Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

Today is officially my dad's 60th birthday, although all of his presents and surprises arrived over the weekend. The first surprise was the "delivery" of my dad's brother Steve - he arrived on Friday from Virginia and I drove him over early that afternoon. None of us has seen him since my sister's wedding 7 years ago, so it was wonderful to get caught up again. Both of my parents were so excited that they had tears in their eyes once they saw him.

Dad and Uncle Steve

The next surprise took place the following day - his big surprise party! My sister worked so hard to gather so many things - the email contacts for my dad's friends, putting together the meal items and decorations, printing out the invitations, making the special outfits for us and the grand kids...it was all about to start!

Below are the outfits that we wore to the party. All the grand-girls had matching shirts and skirts. Jake had his own boy version, and my sister and I had our own shirts - each shirt depicted a special moment we had with our dad/grandpa.

Kendall

Rachel

Ella

Jake

Maili

Maili & Kristi

Another set of surprise guests for my Dad - his Uncle Hale and Aunt Dolores - they drove in the previous day from Florida. We haven't seen them since their daughter's wedding a couple years prior.

Aunt D and Uncle Hale holding Leah

It was a fabulous party and my mom and dad were genuinely surprised. I went to pick them up in order to control their arrival time and was grilled the whole time by my mother! The look on their faces was well worth it though - complete shock!

After my dad's entry, both my sister and I said something. My sister read a beautiful letter that had the whole room in tears. I read the below poem that I had written the week before:

What do you tell your dad on his birthday,
How do you let him know?
So much that he means to you
What words will make this show?
　
All the gifts he has given to you
His love, his support, his cares
What can you say that will fit the bill?
To show gratitude for all that he shares?
　
What do you give your dad on his birthday,
To the man that has it all?
Two beautiful daughters, a wonderful wife...
Enough granddaughters to conquer the mall!
　
How do you feel on your dad's birthday,
Are you overwhelmed with the emotion?
Now with your own two little girls,
You understand his heart of endless devotion
　
What do you tell your dad on his birthday,
You hope 'I love you' will be a good start
Then follow with it up with these simple words,
Filled with joy that came straight from your heart.
　
Happy 60th Birthday Dad,
We love you
Here's to many more years,
And much happiness too!

Mom, Me, Dad, Maili

We love you Dad - Happy 60th Birthday!

Leah's 2 month checkup

Leah had her two month check up Friday - she is now 11 lbs 6 oz and is 23 inches long - she has grown 4 inches since her 2 week check up! The doctor said she looks perfectly healthy and boy was she flirting it up with him! She has the most adorable dimples when she smiles :)

Leah is such a party animal - she rarely goes to bed before 11 and I think even then she is just pitying her poor, tired mother. She gets up at 9, which would be fabulous if it were not for Kendall, who wakes around 7 usually. This morning was particularly funny - I was in the master bathroom when I suddenly hear Kendall's voice exclaiming "SISSY!" through the baby monitor in Leah's room. I rush in to find Kendall who, once she sees me, turns around and "shushes" me, as though I am the rude intruder.

I better go - Kendall just told me to "moo" or "move" in her words.

Hun Hun Mr. Golden Hun!

Nun Na Na Nah, Nun Na Na Nah...Kendall's World! At least that's what it seems like these days...this entry may seem a little all over the place, but there are so many cute stories that I don't want to forget. By the way, in case you don't routinely catch Sesame Street, the beginning phrase is a take off Elmo's theme song - one of Kendall's favorite tv shows - and I'm sad to say that I know the whole song plus some of the episodes by memory. I know there is some valuable information in my brain that was forgotten to make room!

I may say this every entry, but Kendall is saying so many more words...or at least she is trying to say a lot of words. For example, she says 'hun' instead of 'sun' which I find odd because she has no trouble saying 'sissy' when referring to Leah. The other evening, she was watching her beloved Barney DVD before bedtime and we hear her singing 'hun hun, mr. golden hun'...it was so cute and funny. You can also tell we've made attempts at kicking up the discipline, as she has now picked up the words 'bad girl.' She can also be found at least three times a day chasing after the dogs (aka doe doe's) screaming 'no no doe doe's!' Hmm, you can tell we aren't huge dog fans at the moment, huh?

