She loves her outfit, Gramma Jean. Now we just have gold glitter from one end of the house to the other.
Category Archives: Gifts
Valentine’s Gifts
Katie got a Keurig for her kitchen so she can make coffee for daddy…
And Owen got a Valentine’s Lego set and home-printed cards for his favorite iPad game (which we cut out and laminated). If you can believe it, the cards were his favorite thing and he forgot all about the Legos for an entire day!
She still loves the Elsa hat.
She wears it randomly all day long—along with the Anna hat, too.
Legos with Uncle Rob
The last Christmas Lego set!
Owen got this mini set as a present so we had to hurry and build it so we could put it away with all the Christmas stuff!
Someone likes their new heated bed.
It took a few days but now there’s someone in it most of the day (Maggie is also a fan; Bells rarely comes downstairs).
Preparing for the behemoth.
I told Owen he should start with the easier set so he did his Minecraft set in preparation for the 2700+ piece behemoth (The Sea Cow).
And then he wanted me to send this picture to Mason, the friend that introduced him to Minecraft! So I posted it on Facebook. 🙂
Katie playing with her new stuff.
Sofia/Barbie Supergirl
Flying around the house.
Watching a movie in her new sleeping bag…with her old backpack, of course.
Putting all her new princesses in her new dollhouse.
You’ll notice two of the princesses are “wearing Crocs” — she hung the Croc keychain on their heads. 🙂
Christmas Day
My new Michigan State tee from Grannie and Papa (since I don’t have one that fits anymore)!
Our Princess Sofia!
“I have an amulet!”
Anna/Sofia lining up all her princesses in her dollhouse.
Maggie loving her squeaky lobster!
Christmas Morning!
Santa was here!
“It says Barbie Dreamhouse!” (Every time she sees Barbie she thinks it says Barbie Dreamhouse since that’s a show she watches on Netflix.
Santa knew Katie liked Sofia the First and brought her a crown (and amulet and gown, which you will see later)!
“It’s a tutu!!! With a Michigan State helmet!!!”
“Look at all the new princesses!”
“Anna! Now I have Anna and Elsa!”
Grannie knew she liked Sofia, too!
As he was starting to open it, “Look! Two dice!” And then was amazed to see ALL the dice!
She does this with every piece of clothing. 🙂
Opening a family gift from Santa!
Done at at 8am on the dot! (But then we realized we hadn’t done stockings!)
Maggie REALLY enjoying a bully stick from her stocking!
A cutie amidst the mess.
I’m surprised she didn’t sleep in it.
They love their new hats!
And sharing them, too!
We Skyped with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David today to have the kids open their presents! They loved everything, but the hats seemed to be the big hit!
Matching Santa hats!
Finally! Owen has had his for years and once I had Katie I kept checking but Pottery Barn never had them again! Until this year!
I’ll get better (more seasonal) pics later. 🙂
I know she’d be thrilled.
So, while we were cleaning out Marsha’s apartment, I found two $50 QVC e-gift cards (from us and Tom’s brother, from maybe 2012 or so)—I took them with me to check if they’d been used. They hadn’t. So I had a $100 credit. The next day, I found a manila folder with three more QVC gift cards…dating back to—ARE YOU READY?!—2008!! I was sure they’d had to have been used because she LOVED the silver jewelry from QVC and had a lot of it…but grabbed them anyway just in case.
So fast forward to last night when I was putting away all the jewelry pieces of hers that I had chosen (for me and Katie) and I realized that my jewelry box just wasn’t big enough—I just didn’t have the space for mine plus hers (she had A LOT of jewelry and I had picked quite a bit, though it was still a fraction of what she actually had). I then realized that I have jewelry in a box, in a hanging case, in a drawer, and in random spots around the bedroom…and that that’s kinda silly and I’d actually get good use out of a standing armoire.
I ended up at QVC because I vaguely remembered wanting one from there years ago…and they had EXACTLY what I wanted…on clearance…with free shipping! It was more than I’d wanted to pay, but not bad considering what other ones cost and that it would last me the rest of my life. Tom agreed I could get it so I dug out the folder of QVC gift cards to check their balance. And none of the three had been used. NONE! So I had another $95 credit! So after almost $200 credit, I owed about $65.
So…Marsha unknowingly bought me the perfect Christmas gift—something I loved, wanted, and needed—that could house all the great jewelry I got from her…and I know she’d be thrilled.
Dollar store finds
We found a lot of Dollar Store toys while cleaning out the apartment, so brought some of them over for the kids (some are being saved for the future). Owen was excited about these wrist-pull copters, which he had to wait to play with for a few days because the weather was rainy.
Potty Training, Day 2
Tom got Katie up this morning and her diaper was dry! He said she really didn’t want to pee in the big potty, but once she sat down she peed and peed! Yay!
8:35 I told Katie she had to pee if she wanted to go to the bus stop with Owen. And she did! She had to take her lunchbox. 🙂
When we got home, she wanted to play outside and do chalk.
She ran in a few times to pee but they were all false alarms. She wanted to ride her bike, so I told her she could after she peed again. So she came in about 20 minutes later saying she had to pee, didn’t pee, but tells me she peed in the grass. Yay…but no. I didn’t see it so no sticker…and no bike ride.
11:40 She’s very good about sitting on the potty without any direction. This trip earned her a new book!
