Kaitlyn is FOUR!

My little baby is now four years old. For some reason, four sounds SO much older than 3. It's only one year away from 5, which is halfway to 10. Which is halfway to 20 when she'll be off in college. I can already tell that I'm going to be a gooey mess when she starts kindergarten in a little over a year.

But enough premature sadness...we celebrated her birthday with a princess party! There was lots and lots of pink. I let her pick out a cake from a local bakery. I was certain that she would pick out a Disney princess one, but she surprised me with this choice. I guess a real, sparkly tiara and wand outweigh Cinderella and Belle.

But the princesses did make an appearance in the tableware.

It was a very low key kind of party. There were no party games--just a chance to play with girlfriends, have lunch, eat cake and open presents.

When it was time to eat, Ethan dutifully put on a princess tiara (albeit backwards). All the girls giggled, and he enjoyed being the center of their attention.

Blowing out the candles...no help needed this year!

And her favorite present of all was her big girl bike from Gran!

And for some comedic relief, my little goofball sporting the sparkly tiara and flashing his cheesy camera grin. I really could just eat him up sometimes.

Happy Birthday sweet Kaitlyn!

Trains! and Cheekwood

On Kaitlyn's birthday, we decided to do something fun as a family. I had heard about a train exhibit at Cheekwood that I knew the kids would love. It was a gorgeous day of sunshine and mild temps, so we packed ourselves a picnic lunch, grabbed our buy-one-get-one-free-admission coupon (kids are free here too!), and headed out for a new adventure.

As expected, the kids loved the Trains! exhibit. They were mesmerized by all the tracks and trains. There was even a Thomas engine--a big hit! I think they could have stayed there for hours, but we had more of Cheekwood that we wanted them to see, so we finally prodded them along.

Ethan loves waterfalls and eagerly shouts out "wawafah!" everytime we see one. So he was all too happy to sit by one and have his picture taken.

A nice posed picture of the siblings at the mansion. Ordinarily I would not have let her wear a princess t-shirt when I knew there would be possible "nice picture" ops, but it was her birthday, so I felt obligated to let her wear what made her happy. Even if I secretly despise character shirts. And princesses make her very happy these days. Sigh.

Two cooperative, happy, smiley children--a rare sight, indeed!

*By the way, according to Blogger, this is my 200th post. I feel like I've reached some sort of milestone!

Music City Star

Given our kids' love of trains, we decided to take another ride on the Music City Star (you may remember our first ride when Ethan was still a baby). They were all smiles as they eagerly awaited the train.

And then the train arrived in all of its loud, horn-blowing glory...and Kaitlyn did not appreciate that at all. Fortunately the drama eventually subsided and we boarded the train with no further meltdowns.

Ethan is all smiles on his first real train ride (not counting the one I'm sure he doesn't remember when he was only 6 months old).

We timed it so that we had a chance to explore the riverfront before catching the last train out for the evening. Downtown exploration doesn't get much easier. The train pulls right into the heart of the city, you don't have to find or pay for parking, train tickets are cheap (and free for kids), and there's 30 - 45 minutes in between trains--a perfect amount of time to entertain two small children. The kids loved running up and down the hills at Riverfront Park.

Our little nature lover always has to stop and pick the flowers.

We explored the old fort. And then we hopped back on the train for the ride back.

Easter 2011

For our family this year, Easter meant dyeing eggs, hunting eggs, making bunny cookies, filling baskets, and of course, celebrating Easter Sunday at church. While it's fun seeing these things through the eyes of your children, it can leave a mommy feeling pretty worn out--especially when trying to complete all the tasks listed above with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old. In fact, after trying to manage 4 little hands dyeing eggs, I was downright grumpy! But time has a way of softening memories, and I'm sure I'll only remember the fun parts...until I reread this blog one day! I guess I should just be grateful that we only experienced one egg casualty (see picture above) and that one was actually my fault :)

The kids were pretty fascinated by the whole dyeing process. Doesn't Ethan look thrilled? That's his new picture face.

Normally our church does a huge Easter egg hunt, but due to construction, we weren't able to have it this year. I really wanted Ethan to have a chance to hunt eggs too, so we had our own little egg hunt Easter morning after the kids went through their baskets. It took Ethan a few minutes to get the hang of it, but luckily he had his big sister to show him the ropes.

