Kate is 1

Life goes by too fast and I just can't keep up with journaling my life. Kate turned 1 and we had a little party with just our family for her. My mom was in town so it was nice to have Vovo here.
Kate decided to start taking her first steps on the day of her birthday. By the end of the week she was walking around the house. She's so funny because she didn't even know how to just stand unassisted or how to get up without using something  (wall, couch, someone's leg...) to help, but that never stopped her. She just wanted to go!
For her party we had dinner with the Schmidts, Garretts, Jermans, and Vovo. Then we had several desserts and Kate got her own little smash cake. She enjoyed digging in her cake and licking the frosting.
At the age of 1 Kate likes to eat just about anything, she's a good sleeper, and she loves her siblings. She enjoys the swings and slide at the park. She still doesn't say anything. She hisses like a snake and we tell Clarissa that she is saying Cissa. She says "dada" but it's not associated with Cory.
She is our smallest baby. She weighs only 23lbs and is 30 inches long. We love our little Kate!

Spring Break and Easter

Spring break this year was pretty slow around here. Since Cory and I were going to San Diego with the young women at the very end of spring break, I just took it slow during the week and tried to get ready for my trip.
On Monday we went to the park, like I always do. The Weavers came with us and I brought pizza. We spent at least 3 hours there. The weather was perfect and the kids were all happily entertained with their friends. Ofa and I were able to sit and chat so it was great!
The kids and I have been watching a lot of Food Network shows lately. They have enjoyed Cupcake Wars, DC Cupcakes, and now we are into The Great Food Truck Race. So on Tuesday we went to Sprinkles cupcakes (one of the judges from Cupcake Wars owns it) and then headed to the Scottsdale train park. The cupcakes were delicious (I specially enjoyed my peanut butter chocolate chip cake) and it was another nice day out at the park. We rode the train (Kate's first time) and the kids also went on the merry-go-round.
Wednesday was a BAD day. Well, the kids were good but we chose to go to Peter Piper Pizza, and that what a bad idea. The restaurant was packed and we barely got any pizza. The children still enjoyed their time out of the house.
Thursday was spent doing laundry and packing for the big sleepover at gradma's. Clarissa and Christopher love sleep overs and were super excited. Drew, on the other hand, is a home body and was anxious he was going to have to be away from me for 2 whole nights. Kate woke up throwing up from Thursday to Friday so Cory and I didn't get to bed until 3 am after having to clean her and her crib sheets twice.
Friday and Saturday where spent in San Diego and it was great. I was a little sad I didn't get to take my kids with me on a trip during spring break, but it just wouldn't have worked out.
Easter was early this year. We celebrated the last Sunday in March. The girls had matching white and blue dresses Karen got them, so I made sure we all coordinated with some sort of blue on our outifits. It was fun to go to church and see other moms and daughters also matching.
For Easter I hid a small basket for each child in a separate room. They all enjoyed their goodies, but Katharine's reaction was priceless. We were all upstairs helping Christopher find his basket and left the baby down alone, not thinking she would get to her things. All of a sudden we hear these happy squeals. I run to see her and she had found her basket and was happily shaking it all around. It was super cute. She really liked it when we opened her eggs and there were puffs she could eat. Holidays with kids are so fun!

Kate the Great

Life has just flown by. I can't believe Kate will be 1 next month. As I look back on older posts I realize I have barely written things about Kate, and I hate how quickly  her baby years are slipping away.
Kate's been a fun baby. I have pretty good babies, with the exception of Drew, but that was partially my fault for being a young mom and not knowing how to better help him with all his tummy problems. Anyway, back to Kate, I enjoy seeing the kids interact with her and the older she gets the more they can play with her. She loves her siblings! She loves it when they rough house with her, let her crawl and pull their hair while they are laying down watching TV, spit/splash water on her in the bath, and pretty much just give her any kind of attention. 
The kids have all had to step in and help me feed, hold, distract... her at some point and I'm impressed with how well they do. Clarissa is my binky whisperer. She can find Katharine's lost binkies like no one else. One day I was down to just 1 binky and Clarissa started searching the house for the rest. She found all 3 missing binkies for me! She also loves to help me feed her baby food.
Andrew is probably the best at playing with Kate. She LOVES crawling all over him when he's on the floor. She will pull his hair and his ears and he just sits there and laughs. Christopher is great at giving her a bottle when I'm in a pinch and he's super good at holding her and getting her out of trouble (like the bathroom or garage). It is nice to be able to ask them to help out with their baby sister more now that she's getting bigger.
They all fully enjoy pushing her on the swings when we go to the park. They also fight over pushing the stroller.
Katharine is a great eater. She LOVES to eat anything: baby food, cereal, snacks, bottles, rocks... hahaha. Bananas are a favorite, she also enjoys mashed potatoes, and spaghetti. We are trying to go easy on  the wheat items though. I couple weeks ago we went wheat happy (she ate 2 banana muffins and had some spaghetti in less tha. 24 hrs) and Kate broke out in hives all through her upper body. I cut her off wheat and the hives have slowly gone away. I'm starting to give her wheat again in small amounts to see if she can better tolerate it this time.
Speaking of banana muffin, I made some muffins a couple weeks ago and as I was trying to quickly cool them by placing them in the freezer, Kate grabbed a muffin near the bottom and literally devoured the thing as fast as she could. It was hilarious! I've never seen that little girl stick food in her mouth so fast.
Katharine rolled and army crawled pretty early, I thought for sure she would walk early, but she seems content for now. She's happy pulling herself up to anything and she enjoys pushing a shopping cart around the house. Kate also really likes playing the piano. She's mostly a quiet child, but she sure loves to bang on the piano keys and thinks she's hilarious for making those noises.
We sure love this little girl!

