Happy 5th Birthday!

I can't believe my "little" girl is 5 today. Where has the time gone? You will be going to kindergarten in just a few months!

Your daddy and I were so blessed when you made us parents 5 years ago. You were a wonderful baby, a somewhat difficult (strong-willed!) toddler, and you're growing up so quickly before our eyes.

You are my picky eater, my dramatic girl, my energizer bunny. You have endless energy that I wish you could share with me! You love your brother dearly and you are the best big sister he could ever have asked for. You love to help "mother" him and snuggle with him when he needs it (wonder how long that snuggling part will last before you just want to lock him out of your room!)

You love chocolate like me. You share my queasy stomach and have to deal with car sickness. You share my teeth and their attraction to cavities (sorry!). You are told how much you look like (a better looking version of) your daddy. You love soccer, dance, and gymnastics--if I ask you to choose your favorite you can't pick just one--unless daddy is in the room then he convinces you to say soccer!

Alex and her dance teacher Miss Liz

You are full of life and laughter. You love to be tickled. You love to be chased by your daddy (as long as he doesn't hide from you and try to scare you). You continue to have an aversion to most movies--we still haven't figured out the reason behind this but we hope that you will someday grow out of it! You have added Cinderella to the short list of movies you will watch--you still prefer to stick to TV or videos.

You are mommy's girl--you love hanging out with me, helping with gardening, planting flowers, washing dishes (sometimes). You love pink and purple. You love wearing dresses every day.
getting ready for her sleepover at school last week

I love our time we spend together at night before bed. You are looking for reasons to keep me in your room so you're always wanting to talk to me about your day, what we have planned for the weekend, and anything else you can come up with. You often come up with your deeper, more thought provoking questions at night, too. You love reading your storybook Bible and asking questions about Jesus, which I love. Your love for Jesus is growing and it's so wonderful to see. We want you to continue to grow up with a loving heart, a heart that loves God, and be a person who wants to love and care for others.

I hope the day doesn't come where you no longer want me to snuggle with you at night, pick you up and give you big hugs--because I love all of these things so much! It makes all the difficult, frustrating moments with you pale in comparison to the special moments we share.
Your dad, Kellan and I love you very much. Happy 5th birthday big girl!

some videos for your viewing pleasure...

Last night was Alex's family night/preK graduation at school, and I am attaching a video of her "performance" as a flying squirrel. She did such a great job and we were so proud! She was supposed to be one of two flying squirrels but the other squirrel was a no-show, so she carried the part on her own! (I must add that last night before bed I was telling her what a great job she did and she said "but mommy why did everyone laugh at me?" That bothered her so I tried to explain that they laughed because she was very cute and did such a good job. I told her that mommies and daddies don't laugh at little kids to make fun of them, they laugh because they like them and like to watch them do cute things.) Sorry the video is so long--I couldn't quickly figure out how to edit it. She makes an appearance at the beginning then again at the end.


Here are a few videos of Kellan at his last gymnastics class today. He and his classmates (all 3 of them!) pretty much had free reign over the gym for the entire hour. They were able to play with/climb on everything, and they had a great time! We're sad this class is over--I plan to sign him up again in the fall since he enjoyed it so much.

Visit to PSU

A few weeks back we headed to Penn State for a soccer alumni weekend. We were able to spend time with some old (and new!) friends, watch some soccer, enjoy some famous Penn State eateries, hit up the new Creamery, and make a long overdue visit to the nittany lion shrine.
Below are some highlights from our trip...

Kids running around Rec Hall

Family Pic at the Nittany Lion shrine

We were able to spend a lot of time catching up with Marlon's friend Michael and his wife (as of TODAY!) Katie. They are a wonderful couple and we are so glad Michael has met someone so great. The kids love Katie and enjoyed getting to know her.

Michael and Marlon---old friends

Father and son

Alex, Michael and Katie

Alex and her new friend

Marlon and Michael on the field together again

Kellan taking a break from practicing his soccer skills

Marlon working on Kellan's technique

Kellan is off and running!

My favorite shot--enjoying the tree stump in Michael and Katie's backyard--the lighting was just perfect!

farm day-2010

The months are just flying by these days. We are less than a week away from Alex's 5th birthday, and Kellan is 26 months old. I have a lot of catching up to do before we head into 3 very busy weeks with Alex finishing up school, dance, family trips, Alex's birthday and party...if I don't post about what we've been up to for the past month I may never be able to catch up!

At the end of April we went on Alex's annual school field trip to the farm. I brought Kellan along with me this time and it was fun to experience it with both kids. It was a hot sunny day (just what you DON'T want at a farm--it smelled lovely!) but we had a great time.

