Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

I already talked a little about Kaitlyn's birthday, but I wanted to go into more details. We had my parents here from out of town to celebrate with us. In the morning, KK woke up to balloons all over the floor. Nate showed her how to have fun with them. We gave her a bucket and shovel for the beach. We packed a picnic and headed to the lake. She wore her new swimsuit from grandma. We had a great time sun-bathing, playing in the sand, and splashing around in the water. When we got home, KK went right down for a nap and I finished making the frosting for her cake. Grandma, Grandpa, and Nate went to order pizza. Kaitlyn loved the pizza! We tried to stick her princess hat on her but she hated it so we didn't get any great pics of that. After pizza, Nate wanted to open presents. Grandma got him some to make him feel better, but of course he had to help KK open hers. She was more interested in the wrapping paper then the gifts, but she still liked her turtle that lights up and sings and reads to her. It has a lot of buttons, and she's into pushing buttons these days (not mine, real buttons). Grandma got her a cabbage patch doll that laughs and she loves to stick her doll's ponytail in her hair and crawl around the house. It was fun to have a girl birthday! She also got a new outfit from Grandma, so we had to put her in it before cake. I made a pineapple cake and the frosting was crushed pineapple with whipped topping. She didn't like the frosting so much, but she sure gobbled up the cake. Nate decided the candle was "too scadee" because it was hot. It was a very fun, but simple day. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and I can't believe she's already 1! Time just flies. I wanted to include some pics of her throughout this year. See the previous post for actual birthday pics. Enjoy!

Doubled Our Family

Our sweet children are the highlight of our lives! We find so much joy and humor in their little personalities. It is definitely fun to watch them grow and change so much. Nate is talking in complete sentences these days, we can't always understand what he says and sometimes it sounds like a foreign language, but his speech is really taking off. He loves to ask questions and often says, "Mom, what you doing?" expecting me to then ask him what he's doing to which he will reply "I helping daddy" or "I reading books." He likes to "help" daddy do yard work and is very flattered when our new neighbor boys ask if he can play (they are 4 and 6) and he loves playing with older kids because they can handle his rough housing. He also loves the park, baking, play dates, the beach, and our new GPS. He always asks to see "Nate's car" on the GPS screen and gets a kick out of the lady who tells us to "turn left" or "right." He often tries to guess where she is going to tell us to turn. He is a great big brother, although he still doesn't understand why he can't wrestle with his baby sister. He likes to feed KK and make sure she gets enough water. He will also "trade" toys with her and if she is napping asks "Happen kk?" He usually answers his own question and says "she's up,up, upstairs"- he doesn't stutter, he just likes emphasizing words by saying them 3 times. Oh, and I almost forgot, he loves to sing! He sings in church and opens up the hymn book. The other week, Andrew and I had to crack up because he sang the last phrase at the top of his lungs and held out the last note, almost in tune with the rest of the congregation! He is my wild, but really sweet little boy.





Our little Kaitlyn, who goes by KK thanks to Nate, turned 1 this last week! I can't believe it. Time just flies by. She is just as feisty as her older brother because she has to hold her own with him, but cute as a button. She is pulling up really well and is a super crawler. She can also climb up slides and is a daredevil on Nate's roller coaster. She leans forward with her arms stretched out. She still sucks her thumb, which is adorable, and eats anything we put in front of her, especially popcorn and frozen blueberries. We are so blessed to have her!

Lost 100 pounds

Obviously we didn't lose 100 pounds each. Andrew lost 50 and I lost the other 50, except for days when I indulge then it ends up being more like 48:) Anyways, after KK was born I was feeling so relieved to not be pregnant anymore and I was tired of being overweight. I told Andrew I wanted to join Weight Watchers and reach my lifetime goal this time. Later he told me he wanted to do it with me. I was thrilled to have the support, and later found out that he did it at first to be supportive and then as he got into it he did it for himself. We both are thinner than we were in high school which is really great. I have learned that no one can make you lose weight, that you need to have an internal motivation to do it, and that I am still an emotional eater. Moving has been a little rough because I am tempted to eat to fill the void of loneliness or homesickness. However, the good news is that I don't overindulge or feed my emotions nearly as much as I used to before I did Weight Watchers. I have done Weight Watchers since I was an overweight kid and it amazes me that I was able to lose weight this fast and reach my lifetime goal! I still want to tone up, but I am definitely proud of what I have accomplished:)

In the Last 3 Years We...

This week, we are headed to a family reunion on Andrew's side of the family. Each family was asked to submit 3 pics that represent what they've been up to since the last reunion 3 years ago. In my next posts, I'll talk about each of these in greater detail:)

We bought a house!

I haven't blogged in awhile because we have been working on house hunting/fixing up for the last few months. We had outgrown our 2 bedroom apartment with 2 active little ones and no storage space. Our apartment felt tense often, especially since Nate is really active and does not do good if he doesn't have space to run, dance, do flips or whatever else he feels like doing. We decided to start looking for a house because it is a great time to buy. We also knew we needed the $8000 tax credit if we had to make any improvements to the house, which gave us a little over a month to find a house. We wanted to stay close to Greenbelt, but soon realized that we could only afford a shoe box.

We started looking in Woodbridge because the property taxes are lower in Virginia and we could get a decent sized single family home for our price range. We did our research and time and time again were given the advice that location is everything. We found many newly updated homes, but settled for a foreclosed house in Montclair, VA. We contacted someone from the Dale City ward to ask about the best areas to live in Woodbridge and she said Montclair was the nicest. We researched the schools and they have a good reputation, and then we learned that there is a private lake with beaches and private playgrounds and that the community has an active home owner's association. The neighborhood is beautiful with big trees and big houses. We have the smallest house on the block, which is good because it makes our house worth more. It was also assessed for more than we bought it for, which is also a good for selling purposes. We decided it was well worth it to put in all of the work to fix it up. We have been painting and scrubbing and working non-stop to get it the way we want it. It feels like there will always be a home improvement project to work on and that we will never actually finish, but that's just me being dramatic. I will put up pics when we get it all painted!

Luckily, my parents came into town for a week for Kaitlyn's birthday, so we got to take a well needed break from painting and cleaning to get a little R & R at the beach. Here we are at West Beach.









We had such a nice and relaxing time, we decided to try a new new new beach (Nate likes to say new, new new!:) The kids got more comfortable playing in the water and the sand. This is Dolphin Beach.







Although we love our home, our new neighborhood, and all of our new space (3 1/2 baths and 3 beds + a den in the basement!), we still are homesick for our friends. I miss everyone! Come visit- I added the beach pictures, so you would want to come and have a mini vacation:)