A Few Firsts for Our Family

 Kate has never had a friend party until last Saturday! And I've never put up decorations for any of our parties. I've helped with other family parties but I've never done decorations at my house for Scott, me, or Kate.

 Here is my support group helping me through my first party. Sam, Taylor, Jeni, and Cameron helped me decorate while Kate pranced around like a birthday girl should (the other little girl is one of Kate's friends who was the first to arrive).

 Another first. I have NEVER ordered a cake. Kate had a specific cake in mind so her and I picked it out together at the bakery. She chose an Ariel themed cake made with chocolate-layer-sheet cake, ,chocolate filling and chocolate icing.

 Here are most of the kids coloring while we wait for a few more guests.

T.J. McGowen, Taylor Mayfield, Kate Bangerter, Archer Cheney, Katie Bailey, Elle Quinones, Saylor Dahl, Elliot Anderson, and India Weimers

All our party animals. We tried to limit the guest list by only inviting the children in Kate's church class, and one friend from out of the neighborhood. Taylor is Kate's cousin who just happened to be at a sleepover in Idaho with Kate and Grandma and Grandpa M the night before. When my mom and dad dropped Kate off, Taylor offered to stay to help with the party so she was Kate's final, albeit impromptu, guest.

 Ready for CAKE!

 Queen for a day! This is the crown Kate received on her birthday from her Preschool teacher.

 Make a wish!

I Know it Was a Week Ago, BUT...

My Little Leprechaun

I wish I would've brought my camera when I picked Kate up from Preschool. All the kids had their Leprechaun masks on and it was hilarious.

No, I didn't do any strange green food. I didn't really do much. However, I did remember to decorate with a few St Patty's day wall decor (as seen-barely-in the picture), compliments of my mother-in-law. I did not forget to dress my daughter in the appropriate green sweater and help her accessorize with a green bracelet. I even put on my own festive green flower pin and green necklace.

Baby steps.

Kate's Birthday Present from Sam

 When Sam came to our house off the bus (or maybe she got a ride from her "friend" Clark), she gave Kate a present to open... A Rapunzel Beach Towel! Kate was so excited she got right to the business of vacationing, in our living room.

 Love the shades.

Thanks, Sam.

We Had A Science Lesson

On this day, must have been last week, Kate was trying out her new bike she received for her birthday and we saw two, HUGE worms. We had the most fun picking them up and talking all about worms and their habits and the cool things about them (like the fact that if you cut them in half they become two worms that keep on living). All sorts of good info came back from my Zoology class in College. This was a really good mom-moment. I felt like I was giving my little girl a slice of the world on a platter (Don't worry, we didn't EAT the worm).

Binge Drinking - Not!

Me (trying to look "angelic"), Kate, and Sam (showing off her evilness with pride)

This was just one of those moments. You see, I DO NOT drink cola drinks. Maybe twice a year I will have a Fresca at my mom's or a Root Beer at a Summer BBQ at someone else's house. I buy sprite or 7up when Scott is sick once a year or so. Other than that, I am a water drinker.

My friend seems to ALWAYS have a Diet Coke in her hand whenever I see her. Maybe she needs it to manage hanging out with me. I must be THAT bad. Lately I've been teasing her about her "addiction" to Coke and I even tell her that I'm worried about her because of how unhealthy all that carbonation and caffeine are for her body.

Meanwhile, we have Scott's Grandpa over for dinner once a month and I thought it would be nice to have his favorite drink. I bought a case of Cherry Coke and I admitted to my friend that I was a little tempted to taste it. I thought it might taste good. On my 31st birthday, my friend brought some treats and a Cherry Coke. I guess she wanted me to join "the dark side".

I would have tossed it in the trash and just felt sorry that my friend wasted her money buying me something she knew I didn't believe in drinking for health reasons. But my niece and sister were there and the peer pressure and fun of the moment got to me.

Evidently, Sam believes that you can tell if you have ADHD by seeing the effect caffeine has on you. If it calms you, then you most assuredly have ADHD. If you feel hyper, then you don't. She has over the years told me that I for sure have ADHD so I thought this would give me a chance to prove it.