Welcome Baby Henry and more...

I need to start by saying a big "Welcome!" to little Henry William! He was born on April 21 to my dear friend Ehren and her husband Bryan. We are so excited for them (although sad that they're moving!) and it has been so wonderful to spend a little time with baby Henry before he leaves!

We had a busy weekend-I wish I had taken more pictures, but we started out Saturday by taking a ride to PSU with Marlon's team--for the first time we traveled ON THE BUS with the team! We woke the kids up nice and early (the bus left at 7:15 am) and packed our bags for the day (see below pic of kids before we left--still looking a little tired!). We had a good trip up, and we arrived in State College to traffic and tailgating! It was Blue/White Weekend, so we happened to be in town on a very busy day--they had the annual carnival, so I was able to take the kids over to the carnival for a bit and meet up with some old friends (Great to see you Mike, Amy, Max, Mindy, Grace and Edie!) The kids loved riding some of the rides (I did take some video--I'll have to upload that later). The weather was beautiful for the first half of the day, and it was great to return to a city that means so much to us...where Marlon and I met, where we went to school, where we had our first home, where Alex was born! I wish we had more time there (but fortunately we'll be heading back again this weekend!), but we only stuck around for Marlon's game then got back on the bus for a ride home. Kellan was exhausted and was asleep within 5 minutes of getting back onto the bus--and Alex, in her usual fashion, stayed awake the whole time! It was a long day but a fun trip!
On Sunday we were able to spend another day outside enjoying some beautiful weather. Marlon's team had a picnic for lunch (where we got to see Baby Henry again!), then the team played a game against some alumni later in the afternoon. The kids love going to games, running around, and going out on the field when the game ends. The weather was great and I had some tired kids by the end of the day!

Here's a picture of the team--both past and present members (and 3 cute little kids as well--the third being Adelaide!)

I wanted to quickly end the post with an update on how Kellan's doing in his big bed. He's really done great with it--we don't have any big challenges except the minor issue you see below. Most days (and nights) he likes to empty out everything on his bookshelf and bring it into his bed. He usually doesn't put it back before he goes to sleep, so he often falls asleep in a bed that hardly has any room for him! It's just cute to see him hanging out in there with everything--and since he is still sleeping well it's not too big of a deal! Each night he likes to have Alex snuggle with him first and sing him a few songs (usually "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "You are my sunshine"), then he wants me to snuggle with him and sing the songs again. If daddy is home, he gets invited in as well.

Easter, big boy bed and more

Our little boy can now be found in a big boy bed! Two weeks ago when I put him down for a nap, after about 20 minutes I heard a bunch of loud thumping noises, then I heard the door to his room open. I went around the corner to find my son standing at the door! I tried to put him back in his bed again and again 15 minutes later I heard him at the door. That evening I put a child lock inside the door so I wouldn't have to worry about him getting out of the room in the middle of the night. The next morning when he woke up, I heard him knocking at the door saying "Hello? Anybody there?" It was pretty funny. See the clip below from one of his naptimes. I was glad he hadn't climbed out before now and I had been hoping to keep him in his crib much longer than this, but after a few days of not napping and continuously climbing out of the bed, I decided to put the toddler side onto his bed. Alex did not adjust well when she transitioned to a toddler bed--she had always been a great sleeper and became a kid who needed someone to lay with her at night, cried out for us, etc. for a period of time. Fortunately Kellan has adjusted much better. He seems to enjoy his bed and he likes that Alex and I are able to snuggle with him each night before bed. I took a few pictures of him the other night after he fell asleep. My sweet, sweet boy!

Here's a little video of Alex and Adelaide snuggling with Kellan before bedtime...

Since I feel like Alex often gets overlooked in my posts, here's one of her and I on Easter Sunday (with Sophie napping in the background!)

I did not have an easy time getting pictures of the kids on Easter Sunday before we left for church--I was working in the nursery that morning so we had to leave pretty early, and my kids aren't keen on picture time to start with, but it was such a beautiful day so I tried to snap a few before we left.

I'll finish with a few more cute photos--here is Kellan practicing his horseback riding.

Alex and Adelaide being silly!

Recent events---in video

We've been busy as usual and haven't had much time to take many pictures, but I've been trying to capture fun moments on video! I will post pics of Kellan's birthday party later (or you can visit Renee's blog for a few :)

This clip is Kellan saying one of my favorite things: This is usually how he responds if he's eating or drinking something he likes.

Here are 2 videos of some water balloon fun with daddy!

The last 2 videos are from our Mommy and me gymnastics class that we do every Friday morning. Kellan's favorite part is definitely the trampoline into the pit!