I blinked...

...and my sweet baby girl grew up!

Time flies way too quickly. I swear it was just last week that I was holding a sweet, freshly born baby girl in my arms and looking into her huge eyes as she took in the new sights of the world. She was so alert and bright-eyed. She was the only one of my four that I got to hold right after she was born, and that is such a sweet memory for me. I couldn't stop looking at her... it was instant love. We did have a little scare a couple of days later when the Dr. heard a murmer. Turns out she had a hole between the ventricles of her heart. We were so lucky, and learned that it was fairly small and that they would just watch it. I think it was her 4th birthday check-up when Dr. Johnson said he couldn't hear the murmur anymore. Hooray! The hole had finally closed on it's own. Kaitlyn has been such a joy. We always say she is a true Stafford (and all true Stafford's probably know what that means.) She is a joke-playing, teasing, silly girl that makes us laugh constantly! She loves to steal food off of others' plates (thanks Daddy!) She is the one that always gets her chores and homework done early, saying "Mom. What would you like me to do for chores today?" I appreciate her help, and her sense of humor. She is a complete joy, and we love her with all our hearts.

Starting with our kids' 10th birthday, we let them pick an "activity" and invite 1 or 2 friends... instead of having a big, crazy party with a million kids. Kaitlyn took us up on that offer last year for her 9th birthday and we went ice skating. Of course, we all remember what happened (Eryn broke her arm). So what does Kaitlyn choose this year? JUMP ON IT! I must say, I did have a small fear that someone would get hurt, but all was well. Everyone had a great time, and there were absolutly no injuries. Whew! The kids had a blast jumping around. Kaitlyn even let Eryn bring one friend (Eryn said she'd pay, so Kaitlyn said, "fine.") The boys had their cousin, Justice, to play with, and my twin nephews had eachother. Everyone had fun.

The only bad part of doing the activity, is when they have to choose which friends to invite. It was a really hard decision, but Kaitlyn decided to bring Elizabeth and Tamsin along.

After Jump-on-it, we came home for dessert and gift opening.

When I asked Kaitlyn what she wanted for her birthday "dessert" she said, "I want to have something that Grandma can eat." My mom has celiacs disease, so she can't have anything with wheat in it. We went to the Good Earth and bought a couple of Gluten free brownie mixes (which are Kaitlyn's fave anyway) so that Grandma could have some too! Kaitlyn is always very sweet and thoughtful.

Kaitlyn wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner, so we loaded up our little family and went out to eat. You know you've done something wrong, however, when you leave KFC and your kids say "That was the best restaurant ever!" Poor deprived children. Shows you how much we eat out. It was fun and pretty yummy, though. :) Then we came home and Aunt Christina and Tim, and Jodie, Corey and Harlie came for MORE dessert and MORE presents. Since Kaitlyn's birthday was on Sunday, and we had to do the majority of the celebrating on Saturday, Kaitlyn called it her "pre-birthday." She said she had the best pre-birthday ever!


Happy Birthday Sweet KK. We love you so much!

10 Years Old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Kaitlyn. She turned 10 yesterday, and we had fun festivities all weekend long. It was lots of fun, and there is so much to post about, so stay tuned. We sure do love you Kaitlyn, and we are proud of the girl you are.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Last week was Jared's birthday. Neither of us wanted a big deal made of our birthdays this year, and it was really hard for me to keep that promise, but I did manage to keep it fairly low key. He didn't want anything, but I did get him some new pants for work... and I planted a couple of hints to my mom of things I knew he'd like :) All he wanted was fried chicken and rice for dinner (I'm not sure how good it actually was, but I made it anyway). And he said NO CAKE... BUT he didn't say no ice cream!! So I called my family and said "Come over for ice cream." It was fun, and I think Jared enjoyed having a little bit of attention on his birthday.

One of the ideas that I gave Mom was the movie "Wolverine." Jared LOVED this movie. He rarely says he wants to buy a DVD, but this one he said he'd love to own, so Mom and Dad gave it to him. I think he was pretty happy about that!


All ready for Ice Cream! Happy Birthday DADDY!


And even with no cake, ya still gotta blow out some candles. Jared turned 37 this year, so I put 3 candles on one side, and 7 on the other... it looked a little more organized from above. Vanilla is his FAVE... but we added chocolate syrup and sprinkles to make it more fun :) Happy Birthday Jared. I love you!

