Happy Birthday, Kate!

I can't believe this little lady is 2 years old!  She is such a joy to have in our family!  She reminds us a lot of Arianna- so sweet and snuggly and good, but boy, oh boy, if you cross her, watch out! 
She is quite entertaining- always making us laugh and smile.  She will readily give kisses and hugs- if she is in the mood.  She knows when she is tired and is very good at going to bed at naps and night time.  Lately, she hears Arianna ask what animal she should think about before she goes to sleep, so she, too, says each night, "What tink 'bout?"  It is adorable.  Most animals are unacceptable, however.  She is usually interested in thinking about 'titty tats' or 'pork-pines'.  So adorable.

I love this picture of Kate.  It was taken just a few days after her Birthday.  She loves to be outside.  She loves the chickens and she loves to wear that funny outfit.  When it's not too cold, but she needs a sweatshirt, no other one will do; she wants that one.  And her kitty hat.  A must.  Such a sweetie pie!

Can you believe how fast they grow?

On Kate's actual Birthday, Daddy was out of town in Georgia, so we didn't do much.  I did make Utah scones for lunch- mostly because they sounded good to me.  For dinner we had canned green beans, pickled beets, pears, and peaches and popcorn.  Kate actually didn't even eat any popcorn.  She was too interested in the green beans and beets!  She enjoyed the fruit too.  Grant told me he wished he could have that meal every night!  Kids love those simple, daddy-is-out-of-town meals!

We actually celebrated Kate's Birthday on Saturday after Dad got home.  We had German pancakes for breakfast.  We had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's to go to that day, so that's what we had for lunch.  (Boy, I hadn't been there since I was a child and I have no desire to ever go again!  Too loud, too stimulating, too crazy. I would much rather be hiking in the woods somewhere.)  After that we had to run a bunch of errands in Wichita, and came home just before dinner.  None of us can quite seem to remember what we had for dinner.  It had to be something simple, like canned soup, since we were gone all day.  For her birthday cake, we pulled the ice cream cake from Arianna's Birthday the week before out of the freezer and voila!  It was simple and delicious and perfect.  I might just do that every year. 

Arianna with Kate on her Birthday morning, the morning we celebrated, anyway.

Feeding Arianna Cheerios- the pre-breakfast snack.  Is it just my kids that can't wait until breakfast is served?!

German pancakes!



Eating her 'cake'

Presents!!!

What's in there?

Check out that face!!!  It was a hit!  Noah's Ark. (We put it away a year ago or so and saved it to bring out as her Birthday present.  Perfect!  She loved it! 

Even the big kids missed it and had fun playing with it again for a few minutes.

Emma made this for Kate.  Zebras that can move around on the savannah- complete with watering hole stocked with fish. Kate never was interested in it.

 But, Emma gave her this, too:

Emma bought this light-up heart spinner thing at the grocery store with her own money.  Kate loved it!

Arianna drew this for Kate and wrapped it up.  Funny Kate looked at it for a few seconds, seemed pleased. . . and then crumpled it up and ran straight to the garbage with it!  It was so funny that Arianna didn't seem too hurt by it.

 Since Kate is too small for a birthday interview, I thought I would just share some things about Kate.

• She loves to eat.  Favorite food are: pizza (which eats the cheese off the top and leaves the rest), vinegar- I know it sounds funny, but she loves everything with vinegar: steamed swiss chard with rice vinegar, Asian cabbage salad with vinegar-based dressing, pickled beets.  She loves berries of all kinds, oranges, clementines, ice cream.  She does not do avocados or fresh tomatoes or cooked tomato chunks, sauce is fine- thank heavens.
• She loves to 'read'. She will carry the big Mother Goose Rhymes book around the house and have anyone read it to her who is available.  She always wants books in her bed with her at naptime and bedtime. 
• She has been really into stickers lately.  She loves to peel them off and put them on papers and talk about them. 
• She will sing and quote from Frozen, thanks to her older siblings and much to my chagrin.  She can sing Let it Go- complete with spinning around as she does so.  She loves Olaf and will say, "Oh hi there! " and then yell, "it's alive!"
• Thank heavens she will also sing I am a Child of God and as of late Book of Mormon stories- which is particularly cute!
• She says the funniest things!  Here are some favorites:  "Oh, dear!", "A bit more, peeeeeeez!", and her siblings taught her to say, "Nanny, nanny boo boo, chicken lo mein!!!!!"
• Lately if I don't get her a snack fast enough, or if I say she can't have one, she will go get the bag of baby carrots and eat to her hearts content.  She knows I want stop her from eating those!  As much as I try to keep her in the kitchen with them, I have found the bag in the living room on the couch and chair a couple of times.  Little stinker. 

