Kate is 4

The countdown to Kate's Birthday has been a long one. Every night as a family we talk about our "rose, bud, and thorn." These are the best parts of our day, the worst parts of our day, and something we are looking forward to. For several months, Kate has been "lookinguptomybirthday." It sounds like one word. We have all been "looking up" to Kate's 4th birthday (if not, Kate gets very sad that it is not your bud), and it finally came. We really had a great Spiderman day- she is just an amazing and joyful child, except when we ask her to share her toys on her birthday-but that is just not fair to ask of a child, is it?. Happy Birthday to my sweet angel. I am looking up to the 5th!

Snow Dog

Kate just loves to play with Sasha, and her favorite game is to throw a ball for Sasha in the snow-

as you can see.

A New Year

After a long hiatus from the blog, I am trying the new year out by trying to again be consistent with this blog. We have been enjoying a great holiday break. I think we all stayed on the nice list and were very blessed with wonderful gifts, the biggest of all that Nana is here, and we are able to start new family traditions with her. The girls were able to open presents on Christmas Eve-always a very special treat.

We have finally received our first big snow of the year. I have been very happy to wait, but now the girls are very excited to finally do some sledding and make snow angels. We are hoping to get Kate up for her first ride down the mountain on skis and have Ella give her some tips.

Summer Fun

This has been a great summer for us. To get it started, Nana finally got her house sold in California and made her way to Denver. It has been the absolute best to have her here. The girls have their own room, bunkbeds and all. They are making popsicles (and doing a pretty good job and eating them), making messes, playing in the sprinklers, and helping Nana in her garden dirt. We are so excited to help make Denver Nana's new home and share lots of adventures together.

FIrst Big Boo Boo

Kate and I had a big day the other day. She had a special outing with Martha at the park and slipped on the slide and did the chin split that I know too well. It is one of my least favorite spots to stitch so I really was shaking when I looked at it and knew it definitely needed stitches (or sutures for Lucy). So I was a little shakier than normal, but we both did better that I thought we would and it actually looks great. Plus, Kate is now excited that she has a scar that matches her Mama's. I think Ella has a small hint of jealousy over that. That's when you know you have true sibling rivalry.

Knock Knock

Plain old silliness

Girls Fun

Both girls have been trying new activities which has been so much fun. After a couple years of asking to go to "napstics" like Ella, Kate finally had her shot at her own gymnastics class. The first one was pretty good but the subsequent classes have had many tears about Mommy not being able to be there. Luckily, that gymnastics place has a cupcake shop next door, so the day always ended well. However, we decided to find another spot where Mommy can come in and this is resulting in many smiles for Kate. On the drive down, she asks "Mommy, can you come in with me?" approximately 37 times. Ella continues at the orginal gymnastics spot and is doing great. Once a month we get to see a little show of what she has been practicing and we are both pretty impressed with our strong little girl.

Also, we are overjoyed that Ella currently likes soccer and is doing awesome. If you weren't able to experience first-hand the thrill of our first attempt at soccer with Ella, let me recap. We tried at 4 in VIrginia in pretty much dead of summer time, and it was co-ed. Obviously a recipe for disaster with my heat challenged child, especially when I showed her her green and yellow androgenous uniform. Throw in some boys kicking dirt ("yes, they did do it on purpose") and all I have to say is yikes.

Needless to say, Ryan and I barely mentioned the word "soccer" so as not bring up the memories and in hopes that something would later motivate her to want to try again. Yay! She wanted to play and luckily Ryan has been able to coach. We have a great group of girls, or shall I say Red Tigers, none of whom have played before. It has been great to watch them improve every week. Though I missed the first game, it was apparently disastrous, crying girls, nobody wanted to even kick the ball, and Ryan had to borrow several players from the other team just to have enough players. This weekend was the turning point. They won their first game, and though we are not supposed to keep score, Ella clearly knew they won 5-2. 2 of those goals came from that little diva herself, and she did not even redo her ponytail once the whole game- yes! Those little girls had the little taste of victory, and they really looked like they liked it. It is just so much fun to see it in them. We have a couple more games left so I sure hope they keep having fun