Domestic Kate

Molly is my beautiful niece.  We are so fortunate to have five nieces that are not only adorable on the outside, but extremely sweet and kind on the inside too.  (we also have two nephews that fit that description to a "T").  My sister is a flight attendant and visits often from her home in Ohio.  I love this perk of hers because we not only get to see her and my brother in law every so often, but their precious kids as well! My sister and I decided to take Molly out on a special morning with "just us big girls".  We went to Northwestern College where my sister went to school and snapped some photo's of Molly to capture her last moments as a 2 year old before they usher in her 3rd birthday!  I cannot believe it's been 3 years!! Molly gave us about 5 seconds of smiles to work with and then she was ready for her promised "treat".  Despite her lack of enthusiasm and my amateur photography skills, one thing is for sure....this girl is photogenic! ...

How to teach your child to walk early: Take your child to the pool.  The cloudier and colder the weather, the better.  And, if there is a thunderstorm rolling in...bonus! Next, place your baby in a pool of cold  water. Note: Caroline isn't walking...yet.  But, she most definitely wanted  to yesterday! Another note: forecasters aren't always correct.  Hot and sunny day? Nope!  We had to leave the pool after 20 minutes due to thunder/lightning and rain!  Boo.  Caroline didn't seem to mind the early escape though!

We had a visitor today!  Well, actually, a couple  of visitors you could say... It was a rainy day today and we called off plans to get outside and decided to stay close to home.  With all of the hot and muggy days we've had lately, we've also had our fair share of mornings spent at home, inside.  With that said, I felt like I had to switch things up a bit.   So, my old Cricket doll came to say hello!  Hans was very welcoming...and Caroline was too....in her own way. We learned early on that Caroline's love language is "hair pulling" (or pinching, or scratching...).  Poor little Cricket got a lot of love  from Caroline.  She decided she better go back into her storage box   home and come out to play when Caroline is a little older. After Cricket left and after an afternoon nap, I decided to bring out my very first baby doll from when I was a baby. She was quick to give it a lot of kisses and A L...

I'm having a lot of fun capturing our daily activities with instagram on my phone.  Instagram was previously only available for the iphone but when they opened it up for android users as well, I jumped on bored!  I have always loved the vintage feel you can add to the pictures.  I also love that you can opt to be a private user, so my pictures will be kept private unless I approve someone to follow me.  Or, of course, if I post them to my blog ;).  This is a little glimpse into our week.  I was planning on going through each photo and giving you a little update or description but it took entirely too long to figure out how to make this collage and upload it into the blog.   Here is a brief overview.  I love love to see my kids play and interact with each other, my uncle visited,  time spent with the cousins up at the cabin where we also were able to listen to my dad's outdoor concert, and quiet time in the morning before the kids were aw...

7 months....7 months!!  No, I'm not referring to the last time that I've updated the blog (I don't think it's been quite  that long.  I'm referring to my little girl.  Remember my little newborn baby girl?  Yeah, she is older now and getting more and more adorable by the minute. She still loves her big brother and we're still getting tons of smiles from her.  She has also been working on  screaming at the top of her lungs  using her voice.  It's frightening and lovely all at the same time.  Caroline is cruising all over the place.  With the combination or rolling, scooting, and army crawling, we definitely need to keep an eye on her!  Hans is very good at making sure she only plays with baby toys.  I frequently hear him say "No, Kiki" and then it's quickly followed with "Here you go, Kiki" as he quickly finds a baby toy to put in front of her.  He really is so sweet with his baby sister.  I think ...

The past couple of weeks have just been what we've needed. Time at home. Time together. We had time to get a little creative with our toys. These pop can boxes served as trains and boats. Hans is so creative. I love getting in his little imagination and playing along with him. Enjoying a snack, bundled up with his new coat on. Caroline has discovered the love to grab toys and put it in her mouth. She is getting so big already (4 months!) A trip to the library and bringing home books on tape. Hans really enjoyed the books on tape! When I sit with him, I help him turn the pages when the "chimes ring". He still needs to be supervised though otherwise I hear from another room, "new page, new page" and come back to find that he is on page 14 while the reader on tape is only on page 5. ;) Good times at home! My heart is refueled and refreshed!

The past few weeks I have been feeling the need to sort out my priorities and my role as wife and mother. I enjoy being involved with various activities through church and with friends but when those activities get in the way of my time spent with God, my family, and general up-keep on my house, I feel the need to scale back a bit. A typical day finds me waking up the in the morning and immediately fighting the clock. I have to rush and get Hans breakfast, cleaned up, and dressed for the day, and then I have to wake up Caroline (remember, she sleeps in like a 15 year old...) and get her dressed and in her car seat and we head out to either run errands, attend MOPS, Bible Study, or a play date. We don't arrive anywhere we're going on-time (something that really bothers me as I always strive to be on time). We don't end up coming back to the house until close to lunch time and I usually bring in two crying kids because they are so hungry and tired. After I hurriedly make...