On August 3rd, Kate officially turned THREE.
I was so excited that we could celebrate her GOLDEN birthday together :)
Leading up to her birthday Jon helped me make the golden number 3 that she is holding in the picture above. He cut out the template at Porter's and then reinforced it with foam core, sanded it, and paper mache'd it at home. After a nice coat of champagne gold paint, I Mod Podged the front and glittered it up!
Parent craftiness for the win :)
We set up the table for Kate's birthday so when she woke up it was a golden pile of awesomeness!
Gold ribbon curls hung from the ceiling and her presents were wrapped in ivory and gold paper with coordinating bows. I even found a gold wire Happy Birthday garland at the dollar store that coiled around her presents. Sparkly fun and not messy like confetti. Score!
We had waffles, raspberries, and strawberries for Kate's birthday breakfast. She insisted that we have "white" [whipped cream], so this was also very important.
Kate opened presents from friends and family before Jon left for work. We are so grateful and so blessed! Jon and I were each able to get her something personal (yay Amazon reward points!) and Kate received a new carseat,
adorable PJs,
sparkly silver shoes,
LOTS of stickers,
coloring books, (Clifford the Big Red Dog--Kate's favorite! and "You're Weird" which is a hand drawn coloring book from The Dapper Jackalope on Etsy :) Go check out her store!)
lots of fun cards, books, clothes, big girl underwear, and games!
Grandpa also sent Kate her very own personal DVD player, which Kate can watch her new Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Dumbo, and Turtle movies on :)
Edwin said "oooh!" every time she opened something new, haha!
Then I took the kids up to the temple to get some pictures of the birthday girl :)
It's kind of hard with Kate because if you ask her to smile she gives you the most ridiculously cheesy grin with squinty eyes. I've found that it's better to follow her around and capture her natural personality :) She asked for a snack right when we got up to the temple, and all I had in my purse was a KIND bar, so I let her hold onto it and eat as we went along, even in the pictures. I don't mind. It's real life. And she was much happier that way!
Kate was very interested in picking blades of grass out of the lawn :s
She also LOVED looking at the flowers and talking about their colors:
And this is definitely a Kate look:
Once she found the gate we spent a good portion of the time playing on it :)
My favorite part was getting Kate all dolled up :)
She is very girly and loves having her hair curled, wearing bracelets, dresses, lip gloss (I let her use my tinted lip balm), and painting her nails (which we did in a light champagne gold sparkle to match her dress)
Most of the time Kate just wanted to push Edwin around in the stroller :)
That afternoon we had cake when Jon came home for his lunch break :)
I made a single layer round chocolate cake from scratch with a whipped cream cheese frosting.
Happy Birthday to you!
I just love this picture of Kate midway through blowing out her candles!
Kate has so much wonderful personality.
She is 26lbs 6oz (10th percentile for weight), 36 inches tall (16th percentile for height), and is growing great! Her pediatrician has been really pleased with her development and speech, which is so reassuring as a parent.
Kate loves ALL animals, and even ants and caterpillars :) I just love this picture from our trip to feed the ducks last week, the surprised eyebrows-up look is one of her famous expressions.
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| She's such a cheesy ham. |
Leading up to her birthday Jon helped me make the golden number 3 that she is holding in the picture above. He cut out the template at Porter's and then reinforced it with foam core, sanded it, and paper mache'd it at home. After a nice coat of champagne gold paint, I Mod Podged the front and glittered it up!
Parent craftiness for the win :)
We set up the table for Kate's birthday so when she woke up it was a golden pile of awesomeness!
Gold ribbon curls hung from the ceiling and her presents were wrapped in ivory and gold paper with coordinating bows. I even found a gold wire Happy Birthday garland at the dollar store that coiled around her presents. Sparkly fun and not messy like confetti. Score!
We had waffles, raspberries, and strawberries for Kate's birthday breakfast. She insisted that we have "white" [whipped cream], so this was also very important.
