She's full of...LIFE!

The other day I told Katelee to eat her lunch and she replied with, "I can't, because I am full of it." Oh, she is so right :) . No, we adore this little leprechaun lady and can't believe she just had another birthday!! It's funny that we have at least one kid with red hair (possibly two...Brenna's hair is currently multi-colored and yet to be decided)...but our St Patty's baby did not inherit the Irish coloring! We love our little Katelee! She is full of love, lots of emotions, and the best expressions you have ever seen!

Daddy bought Kate flowers (the roses are green!). We had dinner (green noodles), opened presents... Grant is showing Katelee how to work her new bike, and she is donning her new dress. She had to try every piece of clothing on immediately! We ate cake....
and it was a great party. Nothing in this world gives this girl more joy than...CHOCOLATE. She walked into the kitchen the other day and told me she could smell something chocolate...later I told her "I love your guts." She replied with, "I love your guts the most-because they are chocolate guts!" (if that were true, I'd probably be a sweeter person!) So, we responded to her every request on her birthday, including the "Dad, do you want to pour chocolate syrup in my mouth?" suggestion:
This has been done before, usually Dave and the kids hide behind the fridge door and fill their mouths with Hershey's syrup, like I don't know what is transpiring. Brenna celebrated much of the night in her swing. Please notice her little Irish socks her sweet Aunt Shannon brought her straight from Dublin!
One more future black mail picture/story of Grant: He was acting like a maniac the other day and I asked him where he came from. His reply: "From outer space...." That clears a lot up! Thank you for the confirmation. We have some AWESOME kids!!!

Making Adjustments...

I can't believe it has been three weeks since Brenna was born. Time flies by when you aren't continuously tossing your cookies! We are all learning how this sweet baby fits into our lives. Dave is still getting sleep and thinks this baby is the cutest little squish. I am adjusting to the sleep deprivation and all other physical demands that come with a new baby that are best not mentioned here! It is always amazing how you don't really need to make room in your heart to love another child, you just find that you had a capacity that was untapped! It is strong and all consuming and awesome.

Grant is all over Brenna...and I do mean ALL OVER her. He constantly hovers and while I am feeding her, he constantly asks if I am done milking yet... as if I didn't already make that connection in my head with how I feel! He is fascinated by all she does. He discovered my pump and has requested to borrow it for Star Wars because it looks like a space satellite....awesome. He asked me to take the baby somewhere else the other day because couldn't hear his game on the computer...hmmm, so sorry to intrude! Another day,he was giggling as she wrapped her little fingers around his and I told him how she was saying she loved him. He said, "No, she is saying I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Ah, the power of an infant!
Katelee has only been kind to the little babe...but she is still figuring out where we all fit. Most days she is even more emotional than ever, which is extreme for our live in drama queen. Here is a glimpse of how she looks most days: All in all, we are adjusting smoothly and are so happy Brenna is here! Most of the time, I think she enjoys it as well!

Welcoming Brenna

Brenna Catherine arrived Wednesday evening at 10:52pm. While I had plenty of forewarning with my labor starting early Tuesday morning, we may have waited a bit too long to leave for the hosptial...considering I was in the delivery room for 20 minutes before her debut!

She weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and is 21 in long. We all adore her completely! The kids have been enamored and I have averted some near smotherings...more to come of that I am sure!

Dave and I met on Valentines Day at an Institute church breakfast. So, every year to be sentimental and cutesy, I suppose, we go out to breakfast. This year, we obviously opted to stay in, but I can think of no greater way to celebrate than to be with our "big kids" and welcome our new beautiful daughter. It is definitely a Happy Love day!!!

Birthday Boy

Grant recently had his birthday and I would declare it was a success! He counted down the days until it arrived and the night before he wanted to verify with me that I would come get him in the morning, like it was Christmas. It was really cute. However, as he is one year older I think he has entered full boy battle zone...gone are the days where he would pretend he is a chef, the garbage obsession has fizzled (not too sad about that, plus he still has occasional trash pick up days with his trucks and toliet paper around the house), but every night before bed he picks a new super hero name. Sometimes he makes up a name (like Super Slice, a dangerous foe who could dash you to bits with his fingernails) or he chooses a standard marvel character (ie Wolverine or Ironman). So, his birthday gifts consisted of light sabers, strobe laser guns, Batman, Spiderman toys etc. He chose a crocodile cake and was pleased with how it turned out:
We had a lot of fun that day and he got to sleepover at grandma's house after, so it was a birthday to remember! We also got to say farewell to my sister Paige who left on her mission a couple of weeks ago! The kids pray she will have no troubles on her mission, especially learning Spanish...I am sure she will appreciate that! We tried to spend lots of time with her and here we are at the Sweets Candy shop. I can't get Grant to part with his flattering hair net, he said he is keeping it forever....

Christmas Cheer

We hope everyone's Christmas was merry and bright! We had a nice holiday and are already getting questions from the kids as to where Santa is now and when it will be Christmas again.

Who knew such refined princesses eat candy canes with their feet! Who teaches these people manners?!

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year but please know how much we appreciate and love our family and friends! I haven't been feeling great and have been opting out of a lot of things on the account of never ending queasiness! A couple of weeks ago, I was really not feeling well, hauling the kids around with my barf bag ready in my purse. We approached Costco, and I really didn't want to go in, so I asked Grant and Katelee if they wanted to go home or go to Costco. Of course, Grant wanted to go home and Katelee wanted to go in. I told them to work it out and let me know in a few minutes what was decided. I listened in as Katelee whined and pouted and Grant attempted bribery and persuasion for his side. Finally, Grant let out a sigh and said, "Alright Kate, will it make you happy if we go to Costco?" The little drama queen sniffled and said, "Yes." Grant announced we could go ahead and go in. I told him that it was so nice of him to do that, to which he replied, "Well, I am just doing my job!"
While it made me smile and it was a cute reply, I have thought that is going to be one of the things I would like to work on in 2010...making it my job to put others first and see to it they are happy! Happy New Year!