in dresses, skirts, necklaces, and fancy shoes. She definitely is getting the itch for more independence on the home front, which does lead to some headbutts with the parents every once in a while. She's a smart little girl and I applaud her confidence and motivation to learn. Somedays though, I wish I could back up the clock a bit to her toddler years where she was content sitting on Mommy's lap reading books and singing songs, not trying to solve all the world problems that a 5 yr.old's world can possibly have. All in all, she's a delightful, intelligent little girl that keeps her mom and dad always on their toes guessing what questions are going to come next out of that little mind!!

Look at those cupcakes! I think I ended up baking 5 dozen of them in the end between the family party, school treats, and this party.

Girls, girls, Girls!!! They were so excited to get together! They loved painting the pottery and no one broke a thing.

A few days later Will had his party at the beloved Chuck E. Cheese ( I admit to cringing a bit when he picked this location!) But we had it on a Wed. afternoon and basically had the whole place to ourselves, which was awesome for a group of little 3 yr olds.

A few stats on this little guy.......

He may be small in stature, but he makes it up with his personality! He continues to grow, but at a slower pace than most.....weighing in at 26 lbs (5th percentile) and 25th percentile for height. He is comfortably wearing 18 month -2T size clothes and size 6 shoes. He loves cars and the color red like Lightning McQueen. He runs almost everywhere and is just starting to ride a trike really well. His speech and language is unbelievable as the poor kid is in constant speech therapy sessions with me at home. He loves to tell Knock Knock jokes and Sing, Sing, Sing. He takes a 1 1/2 - 2 hr. nap each day, which he can power through without if he has to. Many nights he sings a little concert including "Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC's, Iowa Fight Song, Shine on Harvest Moon, and You are my Sunshine in bed before he goes to sleep. He is potty trained during the day, and 95% there at night. He usually wakes up around 6:30am to go potty and then back to bed until 7-7:30. He is very outgoing in his gymnastics class and at preschool, never afraid to tell his teachers, "I don't like that!" or express his other true feelings about everyday life. A funny little memory from his wellcheck...... Dr. Rinderknecht discovered that Will had shoved a large rock down into his ear canal awhile ago. Poor little guy learned the hard way on why we don't do that. His reasoning on why he did it to the Dr. was "I did it because I couldn't get my boogers out!" WHAT!! Like I said, he is our spark plug and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Will loved being the center of attention at the party. He wore his medallion and crown everywhere for a few days afterward.

Eating pizza, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream while watching the show and playing games. What a great day!

It was a whirlwind month with many parties, lots of goodies and presents. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate another wonderful year with our munchkins. Happy Birthday Kate and Will! We love you both so much!!!