Easter 2013

Dear Kate,

The weekend before Easter, Mommy and Daddy took a little trip by ourselves to Las Vegas.  No kiddos were allowed - it's Vegas rules, so you got to stay at Kipper's house!  Uncle Jaybee picked you up Friday afternoon and you enjoyed the entire weekend with them.  They said you did fantastic, and that you and Kipper may fight more than Ellie and Abby argue, but we'll assume that's just an age thing!  You did great with going to bed and sleeping in, like I knew you would and because Mommy and Daddy were having such a great time, we decided to stay one more night and Papa came over to watch you Monday until we got home.  He was thrilled to watch you because you NEVER leave my side when he (or anyone, really) is around.  It was just you and him and he said that at first you didn't want anything to do with him, then he learned the trick.  Let the dog in!  You were so afraid of Cheeto that you just jumped right in his arms and didn't let loose until we came home!  You seemed happy when we got there and you weren't mad at me this time for leaving you.  I take that as a good sign!  

Now, you may be asking where Sister was, right? She went with Mimi and CL and Ash-ash to Chicago!!! I know right?! So when I picked you up on Monday, we had until Thursday until we saw Sister.  You missed her and kept asking for her - a lot!  

Finally on Thursday, you and Mommy headed to Mimi's house where we were finally reunited with Abs.  I am positive she missed you, too! 

On Friday, we were going to head to the Children's Museum, but instead, Aunt G decided to just take Abs, John Michael and Em, so me and you and Mimi ran a few errands and met Lynnie and Mammaw for lunch.  You showed off your awesome 'I refuse to sit in a high chair' skills, but Mammaw was still convinced you were such a sweet thing :)
Saturday morning, you went with Mimi and Abby to an Easter egg hunt at Clara Lee's church.  Mimi said Sister was so sweet and helped you put eggs in your basket.  All I know is that when you came home, your face/lips/tongue were all covered in blue, from a blue ring pop.  Can you say filthy...

 And I'm not referring to the 2 bunny rabbits that Clara Lee got, although they were a little filthy, but they were pretty darn cute, too!

Thankfully, a bath was not too far along. And neither was the Easter bunny!  

 We got all cleaned up for an Easter lunch at Mimi's house.  Unfortunately things got a little crazy for a bit because Uncle Bubba had to got to the ER for some chest issues.  Thankfully it wasn't anything serious, but lunch was a little more hectic than expected.  We were still able to eat a yummy meal and hang out with the family, and that's what counts anyway, right!

After lunch, we did a little egg hunting (and Mommy's camera died so we'll have to get those pictures from Mimi!) and you even found a golden egg! Sooner than we preferred, we had our car packed and were headed back to our house.  It was a 'egg'ceptional Easter weekend sweet Kate!
Love you and your ridiculous cuteness!!

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Dear Kate,

We had a fun time celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year.  The Friday before, sister had a friend over and we made green cupcakes.  You were happy to test them out a few days before the big green day!

 That weekend, Daddy was out of town on a boys trip, so Sarah came up to help us celebrate.  On St. Patty's morning, we fixed green pancakes!  You thought they were delicious!!

 After our bellys got full, we headed to the park.  It was such a pretty day, we needed to be outside, and we thought we'd try to teach you how to ride your bike you got for Christmas.  As you can see, you were not concerned about that and preferred walking...

 And sliding.  backwards...

 We headed home for lunch, which included several green items - spinach wraps, avocado, green grapes and some broccoli!  Delicious!!

 Then, crazy as it may sound, we headed to an Easter egg hunt!  I know, right?!  A little odd it's on St. Patty's day, but that's just the way Easter fell this year - early!
You had a blast playing with the parachute...

And of course looking for eggs!!!

Yep, Kipper and Ellie joined us, too!

While you only got a couple eggs, you were thoroughly happy with that!  You loved taking them out, then back in the basket.  Out, again, then back in...

As we were leaving the egg hunt, we looked up and Jake and Ryan were walking up!  They missed the hunt due to some timing issues, but we didn't want to miss an opportunity to hang out with them, so we headed BACK to the park for more fun.  And, since we were having such a great time enjoying the day, we invited them to our house to grill out!! We enjoyed the rest of the day playing outdoors on our playground!

Jakey was precious as ever!

And seems to be just as monkeyish as you!

Daddy ended up cooking his famous hamburgers and while we didn't end the day with anything green to eat (other than the green cupcakes!!), we did end our day with some great friends!!! I love spur of the moment fun!! And love you too!!