Katelyn is 4 Months!

Our little miss Katelyn is 4 months! We are in love with her blue eyes and dainty little mouth. But most of all, we love her little personality coming out. She is so friendly and expressive!

She gets very excited when we hang anything above her. Troy loves to present his creations to her, whether it be legos or drawings. He loves his baby sister! Liam always says, "Baby siser so cute" with a huge grin. She is adored.

She rolled over for the first time on Sunday. I was at Ben's moms with the kids after a farewell and she decided to do it during her tummy time. I was the only one there. It scared her pretty good though. :) 

We love you Katelyn girl!

4 Month Check-up Appt:

Weight: 12 lbs 8.5 oz (14%)
Length: 24.5 in (48%)
Head: 41.5 cm (73%)

Healthy and Happy!

Work Party and Jimmer

Ben's work has a BBQ/swimming party every year in June. His company is given a cow as payment by a company (seriously.) It is THE best burgers you will ever have.

Then we went swimming and the boys had a lot of fun. Well, Troy had TONS of fun and Liam said he had fun but he was not acting very joyful during the event. He was pretty cold and was shivering the whole time. The darn kiddie pool was not heated.

We also got to watch Jimmer this past weekend. Troy and Liam had so much fun taking him on walks.

Celebrations!

We got to go to a sealing for Alit's brother Remze and his bride, Amy. Such wonderful words of wisdom and reminders were spoken by the sealer. I loved being there with Ben. Sweet Tyler and Annie watched the kiddos for us. Troy and Liam missed the primary activity put on that morning, but Sarah is in the presidency, so she saved some cotton candy and bubbles for the boys. SO thoughtful! First time having cotton candy!

Cotton Candy mustache. Could it get better?!

I went to a shower for my cousin, Jen, at the Farnsworth home and had such a good time catching up with cousins. It was SO decorated and cute. The theme was MVB, Most Valuable Baby (boy.) They had popcorn, hot dogs, cake balls baseballs, cupcake basketballs, a candy bag, cracker jacks, and other amazingness. So cute. I am really bad at taking pictures, so I didn't even get one with Jen. But here is ..

Halli, Annie, my mom, Me, Sarah, and my Aunt Diane (who I so look up to and have missed!)

Father's Day

I LOVE celebrating Ben as a  Father. I am so grateful for Ben's love of his role as a father. He brightens our whole day when he gets home. I was listening to conference talks and I remember that there was a talk about parenthood and that our most important time is dinner and on. That's because Daddy is home! We can really focus on one another and rejuvenate our spirits with the love that we show. We need that loving daddy time to keep us going, and keep us smiling. Especially the boys. And even more so.. Troy. Ben makes sure to give all of himself to us when he is home. I hope the boys soak that up and do it themselves when they become fathers. 

 

Daddy is never on the sidelines or on the bench, he is up and playing with the boys. 

If he is sitting, he enjoys some cuddle time with Katelyn. And oh how she loves it.

Happy Father's Day Ben! I love you more than ever!!!!

p.s. Brayden's birthday was the day before father's day, so we celebrated his birthday that evening. Brayden is THE best Uncle to the boys. He even had some cuddle time with Liam in the hammock. Big 16!! Dating and driving!

Cousin Halli Ann turned 1!

Troy, Liam, and Katelyn's cousin Halli turned 1! Tyler and Annie put on quite the shindig. Look at that adorable giant one in pictures of Halli. She had them numbered and we had to put them in order. They had dinner and lots of cup cakes that the boys thought were amazing. Cupcakes are very messy, but oh so yummy.

I tried to get a picture with Troy, Liam and Halli in the same picture. Liam was not very interested.

He wanted to hang off of the table, then grab a cupcake and lick it and put it back. Then he wanted to grab the pink mints and throw them at Annie's Grandma.

Needless to say... we left before the cutting of the cake. Troy was devastated that he didn't get to help open more presents. We made quite the scene when we left. But I'm so glad we got to see cute Halli at her birthday party. Great job Tyler and Annie and everyone else that helped!

Visit with Grandma Andersen

 Katelyn met her Great Grandma Andersen this week. Grandma hurt her hand and couldn't hold her, but she sure loved making her smile.

Aunt Karen was there helping Grandma when we got there and it was fun catching up! I was grateful to see the mothering example to my children from those two women who love the child much more than the things of this world. Troy and Liam had a great time.

