Snow

We got the first snow of the season on Saturday and while Sam and I are not particulary happy about what that means Kaitlyn couldn't contain her excitement. She drug her dad outside for the first snowball fight of the season and did a good job of handling the disappointment of not being able to go sledding yet. Thankfully the snow has melted but the COLD hasn't gone away - ick!

My party

You get a big party when you turn 30 and mine was last night. Sam and my friend Jacalyn spent a lot of time planning and putting it together and they did a fabulous job. The food was great, the place looked terrific, and I was so happy that so many of our friends and family could make it. Thank you everyone - especially my great husband and wonderful Jacalyn. My only complaint - who said the party had to break up by 8:00?!?

The funniest part of the night - Sam, Mom and KC singing the helium balloon version of Happy Birthday. I didn't catch that part on video but here are some of their later antics. Sorry for the poor qualitiy - you know how those digital camera movies work.

Oh, and I just had to laugh when at the end of the night Sam told me "I don't know how you do all those parties!"

Thirty

I'm opening with a photo of Ty's tootsies because I feel like it :) And because I don't have any photos of myself from yesterday - my birthday. Yep, thirty. That's how old I am now. And now that it's here it's not scary or sad, nor do I feel any wiser. If I step back and look at my life (the overall view, not all the little details that can frustrate me) I would say that I'm happy to be where I am right now. Of course I'd love to be rich, but other than that I'm happy :) I love my family, I have great friends, and when it comes right down to it what I do every day is exactly where I want to be.

It was a good birthday. Kaitlyn had enough excitement for the both of us and gave me an enthusiastic Happy Birthday hug and kiss and had great fun calling me "Birthday Girl" throughout the day. The well wishes and gifts had started the day before and kept trickling in throughout the day so that was a lot of fun. Sam and the kids gave me an IPOD (which I can't play with yet since Sam found a better version that we will be exchanging it for) and Hershey's Kisses and Hugs (that the kids have enjoyed helping me eat). After dragging myself to the gym first thing I gave myself a day off and ran away from home so I wasn't "tempted" to clean anything. We spent a good part of the day hanging out with Mom. We took the kids down to see the project my dad is working on right now. Tyler got a couple of rides in the dump truck and Kaitlyn enjoyed exploring the creek on the property. Then we went out for pizza with Wyatt. And finished up the afternoon crafting while Tyler napped.

Sam brought home dinner and this wonderfully rich Chocolate Silk pie. (The cake will be coming on Friday at the party Sam and my friend Jacalyn are throwing for me.) Then we put the kids to bed and watched a movie. Not a bad day at all.
Cute Katy quote of the day: she said this while popping up and down from behing the couch in a form of Peek-A-Boo when I asked her whe she was doing she said, "making you laugh. You're supposed to have fun on your birthday."

Oh yes - meet Squishy. This is Kaitlyn's new pet. She has been dying to find a caterpillar all summer so she can watch it build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly. And grandma finally spotted one for her yesterday. Kaitlyn was so excited and the poor thing hasn't been out of her sight for more than 10 minutes since then.

My handy husband and Merry-Go-Round Juice

It's been quite the week. Fall is so very HERE and winter is coming fast so I've been trying to get my To Dos done - and wearing myself out in the process. I'm exhausted today. But I thought I'd share a few highlights of the past few days while I'm sitting around watching Sam make pot stickers :)

Sam has decided our closet needed an upgrade. And quite frankly he's right - I didn't take a "before" photo because it was too embarrassing with the clutter spilling out of it onto the floor. But the mess is no more (well almost - I don't have it all put away yet). Sam and his buddy Lance (thanks Lance!) spent Saturday making and installing new built-ins for my closet. And they are so good at their job - it only took them about 4 hours to do it and it looks so professional.

In order to keep the kids out of the way I ended up taking them to run errands with me then to the park. We also went to Grandpa's house for a 4 wheeler ride to kill some time. And this is the construction zone that greeted us when we got home.

And my finished closet! Double hanging and cubbies on the Right, drawers and long hanging on the left. And check out that detailing! (Ignore the ugliness on the back wall. We didn't take the time to touch it up after removing the old closet organizer. But we will get to it - eventually.)

And what (you are asking) is this de-lightful concoction? It's Kaitlyn's "Merry-Go-Round Juice." She spent about an hour the other day making it. Ingredients include water, apple pieces, nectarine pieces, carrots and frosting :) How does it taste? No idea - and I bet you wouldn't have dared try it either!

And one last photo to leave you with - Tyler laying on Sam's arm during the NASCAR race today where he had thankfully fallen back to sleep today after a short nap in the car on the way home from the city. Awwww :)

Butterfly Fairies and a Flying Horse with One Eye

Playing dress up is one of our daily activities this week. Kaitlyn usually opts for Butterfly Fairy Princess and tries to insist that Tyler do the same. The other day I had a fight on my hands until I could convince Katy that the yellow hard hat Tyler wanted to wear would work just fine if she PRETENDED it was a crown :) But as you can see, at other times he is perfectly happy wearing the wings and high heels. Too cute right? Sam says at some point Ty is going to hate us for taking these kinds of photos. So while none of us think it's a problem if Ty wants to dress up with Kaitlyn, I will however be shopping the deals after Halloween to find them a few more "boy" options.
The photos are from last night. When Kaitlyn talked Sam into wearing the wings he wouldn't let me take a photo. But when she added the eye patch and turned him into a horse he said it was too funny to pass up and that I'd better get a picture :)

Laughing

I don't know where she got the idea, but yesterday Kaitlyn decided she and Tyler were going to have potato sack races with her pillowcases. They laughed and laughed as they hopped/ran up and down the hall. I thought it was a bit dangerous for a toddler but Ty didn't seem to have a problem with it.

Cute Katy Quotes

I've been trying to write down some of the funnier things Kaitlyn has said and thought I would share a few with all of you.

-"I had the Bless Yous all day yesterday" (sneezing and runny nose)
-"the fairy did it!" (when I asked why she colored her leg with a green marker when she was supposed to be taking a nap)
- (trying to avoid brushing her teeth for bed) "Awww, it's no fun when bedtime's every day."
-"Here Mom smell this flower. It smells delightful!"
-as we were outside roasting marshmellows:
K: The fire is pretty. Even prettier than my hair.
Me: Prettier than your hair??
K: Yeah, when you do my hair it's beautiful and the fire is even prettier.
-after twirling and twirling in circles Kaitlyn says "Do you know how dizzy I am? 40 miles dizzy!"
-"I can't be patient! I'm not a good waiter!"