Catherine, Louie, Kinsley, Aubrey and Cade: October 2013

Our family is growing!!

We are excited to announce that Baby Stryker #3 is due to join our family on April 7, 2014. Louie and I will be moving from man-to-man to zone defense. Wish us luck! :) We are so very thrilled about this happy little surprise and hope you will join us in praying for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.

This first trimester has been tough. I started feeling tired and nauseous around 6 weeks and have been going strong since then... napping every afternoon and having trouble accomplishing much of anything. BUT I think I finally turned a corner at 15 weeks (knock on wood!!). I'm still taking my nausea medication but have more energy and the thought of Barbecue doesn't make me immediately head for the toilet. I was sick through week 13 with Kinsley, week 14 with Aubrey, so it only makes sense that I would feel ill through week 15 with this one. This significantly cuts into my second trimester paradise but it's all for a good cause. :)

I went in for my 15 week appt last Wednesday. Louie was in the OR so my mom was able to join me. We got a great ultrasound and the doc was able to tell us the gender. Once I told Louie, he promptly called his parents and told them. The following night we told the rest of my family with a fun celebration. Sarah and Victoria tuned in via FaceTime. Here is the clip of our gender reveal. :) We have our 19 week anatomy ultrasound in about a month so I will have more to update with (hopefully pictures!) then.

Catch-up Picture Post

Here is what we've been up to since my last big posts in JULY. Ooops! This is a bunch of misc pictures mostly captured by my phone. Enjoy! :)

Hanging out with my little. We stayed in pjs most of the day. :)

The girls are having so much fun playing together now. I think this also means that fighting is just around the corner...

Louie took Miss K fishing for the first time. It lasted about 10 min before she got bored. There was a playground nearby and they spent most of their fishing trip on the playground. I love this picture because you can just see Trout looking up at Louie. "Can I go too, Daddy??"

Random Saturday at the car wash. We live on the edge here, people. Excitement around every corner.

An evening pizza party at the neighborhood pool. Just the 4 of us. It was fun. Aubrey can attest, Kinsley disagrees.

Daddy's new office. Those degrees on the wall took only 14 years... So proud of him!

We went to the circus. That green glowing stick is her fabulous new light saber. I think Louie has gotten more use out of it then Kinsley. Just sayin'...

Aubrey's squinty eyes smile.

Kinsley wanted to ride the elephant and we said yes before we checked the price. $15 for two laps on the elephant sandwiched like sardines in a tin. Kins is three from the back actually sitting on the little boys lap behind her. She was the last to be squeezed on. Guess they thought "she's small, we can fit just one more." Poor kids.

The three of us went to see Seusical the Musical at the Magik Children's Theatre. We enjoyed it so much we bought season tickets. I can't wait until Aubrey's old enough to enjoy it too!

She skipped Dr. Seuss and wanted to take her picture with the mischievous monkeys.

Someone found a red marker...

Every Tuesday we've been trying to go to open gym at Alamo Gymnastics. This morning she said "Take my picture, Mom and send it to Daddy so he can see me in my gymnastics outfit."

A little daddy/daughter time on the couch.

Time to chop Miss K's hair. The tangles each morning were getting out of hand. Here is the before and after.

And the finished look.

Kinsley found some of our MN winter gear. I found it amusing that she was still in summer clothes in October and wearing a hat and scarf.

Another squinty eyes picture (post-nap, hence the hair).

A few Sundays ago our church decided to do a service Sunday instead of our regular worship service. We left Aubrey with my mom and Marcus and took Kinsley with us. We went to a local park and picked up trash. It was a really great morning and Kinsley liked being involved too. I hope we can do more stuff like this in the future.

I joined a local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group here and am loving it. One Saturday we met to go garage sale shopping for a local charity. We hit up some really nice neighborhoods and got some great stuff. We had a list of items they were looking for and had some great finds. This was our car on the way back to the church. We were packed to brim.

On Columbus Day, we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch in Medina, TX but the rain came through the night before and the weather and ground were nasty, so we went to Incredible Pizza instead. It was a blast. Nina and Uncle Andrew joined us.

A bit of a blur here...she was moving at lightning speed!

Up and down on the plane.

This crazy frog moved in unpredictable ways. Kind-of like he was dancing. Aubrey wasn't quite sure if she hated him or loved him.

Toasting to my brother's new job! Way to go, John! We're so excited for you and your family!!

