A day at the "Beach"

Our apartment complex here in AZ has the COOLEST pool I have ever seen, for an apartment complex anyway. Tanner loves it and asks to go to the "beach" everyday. It has a sandy beach that goes straight into the water. It is pretty shallow (just like a beach), so Tanner just brings his toys and plays in the water for hours! It is the perfect set-up for kids, I love it.


This was Tanner's Easter present. It is a little backpack that came with diggers, bulldozers, cement trucks, etc. This is Tanner's kick right now, and he thought bringing them to the beach, with his dinosaurs would be so fun. (I absolutely love this picture--my little boy with his big backpack--too cute!!)

Splish, Splash!

This picture cracks me up because it was staged at all. This is how Tanner set up all his toys to play. I love how he bent the dinosaurs necks down so they could get a drink. What a thoughtful little boy!


Oh, no! Tanner just noticed that another little boy found his beach ball. He is very concerned as you can see in the next picture as he yells...


..."Tanner's ball, Tanner's ball, no share Tanner's ball." We haven't mastered that skill yet at our house.

Kate's Grandma...

My Mom came into town for several days to help out. Here she is posing with her favorite granddaughter. (I can say that because she is the only granddaughter at this point). I wish I had some more pictures to show what a help she was to me while she was here. I could post one of her cooking, heping with the laundry, helping me run necessary errands, helping out with Tanner during the day so I could get some much needed rest, taking Tanner to the beach and to the park, and then to the beach and to the park, and then back to the park...(repeat again and again). Thank you for all your help mom, I could not have recovered as quickly without your help! And Tanner is sure wishing you were still here, I just have to keep telling him that Kate is still too little to go to the beach.

Kate's Nana...

Matt's mom came into town to help out when Kate was born! I don't know how to fully express how grateful I am that she came (Thank you Mom!!). I don't think I could have recovered as quickly as I have without the ability to nap during the day as she kept Tanner entertained. And the laundry, and meals, and errands, I could go on and on. Thank you so much! You were such a help!


Kate with her Nana! Lovely Ladies!!

Pictures of our lovely lady...

Hello everyone!! This picture was taken late at night when Kate seems to be most awake! (Nope, not sleeping at night).


Peek-a-boo...


I see you!

Coloring Easter eggs with Nana!!

Already making silly poses like his daddy!


So cute--Tanner had so much fun stirring and stirring the dye. Both Nana and mommy were preoccupied with something, so Tanner decided he would try to mix the colors. His pouring skills aren't the best, so we had yellow dye all over the carpet, chair, and Tanner's clothes. We were thrilled to learn that the dye wasn't permanant on those things like it was on our fingers.


Tanner thought it was amazing that you dropped the egg in the glass and it came out the same color as the liquid inside.


Look at the thrill on Tanner's face as he pulls an egg out of the dye! If you look at the next picture, Tanner wasn't super careful with the egg, so as he pulled it out, it rolled right off the cardboard dryer thingie...


...onto the floor. Blue dye all over the carpet--which also luckily came out. I read in Family Fun magazine about a mom who let her toddlers dye Easter eggs in the bathtub to minimize the mess. I think I'll do that in the future. Needless to say, it was a fun expereince for Tanner.

Hey ya'll...

...This is my sister Kate!!

Having Fun...

Nana (Matt's mom) made Tanner a car out of our laundry bin. Tanner insists that we push him around the house in it. When we aren't pushing him in it, he's pushing Clifford around the house in it. (Referring to March 30th post, last picture).

Kate's first bath!

Tanner was excited to help with Kate's first bath at home.


First. we got her hair wet so we could wash it. Kate loved the warm water on her head, it must have reminded her of the warm water-like substance she was in for 9 months.


This is one of my favorite pictures. I asked Tanner if he wanted to put the soap on Baby Kate's hair. Plop, a little too much, but Tanner was so proud, grinning from ear to ear. "I did it," he would say.


