Dr. Seuss Birthday Party

Our little "things" turned 5, 3 and 1 this month and we all had a great time celebrating their birthdays with a Dr. Seuss birthday party.  Jack, Katy and Drew had fun dressing up as "Thing 1, 2 and 3" for their party.  They also had a blast playing with all their cousins and opening lots of great gifts.  We were all excited to watch Drew eat his first cupcake...he was ready to dive right in and help himself!  And it was obvious he liked it because he ate the entire thing!!  At the end of the day, all 5 of us were exhausted, but it was all worth it for the time spent with family and the wonderful memories made!

3 years old!

Our little princess is 3 years old!!  She is growing up and changing so much every day.  She is such a sweet little girl with a kind, loving heart....but  she still has a sassy side, which we love!  Here are a few highlights of Katy at 3:

• Katy loves to play dress-up with her princess dresses.  She has a different dress on every day.
• She still has quite the appetite.  Her favorite foods as of late are granola cereal, chocolate milk, apples, blueberries and pizza.
• Katy absolutely adores her big brother, Jack.  She is his little puppet...which Jack loves, of course.  She is always quick to share her toys, food, or anything with him.  
• She is also very quick to let us know when Jack has done something to hurt her.  We hear "Jack naughty" through her tears quite often.  :(
• Katy's favorite TV shows are Dora and Diego.  She never wants to watch anything else!
• Her vocabulary has finally started to take off in the last few months, although it is very difficult to understand what she is saying most of the time!  
• Katy is still attached to her pacifier and tag blankies (aka boo-boo's).  She doesn't let them get too far out of her sight!

Happy Birthday, Katy!

We had so much fun celebrating Katy's 3rd  birthday today!!  We started off the day with homemade donut balls and chocolate milk (her favorite!)  For lunch, we dropped the boys off at a friend's house so Katy and I could have some one on one time at her favorite lunch spot, Chick-Fil-A.  After lunch I took her to the Dollar Store so she could pick out 3 new toys, since she was now 3 years old.  Daddy joined the birthday celebration for dinner with the whole family at Tavern Pizza.  And finally we ended the night at home with presents and cupcakes.  Katy had so much fun celebrating her 3rd birthday and all of us were exhausted from our busy, but fun day!

Helping me make the donut balls

Birthday donuts!

Lunch at Chick-Fil-A

Mommy-daughter date!

Picking out 3 toys at the Dollar Store for my special 3 year old!

The birthday princess and her castle

Dinner at the Tavern (with Great-Grandma and Aunt Kathy)

Blowing out her birthday candles

Happy girl with her cupcake!

11 months old!

Drew is 11 months old and still the same happy, laid-back little guy!  He is having so much fun crawling all over the house and getting into all of Jack and Katy's toys.  He is not quite walking yet because he knows he can move faster by crawling....and he does move super fast on his hands and knees!!  Other than Jack and Katy's toys, he still loves playing with balls.  He also loves toys that play music.  It is fun to watch him bounce up and down with the beat!  

Drew is finally starting to get more teeth, which has slowed down his appetite a little.  Its no fun to eat when your mouth hurts!  His favorite food is bananas...he shoves them into his mouth by the fistful!

It's still hard to believe that in just one short month, we will be celebrating his first birthday.  Where has the year gone?!

Trip to Phoenix!

We returned home late last night from a wonderful week in Phoenix.  We look forward to this trip every year, and this year was no exception.  We were all ready to get out of the cold and snow!

The weather was great the entire week and we enjoyed our time outside.  Most the of the week was spent golfing, swimming, and hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house.  Jay and I managed to get in a few rounds of golf together, and we also made it to a Phoenix Suns basketball game to watch my friend and high school classmate, Kyle Korver, play. 

We all had such a fun and relaxing week in the sun.  It made it really hard to return home to the cold Iowa winter.  Is it Spring yet?!

On the plane

Our good little travelers

Katy posing with Daddy

These two had a lot of fun in the pool

The water was a little cold, so Jack was content
to sit on the side and watch Daddy and Katy swim

The pool temp at the indoor pool was better!

The kids with cousin, Tucker

Playing in Grandma's little pool

Drew loves playing in the water

Golf cart ride!

Katy's favorite place to nap all week!

Drew enjoying some cuddle time in the Moby wrap
while Jack and Katy played

At the playground

Fun with Daddy at the playground

Jack and Katy actually cooperating for a picture!

Jay and I enjoyed a couple rounds of golf together

Family pic on #17 tee box

Drew helping me drive the golf cart

Having fun on Grandpa's putting green

This kid loves balls!

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson and the kids

It isn't a trip to Phoenix without In-N-Out!

Kyle making it 127 games in a row with a 3-pointer!

We had great seats!

Post-game with Kyle

Jay, Shelly, Stephen and Audrey