Kinsley found the photo button on my iphone. Here is a close up. I'm embarrassed to say I can't tell if this is Kins or Aubs. I think Aubrey...

A selfie.

Trying to take one of both of them. There were a lot of other random pictures of the wall and Trout's behind but I figured I'd save those for another day.

I just love this picture. They adore each other! :)

We had a ladies night with me, Kinsley and Nina at the Magik Children's Theatre. It was the start of their 20th (I think) season and opening night of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. They gave out Wonka Bars to everyone who was there and there were 5 golden tickets to be discovered. Lucky Miss Kinsley found one. She was in shock at first and then totally overjoyed! She won a free week of camp this coming summer.

Here she is on stage. Veruca Salt was trying to "steal her ticket" and Kinsley thought she was really trying to steal it. She's looking at her with angry eyes in this pic. I reassured her from off stage that she was just playing with her. I guess Veruca is a pretty good actress.

Here she is being interviewed. I included the video clip of the interview below. She did such a great job. We were so proud of her!

After the show with Nina, Willie Wonka, Charlie Bucket and Charlie's grandpa. Holding her golden ticket of course! Such a fun night!

First Day of Preschool!

Both Kinsley and Aubrey started school the Wednesday after Labor Day. I couldn't be happier with their new school. It's amazing the growth we've seen in both Kinsley and Aubrey. Unfortunately, we didn't see that kind of growth in Kins last year at her school in Charlotte although she made some really great friendships with her classmates. Kinsley goes M, W, and F and Miss A goes on M and W mornings. Here are some pics to document their first day.

Her sign says she "Wants to be an astronaut."

Her sign says she "Wants to be a ??" We're still working on that one. :)

Best pic I could get of both of them...

Kinsley's teachers Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Lohman

A picture with my big girl.

No picture with Aubrey's teachers because we had to leave pretty quickly. There were some tears but I'm glad to say it only took about a week. She now walks in with smiles and is happy to see her teachers.

August Trip to Port A

The week that public schools started we decided to head down to the coast. We rented a condo on the beach in Port A. The weather didn't really cooperate with us and it poured the first day we were there and then there was an obscene amount of seaweed on the beach that the tide brought in with the storm. It took a while for the beach to be cleaned up so we spent most of our time at the pool. We had the entire 4 pools to ourselves. Not a bad way to vacation. :) We really had a great time and as much work as it is to travel with two young kiddos, the family time and memories made are totally worth it. Not to mention the girls slept great and in their own beds. Yahoo for good sleep! :)

Our view from our condo.

We went to the State Aquarium in Corpus Christi on our rainy day. It was a huge hit. I love this picture of my three loves.

We went into town a couple of times. We had to take a picture in the giant shark.

How we spent quite a bit of our vacation.

Our trip home. She had to sleep with monkey, baby and blanket.

Kinsley's 4th Birthday Party

Kinsley turned 4 on August 13th and she was adamant about having a Minion themed birthday party. Minions are the little creatures in Despicable Me and they're adorable but not necessarily for a little girl's birthday party. It was what she wanted and I'm a big believer in making the day about the kiddos so I went with it. I'm also a big fan of the low-key bday party so we did just that. Minimal decorations, a piñata, a couple of games, stuffed crust pizza and a cake (made by Louie!!). She seemed to have a good time. :)
On her actual birthday, we went to breakfast at the Magnolia Pancake House and she had a big plate of chocolate chip pancakes and then that evening, we went to Chuck E Cheese with just the immediate family. It was a good day.

You think she liked her pancakes??

Checking out the sensory overload at Chuck E Cheese.

Dancing with the Big Cheese!

Family photo op!

Kinsley's big gift from us was a new sandbox. It's fabulous.... except the mosquitos have been soooo bad that we haven't been able to enjoy it but about twice so far. :(

Aunt Rahrah came to the party dressed up as a minion! She rocks!!

The Box of Shame (from the movie) was a big hit with the little ones.

Piñata time!

One of the Harris boys taking a shot at the minion.

Harris twin #2! Sorry, Andrea, I will be able to tell them apart one day!! :)

Cousin Elijah really concentrating!!

Aubrey got so upset watching the kids whack the minion! She was really worried about his well-being!

Here is Aunt Rahrah trying to console the devastated little girl.

Time to munch! Cheese puffs, candy, chips and dip, and pizza. So healthy!! There was a bowl of fruit available for good measure. :)

I had to take this picture of Elijah. His parents were out of town that weekend and grandparents were in charge. I think he was loving his food options. Haha!