Hello, Neighbor!

Katie has a new dwelling these days. We have wanted to get her a play house for a long time now, and thanks to a little gift from Uncle Sam this year, we were able to surprise Kate with this gift a few weeks ago. This house is pretty cool; it has a working doorbell, windows that slide open and closed, a real solid roof and door. And of course being from Josh, it is made of real wood. It even has window boxes! This weekend, she and Daddy will go and pick out some beautiful pansies to welcome her guests to her new house. And we really should give a BIG shout out to Papa Dan for assembling it! Let's just say it took awhile to put this baby together!

Do come inside...tea anyone??

Speaking of our Little One, Kate is a pretty amazing photographer. We are regularly amazed at the angles, details and subjects that she chooses to capture on camera. We've started keeping a file of her pictures because someday they might be valuable. Here is a humorous set of her most recent self-portraits. Personally, I love the first one.

Nathan's First Birthday

There were so many pictures to choose from as I tried to narrow down the celebration we had for Nathan's first birthday last weekend. I wish I could have added more, but I hope this provides a little feel for the evening.

We had a jungle animal theme. The kids all got face masks to wear, as did some of the adults too! Kate had the job of handing out the masks as the kids arrived; a job she took very seriously. Of course she scouted out the masks first and saved the bunny rabbit for herself!
In first birthday party tradition, I wanted to do a fun, special "cake" that I made myself. So I used 24 cupcakes to make this fun crocodile. It was a hit with everyone.

I wasn't sure if Nathan would really get into eating his cupcake; he is really picky about food textures, but as you can see below, he LOVED every minute of it!




And he knew exactly what to do when it came to the presents. His cousins and big sister were standing by ready to help, but he showed them he had it under control!

Of course, the piles and piles of wrapping paper were of the best gift of all.

We were very blessed by the family that came to celebrate as well as a few close friends. Nathan is a gift to so many. We love this little guy! Can't wait to see what this next year brings...

A Cellist in the Making

I have secretly dreamed that Kate might choose to play the cello one day; it brought me so much joy to see her try the cello for the first time on Friday. She needs to grow into it a bit, but there might be a chance of her picking this instrument up in time.