Party Time

Cate's fourth birthday is coming up in just a few weeks. At any given moment, it's both hard to believe that four years have gone by and hard to remember life before these two little kids made us a textbook nuclear family.

I have set to work planning Cate's party. There is a great carousel at Gage Park in Topeka, so we are having her party there on August 14. Invitations (handmade by me!)were mailed Saturday to six of her closest friends.
I am working on all the other preparations -- princess cake, hot pink/lime candy buffet (the other parents will love me!) and coordinating plates, cups and decorations.

In the mean time, my birthday came and went about a week ago. Stephen and the kids kindly treated me to hot dogs and ice cream for my big day. They also chose the most lovely purse and ruby pendant necklace as my gifts. I had a great birthday and had already begun looking forward to next year.

Saturday evening, we had dinner planned with another couple in Kansas City. Stephen casually suggested we stop on the way for a drink for just the two of us. I happily complied as he veered from the path to the restaurant where we had 6:45 p.m. reservations. We pulled up to another restaurant that I truly enjoy, La Bodega. As we walked in the door, Stephen reminded me that I had been giving him a hard time all day, claiming I made all the plans for our kid-free night on the town. I laughed as he said, "Well, you didn't make all the plans."

I followed his pointing finger to the back of the room where seven other couples sat waiting to surprise me for a birthday dinner. My gaze ran the length of the table and it didn't really register for me until my eyes crossed the Governor and First Lady. At that precise moment, I realized exactly what happened and the shock set in. It took about 30 minutes and three glasses of sangria for me to settle down.

We had a lovely dinner and followed up with more drinks and fun at the Cashew Bar downtown. It was a great time and certainly an unforgettable birthday. Thanks to my thoughtful husband for planning a true surprise.

On another note, I will spend a lot of time thinking about how many lies he so easily told to pull this off.

The Fabulous Martino Girls

Cate asked if she and I could get our picture taken after church on Sunday. That little girl loves to dress up and I think it brings out her not-so-subtle performer side. I handed the camera over to Stephen and he took several shots. Cate's happy with the results.

Catching Up

I got a new copy of Photoshop Elements at home and I've been catching up on editing photos. I took these just a few weeks ago when the kids were playing on the swingset and splashing in the kiddie pools in the backyard.

Vacation, Interrupted

To say our vacation was interrupted is probably inaccurate. It never really started.

We made a grand plan to travel to St. Louis for five days last week. We had hotel reservations, plans for the zoo, the children's museum and even a few places to eat. I had Mapquested all the routes we needed. Lists were made. Day cares were notified of impending absences.

Of course, with two small children, I'm getting accustomed to our plans changing. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Keaton started drooling in bucketfuls and he grew increasinly cranky. By Sunday evening, he was barely eating anything and randomly crying. To make matters worse, both kids were starting out at new day care providers on Monday. By Tuesday, it was clear that Keaton was not feeling well and on Wednesday morning (the day we were scheduled to leave) he woke up with a fever. We spent the first day of our "vacation" taking care of a cranky baby at home and running him to the doctor's office.

We made it to the doctor's office by lunch time and Keaton had no sign of a fever. The doctor, in addition to diagnosing me as crazy, said nothing was wrong and confirmed what we already knew: the little guy was cutting some new teeth.

Cate was so disappointed about cancelling our vacation. About two weeks ago, we made a paper chain at home and she had been removing one paper link each day, counting down the days to our trip. At her new day care, they asked all the kids about their favorite Fourth of July activity. Most of the kids said fireworks, a few said picnic and Cate said "thinking about my vacation." To say my heart was broken for that little girl would be an understatement.

As an alternative to our big St. Louis adventure, we set out for Kansas City on Thursday morning. We went to Union Station and Crown Center in the morning, where Keaton drew a crowd with his screaming. At one point, I drew a crowd when I screamed because Keaton bit me on the shoulder. We quickly packed up and headed to Olathe, where Stephen's parents graciously agreed to keep Keaton while Cate, Stephen and I enjoyed some other activities.

We found a hotel with an indoor water park and Cate had a lot of fun swimming there. We also took her to her first movie, Up. She impressed us both by sitting completely still and not saying a word for the entire movie. I see more movies in our future.

And thanks to one of my co-workers (shout out to Seth on this one), I learned about Kaleidoscope at the Hallmark Visitor's Center. They have awesome art activities for kids, so we took Cate over one morning. She had fun painting and coloring for more than an hour. Truthfully, the best thing for her was their unlimited supply of scotch tape. Who knew that scotch tape held such joy?

In case you can't tell, this little girl has serious attitude.
Working hard on some art projects at Kaleidoscope. Whatever Hallmark employee thought up this use for their leftover materials -- Genius.
Unpacking all her important stuff in her new princess backpack.
Enjoying some candy at Crown Center.

Congratulations, Happy Father's Day and Fourth of July

We've been on the go, nonstop for the last few weeks. At the end of June, Stephen's sister, Kristen, got married. We are pretty excited (especially Cate) to welcome Kristen's husband, John, to the family. Cate was a flower girl, accompanying her cousin Quentin down the aisle. More photos to come later, but here is a snapshot of Kristen and I after the wedding. That same weekend was Father's Day, so we went out to lunch, then to a cool Lego exhibit at Crown Center in Kansas City. We wrapped up with ice cream, primarily for Cate's benefit. Her ice cream cone was practically as big as her head.

For Independence Day, we decided it was time to host a party at our house. Stephen realized at some point that we hadn't hosted any kind of party since Cate was born, so we thought it was time. We had a Fourth of July brunch with cinnamon rolls, mimosas and bloody marys. Yum. And we invited our friends to bring kids. Let's just say it was little crowded at Chez Martino with about 10 kids and twice as many adults. Our neighborhood also has a little parade, so we loaded the kids up in their brand new red wagon (Keaton's birthday gift from Mimi and Pop Pop) and rolled down to the parade. Both kids got balloons and Cate came home with a sack of candy.

Both kids are growing up so quickly. I heard a friend once say that, at this age, the days are sometimes long, but the years go by quickly. It seems like I blinked and Cate is nearly four years old. We started both kids in new child care this week. I think the move will be good for them both, but dropping Cate off this morning made me realize how big she's getting. She took her backpack in and introduced herself to her new teachers. Mr. Keaton is also growing up. He's up to four words in is vocabulary now: dada, mama, ball and pop pop. Just this last weekend, he began walking in earnest. He goes for a half dozen steps at a time before crashing and he can stand, unassisted, for long periods. When I look at them, and we spend time with our family, I can't help but think how truly lucky we all are.