Christi, Frank and Katie

She is Frank's daughter

2012-02-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

I know I have not blogged in forever! But way back in the beginning of February Frank brought home some black and red licorice. I immediately ate mine. Frank left his on the counter and Katie ate all but two bites and decided to save hers. I am not one who can resist candy. Put candy in front of me and it will be gone. Frank has always been able to resist candy, although put a sandwich in front of him and it would be gone.

Katie knew it was going to be difficult to resist so she wrapped the licorice in papertowel and had me put it up high. I was impressed since she could resist eating it at all and she thought to put it out of reach.

Anyone else find it odd we have brown papertowels that you find in a restroom?

Partner Stunting

2012-01-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

Sunday, my mom, dad, Aimee, Bree and I meet Barbi in Bellevue to watch Anthony cheer. Anthony and Ally (his girlfriend) did a partner stunt routine. This was kind of for fun since they had already entered their routine in a national competition. They were 10th out of the 20 in Nationals. It is amazing to me how far Anthony has come in a few short years. He didn't start cheering until 3 years ago and now he can do partner stunting! I am amazed!

Life according to Katie

2012-01-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

Katie has some funny things she calls things. It can make it difficult if you are trying to figure out what she is saying. Sometimes I think her hearing is not so good or I do not enunciate very good. So here are some things according to Katie. :-) There are more but I can't think of them right now. Enjoy!

Who is this?

Nope, not Chewbacca but Chewing Gum

What is this?

Nope, these people are not arguing instead they are argumenting

Where do you find video games?

Nope, not in an Arcade but in an RPG

Who do you call this from Annie?

Nope, not Ms. Hannigan but Ms. Pannigan

Teaching . . . FAIL!

2012-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to do some homeschooling stuff with Katie on days she goes to pre-school. We have been working on letters and sounds. She has expressed no interested in sight words or blending letters together to read. But she really loves writing and could write all day! She asks how to spell things all the time and dictates stories all the time. The only thing I have found she does not like working with is numbers. She will do anything with numbers up to 5 but past that she will change the subject or try to work on something else.

Katie also loves working on projects so last Monday we spent some time working on Martin Luther King Jr. We watched some Youtube videos of his famous speech and pictures of him. We talked about his dream and what it meant. About how he wanted peace and everyone to be treated equally. We saw something about the bus boycott and talked about how if we rode he bus we wouldn't be able to sit in the back of thebus like she likes too. I mentioned a girl in her pre-school who is African American. Then we did a project where Katie thought up a dream.

I did dots that she traced for her dream.

I was thinking I was doing such a good job . . . then Frank came home. We sat down for dinner and Frank started asking about her day. I said how we did a project on MLK and this is the conversation that happened.

Frank: Who is MLK?
Katie: Somebody who didn't want people to be able to drink from the same drinking fountain.
Me: He didn't want them to drink from the same fountain or he did want them too?
Katie: He didn't want them too. He wanted blacks to have to sit in the back of the bus.

BIG FAIL!

The Doctor is in

2012-01-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

Katie has been into playing doctor . . . no not that kind of doctor. She created a doctors office with business cards and everything the other day. Then she would call you in and play doctor. She would take your temperature, give you a shot (which she took a lot of enjoyment out of) and anything else she could think of. It was pretty fun to play with her.

Doctor
Open for
business

her business card

Thank you Aunt Janene!

2012-01-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

Katie received a card with money it from Aunt Janene. I have never seen Katie more excited for money. She threw it in the air and rolled around in it. She put it in her cash register and her Polly Safe. She was saving it for a Build-a-Bear but spent $4 on a book she wanted.

Katie gets a book order every month through school. Since I am addicted to books I order every month. I ask Katie if there are any she wants and I will take her ideas into consideration. :-) She normally wants books that come with things and I would rather go for books alone! This past month she said there wasn't anything she wanted then she saw an Alvin and the Chipmunks book she wanted. So I made her take money out of her bank to buy it. I felt like a mean mother but I had already spent my budget.

Little Sister

2012-01-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Katie enjoys playing with her American Girl Doll. Although she goes through phases where she will play with her a lot and then set her aside. I brought Katie's old car seat up to take pictures to try to sell it (if you know someone who wants one let me know.) Of course, little sister had to get buckled in it. It does really amaze me how similiar Katie and Little Sister look like each other.

Roasting Marshmellows

2012-01-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

Lumberjacks

2012-01-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

We played lumberjacks this weekend. One of the trees my parents had cut down was over the driveway of the rental so we spent Saturday and Sunday morning cleaning the tree up. They still have several more trees to cut down and there are already two on the ground. We have a lot of weekends ahead to play lumberjack!

Frank and I both were not nearly as sore as we thought we would be. His back and chest are a little sore from chain sawing. All I did was move branches which is more walking than anything.

Here is when the pile was just started.

Here is the tree when we were just starting.

The after - the pile sure doesn't look all that big when I look at these pictures but when I see the before picture it does.

I feel sorry for the person who has to split this log. I think we counted three places were you could start splitting it.

Wii Dancing

2012-01-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

Katie received Wii Dancing for Kids from Santa. We have had some good family times with the game so far. Katie is not real good at the moves but it is funny to watch her.

Tea Party List

2012-01-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

When grandma was over Katie really wanted to have a tea party with her. Since we were going grocery shopping Katie wrote out a list of what she needed for her tea party. It is really funny because she will not blend letters together to try to read but she will to write. She loves to write and writes everything. She asks me how to spell things all the time. Most of the time I can say "what sound do you hear next?" and she will figure it out. Other times I will give her the sound and she will write it down. Very rarely will I need to give her the sound. I love watching her write.

She doesn't have the best letter formation and her e's are very strange. She draws a straight line down and then makes the e shape around it. Strange.

Milk
Carrots
Holee Cheese
Each item has a check after it since we bought it all.

Amazing

2012-01-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

My parents had some trees cut down at their rental house this past week. We were up cleaning up one of the trees when Bobby Bailey came to "down" two of the trees. It is amazing to me how fast he did it. The tree below I timed how long it took him to de-limb and put it on the ground and it was less than 20 minutes. It took us 1 1/2 days to clean up ONE tree. This tree was probably up 5 to 8 feet in the air. He climbed on top and delimbed his way down. Then he climbed down and walked amongst the limbs and cut the bottom. It was pretty amazing!

Before

After

New Carseat

2012-01-14T22:41:00.000-08:00

I am an over protective mom. I know that. I try not to be but I always seem to be. I have watched other moms move their 4 or 3 year olds to a regular booster seat. Me, I move Katie to a new 5 point harness that switches to a booster seat.

For some reason (maybe because I am mental) I am sometimes very paranoid about getting in a car accident with Katie. I have felt very guilty about buying a used car seat for our last carseat. I really wanted the Britax brand but they are super expensive. So I found 2 on craigslist for the price of one. But I have never felt they were really safe. Every time I would buckle Katie in I would feel like I was putting my child in danger. Then I would start to think of how I would feel if we got in an accident.

So I started to research the next seat up. Katie is size ready for a booster but I don't feel she is ready. She still falls asleep in her car seat frequently. She is a mover and I am not sure sitting in a booster would be enough to keep her still and in the seat belt correctly. I really liked the Britax Frontier but it was over $200. Frank was not real excited about spending so much money on another car seat. This would be our 4th (infant, Evenflo convertible, Britax and now this one). Frank was buying some stuff for our new camera so I put a car seat into the cart and with one click I bought it and I felt great! I did feel a little guilty about how expensive it was but I am ok with the expense.