Katelyn is very smiley. She smiles at everyone and especially at her family. I love playing with her hair. I fuzzed it all out and Ben said, "mad scientist?"

Troy was helping me hold Katelyn while I was trying to hold another baby and he did pretty well.

Katelyn gave me a face of "help" after a few minutes. And Troy said, "Mom I'm done holding her." Haha. So I rescued her.

My kids make my heart jump, literally

I love driving anywhere because all of the kids are quiet. However, my heart jumped when I heard the sirens going off behind me. Oh wait, that was just Troy's toy police car that he decided to bring without my knowledge.

I love cuddling with Liam after he wakes up. It doesn't happen very often. He has such a warm body. Except the other morning, I thought his fingers were cold against my neck, until I realized it was his cold milk dripping down my shirt.

A Nice Weekend in Pictures..ish

We started Friday night by re-celebrating Ben passing the PE by going to In-n-Out.

Troy and Liam ate lots of fries and drank lots of pop. Liam had 3 bites of burger, Troy had 2 small bites smothered in ketcup. Ben and I devoured our burgers. Well, actually I didn't finish mine. I get intimidated by large burgers. I hardly ever finish them. Ben gladly ate what the rest of us didn't eat.

Ben and I were pretty tired, so when it was time for bed, we didn't spend very long getting them to calm down. That resulted in them playing for an hour in their room. Ben found them like this before we went to bed. 

Saturday morning Ben had to go to work, so I took my time getting everyone ready. I love dressing up Katelyn. 

Isn't that flower adorable?! Compliments of Annie Andersen. She keeps Katelyn stylish ;)

I took the kids to Wal-mart (so scary for me still.) We had to get a baby present for a baby shower that morning and two birthday presents for a party in the afternoon. Shopping for toys is NOT something you should do with children. Its funny how I know that my kids are loud but I don't stress about it as much anymore. I try to get them to calm down and stop yelling, but it is what it is. 

We hurried back and dropped off the present to the baby shower, since I obviously wouldn't be attending with the kids. The girl, Amanda Noyes, had actually gone into labor right before the shower! 

After naps, we went to the birthday party for Chayla (3) and Giles (1). It was Mickey and Minnie themed. She had SO many things planned and decorated, it must have taken multiple hours to prepare. I know she had fun doing it. The kids loved it. 

Their favorite game was the giant Mickey cardboard bean bag game. I was here most of the party.

I was terrified of taking Liam and not having Ben's help. Ben didn't know he would have to work until the night before. Luckily, Katelyn slept the ENTIRE time in her car seat. Huge blessing.

Another tender mercy happened. It was a swimming party as well, but Liam didn't want to swim. Troy couldn't stop talking about wanting to swim. Well, I can't help Troy swim and chase Liam in the clubhouse at the same time. I figured we would just have to go home early. THEN I look out the window and Devin and Sarah are swimming at that precise moment! What?! So I sent Troy out there with them and he had SO much fun. YAY for Devin and Sarah (and little Timothy :)

After the party we drove to Mom Allsops and met Ben there. He went there directly after work to finish up a huge yard project. I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures. Her yard looks so beautiful and they did SO much work. It took two separate days and about 10 hours total. Bark laying and gravel spreading, lots of shoveling and trips to the dump. Lots of sore hands and backs, but great satisfaction in what was accomplished. Hard work is so satisfying!

Mom's cat, Emmy, had 5 kittens the night before! Are they not adorable?!

Sunday went better than previous weeks. We made it through the WHOLE sacrament meeting without taking Liam out. AMAZING. I had our last choir practice of the summer, we will sing  "This Is the Christ" next week. I am very grateful for such talent in our ward. I'm also grateful for the summer and the time to prepare for fall.

Later that evening we went to our ward "walk-a-bout." We have two distinct neighborhoods in our ward that are separated by a large hill, so it feels divided. Plus, the age difference is huge between the two. So, our sweet Bishop created an event for all of us to visit each neighborhood and have treats and see where everyone lives. It was really fun. Troy biffed it hard and hit his head on a rock, but he was tough (after he got a sucker.) Liam stayed strapped in a stroller, so we actually got to talk to people.

It was a full and fun weekend!

p.s. Shout out to Brittany who went to the Taylor Swift Concert! She has been getting the whole family to call radio stations at different times and her husband actually WON!