Christmas Caroling

Some of the wonderful families we get to call friends came together and decided together that we should take our kiddos to the local retirement home to sing Christmas carols at dinner, pass out some homemade cards and just share the love of Jesus... pretty great idea right? Add a little face painting and a bunch of sweet children and you have a great evening glorifying our Savior's birth :-) It was awesome, the kids had fun and I hope the elders did too.

First - I must share my two cute little reindeer:

AJ was all about the face paint, especially when we called it makeup... KK was too. They are too sweet!

Now AJ wasn't really aware of the plans for the night. In his usual, go with the flow attitiude, he just got his face painted and followed sissy around. When it was time to sing, much to my surprise he was all about standing up by KK and ringing his little bell. When the singing started though, he had to turn around and watch with surprise! He thought he was pretty cool getting a front row seat to the show.

Here is a shot of our group - AJ didn't really sing much, it was dinner time and his boppy was not moving from his mouth. KK did a great job with Jingle Bell Rock and Happy Birthday Jesus.

Here is KK with Gracie at the after-party. The entire group went to our cousin's house for some pizza and fun together. A special thank you to great-grandma JJ for the pretty dresses the girls are wearing. They are adorable!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! We hope you are enjoying the crazy holiday season as much as we are... and I will end this post the way KK ended her prayers tonight "We love you Jesus, thank you for being born"! Amen!

KK's Christmas Program

So KK's school had their Christmas program - and what a great program it was. KK's class was in charge of spelling out the word Christmas and singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain". After weeks of hearing the song and practicing, we were ready. KK had a very special role, she was the one who would say "S is the Star", the first S in Christmas.

Here is a picture of her all dressed up in her Christmas dress and cute little red shoes.



Here is KK and her class... yes the kid next to her is pretending to have special vision goggles or something. Let's just say that with all the eyes on them, these cute little four year olds might have forgotten to say half of their lines. But it was sweet. KK was one of the few who belted out her line "S is the STAR". Go KK!

Here is a shot of her class! The kids did great on the song - everyone joined in by the end and it was so wonderful to hear our kiddos singing about our Savior's birth!

AJ found the bells the classes used on a few songs and went a little crazy after the program. Everyone did great. We had an interesting nativity scene... one of the shepherd took his staff and after attempting to "shoot" the angel, started poking the ear of the shepherd next to him. He was stopped when his Mommy ran up and grabbed his staff from him... I need to read up on my nativity story, I don't remember that part but it was too funny. This shepherd just so happens to be one of KK's best friends at school. I am with his mom, all shepherds should be girls from now on hehe!

The last picture above is KK with KJ and C-bug, how we have loved growing up and now going to school with these two amazing little boys!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

KK's Party

So this year, KK requested another jumping party! After all the fun last year, we couldn't refuse. The theme this year wasn't PJ's but rather our new favorite character "Strawberry Shortcake". KK even put on her own tights and a tutu to make her look like Strawberry Shortcake for her party. What a cute little birthday girl she was:

We arrived at our party and started jumping right away. Below: Mommy and KK being silly. Daddy and AJ taking time to cheese before going completely nuts in the bounce houses. AJ did actually refuse to leave one of the houses for awhile. He was convinced to move on after Daddy promised to take him on the slide!

A quick family shot before we took off to talk with friends and jump to our hearts content!

The party was a complete success! We had 25 sweet friends who came to celebrate with Kaitlyn. God has truely blessed Kaitlyn and each of us with these friendships, every day we thank God for surrounding us by some of the most amazing, kind and wonderful people!

Below: Samina and Nick are great! They have never missed one birthday party :-) Next to them, our cousins, who are always always there for us. We love you guys soo0 much!

The kids did such a good job just playing together and having fun. All the parents were able to talk and hold the babies while taking turns jumping and playing too. KK had such fun - she jumped with almost everyone that came and made sure to try each and every bounce house. She even got Samina to join in (sort of)!

Here is a group shot of our friends -- pretty impressive that I gathered so many kiddos into one spot and managed to capture them. It takes a lot of skill but I am becoming a pro - and please note Miss Amanda in the middle who joined in to help :-)

After 1 1/2 hours of non-stop jumping, the kids were ready for some snacks and cupcakes. After the fruit, cheese and crackers were eaten, and everyone took there seats, we were ready to celebrate the birthday girl!

Below: Our strawberry shortcake cupcakes; KK as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her; KK holding on to her best friends hand as she thinks of her wish.

Happy 4th Birthday sweet KK!

Now do you see little man peaking to watch behind her? After KK blew out her candles, he turned around and laughed out loud while clapping his hands in joy! What a sweet moment that he was so happy for his big sister! In this picture, I am holding the plate while everyone is singing to KK, and I will never forget how she just looked at me, with complete joy in her face and smiled as this picture was taken.