The seat was expensive but I LOVE the seat. We have only had it a few days but I love it! It has two cup holders or as Katie says a cup holder and a snack holder. This means when we eat lunch in the car every Monday and Wednesday I don't have to keep handing her back her drink. Wednesday's lunch was nice.

I also love how when you click a strap in it actually clicks. I never realized how our old car seat didn't do this. This will be the last car seat we need to buy Katie. It was expensive but it will be the last. It keeps her sitting correctly in the seat when she falls asleep. I feel comfortable putting her in the car. I feel comfortable driving with her in the car.

This was Thursday while driving home at a stop light.

Caroling

2012-01-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

Katie wanted to go caroling all season! She really wanted to go around our neighborhood but I didn't really want too. Finally, I found a group who was going and we joined them. I kind of knew the people who were organizing it. They all worked at the county which is where my mom and dad worked. Katie was the youngest child there and didn't know any of the songs. Barely anyone knew the songs. Some of the people were really serious about caroling. After we left, I asked her how she enjoyed it and she said "I don't think caroling is for me."

Self portrait before heading out. Katie was practicing.

Tracing Ms. Tami

2012-01-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ms. Tami had the wonderful idea to make snowballs in class on Wednesday. The kids would crunch up paper towels and have a snowball fight. Katie went with this idea and said they should trace Ms. Tami and then they would throw snowballs at her. Ms. Tami (Being the great teacher she is) went with this.

Katie was the lucky girl who got to trace Ms. Tami. Katie did not do such a hot job of tracing her. Ms. Tami looks like she is a hunchback and she has webbed hands. They kids all were able to color Katie's tracing and you could not tell what it was so I didn't take an after picture.

Jump Katie Jump

2012-01-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Katie's preschool sings the same songs at circle each day. The kids love the songs and will beg to be able to sing them. I was able to video tape most of the Jump song. If you heard the whole song you will be singing it ALL day so be thankful I only caught the last bit.

Cake for Jesus

2012-01-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

Katie had the great idea of making a cake for Jesus and burning it on a burn pile. Then the cake would go up to Heaven in the smoke. We would write everyone who has died that Katie's knows on the cake. Then burn it, of course, after we each had a piece of cake. :-) It was a beautiful night. Perfect for a Christmas Eve bon fire. Although Katie stayed inside most of the night it was fun to burn a cake. Sometimes, she is such a thoughtful little girl I am not sure where she gets it. :-)

Getting the fire going

Cake - which I took a picture before getting everyones name on it.

Dinner!

Katies tray - Just joking

Frank putting the cake on the fire

Nothing like listening to propane when starting a fire. :-)

Who is it?

2012-01-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

We received Hailey and Dane's school pictures in the mail. Katie promptly took them and put them on the wall. Funny thing was she replaced other people's faces with their pictures. I thought it was pretty cute and I am not biased at all!

Half Birthday

2012-01-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

Katie half birthday is in December. Normally, we do not do anything for half birthdays but with her birthday being after pre-school gets out she misses celebrating with her class. Last year she didn't get a birthday book from her classmates and ~~she~~ I really wanted one this year. So this year I made sure we celebrated her half birthday. She was calendar girl too!

Very classy birthday girl - picking her butt

Katie wanted to bring cupcakes with the same stuff we used to make Anthony's cake (Fondant). It is pretty easy so I made some up and we decided to make letters for each kid. We also make some gift baggies with these cute notebooks. I have to admit I almost had a nervous breakdown on them. I tried to make them myself but just couldn't do it so I had to rush to my moms the day of the party and have her make them for me. It was a fun day and now Katie has a birthday book!

This picture has nothing to do with her birthday but the week before we were snack and we brought snowman faces. They were super easy to make and had frosting so most the of the kids ate the frosting.

Half Court Shot

2012-01-10T06:37:00.000-08:00

Katie decided she wanted to try to make a half court shot at Nanny's basketball game. She missed but it was fun watching her.

Hair Cut

2012-01-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

Katie had her first "real" hair cut last month. I took her when I went to get my hair cut. She was kind of excited for it. I had trimmed Katie's bangs before but have never done a real good job. And get very frustrated when I cut her bangs so decided I would rather pay. :-) I was a little nervous about taking her. But we talked about it before hand and decided instead of cutting a lot off we would just trim it. She helped Jennifer cut my hair and then it was Katie's turn. Katie did a great job of holding still. I was impressed and her hair is a lot easier to comb now too!

Katies Thoughts on . . .

2012-01-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

Franks Family!

I am not even sure what we were talking about but somehow Judy started to ask Katie about all the members of Franks family. Her answers were pretty dang cute and for the most part spot on.

Roy - gives lots of high fives and has a big tummy
Chris - nice and has a big tummy
Rick - he carried me back into the house when I fell, he is nice
Rose - kind, shows everybody stuff and laughs a lot
Judy - kind of nice, told people what to do
Mike - kind of good
Frank - I love him and I kiss him a lot, he loves me a lot
Bill - always trying to help his kids
Jim - Has a beach at his house
Tony - I don't him very well, he doesn't come around a lot

She did it!!!

2012-01-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Katie saved enough money for her American Girl Doll. She started saving in September. Ok, it was really me saving all my spare change. BUT Katie did save any money she received from people. She would also have to choose when we would go out shopping. She could get whatever she wanted or save it for her American Girl doll. She would normally choose to save it. We developed a thermometer and would fill it in. I was impressed with how patient she was in saving for it. When Christmas came I was surprised she didn't ask Santa for one but when I said something she said "I am saving for her." Finally - she made it!

After her dentist appointment we headed towards the mall. We didn't tell her where we were going. Once we arrived at the mall we walked by Build-A-Bear and she really wanted one. I asked if she wanted a build-a-bear or American Girl Doll and she had to think about it. I couldn't believe it but looking back I don't think she knew we could buy one at the mall.

It was as exciting as I thought it would be for Katie. I was shocked at how busy the store was. People were everywhere! Several of the dolls in the Just Like You section were sold out. Thankfully the line was not too bad.

Katie wanted the Just Like You doll with short hair and bangs. After we found the doll, we let Katie pick out an outfit. She wanted many outfits (gift certificates or outfits are a future gift idea for her) but finally settled on a soccer girl outfit. (I know I was shocked too.) We bought the doll and headed out!

Frank and Katie opened her while I ran into the next store. She has been several places with us. Katie named her Katie so it can get confusing. We end up calling her Little Sister most of the time. I am not real sure Katie realizes that most of the doll clothes she has will fit Little Sister and sticks to the clothes she came with or the soccer outfit. We have not had a lot of time to just sit and play with her but hopefully we will in the coming weeks. Now she is saving for a build-a-bear. :-)

Transporter anyone?

2012-01-05T16:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard the commercial on the radio where the mom says something about her child slamming the door and yelling something at her? If you want you can buy her transporter to transport kids. You can transport kids anywhere using her transporter. Just ask Katie.

Katie has been telling me about a transporter for the last few days and I had no idea what she was talking about. Then the commercial comes on this morning and it all makes sense. I think Katie would really like to buy it. It would be funny to buy it and try to transport her into a good child. :-) Just joking! Katie is a very good girl. We could not have better.

