I thought I'd be retired by now!

David's birthday was a big one!  Big ol' #25!!!  Yikes that's old. . . .right?!  I asked him what he thought he'd be doing/where he imagined himself when he was 25.  He said that he thought he would be retiring by now!  Almost David...you are almost there. :)  He mentioned that he's a third of the way dead so why wouldn't he be retired and playing for the rest of his life?  :)

That seems like a big birthday to me, but when I asked David if he wanted to do anything special, I got nothing except that he wanted cookies and cream ice cream.  I already knew that so I had to think of something special for him on my own.  I didn't think up anything too fancy but I planned out a week of little things each night to celebrate.

Monday we started off the week with the final basketball game.  Our brackets went down the hole long before the final game, so we were able to just enjoy the game.  David picked the underdog Butler to win, so I went for Connecticut. The game was actually really dull and low scoring.  We loved the night though.  We had Cafe Rio style chicken tacos. . . yum!  They were good!  We had our concession-type snacks to munch on through the game.  Through the game we anxiously waited for our teams to score three point shots.  We kissed for every three pionter :)  We were disappointed it was a low scoring game and definitely not enough three point shots were made!

At halftime we played Horse with rolled up socks and a laundry basket.  David ended up winning that one. . . it was his birthday week, so I had to let him win right?!  I am too competitive for that, so he honestly did beat me.  Those shots from the stairs and off the light switch didn't fool him!

We were going to have a "dunking contest" with fresh made cookies and milk, but we were sugared out from the candy we were eating, so we saved that for another time.  It was a boring game, but it was nice to sit and snuggle as a family to watch the game.

Tuesday wasn't as fun.  David had a homework party while Katelyn and I tried really hard not to distract him so we could play the rest of the week.  We were mostly successful with that.

Wednesday David got to go out and play ping pong.  He hasn't played in a long time and really liked playing that night except that with work all day and then ping pong at night, he didn't get to see much of his family since by the time he got home from playing it was time for bed for all of us.

Thursday we had a casual date at the library.  David loves bookstores and libraries.  He mostly likes business books or whatever topic he is into for the week/month.  I mixed it up a little and we designated a meeting spot.  Then we went off and found certain types of books anywhere from cooking, travel, children's books, and poems.  We would meet up and share something we found like a recipe we'd like to try or have made for us, or a place we'd like to vacation to, a children's book we liked when we were little, or a poem that reminded us of each other.  It was hard to try to find something quick, but it was fun to share what we found.

Friday we had a date alone.  We started trading off every other Friday with another family in our ward.  So one Friday we get to have date night and they watch Katelyn and the next Friday we watch their little girl while they have a date.  We went out to eat and it was nice to just be able to talk to each other all night and not be interrupted by stinky diapers, bath time, feeding time, or entertaining-Katelyn time.  After sharing a meal at Red Robin, David was serenaded by the wonderful singers and even got to wear the "birthday ears" (two helium balloons were tied to the ends of a ribbon and then the ribbon was placed under his chin so the balloons floated and looked somewhat like Mickey Mouse ears).  He got some ice cream out of it so I think it was worth the little embarrassment.   David really wanted to look around at Home Depot after dinner.  I tried to remind him that we were supposed to do things that we can't usually do with Katelyn around, but that's what he wanted to do and it was his birthday date, so off to Home Depot we went!  So romantic right?!  I finished off the date with a massage and he loved it.  He was a little skeptical about it, but he was able to be so relaxed and just enjoy the quiet.  Now that's something that doesn't happen with a baby around!  As much as we love having Katelyn around, it has been great having dates every other week!

Saturday night my family came into town.  We shopped around while we waited for an hour to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  That food tasted so good!

Those rolls and cinnamon/honey butter are amazing...yumm!  It was quite a different experience having Katelyn there.  Trying to feed Katelyn and entertain her was tricky and didn't leave much time for me to eat my meal.  I felt like I had to scarf it down between feeding her cheerios and sweet potatoes as I saw the next course of my meal on it's way out.  David got a big Texas "YEE-HAW!" and some more ice cream for being a birthday boy.  Abby and I shared our meal and the boys. . . I mean men. . . stuffed themselves so much they were waddling out of there.  Luke got the biggest steak they had. . . 16 ounces I think!  He had no trouble polishing that off, but when we got to my place he met his match.  Let's just say that he forgot to spray/light a match/cover up what he left behind :)  Cake and ice cream had to wait a bit!  We were entertained by a line dance from the waiters and the bus boys were fascinating to watch as they would swipe all the dishes off the tables as people left leaving the table and seats cleared in like 10 seconds.  It sounded dangerous, but they had it down and were even cheered for their speedy work.

