Kayla is 2!

Today, Kayla is two years old!  I can't even believe it.  She is officially not my baby anymore.  She is a toddler... a big girl.  She definitely has a mind of her own and is big enough to think that she can do anything Jaxton or we can do.  She makes us laugh every day!  I can't believe that my sweet baby is getting big.  Happy Birthday Baby Kayla!!!

On the day she was born

Her First Birthday

Her Second Birthday

She got a taste of peanut butter for the first time!  She's hooked!

We had sticky buns for her birthday breakfast

We have discovered that she doesn't like cake and will not have anything to do with it.  Since we aren't having her birthday party until next weekend, we had to do a little something for her actual birthday, so I got a yummy gourmet cheescake.  She was so excited!

Kayla has lots of things that she absolutely loves at age two.  Here are just some of the favorites:

Food. 

What little kid doesn't like food?  Limes in particular are something that she can never pass up, and will throw a full blown tantrum over if you tell her that she can't have one.  Just a word to all those who use limes in their cocktails...  always hide the lime if your gonna tell Kayla that she can't have a slice.

She gets really excited about cold cereal and peeling her own fruit

She loves baths!

More than anything else on the entire planet, this girl LOVES HER LIPGLOSS!!!

...or anything chapstick, for that matter.  She's addicted.

Here she is, showing me her beautiful glossy lips!

I love this girl!!!

Finally... A Sunny Day!

We finally had such a nice sunny day!  We had to take the van in to get some work done on it, and that is the only vehicle we have to fit everyone in, so we ended up taking the wagon and had a nice walk home with the kids.  On the way, we stopped at 7-11 and got some slurpees, which was such a yummy treat!  When we got home, none of us wanted to be couped up in the house so we took advantage of the nice weather and just played outside until it got too chilly.  I love days like that.

Easter and Aunt Sally's Visit

This year my Aunt Sally and my cousin Katey were able to come out from California and visit for the Easter holiday.  Although it was a short stay, it was so good to see them and spend some time.

coloring easter eggs with their uncle mark, my cousin katey, and my aunt sally

 Easter morning

 We can't forget a picture of Teddy with an Easter egg... afterall, he is one of the family!

 Mom made a crown of pork.  It was the highlight of Easter dinner!

 Both of the kids got sunglasses from Sally and wouldn't take them off.  This is how Jaxton fell asleep on the way home from Mom's house.

The kids and Sally

Flowers from Mitch

The other day I had a really frustrating day.  Mitch was so nice and surprised me with flowers and a love note.  It made my day!

Little Sleeping Beauty... and her brother

We were in the car and Jaxton says to me, "Mommy, why is Kayla sleeping?"
I turned around to answer him and this is what I saw. 

They were both completely out.

Hippity Hop Hop, Easter's on it's way!

Yesterday I did a bunch of Easter shopping and it was madness out there. It made me a bit cranky, I must say. Luckily Mitch was home with the kids, so I didn't have to drag them with me to fight the crowds in the Easter ailes. To snap me right out of any cranky mood that I had lingering in me through dinner, we colored eggs. The kids were so excited and it snapped me right into smiles and giggles. Usually we color the eggs the night before Easter, but since Mitch will be working, we decided to do it last night instead. This threw me for a loop, because I keep thinking that today is Easter instead of tomorrow. I woke up to the sad realization that I still have to give up ice cream for one more day. It was a tough realization for my tastebuds and I have to be careful not to go near the freezer. This Lent was a rough one. I am so excited for tomorrow... I can have a bowl of ice cream for breakfast, and after Church we will come home and watch the kids hunt for eggs. Then, off to Mom's house for dinner. It will be a good day.
Here are some egg coloring pictures

Jaxton turned 4!

I can't believe that Jaxton is 4 years old already.  Where does the time go????  He's so big now! Luckily his birthday landed on a Sunday and so we got to have his party on his actual birthday.  I was glad because he was so extremely excited to be 4 and have a party!  I think that this is the most excited that I have ever seen him get.  He couldn't sleep the night before and he couldn't concentrate or stop talking while we were in Church.  To top it off, it was Palm Sunday, so it was a longer Mass than usual.  We ended up in the lobby because he couldn't stop asking if Church was over so that we could have his party.
We took him to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum and it was perfect for the kiddos.  There were different rooms with different activities... a market, a house, a consturction site, a farm, a waterplay area, etc.  Everything was miniature size so the kids could play.  Upstairs there were more scientific-based things to do and outside there was an emergency helicopter that they could get into and pretend like they were paramedics. They had so much fun!  After that, it was back to the house for pizza, cake, and presents.

 Jaxton got a special visitor for his birthday... his brother, Jared.

 Playing peek-a-boo with Sissy

 Jaxton and his cousin, Joey, being helicopter pilots

 This is just a little toy house that was upstairs.  Downstairs was a lifesize playhouse for kids.  I couldn't get any pictures because there were always too many kids in there to get a good shot.

 building with Daddy

All tuckered out and sleeping with his leap pad