Katharine 4 year check up

Katharine had her 4 year check up. She is growing great! Sight and hearing are good! We had to get our 4 year immunizations, and that stunk! I held her during the shots, and she cried, but did not kick like she has in the past! She really was fine by the time we got her sucker! I took her for ice cream after :-). She is a big girl now!

The launch of Discovery, STS-133!

Discovery Launch!

Jason and I are in Florida with Kaden and Colin for the STS-133 launch of space shuttle Discovery! This has been a life long dream of mine, and I cannot believe that we all witnessed the launch up close and personal with congressional launch tickets from our Senator John Cornyn! There are no words!
NASA picked us up in the mall parking lot several hours prior to the launch. We made our way to Kennedy Space Center in time to see the Winnebago type trailer take the astronauts to the launch pad! We finally made it to the viewing site, and I was a little disappointed, as I was so hoping to be closer! We were still about 3 miles away. Still, thrilled to be there! Kaden and Colin did great, as they were distraced by their itouches. Sadly, the itouches batteries died about an hour prior to launch. At that time, they resorted to beating up on each other a little bit. Strange behavior for them. They are only recently becoming more aggressive with each other. Thank goodness, we did not have to throw them out in the swamp as alligator dinner, as we were saved by the launch!
The launch was postponed 3 minutes due to some sort of security issue. People were speculating that some goofball was out in his boat in the solid rocket booster water landing area. Goofy! At any rate, there was only 90 seconds left in the launch window when they restarted the clock! Whew!
Kaden and Colin wanted to take photos with our iphones while I did video, and Jason did camera. There are no words to describe the launch! It was very quiet. Viewers were quiet. It was like we were all in awe of the sight. We saw the plume of smoke for what seemed like several seconds before we heard the sounds of the launch. It was stunning. Speechless. Everyone was speechless. Then we heard the noise of the launch, heard that Discovery was clearing the tower, and then it was elation! Everyone whooping and clapping! So wonderful and stunningly beautiful. So amazing to witness Discovery propel herself into space. To witness people do what they dream. Breathtaking. And during that time, I was a 12 year old girl in elementary school, watching in awe.
Colin and Kaden said that it was "Awesome!" Their photos are fantastic! Kaden said he was so happy that my dream came true! It was amazing to share this with them. NASA says that the astronauts that will explore Mars are not engineers, or in college. They are in Kindergarten and first grade. Who knows? Maybe they will be Kaden or Colin or Katharine for that matter! I am so eternally grateful for the opportunity to witness a launch in person.
#1 on my bucket list: check :-) God speed Discovery!!!

Colin and Kaden's 6th Birthday party!

Colin and Kaden are 6! We had their birthday party at Sci Tech Discovery Center in Frisco. It was the Rocket themed party, where they conduct experiments using rockets, soda, and mentos :-). The kids all loved it! They had to guess which ingredient would cause the largest "explosion". In the end, it was the Mentos! Huge gush of soda! They were in awe! Nana, Papa, Grandpa Mark, Mimi, Aunt Mindy, Uncle Shawn, Aidan, Aunt Steph and Uncle John were all there to help us celebrate :-).

They wanted a Tom and Jerry themed party, and each had their own cake. We first sang Happy Birthday to Colin, and then to Kaden :-). There were kids every where! 26 kids total! Good grief! We then got to explore the exhibits at Sci Tech. Very cool! Kara Price came up to me later with tears in her eyes. Her son, Truman, is the now 4 year old ex 23 weeker, that has some impluse control issues. Kaden and Colin were told to lead the children out to Sci Tech. Kaden saw Truman, and told him that he could be the line leader. Kara was so touched by his kindness. I got tears too! As a parent, you just want to raise your kids to be compassionate, kind, individuals. I'm hoping we're on target. Kaden showed we are :-).

Happy, Happy Birthday to my amazing sons! You are both such Blessings in our lives! We love you more than you'll ever know. . .

Victoria's 18 month check up

Victoria had her 18 month check up today. She has only gained one pound and is 19lbs even. Dr. G says he is not worried about her, as the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She is doing well, overall. We just need to work on her speaking. She is very vocal, but not very verbal :-). She usually grunts or screams and points at what she wants :-). Her receptive language is great, it's just her expressive we need to work on.

She is into everything! If it is not tied down, she is on it! None of my other children are climbers, but she makes up for them in spades :-). We cannot leave any chairs out, or she will be standing on top of the table in two shakes! She still enjoys taking a shower with Katharine, and is walking really well, even running! She is such a joy, but very opinionated. I love her little spontaneous displays of affection, when she comes over and hugs and kisses me :-). She, however, does not appreciate it so much from her siblings :-). Oh, she is also "dancing". So funny! However, she all ready has more rhythm than her father :-)

Katharine's Pinocchio performance

Katharine's Musical Arts Schoolhouse had their production of Pinocchio this morning! Katharine was a fairy. She was uber cute and did so well in the theatre portion of the show. She did well during the dance portion until the little boy bedside her starting crying. Then she pretty much stopped what she was doing and looked at him like, "what's the matter with you?" Overall, she really enjoyed it and was really excited that even Aunt Stephanie came to see her!

I am so proud of her! There was very little "stank eye" :-). It makes me a little sad because she will not be attending this school next year. We decided to put her in Legacy with her brothers. If she doesn't attend Legacy next year, she will have to be tested. I know she won't do well being tested with a stranger. I foresee a whole lot of "stank eye" :-) We will have to investigate other performance avenues for her. Overall, great performance from a girl named for Katharine Hepburn :-).

Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Kitty Litter

Last week, Katharine and I went to the mall. We went to Hallmark to get a card, and she decided she wanted to get her own card for her upcoming birthday. She chose a sweet 16 card that plays, "girls just want to have fun". She and Victoria open the card and dance all over the house to this song! Victoria does this squat dance, it's so funny! Very cute!

A little while later, I'm looking for Victoria and find her in the laundry room grabbing hand fulls of kitty litter, and throwing it and some kitty poop in the air! So gross! None of my others were ever interested in the kitty litter! Nasty, Victoria! Good grief! Though she is a cute dancer! :-)