37!

Another year in the books.  I turned 37 on April 15th.

It was a great day with the family. We went to dinner and had Carvel ice cream cake afterwards.

They make every day a happy day!

Matthew got me a cute little necklace that says, 'I love you to the moon and back'.

Kate got me a water pitcher that I can add lemons to.  (She must know I really need to drink more water!)

Steve got me a meat slicer. Yep! This is when the saying, 'it's the thought that counts' really applies.  I love him to the moon and back, BUT....I don't NEED a meat slicer (especially an expensive one).  So, it will be going back.  In his defense though, every time we make pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), we always say it would be nice to have a meat slicer to cut the beef.  I just never thought he would actually buy one!  I love him!

These two are the best presents in the world.  They bring joy and sunshine into our lives.

These folks make growing one year older (and wiser) fun.  

Don't look too closely, you can see the gray hairs in my bangs!

Easter 2015

We had a little Easter egg hunt with cousins and neighbors.  The kids loved collecting the eggs and finding out what's inside.  We stuffed some with $1 bills. Matthew collected $3 total.  He's already talking about next year's egg hunt!

We took this picture the week before Easter while we were visiting family in NJ. We really need to take a family picture on a real camera (not the iPhone).  I guess you get what you get!  I love my little family.  

In These Moments

My baby girl turned 8 months  yesterday!  Where did the time go?!  

Parenting two kids is hard!  I admire all those who have more than two, especially the single parents.  Caring for a toddler and a baby is exhausting (and working full time), but it is also a blessing.  A blessing that I prayed and yearned for for years.  God has trusted me with these little humans and I strive to do the best that I can to raise them up to do good in the world.

There are good days and hard days. And sometimes during those hard days, I have to work extra hard to focus on how truly blessed I am.

At the end of the day when the children are sleeping and I can snuggle with them and just listen to them breath and wonder what dreams they are having and if they know how much of my heart belongs to them.  It's in those moments that I want to stop time and keep them little forever.  Everyday is a blessing.  I need to remember to find the good in each day!

FOUR Months Later....

....and my baby is now almost 8 months!!

And my first baby is 4 years old!

Where did the time go?  We have been busy with life.  Every now and then I keep thinking that I need to update the blog, then I get distracted by something else and the blog gets put on hold again...and again...and again.  

I have a lot to catch up with this blog or else Kate's baby book will only be 3 pages long! (I use the blog as my Scrapbook).

For now, these pics will have to do. I will have to make it a priority to posts about the last four months that have flashed by (especially while I can still somewhat remember)!

Matthew (4 yrs old), Kate (8 months)

HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND!

Cutest Little Indian EVER!

Is this not the cutest little Indian princess you've ever seen?!

Once again, I had the vision and Steve executed it beautifully.  We sure do make a great team (and we make cute babies too!).  This little Indian outfit almost didn't happen because we were so busy and SO tired.  But alas, my hubby did not disappoint.  

We spent Thanksgiving with Steve's family.  It's really nice that everyone lives reasonably close now so holidays are nice to gather at grandma's house.  

Matthew LOVED having his cousins here.  He was so excited to have little Ms. Emma sleep in his room.  The next morning, I found them reading together.  And of course, everyone was loving on baby Kate!

And here's the comparison of Kate and Matthew in their little Indian outfits.  In the beginning, Steve didn't want to make the costumes, but afterwards, he did agree that it was worth it because they turned out so cute!  Lesson learned - always listen to your wife and her crazy ideas.  

We have SO much to be grateful for, not just at Thanksgiving, but everyday!

Count your many blessings, name them one by one.  And it will surprise you what the Lord has done!

Kathryn Anh - 3 Months

My baby girl turned 3 months on 11-9-14.

I'm guessing she weighs about 13-14 lbs (she weighed 12 lbs 7 oz at her two month check up last month).  Although when I'm carrying her in and out of the car, it feels like she weighs a ton!  

I am still exclusively pumping and she takes a bottle of it every 3 hours during the day. She naps a lot and sleeps about 4-6 hours at night! We are slowly getting closer to longer stretches at night.  Thank goodness!  Momma is tired.ALL.THE.TIME!

Kate is such a happy baby!  She is entering into the fun stage where she is starting to be more aware of her surroundings.  She definitely knows her big brother loves her because he is always hugging and kissing her every chance he gets. 

Look at those chubby thigh rolls!

We love our little chubster!

Captain America and a Cupcake - Halloween 2014

Matthew as Captain America!

He had all the moves to go along with it too.  My little guy was so happy to be in his costume. 

 This little one was NOT so happy to be in her costume.

Kate as my little cupcake!  I saw this cute idea on pinterest and recruited Steve to make it for me.  I bought all the supplies and he cut and assembled it.  The hat was purchase separately.

The custome actually is designed to go around the baby bjorn.  I wrapped it around her to try and get a pic, but she was not having it! 

Here we are trunk or treating at church.  She was just not into dressing up for Halloween this year.  Ha!  My little Captain America had so much fun.  He was more interested in passing out candy instead of collecting candy!

I was going to dress up as a baker (with my little cupcake attached), but I didn't have time to find a baker's hat.  Oh well, maybe next year we can all dress up together.