March Happenings

Katelyn took her first few steps yesterday.  Ben has the video. She took her very first step last Wednesday. She actually hates it when we try to get her to walk. She would rather just hold onto my hands and walk forever. But she'll get it :) 

Tonight, we had a dance party while Ben was on a camp out. I was actually just trying to distract Katelyn from crying. She wasn't feeling very good. But the boys loved it. Troy loves to dance. Liam did for about 30 seconds and then started running and slamming all of our doors. It's like I built up his engine and gave a green light. 

Katelyn's hair is getting pretty curly. This humidity is definitely causing some major curls. I love them. 

I miss Ben when he's gone. But I'm grateful he is helping. He told me I had to change my voicemail the other day because I didn't sound very happy. At first I was offended, "no it's not, you don't ever hear it anyway." Then he said, "You made me watch p.s. I love you and the most sad scene ever where she listens to his voicemail. If I have to do that, I want it to be a good one." I love that man. His thoughts always surprise me. 

We closed on our house on March 17, but we won't move in till end of May. The sellers are building a home in Spring (his work moved North) and the city is being slow about getting them electricity. They are paying us rent. We worked it out so that we would prolong our lease (for a ridiculous month to month rate) but they would come down on the price to meet the appraisal and still cover our closing costs. Anyway, they invited us to dinner on Sunday. Weird, I know, because buying a house can be hard to negotiate. But they have been SO kind and wanting to help us with anything and everything. The school, the ward, and access to the house. She even offered to watch my kids while I register Troy for kindergarten. This all happened after closing of course. We had a great time with them and three other families on Sunday. We are excited to move, but grateful we get to be with our sweet nearby friends a little longer. 

Troy's 5th Birthday

Troy woke up singing, "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!"

I must say that I really wanted to do a friend birthday party for him this year. He's been talking about Noah's birthday party practically everyday since last JULY. But with buying a house, living in an apartment, and lack of time, it simply didn't happen. 

However, he had the best gift ever by going to several of his favorite places with his cousin Halli and Aunt Annie and Uncle Tyler. He still talks about them daily. He wants to show Tyler how he has gotten better at the frisbee. He wants to show Annie his pajamas. He asks to go to the beach with Halli. I think he maybe likes his family ;)

Since I already posted picks from our activities, I just want to say a little about our Troy. 

-He loves being with others. He is instant friends with whomever is at the playground. 

-He's shy about getting attention. When all eyes are on him, he doesn't like it, unless he asked for it. Ex: if we ask him to talk to everyone on Skype or FaceTime, he doesn't like it, but he's okay with getting a random adult's attention and telling them his life story. 

-Troy loves clothes. Well, specifically pajamas, underwear and socks. He loves choosing them and shopping for them. When Liam was potty training, Troy was so excited to help him pick out new underwear (Liam did not care a smidge.) This could be the result of a book we have that the boys love about underwear. 

-His speech is always improving. I think he is officially caught up with kids his age. I work on reading with him everyday and it has helped his word clarity. The book is "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" I highly recommend it! We also use the Bob books. 

-Troy loves to ride his scooter, color, build with Legos, shoot balls, wrestle daddy, play pretend with Jake and the Never Land Pirates (I'm Izzy and Liam is Cubby)

-Troy's favorite thing to do is make Katelyn laugh. He will do anything to get her to chuckle. This has resulted in a lot of, "No, Troy, don't do that..." Like spitting, covering her with blankets or hitting himself. But he's starting to figure out ways that are okay. 

-He loves music. "Roar" and "Pumped up Kicks" (or whatever that song is) are his favorites. He sings along, and makes up words if he doesn't know what they are saying (all the other kids wanna Bo bump bee. I would help him, but I don't know what they are saying either.)

-He calls us super heroes when we find a toy or something he lost. 

-Troy likes to say: "sure" "don't talk to me" "oh coconuts" "barnacles" "the sun is poking my eyes" 

-He LOVES candy, chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter, ketchup, and finally started eating cereal! Just as of a month ago. 

-I told Troy to help me hide Daddy's bday presents and talked about it being a secret. The second Ben got home, he yelled out, "Daddy! We wrapped your presents and hid them in the closet! It's a secret." I guess my explanation wasn't very good. 

-He loves to tease Liam. 

-Troy loves primary and actually comes home knowing the songs. For some reason, I wasn't expecting that. We love the songs this year! I love his little voice. 

So much for saying just a little, but I guess I had more to say. Love our 5 year old Troyster!

A Visit from Tyler Annie and Halli

AH! A rush of joy comes back to me when I see this picture. I was SO excited to see them. Ben picked them up from the airport and I waited anxiously at home. The beginning of a wonderful week.

They arrived Tuesday night. It was really hot when they got in, so Halli needed something cooler to wear than her pajamas. A big t-shirt is the norm in Houston for jammies.

Wednesday: Ben had to work, so we took the morning easy (they had really long flights and needed to recover anyways.) We drove up to Spring and saw where we used to live. Such a beautiful home. Tyler remembers so much more than me.. yes, he is younger than me. Amazing memory. We drove by the temple, but it was closed! I thought we would at least be able to drive around, but the gates were shut as well. We had to go pick up Ben anyway. It was still surreal that they were here. We soaked in the conversation and cousin time!

