Happy Birthday Maddie

One of Kate’s friends, Maddie, from our old neighborhood had a birthday party this weekend at Jump Planet.  This is, of course, one of Kate’s favorite places to go with all the big slides and bouncy toys to play on.  She had a great time, and it was good to see our old neighbors and catch up (and eat cake).

Kate sliding down the huge slide with a big grin on her face.  Later Kate and Daddy went down it together though it was more bouncing than sliding.  Too much weight = too much friction = not a lot of sliding.

Another one on a smaller slide.

Easter 2008

Since we were clean and all dressed up for the Easter fun, we decided to take a few family photos.  Unfortunately Daddy wasn’t in his most photogenic space so he declined to participate, but here are Kate’s favorites from the selection.

Kate in her beautiful Easter finery!

Kate giving Mommy a gigantic smooch.

And the obviously miserable trio.  Happy Easter to all our friends and family!

Eggstravaganza!

We started a tradition for Kate’s second Easter that we’ve been lucky enough to be able to make happen ever since. Kate’s best friends from Tim and Lisa’s daycare, Juliana, Yvette, and Kendal (and now all the siblings too) get together for an Easter Egg hunt.  Lori and Brett were kind enough to host this year. Without further ado, please enjoy the eggstravaganza!

Kendal and Yvette make it through the gates first on the hunt for eggs!

Jacqueline works hard to not let Jake down in his wish for a bird’s eye view of the fun.

Juliana showing us her haul.

Juliana, Kate, Kendal, and Yvette post hunt but pre egg hatching.

Kate pondering if she should ask for a bigger basket next year…

Kendal and Yvette. These girls know their way around an egg hunt!

And the candy accounting begins.

Jake and Mom — a study by Kate Giffin

My budding photog keeps getting better and better, lucky for me as I am receiving some great shots of me and my boys.    Here is Kate’s most recent shot of Mom and Jake.

Kate finally has window coverings.

We’ve only lived in our new house for one year and 15 days, so how bad should we be rated as parents for just now updating our daughter’s bedroom windows from sheets to real window coverings?  Pete hung the roman shades this afternoon and Kate and I already began the decorating process.  We’re going to wait and see what we think of the results in the daylight before we decide if we do more.

As you can see, we’re decorating the shades with pink and yellow flowers, quelle surprise!

Jacob’s first hair cut

Just shy of Jake’s first birthday his bangs were finally reaching his eyes, so we decided it was time to do something about it.  I pulled out my shears and trimmed things up.  Luckily he has just a bit of curl in his hair so it should hide any serious mistakes. 

Here we are in the Rec room post cut.  Jake is also teething right now so he goes hardly anywhere without something in his mouth.

And I don’t know if it was the post cut cuteness factor but he was able to charm his way into his sister’s room.  He spent quite a bit of time whipping up some delightful pastries.  He may be making cookies with Kate and Mom very soon.

Kate act cheesy? Never!

Nothing new going on, just a cheesy photo of Kate to brighten your day.  What allowed me to capture this cheese-tastic rendering?  Kate and Jake were playing knights, shields and swords type of thing, and she decided that it was time to spin the shield.  Luckily Jake was not in the flight path.

This seems like it will be one of those photos her Dad will pull out on her 16th birthday to embarass her as much as possible.

Happy Birthday Bapa!

Or is it more important to say Happy Retirement?!?  The kids just wanted to take a moment to say happy birthday to Bapa so without further ado…  Bapa + cuteness.

Bapa and Kate silliness, Father’s Day 2007.

The boys, Pete’s Birthday 2007.

I stand corrected.

Jacob has decided that this whole sitting/crawling deal is just not good enough so he’s moved on to pulling himself up and standing.  I haven’t witnessed anything longer than 5-10 seconds so far but this is also the first weekend we’ve really been seeing the new behavior. 

Jacob makes his move for the closest furniture that can help him up.

Here he is still in “triangle” position, leaning in to the furniture for balance.

Lift off achieved.  Houston, we may have a problem.

La petite artiste

Kate woke up this morning and declared that she would be drawing our family portrait today.  She took great care in choosing everyone’s appropriate color and was proudly displaying her final product to anyone who would follow her into my office.

First, she drew our house.  “It’s an important component of the drawing,” Kate said (direct quote here, are 4 yr olds getting more precocious or is it just me?).  Then, she continued “Jacob is blue, Mommy is yellow, Daddy is orange, and Kate is red.  Red is the closest to pink,” Kate explained before I could ask. 

Kate with her chef d’oeuvre.