• Arianna and Grant have been exercising with Kenneth and me lately and are into checking out their muscles and showing them off. Kate will do it now too.  She bares her arm muscles, holds up her little arms and says, "Yook at me!!!!!!"
• For some reason, Kate calls a door a 'doorbell'.  It is so cute and makes us laugh all the time.

We love you, Kate!
Here are some pictures from her little life up to this point:

 

The finished rooms in the basement

It's been a long road, but the rooms in the basement are finally done!  The carpet was installed on Wednesday. It feels so good!  The bathroom has been done for a while now. 
Kenneth did everything himself, except for the mudding and the carpet installation, which we hired out.  His brothers helped with some of the framing, electrical work, and plumbing when they were visiting.  One friend from our ward came to help with some sheet-rocking.  (His height really came in handy when doing the ceiling!)
I helped with the painting, tiling, and picking everything out.  I was also all around go-fer. 
It was a long process, but Kenneth lives for projects like this. They really make him happy.  Too bad we finished them just in time to sell and not for any guests to stay in.  Any takers?  Anyone want to come in the next couple of months before we move? We have a room with a private bath awaiting you!

Studding work all done- ceiling sheet-rocked. 2 walls were cement and so those needed to be studded and insulated.

bathroom sheetrock done.  Shower installed.

Kenneth had to frame around the upstairs main plumbing line. Before it was covered the kids had fun climbing up it!

The closet

Insulating.  Almost ready for sheet-rock

Closet sheetrock done.

Sheetrock in the room done.

Another view.

Mudding done, starting to prime.

Interested kids look in at the progress.

 

It's done!

Bathroom and closet doors

Closet

Another View

Bathroom

Bathroom vanity- we didn't like the first light fixture of mirror we picked out.  I insisted Kenneth remove them and we found these.  We're pleased.

Another view

Arianna's Bithday Celebration

A couple of days after Arianna's birthday, we had 2 of our most favorite families over to celebrate with us.  Arianna has never really had a birthday party before- she actually wasn't interested in one before, so we wanted to let her have one if she wanted one.  She helped plan out the menu and chose what kind of cake she wanted, etc.  We had Pasta Rustica for dinner along with green salad and French bread.  The cake was actually a gluten free cake that I made for Grant's birthday a couple of years ago.  It is made with no flour- only cooked quinoa.  So delicious- you'd never guess quinoa was in there.  I frosted with my favorite not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. 
The kids all had so much fun playing (since I was over an hour late having dinner ready!!!! Jeepers, Heidi!)  The food was great- if I do say so myself- and the company even better.  Arianna was delighted with her special cake, thanks to Grandma who gave us the kit to make it.  I, of course, really made it much simpler than the version Wilton wanted me to do, but it was well-received, nonetheless. 

Here are some pictures of the celebration:

Gathering for gift opening

Arianna got a musical jewelry box and some jewelry,  some stationary, and some Littlest Pet Shop animals.  She was delighted. 

Delighted with her new necklace and rings

Littlest Pet Shop!

Princess Arianna with her castle cake.  Oh wait, I think it's actually Mrs. Penguin's castle!

She loved it!!  I am not trying to grab her head!  Trying to get her hair out of her way so she can blow out the candles!

 We even face-timed Grandma Pilz again so she could see her blowing out the candles.  I am thankful for technology!

Happy 7th Birthday, Arianna!

Arianna with her Birthday Caterpillar

Arianna turned 7 years old today!  We have had a very special day.  Even the weather gave us a treat!  It got up to 72 degrees today!  Arianna got rollerblades for her birthday, so she took full advantage of the gorgeous weather and went rollerblading 3 times!  We also met up with several homeschooling families at the park this morning and then Dad joined us for a picnic lunch.  (When you have this kind of weather in January, you've got to forget about the regular schedule and enjoy it while you can!  Of course, this sort of thing is hard for someone like me who is pretty rigid about our school schedule!) 
For breakfast, Arianna chose to have blueberry breakfast cake, green eggs (made with kale- no joke she picked that!), and of course, the Birthday Caterpillar.  Delicious!  For dinner we had Chicken pot pie and even broke out a bottle of Martinelli's.  We will have ice cream cake for dessert.  (Thanks, Betsy for the inspiration- it's the best!)  Arianna and Emma had piano lessons this afternoon and their teacher even took the time to go rollerblading with them afterwards. 
On Friday we are having a couple of families over to celebrate even more!  Arianna is very excited about that evening.  It should be lots of fun!  At Christmas time my mom gave me a castle cake making set, so I get to make that cake on Friday.  Ice cream cake was more up my alley these days (i.e. super easy to make!), but the things we do for the love of our children, right?! Thank you very much, Mother, for further complicating my life! 
We are so glad to have Arianna in our family!  Arianna is witty, happy, intelligent, fun-loving, snugly, and sweet.  She is in 1st grade this year and is learning so much.  She already knows how to write in cursive, reads like a champ!, is learning Latin, and is really good at math.  We are so proud of her!  Love you, Arianna! 
Don't forget to checkout her Birthday interview after the pictures! 