1:00 Katie just peed in the potty and I said I was proud of her. She looked at me, did a curtsy, and said a drawn out thank you. Where do they get this stuff?
She continued to pee in the potty all afternoon—assuming each time she’d get to ride her bike. She finally gave up on asking for her bike but still kept peeing in the potty! She even earned another book!
I had treats set up for every five pees…and she filled the sheet and just kept sticking them on.
And then when we were outside eating dinner, she had to go in and pee. She even emptied it into the toilet herself. 🙂 Then she said she had to pee again and went inside. Owen happened to be inside at the same time and came out singing “Katie’s pooping in the potty!”
Wait. What?
I’d been reminding/asking randomly all day and she just kept saying she didn’t have to go yet. I believed her, but I also kind of thought she’d try to hide. But now she just went on her own? I raced inside and…yep! She pooped in her potty!! WOOHOO!
So daddy took her to get a special treat (a milkshake from Burger King).
Day two is in the books and she did amazing! Let’s hope it continues!
Frozen underwear!
Gramma Jean sent Katie some Frozen-themed underwear to hopefully get her interested in her upcoming potty training! Katie loves them, of course…so fingers crossed it helps!
Excited to be wearing Elsa!
Her first time wearing her new Elsa dress that she got for her birthday from Gramma Jean! So happy!
Old suit, new suit
These were on a real camera, so I forgot about them. This was back on August 23!
Off to the pool…Owen in an old suit and Katie in a new suit from a grandma (I forget which one). 🙂
Owen’s summer challenges: complete!
Owen just finished his “100 Books in 100 Days” and “200 Pages in 100 Days” Challenges!!
It wasn’t all easy—he fought the workbook pages a bit and got WEEKS behind but caught up at the end when he realized he might not get his surprise. 🙂 Also, to be honest, he really probably only read a total of 60-70 books, but a bunch of them were small chapter books (like 10 pages per chapter, three or four chapters per book) so he got multi-credits for those. And this was his reward!
Another birthday present down…
Getting right into things!
Owen wanted to open his presents as soon as we got home…and Katie really wanted to help. She had a hard time accepting that these were OWEN’S PRESENTS and there were none for her. But he’s a nice brother so he let her help on a few.
Then we took a little break so I could go walk on the treadmill and they could play on the bounce house…and also so Owen wouldn’t blow through all his gifts in the first day!
Afterwards, I noticed Owen was wearing a new Minion #selfie shirt and I asked if he knew what a selfie was. He said no, so we took this picture:
And then he grabbed my phone and took this:
Back to the gifts! 🙂
Glitter ballerinas with Grauntie Marge
Grauntie Marge got Katie these cool mess-free glitter ballerinas for her birthday. I didn’t believe any glitter could be mess-free, but these really truly were! Katie was only interested for about 10 minutes, so we’ll try again once we get home!
Katie’s last 3rd birthday party!
We celebrated Katie’s birthday at the Ramada again this year. She didn’t want to go in the pool, though—choosing the playground instead.
Of course Owen wanted to swim!
Caught mid-jump!
She finally decided she wanted to swim!
We FINALLY got her to jump in the pool again!
Owen also received a few gifts…Papa and Grannie gave him a roll of quarters to use in the hotel game room!
He shared his quarters with his sister!
A great time was had by all…
Len Christmas in July, Year 2
This year the party was at my mom’s house! Katie “helped” with the party prep!
Katie loved her Anna dress from Grauntie Rose!
The cousins being silly!
If there’s water, the kids will come.
Bubble wands at the ready!
The annual by-age lineup: Katie (3), Owen (6), Aubrey (7), Gracie (9), and Nick (11). You’ll see a direct Owen/Nick comparison tomorrow. 🙂
Everyone always complains but I think they secretly enjoy the family photo! 🙂
Our little Santas.
Owen was GIDDY with the bazooka Grauntie Rose got him! It’s almost like she knows him exactly like I do. :p
Katie LOVES her Frozen magic music wand from Grauntie Marilyn.
No snow? Grass angels!
Ice cream face!
Overall it was a great day—the kids all had a blast together, the food was abundant and delicious, and everyone had fun relaxing and playing games. I think it was the right decision to move our Christmas to the middle of summer!
I think that’s Owen’s.
Tom grabbed the first apron he saw. 🙂
Sibling Lego project!
Katie got a Frozen Lego set for her birthday, so of course Owen helped her put it together! (It was WAAAAY to old for her so I knew he’d have to help her!) We ended up having Katie pick out the pieces as we needed them and then Owen would build it. It worked pretty well.
It took two days (which drove Owen insane) and he eventually did the last part by himself…
Birthday party presents!
We waited until after the party to open presents. Everyone stuck to the Frozen theme and Katie loved everything!
The last gift from us:
Katie’s birthday presents, take 2.
Present #2 she picked, which was opened after dinner! Are you sensing a theme here? 🙂
And the shot that makes it all worth it! 🙂
(If you can’t tell, it’s a reversible Anna/Elsa doll. You flip the skirt over and the other doll is underneath. Her friend had one at T-ball and Katie co-opted it and carried it around forever. So I got her one off ebay probably two months ago and it’s just been waiting!)
Katie’s birthday presents, take 1.
We wanted to spread out her four presents from us, so we let her open one when we got home! Of course, as soon as she saw it was a dress (well, PJs), she had to put it on immediately!