Kate opened presents from friends and family before Jon left for work. We are so grateful and so blessed! Jon and I were each able to get her something personal (yay Amazon reward points!) and Kate received a new carseat,
adorable PJs,
sparkly silver shoes,
LOTS of stickers,
coloring books, (Clifford the Big Red Dog--Kate's favorite! and "You're Weird" which is a hand drawn coloring book from The Dapper Jackalope on Etsy :) Go check out her store!)
lots of fun cards, books, clothes, big girl underwear, and games!
Grandpa also sent Kate her very own personal DVD player, which Kate can watch her new Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Dumbo, and Turtle movies on :)
Edwin said "oooh!" every time she opened something new, haha!
Then I took the kids up to the temple to get some pictures of the birthday girl :)
It's kind of hard with Kate because if you ask her to smile she gives you the most ridiculously cheesy grin with squinty eyes. I've found that it's better to follow her around and capture her natural personality :) She asked for a snack right when we got up to the temple, and all I had in my purse was a KIND bar, so I let her hold onto it and eat as we went along, even in the pictures. I don't mind. It's real life. And she was much happier that way!
Kate was very interested in picking blades of grass out of the lawn :s
She also LOVED looking at the flowers and talking about their colors:
And this is definitely a Kate look:
Once she found the gate we spent a good portion of the time playing on it :)
My favorite part was getting Kate all dolled up :)
She is very girly and loves having her hair curled, wearing bracelets, dresses, lip gloss (I let her use my tinted lip balm), and painting her nails (which we did in a light champagne gold sparkle to match her dress)
Most of the time Kate just wanted to push Edwin around in the stroller :)
That afternoon we had cake when Jon came home for his lunch break :)
I made a single layer round chocolate cake from scratch with a whipped cream cheese frosting.
Happy Birthday to you!
I just love this picture of Kate midway through blowing out her candles!
Kate has so much wonderful personality.
She is 26lbs 6oz (10th percentile for weight), 36 inches tall (16th percentile for height), and is growing great! Her pediatrician has been really pleased with her development and speech, which is so reassuring as a parent.
Kate loves ALL animals, and even ants and caterpillars :) I just love this picture from our trip to feed the ducks last week, the surprised eyebrows-up look is one of her famous expressions.
Kate says funny things all the time. The other day while walking Margo she took off and said, "Woohoo! I like to run!"
She rarely naps (maybe once a week),
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| awwww, Sunday afternoons :) |
but loves to play,
Sometimes I'll even catch her in our bed reading:
I get reminders every now and again that Kate is still little. She enjoys being held and getting snuggles when she is tired. A couple weeks ago she had a cold and did not want me to put her down. These Ergo carriers are made to grow with your toddler (for hiking and such), so she bummed around the house with me while I did chores!
Kate speaks in complete sentences, asks politely for things that she wants, "Please, may I have . . .", and she knows *most* of her colors and can count to 10 (I have heard her do it, although she rarely cooperates for counting on demand).
The most challenging part of having a three year old is her emotional instability. She has tantrums, throws toys, is a picky eater, and never seems to listen. :( While she likes to play with Edwin, she is often too rough and will grab his arms or feet and not let go. Sometimes she pushes or hits. It is a work in progress.
On the bright side, Kate is also getting more and more helpful. She wants to do everything with us (including take out the trash), and loves to unload the dishwasher and help me sew. Kate likes collecting rocks, going on walks, and seeing the temple. She enjoys everything artistic and loves play doh!
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| Play Doh Kate! |
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| Play Doh Nonna (her hair was supposed to be salt and pepper) |
Kate isn't potty trained yet, but is excited for big girl undies! She seriously has quite the collection going in her drawer. Hopefully three is the magic age ;) although I'm not in a rush.
Katherine loves nursery at church (for 18mo-3yr) and will be starting primary (4-11 years old) in January! She can recognize/read her name, but we're still working on writing letters. She can draw smiley faces and identify shapes, she likes teaching her brother and will point out things to him when we go out. ("Look Edwin, that's an airplane!") She also instigates naughty behavior and he will follow right along:
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| Stealing pretzels from the pantry... |
I just love our Katherine Anora!
It's hard to believe that she was born 3 years ago. There is so much awesomeness in this little person!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATE!
We can't wait to celebrate many more with you :)
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