Yikes

2012-01-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Frank went to make a eggnog shake in our bullet yesterday and totally broke it! It had nothing to do with the Oreo blizzards I made right before hand. He pushed down and there was a load clank. We have not used it a lot but now we won't use it at all! if anyone has one and wants the cups and other items let me know.

Chestnuts roasting on . . .

2012-01-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

a pretend fake fire! My mom and dad bought us a electric fireplace for Christmas. We have had it for several weeks now but the box was really heavy. For some reason, I never thought to open it and take it uppiece by piece. But yesterday Frank, Jordan and my dad did. They put it together and we got it in place last night. I LOVE IT! It actually works out nice since now Katie can have her movies in the fireplace and our movies and Wii games can be in the old stand. It is really cheesy but I love fire and I can't wait to sit right in front of it and warm up.

Yes, that is an antennae in the back of our TV. We do not have cable so we use the equivalent of bunny ears. We don't get a lot of channels but that works for us. Helps us not watch so much TV.

And yes, Katie does have a lot of books. This is only 1 of 3 bookcases in our house but I just LOVE books. I might even love books more than then fireplace.

Another trip to the dentist!

2012-01-03T16:41:00.000-08:00

Katie had her last cavity filled towards the end of December. Frank went with us. This time I remembered to bring her own glasses (one point for mom). As usual Katie was a pro. The assistant was telling us how everyone was in the office was talking before they opened about how great a patient Katie is. They were wishing some of their adult patients would be as great as Katie. Now we have a few months off before her cleaning.

Snowflake Lane

2011-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

Aimee, Bree and I headed down to Bellevue Square to check out Snowflake Lane. I have heard great things about it and have had friends go in the past and love it! I was not impressed at ALL! The crowds were horrible! We couldn't get to see any of the characters really. There were no lines for any of them and people would step in front of you. Katie did a fantastic job shopping all day and dealing with the crowds! It was a fun day spent with Aimee and Bree and Katie.

Katie' ~~making out~~ funny face picture

Jingle Bell Run

2011-12-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Early in December some of us heading downtown to do the Jingle Bell Run. We have done the run for the last few years with the amgen team. It is always fun to dress up and go for a 5K run. There is so many people at this run that every year I tell myself I am not going to do it again next year but I always do! The weather was great this year. Last year, it was POURING!

Katie waving to Santa

Katie and I waited down the road from the start. It was too crowded for me to get to the start with the stroller. To past time, Katie and I took self pictures.

Katie's new funny face is to ~~make-out~~ give me a kiss.

Going strong to the finish

Waiting for the carousel

Katie using her reins to guide her horse

Tree hunting

2011-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

It is always an adventure going tree hunting with our family. We really like cheap or free trees. We have found the last few in my moms yard. This year we found a few we need to trim up for future years. Maybe we will have a tree that when ~~people~~ Alees walk into our house they don't say "That is the most ridiculous tree I have ever seen."

Future tree

Ding Ding Ding - the winner!

Nothing better than tree hunting with a tutu and coffee

Always need to have a potty stop. I didn't put the picture of Frank taking his own potty stop since he doesn't like to be on the blog.

Gingerbread House Contest

2011-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving I tried to do a graham cracker house contest. I was going to post the pictures on the blog and on FB and have people vote but I totally forgot about it. So here are the houses. Just because there is a person in the picture, it does not mean they are the owner of the house. Feel free to vote in the comments for your favorite.

House 1

House 2

House 3

House 4

House 5

House 6

House 8

House 9

House 10

Thanksgiving

2011-12-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

I tried to get a family photo at Thanksgiving but sometimes I feel it is just not worth it to fight everyone in getting a picture! For the most part people are for it but there are some rotten apples in the family who drive me crazy and think family photos are not worth it. It is mostly men who are the issue. So sometimes I just try to hurry and get it done and the pictures turn out this these! The first one is a funny photo but not the best picture!

White kids can't jump

2011-12-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

I have always thought the pictures where families are jumping are such fun so we tried to get one with the grandkids. It took awhile and I don't think we ever got a good one. If they were all older it might have been a little easier. It was fun to try to get one. Maybe with my new camera we would be able to get one. Should try this New Year!

Sisters . . . Sisters

2011-12-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

The sisters decided we should do some photos with other backgrounds. The weather was perfect for pictures! The children refused to get out of the car so Bree took the picture from the car with the window rolled down. We had fun taking pictures!

Olly cat has a Christmas Wish

2011-12-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Aimee's cat Olly is an inside cat. She is inside and does not go outside even though I think she really really wants too! When I was leaving it was just too cute not to take some pictures of her.

Ford Fam Holiday Picture

2011-12-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving we try to take family pictures. Normally we have everyone go take them but this year mom and dad were off doing something so it was just the kids and grandkids out. The weather was horrible! ~~Someone~~ I had the great idea of taking them out at the forts for a different background but we headed to a barn to take some where it was a little warmer. My camera isn't the best (Hint Hint Santa) but we had a few cameras so everyone got a good picture. :-)

Decorating the Tree

2011-12-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

We decorated our tree awhile ago. Katie loved decoarting it! We had some red tinsel I got in a basket awhile ago that Katie suggested we put on the tree. I have been wanting to get rid of it and this seems like a perfect time. :-) We are not big on having a perfect tree since we go with free ones each year. I think it turned out great. Besides the whole falling over part. Now the backside of our tree has no lights since they are moved towards the middle when the tree fell.

Maybe, just maybe, the huge amount of tinsel on this side of the tree might have helped in the tree falling over. Please note - this was not the side I decorated. :-)

Grandmooms Card

2011-12-23T10:03:00.000-08:00

Katie made Grandmoom a card with Auntie Aim's scrapbook stuff. She made Grandmoom with a hat holding a cupcake. I was pretty impressed!

Greening of Coupeville

2011-12-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

OMG! I just had to do the OMG. I really don't like the texting version of things. :-) But I have not blogged about the Greening of Coupeville. It was a great night. kind of cold but not too bad. I did forget my coat so I might have been colder than the average person. Katie loves being in the parade and talks about how she is going to be a reindeer for weeks. Although we didn't really get a costume like she wanted.

This is her reindeer pose

Being a reindeer

santa, his reindeer and his elf

Ready to go!

Grandmooms Birthday

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

This year Grandmoom's birthday was almost forgotten, well, not forgotten but she almost didn't get a cake! Yikes! But we managed to pull things together and get her a cake. Mom has always had a ~~love~~/hate/hate relationship with slugs. So we made her a slug cake. She knew what it was right away! Hopefully, she had a good birthday!

Bellevue Botanical Garden

2011-12-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

A few Friday's ago we meet our friends the Thomassons for dinner and a walk through the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It is always fun to catch up with the Thomasson's. We don't see them very often but always have a good time. They have a little girl, Analise, who is a little over a year younger than Katie and a newbornish boy.

The gardens were just gorgeous. It amazes me that people can figure out how to get lights to look like all the animals, plants, water features. I can barely get our bushes to look half way decent. Most of the items were just bunches of lights. They number of lights is amazing too! Makes me wonder when they start getting ready for it. The cost was fairly reasonable too! It wasn't too busy. It was a great night!

The girls - love how Katie is giving Analise a hug!

Bishop Family Photo

2011-12-21T20:12:00.001-08:00

This was the best and one of the only pictures I have of Aimee and her family!

