Category Archives: Katie
Another shot at Santa
Our community clubhouse had cookies and activities with Santa this morning, so we thought we’d try with the kids again—just in case we got a better picture (since I could dress the kids up).
But first, the at-home pictures:
And then while waiting for Santa, they did some crafts and coloring:
Katie wanted NOTHING to do with Santa, so it was just Owen!
But she did make more rings to put on the tree!
Katie’s afternoon challenge
She’s done a handful of letters at a time but never the whole set…but she’s very good at it so I dumped them all out and left her to it.
She did quite well until a little more than halfway through when she started whining that it was useless and she couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to help her too much, but I arranged them a bit and tried to put wrong letters in wrong pieces which got her interested again (to tell me I was wrong).
Finished!
Putting them away!
Katie singing Jingle Bells
Katie is 3 years 5 months old today!
Morning Dancing
They were eating breakfast when this song came on and both of them had to get up and dance!
Pure joy.
“I’m doing it all by myself! I’m going high!” (She swings by herself the entire 20 minutes I do my walk around the playground!)
And then when I was done and pushed her higher: “YEAH BABY! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
I promised her we’d go see the train.
We have seen the train at Wegman’s twice—the last time being months and months ago. Yet she remembers. We were out running errands today and she was being really good so I told her we’d stop and see the train. She literally started running through the aisles as soon as she saw it!
Katie’s first hibachi!
We had errands to run after swim lessons then we were hungry so we found a coupon for a hibachi place. Owen had been to one years ago but this was Katie’s first time.
She liked the chop sticks.
She was freaked out by the first big shot of flames (which of course they START with) but overall she thought it was cool.
Of course she didn’t like ANYTHING on her plate.
He liked all the showy stuff; tried the soup, salad, shrimp, and scallops (the soup and salad were okay, he didn’t like the others); and actually ate quite a bit of his chicken and rice. He decided he liked Tom’s filet better than his chicken so he wants that next time. 🙂
Trying to get a pic of my swimmers
Cookies with Santa
The local high school hosted a huge craft fair that I wanted to check out (we missed it last year) and they also had a “Cookies with Santa” portion that we wanted to take the kids to. We got to the North Pole shortly after it opened so we didn’t have to wait too long. While daddy held our place in line, the kids worked on bead candy canes:
Can you guess which was Owen’s and which was Katie’s? 🙂
Santa! (They had someone taking pictures, but it wasn’t anything really posed or official—she was just off to the side snapping so we had NO idea what we would get. I was taking pics the whole time.) Katie wasn’t eager to sit with Santa, but she didn’t turn away…and she talked to him but didn’t get excited about the hug.
Owen’s turn! He’s too big for Santa’s lap!
At the end we had Katie go back up. I snapped about six quick pics and this one actually turned out great!
This was one of the ones the student elf took—I was impressed that it turned out as well:
On the way out, Katie decided she wanted to make antlers:
Zerberts and twirling
Sparty green day!
Even Maggie!
Gov. Snyder proclaims Friday ‘Spartan Green Day’
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proclaimed Friday as “Spartan Green Day” in honor of the No. 5 Michigan State football team.
The celebratory day in Michigan is one day before the Spartans play No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis.
Nutcracker!
I saw a link on Facebook for VetTix so went to check it out—and ended up getting free tickets for the Nutcracker! (If you are Currently Serving or a Veteran use my link to sign up and earn 15 coins!)
I had never seen the Nutcracker before, so it was going to be a new experience for me, as well (Tom had seen it many, many years ago). Once we told the kids and told Katie she was going to see ballerinas, she was ALL IN. Of course, she wanted to wear a ballerina-esque dress. I didn’t bring out any of her actual ballerina outfits because I am 100% sure she would have chosen that. As it was, this was a brand new dress so she was VERY excited.
I’m thankful I read the synopsis beforehand because otherwise I would have been completely lost. As it was, I was still a little confused, and was surprised there wasn’t more actual ballet. Both kids did very, very well considering the first act was an hour long. After Katie took a bathroom break, she said she wanted to dance, so I told her to go right ahead…and then daddy and Owen came back from their bathroom break and she danced in the aisle!
The second half had MUCH more ballet than the first and was more impressive…and Katie was entranced, sitting on the edge of her seat for almost the whole thing. I, on the other hand, learned that ballet is really not my thing. But overall it was a nice afternoon out yet away from any hustle and bustle of Black Friday!
Time to decorate!
The kids were super excited about putting the tree up (since the bag had been sitting in the living room for a whole day)!
Owen was excited when I handed him two bags of Christmas Legos! He had forgotten about them!
Katie’s placement of her first three ornaments:
They were both really good helpers and I didn’t even have to help them much! Yay! And my OCD-tendencies don’t bother me at all—I don’t much care where the ornaments end up!
Hey! I can’t see!
Taking Katie bug to bed…
I don’t think this is nearly enough food.