Then we got ready for church. They were fine to stand by each other, but we couldn't get them to both look at the camera and smile at the same time without pulling on some part of their clothing. Sigh. One of these days I will get a good sibling shot!

Once we got home (and after some much-needed naps!), the kids got to play with their Easter goodies. Ethan loved blowing his "Easter bubbles." He was actually quite good at it.

Kaitlyn is our little nature lover, so the Easter bunny brought her a butterfly (or bug or fish) net so that she can examine small creatures a little more closely this summer. She was SO excited when a butterfly visited our yard. But alas, it alluded her repeated attempts to capture it. Now if I can just convince her that the soon-to-arrive cicadas are actually fun to watch, then that net will get LOTS of use! But since I can't stand the creepy red-eyed things, I may have trouble convincing her.

Now off to rest, write papers, and get ready for Kaitlyn's birthday party next week!

Kaitlyn's Easter Party

Kaitlyn's preschool class had their Easter Party/Egg Hunt today at school. There was yummy food, a cake decorating activity, a live bunny and, of course, the egg hunt!

Kaitlyn's class (minus two friends who were absent today)

Icing their own cupcakes and seeing what happens when you mix colors together

All lined up ready for the egg hunt

The hunt lasted about 5 minutes.

Kaitlyn and her best pals, Halle and Meredith. This trio is inseparable at school!

Sweet Friends

A couple of weeks ago, Kaitlyn got to explore the Discovery Center with her dear friend Hannah. These two love each other so much and play together very well. I'm looking forward to many more adventures with these sweet girls!

Catching Up...

A few weeks ago, we all went down to my mom's house for the weekend. It was cold and rainy, and we spent most of the time indoors. Fortunately, my mom saved lots of toys from my childhood, so the kids always keep themselves pretty entertained while we're there. Sometimes, though, you just need to sit and chill in front of the TV. Truthfully, I think the adults needed them to chill in front of the TV for a little bit too! And in case you're wondering, yes, that is Santa on the screen. Apparently my kids haven't figured out yet that you usually don't watch Christmas movies in the springtime :) I didn't have the heart to break it to them.

Love the zombie look. This is why they don't get to watch much TV!

Are those really my children lying so peacefully next to each other?

Pure cuteness!

Ethan's 1st Haircut

This adventure didn't go so well, as you can see in the pictures below. The downward spiral started with the cape. We tried to describe it as a fun "superhero" cape, but that didn't fly at all. When Steve (the hairstylist) tried to put it on, Ethan swatted at that cape with all the anger and frustration that a 2-year-old can manage. We ditched the cape, but it was too late. He was in full meltdown mode. So Steve started snipping quickly.

So pitiful...

Enormous tears!

We tried bribing with candy, but to no avail.

He's getting really angry now!

Finally it was over!

I really hope his hair grows very slowly.

Ethan's 2nd Birthday

Somehow, my "baby" boy is now 2! I'm not quite sure how two whole years have elapsed already, but the calendar assures me that they have. We had a small family-only celebration for his big day. He loves trains, so I decided to go with a Thomas theme. The cake came with some train toys. Ethan "helped" me blow out the candles and seemed to enjoy all the attention.

When it came time to eat the cake, he was very eager to dig in. However, he couldn't figure out how to eat it. He first tried to take a bite by picking the whole piece up with his hands. But he didn't like getting frosting on his hand, so he would set the piece back down and say "Uh-oh" until someone wiped his hands clean. He tried this method a few times without success. Then he tried to use a fork to break off a piece, but his little hands just couldn't coordinate the action well enough. I offered to cut it into small pieces for him so he could use his fork and he adamantly refused. This little one hates for his food to be cut in any way after it reaches his plate (if you cut it before you give it to him, it's apparently fine). So he was in a pickle. He desperately wanted the cake, but he couldn't figure out a way to eat it without getting his hands messy and without having the piece "ruined" by cutting. I felt bad for him (it was his birthday after all!!), so I cut him a second piece of cake and cut it into small pieces before I put it on his plate. He happily gobbled it down without a second's hesitation. Notice that the original piece sits untouched in the middle of his plate while he scarfs down the smaller pieces :)

Then came time for present opening.

It was a nice sunny day outside, so he got to enjoy some time outside.

A family picture.

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Lindsey were able to join us. Gran was there too. Kaitlyn's already making plans for her birthday in May. She has already requested a princess cake.

Happy Birthday, sweet Ethan! I can't wait to see what new and exciting things this year has in store for you.