Fun times with cousins

2011-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

We celebrated get together with the Marti's around Thanksgiving. It was fun to have everyone over and visit. We have not done things like this in the past. I am pretty nervous about having people over to my house since I am not the best house cleaner but I figure someone has to host it and our house is kind of central. At one point, I went to check on the kids and found them all on our bed reading books. It was one of the sweetest things!

Jump Planet

2011-12-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

I bought a pass to Jump Planet. It is in the building next door ot where Frank works so I figure Katie and I could head that way do some jumping and visiting Frank for lunch. We went for the first time a few Fridays ago. Frank picked up up at the ferry and Katie and I went to jump. It was SOOO FUN! I can't wait to go again. They had about 9 bounce houses and there was maybe 40-50 kids there. Enough room for everyone to play and not run into each other. Parents can jump too! Katie was a pro at climbing all the houses. She made a few friends who had a little more trouble than her. We both had a lot of fun static hair and all!

Katie's Tree

2011-12-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

Last year I learned early on that Katie loved to take ornaments off the tree and then put them on the tree. So we went out and bought her a tree of her own. She has a bowl of ornaments that are just hers and they are to stay around her tree. Last year it helped keep her little paws off our tree but this year not so much. She also has a creche she plays with and moves around. Right now they are all on the window sill instead of in front of the tree where they started. She will sit and play with baby Jesus for hours!

I think one of my sayings is "the ornaments stay on our tree. You can take yours off and on." This year we I have had to be pretty hard since out tree is not real stable. She loves to crawl under and around the tree. I have had to threaten that we will have to take the tree out of the house if she continues to play under it.

Christmas Party

2011-12-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

Katie's pre-school had a Christmas party. It was at the rec hall and the kids are always wild! The potluck dinner was good. Although by the time we reach the tables the Mac N Cheese we brought was pretty much gone. Well, Katie didn't get any but I did. :-) Katie did great performing and sang the songs (for the most part). She even did a solo. Then Santa came and the evening was over. As much as I love the co-op I am excited to be out of it next year.

Challenge

2011-12-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

I find that I don't get out and run even thought I think of it often so taking off of Tall Mom http://www.tallmomontherun.com/ I challenged my family (and anyone else reading the blog) to run/walk at least one mile a day. You can walk or run the mile but it has to be in addition to any walking you would do in your day to day life. You don't have to run the mile but need to go at least one mile. The challenge it to go 15 days in a row so a day until the end of the year. You can go more than 1 mile but you have to go at least one mile. So are you in?

Day one - Frank and I have both gone 1 mile :-) Challenge is ON! Barbi and mom also went thier miles! Did you?

Santa by Katie Marti, Age 4

2011-12-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just chillin

2011-12-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

Katie takes Grandmooms cushions and move them all over. Her lastest is to move the back cushion as the bottom cushion. Then she sits back and relaxes or draws pictures. She certainly has her own way of going about things.

Santa came to Grandmoom and Papa Paul's house . . .

2011-12-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

via the fire truck! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the island does Santa on fire trucks! Last night Santa was suppose to go by my parents house but they forgot. Really, Santa never forgets anything? But he did. My dad was not on the truck last night and had a few people call him asking if they came down the road or not. My dad called the fire department and they forgot. Someone else told me they forgot a road in Ledgewood and Teronda too! YIKES! Good for us though since we are staying at my parents house tonight so we got to see Santa!

You can hear them coming down the road and Katie and I started to run down the driveway. We grabbed a flashlight but it went out about half way down the driveway. Katie was so excited! She knows it is Papa Paul but was still excited. My parents live on a dead-end street so we waited at the end of the driveway until the fire truck came back around. As Katie and I waited, we tried to take a picture or two or three. My battery is dead (not a good things since I forgot the charger and have many events to take pictures of the next few days) so I borrowed my moms camera.

take 1

take 3 - I didn't include the one of my sleeve or pear black

best you are gonna get

Then he came BACK! The BEST SANTA EVER came back past our driveway! The firefighters gave out candy canes.

Pros: BEST SANTA, good music, real beard
Cons: They seemed in a hurry, didn't give out any fire safety info

Santa came to our house . . .

2011-12-13T21:04:00.001-08:00

via the fire truck! We have always watched Santa on the fire truck at my parents house but this year we saw him at our house! It was so fun but different from seeing Santa at our house.

Positives: he was lower so he could see people on the streets, he had a walkie talkie to talk to the people in the truck, he had a mic so he talked to people on the street, he had elves and a safety person (Person with a vest)
Cons: his beard was fake and OFF HIS FACE

I asked Katie later if he was the real Santa and she said no because he had a microphone. Then I asked her if that was the only reason and she said he didn't have a real beard. Funny the most important thing was his microphone. I think she thinks the Elves were real though.

Attack of the birds

2011-12-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Katie and I picked up Frank at work. He told us he wouldn't be ready to leave until around 4:45 but we got there at 4:30 . . . and proceeded to see Frank playing Foozball! He did stop once he saw us but sheesh. He is becoming quite an addict I think.

So we pull up and see thousands of CROWS on his building, in the trees, flying around, everywhere! It was so scary! Frank said the birds are there every day. These pictures do no do justice to what it really looked like.

Village

2011-12-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

I know it takes a village to raise and child and I do believe it! Grandma came over the other day and built a village with Katie. They had a story to go along with the village and worked on it for quite awhile. It was nice for me since I could clean and get ready for our upcoming hosting of a get together. I can't remember ~~half~~ any of the stories that went a long with the village. But it certainly was a work of art!

Katie's Sayings

2011-12-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

I know all 4 year olds have some whooper stories and sayings they tell but Katie seems to have many!

We were driving to another dentist appointment yesterday and she finally figure out Christmas is the day Jesus was born. We have read the Bible story a million times and talked about what Christmas is but for some reason it never connected until yesterday. She then went on to say "we should invited everyone over to Grandma's house and start a big fire. You know the big pile dad has. Then we can make a cake and put it on the fire to send it to Heaven to Jesus. Well we could eat a piece first. We could put some pieces for Andrea and Aunt Judy."

She has been watching an animal tv show. She knows the name and Grandmoom knows the name but I don't. :-) Katie was telling me facts and asked me "Mom, do you know orphans are killer whales?"

Ms. Tami gave her some stickers with an owl that is wearing a graduation cap. Katie says "Momma, why did Ms. Tami give me a sticker with a graduator? Does she think I am a graduator?"

I love how she hears and repeats things. It just cracks me up!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree . . .

2011-12-08T10:44:00.001-08:00

What happened while we were sleeping? Although I guess you can't really tell from this picture but our tree fell over last night or early this morning. Frank and I righted it and tied it to the door. :-) I think we have had very few years when our tree is NOT tied to something. Now we need to fix it tonight. I didn't even get to post it decorated before it fell over. Oh Well!

Dentist

2011-11-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Katie has a horrible mouth! She has had cavities since she first had teeth. It has been horrible. We went to a pediatric dentist who basically told me it was my fault. Started saying something happened in the womb and it went downhill from there. They filled two cavities and it was horrible. (I posted about it on 6/18/10 if you want to go back and check it out. I can't figure out how to attached it so you can click.) We switched dentists and I have been so happy. She no longer goes to a pedantic dentist. I was a little worried and Frank went with us for the first check-up. He told us that she has deep cracks in her teeth that have caused some of the cavities. I start crying right then. I felt so much better.