We finished off the night with German Chocolate cake and David's favorite cookies 'n cream ice cream.

We chatted until way to late in the night like always!  I put up balloons and made a cheesy looking birthday boy sign that Katelyn loved chewing up.  I got David a new circular saw and have a lot of "fun" projects in mind for him!  He got some cake at work and so we had plenty of cake left over for the next week.  Somehow we didn't have any trouble finishing it!  Don't ask how that happened!

Sunday was his actual birthday and we kept it pretty low key.  We went to church  and said farewell to my family, went home teaching, played games, had a simple dinner, ate some more cake and David chatted the night away with his dad.

He's another year older, not quite retired, but pretty happy with where he's at.  David turning 25 seems like nothing compared to Dad turning 60!  Now that's old!!  Love you Dad :)

It was tough to think up things to do.  I think it is safe to say that he enjoyed having a week to be spoiled and catered to.  But now he's worried I will be expecting something great for my birthday. .. Of course not...but I wouldn't mind a bit!

There she goes!

Katelyn passed her 7 month birthday late last month.  Then as April came in, she took off.  She figured out how to really crawl and this was not an April Fool's joke.  She means business when she's crawling.  She seems to love it and will pause to make sure you are watching and give you a cheesy grin and then keep on going.  She showed off for everyone during our monthly family skype FHE over conference weekend.  She seems so proud of her new talent and she loves when we cheer and clap for her.

As she crawled across the floor for the first time I had so many feelings flood in.  I was excited that she figured this out and learned how to move.  I was nervous about all the things she would be able to get to now that I couldn't just sit her down and know that she'd stay there.  I was sad that she's becoming more independent and she's doesn't need me as much anymore.  I was proud of how she learned how to do something new.  I was happy to see her so happy and excited to be getting herself closer and closer to the phone all by herself.

As long as I am in sight, she will sit and play with shoes or toys.  She will move around and roll around with whatever she's wanting and then as she's done playing, she will whimper and crawl over to one of us.  She has figured out how to pull herself up our legs or to stand along the couch and will peek over the edge or around our leg so she makes sure we know she's there.

She's trying to figure out how to crawl over things, but for now she just plows through and drags any toys or blankets along with her :)  We have become her personal jungle gyms as she likes to climb all over us . . . or other babies at play group. . . to keep our attention on her or something.  We never really know what she's thinking, but she seems to be very expressive so we feel like we have a good guess most of the time.

Along with pulling herself up on things, you would think that getting back down would be part of that skill, but that hasn't come yet.  She used to be a really good sleeper, but now if she wakes up at night she will stand up in her crib and then call out for help.  So I have been waking up multiple times a night to find her standing in her crib.  It never takes much to get her back to sleep so I wonder if she knew how to get herself down if we would have our good sleeper back.  It could be teething, hunger, scared of the dark, loneliness, or even a bad dream, but I blame it on her inability to get down for now :)  We will never really know, but I miss those nights of uninterrupted sleep.  

She loves playing any type of peek-a-boo game.  She loves having a blanket or towel over her head to figure out how to grab it and pull it off and have everyone cheering for her.  She also loves to play with people that sit behind us in church.  She will lean from side to side to peek at the family sitting behind us hoping that they will play along.  She's so irreverent, but too cute to ignore!  I will sneak around the corner and play it with her and if I take too long to come back she will start crawling after me.  The best thing about this game is definitely her face and her reaction.  She knows that the face is somewhere close and when it pops up she couldn't be happier!  Most babies love that game and she is definitely one of them!

Lately she has had a thing for the dishwasher.  Whenever we are loading or unloading it and she hears the noise of the dishes, she will quit playing with her toys and head on over.  It might be that it is at her level and she is trying to help, but her "help" is cute, but not really helping.  She also likes to "help" by sorting her clothes.  She knows right where they belong, but then changes her mind a few times.  Soon enough we will have her helping out and I don't think she will be so eager then :)

For a few months now she has been a good "kisser."  It seems and looks like she is trying to eat my face, but I like to assume she's sharing her love!  I used to think she was teething and would use my chin or cheeks or collar bones to massage her gums, but she's been doing these "kisses" for a long time now and I don't think she has been teething all her life.  She even put a nice little hickey on my chin.  David wasn't even around for me to blame it on him and we were both impressed with it :)

Here is a video of her recent talents.  She sure is a cutie and we are very entertained by her growing personality.