Birthday weekend

Sorry that this took so long to post! Since we've been back it's been quite a busy week! I will get to that later.

For Kaitlyn's FIRST birthday we flew to Michigan. Grandma and Grandpa Van were so generous to open their home to us, and all our guests, and help co-host a party. We are so thankful that my parents have a big enough home for us to stay in when we visit, and have plenty of baby paraphernalia to save us packing space. We managed to do ALL carry-on (4 bags total) for this weekend visit! That would not have been possible without Grandma and Grandpa's help. Thank you for being prepared for us!!


We arrived really late on Thursday night, that gave us two full days to party (or a day to prepare, and a day to play). Friday afternoon (Kaitlyn's actual birthday) my mom and I were in the kitchen getting the food prepped for Saturday's party. My mom put together a chip dip (which Mike LOVES) and a big pot of sloppy joe's. Every bowl she was using, I was washing. We had a good assembly line going! Then I made cupcakes, and this time I didn't drop the measuring cup in the Kitchen Aid mixer! While those were cooling, my mom and I made our family's fruit salad. I think we used nearly every mixing bowl in my mom's kitchen! Our last "masterpiece" was chocolate covered strawberries- Mmmm Mmmm good! Once Aunt Alli got home from CMU, we frosted cupcakes.

My mom made us an amazing steak dinner for Kaitlyn's birthday. Funny... the birthday girl didn't get to have her birthday dinner. hehe :) Maybe next year Kaitlyn will be able to chew steak.

Grandma and Kaitlyn on her FIRST birthday!

all smiles cuz... I can eat anything (that I can chew)!

Saturday was Valentine's day, and Kaitlyn's party. My wonderful husband surprised me with 6 beautiful roses (he claims that he planted a rose garden at Christmas to have roses for V-day). I surprised him with a bouquet of candy bars. :) After all the mushy stuff... we got things set up for the party. Grandma and Grandpa Fulkerson arrived around 10am to spend some time with us before the party. They got her blocks for Christmas, but we couldn't get them to fit in the car on our drive back. We left the blocks at my parent's house, and it's a good thing we did! Kaitlyn (and Grandpa Van) really enjoyed playing with them!

Everyone else arrived around noon for a pretty eventful party! Since it was Kaitlyn's nap time... I had to think of something for us to do (other than eat lunch) to pass the time. The first game, all the guests had to draw a name, and then try to draw that person. We had a lot of artists in the group! It was fun trying to guess the person drawn. The second game everyone had to guess how old Kaitlyn was for certain milestones (most I think are on the blog). Opa was clever and guessed what month it probably happened. The two that got the most right (Grandpa Van and Opa) got a prize... a glass slipper and a glass castle. It was funny that out of all the women at the party, the men got the princess prize!

We took pictures of all of Kaitlyn's guests with her.
She can look back and see who came to her first birthday in Michigan.

Kaitlyn with Grandma and Grandpa Van.
Daddy was making faces behind the camera.
It made everyone, except Kaitlyn, smile!

Grandma and Grandpa Fulkerson made the trip to Stevensville too!

Great Grandma Van!

Kaitlyn with Aunt Sheryl

Kaitlyn with Aunt Alli

Kaitlyn with Emily, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Sue.
Sorry the picture is really dark (it looks lighter on my camera)!

Kaitlyn with Goofy (I mean... Opa) and Oma.

Now on to every person's favorite part of a one-year-old's party... the CAKE! We wanted to do cupcakes so Kaitlyn had her own personal cake, and they are great (and easy) to get to all the guests quickly. We also served chocolate and vanilla ice cream with them.

Chocolate cupcakes! Aunt Alli helped mommy frost them. MMMMmmm They were good!
Grandma Van found the cute stand and princess candies for the cupcakes.

We had cake after Kaitlyn woke up from her nap (it was about an hour nap). She still seemed a little sleepy....

I just woke up! Trying on a new party hat from Aunt Sue.

not really sure about this... are you sure I can eat it?

put a little in each hand for a more enjoyable experience

it was delicious!

All that partying made Daddy sleepy...


we caught Kaitlyn giving Sammy's toy a kiss :)

Thank you to all our guests that celebrated with us! And a special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Van for opening their home to everyone, Grandma Van for spending your afternoon with me getting things ready for Kaitlyn's party, and Grandma and Grandpa Fulkerson for making a long drive. We are so thankful and so blessed to have a family that wants to share in Kaitlyn's accomplishments and growth.

No blog is complete without a few videos from the weekend:

Who's here??



MMMM Cake!

