Birthday Bliss

Today I'm 31. I am so blessed with lots of great people who love me and showered me with celebrations! Here's how we celebrated.

Courtney came from Portland for the weekend!

This photo is at the awesome dinner party at Terri's house. YUM!

The amazing meal the girls prepared.



How Fun!

The fam at The Greek House for dinner.

The delicious cake that my girls made with Court!

Baby in the Bowl

My new camera makes taking pictures so much fun! My new baby is super fun to take pictures of! Put those together with a few household objects and WA-LA...awesome photos!

Snuggled up in Aunty Terri's blanket. (Thanks Ter)

Snoozing in the fruit bowl

Next I'm gonna try to get some cool photos of Caitlyn in her Daddy's arms...

4 Weeks Old!

Caitlyn is 4 weeks old! How did this much time pass already? In her first 4 weeks she has gained lots of new experiences, met lots of special people and provided our family with so much joy!

Our kids are kissing her constantly... I can't say for certain because really, how do you measure such a thing, but I would argue she is the most-kissed newborn ever! :)

Taking a survey, now that Caitlyn is "growing up", she may be wanting to try out a few of her nicknames. For those of you who don't know this about me, I am a huge "nickname calling mommy"!

So the question is, how do we spell the nicknames for Caitlyn???

Please leave a comment with your opinion or thoughts on the matter!

Kathryn's Wedding

Click here to view these pictures larger

The Wedding

My cousin Kathryn got married this past weekend in California. Here are some photos! They got married at a beautiful place called Empire Mine. There were so many beautiful flowers everywhere and a super cool cottage. Too many awesome photo spots and not enough time to get photos!! I feel like I did not do the place justice at all with my photos!

Bridal Party

Our family.

This is one of the only pictures of Caitlyn in her tiny fancy dress. She looked so cute! Unfortunately she had a little accident in her dress half way through the ceremony.

My little flower girls walking down the isle. Their flower "balls" were so huge and super heavy...they were troopers carrying those all day long. Look how Maddie is holding her dress up with her left hand...just like a princess!

Little Caleb in his cute tux! What a handsome boy. He was a little nervous and wanted to walk down the isle with Mikayla. She was a little disappointed because she wanted to walk by herself. I think they look adorable together!

My lovely cousin and her father minutes before making the trip down the isle. What a special moment!




My cute kiddos all dolled up!



Kathryn asked Mikayla to be a junior bridesmaid because she knew Mikayla had been a flower girl so many times.

Mailee loved being a princess in this pretty dress! Her hair looked so great with all the curls.

Mads loved seeing Kathryn all dressed up before the wedding.

She also really liked Todd. (the groom)

I bribed Caleb to walk down the isle by promising him candy. Here he is after the ceremony with his Mentos.

I will post a link to the rest of the photos for ya too!

HOME!

I have to catch up on the laundry and THEN I'll upload and post the pics from our trip :)

California Moments

My kids love hotels...they seem to need me less when we are in a hotel. Surprisingly, here I am with time on my hands!


This is EVERYTHING we brought. Yes people, I packed for 7 people in this amount of luggage! (I'm proud of this fact...I have learned to pack less as we have added more family members)

Caitlyn got to meet Grammie, her 92 year old great grandma!

Meeting the bride! My cousin Kathryn!!

Caitlyn was introduced to Grandma Bev on Thursday and then introduced to Target on Friday. Two very important introductions :)

Here are the ladies under the fluorescent lights of the Roseville Target. Caitlyn is sporting a bow on a headband that she likes,(thanks Meg!!!) and a new outfit appropriate for the HOT weather (thanks Grandma!)

Today she gets to meet her Grandpa Russ and attend her first wedding! What a great day!


Tomorrow I will post more photos!!

Busting Out of Here

Tonight we are leaving town. It's going to be a quick trip and possibly a very crazy one with a 3 week old, a 6 hour drive and a 3 hour flight...but it is SOO worth it!

Why? You ask...

-FAMILY:Caitlyn is going to meet her Grandma and Grandpa and great grandma and aunties and uncles!! This is a very big deal. I feel so bad hogging this little angel here while my loving family has only photos to satisfy the baby fix

-WEDDING:My cousin is getting married! This is the real reason for the trip. Myself and all the kiddos (except Caitlyn) are in the wedding.

-WEATHER! It's not that we dislike the near-frigid temperatures...that's okay with us. Everything in moderation, right? When it gets to be half way through May we are pretty much ready for sunshine!!

(I would add shopping but I think there will not be too much of that this time :)

Preview of wedding colors...

preview of girls' dresses ...

