1st Practice

We're planning on Jackson playing t-ball this summer, so last night we had his first practice in the backyard before he registers in a few weeks.  He liked it for a little while,

 and then he was more interested in this.

We'll go ahead and say it now that he may be on a t-ball team this year, but it looks like our son will be one of those that you'll find with his glove off and hands full of dirt!

We're Cool

and we know it.

Better Late Than Never

Since we lead such an exciting and non-stop life, we're just now getting around to posting pictures of our Easter!  Maybe not exciting, but for some reason since we moved, life really has become much busier.  Anyway, enough excuses, on to Easter.

This is Jackson patiently waiting to dye Easter eggs.

 We waited until the night before Easter, after Katherine was asleep, and after Jackson had been bathed to dye eggs.  Maybe not a stroke of genius on our part to do this after his bath, but we did.  And he had fun!

 He couldn't wait until they were dry before putting them in his basket!

 More proof of his excitement!

 We finally got Jackson in the bed and when he and Katherine woke up the next morning, none other than the Easter Bunny had stopped by!

 Both of them in heaven--Jackson has chocolate and Katherine has food and a stuffed animal

 We snapped a couple of pictures following church and this was the 'best' of the two of them

 My parents drove down for the afternoon and to watch Jackson hunt eggs, but right out of the door and going after his first egg, Jackson missed a step leading off the porch and took a little spill.  Thankfully Zach was able to catch him before he went down the stairs, but he still had a goose egg on his head and scraped the side of his mouth.  By the next morning, the bump on his head was almost gone, but his lip was worse.  Sadly, the fall took out a little his enthusiasm of hunting eggs.

 Yes, he had to have a band-aid on his head. 

He is obsessed with band-aids.

Katherine and Grandpa

 Katherine's 1st Easter!

On the Hunt

Jackson had an Easter Egg Hunt at preschool today!  Katherine and I met up with Zach to watch the hunt, but sadly, we pretty much missed the entire hunt.  His class was supposed to be in one location at the church, but the teachers changed the area and by the time we found the kids, all the eggs were in their baskets.  We were only a couple of minutes late by the time we found them, but apparently it only takes a couple of minutes to scoop up every egg when you're 3/4 years old!

I caught this picture of the teachers placing the kids for a group picture.  Before yelling cheese, they were all eyeing their baskets!

Katherine showing off some of Jackson's loot!

Jackson showing off some of his candy from the eggs once we were back home!

This picture of Katherine was actually taken at home right before we left for the egg hunt . . . it's hard to tell from this angle, but she is standing without holding on!  She does this several times each day when she's playing with something, and she has actually taken a step here and there!

{Yes, she is studying a packet of ketchup.  She was not happy when I took it away from her fearing that she might tear it open with those teeth and end up making a mess.}

The Little Lady-Stats and a Video

Katherine had her one year check-up this morning and of course, she left a little traumatized after immunizations and a finger prick.  Jackson spoiled me with immunizations since he only "cried" while actually receiving the shot--once the needle was out, he was fine.  Katherine on the other hand, screams bloody murder forever.  But, who can really blame her?  Her one year stats are as follows:

16 lbs., 6 oz.
28 3/8 in. length
17 5/8 in. head circumference

All that to remind us that she is still tiny, in the 25th percentile for length, and her head is big (45th percentile, so not big on the chart, but compared to her other measurements, it's big :)).

----

I've been working for a while now on Katherine's video of her first year and am finally finished!  I was able to get Jackson's finished in about 2 nights, but these days things seem to take a little longer.

The video is a tad bit longer than I had intended, but I just couldn't take out any more pictures than I already had.  When you have thousands upon thousands of pictures from one year (yes, that's right-thousands . . . remember we have over 500 just from her birthday party alone), it's hard to go through them all and narrow them down to what is a keeper.  And, I actually do remember what was going on when the pictures were taken, except for maybe a handful!  So, you may see the same sweet smile a million times, but for me, each picture is a reminder of what we were doing at that moment.

Let's just say that Katherine is not the typical 2nd child that lacks photographs!  So, without further ado, here is Katherine's video . . .

Trains Everywhere

What is going on here, you might ask?

Well, Jackson is the train engine and the laundry basket is a coal car that he is pushing backwards.  He is also making a fist and moving his arms in circles to act as the train wheels turning. 

(That is a stamp from preschool on his right forearm in case you were wondering.)  

Who knew an empty laundry basket could be so fun and have so many uses?

Just for Size

We're a few days late in this post,

but we're in disbelief that Katherine is actually one!

She is a sweet little girl who has recently turned into quite the little pig!  She will eat just about anything you put in front of her and makes Jackson's eating habits look bad . . . at least we'll have one child who will eat.  Her favorite song is now Old McDonald Had a Farm and she will even repeat E-I-E-I-O.  She loves Jackson and he loves her most of the time!  Nevertheless, she's been a joy and we look forward to watching her grow!

Happy Birthday, Katherine!

 Happy birthday to you,

 Happy to birthday to you,

 Happy birthday dear Katherine,

 Happy birthday to you!

We Love You!

Party!

It's hard to believe that the time has come to celebrate Katherine's 1st Birthday!  We had a party for her yesterday and thank everyone for the fun and spoiling our girl just a little more!

{There are a lot of pictures thanks to Leslie who grabbed the camera and let us enjoy Katherine's day and not worry about taking pictures!  By the end of the day, we had over 500 pictures on my camera alone.  Yes, you read that right . . . over 500!  Thanks, Leslie!}

Katherine started her party with some birthday hugs from Emma!

Katherine's cake was huge {really too big}, but you can never have too much cake, right?  It's not at all what I had envisioned, but I loved it!

Her smash cake

I had not planned on having Katherine a smash cake mainly since Jackson did not have one, but the bakery that made her birthday cake makes a complimentary smash cake for 1st birthdays!

Some decorations

Presents!!

Patiently waiting to get her hands on a gift!

Of course, Katherine was the center of attention!

Time to sing Happy Birthday and get into the cake

My favorite picture of the day!

{Even though the Birthday Girl is the least bit interested in her candle!}

Katherine has turned into quite a little piggy lately so I thought she was going to devour her cake, but she ended up eating only a handful of it!

More pictures with the Birthday Girl!

Sweet Emma excited about the party!

Some little boy couldn't keep his hands of off the cake!

Busted!

We had a fun day celebrating our sweet little lady with our family and friends!

One Year

One year ago today, Jackson had an Easter Egg Hunt at his school, and this is one of my favorite pictures from that day.

Katherine made her debut a mere 6 days following this . . . tomorrow we'll celebrate her 1st birthday with family and friends, and Zach and I constantly wonder how is it possible that our baby girl is already one?