Movie Star

I have a few videos that I wanted to get posted before we left for Michigan, but just did not get the chance! Grab some popcorn, a can of pop, sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Movie #1: High School Musical Starring: Kaitlyn Fulkerson

Movie #2: Flippin' Camera Starring: Kaitlyn Fulkerson

Movie #3: Pet the Puppy

Starring: Kaitlyn Fulkerson and Chauncey

Movie #4: Snack Trap
Starring: Kaitlyn Fulkerson
Also Starring: Bailey and Chauncey

i love my puppies

Kaitlyn still loves playing with the dog cages... I catch her crawling inside Chauncey's cage (it's the bigger of the two) from time to time. I got her on camera this time. I hope you can see ok, the sun light messes with the lighting on my camera.

I love her "chat" in the beginning. :)

walkin progress :)

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Landis

We are going to be traveling to Michigan on Thursday for Kaitlyn's birthday so we can celebrate with grandparents, great grandparents, and aunts! :) We do have one set of grandparents that cannot make the trip, so they sent us a little gift early. Thank you for the books! :) They are all books that I wanted to get for her too! The best part... she can't rip the pages on any of them! Thank you so much. :)

p.s. we did say "no gifts please," but we do appreciate any gifts that are given. thank you again!

cheese

Kaitlyn really likes cheese (just like mom), and I guess I didn't realize how much she likes it. Today, when we were grocery shopping, I was getting the last thing on the list... cheese. I was running out of room in my cart so I told Kaitlyn, "hold the cheese for me, please." I am pushing the cart to the check out line, and before I got there I noticed Kaitlyn was moving her mouth like she was eating something... she had a small piece of the outter-plastic wrapping from the cheese in her hand, I take that out of her hand and now I'm wondering what she was eating... she had bit a hole in the plastic wrapping and got a taste of cheese! We were going home for lunch, but I guess someone couldn't wait any longer!

The hole is on the upper right of the package.

I had to give her half a slice in the store.

new walker on the block

Kaitlyn gets stronger every day, taking more steps at a time! If you hold her hand (just one hand) and walk next to her, she will take you all over the place. She's so funny... she will put one hand on the wall (or couch) and walk along side it- now Kaitlyn just needs the balance to walk unsupported. She is really getting the hang of walking, and the days of crawling are getting shorter and shorter. I told Mike that when we make the trip to Michigan for her birthday, she will probably be walking. "Look out grandparents, I'm walkin' to my party!"

taking the door for a "walk"walking to mama

standing still for a picture

her hair was still standing straight up after I took her ponytail out before bed.
She's waiting on her bottle, and not to happy about it.

Ok... the best part, seeing Kaitlyn in action!

She did take about 6-7 steps toward me, but of course, she did it off camera!

Setting a new record! (and on camera!)

p.s. Kaitlyn also got stuck in Chauncey's cage last week, while Chauncey was in it. I didn't have my camera handy to share that one....

new tooth!

Kaitlyn has a new tooth that has cut her gums, bottom right. 7 teeth now! I will have to get a good picture of her toothy smile and see if you can't see her new tooth.

Baby steps

Kaitlyn is starting to take about 4 steps at a time now. I think a few steps would be considered walking, right? She is geting stronger and more brave every day. The little rolls on her thighs are going to slim away pretty fast once she starts walking all the time! I took a few videos just to show this wasn't a fluke that she took a few extra steps.

11 months

It's been a while since I have been able to post something. Kaitlyn is trying to walk, so I have been busy "walking" with her. She has gone from cruising the furniture to taking a step or two toward something. I was able to get a video of her taking two steps (twice). I think that by her birthday, she may have this walking thing down.

As Kaitlyn gets older, I know that she will be "mommy's little helper." She is showing signs of that already when she helps with the laundry, and pulling things out in the kitchen.

It's also very exciting that Kaitlyn is getting more hair. LOTS more!! I have to wet a comb some mornings because her hair is out of control! She loves having her hair brushed too! And I can put her hair in a mini ponytail (like Pebbles from The Flinstones). I'll add a bow to jazz it up a little bit too.

A little ponytail

let's add a bow

Having fun strollin' around the block on a nice sunny day!

I am almost done with my book (Marley and Me) I started right before the new year too!

Packing and Unpacking

It seems that the past month I've done nothing but packing and unpacking. We packed to go to Michigan for Christmas and then unpacked when we got to Stevensville; packed to go to Alma and unpacked when we got there; while we were in Alma we lost power so we paked our stuff up again to stay somewhere else after church, but the power came on while we were gone, so we unpacked our stuff a few hours later; we packed to leave Alma to go back to Stevensville and unpacked when we got there, and then packed the car to get home. Once we got home of course we need to unpack.

