Dress Up Buddies

If you know Katelee at all, you know she is a dress-up girl.  From the time she could toddle around, she has constantly been dressing up, as the many many pictures on this blog can testify.  But, with a baby brother in the picture, Katelee's passion for dress up has a new outlet - she LOVES to dress up Blake.

Sometimes it's as simple as hat.

Fun side note: this hat belonged to Blake's great-grandpa Blake Reynolds.

Sometimes the costumes are a bit more elaborate.

 Rock on, rock stars!

Katelee has a knack for dressing up Blake while my back is turned for only a minute or two.  It's always a surprise when I leave my baby for a minute and come back from the bathroom to find a cowboy wearing a snow scarf instead!

Yee Haw!

Eating Solids!

Blake has been eating some rice cereal for a few weeks now.  Here he is ready to try his very first bite ever!

 

 I love pictures of babies learning to eat; the messy face, the food in the hair...always funny!  Here are some other pics from the past few weeks.

 Don't let his smiles fool you...he really doesn't like eating rice cereal.  He'll do it, but not without a little complaining and always with an attitude of, 'If I have to...'  He'd MUCH rather we just gave him his bottle.

 Still, he's learning and doing better each day.  Now if eating rice cereal would only help him sleep longer at night.  We're getting tired of him waking up every 2-3 hours each night...still...

We're proud of our big boy!

Baby Shower

This post is about five months late, but better late than never, right?

Shortly after Blake was born, my visiting teacher gave me a baby shower.  We invited all my friends from the ward.  It was the most overwhelming beautiful, amazing, supportive baby shower ever!  I have an amazing ward, but I still completely stunned at the generosity.  The shower was open-house-style, the decorations were gorgeous, the food delicious, and tons of people came.  And the gifts!  It took me over an hour just to open all the gifts.  Sadly, I forgot to take my camera to the event, but after getting home we laid out all our gifts and I just basked in the love I felt.   

 My family members were also incredibly generous.  My Thurston cousins sent me a 'Baby Shower in a Box.'   My aunt sent me a new stroller.  My siblings all gave me adorable clothes, and Melissa gave me plenty of hand-me-downs.

And many of our friends outside of Colorado sent beautiful and thoughtful gifts: crocheted blankets, hooded bath towels, boxes of hand-me-down clothes, and more.

Just to explain how incredibly blessed we are, we didn't have to buy a single diaper for Blake until he was 4 1/2 months old, and we still have three boxes of diapers in the next size up when he grows a little more.

I haven't had to buy Blake even one single item of clothing.  I have bought him Christmas jammies and a sweater vest for Easter, but those were just because I wanted to, not because he actually needed anything.  And I have a full box of clothes in every size until he is over a year old.

And one sweet woman gave us a changing table/dresser to use that has been so handy.

I feel so blessed and so loved, and I wanted to remember always how much that meant to me.

Sick

Ugh.  I know I haven't blogged in a long time, for me.  Unfortunately, I've been really sick.  All of us got a really bad colds that put us flat out for a couple days and took almost 2 weeks to completely get over . . . and then I got the worst stomach bug ever.  EVER.  I spent a whole day in fetal position or on the bathroom floor.  Gross.  I'm feeling better today, although I still haven't eaten any food in like 30 hours...  So, as I continue to get well, my goal today is to catch up on my blogging!  Watch out for lots of posts this week!

Katelee Videos

Gerald took these fun videos of Katelee riding her bike and at our Easter Egg Hunt. She is getting so big!

Some Days are Just Like That

Yup. One of those days. I had tried everything and it was just a sad day at our house. So instead of crying myself, I decided to take pictures. :)

It doesn't help that both of my kids sympathy cry with the other. Thought Katelee might stop doing that as Blake got older, but nope. If one of the kids is crying - really crying - the other inevitably joins in. I guess it's sweet, their bond, in a way. But one crying kid is enough for me to handle at once. :)

Stuck

Poor Blake.

Usually when it is time for sleeping, we put him in his crib and walk out. The only problem with that these days is that we don't even get to the door before he has flipped himself over onto his back. And he can't sleep on his back! So we go and put him back on his tummy.
And repeat.

Multiple times a day.

Funny boy!
I think it's time for him to learn how to flip from his back to his tummy!

Easter

Happy Easter, everyone!

We have had a fun few days celebrating this special day. It all started a few nights ago when we had some friends over to dye eggs! The kids were very creative and made some beautiful eggs!

Saturday morning, we held our 3rd annual Easter egg hunt! We had to move to a new location this year, but it turned out beautifully and we really liked the new park. We had 42 kids join the hunt, and we estimate that we put out 1018 eggs - FUN!

Blake all bundled up watching us hide the eggs. :)
Beautiful blue eyes!

Katelee scoping out the park; she was an exceptional egg-hider this year!

Some of the kids lining up before the event.

And they're off!

There's Katelee picking one up . . .

My friend, Michelle, was so sweet to hold Blake for me during the hunt!

My sweet nephew, Elijah, found an egg!

Cute Ashlyn!

After the hunt, we gathered at a pavilion next to the pond and enjoyed a potluck breakfast. Katelee LOVED the pond, and insisted on sitting right next to it the entire time.

We were so lucky that our dear, dear friends the Hansens happened to be in town this weekend and joined us for our hunt. Katelee and Gracie are BEST friends, and were so cute spending that time together.

The Easter bunny also found our house this year! The Easter bunny always hides the baskets, but being that it was Blake's very first Easter he went easy on him and left his near the front door.
I think he likes it!So sweet!

Katelee had to search harder for hers, but finally found it on top of the washing machine!

Today has been a lovely day, made especially sweet and full because of the focus on our Savior and His resurrection. Unfortunately, the kids and I all woke up sick this morning, and had to miss church as a result. :( However, we had we watched short videos about Easter, read the account from the scriptures, and shared our testimonies.

Gerald's testimony of Jesus Christ: Jesus, the Christ is my savior. He atoned for my sins and shortcomings. Because of his sacrifice, I can be forgiven and not have to be burdened with guilt in my life--and I can learn from His example to forgive others. I'm grateful for His life, His teachings, His example, and His love. I know that because he overcame death when he was resurrected, that everyone who has or will live on this earth will be resurrected. Because of His selfless and infinite sacrifice, families can be together forever. I'm grateful to remember with reverence His atoning sacrifice, His death, and His resurrection this Easter weekend.

Jennifer's testimony of Jesus Christ: I am so grateful for my Savior and for this Easter weekend we have to remember His life and resurrection. Because of Jesus Christ, I know that I can be with my family forever. As a result of his resurrection and sacrifice, I will see my dad (who passed away last year) again someday. Because of His atonement and example, I can be forgiven of my many mistakes and continue to improve and grow and become a better person. I have personally felt the Savior lift my burdens in times when the load seemed to heavy. I know He loves me, that He loves each one of us, and that he truly can bring peace and joy to our hearts, even in the midst of this troubled world. I am so grateful for His love and the way it blesses my life.

Baby Cougars

I have noticed that I take a lot of the same pictures of my kids at about the same stages of life. I'm sure this is pretty typical. I ran across these pics the other day of Katelee in her BYU gear at around a month old. So, I had to find the pics I took of Blake in his BYU clothes near the same stage of life to compare.

Blake is about a month older than Katelee is in these pictures, but they are still both the cutest little BYU cougars!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Cougars!