We were invited to a friends’ house for Thanksgiving. She and her other guests cook in quantity like we do…so there wasn’t quite enough food for six adults and nine kids. 🙂
Katie’s dinner? A roll, crackers, and cheese. For dessert she tried pumpkin pie, said she liked it, then proceeded to eat just the whipped cream.
Owen’s dinner? A roll, ham, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
I did really well overall. I splurged on two glasses of wine throughout the evening…and it was deeelicious. (I haven’t had a glass of wine in probably four months.) Foodwise:
- 1oz deep-fried pork loin
- 1/2oz smoked turkey
- about 3T each of Easter/funeral potatoes, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and smoked corn casserole
- 2 deviled eggs
- 1 small Hawaiian roll
Dessert was cheesecake. I took a full slice intending to eat the whole thing dammit. And then about halfway through I said “This doesn’t even taste good anymore.” And that was that. Voodoo. 🙂
This is what she picked to wear. And she was damn cute. 🙂
The kids all had fun playing and the adults ended up watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 🙂
Just a quick shot before school.
Katie’s octopus
The kids were drawing before school. Katie was very excited about her octopus…and I was actually impressed when I saw it.
Sometimes cheap fun wins.
They co-opted Tom’s box and were pretending it was something I can’t remember from Minecraft. They were both running around wearing it and having a blast!
Painting snowflakes
Art night ceramics at school! I was clueless as to how to decorate my snowflake…until I finished it…at which point my mind flooded with ideas, all of which I liked better than what I did. The kids’ are great, though you are only seeing the boring back side because they were still drying. And Tom’s impressed me, too…the only one that looks like an actual snowflake! A fun night!
Little marines
Katie learned to swing!
I’ve been trying to reach Katie how to pump for awhile, but she just got it today. Yay!
And some climbimg and sliding.
Yes I learned my lesson.
No furry Crocs anywhere there’s wood chips. And this is after the first round of cleaning.
Flu shots for three!
We finally made it in for flu shots at the hospital this morning! I figured what better morning than the morning when we were all already up and showered by 7:15. :/
Owen was adamant about not wanting the shot so got the mist. Katie probably could have gotten the mist but one of the rules is you had to keep your hands completely out of your face all day and we weren’t sure she could do that…so she got the shot. She squawked for the 1.3 seconds it took and then she was fine. Owen made more of a stink about the mist than Katie did about her shot! He knew it wasn’t a shot but he just gets himself so worked up over nothing it’s silly. And then when it’s over and it was no big deal, he acts like he knew it was no big deal the whole time. Kids.
Katie showing Owen her band-aid. (As she repeated many times: “Mama and me got band-aids because we got shots. Owen got drops.”)
Enjoying her stickers:
I’m a monster, I know.
I wanted to throttle both kids by 6:45am.
Owen went downstairs to play on the iPad—which he knows he’s not supposed to do. And then got mad at me when he got in trouble for it. (I’m a monster, I know.)
Katie had wandered around this morning and gone downstairs to find Owen and consequently couldn’t make it to the potty in time (when it was actually time) so peed all over the stool and the rug and her PJs…and screamed when I took her PJs off because she still wanted to wear them. (I’m a monster, I know.)
Owen had tried to clean up the pee—with toilet paper, so it was a sopping mess (but at least he tried!)—but after I dumped the TP I tried to clean the stool off in the tub but Owen had left the shower knob on so I got a head and shoulders full of water instead (which normally wouldn’t have been too awful but my hair is currently straightened so that messes that up).
Needless to say I lost my shit just a little bit. Dealing with that crap is never fun, but even less so before 7am.
Walking and watching
Katie loves to bounce in the bounce house…except she wants you to watch her. 🙂 So whenever I walk on the treadmill, she bounces. She’s actually a riot to watch—with jumps and kicks and tossing big soft things around. Tonight she had to run and get her bear so they could jump together.
Afterward, heading upstairs:
Me: Katie, you did awesome in there!
Katie: I know, I had awesome kicks!
My little puzzle girl
We were at the library and I was looking for books for Owen while Katie was looking at toddler books. I came back a few minutes later to this:
She had found the puzzles and decided to do it right there! 🙂
Gym Birthday Party
Of course we were there early, so we waited in the car for a few minutes.
They got to start playing before anyone else got there:
And then it got a little chaotic with 20 kids…but we got to stay out of the crazy and visit with the other parents (and I really hit it off with another mom—which was a bonus!). The end of the party had everyone zip lining which they all loved!
Sunday Swim
The kids’ lessons are progressing nicely…but today we just get a video of Katie going down the slide during play time. It’s funny—last week was the first week she was even somewhat interested, and one of the instructors made sure to help her climb up and wanted to wait for her at the bottom of the slide. I had to tell them she’s an old hat at big slides and they didn’t need to worry! She showed them today!
Owen helping her up the first time:
