Kate's Birthday Party

We had so much fun at Kate's birthday party. We decided to do it super small since she really doesn't care yet and we had just done Braden's party two weeks before. I think next year we will combine! Parties are a lot of work, but so worth it! I think my dad has a few more pictures that I will add later.

Cupcakes and Kate's cute smash cake, courtesy of Scrumdidlyumptious!

My lovely cookie boquet! These were so fun to make!

Almost too pretty to eat!

Jacob

Kate snuggling with Aunt Becky

Uncle Andy playing with the boys before the party.

Birthday girl all dressed up!

Jacob driving

Kate and GrandJan swinging

Henley Jane sporting her party favor headband!

LOVE this girl!

Ally filling up the water table. Last picture with dry kids. :)

The husbands

Caleb either loved Henley or the exersaucer!

Then he got stuck!

Cutie!

The water table was a hit. This was the last time it was played with before the storm demolished it!

Kate and Ally

Silly boys!

Happy Birthday to Kate!

Sweet brother singing to her.

Showing her how it's done! ;)

I crack up every time I see this picture! Fatty!

The smash cake was smashed!

My little piggy!

Proud Mommy and Daddy

The boys loved their cupcakes...especially the icing!

Finally some girl toys...thank you, Aunt Becky!

So polite to open her cards first!

The box is always the most fun!

Aunt Katie and Silas

Ryan and Ben with their girls! Soon to be BFF!

Hilarious boys!

Our Big Storm

Last Wednesday we had severe storms in the South! After watching the news, our damage seems like nothing compared to those in Alabama. We are thankful God spared us from major tornadoes that night. I have never experienced a storm like this in my life! It was very windy and stormy all day, but no big deal until around 8. We were watching American Idol and kept seeing tornado warnings and severe storm warnings, etc. The lights flickered but that was about it. We put Kate to bed and were starting to get Braden ready for bed too. Ben opened the front door to see how bad it was out there. We were both looking out when the first tiny hail started. My first thought was "lets throw a quilt on the 4runner!" Maybe I should have, although it would have blown off for sure. Anyway, in a matter of seconds the size of hail went from pea to golf ball and bigger. I was in the door comforting Braden because the sound was so loud he was scared. I was scared too. I couldn't hear what Ben was saying, but he evidently saw hail coming sideways and thought this isn't good. Before I knew it he was up the stairs grabbing Kate out of bed and we were all getting in the coat closet. The thing was, it was just so loud that you couldn't hear if there was a big, loud tornado coming at all. So I sat their huddled with my little family in the closet thinking "if there is a tornado, we are goners!" I had visions of tiny Kate being stripped from my arms and sucked out the closet door! It was terrifying for a few minutes. Once the hail stopped we came out and were shocked at the state of our yard. It looked like it was covered in snow. Hail is so weird! It's so strange to see "huge ice balls" (as Braden calls them) when it's warm outside. Round two came with bigger hail and poor Kate was forced out of bed again! Thankfully, that was the worst of our storms! We stayed up late to make sure we didn't need to run to the closet again. It was crazy to see our neighborhood the next morning. We fared better than others like the house down the street with a tree through it! Here are some pictures we have taken since the storm.

We could hardly get our back door open. It was practically frozen shut. This was after round 1. We were too shocked to think of pictures after round 2!

Big hail!

The deck was covered!

The siding is full of holes.

Attic fan slightly beat up and leaking water into our bathroom. Looks like we are getting a new roof. That's exciting!

Lost a tree.

And a water table!

The grill got beat up, but still works.

More busted siding shot.

Poor 4runner!

Is this safe to drive?