Planned for the end of May, who would have thought that we'd have to contend with the threat of rain! With the party planned for outside, we spent the morning praying that the sun would poke through. By party time it was nice and dry with a little cloud cover that made it pretty chilly but the outside party was totally do-able. Thank you, God!
For weeks we've been talking about the special guest that was going to come to Kate's party but I don't think she was quite prepared for the wonder of having Ariel, her favorite Disney princess, right here in her own home. She was completely star struck. It was priceless.
did magic (with Kate as her assistant)...
and all of the girls got their face painted!
The attempted group shot with all the kiddos went as well as can be expected. I think Ryan was quite enamored with Ariel- but who can blame him. ;)
All in all, the party was a success and Kate had a fantastic time. We are so blessed to have such wonderful little friends to share our celebrations (their parents aren't bad, either). =) Thank you all for being such good friends, Kate loved having you all here.
Happy birthday, Kate!
He was such a mess I couldn't even get him to the bath tub so he went straight into the kitchen sink. 
For dinner on Monday, we went to Midori's for sushi or as Kate calls it "squishy". It was Kate and Luke's first sushi experience so we just got them chicken and rice and, of course, edemame which was a huge hit. Everything was very yummy.
Tuesday was Kate's birthday! I can hardly believe she's 3! Where do the years go?! She has grown up so much lately. All day she kept asking us to tell her a "story of when I was little" so I'd look at the clock and tell her where we were and what we were doing at that time 3 years ago. She loved it. When we got up in the morning she had a couple of presents waiting for her. Grams the Great (John's grandma) and the Schatzels sent gifts in the mail. Later, Uncle Curt, Auntie B, and Brooklyn came to town and brought yet another present. We spent another day at the pool and then went out to dinner before packing up and heading home at bedtime. 
Dinner at Ruby's with a special chocolate shake treat and Happy Birthday song!
On Wednesday morning, Nana and Grampa brought over their gift to Kate. She's not the greatest driver, yet, but she's getting better already.
Happy Birthday to Kate!
While you are goofy, dramatic, and expressive, you can be so shy. You are sweet and loving, but independent and stubborn. At times you are so predictable- when you are hungry...watch out! Then there are times when we just don't know how you are going to react to something. It's those unpredictable times that are the biggest challenge with you these days. So often I can see the internal struggle you have with yourself when I have told you to do or not to do something and you want to do the opposite. Usually your obedient side wins but its not easy on you. You know what you like, how you like it and when. You want do things your way, on your own time and only then. This has proved to be a challenge for your mommy as she is the same way (oh what will we do during the teenage years?!). =) We have recently had some tough days with you testing the waters to see how far you can push me. Those days are such roller coasters with you because one minute you are being such a beast and in the next you are cracking me up. Some of the things that come out of your mouth leave me in hysterics and you love it. Usually once you realize you have made us laugh you'll repeat whatever you said or did over and over...unless, remember that unpredictable side I talked about earlier?...you may just get embarrassed thinking we're laughing AT you rather than with you and then, again, watch out! But I think that is all part of being a girl and, boy, are you are all girl. You are a natural born mommy. I love watching you pretend to take care of your "babies"- you always do such a good job. You are quick to strip anyone who walks in our front door of their high heel and handbag so that you may try them on. Your weakness is chocolate and to prove you are so my child you recently said to me, "Mommy, I just love chocolate and doughnuts!" Ah, yes, I have raised you well. You are becoming a social little thing, especially as you make more and more friends. You love to go to church to see your friends, you always want to go to Disneyland with your friends, and we constantly talk about and look at pictures on the computer of your friends (thank goodness for the blogs so you can keep up). Your new favorite bedtime routine is reading bible stories. Your all time favorite is Adam & Eve and you quickly concluded that God put Adam & Eve in a time out when He banished them from the Garden of Eden. Your words, "That's very naughty! They don't listen to God so they got a time out!" I love to listen to your version of the things around you. Our conversations are certainly never boring and I still can't get over how observant you are. Many times when we are talking I find myself amazed that you are actually able to carry on such a conversation and make the assessments you make. It is not often that you have nothing to say. Your poor little voice doesn't get much of a break because when you are not talking you are singing. Your favorite songs right now are "The Name Game" (Kate, Kate, bo-bate, banana fana fo fate...), "Part of your World" from the Little Mermaid, "Our Song" by Taylor Swift, "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne. Often times you manage to squish all of those songs into one belting them out at the top of your lungs for all the world to hear. The dancing that goes along with the singing is by far my favorite. You are going to do quite well in dance classes, of that I'm sure.
Anna and Luke do their very best to keep up with the big sisters.
They all took turns pushing each other around in Luke's little car.
And now for the potty update...we are one week diaper free and still going strong! We even made it through our day at California Adventure with no accidents. Kate completed her potty chart and got prizes of princess underwear, socks, lipgloss, and a bracelet. We are all so proud of her success.
Jonah, Kate, and Javan
Yesterday was the annual Child Life Department team-building retreat. We always have a good time together and I have especially enjoyed the topic for the last 3 years. The director of chaplain services at the hospital has come to speak about different personality and temperament types. We all took the Myers-Briggs test to determine our types and she helped give us some insight on what makes us and our coworkers tick. It's a fascinating topic and is very helpful in determining the best ways to work together and get to know one another. My results say that I am an E(extrovert) S(sensing) T(thinking) J(judging). Here's the description.
ESTJ Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to implementCheck out the website. What do you think you are? We had our retreat at an amazing estate in Orange called Loritz Manor. It was beautiful and we had a nice casual afternoon away from the hospital to bond with all of our wonderful Child Life girls.
decisions. Organize projects and people to get things done, focus on getting
results in the most efficient way possible. Take care of routine details. Have a
clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them and want others to
also. Forceful in implementing their plans.
Carrie, Cori, and me
Some of the girls having an after-retreat drink by the pool before we headed home.
A baby cappuccin (not too sure about that spelling) monkey was born just a month ago and was riding around on it's mommy's back. So cute. Wouldn't that be cool if we could just go about our day while our babies held on, no arms needed. =)
Now if you are anything like me you are always looking for easy, tasty meals that aren't too hard on the old scale. I recently found one that everyone in our family enjoys very much. Out of the Southern Living Cooking Light cookbook, I found a recipe for Chicken Parmigiana. I tried it for the first time when we took dinner to the Irelands after Paige was born and made it again this week. Even Luke loves it. 
Since Kate did such a good job on dinner, I decided we could have a special treat and made some chocolate-covered strawberries. Needless to say, our little chocoholic LOVED them. 
Here's the Chicken Parmigiana recipe if anyone is interested:
1. Combine 1/3 c. flour, 1/4 t. garlic powder, 1/4 t. paprika, 1/4 t. black pepper in a shallow dish.
2. Lightly beat 2 egg whites in a bowl.
3. Coarsely crush 3 c. cornflakes in another bowl.
4. Dredge 4-5 chicken breasts (I recommend the thinly sliced or pound them flat) in the flour mixture.
5. Dip into egg whites.
6. Dredge in cornflakes.
7. Arrange in 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray and bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until done.
8. Pour your favorite marinara sauce over cooked chicken and sprinkle mozzarella and parmigiana cheese on top.
9. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
10. Serve over spaghetti and enjoy! =)
What's your family's favorite quick/easy meal?
