let her eat cake!

...and she is one...
{sigh}
where did that first year go?!
happy birthday to my precious jilly.
p.s. in case you ever wonder...your sisters adore you!


mommy owes you a letter and your own special post...but the past week has been a bit rough...your first ever visit to the ER, colds for all of us, kitchen remodeling projects, and a billion other little "stuffs".
so for now...i'll at least give your "fans" a peek into your cake devouring heroics.
sweet girl, you ate your cake with gusto...

your elephant cake

first taste

second taste

i think you like it... :)

devouring

sheer sugary delight

yummo...frosting covered hands!

"mommy...why do you keep taking pictures?"

i know...i'm CUTE...and cake covered!

"hey...mine is all gone grandmommy...can i have some of yours?!"

that was SOOOO good!

and then there was some opening of presents...of course

i LOVE this elephant!

daddy, it is a little warm for this super cute hat (which my neighbor made...LOVE it!)

look at the baby on this house...but me, i'm no baby anymore...i can keep up with the BIG kids! but thanks for the house grandmommy and poppy...i'm gonna have so much fun with it!

happiness!

and the sugar high ends...crashed out and sound asleep minutes after the party ended (well, after daddy bathed her and got all that crusty frosting off!)

...and one more shot...proof that "it's my party and i'll cry if i want to!"

...actually this was taken on her actual birthday after shots, a runny nose and one too many attempts to catch the perfect birthday girl picture!

{milestones}

while she has been standing up on her own and balancing in the middle of the room for quite some time now, jilly finally decided to venture out and walk! we think she is pretty precious! her first attempts were pretty stumbling, but as you can see from the second video, she has advanced quite quickly. i consider that an especially good thing...since, in other "milestones", she also wanted to announce to you all that she is going to be a big sister in about six months. :)

**and that news right there is why you simply must forgive me for my lack of posts in the past few weeks!

p.s. i will be really sad when my sweet girl outgrows these shoes (which is probably quite soon...)...i know, i know...they are just shoes, but still...i wish my feet looked that "cute" in shoes (or ever, really!).

of course, with the minefield of toys she has had her share of spills...but she is pretty stinkin' resilient. and, shhh...don't tell her i said so, but the tears are kinda sweet (only because we don't see them too often)

lakes and birthday and smiles...oh my!

friday was kate's birthday.

her third (can you believe it!) birthday.

when asked how she wanted to celebrate, she requested a party at loon lake...so we went with it....deciding to mash her birthday up with our annual "friend" weekend at the lake with some dear friends. this was actually the 5th annual (well...except that we missed last year) trip. what started has four couples and zero children (with only mike and i married on the first trip!)...has become two couples and five kiddos (mostly due to space/chaos restrictions...because, wouldn't it be oh so fun to have all four couples and the eight kiddos between us!).

anyway...we decided to combine the festivities, invite a few "near the lake" friends...and voila...birthday party + time with some of our dear friends.

jill and i managed to squeeze five carseats in the back of my van...meaning we had some quality extra time during the drive AND got a few extra hours at the lake...and the guys got some good guy time as well!

can you spot all five kiddos?


before we hit the road we might have stopped at einstein bros. for free bagel friday...and kate might have gotten a mini cinnamon sugar bagel...complete with candles and some happy birthday singing (but no flames...i figured that might not be the wisest inside the van with four other small children!). she was delighted!


...and after some sand and water play and a yummy cilantro pesto taco dinner the birthday girl got a birthday cupcake, complete with lit candles and some more singing! thanks grandma f for the cutie birthday girl shirt! :)


after some evening swinging (or just sitting in the baby swing to give us a hint!) all five tuckered out kiddos headed to bed....


....and jill and i started piecing together and decorating kate's turtle cake. our dear hubbies kept us company...and not only did the turtle turn out better than i had envisioned, but we also had lots of fun in the process!


saturday we did lots of playing and hanging out...

libbers was completely enamored with emmett...she loved to tell us how cute he is (and she is right!).


"so what if there is a whole lake out there...i'll just play IN the bucket!"


brennan, kate, and libbers making mudpies (and volcanos and sandy pants!)


uncle nathan and kater did lots of swimming...and she was brave enough to "jump" off the end of the dock several times and do lots of jumping in the air with uncle nathan! i don't have pictures, but elizabeth also is becoming quite the waterbug...as long as she is on top of a float of some sort.



saturday evening GG and miss jill (a dear friend of mine from home) joined us for kater gator's party (and, of course, grandmommy and poppy were with us all weekend!). we served the menu that kate requested...hotdogs, cheeseballs, and strawberries (grandmommy added some baked beans as well)...and then dove into the turtle cake (strawberry flavored as the birthday girl requested--sidenote, if anyone is looking for a homemade strawberry cake recipe the one i found online was quite tasty!).




kate especially liked the frosting!


we enjoyed a nice evening boat cruise afterward...

libbers was a wee bit enamored with miss jill! :)


and the birthday girl was a bit worn out from all the festivities!


sunday was another gorgeous day...swimming, fishing, sand play...all the fun stuff before heading home that afternoon.

hanging with uncle nathan


the whole gang

{three}

happy birthday to you...

happy birthday to you...

happy birthday....

dear kater gator...

happy birthday to you!


my dearest kate,

three.
how in the world did that happen?
you have come a long way since your second birthday....

hard to believe, but last year you were barely talking...
this year we are constantly entertained by your chattering.

last year you slept in a crib...
this year you sleep in your big girl bunk beds with sissy.

last year diapers...
this year big girl undies.

but those things aren't really the "big" things about the year.
you are.
you.
my beautiful
spunky
dramatic
tender-hearted
dancing-crazed
strong willed
passionate
pajama pant lovin' (seriously...you would wear PJ pants every day...everywhere...all.the.time)
goofy
chattery
always-on-the-move
song singin'
blue eyed
blankie lovin'
thumb sucking
fierce
funny
big hearted
silly
circle spinning
snuggling
sweet
AMAZING
girl.

kate, you amaze me. you are an invaluable treasure to our family. Jesus has granted you a measure of zest for life that is incredible...a passion that can sometimes be a bit exhausting to your mama...but a passion that can bring Jesus amazing amounts of glory as you surrender it to Him. baby girl, i'm not going to lie...some days that passion is really hard for mama...the dramatics and emotions...the trying to understand all that is inside of that brilliant three year old brain. i pray that someday you will read this...that someday you will have a three year old of your own...that you could have hope from reading this...that you would no that no matter how hard some moments are, the bottom line is that I LOVE YOU. did you hear it, because i do; i love you. God's work is amazing...all of the fibers of your being that He knit together...and sweet girl, He has all the days of your life planned...He KNOWS you. most importantly, He loves you...sweet girl, may you never ever, ever, ever forget the startling and real truth contained in the words we sing every single night. "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so." let that truth be your foundation, kate. there is no greater gift i could give you for your birthday. may you learn and know and walk in that truth all the days of your life.

so today, baby girl (because you will ALWAYS be one of my "baby" girls no matter how big you are), we celebrate you.

i love you.