Tyler was doing some exercises and Troy and Liam wanted to join. I think Halli wanted a chair too. 

I love cousin time!!!!

Thursday: We went to the beach. A little cool, but it was still nice because the sun was out. We spent most of our day there. The kids LOVED it. And when the kids are happy, parents are very happy.

p.s. Annie is expecting their 2nd girl, due in July!

Tyler had the idea to get these pails with shovels. BEST idea. The kids were occupied the whole time. You can see Liam and Troy, at the top, shoveling away.

The boys started to build a sand castle. No after picture, because it wasn't really a castle. And Tyler destroyed it by doing back flips anyway ;) (Seriously, have you seen his tricks?! Mad skills)

Annie put this together. Very cool!

Friday: Went to the Houston Zoo. It was Spring Break, and so we knew it would be crowded, but apparently everyone in Houston decided to go that day. It was the perfect weather, and it was fun to ride the metro for the first time. We tried to stay as long as the kids would let us and then went outside to eat lunch. The kids were done after that. It was SO nice to be with parents who know what happens when nap time is postponed. We went home and had another fabulous night with a movie and treats when the kids went to bed.

Saturday: Went to the Children's Museum. We got seperated because of how packed it was, and Liam ran off and I couldn't find him for about 10 minutes. No surprise. This was such a cool place. 

Saturday night was Date Night! Our friends in the ward watched all of the kids while we went and saw The Lego Movie and ate dinner at the same time! Love it!! We have a picture, but I think it's on Ben's phone. I'll have to put that in later.

Sunday was Troy's Birthday! (separate post for our Troy) We went to church. It was so fun to have Annie with me in RS. Here is cute Tyler with Katelyn.

Again, picture on Ben's phone. But Troy had cupcakes for his dessert and loved getting presents. Tyler and Annie even gave him some. Even though they already gave them little toys every day! So thoughtful!!

Monday, Ben had to work, so we went to the Memorial Mall play place.  We closed on our house in the late afternoon. WOOHOO! More on that later. We went down to the Galleria to eat and walk around. The week went by TOO FAST. We stayed up till 1:30 a.m. talking that night, and if you know me that is like staying up all night. I'm such a pansy. But so worth it.

I drove them to the airport Tuesday and said goodbye. We enjoyed every minute that they were here!

Katelyn Down the Stairs

She went down a few steps and then went back up. She did that three times and then decided to go all the way down. 

Big day for Katerbug. She kept us smiling even though we had to say goodbye to Tyler, Annie and Halli after a heavenly visit from them. They flew here last Tuesday and we packed in the activities, food, treats, and late night conversations. So much fun. We enjoyed every minute! Posts to come :)

Close ups

The only time they look this sharp is the 2 minutes after they get dressed. But I enjoy it for the full 2 minutes. 

Katelyn has officially claimed this chair as hers. 

Loving the park!

Making Memories

Some things we want to remember:

-Dinner with Andy and Christiana at Cheesecake Factory. Thank you Kimley Horn, girls nights with Christiana while the boys play basketball. I've never really had girls nights (or at least not in awhile) and it's been really fun. She just comes over while the kids are sleeping.

-Dinner with Chris and Roseanne. This couple just graduated from BYU and Chris works with Ben. We have a lot of fun doing games and dinner. They have a daughter, Arianna who is 15 months and they just had another girl, Mckenna, a month ago. Our apartment complexes are right next to each other. Walking still takes 15 minutes because the entrances are on opposite sides, but Ben hops the fence sometimes :)

I watched Arianna on Thursday so Roseanne could sleep. She is such a tiny girl. She is really good for me. 

(Arianna on the left, Kate on the right)

-Dinner and games with the Beans. We have good times. They always introduce us to new fun foods at HEB. Love that store.

-Ben and I spoke in church the Sunday my mom was here. We spoke about the last few lines of the 13th article of faith. Enduring and seeking after good things. 

-I taught Troys primary class and loved it. It was fun to hear the kids answers. Attention spans are very short at 4 and 5, so I am grateful for technology and Mormon channel!

-Ben still loves his job and is getting more and more responsibility. His project right now is a retail center that is about a mile long. (I don't actually know, but it's huge)

-Scripture study has been a little more successful using the storybook my mom gave us. Liam still won't sit still at all. It's got to get better eventually right?

I like to include pictures with any post. These are random. 

Troy made a computer desk like daddy's. 

Liam in one of his most frequent positions at the park. 

I like to send random pictures to Ben during the day. Liam was saying, "Here's your iPad dad!" 

Katelyn thinks it is SO funny when Ben crawls up to her and then kisses her belly. The anticipation is the funniest part. 

-Ben and I have been swapping babysitting with three other families with three kids each. Yes that is 12 kids in a small apartment. It was pretty crazy, but well worth it to us. I hope we can keep doing it in our new ward. 

-We had the missionaries over for dinner again yesterday. I love being able to talk about the gospel so freely and in an uplifting way. I really need it every day. I need to feel closer to my Saviour every day.