Such a sweetheart!

I caught this picture of Matthew playing with his little sister! He's been teaching her how to hold toys and then he read her a book. She was listening very intently! What a lucky little girl to have such great big brothers!
Oh and that was after he picked out a "matching headband"! Yes she is still in her PJ's! But her hair is now done! :)

My 3 Crazy Cuties!

Kaitlyn was getting lots of lovin' and entertainment from her brothers the other day. Michael has just loved holding her this week! Matthew has been doing this Kindergarten camp this month, so Michael has had lots of time with Kaitlyn. It's funny and cute to see him take on the "big brother" role.

Playtime!

I'm sad to say, that although we have lived here for over a year, I have still not finished the finishing touches on the playroom.  The trim needs another coat and the radiators need a couple more coats, so please ignore that in these pictures!  :)  Our TV has been "broken" for the last week or so and it's been wonderful not hearing the boys ask to watch a movie.  They have spent a lot more time playing.  Michael has definitely entered his Buzz and Woody stage and it's so fun to see him playing with all of Matthew's old toys.  He has quite an imagination!  I also love these pictures of Matthew and Kaitlyn playing.  Matthew tries to teach her so much!  He wants her to play with toys so badly.  Although I'm excited for her to start playing with toys too, I'm not so excited for all the toys I will have to go through to put away choke-able toys. What sweet and adorable children we have! :)

Such good buddies!

Matthew and Michael are such good friends!  It is an incredible blessing for me.  They really love to play together.  Matthew has been begging me to potty train Michael for months!  Matthew was completely potty trained by now, but I have just been too lazy/trying to adjust to having 3 kids.  But Michael has become extremely interested!  So we started working on it.  When Matthew goes to kindergarten I think I will completely commit and do it, but for now, we are easing him in.  Matthew loves to sit on the potty too while Michael is.  They talk, read books, or in this case, play swords with light sabers from Star Wars. 

Our New Garden

I have never been a very good gardener, but I have very fond memories of summers of my childhood spent outside helping with the garden (until we lost interest and started playing).  I think it's so fun that Matthew loves it so much!  He helps my mom at her house all the time.  In fact, one day, when we drive up to her house, he said, "Oh our tiger lilies are getting so big!"  He considers it to be just as much his garden as it is Granans!  My garden is nothing compared to my moms, but I'm pretty excited about how it turned out!  I'm so glad my mom could come over for the day and help me!  It was fun!  I love spending time with her! 
This garden was absolutely AWFUL before!  I am actually pretty upset with myself for not taking before pictures, but just trust me when I say it was horrible!  Now it's a pleasure to drive up to it! :)

Great Family Picture

My sister took this picture of us after one of Matthew's t-ball games.  I love it!  I had to share it with everyone!  I love my sweet family SO much!  I can't imagine my life any differently and I don't want to!  Thank you Scott for asking me to be your wife forever!  I love you!

Our Beautiful Girl!

Kaitlyn is now 3 months old!  She is so beautiful...every little thing about her!  She is just a ray of sunshine in our home!  Her brothers completely adore her.  I love to hear them talk to her and I love the way she lights up when she sees them.  She loves her daddy, but she's definitely mommy's girl!  She follows me (with her eyes) in everything I do.  And just smiles at me when I look at her!  I love the way she looks at me...like she knows who I am (better than I do).  I never realized how having a daughter would change me, but it really has!  She is such a happy baby!  So content with just about anything.  As long as she is full, she's ready to do just about anything.  She's an amazing sleeper!  She naps anywhere and has been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks; from 9pm to 6 or 6:30am.  She gets a quick snack and goes back to sleep.  She use to sleep until about 9, but since Matthew has camp now, we've had to change her schedule.  She loves to watch people.  And people are so drawn to her, but who wouldn't be?  She's adorable, but even more than that, she's just got a spark that lights up everything around her.  I can't imagine my life without her!  I love you baby girl!