If you don't hear from me, it's cause I am in the van (at maximum capacity) trying to meet the needs of 6 other people while attempting to keep my composure...or I may be on an airplane jostling my newborn to try to keep her quiet while holding Caleb's legs back from kicking "that guy" in front of him who hates kids...or I could be gloriously basking in the warm California sun, watching my mom hold the baby while my kids get sunkissed at the hotel pool, dressed up and enjoying the gorgeousness of the surroundings and the special moments of a wedding, eating at some fantastically American restaurant with way too big portions, or strolling through Target...

AHH! Sounds superb and SO worth the trek it'll take to get there!

Folded Up

Caitlyn still likes to be folded up. So precious!!

How Is This Possible?

Mikayla Update

Mikayla loves to read and is often in her room engrossed in a book while the rest of the kids are rambling around the house. She is content to read all day long some days!!

This weekend I encouraged her to come hang out with us a bit and do something different. She loved the baby lots...she even wore her in the Baby Bjorn a little. Today she updated her blog! Check it out HERE!! I know she would be thrilled with any comments!! She also chose a new background for her blog. It is so cute to read her words and know what she is thinking!

Baby feels most comfortable with her biggest sister!

Loving the tiny princess.

Hard to believe Mikayla was ever this small...or that when she was this small, I had time to sit and stare at her and her alone ALL DAY LONG!!!!

(how is it possible that I couldn't manage to keep up on the housework when I only had her?!?!?)

Bathing Beauties

Caitlyn got to wear her swimsuit for the first time this weekend. Maddie and Mailee had a great time sunbathing with their baby sister. Oh- and we attempted a bow!! Check her out!

Nice shades!

Caleb steps in to try to console a cranky ladybug...

Hmm...pretty sure she's not into the headband. When I took it off she stopped crying but she had a dent in her head from where the band was. We will have to keep searching for the perfect baby headband :)

Caitlyn and the Scarf

I wrapped Caitlyn in this scarf the other day just to see what she'd look like. It's such a pretty, ruffly scarf and she's such a a pretty teeny person I thought I might like the combination for a photo. I have lots of more "important" things to do but she is growing at record speeds and i don't want to miss out on her newborn tiny-ness!! Mike thought I was losing my mind, perhaps I am but I'm okay with that cause I kinda do like the photos I got of her all wrapped up!

I love her little pursed lips in this one:)

She is making the "I want to eat" face and hand gestures in this one.

AH! Precious lil feet!!

My angel baby wrapped in my ruffly scarf...I don't know, what do you think? I think it works!

Name Change

Attention : There has been a name change at our house:

"Prnicess Sleeps A Lot" is now affectionately

"Princess Nurses Too Much and Mommy Has A Stiff Neck and Can't Get Anything Done"

Super Cool Gift!

My best friend Gretch and I have known each other our entire lives. When we were little we had this plan that we were going to both have baby girls the same age and then they would be best friends and when they grew up they would marry twins and we would be family!

This seemed like the perfect plan until I got married at 21 and started having babies right away while Gretch was traveling, getting her degree and taking the corporate world by storm. When Caleb was born 3 years ago, Mike and I were thrilled to have a baby boy and I declared myself DONE having babies. With Gretch still working and not quite ready to be a mom, it looked like the door to us having daughters together was a closed one.

This is the youngest pic of us that I have (that is in jpeg form) but there are lots of younger ones in boxes :)

The phone call between us 8 months ago was shocking and exciting- we were going to be pregnant at the same time!! A few months later, we both found out we were carrying little girls and they were due only 2 weeks apart! Her baby was due May 15th and mine May 3 but Gretch's ended up being born April 28. I had just gotten the news that little Sophia Marie had been born when I went into labor myself. Caitlyn and Sophia are one day apart! God's timing is immaculate and precise and it is His plan that is perfect, not ours!

Gretch and I are on the phone frequently discussing the day's challenges and our daughters' sleep patters...it is so fun to have babies the EXACT same age!!


My birthday isn't till the end of May but Gretch sent me a gift and I couldn't wait! Look what was inside- the cutest lil necklace ever!

"C" for Caitlyn (and Colleen:) Gretch got an "S" for Sophia.

the gold circle says "LOVE"

Thanks Gretch! I love the necklace, and you!!

Weighing In

On Wednesday, at 2 weeks old, Caitlyn had her second appointment at the Midwife. She brought along Maddie and Caleb for support. Our big girl weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Pretty good!

Seems like she is growing so fast yet all of our other babies were bigger than her at birth

(Mailee 7.6, Mikayla and Caleb 8.11, Maddie 9.3!) so she really is still so teeny!

Still not loving the scale!

Hanging out with Anne-Marie, the Midwife.



Mike handing Caitlyn over to Anne-Marie after her cord was cut. Such a special time to share with someone, they kind of become a part of your family's history! We have 5 different special midwives/ob's from all the kids' births:)

Black and Whites

Kissing Caitlyn

Huggy Baby

Nose to Nose

Kisses