Anyway, she has about 3 cavities she needs filled and the first one was done in early November. Katie did AWESOME! I was so impressed. They numbed her cheek, gave her the numbing shot and then while they waited they put some sealant on her bottom teeth. Then the dentist came back and filled a upper tooth. I think her mouth was open for almost 30 minutes straight. Katie didn't complain once. Sometimes she would start to close it and we would have to remind her to keep it open and she would! I think she did better than I do at the dentist.

I had bought some squeaky squishy earlier when I saw them on sale and that was what she wanted for her reward. As soon as she sat up she asked for them! Thankfully, we were meeting grandma Judy for lunch otherwise I might have bought Katie anything she wanted she did such a great job!

Chillaxin

2011-11-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

This was how Katie wanted to watch WV. Curled up besides me with her feet up. It was pretty dang cute. She loves to have her feet and head up. Sometimes I will wake up at night and she will have her head on me and her feet up on Frank. Silly girl!

While dad's away . . .

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

Frank went to the Husky game last month and for the FIRST time ever I stayed at our house by myself with Katie of course! I was very proud of myself for staying by myself. I have never liked staying by myself. I don't need someone to talk to but I just want someone in my house with me. Not sure why that is.

To treat ourselves and to make for easy dinner Katie and I had TV dinners. Katie was very excited to have them. The dinner was Katie's pick and she remembered us having them probably over a year ago! She kept saying she wanted the dinner with the blue plastic thing. I had no clue what she was talking about but she went right to them in the store! I didn't think it was the best but Katie liked them!

We were in bed early with lights out maybe 30 minutes before normal. For some reason, when it is just one of us home we can get Katie to bed early. we both slept pretty good. Then for breakfast we made cinnamon rolls. They were delicious! We even ate out in the living room at Katie's little table. Overall, it was a good girls night!

of course we had to eat without shirts - or at least Katie ate without a shirt!

Toilet Heads

2011-11-26T20:13:00.000-08:00

I know I blogged about Katie and her toilet head before but I found the one of Judy. Pretty similar. They were two peas in a pod. Sometimes I really wish Katie would have had more time. She doesn't remember Grandma Vi and has some vague memories of Papa Roy. I hope she has some more of Judy but Katie is only 4 so who knows. We do have a photo book of Judy with stories other people have of her. Hopefully, this will help keep the memory alive. Cancer just really really sucks!

Funny sayings

2011-11-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

We were driving to OH the other day and noticed a house right before you reach the first light had been torn down. Katie said "That is sad the house was torn down. I think they will build a mini mall." Where does she even know the term mini mall?

Then she was calling Frank over and said "Hey there Big Tummy, Big Buddy, Daddy. Can you come back here?" It was pretty funny!

Teriyaki Dinner

2011-11-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Frank brought home Teriyaki on Friday. Katie loves fancy dinner Teriyaki. Not sure where she gets that take-out teriyaki is fancy. It was movie night so we had fancy dinner while watching Cars 2 which seems to be Katie's new favorite movie. She will be the characters sometimes when she plays and has been playing spies a lot.

using her chopsticks

watch TV or eat dinner?

Using very fancy dinner manners

Thankful Feast

2011-11-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

Katies preschool had a Thankful Feast the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Frank took the day off so he was there with us. Whenever I go to preschool I am thankful Katie has Ms. Tami as a teacher. She is so patient with her. Katie can be a ~~handful~~ leader in class. The class made stone soup before the feast and then ate the soup during the feast. ~~Katie~~ Frank liked the soup. It had onions in it so Katie was not about to eat it and neither was I.

She certainly is a Marti!

Leaf Pile

2011-11-22T10:07:00.000-08:00

Katie wanted to play in the leaves the other day so I rake them into a pile. She had fun running, jumping and throwing them. I was freezing outside so we didn't stay outside long. She would start down by the car and run and jump. She had a fun time!

Sleepy Big Girl

2011-11-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

I went in to get Katie the other morning and she looked like such a big girl. It is hard to imagine that next year she will be going to Kindergarten.

This is why Frank doesn't read ADs . . .

2011-11-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

After preschool on Wednesday Frank wanted to head to OH. He had read the Albertson and Safeway ads and wanted to get a turkey. Why did he want a turkey? I don't know. We are not planning on doing Thanksgiving but maybe we will need too. I had FOUR things on my list that might have totaled $20. We needed to spend $50 to get the $.31 cent turkey. But as Frank roamed the aisle he found some good deals. Like spaghetti sauce for $1 but you had to buy TEN! It didn't matter to him that we never eat spaghetti and when we do he is the only one who eats sauce. He wanted to put 10 jars in our cart. I talked him into just four and we could get 6 boxes of crackers which we would use. He said the crackers wasn't a good deal so we only bought 4 boxes of crackers. We did find two more items so we got the $5 off. Phwew! We did save almost 50% of our bill. But now we have about 1000 cans of corn and soup. :-) Not sure I will take him grocery shopping again for awhile.

No Shave November

2011-11-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

We have a few family participants in this great event. Neither are registered but they sure look cute!

Trick or Treating Round 3 or is it 4 or 5

2011-11-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

I just can't remember. Katie went trick or treating so much this year to many different places. This was the annual trick or treating with Nanny. We go to grandparents and family. Katie is really the only trick or treating aged child on the Island so she is ~~spoiled~~ loved! Our first stop with Grandmooms and Papa Pauls.

Can you tell what Nanny is? It might be hard without being able to read her shirt. The Frisbee wheel might give it away since she is truck driver.

Then we headed off to Grandpas. We have the cutest picture from a few years ago with Nanny and Katie walking down the path to his house. We tried to duplicate it but it didn't quite work. This one is pretty cute though.

Then after ~~Breeanna almost killed us~~ we left Grandpas we headed to Jake's house. Jake's is Bree's new boyfriend. He wasn't home at first and Bree wouldn't get out of the car so Katie had to look in the windows. She ended up getting a HUGE handful of candy here.

Then it was off to Rick and Glenda's house. Katie was excited to head here. She loves visiting with people. Katie would most likely be their only trick or treater and again she was ~~spoiled~~ loved! They gave her a trick or treat container along with a coloring book and some candy. The big hit was a marshmallow lollipop. Glenda even had cookies for the adults!

It was a great evening. Our plan was to head home and stop at a few houses in our neighborhood but our Ninja was too poop out! Another great Halloween for the books.

The words you never want to hear at 3:47 am.

2011-11-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

"Mom, Mama, MAMA, MOOOOMM! I am tired. I think I will go to sleep." I would much rather hear them at 7pm.

She had been asleep but felt a desire to wake me up and tell me she was ready to go to sleep. Thank you Katie!

In the early evenings when we drive home from school I have had to keep a conversation going so she won't go to sleep and then stay up forever at night. The other day she said "Mom, you are being rude. I don't want to talk. I want to sleep because I stay up all night and wants to sleep right now!"

Winner Winner . . .

2011-11-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Katie won the bookmark contest through the Coupeville library! She spent some time on her bookmark and had an idea going into creating it. I told her the theme "Adventures" and I didn't really think she got it. But she must have since her bookmark won!

Thursday we went to a reception for the winners. There were three age categories; preschool/kindergarten, first - third grade and fourth - sixth grade. We invited everyone we know who lives on the Island to go to the reception and grandma, Uncle Dan, Auntie Aim, Glenda and Rick all showed up. We were even surprised by Grandmoom and Papa Paul showing up. They must have gone over the speed limit to make it back from Whistler in time!