You're Only As Old As You Feel

Well, I had a birthday. It came and went without too much fanfare, and that's fine by me. I turned 35 this year, which seems so strange, because I remember when I thought 35 was SO OLD! I remember something my Grandma told me, though. I think I asked her how old she was... she told me her age (and I'm sure I thought it was REALLY old) but then added "You are only as old as you feel. And often I feel like I'm only 25!" I love my Grandma... I miss her wonderful stories and words of wisdom. Well, guess what!? I only feel about 22 or so. So I guess that's how old I REALLY am, right? HAHA! It was a very low-key and nice day. The weather was lovely... the way fall should be (trust me, I remember many snowy birthdays!) I was able to go to lunch with some fun friends, and I came home to a fun and festively decorated kitchen, complete with streamers and cute letters (made by my kids) that spelled Happy Birthday Mom! That totally made my day :) Later, Jared took me to dinner, and we had a fun game night with some friends. (The day before was my sister's 30th birthday, so we had a little family cake and ice cream night that night. Thanks Mom!). The best part of having a birthday, is knowing that I've had another great year with people that I love. Here are some of the people I love most - my hubby and kiddos (a little preview of our family pics, I guess.)

Party time!

Wow, get ready for a huge post. I don't know why this one is any bigger than others, but apparently we were pretty picture-happy for Hayden's birthday. It was a really busy and fun day. He woke up to fun construction decor... his party was a Construction themed one! So we made some really simple construction cakes. One for the friend party, and one for the family party later - complete with construction vehicles and safety cone candles! Hayden thought they were the best!


Then at 10 am (nice and early) we had a fun "friend" party for Hayden. The girls were so cute to help me out. They were in charge of games and opening presents, so that all I had to do was snap photos! It was great. The kids had a ton of fun! They played Tractor, Tractor, Dumptruck (instead of Duck, Duck, Goose) and had a treasure hunt that Eryn prepared. Then Hayd opened presents. Then I sent them outside (thank you Summertime) to eat cake. Clean up was a BREEZE!


Check out the slide-show to see all the action!


Then, of course, when the friends all went home, Hayden had to try out all the new construction gear! He LOVES to dig, so he was in Heaven. Bryson even joined in on the action.



After that, Hayden wanted to try out his new Police Gear. He looked SO cute all dressed up, and handing out tickets. I was put under arrest several times!



Later that evening, Grandma Cheryl, PapaBob, Aunt Jo and Harlie, Jana, Brad, Justice, Talon and Cardon all came over to celebrate! We sure love having family come for cake and ice-cream. This was a pretty quick little get together, but it sure was fun. Thanks everyone for coming over!




I'm still having a hard time believing that my baby is 4. Where did all those years go? We sure love Hayden. He makes us laugh everyday!

Four Whole Years!

I cannot believe that 4 years have gone by since our little Hayden was born! Time sure does fly. He was born on July 16, 2005 at 8:06 in the morning. He got to come a little early by C-section, because my pregnancy was being a difficult one. I sure didn't complain about him coming sooner! He weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. The crazy part was that he was a boy! We had been expecting a girl... her name was going to be Madisyn, I had lots of cute girlie things... and low and behold, in the Operating Room when our new baby was born, Jared's eyes got huge, and the nurse said: "That's not what you were expecting, was it?" I was confused for a minute, but then I had to tease my Dr. who had NEVER been wrong before! We had a boy! I was only surprised for a minute, then it just seemed right. Perfect! It took a little longer for the idea to sink in with Jared. He has a hard time deviating from plans... even one like this! We had to come up with a name quickly, and Hayden was just the perfect name for our new little guy. I am so glad he was a boy! That made two of each for us.

Well, of course the first year FLEW by. He was walking by the time he was 10 months old, and he hasn't slowed down since! He was a sweet but busy baby! Here is his first birthday!

Gotta love 2-year-olds. Hayden was a joy... but sometimes a challenge. He learned to climb everything, get into everything, make a mess with everything... but those big blue eyes made it hard to get too upset! Here is his two-year-old B-day. (And a couple more from around that time).

Then he turned 3! Oh boy! Three year olds are sometimes really hard, but ALWAYS so much fun. It was fun to have real conversations with him, and he learned SO much! These are his 3-yr-old portraits!

Now I can't believe we just celebrated his 4th Birthday! He had a great party, and a wonderful day. Here are a few pics from his birthday. I'll post some from his parties next time!

Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Last week, we got to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday. We had a fun little cookout/family reunion. It was great to see everyone, and it's really great to see grandpa doing so much better these days. He looked great! I'm so proud to be his grand-daughter. He has always been one of my biggest heroes. I remember as a kid, wanting to please him and make him proud of me. I never wanted to do anything to disappoint him (which actually kept me out of trouble on a few occasions). I felt like everyone knew him, and he knew everybody! And I KNOW that everyone who knows him loves him. He is a great man. I'm so glad that my kids have the opportunity to know him. We love ya Grandpa!!

Hayden's Birthday! More Pictures

Hayden's Birthday!

Well, time sure does fly! Hayden turned three (yep, 3!) last week - July 16th. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years. He is such a sweetie (a little wild, really busy and curious, and ALL BOY!) We had a little cake and gift party as a family on Wednesday, then on Friday, Grandma, PapaBob, Jodie and Corey came over for MORE cake and ice cream. His favorite gift was his bubble mower!

Then, on Friday I took Hayden (along with a little BRIBE) for Birthday portraits. He did fairly well (for a kid who HATES my camera!)