Kaitlyn in her Patriotic outfit!

Kaitlyn looked adorable on her first 4th of July/3 month birthday, so I took about a billion pictures of her.  I picked a few to share! 

  

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  A little late, but better late than never!  We had a fun day!  It was Kaitlyn's 3 month birthday...time goes too fast!  I will update with more pictures of her today...promise! 

We went to my Uncle's house for a barbeque.  It was fun to be with even more family! We skipped the fireworks because we knew Michael would be terrified and Matthew saw fireworks the night before with my mom at the Mets game.  (I will post a few pictures of that too!)

 My kids looked absolutely adorable on the 4th of July!  I, of course, had to doll Kaitlyn up in her festive outfit!  Matthew had to wear red, white AND blue.  So please take note of his undershirt (he was concerned no one would notice).  Even though it was almost 100 degrees, he still had to wear an undershirt to make sure there was white! :)  

Here's my little cuties: (There are a few pictures because we didn't get the "perfect" one, but they are still cute and they make me smile!)

  

 

Me and my girl!

 

Matthew took this picture on my phone and I think it turned out really cool! :)  Please ignore the weird look on my face!

That night we went out for ice cream at the creamery.  Yummy!  The boys loved it!  They are just too cute!

 

My mom and Kaitlyn

 

Our family!  Hope you had a great 4th of July!

Our First Visitors!!!

So we had our first official visitors that had never seen our home before!  Scott's mom and step-dad and family came to visit us for a week and meet our sweet little Kaitlyn.  We had a lot of fun.  Besides showing off our new home and giving them a little taste of CT, we did some touring of the East Coast!  Here's some pictures from our week:

 

We had some fun at the Children's Museum.  I'm not sure who had more fun, the boys or Grandpa!  

 

Kaitlyn slept pretty much the entire time!  This is a picture of her in a room with a black light.   

One day we went to Boston.  We saw some historical sites, but our boys enjoyed the navy ship (a destroyer I think) the best!  

 

 Pictures from the destroyer.  Matthew loved the gun and Michael loved all the wheels.  He went to turn every single one!  And I actually caught a picture of him smiling AND looking!  A very rare event!

 I love this picture our our family on a boat ride.   Michael isn't smiling, but he is looking! :)  I sure love my family!

 

We did lots of driving.  I think the kids did better with it than daddy did!   (Thanks to the DVD player).  It was an awkward car set-up, but it worked for a couple days!  Can't wait to get a new car! :)

I love this picture of Michael and Kaitlyn at the hotel.  We stayed at a hotel in the Berkshires for a few days.  The boys love staying in hotels.  I wish I had taken some pictures of them running up and down the hallways and swimming in the pool!  

We drove up to Vermont one day, so that Scott's family could see the birthplace of Joseph Smith. 

This is Matthew standing next to the statue of Joseph Smith in the Visitor's Center.  We were told that when President Hinckley came to dedicate the statue, he said it was the most accurate statue or picture of Joseph Smith.  It was cool to see. 

Our family sitting on the step that lead up to Joseph's house that he was born in.  The home is no longer standing, but they have this stone step.  It was a great experience for my boys to see again.  (And Kaitlyn too!)

On the way home we stopped at Dartmouth College because one of the missionaries at the Visitor's Center told us that they have a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon that they let you look at if you ask.  Scott and I had seen one before, but it was fun to show it to Matthew and Scott's family loved it!  Of course, we played some ball!  It was a beautiful campus. 

Some more pictures from Dartmouth.

On the way home from the Berkshires, we stopped at a waterfall.   The boys had a blast throwing rocks in the water.  It's actually a beautiful spot.  Scott and I want to go back soon!

You can see how excited Michael got!  It's the simple things in life!  Every time he threw a rock in the water, he'd say: "I did it!"  So fun!

 

  

And this is Matthew in front of the waterfall.  

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great visit!  

Anyone else want to come visit? :)