A local artist, Pierr Morgan, was there to present the awards. Funny thing is I have a book of hers that I used in teaching. Then the night before the presentation Katie had randomly grabbed a book and it was illustrated by her.

Katie did a great job accepting the award and at the reception. The library did a great job of putting on the reception. Katie received a frame bookmark, a frames certificate and a thing of markers. We also received about 30 bookmarks to give away to family.

Trick or Treating Round 3

2011-11-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

Katie did a lot of trick or treating this year. She didn't go house to house but did a lot of other stuff. She certainly received plenty of candy. One of the apartment buildings that is for people who need assistance or low income invited Katie's pre-school to come trick-or-treating. Frank started off taking Katie and I joined later. There was a parent who was late picking up thier child and I told Ms. Tami I would stay. It is always funny to me who different dads are from moms. When I caught up with them Katie did not bag and Frank was using her hat as the bag. There was a bag in the car. There was three levels for them to go to and many doors. Some of the people gave out penny rolls and others gave bags with a piece of licorice in it but most gave out a few pieces of candy. The residents all seemed to love seeing the kiddos.

Trick or Treating Round 2

2011-11-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

Katie went trick or treating with her class at pre-school. She went as a witch. They walked to down town and stopped at two stores and then headed back up past the church to the bank. it was beautiful but very cold! Many of the kiddos were pretty tired after from walking. There is a good hill they have to walk up. It was fun to watch people as they drove by looking at the kiddos walking.

For those of you who know Coupeville, yes this is Toby's!

Frank took the day off and was able to join us. I just love this picture! What a great daddy!

Her class with the scarecrow.

Trick or treating at the bank. They each received a piece of candy AND a piggy bank.

Future fashionesta?

2011-11-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Maybe? Maybe not? You decide.

We did make her change the shoes since she can't walk in them and we brushed her hair. :-)

Safety First

2011-11-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

When we drive up Judy's driveway sometimes Katie will ask to be out of her carseat. She loves to help drive and just be out of her car seat. She normally will put the seat belt on where ever she sits. It is pretty cute and makes me think when she grows up she will always wear a seat belt! Maybe I am doing something right.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

We carved pumpkins! Well Katie carved a pumpkin. It had been a long week for me and I was just not into it. Horrible mom I know. Katie and Frank got everything ready. Katie drew a picture on hers of what she wanted and they got to work. I was planning on decorating mine with things like feathers, etc. but just never got into it.

Katie had no problem getting her hands in the pumpkin. She put it right in there and LOVEd playing in it the squishy stuff. They pulled out the seeds and roasted them. Although I am not sure they liked them all that much since we still have the bag of seeds.

I just realized I didn't take an after picture. Horrible Horrible mom! Yikes!

Future drummer

2011-11-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

She set up the drum set herself. I don't think she has ever done this before. I thought she was over this stage but I must say I didn't mind her music. :-)

Better watch out . . .

2011-11-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

you better not leave your candy around because Grandmoom is coming around! :-)

* she was going through the bag with Katie's permission. Katie told her to find her favorite candy in the bad.

Pumpkin Patch Trip 2

2011-11-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Katie's pre-school went to the pumpkin patch on the 26th. This was her second and my third trip to a pumpkin patch. Yes, I know I need to post pictures from the first trip and yes it was a few weeks ago.

Anyway, it was a freezing day to go to the patch. Katie had a HUGE fit this morning when I was picking out her clothes so I told her she got to pick her own clothes. Katie refused to wear her co-op shirt and I tried to reason with her but finally just said "you can't wear the co-op shirt." and she proceeded to throw herself down on the ground crying. That was when I told her to pick out her own clothes and I didn't care. She put on a skort with a t-shirt. I told her it was going to be cold but she said she would be fine. Thankfully, she pooped her pants so she had to change into pants. Yes, we still have pooping issues and yes, I am tired of it.

We had two coats for her to wear but I forgot a hat so we ran to Auntie Aims house to grab one of Nanny's hats. I told Katie to decided which hat she wanted and she picked the pink one. Then she said she wanted the blue one because it smelled like Nanny bo Bannie. Yes, Katie actually said Nanny bo Bannie.

We got to the patch and headed out to the field. it was COLD! It is always fun to ride in a tractor. The patch we pretty quick and then we rode back. The kiddos played on some tires and straw they had. It was a nice time but very cold! I am still cold and can't wait to climb into bed with my nice warm sheets.

The perfect pumpkin that she didn't choose. Instead she picked one that won't stand up once we got it home. We did stand it up in the field.

The class. It looks like Katie is picking her nose and looks like she has short hair but it is neither.

In front of the tractor

Sitting with her friend Silas. Silas is actually in MY class but Katie saw him last year since he was in the morning class and his brother is in Katie's class this year.

How about this one?

Telling everyone what to do.

Best picture I got out of about 20. Not the best.

Look Ms. Tami no hands!

playing after the pumpkin patch

Sign a song

2011-11-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

Homecoming Parade

2011-11-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Coupeville has joined the rest of the high schools in this world and started doing a Homecoming Parade. Aimee helped plan it and it was really good. Each grade level had a float along with each sport team and the booster club. The royalty had a float too! I was surprised at how it went.

It's coming! It's coming!

Bree is sitting on the straw in the back row third from the left.

High fiveing (Not sure how that is spelled) the Lion

Aimee is Where's Waldo

Funny thing about the candy. I wasn't paying attention to how much candy Katie was getting. I had looked and she had a a few pieces in her hand. But I wasn't watching to see that she was putting it in a pile on the grass behind where we were standing. So I thought she only had a few pieces. Then the band comes walking by and starts picking up all the candy on the road in front of us. We told Katie she had to wait until after the cars went by to grab it off the road. I said something about them taking candy from little kids thinking Katie had a few pieces. Then we go to leave and I see this HUGE pile! I felt bad.

Toilet Head

2011-10-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

We had to take a trip to Home Depot to try to get the paint for our deck a bit darker. When we bought it Frank and I both read the color wrong. We read the color above the sample instead of the color below. So instead of a coffee color we received a terracotta color. We both want a darker color so I headed back up to try to get it darker. The paint person added as much as he could to make it darker. Now instead of a terracotta color we have a puke grey color. Not sure which was worse. :-)

As he was mixing the paint we had a few minutes to wander around. Katie loves playing worker. So we would walk down an isle and she would run to the end and we would have to say "worker! Worker! Can you come help me?" Then she would walk back and ask us what she could do to help. She also loves the door section. She could spend all her time in this section. She opens and walks through them. Then I will have to knock and ask to come in.

This last trip she found the toilets! I don't think I need to say much more than what the picture shows. Funny thing is Auntie Judy has a picture almost the same.

Bus Ride

2011-10-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

I tell you the little free things are so exciting! Last Friday, katie and I rode the Transit bus up to Coupeville to watch the Homecoming Parade. The transit on the Island is free and I thought we could take the bus and then when Frank gets home he can drive up. This would make it so we would only have 1 car up in Coupeville. Katie was so excited to ride the bus, although I really think she thought we were going on the school bus.

As soon as I told her we had to leave she took off out the door. She was so excited! She wanted to push the button right away when we got to the stop. I thought it would take us awhile since she normally stops and looks at things but she wanted to walk fast the whole way! We were there quite early but she did pretty good waiting.

