Catie turns 3!!

Catie turned 3 on December 1st! Here are some of the photos from the actual day!

She loved all the princess and Sophia bags Grandma Julie got her. This girl is a pink-a-holic.

Andrew and I decorated her door the night before and she was so excited about the sign her made her, the balloons, and the crepe paper.

Since her birthday was on Sunday, we made special Christmas tree rice crispy treats together than she could share with her nursery class at church.

She also got a princess bike with training wheels!

The Sofia stuff from Grandma Julie & Grandpa Kim has been loved and loved and loved! She is obsessed.

My cute birthday three-year-old!

This cutie was so excited about her birthday that she woke up closer to 6am and could not fall back to sleep. Her overtired-ness all day made a huge impact on her mood... so by the end of the day we were wishing we could have a birthday redo! I definitely wasn't patient enough with her on her special day, but we did manage to have some fun! We made her a birthday waffle (with a candle) for breakfast, made a dinner that she liked, and then we celebrated her birthday all weekend long before the actual day arrived.

I sure love this little girl and all of her cuddles and smiles!

4th Annual Buskirk Cookie Exchange

I admit wholeheartedly that the idea for this cookie exchange was not my idea. I stole the idea from my awesome party planning friend Kaari when we moved away from our old neighborhood. The first one only had 5 people at it (since Catie had just been born)... this year we had about 30. It was a lot of fun and so yummy! Here are some photos my friend Rachel took while I was chatting and playing hostess last night.

The judges agreed that everyone upped their game this year. The spread was even prettier and yummier than previous years.

Too bad my dining room light makes everything looks so yellowy...

We needed my whole dining room table extended plus my long buffet table in order to fit all the treats.

  
Jessie & her friend Pam even came up to join us. The kiddos were SO EXCITED to see Jessie! Catie had a really hard time sharing Jessie with Pam... it was kind of funny...

Here are photos of some of the party people!

And I can't forget the amazing judges. It was a great group this year. Catie & Andrew had fun sampling the cookies too. Catie basically put herself to sleep before the end of the party. I was impressed that she managed to sleep while the house was so loud.

Lindsey, Suzanne, and Laurel won! I am writing this down so that I remember for next year.

Here are posts to our past cookie exchanges... it is such a fun tradition!

• 2012 cookie exchange
• 2011 cookie exchange
• 2010 cookie exchange (a week after Catie was born)

Family Photo Craziness

Last week I decided I wanted to actually do family photos this year. I managed to snag a session with my friend Wendy and Jessie came up on Friday and helped me put together outfits for everyone. I hate that sort of thing... so was glad to have some help.  

I am seriously in love with necklace Jessie picked out for me to wear. She is seriously the best little sister ever and a rock star shopper. So grateful she got those skills so that she could help me... who is severely lacking in that department.

Now comes the waiting. Our photographer & friend Wendy is amazing... but that doesn't mean that all the little crazies cooperated. I sure hope we get something better than this for our Christmas card... or living room photo wall. Ryan is begging to finally have his photo up somewhere in our house! Crossing my fingers!

Ryan Turns One!

Ryan turned ONE on Sunday (October 27th). He is an absolute delight and seriously the happiest little kid. We LOVE him and enjoyed celebrating his birthday as a family doing his favorite things... eating food, playing with balloons & balls, and driving toy cars around. He is really easy to please.

Ryan would've been totally fine with just a balloon as his only birthday present, so we made sure to blow several of them up for him. He also had a birthday waffle that Kevin made him that he loved.

He looked so handsome in his special birthday shirt from Grandma Shari and loved the wrapping paper that came with the puzzle she sent.

The big kids had fun opening all of his presents and helping him play with them. They were actually really good at letting him have time to play with his toys too. He loved the puzzles, cars, and clothes that he got from Grandma Shari and Grandma Julie & Grandpa Kim. He felt very spoiled!

