Love It!!

Have I told you lately how much I love these people? Well, I do. A lot. We're in the car right now on the way home from Panera Bread (blogging from an iphone isn't an easy task) and life couldn't get much better. We went our separate ways this afternoon - dancing and gymnastics for Towns, football game for Bethany, Daddy duty for J, and a zoning board meeting for me. And afterwards we all met back at home so we could go to dinner together. We're on the way home now and I'm listening to Bet and Towns sing Party in the USA at the top of their lungs. Cate's laughing at them. J & I are in the front seat enjoying every second of it. It just really makes me blissfully happy when we're all together like this. It makes for a great mood. Maybe it's the cool weather that excites me. Or maybe it's just because I love these clowns I'm in the car with more than life itself!

Birthday Girl

Cate's big day last Thursday was a super fun day, and we were so thankful that in the midst of two weeks of rain she had a sunny birthday! Things didn't work out quite as well Saturday when we were planning on celebrating with friends and family at the park, but that's my next post!

We woke sleeping beauty by parading into her room with balloons which was just perfect for her...the girl loves balloons!

We immediately let her open her presents before Bebby had to rush off to school...

Surprisingly enough, she hasn't really gotten into opening presents. So Bethany and Towns did the job for her!

She got lots of new shoes...she's been obsessed with shoes since before she could talk. Even when she was tiny that would be the first thing she'd think about in the mornings. I would get her out of her bed and she'd lay her head on my shoulder and let me love on her for a split second...then she'd get down, go to her closet and find a pair of shoes (never mis-matched!) and bring them to me to put on her feet. Needless to say, she was thrilled with opening shoes on her birthday! And the thing about Cate is that one pair of shoes lasts approximately 3 minutes before she's moved onto the next pair...

Case in point...

After all the excitement of opening everything, it was play time!
Towns played hostess at the tea party...


Next up? Playing with the dress-up ballerina puzzle...

Afterwards, the birthday princess made her way to her throne for breakfast...

She was so surprised to see such a sight!
And then Daddy came in with a cat (that belongs to the neighbors) and told Cate that he'd gotten it for her for her birthday...

She's an animal lover if there ever was one, but this she wasn't too thrilled about!
The girls and I headed to the neighborhood park after breakfast to enjoy the weather...

Towns has mastered the monkey bars...

And is always all smiles when she looks back and sees that she made it all the way!

This face is so funny...Cate's asking me if she can 'fip' on the bars and I think she's wondering if she's sure she's ready for it!

I told her to have at it! Birthday girls can do whatever they want, right? As long as it doesn't end with a broken bone, I'm good with it!






Towns found a flower and gave it to Cate...


After B got home from school and Cate got up from her nap, we let her have her last present...

A pink motorcycle with a side car for her baby doll! We haven't tried it out on the open road (sidewalk) yet, only indoors. But now that the rain has given us a break we'll have to take it for a spin!
Cate's trying out her bubble lawn mower...

While her sister hams it up for the camera...


We ended the big day with B's football game. This is what Cate did the entire time...

She did every single cheer with the cheerleaders and after each cheer she threw her hands up and yelled 'go RaiDERRRS' which was quite possibly the funniest thing we've ever seen. She had two whole sets of bleachers cheering more for her than for the football team!
Between the 7th grade game and the 8th grade game, the cheerleaders got introduced and did a dance. Here's B running to the front of the field as they called her name...

We always love going to B's ballgames!

And we especially love birthdays!
Hope your day was a fun for you as it was for us, Cate-Cate!
(And thanks JM for the picture!!)

2 Years!

Two years ago today this sweet pea was born...

And I think it's safe to say that she's completely stolen my heart!

Happy Birthday, Cate!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I don't video the girls nearly as much as I should, but last night I had the camera in hand to capture our Olympic hopefuls. We laugh a lot around here due to the fact that I live with bunch of clowns. It's really no exaggeration when I tell you that we have fun no matter what we're doing. We just can't help it! Bethany's been working so very hard on perfecting her back handspring on her own without anyone spotting her, so for the past couple of nights we've taken the mattress off of her bed for her to practice on. If there's a noise control police, I'm shocked that they weren't called to our house by our neighbors because we get ridiculously loud and excited when we're all together. And the first time B did that back handspring by herself was no different! It was amazing! The two little ones don't waste much time figuring out how to copy everything B does, and I happened to catch a little of it on video. I'm not kidding when I tell you that this is loud and crazy, so be prepared!

This is Cate practicing her 'back fip' over and over and over again...

Towns started taking gymnastics a month or so ago, and since she's also in ballet and tap I hesitated to let her take on something else. But the girl does handstands, cartwheels, round offs, back bends (she stands up and goes into it a back bend - B taught her!), and other things I couldn't do until I was probably twice her age. Jonathan was all for her doing gymnastics, so we signed her up. Why not let her do it if that's what she loves? She started out going one day a week and begged to go every single day, so now she's going twice a week and loves every minute of it. I thoroughly enjoy taking her because it's liking walking into the Olympics! She does bars, balance beam or 'bean' as she calls it, trampoline, and other things I wouldn't begin to know the name of. I need to brush up on my gymnastics vocabulary if we're going to be this serious about it! Please excuse the panties showing from underneath her leotard...in one video B was whispering to her to fix it, but she didn't catch on!

Here's one more...