We switched from the front seats the the middle (which were up high) to the very back of the bus. She even got to push the button to tell the driver when we wanted off. It was a great fun free field trip! Maybe I should look into taking the bus up for preschool to save some money on gas.

Funny Picture

2011-10-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is some artwork one of my students did. It just cracks me up when I look at it.

Scarecrow Contest

2011-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Coupeville has a scarecrow contest every October. Katie's preschool has entered the contest for the two years Katie has been at the school. Last year they didn't win but they have won in the past. This year the kids voted and decided on Strawberry Shortcake. It looks pretty cute.

I decided to have my class enter the contest this year too. I have wanted to int he past but never found enough time in the day. This year with full days I was able to find the time. Two parents helped and they did a fantastic job. Voting ends today and winners will be announced next weekend. Both scarecrows have a good chance since there are only 12 scarecrows and some are not real visable.

This garbage can has been used for a lot. Garbage, Tolo and now a scarecrow. :-)

Dance Moves

2011-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Katie is a dancer. I am not saying she is a good dancer but she is a dancer. She practices dancing and works on her finishing moves. If there is music she will dance. I had two, yes two, different people come up to me the other day and say they were laughing hyterically about her moves at the library. Then the next day Aimee told me Katie's teacher and another parent were also laughing hysterically at her dance moves. All I can say is she learned her moves from Auntie Aim.

Starbucks Visit

2011-10-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

After Judy's Celebration, some of us headed over to Tony's to spend the night. It was a very nice family time. Just family was there and it was nice to visit with everyone. I didn't take any pictures though. Yikes! I have not been very good at taking pictures.

The next morning Katie was up at 7am but everyone else was sound alseep. Most people didn't go to bed until after 2. Katie was asleep by around 8. She was moved successfuly from the car to Tony and Aleeses bedroom to the air mattress in the other room where we were sleeping. She was one tired girl.

In the morning, Katie and I woke up and headed out so everyone else could sleep and Katie didn't have to be do quiet. We headed out to Starbucks and then to Fred Meyer. Katie got a doughnut and hot chocolate at Starbucks. I think she was in heaven . . . until she spilled her hot chocolate all over herself.

This is how we ended up looking. Changing in the car after the hot chocolate incident. She actually took it in stride and didn't seem to mind. She helped clean it up and everything.

It was only about 8 and I figured people didn't need to be woken up until 9 so we headed to Fred Meyer. Katie spent almost the whole hour in the toy asle. She actually didn't make it much further than the girl asle.

She would copy down the name of things she wanted on her list. I would need to point out the words on the box and she would copy them down. She had Barbie down on her list and a few other things but really I think she could have writting anything pink and she would have been good. :-)

Nigh' Night

2011-10-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

With soccer and Bree'as games we have had some late nights getting home. Katie normally falls asleep on the way home. The other night she was so thirsty and kept asking for her drink. I gave it to her about 3 miles from home. I thought she was awake the whole way home since I could see her drinking but this is how I found her when we got home. I thought she was faking it but I got out of the car and brought stuff in and she didn't care. Normally she would freak out. Frank went out and got her and put her straight to bed. Sometimes she is really strange.

Sushi

2011-10-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Katie has been asking for sushi for quite awhile. She really wanted the black stuff that goes on the outside. So we made it the other day. I like sushi but I like making it at home. I can make it very plain they way I like it. :-) All ours had in it was crab meat, cucumber and rice. Katie loved it!

She loved using her chopsticks and dipping it in soy sauce. She doesn't normally get soy sauce straight or very much since she used to have a reaction too it. So she really enjoyed it. Notice she is in her fancy clothes since it was a fancy dinner and her fancy seat.

Children's Day

2011-10-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

The county does a Children's Day every year. It is always at Castle Park which is 2 miles away AND it was on the same day and Nanny's volleyball tournament so we I ran to the park. It is great day to celebrate children and places that work with children in the area. Everything is free although we missed the hot dogs by minutes!

This boy was kind of freaky. he kept asking Katie if she had a brother. He followed her through the whole obstacle course asking her. After about 10 times of asking and Katie ignoring him I starting saying No she does not and he ignored me. I finally just told Katie to get out of the obstacle.

Playing drums

Trying the hulu hoop

Playing with gluten free play dough

First Story

2011-10-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Katie went into my classrom towards the beginning of the year. I was having my kids practice cutting and coloring and they did this bear picnic thing. Katie saw it and wanted to do one of her own. She spent a lot of time on it and did a better job than some of the my kindergartners.

She was giving it to Frank and me for our anniversary. We seem to have an anniversary almost once a week that Katie makes something for us. :-) Then she told me a story about the picture that I wrote on the back. I think this is the first story she has told me like this. I was surprised she had it in her.

Hobbie climbed down from his tree. He said "ow a bee stung my nose." Then Hobbie met a big bear named Kelly. Then suddenly he stopped on a wild flower and said "Its going to be the end of you!" Stomp Stomp Stomp. The wild flowers said "Ahhhh!" Kelly "i;ll cut you down wild flowers." "Ahhh" yelled the wild flowers. Then suddenly they found honey and applies at Hobbey's apple tree. Then suddenly Kelly and Hobbie found a butterfly. Then suddenly they found peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with pickles.

Long Run and Castle Park 2

2011-10-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

Like I have said in previous posts, Nanny's volleyball tournament, Children's Day and Castle Park are all about 2 miles from our house. The way there is easy peasy but the way back has a few significant hills. The first hill I made Katie get out of the stroller since there was no way I would have been able to push her healthy 40 pound body and 1000 pound stroller up the hill. It is almost straight up! It was rough just pushing the stroller up the hill.

Once at the top of the hill we went through the woods to Castle Park 2. This Castle Park is not nearly as nice as 1 but it is something to play on. I think it is more to keep siblings active while their siblings play soccer. We were the only ones on the play structure. There was a family in the field shooting off rockets. By the time we got to the park, my head was aching so much. I debated whether to call Frank but I didn't. I did text him to see what he was doing. He was working outside on the deck so he didn't answer. So I headed home. It was a long run home but I made it and felt good after my headache was gone.

Katie loves these swings and always wants to swing in them. I would say she was pretending to be asleep but I think she really was almost asleep. She has to buckle herself in just in case . . . in case of what I am not sure.

Nanny's Volleyball Tournament

2011-10-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Nanny had a volleyball tournament a few weekends ago. It was about 2 miles from our house so we ran on over there. Literally, we I ran. Katie enjoyed a nice ride in the stroller. It was fun to watch Nanny play. I did bring lots of toys for her to play with. Nanny's team took 6th out of 16 in the tournament. The highest Coupeville has ever placed. Bree did a fantastic job playing. Her serves were on and she even jumped when she hit a few times. :-)

There are shorts under the skirt.

Taking up the whole gym

Bree and Katie

Kristie popping into the picture

Katie wrote Bree a note. Can you read it? It is the name of a children's song with animal sounds in it. Katie asked me how to spell the title. For some of the sounds I would say the sound and she would write the letter, like L, M, D but others I told her the letter and she wrote them like O, A. I thought she did a pretty good job writing "old McDonald"

This is the picture that was approved

This one was not. Although I like it better since Katie is looking up at Bree with such adoration.