The wishes were made and then the cupcakes were eaten. There was nothing left to do but open all those presents! The kids crowded around, inching closer each time another present was opened, excited and having fun. KK got so many thoughtful gifts, again we are so thankful. Before we knew it, it was time to hug everyone goodbye and hand out our treat bags (mini gummi bears with a flower or dinosaur ring so cute). KK did stand up on a chair and thank everyone for coming to her party - it was sweet. Here is a shot of her after her speech:

So thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us, and for those of us who couldn't but sent warm wishes and hugs later on! Love you!

Happy 4th Birthday KK

Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet KK! I still remember holding her in my arms when she was six weeks early, five pounds and so tiny... how much our little one has grown!

The birthday princess woke up to her bed
room floor filled with balloons, like she was sleeping on a cloud. We took AJ in and sang Happy Birthday to her the to start her big day! She loved the decorations and her strawberry-shaped cupcake cake that Mommy and Daddy stayed up late working on the night before. After she dressed in her birthday shirt, KK added a tutu for "sparkle" purposes and posed for a few pictures before we left to celebrate.

We breakfasted at McD's on pancakes and sausage. AJ was loving the party, and they both played together for awhile. After breakfast, AJ went to babysitter so KK and I could have a day of fun together. All KK's friends surprised us with birthday cards and hugs when we dropped off AJ. So sweet!

Our first stop, the Children's Museum. We never get to sit and just play in the craft room, but today was a first! We decorated party hats, made egyptian jewerly.. it was great. We explored other rooms and let KK just run to her hearts content. Then we met Daddy for lunch at the mall before meeting up with Gracie to watch our favorite movie ever: Tangled! KK loved it so much, she wanted to take Gracie to see it on her birthday. What fun we had, snuggled together watching the best princess movie ever!

After the movie, we all met back at our Casa for the PARTY!

After pizza, we turned the lights down and sang Happy Birthday to KK! She made a wish and blew out the candles, ready to taste those berry red cupcakes. After dessert, it was time for presents...

The big surprise from Mom & Dad: a big girls bike! KK has been wanting one for so long, it was so fun to see her surprise and excitement! A princess bike just for our princess! Of course, regardless of the time or temperature, we had to test the bike outside. She loved it! So here she is, our birthday girl at four years old:

A special thanks to our cousins who made the day special by going around town with us, and to all of our family and friends who called to wish our little princess a Happy Day as she turned FOUR! Love to you all!

Thanksgiving @ Grandma's House

Our roadtrip continues as we go to Grandma's house to celebrate Thanksgiving together. All our aunts and uncles were there, it was the first time we were all together like that in a long time. Before we start, here is our group shot from Thanksgiving day.

We spent Thanksgiving watching the Macy's Day Parade and playing around the house. Everyone worked to make something for the feast and before we knew it, it was time to eat! Everything was wonderful (there is a reason you only do this once a year). Afterwards, we had to document the family being together with some pictures.

The kids loved it, all the attention and various playmates to choose from with two aunts, two uncles, and a grandma and grandpa to dote on them. Wow, it made them hyper to say the least, but we enjoyed seeing them so happy.

With so many babysitters around, we were able to go on a movie date alone (something that never happens), and we got to break out our pointy elbows and do some early Black Friday shopping. Granted, we barely woke up at 5am and we were home by 7am, but we did hit up at least three stores and found some deals. And it was more about the fun we had with Liz and Steve. Aunt Julie was kind enough to wake up to watch the kids, and it was her birthday no less! We made it up to her, with coffee, donuts and little treats throughout the day!

KK also got to see the much anticipated "Tangled" movie. It lived up to its rep, KK declared it her favorite movie just 20 minutes in, and she wanted to own it before it was over. I have to agree, best princess movie ever and I want to own it too! A special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for hanging with AJ while he napped, it was nice to get away both times, so thank you! I only wish AJ wouldn't have slept so well so they would have had more play time while we were out.

Here are some shots of the kids with everyone!

We had several adventures to the parks nearby... one thing we know, when the siblings get together, we all act like kids and have so much fun together! Here are some pictures to document just a few of the funny moments (there wasn't enough room to bring them all on here or I would)!

Note Alex's face, he knew we were about to get crazy! Uncle Steve looks like he is trying to be hard, but really it was just cold and windy (sorry Steve hehe)! Great picture though!

We made sure regardless of our ages that we tried at least every thing at the playground... and while we might have looked odd, I will say it drew in kids of all ages (okay just young ones that were a little unique) that asked or play with us (or didn't ask and just started making us play with them). So we must be too school for cool!

Liz should be a fireman!

I love this one - Ju-Ju and KK holding on for dear life. Next, Mr. AJ stricking a pose on the top of the slide. My little supermodel!

My cute babies sharing a ride on the car... watch out kids. Aunt Ju-Ju is very serious about car races! And she is having a lot of fun!

Before we left, our aunts and uncle gave KK her birthday presents. After opening the gifts, they immediately all started playing them all together. It means so much that my kiddos have such loving and fun aunts and uncles in their lives! The joy in both KK and AJ's faces when they were with them and playing with them is always wonderful! We love you all!