Why not do it in style. I put the contraband in a fancy glass and pretended to really booze it up. I made my niece have some too (of course her mother was present so she was accompanied by her legal guardian while ingesting the harmful substance). I didn't really feel any different from the caffeine. Does that mean I have ADHD? I did feel slightly guilty, like I'd done something horribly evil and wrong. I haven't had a drink since, clean and sober for 20 days!

Bowling

 Scott, Kate, and Kevin

 Scott and Kate

P.S. Bowling shoes are seriously HOT!

 
I never posted about bowling on my birthday! We don't really do much so when we do, I really need to prove it. We went with our friends Cliff, Marila, and Kevin. They live near us and Cliff shares my birthday. We decided to celebrate together. We ate the yummiest food. I had NO IDEA that bowling alley food was THAT good. Seriously. And then we went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for a chocolate malt concrete. We exchanged gifts and had laughs and really enjoyed ourselves despite our PATHETIC bowling abilities. Cliff was the only one that really shined. He bowled spare after spare and then finally a strike.

Our Baby Turned 5 Today!

Five years ago, our life changed forever...

Kate Elizabeth was born March 15th, 2006.
Scott had worked late trying to get a job done. Kate's due date was one day away and Scott wanted to get this last job finished so he didn't leave any lose ends before taking the week off for Kate. I had taken the day off work. I relaxed most of the day. I met him for dinner at Pace's Dairy Ann and then he went back on the job to finish. I noticed my contractions were beginning to linger and come more frequently as we ate dinner. I mentioned that to Scott. I don't think he thought anything of it.

Scott didn't come home until 10:00 pm. I had a feeling that Kate would be coming soon and I tried to convey that again to Scott but he was so tired it didn't register. He got cleaned up from his LONG day of work. He probably worked 15-16 hours. He got ready for bed and climbed beneath the covers to get cozy. Just as the sandman was opening the door for him, I said, "Scott, I think we need to go to the hospital now."

As we drove the 35 minute commute from our house to the hospital, Scott's sleepiness began to show. I did all I could to keep him awake, talking him through it, asking him questions. At one point he nearly swerved into the median. Safely arriving to the hospital and being admitted to triage was a relief.

The whole experience was quite peaceful, not at all like the movies where the woman screams bloody murder. I had decided to labor without pain relief because I wanted to know what the whole experience was really like. I was feeling most of my contractions in my lower back and I kept asking Scott to massage them away and for the most part that worked but he repeatedly fell asleep in the middle of a contraction, while rubbing my back. I had to keep talking to him to keep him awake.
Early in the morning, maybe 3:00 or 4:00, we called our parents to let them know where we were and that Kate would be born soon. I didn't know it but Scott's mom, my mom, Jeni, and Sam headed straight to the hospital soon after our call. They were waiting outside the door as Kate was born.
After a struggle to deliver her, the nurse plopped her on the scale and called out her weight at 9 lbs. 3 oz. I was relieved, knowing the reason I struggled during that last hour or so of the delivery was because this little girl wasn't so little!
My pregnancy with Kate was easy and uneventful. I was well. I never struggled with the pains and tiredness that everyone complains about. I got fat, yes, but I was so glad for it. I felt more fabulous than I've ever felt knowing that a little person was coming to be in our family.

Kate's delivery was easy and Kate was born perfectly healthy without complications.

As a baby and toddler, Kate's behaviors and milestones always followed all the books. Since she's the only child we have, we have put everything we have into her. Our world revolves around her.

Last night, we surprised Kate by taking her to the store and buying her a bike and a helmet.
Today, we woke her up before Scott left for work and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and let her unwrap her present, new Barbie furniture for her doll house. She was calm and gracious and didn't even squeal with excitement like she used to. I pulled all the pieces out of the box with the help of some scissors and Kate played for a while until it was time to get ready for preschool. Kate was excited to go because her preschool class would be celebrating her birthday. That meant that she would be line leader, the class would sing to her, I would come to spotlight her, and she would receive a small surprise from Miss Connie. As I walked her to school she was so sweet, thanking me genuinely for the present and telling me that she was so glad she came to our family. I thanked her for being willing to come to us and how special she is to us.