Our family: March 2011

Camryn and Kendra were both so excited to help prepare for Corinne's birthday party. Then have been counting down the days for at least a week. They helped me make cupcakes, then helped with decorations and present wrapping.

Party Time

Corinne needed a little help with the unwrapping. Once she could see the toy, she reached inside and tried to pull it out, instead of unwrapping it anymore. Daddy had to help her.

She enjoyed playing with her toys, and wasn't happy at first when Daddy took the one she just unwrapped away to give her another to unwrap.

Cupcake Time

Corinne kept taking her hat off, then holding it on her head again, then taking it off, then she threw it on the ground.

She picked up the cupcake and went right for it.

She's a sweet girl and has to share with Daddy.

Corinne basically got 2 baths today. One before her party and one after her cupcakes. She absolutely loves her baths lately, so I think she was okay with it. If she hears the bathtub water running, she crawls into the bathroom as fast as she can. She loves to splash and play.

She likes baths with her sisters best, but she enjoys it alone too.

Here are a couple recent pictures.

Corinne loves her big sisters. Here's the three silly girls ready for bed.

Corinne is such a sweet, mellow baby. She now knows what she wants though. She doesn't just reach for things, she goes and gets them. Tonight, Kent was sitting at the table and Corinne was on his lap. She wanted Kent's eraser that was on the table, she climbed out of his lap onto the table to get it. He let her, because he was right there and thought it was funny how determined she gets. She also knows when she doesn't want something. She is just as determined when she is saying no. She will use every part of her body to get to or away from something.

She is quite the babbler and she makes some pretty articulate sounds. She's soon going to be a pro at this talking thing.

She loves to be held. She loves her sister, daddy, and mommy, and lights up from attention from any one of us. We love her tender, loving spirit.

Corinne, we are all so happy that you are ours.

Here is an overview of the month of February for us. Since this month includes Valentine's Day, I also want to include why I love all the wonderful people in this post.

Camryn lost her first tooth.

It was really loose, and she asked Kent to pull it out. First he tried tying a string around it.

That didn't work, so he grabbed onto it with his fingers and some toilet paper and pulled. Out it came.

I was surprised at how brave Camryn was. She wasn't scared at all, not one bit. She amazes me all the time. She is growing up so fast. I love her fun attitude, her love for learning about everything in life, the way she looks after her sisters, and the way she loves to show us she loves us.

I got to go to school with her on Valentine's Day and help with the party. We made heart pockets for valentines that looked like a kitty or a dog. Camryn made a kitty.

In the picture above is Camryn with Brayden White. I cannot count the number of times we have heard his name. If you ask either of them, they are best friends. They are NOT boyfriend or girlfriend, they both adamantly agree. Camryn brings home little things he made her, like paper snowflakes. She is always trying to think of nice things she can do for him. It is so sweet. The first time I met Brayden was at one of these class parties. I was so impressed at the way he helped the other kids and gave what he had to those that had none. If you ask me, she has good taste in friends.

Kendra was invited to a Valentines Party at a friends house. She got to decorate sugar cookies and make a fun valentines heart to hang in the window. She had a lot of fun too.

Kendra loves to play with other kids like this. I love her sweet, genuine, fun loving spirit. I love the way her blue eyes shine when she smiles. She is learning new things all the time. I sure love you Kendra.

Corinne got to go the babysitter during the Valentine's parties, but she still got some sweet treats.

I love Corinne's sweet, calm, tender spirit. She loves to be held and gives snuggles and kisses. She loves her family, and will light up from attention from her daddy, sisters, or from me. We all love her so much.

We had a wonderful treat over President's Day weekend. Nicole, Travis, Kaydence, and Marley came to spend the weekend with us. They arrived Friday evening. They are such good sports. We don't have a spare room yet, so they all 4 squeezed into the girls room. It was a tight fit, but they didn't complain at all. It was so much fun for us to have them over.

On Saturday, we all went to Hop2It. It is this indoor play place with big blow up toys.

Kendra and Kaydence bouncing it up.

Here is Kaydence posing.

I sure love my little niece. She is such a happy, spirited little girl. I love getting our kids together.

Baseball

The Slide

Nicole is so awesome! She is so fun! She loves to get down and play. She loves life and you can feel it. I love my sister so much. She is inspiring to me. She is so loving and giving and kind. Being with her lifts me up. I love you Nicole.

The Ball Pit

This was Corinne's favorite.

Travis and his friend duke it out.

Travis, I love you too. You are awesome. Mostly though, I love how good you are to Nicole. You are one of the best husbands and fathers I know. Thanks for coming to see us, for all the time you spend with our family. You are the man.

So that was our day at Hop2It. I think we all had fun.

That night, we got a babysitter and went out on a double-date. We did dinner and a movie. We had fun, and the kids must have too. We came home to this:

KONKED OUT KIDS

I wasn't very good at taking pictures, but we had a lot of fun while Nicole and Travis were here. We sure love them, and hope they felt welcome. We can't wait to get together again.

We did get this one picture of Marley Jo. She is just about walking on her own. In the cabinet just to her right is a stash of candy. I think she knows it. She's already got a sucker in her mouth, surely it is thanks to her Uncle Kent.

Marley is such a sweet happy baby. She smiles all the time, and her smile lights the room. I love her sweetness.

Kent holding Marley and Corinne at Hop2It.

I have not yet shared why I love this man. I could go on and on endlessly with things I love about my husband, but I will try to limit it. He is such a hard worker and is very goal orientated. He does everything well. He has put so much into his schooling, and our house, and our budget and finances. When something breaks, he fixes it. Like the power steering that went out in the van last week. He is just good at everything.

More than that, I love the father that he is. He loves his girls. He is a good teacher. He always puts our family first.

I love the way he loves me. I love to stay up talking with him for hours, when we both know we have to wake up the next morning. I love his playfulness.

The longer we have been married, the more I believe he is my perfect match. I love him more and more everyday.

I still need to tell what I got for Valentine's Day. He still spoils me. We got bands to go with my solitaire wedding ring. Here was my solitaire.

When Kent and I first started talking about rings, we both loved the idea of a beautiful solitaire. One beautiful stone that is the centerpiece, not an ornate design of diamonds and metal. If you know Kent, you know he went all out, and he found the most amazing deal possible. He did a lot of research on diamonds, and places to get them. He got me a 2 carat, VS-2, E, princess cut solitaire. After we were engaged, we noticed a slight flaw. The metal head the diamond was set in was not made for a 2 carat diamond, the goldsmith made it work, but the diamond was slightly off center. It was not very noticeable, so we let it be, but planned on fixing it someday.

More and more over the last 2 years, I have wanted a wedding band to go with my solitaire. I did not want to detract from the stone, but I wanted it to look like a wedding ring, not an engagement ring. We looked at lots of different bands. I was thinking one band, but Kent did not like that it made the ring off-balance, so he and the jeweler talked me into two bands. We got the tiniest, 1/4 carat tw bands, one for each side. We also got the head replaced, so the diamond would sit perfectly centered.