Princesses and Superheroes

Katie is so funny. She makes us laugh all the time. Even at church we get told by the people behind us that they can't focus because they are too busy watching her. She has turned into such a sweetie. Last night David made Indian fry bread for dinner. Katie loves to cook with mom and dad. She is always pulling up her stool to the counter or stove to help. She had a blast rolling out David's dough (and peppering our chicken noodle soup the night before - I now know I have to watch her very closely when she has the pepper :). Of course she had to play with the flour and dough right after her bath.

This was my first attempt at doing her cute hair since Mindy left. She made me get out my camera and take pictures of her. She is so funny with the camera. She likes to pose herself. She even told me "get me reading my book." Life would be so boring without our "Little Missy."

Look at that face. I get that look a lot when I am not doing something quite the way Katie thinks I should be.

I get this look a lot too, which I love! She is so happy lately.

This is classic Katie. For a while this is the only smile she would do for the camera. Silly little thing.

I was actually pretty proud of this hairdo.

I will be working my way backward here :). Jacob celebrated his 6th birthday on Jan. 13. He was so cute. All he wanted was for his best friend Jonny to come and play video games with him. Jonny is the one on Jacob's left (his little bro is on Jake's right). He lives to play video games with Jonny.

Wendy found this cool star wars alarm clock at her Walmart and she got me one to give to Jake. He LOVED it. It is totally him. (Thanks for thinking of him Wendy! ;)

Next came his gift from Nana......

Nana is always up on the latest hip toys :). The boys had each gotten a Nano bug for Christmas so the Nano Habitat was a dream come true, it has been the most played with toy he got for his birthday (which is saying a lot since he choose to take his money from us and go pick out his own gifts). Thank you Nana!

Grandma gave him money which is another favorite. He is saving that for the science museum. All the kids love the gift shop there and love to save their money for those trips. Thanks Grandma.

Right after Christmas Mindy and her kids came to visit for a couple of weeks while B.J. studied for his big dental exam. We had a blast. The kids were so happy to have their long lost best friends around for a while (we mom's were pretty ecstatic to have each other around too :). While space was limited, happiness was abundant.

Mindy is the queen of hairdo's. Her girls always look so cute and it was so fun to have her around to do my girls hair. Katie loved it! She has since gone around asking me to do her hair "like Mindy" does. I have to put her toes in the sink "like Mindy" does. And I can not vary too much from this original hair do. I love it! She and Brighton were so cute together. Katie loved having Mindy's girls around to "baby" her. I have video of a wonderful "fashion show" they all put on for us. I will try and get that posted soon.

Brighton is an expert at posing for the camera and the camera loves her. She is such a beautiful little girl. I miss having them close by. I wish every one I love would move up here to Oregon!

I mean seriously, look at that hairdo! She looks even cuter that she already is. I need to get some talent in this area for sure.

If you really want to see some fancy hair, check out Mindy's blog. She is in my "friends" section. Click on "Kidd Family" - you will love it!

New Years Eve totally snuck up on us this year. Mindy, David and I were so tired that day. We were totally party poopers compared to our usual selves. We toasted with the kids (with our sparkling cider) around 9:00 because none of us thought we were going to make it to midnight (I have never toasted before midnight). The kids loved it. They didn't even notice that it was so early. We ended up watching two lame movies while the kids watched movies back in their room. Then that was it. It was midnight. We said happy New Year and we all went to bed. Can you believe that?! That doesn't even sound like us. I am so glad Mindy's kids were here to make that night fun for my kids. I don't know what we would have done without them :).

This is one of the only pics I got of Mindy while she was here. I don't know how that happened. Isn't she so cute!! I had to get a picture of her in her element. She is a fantastic photographer. She is my best friend and I miss her like crazy!

I love these little blower things. They don't make any noise but the kids love them.

I love that Joelle figured out how to do two at a time :).

David celebrated his 34th birthday on Jan. 3rd. We didn't really do anything fun that day, because he forgot to get the day off. Fortunately he got the following day off and he came with us to the Science Center and we all had a blast. It ended up being a great day after birthday.

He even made his own cupcakes. I was really out of it this year. Poor Dave. I love you honey! Next year will be great, I promise. (Who really cares about 34 anyway right? - Don't even think about saying that on my bday Dave ;).

I know, I know,.... the science museum again? But this was our first time with Mindy's family. Mindy actually wanted these pictures but I forgot to get them to her before she left, so I am really just posting these for her family and ours. So we will not be offended if you look no further:).

Our favorite room for the little ones was closed but they offered this fun spin art activity instead which the kids had a lot of fun with. They had this cool putty stuff to play with while you were waiting for your turn to spin your art. I never did get a picture of the art - and now I have no idea where it is. I am such a great mother.