The funny part of that video is that she's screaming HELP right before the video goes off because she can't get out of her back bend...you can't hear it for some reason, but it was hysterical!
And for the record, I have a video of B doing her back handspring but she's threatened me not to show it to the world!

We get to take the fun to the next level tomorrow...it's Cate's birthday!

Homework!

Towns is in the pre-k 4 class at our church and is absolutely loving life. She's always been the one to love to be a part of class and everything that comes along with it. She thrives on projects...can't imagine where she gets it from!

Last week I picked her up from school and her teacher handed me this:

Her 'homework' was to take it home and decorate it using anything she could could come up with. The goal was to make it look like her. Of course, the minute we got in the car that day she begged to go to Hobby Lobby to get fabric, buttons, ribbon, yarn, etc. so she could start on her homework immediately. You could tell her wheels were turning and she already had a plan. I have to let you in on a little secret. In no shape, form, or fashion do I want her to grow up but I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for a school project just like this! (And can I please tell you that when I saw the Scholastic order form for books in her backpack it nearly sent me over the edge! I love motherhood!!) We went Friday to find everything she needed, and made an afternoon out of it. I'm pretty sure you couldn't curb her enthusiasm if you tried! We waited until Friday night after Cate went to sleep to get started. If you know Cate, you know how it would have gone had we let her help!
She got everything organized and was ready to go...

We made a hot pink leotard out of fabric and she glued yellow yarn on for the hair. We made a pink hair bow and since it had to be just like her, we had to attach the bow to an alligator clip before we put it the yarn hair. Apparently, it just wouldn't be the same without it! She documented her progress with my camera...

And so did I!
Next came painting her fingernails and toenails florescent pink, naturally!

She painted her face and made jewelry out of pink, orange, yellow and purple buttons...

She requested that we monogram her leotard with a 'T' made of buttons, and I agreed that it would be just the right touch! :)
We finished her off with a hot pink and orange tutu, and here she is in all her prissified glory!

She had to sit in the front seat on the way to school this morning, but we decided that a seat belt wasn't necessary. Doubt an airbag would do her much harm!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from Bethany's game Thursday night...hope you love cheer pictures because it's a weekly thing with us!

Half time cheer...

I love this one! Looks like she's having so much fun...

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I thrive on a routine. I don't function so well when I'm out of it. I've had a ton of work to do (I dream about t-shirt orders at night, and I wish I was joking) which means a lot of time spent in front of the computer. That doesn't really make for happy children, and I try so very hard to work only when the girls are at mother's day out or asleep. Cate's so young that she doesn't understand why I'm always at the computer, but Towns does and she doesn't like it at all. We've had the "let's be thankful that your Mommy is able to stay at home while she works" conversation a hundred times, but it's still no fun what so ever to her that I can't devote 100% of my time to her all day, every day. So back to the routine part. Towns loves to color, write, type, etc. and lately while Cate's down for a nap I work and Towns plays 'shop' and feels so important. She takes orders and types it all out. She'll color a for a while and then go back to order-taking. The piano stool is her desk, and we hope Bebby doesn't mind that we borrow her laptop every afternoon! As soon as she sees me getting ready to lay Cate down, she heads to our work station. She's a routine girl, just like her mama! She knows the drill!

This is what our afternoons look like...

She looks like she's concentrating so hard! And Blazer, Towns refuses to use anything but the Ocean Reef koozie to hold her colored pencils! She thinks it's the greatest thing ever! Little does she know that it takes me back and makes me wish I WAS THERE!!!
It's been raining all week long so we've done a lot of this...

And this...


And we've had a blast just sitting in the floor playing and being silly (we've perfected the silly part!)...

One last funny one...

This was yesterday before B went to school. I have no idea what Towns' face is all about, but the funny part is that Cate had her hands on her face and when I asked her to put her arms down this is what she did! We'll have to work on that! :)

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

Are you doing that cheer in your head now?? Talk about spirit...we've had an over abundance of it in the last few days. Bethany's 1st pep rally and a trip to the Halloween Costume Warehouse have been the source of good times around here! Jonathan and I both agreed that we're officially old. The pep rally music was entirely too loud and there's no way anyone's ear drums survived! :) It was perfect for middle schoolers, though, and the cheerleaders did a great job of getting everyone fired up about the football game that night. The lights were off most of the time and the girls wore glow in the dark sunglasses. And when they started dancing to "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night" all of us oldies in the crowd went wild! HA! Not sure if anyone under the age of 30 knew what was going on, but it was all good because they were just glad to be out of class for the last 45 minutes of school!

It was so nice Thursday night at the game...it was almost chilly which makes me one happy lady!
Game time!


B almost got taken out by a football player...

The girls were in heaven since there were tumbling mats out. They parked it on the mats and did handstands until they both were about to fall out!

Bebby and Cate...

It is way too cute how Towns and Cate look at Bethany like she's a celebrity when she's cheering at the games. They think she's pretty special! Can't imagine why!
Saturday morning, Jonathan took the girls to the costume store while B got ready to go to Bridge Street with a friend. You never know what they'll come home with when they go places with their Daddy...


I'll be doing my own costume shopping come Halloween! But I was rolling in the floor laughing so hard at Cate in this get-up. It was beyond hysterical!
And can I say thank you times infinity to the most thoughtful girl ever? B spent Saturday shopping with a friend and this is the only thing she came home with...

She bought me a little treat! It doesn't get much sweeter than that, my friends!