Friday, November 30, 2012

Family Pictures

We've been needing some family pictures since we hadn't really had any taken since Kate was born.  We did have some taken this summer, but I really didn't love any of them...  And the boys needed new pictures, and Kate hadn't had any professional pictures done at all.  So, when a groupon came in to my email box for a photographer, I snatched it up to give them a try.  I figured if I hated the pictures - at least I hadn't spent 2 or 3 hundred dollars!  Luckily - I LOVE the pictures!  They all turned out so great!  We met the photographer and his wife at a park in Edmonds in early November.  There were leaves all over the ground, and beautiful fall colors.  It was the perfect setting!  It's super hard to pick one or two favorites to highlight - so, here's a ton for your viewing pleasure!







 Adam kept throwing leaves up into the air over Kate and dad!  So funny!
 The photographer worked with Scott and Kate and I, and his wife took Jackson over to a pile a leaves and shot a few pictures of him!  It was so fun to see what came out of that!  She really captured his personality!

 Love this one!
 And this one - my guys messing around!!
 Scott is in big trouble!!
 Me and the boys!  Jackson is such a goofball!
 More goofy Jackson!








 This is one of my favorites!  Kate's face says it all!
 Adam begged the entire time for all of us to jump into this huge pile of leaves.  It was just starting to sprinkle as we wrapped up the session - this was our last shot!
It was really such a fun way to spend an hour!  Just messing around with the family while someone documents the whole thing!  Perfect family pictures!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Katie Mae is 1!!

How can a year go by so fast? Kate turned 1 year old on November 18th! (we've taken to calling her Katie Mae sometimes - cute, huh!)  Such a fast year! So many things have happened in our family, and this little girl has gotten so big!!  Here are a bunch of pictures from her actual birthday...
 She wasn't so sure about the whole present thing. Her brothers were happy to help her figure it out!

 And then the cake - what do you do with that thing???
 everyone helped!
 She wasn't so sure about eating it either...
 but soon decided it was ok.
 Yummy!
 She really is a delightful little girl!  She LOVES to give kisses right now!  She opens her mouth as wide as it can possibly go and plants it right over your mouth!  It's the sweetest thing!
I've got a ton more pictures below.  First - here are the vital statistics from her 1 year check up at the doctor: 
Height - 30 inches (73rd pecentile)
Weight - 22 lbs 2 oz (78th percentile)
I like to compare her size to her brothers - at one year, Jackson was almost 33 inches and weighed 28.5 pounds.  Adam was 32 inches and weighed 26 pounds!  She is definatly smaller than her brothers - she actually fits into 12 month clothes at a year old!  Her brothers were in at least 18 months by now! 
The doctor says she nice an healthy!  He is a little concerned about her strength (I guess).  At her 9 month checkup, she wasn't crawling - she would basically just sit there.  He suggested I take her to a physical therapist, just to have her checked out.  Well, I never got around to doing that, and she started scooting around on her bum a couple of days after that appointment.  But, I had been noticing that she wouldn't pull herself up to standing, and if you tried to stand her on her two feet, most of the time she would just pull her feet up underneath her and refuse to put them down.  She did the same thing when the doctor tried to stand her up.  So, he once again suggested that I take her to see a physical therapist.  His reasoning was that it won't hurt her, and if there is an issue (which he assured me he didn't think there was), that it would be better to catch it earlier.  So, before we left, I walked down the hall and made an appointment for her to see the physcial therapist.  Of course, now that I've done that, she's pulled herself up to standing a couple of times - although, she won't move her feet and she just stands there and cries.  Anyway - I still take her in and see what they think!
Here's a major picture dump of my cute little girl!
Great grandma Couch sent her a card and a couple of balloons for her birthday.  One good thing about scooting over crawling is that you can hold stuff in your hands while you scoot.  She carried this balloon around with her for quite awhile!
 She loves sitting in this rocking chair at grandma's house!  She's even figured out how to rock it all by herself.  It's so adoreable!
 Mmmmm - spaghetti!
 Jackson asks quite often "can Kate hold me?"  This is what he wants!  They play really well together - or rather, Jackson directs, drags or cajoles Kate into whatever he wants her to do.  Sometimes she takes it well - most of the time she yells at him and does whatever the heck she wants!  She's got a mind of her own - that's for sure!
 This was one of our last trips to the park before the rain and cold set in.  Kate loves to swing!
 cuddles with dad!
 This was on her 11 month birthday!
 At the pumpkin patch!
 Showing off her cute overalls - with Adam's help!
 If it's not pouring down rain, this is Kate's ride to pick Adam up from school.  She loves it!
 She also loves doing acrobatics with dad!  For some reason she always sticks her tongue out!!
 One more swinging picture!
Kate has been such a great addition to our family!  She is adored by her brothers and I think her dad would do just about anything she asked!  As soon as she hears the door open at the end of the day, or hears his voice from anywhere, she yells "da" and starts scooting towards the sound!  I think there's some mutual admiration there!  She LOVES her dad!  He can make her laugh and comfort her like on other.  It's really fun to watch them together!  I guess I'll have to settle for being her 2nd word (don't tell Scott I admitted that "dad" is her first word).
Happy Birthday Katie Mae!  We love you!!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.  It was a nice relaxing day!  We enjoyed some delicious food and had a great time laying around doing not much of anything...  Here's proof.
There was a little bit of family drama.  Usually, we are all united in our wardrobe on turkey day.  Dallas Cowboys all the way.  Lately, Adam has decided that he no longer likes the Cowboys - his favorite teams are the Seahawks, the Giants and the Bears - in that order.  Some weeks, I feel like I have to restrain Scott from jumping all over him - Adam is having lots of fun teasing his dad, and cheering for any team that plays the Cowboys.  So, Thanksgiving morning - it was no surprise that Adam chose not to wear a Cowboys shirt.  He didn't even want to participate in our annual Thanksgiving picture.  He wouldn't even look at the camera - see...
It almost came down to a fight... 
 
Is this a preview of football seasons to come?