Sunday was a busy day of baking because I helped with a church event in the evening. I made probably 4 dozen pumpkin bars and pumpkin cookies and also made some mini funfetti bundt cakes for Ryan's family birthday party.

We made sure to give him the chocolate one so that he'd be extra messy... because first birthdays are way more fun with a mess!

Sampling...

Yum! Little dude started shaking because he was so excited about his yummy birthday treat.

He was such a cute birthday boy!

2013 Girls Trip to San Francisco

Over the summer when I was sleep deprived and dreaming of the days when I could go on a little getaway without my kids, Elise and I hatched a plan to have a short twinner girls trip to San Francisco. Kevin was super supportive and his mom even came into town to help him out a bit, so last Thursday night Elise arrived and we headed off to have fun!

Thursday night we picked up Jessie and headed to Cream in Palo Alto for some ice cream sandwiches. This was my third visit but the cookies tasted way better this time than the previous two times. I think being able to sit down and enjoy them without little people begging for bites of mine or dripping ice cream everywhere made the experience a little sweeter.

Friday morning we woke up and hiked the Stanford dish with Jessie. 

Then we got dressed & packed and headed up to SF for an afternoon of shopping and lunch and treats in the Marina. We ate lunch at A16, had treats at Susie Cakes, and then shopped till we dropped on Chestnut and over by Union Square and the Westfield Shopping Center. 

I had a mini cupcake and part of a brownie. Both were delish!

After all that shopping, we checked into our hotel down by Fisherman's Wharf and had a quick dinner at Boudin before heading on a walk down for dessert at Ghirardelli.

Elise and I are big fans of walking and working out on vacation so that we can eat loads of our favorite foods and not go home 10 pounds heavier :)

On Saturday morning we met our favorite friend (and old roommate) Liz for a run across the Golden Gate Bridge. The run was about 6 miles (to the bridge, across, back, and back to our cars) and my rock star sister ran the whole way at 30 weeks pregnant. We loved catching up while we ran.

Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with another trip to Susie Cakes... this time for the whoopie pies that Liz had been raving about. Yum Yum!

After our run, we went back to the hotel to drop a few things off and rest for a sec and then we walked down to the Ferry Building for the Farmers Market. I had never been to the Ferry Building, so had a blast roaming around. We had lunch at Gotts and then trekked back to our hotel. It was a three mile walk round trip... so I made sure to use my Charity Miles app so that I was earning $$ for Parkinsons every time we were moving.

After the farmers market we went over to Lands End for a hike. The weather in SF was seriously gorgeous all weekend. I got a little carried away hiking since the weather was so pretty and we probably hiked another 4 miles up and down hills/stairs... glad I didn't put Elise into early labor!

We finally showered and relaxed a bit around 5pm and then headed to Indian Oven for dinner with Jessie. We hadn't been to Indian Oven in over 10 years... but it was just as good as I remembered it. MMMMMmmm! Kevin and I will need to go back there again soon.

We rounded out the night with a trip to The Ice Cream bar for dessert. It was adorable and our sundaes were delicious. I think I might make it a new goal to try out all of the ice cream places in SF. 

The other highlight of the weekend was scoring a free bib for the Nike Womens 1/2 Marathon. We were chatting with a lady in line at Gotts. We were friendly and helpful and she offered Elise and I her bib for the 1/2 marathon because she wasn't going to be able to run after all. Elise wasn't sure her prego 30 week self was up for it... I am lazy and not in good enough shape... so we passed it off to Jessie who is in much better shape and she used it well!

I had to post these pics of Jessie because she is absolutely a running rock star and just cracks me up. Love having this adorable little sister as my friend. So proud of her for completing the 1/2 marathon!

I ended the girls weekend with an amazing 10 hour night of sleep... and then drove home this morning in time to see Andrew in the Ward Primary Program. So grateful for my super star husband for keeping the kids so happy all weekend and not destroying the house. :) Can't wait for our next girls trip!