Spiritual Thoughts

I've had a couple of spiritual experiences lately that I've wanted to record so that I don't forget.
I February I got to go to the temple a few times. First I went with Cory for a regular session. My heart has been heavy with my wife/mother tasks and on top of that my calling as a Young Women's president for our ward. I feel like I have served in the YW for way too long, and at times I feel the weight of this calling crushing me down. I went to the temple seeking comfort and guidance for how much longer I must endure and give my best to this calling. It is so nice to know I have a Heavenly Father that listens to my problems and answers my questions in His right time. This specific day at the temple I was reminded of the covenants I've made with God to give my ALL to Him and His church. I don't get to choose when I'm done, He does. I got reassurance that my family will be taken care of, and that I don't need to worry about my kids missing me, if I'm doing my best in my calling.
I then got to go back to the temple a week later to assist with the youth doing baptism for the dead. Again I felt a feeling of love from my Heavenly Father, and I was grateful I got to serve with the young women.
Then a few days later I returned to the temple, this time late at night to help clean the house of the Lord. What a neat experience! Once you get there, you have a little devotional, change into white scrubs, get cleaning instructions and assignments and then off you go to clean. I got vacuum duty and got to vacuum the temple halls and veil room. It was so neat to wonder the rooms of the temple "freely" and feel the spirit of the Lord even when cleaning.
In the beginning of the year I promised the Young Women that if they did 3 value experiences and 1 project from their Personal Progress I would take them to San Diego as a reward trip. Out of my 8 active young women I had 6 of them complete the goal. Only 5 went though because 1 got sick.
We had a great experience. The trip turned out to be way better and more spiritual than I could have anticipated. We drove straight to the San Diego temple and because they were closed for cleaning we only got visit the grounds and had a devotional.
After the temple we went to the beach and spent 3 hours playing. The girls loved it! Kate and Cory joined me on this trip and it was Kate's first time at the beach. She loved crawling on the sand, but wanted nothing to do with the water. I don't blame her, the water was freezing cold, the girls were crazy to play for that long in it. That night we checked in the hotel, had dinner and chatted for a little.
The next morning we started with a devotional in my room. I gave this devotional and felt inspired in telling them to work in gaining a testimony now when they are young. I also told them to write down their spiritual experiences in a journal. These memories will help them in the future when they have times of trials and doubt. I encouraged them to go back to their thoughts and writings and remember how the Lord has been there and answered their prayers.
Devotional was followed by an amazing breakfast at the hotel. Wow, best hotel breakfast ever! I've eaten better food before, but this was a nice hot food breakfast included in the price of the room, usually we have to pay for breakfast if it's more than just muffins and toast.
We finished our trip by touring the Mormon Battalion and doing a little shopping at old town San Diego. The young women were awesome the whole time! They were always united and happy. This was such an uplifting trip. I'm grateful for a bishop that supported us on taking this trip, for Cory that agreed to come and help be a leader, and for the Chapin's also joining as a second leader couple.

Merry Christmas

I can't believe it's already December. This year has literally flown by. Katharine is 7 months. She can sit (the dismount isn't the best, but we are working on it), she army crawls all over the house, loves to eat, and is finally sleeping through the night. She has been the slowest to actually sleep through the night, but considering she's my last baby, I'm okay with it. It's funny how much more patient I am with her because I know she is the last.