Lemon juice

2011-10-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

Katie is a strange little girl! She likes to sneak into the fridge and grab the lemon juice. Not lemon aid but straight lemon juice and she drinks it STRAIGHT! I think she has drank this whole bottle. Normally, we will make her mix it with water but she really likes it straight. If we say no to the lemon she will grab the lime juice. I say YUCK!

Wild Ride

2011-10-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

The grocery store has a new ride! Katie loves these rides. I am very upset Wal-mart closed the garden section because now we have to walk by the ice cream truck. Our local grocery store had a horse but now has a rocket. Katie loves it! (although what doesn't she love?) She has to ride it every time we go. She doesn't need money and is pretty good about getting off when I tell her too.

It was a wild and crazy ride!

Soccer Photos

2011-10-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Soccer is still going. I was so excited Wednesday night when it was POURING but Thursday I woke up to clear or almost clear sky. I was not happy. By the evening I had a headache was ready to just go home but I had soccer. I took bereavement leave on Friday and still had to do sub plans. I braved it out and went and coached soccer. It was not the prettiest practice or game. I think I tell myself 1000000000 times that theses kids are only 4 and 5. But come one, I threw the ball in right in front of our goal and they didn't score! I have to be doing something wrong. UGH!

These are from a few weeks ago but they show what I am dealing with.

Yep, she is in the goal!

Never fear that is "speedy" in the middle. Not sure HOW speedy she is but you have to love her form.

She made it to the goal. As you can see the other girl is IN the goal. The boy is in my class and it is always fun to play against them in soccer.

Sharing who!?! Sharing what ?!?

2011-10-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

It was Katie's sharing day! And she picked Chewing Gum or Chewbacca. She has no clue who he is or what he is (Although I don't know what he is either but he still is my favorite character from Star Wars). But she was very excited to share him. We thought sharing was on Monday so she had him dressed and ready to go but it wasn't her day. She decided to bring him on Wednesday too.

But when she went to look for him she couldn't find him so she ran around the house yelling "chewy! chewy! Where are you?" Then she would stop and listen. She finally found him.

When it is your sharing day the other kiddos get to ask questions. The sharer calls on them by saying "yes, friends name." It is pretty cute when they call on each other.

Yes, Chewy has leopard print leggings on and a t-shirt. Not sure it is his authentic clothing.

Great Wolf Lodge

2011-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

In August, we headed to the Great Wolf Lodge for two nights. We took Katie and Judy with us. It was a fun two nights. We got there on a Monday afternoon. It was not real crowded. We headed straight to the pool after checking in. We took Katie up to one of the big slides and waited in line and we were told at the top that she was not tall enough for the ride. It was really frustrating. She had been to the doctor about a month before and she was almost 42 inches. The gal who measured her didn't even have her at 41 inches. So back down we headed. What made it worse was we knew Katie could handle the slides. She is a little swimmer and loves the water.

Judy sat out and watched. After a few hours we headed back in to the hotel to find a restaurant. They had 1 restaurant that we saw and we headed in there. The food was OK. Not the best but good enough.

They did a story time with a big tree each night and the story was the same. After seeing Disney's things like this I was disappointed but Katie was not. She loved it and wanted to watch it night after night. :-)

The next day, Judy came into the water with us. We went first into the wave pool. The wave pool has "regular" waves the come but it also has "tidal" wave waves that cross and are stronger. We were out for the tidal wave waves. Judy was squatting down so her shoulders were covered with water when the first wave hit and she was knocked off balance. I was watching Katie and Frank who were out a little way and Katie was having a blast floating in her life jacket. I watched them for a few waves and then turned to say something to Judy and she was GONE! The wave knocked her off balance and before she could get her balance another wave would hit. She was back about 20 feet on her butt trying to catch her breath and stand. She was plugging her nose and had 1 hand in the air. Each time she would try to stand or catch a breath another wave would come. I don't think it helped that she was laughing hsyterically as she was drowning. The lady's face next to her was priceless. She had no clue if Judy was OK, drowning. I was laughing but did get to her to help her up. I was laughing to hard to get the camera out to videotape it. It was the best part of the trip!

We saw tons of kids with a wand for the MagicQuest and of course Katie wanted one so we did a deal where she got several things including a wand. Katie didn't really understand the whole quest thing. Her wand didn't work half the time and I just figured it was her working with the wand. We did finally go get it checked out and found it was broke.

In the package, Katie was able to do a build a bear and she picked out Violet. She also did a tye-dye t-shirt. I was a little disappointed in both since since Violet had no other outfits that would fit her and they didn't have a shirt in her size. We spent the last day doing all these things.

I really had no idea what to expect and there are several things I would do differently.

1. I would bring my own food from home for breakfast and dinner. Maybe eat lunch there.

2. I would not go again until I know Katie is a solid 42 inches.

I love how you can see her bathing suit up her crack in this picture. :-)

I have more pictures but need to find them.

Untimate Soccer Mom

2011-10-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have become a soccer mom. But not only am I a soccer mom but I am a soccer COACH! Yes, you read that right. The mom who does not like soccer is now a coach. I have no clue what I am doing and get very frustrated with the two girls in the pictures since they seem pretty clueless but everyone seems to be having fun!

Our team is pretty young. Katie is the youngest player and the only reason she gets to play is because I am coaching. The rest of the kiddos are pretty young too. All the other kiddos are in Kindergarten and we play against kids who are in 1st grade. We have not won a game yet but we have scored some goals. We will see how the season goes. There is only 1 month left! Yippee!

Pre-School Fun

2011-10-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about going to a co-op is that I can go to Katie's school very day and no one cares. The teacher doesn't care. The other parents don't care (ok, so they might care but no one says anything but then I am pretty intimidating.) Katie doesn't notice if I am there or not - ok so maybe that hurts my feelings but I am dealing with it.

So I stay almost everyday when I drop her off for about 30 minutes and some days I stay all day. Now that Aim and my mom work out during pre-school I have been leaving more. (insert pat on my back).

Being at her school helps me see how she interacts with other kiddos, what she is doing in school and how I can supplement at home. I LOVE her pre-school. Her teacher is the best and deals so great with Katie. I would not put her somewhere else for anything. That being said the pre-school is not an "academic" pre-school. They work more on the social aspects of what kiddos need. I love that. This is not something I can do at home.

I can work on letters and numbers with her at home. So I am somewhat doing an at home pre-school. Katie loves letters and wants to work with them so I am focusing on letters. I saw another blog where she had a calendar of what she was going to work on and I took some of her ideas. I developed a calendar of themes and a letter to go along with them. Throughout the year we will go over every letter of the alphabet and many different themes. We did letter A last week and worked with apples. This week is the letter L with leaves and ladybugs. It has been fun and Katie is so open to working with me on things. I would love to do stuff two times a week but am finding I only have time for one morning a week. Hopefully I can get more stuff done on the weekends or nights so I will have more time with her in the morning. Now if I could just get her interested in anything to do with numbers.

Building a tower at circle time

Eating cupcakes to celebrate another friend's birthday

Shaving cream fun

Little minnie playing with the nails

Swinging on the swings

Big Bug

2011-09-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

As we were getting ready to leave tubing Anthony had a HUGE bug on his back. As all good bloggers do, I made him stay until I could get a picture of it. Then we tried to hit it off with a towel and that might not have been the best choice. Since we couldn't find it and there was a lot of yelling going on.

Yes, he does need to pull his pants up.