She loves to read, particularly her Baby Einstein "Baby's First Words" book. It's basically a toddler-proof book with lots of pictures of things labeled by name, shape, and color. Sometimes she will point to different pictures and say "dis" which means "this" and wants you to tell her what the item is. She will also take one of your fingers and use them as her personal pointer too. Lately, she says "mama?" when Trenton tells her what the item is - almost as though she is double checking that Daddy knows what he's talking about.

I will try to post some video soon of her sweet little toddler voice - just so cute! I will post details on Leah later this week since she has her 2 month check up on Friday. Can't believe it's already been 9 weeks!

August Slideshow

I have been substituting my usual blog time with taking pictures, so I thought instead of catching up for the past few weeks I would just upload a slide show with my favorites. Better go - both babies are crying!

Moments from August

Kendall after she climbed on Daddy's desk - so proud of herself

Kendall...you are a day short of 19 months and get prettier every day! You shock us with all the new words you know and with your hilariously innocent commentary. I sometimes forget how much you understand until you do things like snicker after I do something silly or copy my words (scary!). You love your school and proudly wave bye-bye to Mommy on the mornings you leave. You can be very sweet to your baby sister, taking dirty diapers to the trash and softly patting Leah on the head, calling her 'baby'. You are still 19 months however, so you have your moments of taking the diaper and then slinging it to the floor...or trying to catapult your sister in her bouncer through the ceiling...You love Elmo (Melmo) and Barney (Baa-nee) and can watch their videos to no end, much to my displeasure at times. You surprised us all again when you were suddenly able to do the body motions to "row row row your boat", "twinkle twinkle little star", and "the itsy bitsy spider." I think we can thank your school for that...and also for the sudden appearance of the word "mine", which you are suddenly throwing out, even more than "no." Your smile melts hearts and we all love trying to make you smile and laugh.




Baby Leah...you are 5 weeks and a day and getting bigger every day! We thought you might be our low maintenance baby, but now we're not so sure :) You like to take long leisurely naps during the day and then wake up ready to play at night! You have such serious and interesting expressions, like when you arch your right eye brow as though you are speculating about the world. You slept until 2am in your crib one night, but mostly you like sleeping right up again Mommy, which makes Daddy very nervous. I just think you like to hear my heartbeat...and I definitely love having you close. You do not like poopy diapers and will cry and cry and cry until they are changed. You are also not a big fan of bath time, even when sister Kendall comes in to entertain you. Mommy has to keep one hand on you and the other on Kendall - to keep her from jumping in!

4 weeks...Kendall or Leah?

I didn't think the girls looked that much alike...but maybe they do...can you tell which one is Kendall and which one is Leah?

Just love weddings!

I really enjoy weddings...particularly other people's weddings :) You can enjoy the beautiful scenery and usually yummy food without the stress of being the center of attention. Plus I think it helps to remind you of why you married your own spouse.

This past weekend we were able to attend my good friend Chris's wedding. Chris is a great guy in so many ways, in fact I kind of see him as the little brother that I wouldn't have minded having, and I was so happy that he found his 'princess charming.'

There were a couple moments that I found particularly poignant...during the ceremony, the officiant had all family and friends stand up. He then had everyone agree to essentially work together for this newly created marriage. For example, he mentioned that if one side of the couple were to ever come to us to discuss a relationship trouble or issue, we should think about what we can say to keep this couple strong...not just being the 'yes person' and adding to that person's complaints. I also very much enjoyed the father of the bride's speech...he talked about being 'one' with your spouse - no matter whether that person is right next to you or across the globe - you are one. He then mentioned how much he already respected and cared for his new son-in-law and I think that is such a great thing when two families can become one.