Now that most of the unpacking is done (finally!) I have to pack up Christmas decorations- hahaha!! I was very careful not to decorate too much because I knew that I wouldn't want to deal with packing everything up once we got home. Thankfully it didn't take but maybe 45 minutes to put Christmas away.

Kaitlyn wanted to help...

I had no idea when I bought that advent calender at Disney (4 years ago) that I would have a child that would LOVE it too!

Back in the Ville

After church today, there was a potluck for our pastor's ordination. Daddy doesn't know where she got the love of peas from... but we got her on camera so daddy can learn to like them too!

What is my daughter eating??


Kaitlyn missed her morning nap because she was in the nursery. She doesn't like to nap there because there is too much going on! She had a bottle after those peas, and was OUT!

down for the 10-count

My parents have a treadmill in the basement. When we were on our way home, my mom said that Bailey jumped on and went walking too! Apparently, Bailey's back legs cannot keep up with her front legs... yesterday she got flung into the wall! hahaha. This time I wanted to see if she could keep up if I held on to her. I had to show Mike, so he got the camera ready!

Visit to Great Gma Fulkerson

The last night with all the babies :)

We left Alma on Jan 2, and on our way home we stopped in Grand Rapids to see Great Gma Fulkerson. She was pretty excited to see us! Gma and Gpa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Amy, Hannah, and the three of us all went to see her. Everyone knew who we were when we walked in. Great Gma had been telling all her friends we were coming!

Kaitlyn really liked Great Gma's walker!

There's cousin Hannah!

All of us with Great Gram :)

And now back to Stevensville for the rest of our Michigan stay!

Busy new year's eve

Kaitlyn had a busy New Year's Eve! She climbed up 20 stairs, twice! AND stayed up past midnight! Not to mention she played with all the toys, walked with assistance around the kitchen island, and played peek-a-boo a few times!

the start of a long journey ahead...

going around the kitchen island

watching the 2009 ball drop!

Kaitlyn doesn't like...

We would put Kaitlyn in the bouncer, and she would play with the toys on there... not really interested in bouncing. Hannah got a turn in Luke's bouncer and had a blast!

Kaitlyn also doesn't like to go up and down without support. Luke and Hannah both enjoy being tossed in the air, and on top of shoulders like this video clip.

Rub-a-dub-dub

I'm sure this is the first of many baths with 3 babies! We couldn't get all three to look at the same time. We did have a lot of us squeezed in the bathroom, so maybe someone has a picture of the 3 babies looking.

Hannah, look up here...


Kaitlyn... Luke... look up here....

you just can't win...

mama's and babies!

Shortly after this video was taken... Hannah just lost it. She was DONE in the tub!

Happy Anniversary!

On December 29, Mike and I have now been married for two years! WOW a lot has changed!! We have two dogs, a baby, Mike is finished with school (finally), and we move to Oklahoma for Mike's position at University of Central Oklahoma (UCO).

I have to share... before lunch Mike went into town for some errands. Later, Megan and I went into town to get some groceries for her dinner she was making. We pulled into the grocery store's parking lot, and I see Mike's car and see him in there. I'm thinking, "oh good! I don't have any cash on me, let's pull beside him so I can get some!" We pull up to the car... and Mike is CHOMPING away at some Burger King! BUSTED!!! I got my cash, and we had a good laugh. Little did I know he was making a pit stop at the grocery store to get flowers for a special occasion.

Having an anniversary so close to Christmas means we will probably be with family every year to celebrate. This can have its perks. We've got free babysitters, and we will always have a good meal (maybe even a surprise cake!). Megan, those "wedding burritos" were delicious!

The family got us a cake!

Out little family (without the puppies) Kaitlyn is almost asleep.

Mike and I with our cake and the beautiful roses he got me :)

After we put Kaitlyn to bed at 8 o'clock, we had cake with everyone. Then Mike and I got our coats on to head to Mt. Pleasant. We went to the theater to see "Marley and Me." We both really enjoyed the movie, and a night to ourselves. I liked the movie so much, I bought the book! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am, Megan (she has the book too)!

We've got babies

Gpa Fulkerson would sing a song all week about the babies... "we've got babies, we've got babies, we've got babies... who could ask for anything more?"

Kaitlyn with Aunt Megan
Luuuuuuke....

look over here...

and no one is looking...

helping with laundry?

will someone pick me up?