Katie at 2.5

Katie is officially 2.5 and so I wanted to make sure I documented what she is doing now. I feel like she is changing quickly, so I don't want to forget the sweetness of 2.5.

* She loves to race. She races to her room and really anywhere. She always thinks she wins. It's perfect.

* She jokes around. She will ask you to do something and then beat you to it. She will tell up is down and down is up and then just laugh and laugh.

* She loves the color pink. She wants pink everything. She won't drink from a straw that isn't pink!

* She loves to swim underwater. She can swim 14 feet underwater when the goal for her age is 6 feet. She just loves it and only comes up because she has to!

* She is tough. She is a fighter. She wants it her way.

* She has a great fake cry that almost seems real until she squints her eyes just so.

* She knows just what to do to get her brother fired up.

* She is so proud of her big bed. She loves to show people her room.

* She is a home body. She often will tell me "I want to go home" when we are out and about - or when we are in the car for more than 10 minutes.

* She loves to snuggle. She wants to sit in my lap after her nap. She loves to be held and cuddled. I am so in love with this part of her!

* She loves her big brother. When she wakes up first from her nap (most days) she goes in his room and lays on top of him. He knows she is there but often doesn't move - he just keeps sleeping. When he wakes up before her, he misses her and asks why she didn't come in his room already.

* She is the apple of our eye.

Sunday at Klyde Warren Park

We spent Sunday at Klyde Warren park. We went for the water fountains but found that playing with the drummer was probably the highlight! The kids had a great time, as did Chad and I, and we have already talked so much about when we will go back. The kids are in love. I think the food trailers also sell them on the park - they love the grilled cheese trailer that reminds us all of the Melt Down in Seaside.

Playdate with Armando and Adele

We spent Saturday evening in Allen with Will's best friend Armando and his sister Adele.  All 4 kids get along so well and I love catching up with Zarina and Tindoro.  We did our usual, pizza and wine outside, and midway through dinner the kids had an impromptu water party.  While that may have been the highlight for them, the highlight for me was listening to Will on the way home.

As soon as we got in the car, he started talking about Armando.  He kept telling me how Armando is his best friend, how he wished they lived closer (they used to live 3 doors down), and how we need to see them again soon - preferably with a sleepover.  He talked about where Armando would sleep, what all they would do.  It was non-stop.  It is amazing to me that he has this kind of friendship at age 4.  They have been best friends since Will was 1.5 years old!  They rarely fight and they are smiling the whole time they are together.  I thought the conversation we had on the ride home was similar to something I would have after a weekend with my best friend...reminiscing about how much fun we have together, planning our next get together, and wishing we lived closer. 

This time, while Will certainly wasnt excited to leave, Katie was the one that was more difficult to redirect to the car (at 930pm!).  She too had a great time.  There is just something special about how the kids relate to each other.  I hope they are all forever friends.

Will's First Soccer Game

Will had his first soccer game last night! It was so fun to see all the boys running around with smiles on their faces. I think they had a great time despite the other team scoring numerous goals. The other team seemed to understand the direction the ball needed to go to get a goal, and our team is probably going to work on that in our next practice!

Pre-game talk with Dad

Practicing his goal kicks

Pledging to be a good sport

I love Will's smile as he runs!

Post game high fives

Katie's First Tennis Lesson

Today Katie had her first tennis lesson! I missed it, but Loli said she did great! I plan to take her to some lessons in the future - I want to see her in action!

Will's First Soccer Practice

 Will had his first soccer pratice last night!  He seemed to really enjoy it.  Coach Chip is great and really gets little boys.  The plays he calls include "cheetah" which tells them to run fast and "bat cave" which has them line up in a certain formation. 

Their first game is tonight!

Seaside Pictures

 One of my favorite traditions of Seaside is having our pictures done by the incredible Lily at Two Lights Photography.   Aside from creating beautiful images, she is just a fantastic person and we enjoy catching up with her during our annual trip.  She captured these images of us this year. 

The first image is us in front of the beach entrance we have used for 2 years in a row.  It's the entrance for our street, West Ruskin.  The rest are of us on the beach on two different nights.  The first session ended abruptly with a sudden downpour so we squeezed in some more time before we roasted s'mores later in the week.

Thank you Lily for capturing these fun moments!

The annual throwing the water picture!