Three happy girls ready for a birthday breakfast.

Mommy making the caterpillar

Getting ready to eat. . .

Diving in!

Opening gifts.  Arianna made this birthday sign last year.  I think she was jealous that for so many years we have just used the one Emma made.

Her siblings bought her little animals and made barns for her.

Kate is excited about the new horse, too!

She's a happy girl!  Look at those cool barns!

 Unfortunately, a few days ago, the doorbell rang during resting time and the girls made it to the door before I could.  Arianna's rollerblades had come in the mail with no outer box!!!  So, Arianna knew what she was getting for her birthday.  At least the first thing I heard her say when I came downstairs and she was looking at the box was, "They're beautiful!"

Strapping on the rollerblades for the first time!

Kate wants to be part of all the action!

Arianna's piano teacher went rollerblading with her this afternoon.  So nice of her!

Arianna made a lot of improvement today from this morning!

Chicken pot pie for dinner

Our dear neighbor, Melody, gave Arianna a plate of cookies this afternoon.  She is excited to share with her art class tomorrow afternoon.

Ice cream cake!  We face-timed Grandma Pilz for the singing and blowing out of the candles.  It was fun to have her 'here' with us!

Arianna chose penguins (mom and babies) to be on her cake this year- fitting for an ice cream cake, I'd say!

Here is the Birthday Interview:  Note: Grant's commentary (some, but not all included) was funny.

Do you have a nick name?  Yes.  What is it? Anna.  
What do you enjoy doing most?  Watching television.  Wait, no - being pushed on the swing and rollerblading.
What is your favorite book?  Geronimo Stilton.
What is your favorite animal?  Goat.  
     Since when: Oh, a few days ago.

     Why?  Because.

What is your favorite color?  Yellow.

What is your favorite food? Banana cookies and ice-cream.

What is your favorite treat?  Chocolate and candy canes.  [Grant: Yeah, she's in love with that stuff]

What is your favorite song?  Our Father has a Family.  [Mom: The name of it is: "The Family is of God."]

What is your favorite movie or show?  Frozen. 

What is your favorite thing to do?  I think I already told you that.  Television, rollerblading and swinging. [Grant: Burping.  Check it out.]

Where is your favorite place to go?  The zoo.  Wait no.  Don't write that.  I didn't mean to say that.  And, and, and Pump it Up - The place where you bounce on things.

Have you ever caught a fish?  Yes, wait no.  [Grant: Dad, I've caught a fish, at the farm.  A blue gill.  Ask me.]

What is your favorite toy?  All my animals.  What's your favorite one?  The Goat.  [Grant: I knew it]

What is your favorite sport?  What's that mean?  What athletic event do you like to play the most? What we play with you.  Baseball.  You know.  Do you mean soccer?  The one where we get the ball in the goals.  We run around the backyard kicking it in the goal.  [Emma: That's soccer, Arianna]  Oh, well, whatever you call it.

What is your favorite time of the day?  The middle of the day. [Grant: That's the afternoon]  Wait no, lunch time.

     Why? Because I don't feel as overwhelmed.

Who is your best friend?  [after much thought] Rachel.  Rachel Ellsworth.  What about Emma?  She's my sister, not my best friend.

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A farmer and a veterinarian.

Who is going to pay for your college education?  Dad.

Who loves you the most?  Heavenly Father.

What have you learned in your years of experience so far?  To clean up.  To clean up what?  Everything.

Anything else?  No.

What grade are you in?  First Grade.

How is school going for you?  Pretty much good.  I finished all my school today except what I needed to do with Mom - She was too busy today.

Are you a mammal, an amphibian or a reptile?  Umm reptile.  [Grant: Omnivore.  A plant eater.]

How many marbles have you eaten this week?  None.
How soon will you seek employment to help pay the family bills and fund this operation?  Never.
On what day of the week were you born?  Wednesday.  Is that really it?  I think I was born Monday.
Can we be done?
If you encountered a predator crossing the road, please describe what you would do first:  I would just walk by.

What are you going to do for your special day today?  I don't know. 

What does Dad do for work?  I don't know.

What does Mom do for work?  Clean the house.

Do you treat your siblings well?  I don't know.

Do you love them?  Sometimes.

Arianna, how would you describe yourself?  Beautiful.  I want to be done.

Any last words for your Birthday interview?  I love you.  Just me?  Everybody.  Can I go now?