"The BESTEST Birthday EVER!"

This was what Kaitlyn said about her party when we were leaving Friday night. Rick and I echoed her thoughts though. The Racquet Club does one heck of a party. We had 20 kids, pizza, cake, ice cream, punch (all taken care of by them), rock wall climbing and swimming for $225! They handle everything, including handing us a sheet of all the gifts. They get in the pool with the kids and do all the clean up.

We had a great time and I think '8' was great for Kaity!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAITY!

8 years old - (that doesn't even seem possible!)
8 years ago our lives changed forever! After a day and an all nighter of me and doctors telling her it was time to arrive, and she very adamantly disagreeing Kaitlyn Maryssa Thompson made her debut at 7:09 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 1/2 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Not to bad for not being due until October 19th! My dad said it was quite the site watching Rick walk down the hall holding her to introduce her to the waiting Grandparents. I remember seeing her for like 20 seconds and then I think I fell asleep while they finished up all they do after a c-section. It was the longest few days I can ever remember and I was exhausted!

Kaitlyn shares a birthday with our friends’ daughter Kayla. Since she was born on a Friday many of our friends and family had been at Kayla's birthday party and when they were done there they moved the party to the hospital to celebrate Kaity's arrival. They brought the cake and all.

Kaitlyn is such a special girl. While her stubbornness has not let up (not even the slightest bit!), she is such a loving, caring and sweet girl. She is a perfectionist in everything she does (except keeping her room clean). She loves school, she loves her friends and teachers and she has such a faith in the Lord. She may not always like her brother but she does love him and it such a mother hen to him. We are so lucky to call her our daughter and are so blessed to have her.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn. We love you so much!!!

Proud Daddy and Mommy!

Uncle Kevin

Her 1st spin in daddy's racecar

Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday!

Kaity and Kendall's 1st photo...

A few of our favorites of our sweet girl...

Balloons...Balloons...BALLOONS!

This is one of the most anticipated weekends of the whole year in my household - Kaitlyn's birthday (which isn't til Monday) and Prosser hot air balloons. When she was younger we got away with telling her that the balloons came just for her birthday. Now she has wised up to that but it is easy to remember when they are coming.

Last night the kids saw the vans and trucks around town and could hardly wait to get up this morning to see the balloons floating over our house. At 6:15 Trace came running into the bathroom while I was showering and informed me that there were no balloons out. He was not happy. I hurried up and got ready, both kids surprisingly got dressed right away and we headed out the door. We got downtown just as the first balloon launched. I swear it was way later than normal but it worked for me. We sat down by the airport and watched 2 more launch and the rest getting ready. Both kids were so excited. There is no way I will be able to NOT wake up and take them tomorrow morning now.

Tonight we are having Kaity's birthday party. We heading to the Racquet Club for swimming and rock wall climbing. It is going to be a LONG night and a EARLY morning to follow.

Nice try Daddy!

Last night I went to an apron cutting and pinning party with Sue and Sara. We had so much fun cutting out aprons to go home and sew. Sue showed great patience with Sara and I, whom do not sew and little to ZERO talent at it. :-) We'll see how our aprons come out when they are done.

Rick stayed home with the kiddos. He did a very good job of making sure the kids got their homework done and got their clothes layed out for this morning... only one problem. This is what Kaitlyn had planned on wearing...

ummmm yea! So did not happen. It was a very nice try though. I appreciated the few hours off.

Weekend Recap...a few days late!

We had a busy weekend, of course. Saturday Kevin and Michelle had 8000 sq feet of sod delievered... Rick went over bright and early to help them get it unrolled for their 'insta-yard'. The only kicker was it was raining...HARD. Didn't stop those boys! They started unrolling at 9 and finished at noon. The yard looks fantastic. They put in their back yard last year and that was around 9000 sq feet I think... so needless to say, Kevin is now 'grass deep' in mowing :-)

While Rick was over there working, Trace and I headed to Tri-Cities to pick up Kaity. She spent the night at her friend Leah's. Leah is moving this weekend to Utah and Kaitlyn is going to miss her soooo much. It was still raining but we decided to head to the Sausage Fest to watch Meredith do a gymnastics performance.

It was so cold and misrible, I felt so sorry for those kids. They all had on their leotards and were soaking wet. They limited the amount of tumbling the kids could do for safety reasons but I think they all had a blast. They were laughing the entire time. Here are a few pics of Meredith's age group showing off their talents.

On Sunday we headed out to the kart track. The weather was so much nicer. No rain, just wind. What would the Tri-Cities be without wind though. Steve brought Meredith out and she decided she wanted to try Kaity's old kart. Kaitlyn practiced her big kart and got with-in 1 second of where the 2nd and 3rd place kart were running 2 weekends ago. We left with 2 very proud daddy's.

Kaitlyn and I headed to Wal-Mart to grab some grocerys while Rick and Trace went to Home Depot to get some sprinklers. We did all of our shopping 30 minutes quicker than it took Rick to buy some PVC and sprinkers. Score one for the girls!

Trace and Meredith...

“Cousins are many. Best friends are few. What a rare delight to find both in you.”

Kendall's Soccer Game

Last night the kids and I went down to watch Kendall's soccer game. Kevin is the coach. I enjoyed watching him as he did the 'kicking motion' as he watched the group of 6 kids all piled together not able to move the ball. Kendall's team did great. She scored a goal while we were there.. I got a pic of her celebration. I also included a pic of the loving relationship Kole and Trace have for eachother...aren't they so cute! (and no they aren't pretending, they were actually fighting)

Trace's 1st day of pre-school....

I will post the oh so traditional 1st day of school photos of my son... well because its a mom requirement, right?? But we won't do much blogging about it. All I'll say is, lets hope that today is going better! :-)

ps ~ he at least has the cute part down... thankgoodness he isn't a pill AND ugly, haha.

All pumped up for his first day!!

STOP...he needed to remember what that sign said a little later in the day.

He did have some super clean hands...look at all that soap!

How can you just not love him to pieces! Oh yea, when he needs to be 'reminded' he doesn't run the world. Even though he is the big guy in the class. Boys!!!