Christopher and Andrew are both doing well in school. I'm happy with their reading progress and I really like their school and teachers. The boys are taking piano lessons from a friend, Cassandra, in our ward. She does a great job with them and they just had their first piano recital this past weekend. Drew was super nervous and we only got him to play one song (Jingle Bells). Christopher loved all the attention and wanted to play everything he knows. He played Christmas Canon and Jack on the Beanstalk (a piece from his piano book). Haha, they couldn't be more different!

Clarissa is still as girly as can be. She loves holding and helping with Kate. She loves preschool, crafts, playdough and makeup. She is my human tornado. My house is always a mess because of all the toys she gets out. I shouldn't complain because at least she plays with her toys, contrary to the boys that like to buy them but never play with it.

We now have 3 fish. Flash is Drew's and he's still alive. He 1.5 years old. Christopher's fish, Violet, died Thanksgiving weekend. So we bought Violet the 2nd and Ashley for Christopher and Clarissa. I have actually learned to love our fish and we were all pretty sad when the first Violet died. I wish the kids would be content and satisfied with just having fish as pets. I really do not look forward to the day we get a dog. As of right now we can't anyway, because Christopher is so severely allergic to them.

Cory is almost done with his Master's program at Grand Canyon University. He's got a few classes left, and I'm looking forward to having a husband again. I'm still working with the Young Women in our ward. Of the 10 years we've been married I've held a calling in the YW for 9 of those years! I love serving with the youth, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired. This past year as president as really done it for me. I think it's the ward council meetings that have gotten me worn out.

The boys have said some funny things lately. I can't remember everything but I need to record 2 specific one before I forget. They both happened the same day while I was driving the kids in the car.
Andrew: Christopher when you grow up will you still go to church?
Me: (silent, just totally waiting for the answer)
Christopher: Of course I will, I want to go to the Celestial kingdom.
Me: Sigh, I guess he is learning after all.

Christopher bragging: I'm going to turn 16 first, so I get to drive before you!
Andrew with a teasing voice: Yeah, but that means you get puberty first.
Christopher: Oh man! I'm not happy about that part.
Me: What does it mean to GET puberty/
Andrew: snickers,  you get hair ALL over your body!
Haha, these boys crack me up!!!

Again, my super talented friend Rachael did a fabulous job taking our family pictures for our Christmas cards. We've been  incredibly blessed this year and are so lucky to have so many dear friends and family near us this time of year. I'm trying to make Christmas a little more Christ-centered this year. The kids initially fought me on my idea of switching out regular tree ornaments for a "Jesus" tree. I really like how the tree turned out. We have also had the kids help us move and hide “baby Jesus” throughout the house. The kids have begged for an Elf on the shelf, and I really don’t like having to move the dang Elf every night. This was my way to remind them that Christ can see them from anywhere and shift the moving responsibility to them. They’ve had fun with it, but still want an elf next year. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 I love Kate's big smile on this one!

Halloween 2015

Halloween this year was fun. My parents were actually in town, and we did our traditional Halloween night at our house with the Timothys, Kelly and Karen. It's always s nice to have Karen come over, because I get to go trick or treating with Cory and the kids. This year she also kept Kate, so we were able to get the baby down on her regular bed time.

Cory and I were originally going to keep things simple and dress as caveman and cave woman. Then we had Kate and we planned on dressing her as Pebbles. The boys both wanted to be Harry Potter so we had 2 Harries. Clarissa wanted to be a princess. Costco had a really cute Jasmine costume for sale, so I was able to convince Cissa to be Jasmine (instead of Elsa)! She looked so cute in her costume, that I just couldn't help myself but have a whole Aladin theme. So in the end Cory was Aladin, Clarissa was Jasmine, I was the genie and Katharine was Abu, the monkey. We won the best "Family Costume" prize at our ward trunk or treat and had a great time this Halloween.

The boys' school collects Halloween candy and donates it to the soldiers. The kids got an INSANE amount of candy. After spending 2 straight days eating as much candy as they wanted, and still saving a big gallon size bag of the best candies, we donated everything else to the school. We weighed our candy and it turned out to be 10 lbs of candy donated!! We probably got 15 lbs of candy total if we count the stuff the kids ate, threw away, and kept. CRAZY!!!

 

I carved all 4 pumpkins myself this year. 

Minion for Christopher, Harry Potter for Drew,ghost for me, and a kitty cat for Clarissa.

 

Neighborhood fall carnival we always attend. The kids love going on all the rides.

 

 

 

Kate's first year at the carnival. 

 

Traditional visit to the pumpkin patch.