If you look at the reflection in the mirror, you can see how excited Tanner is to be helping with his sister's bath.


Helping mommy wash Baby Kate's hair. (Again, look at the reflection).


Time for the rest of her--her umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet, so sponge baths are what we do for now.


Getting all warm and cozy in her towel.


SUCCESS!!


Yeah, I am as tired as I look, but I am loving the new addition to our family!

Taking a nap with daddy...

This is Kate's favorite way to nap. Just look how content she is!

Kate is here!!!

Here is our beautiful girl, Kate Lyn Jesperson. She was born today, Friday, March 30, 2007 at 10:40 a.m. We tried so hard to get a picture with her eyes open, but she just wanted to sleep.


Our first family picture!! Tanner is so proud of his new sister and really taking to her well.


This is why Tanner is taking so well to Kate. She brought him a huge stuffed Clifford for her welcoming gift and Tanner went nuts! He loves, loves, loves the Big Red Dog. He has to have it in his bed when he goes to sleep and would take it everywhere if mommy didn't tell him that Clifford needs his naps too, and he takes them when we go run errands.

Getting ready for Kate...

A couple of weeks ago, we had a photo shoot with Matt where Tanner cuddled with sister Kate. We are so excited to welcome her into our family. We are less than a week and counting. (Or at least I'm counting!)












This was me at about 37 weeks! See how far I poke out! (No one has ever seen me at full term b/c we've always been in AZ). The funny thing is that now, I swear I'm twice the size! I'll post another picture soon, I try to get one right before the baby is born.

So...everyone is doing it!

I just love reading all your blogs, and looking at all your cute pictures, so I decided that I needed to jump on the "blog-wagon" and start one for our family too. A friend of mine said it was a great way to showcase your kids, which all parents want to do, so I just couldn't help myself. Especially with a new baby on the way. In fact, that was my goal...to get this up and running before Kate was born. Andrea told me it was really easy, and she was right, doesn't take long at all.

A Day with Grandma and Grandpa...

Many of you know this, but a few weeks ago, we moved back here to AZ so Matt could finish a work project. he was traveling down here 5 days a week and I was so concerned that he would miss Kate's birth, so we decided that we would move to AZ where we could be together. Matt's company had a furnished apartment down here, so we moved in! Since Tanner was born here, I had a doctor here, whom I loved, so everything couldn't have worked out more perfectly. We were thrilled to remember that my parents already had a trip down here planned during their spring break, so we were so excited to get to see them as well. And boy were they excited to see Tanner. It was great for me, they spent time with him while I rested. Here's them at the zoo.


With Grandma, getting ready for the fun day!


Checking out the squirrel monkeies, it's hard to tell who's having more fun!!


Climbing up to get a better look at the giraffes.


Petting the Sting-rays. The Phoenix Zoo has this awesome exhibit where you can actually touch the sting rays. I have never heard Tanner giggle so hard. He LOVED it!!

Tanner turns 2!!!

Tanner woke up and we had ballons tied on things all over the house. He immediately wanted to hold them all. He loved letting them all go up into the air.


I stayed up all night making a choo-choo cake for Tanner. It didn't turn out so bad. Luckily, Tanner was super impressed and kept trying to snitch some before we blew out the candles. We had some close calls, but we made it.


A close-up of the cake!


We went to Chuck E' Cheese for Tanner's birthday with Matt's family. We got such a kick out of watching Tanner play Skee-Ball. He would walk right up to the end of the track and throw the ball into the slots. He LOVED it!! It was impossible to get him to do anything else (until he discovered the slide).


Tanner saying "Hi" to Chuck E.


Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles. He did pretty good, and you could not wipe the smile off his face!


Yum, this is good!! Can I have some more!


Uncle Cole showed Tanner the slide and he thought it was so fun! He probably did it about 4-5 times before he was tuckered out and ready to go home. What a fun birthday party!!