More Happy Birthday

These are pics from today, Catherine's actual birthday. I really can't believe she's already 4 years old. I know that sounds cliche, but really...wasn't she just a 6lb 3 oz baby who surprised us by coming 2 weeks early? Wasn't she just born during the ice storm and we couldn't even go home for a week? Didn't she just learn to walk and talk? Wasn't she bald for a long time? Sometimes I have to look back at the pictures to remember her from the early years. I love how interactive she is though now. We have so many fun conversations, often about very real and serious things. She loves to help and is gaining lots of independence. She is a wonderful big sister and loves babies. She has such a sweet spirit and is already learning what it means to love God and know that He loves her.

Our big 4 year old in all her Christmas red

With one of her big birthday presents from Mimi and PopPop, a baby stroller she's been asking for weekly since this summer.

On her big girl bike from Mommy and Daddy. It's a little cold to ride outside right now, but we'll practice downstairs and in the garage from now until spring.

Will loved the birthday activities too!

Happy Birthday, Catherine! We are so thankful that God made you part of our family.

Princess Birthday Party

Catherine is 4 years old today! We celebrated by having a Princess birthday party yesterday with some of her friends. They all wore their fanciest princess dresses and jewels.

Here's the birthday princess!

Playing princess bingo--it went fairly smoothly (once Jay learned the names of the princesses to call out) and everyone won flower bracelets.

They each decorated a princes placemat with stickers and jewels to use at lunch. They took turns one by one showing everyone their placemats and describing their princess gowns. We then had lunch and cupcakes.

So many silly princesses! We had a great time and love that Catherine's friends came to celebrate with her.

Catherine's Dance Lessons

We got a chance on Tuesday to observe Catherine's dance lesson and see all that she's been learning this fall. It was so much fun to watch 8 little girls in their leotards and tutus. They really have learned a lot. Catherine definitely knows more ballet terms (in French) than I do. This has been a great activity for her and she's enjoyed making some new friends too.

Many thanks to my friend Taryn for the photos since I forgot my camera that day.

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration this past weekend. We were in Union on Thursday for lunch with the Wilburn family at my Aunt Patsy's. It's a small crowd, only about 40 to 50 people! It's fun to see lots of cousins and extended family that we don't get to see often. We headed to Mama Belk's for dinner that night (a more manageable group of only 20 people). We drove down to the beach that night and spent the weekend with Jay's parents. It was great to have a few days to relax before the December rush begins.

Last week Catherine's class had a special Thanksgiving feast and celebration on Tuesday. The girls were Indians and the boys were pilgrims. They sang some cute little Thanksgiving songs and poems. They each walked in and were introduced on their own while the teacher read what they're thankful for. Most kids said they were thankful for things like "mom, dad, Jesus, etc". Catherine, however, was thankful for her clothes. That's my fashionista :)

On a separate note, but something we are very thankful for, Will is done with speech therapy! He had his 6 month evaluation a week or two ago and scored much better. While he still is slightly behind for his age, it's only 2%-5% behind, which is close enough to be in the "normal" range. He was also evaluated by an ENT last week for any structural abnormalities of his mouth and throat and he had his hearing checked. Everything looked great with both of these, so he is offically done now. We are so thankful for the progress he has been making and how hard he is working to learn and use his words.

Sweet Baby Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today and were so excited to see our growing new baby. He/she looks great (no, we didn't find out if it was a boy or girl) and weighs approximately 15 ounces. It's so exciting to see how God develops a little one. We can't wait to meet this little person in about 19 more weeks!

Princess Parties and Baby Showers

Catherine has had lots of fun at some friends' birthday parties recently. At one party, all the princesses got their hair curled and fingernails painted. At the other party, they got "all fancied up" and had a wonderful tea party. It's so cute to see her have so much fun as a little girl. And she is so girly, that she loves every minute of it.

I've also had lots of baby showers lately. We had one 2 weeks ago for my friend Haley, who is expecting her first baby (a girl) in about 3 weeks. Haley is one of my best friends from growing up and it was fun to celebrate with her.

Last weekend we had 2 showers for my sister Kelly as she and Kevin get ready for baby Jasper. On Saturday night, we had a shower at the hunt cabin--you don't see many dads in camo opening baby presents :) On Sunday, we had a shower for her church and our family. We are so excited to have another boy coming to the family.

Pics by Frances

My friend Frances (www.franceslightcapphotography.wordpress.com) took pics of Catherine and Will last week. I always like to do pictures in the fall between both of their birthdays, so these are to remember when Catherine was turning 4 and Will was turning 2. She had lots and lots of great pics, but I just thought I'd share a few. These should be great for Christmas cards! We had a fun morning going on an "adventure" and exploring with Catherine and Will while she captured how incredibly precious they are at this age.