So I look over and Katie had the Messages app open on their iPad and she was enjoying looking at and touching all the emojis.
I heard stuff like “Cupcake…heart…pumpkin…flower giggle giggle cat…dog…bunny!”
I couldn’t figure out how she managed to find and open that app since I’ve buried it inside a folder. Then I realized that Tom had texted me and I obviously have the settings configured badly so that my texts appear on their iPad as well…so when he texted me, it popped up on the screen while she was playing her game, she touched it, and it opened the app. Of course, it was all her own curiosity that figured out how to then open the keyboard and emoji screens. 🙂
Anyway, I just sat and watched her…and then watched as she managed to hit send. 🙂
Tom just came home early and threw Katie in the air a few times then put her down.
Katie: Do it again!
Tom: Daddy’s back hurts. I just had a major back cracking.
Katie: OHHH NOOOO!! Are you okay?
We asked Alexa to play some Christmas music. She started playing O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Katie: That’s not Christmas music. It’s not jingle jingle.
Katie was playing with my pill container.
Katie: Mama, when I want a pill can I have a pill?
Me: You don’t need any pills.
Katie: I KNOW THAT!
My phone alarm rang at 7:45 signaling Owen’s bedtime.
Me: Owen, it’s time for bed.
Owen: I don’t want to go to bed. I’m not tired. He wastes some time whining. I want to go to bed at 7:50.
Me: That’s four minutes.
Owen: Okay! Daaaad! I’m staying up late tonight! 7:50!
Tom: Laughs.
Another nice day, another trip to the playground. But we also went down to the water today because she heard another kid talking about the pond and she wanted to go, too! 🙂
Throwing rocks and twigs in—a favorite activity.
And then as we were standing there, a bunch of Canadian geese flew in and landed in front of us!
Be sure to listen for this in the last section:
Mom, they’re so cute! Maybe I could be a mermaid and go in the water with them!
Katie woke up dry again this morning! And again she didn’t want to use the big potty—well, she actually said she didn’t have to go. But I sat her on the toilet and whaddya know? She peed. 🙂 She got a bath then put on a pretty dress!
She wanted to go to the bus stop with Owen but I simply said we weren’t going today. About 10 minutes later she says “I peed in the potty! Now can we go to the bus stop?” Yes, yes we can you little smarty pants. 🙂
The rest of the day was her peeing mostly on her own in the big potty (“I can do it by myself!”) because I promised her two stars on her chart for every time she used the big potty vs. one star for using the little potty. She was still SO excited to put her stickers on the chart…but she didn’t seem overly concerned with actually collecting a prize when a row was completed.
We went out for dinner and a few errands tonight and she peed before we left—and we took her potty chair with us just in case. We never needed it, though we had two false alarms (one in Marshalls and one in Costco) and one successful potty at Noodles & Company.
So now we just keep on keeping on. She’s supposed to go commando for a month, at which point she should (hopefully) be pretty good at pottying and not having accidents—and then she can graduate to wearing all her cute undies she’s excited about (Frozen, minions, princesses, Doc McStuffins).
Katie: I don’t have to throw up on the ground like Maggie and Charlie and Bella.
I was playing Legos with Owen.
Me: I love your brain.
Owen: I know. My brain is creative.
Me: Alexa, shuffle music.
Alexa: /plays Christmas music/
Me: Christmas music?! Owen, do you want to listen to Christmas music?
Owen: YES! That’s my boy.
Katie: I’m a good doctor for animals and toys. This is my clinic.
Owen noticed it within about a minute of coming home: J-T-O-K. Jen and Tom okay!
Me: Really? Who is O?
Owen: [Brief pause] Ohhhh! Me!
Katie: And K is me!
We bought a bunch of new lunchbags for Owen in various patterns—red owls, multi-colored dark stripes, pirate treasure map, etc…and what one did he want to use for his first day? The pink multi-colored hearts!
I figured I should prepare him for kids teasing him about it (I didn’t actually expect it, but better safe than sorry).
Me: Owen, what would you say if some kid made fun of you for bringing a “girl-colored” pink heart lunch bag.
Owen: [You could see his heart sink.] I would say that was mean.
Me: Yes, it would be mean. You just tell them you like pink and it’s a cool color.
Owen: [Getting sassier.] And if they ask me if it’s because I love anyone? I’ll tell them NO!
Me: You don’t love me? Or daddy? Or your sister?
Owen: Well yes. 🙂
And then it was time for pictures! I did Katie while Owen got his shoes on. She had to sit on the very top step.
“Mama, take a picture of me upside down!”
The same questions I asked him last year. The funny thing is that he usually just spouts something off the top of his head! Like I can’t remember the last time he asked for an orange—it’s always strawberries. And I can’t tell you the last time we watched Incredibles–it’s usually Lego Movie or Wreck It Ralph. And it was the very first time I heard anything about wanting to be a policeman. Kids are silly. Oh! And the favorite book? I think we’ve read it maybe twice that I can remember, so I asked why that book and he said “Because it shows how you take care of me and love me.” Awwww.
And then it was off to the bus stop…where it was hotter than hell. Holy wah. It was horribly hot and the kids were sweating from running around. I love the first day of school, though, because there were more parents there than kids! 🙂
I was really excited about his new backpack—it’s from Costco and is much more well-made than the Minion one he had last year…but it’s really overkill for him (it has a laptop pocket, room for lots of pens and pencils, a phone, etc.). We’ll see how it works, but we may end up getting a bit smaller one.
We had been shopping earlier and I bought her a coat rack for her bedroom. I hadn’t taken it upstairs yet and actually forgot about it. Awhile later she came to me while I was working in the kitchen saying “Mama! Come here! MAMA! Come look what I did!”
There are almost always geese out on/near the road when we take Owen to his activity camp in the morning—and Katie LOVES seeing them.
Katie: What are they doing?
Me: Maybe they’re looking for breakfast.
Katie: Cereal!
Me: No, I don’t think they want cereal.
Katie: Maybe they need a home.
Me: Maybe.
Katie: We should take them to our home!
Me: What would we do with geese at our house?
Katie: Put them outside!
Owen: I love red cherry snow cones. Except not much because I just ate five pieces.
Owen: Mama, I love you.
Me: I love you, too.
Owen: And I also love Sick Bricks.
We were riding home with all the windows open.
Owen: It’s 100% windy!
Katie: Mom, can I get in the box with Charlie?
Me: Sure.
Katie: But there’s not enough box!
Katie: Owen, do you love daddy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Mommy?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love me?
Owen: Yes.
Katie: Owen, do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: Owen? Do you love Cayenne?
Owen: [silence]
Katie: I love her, she’s my friend. She’s my girl.
I’ve really been slacking at keeping track of their cute sayings…
When we were on vacation in Michigan, we saw deer cross the road a few times. Katie actually got good at spotting them.
Katie: Mama, when I’m a deer I can pass through those woods.
While Owen was at his weekly activity camp.
Katie: I miss Owee. He’s my favorite buddy.
We were at the Dollar store when Owen came up to me wearing this.
Owen: Mom! Take a picture of me!
Putting Owen to bed, I see him rubbing his eyes.
Me: You’re tired, buddy.
Owen: No, my eyelashes just hurt.
We were getting the house ready for our Len Christmas in July and got out this ceramic tree. It’s old—my mom made it for my Grandma Katie (Len) in the ’70s and I’ve always loved it. Katie was enthralled with it, too…and one of the first things she said was “There’s no star!” My mom said that Grandma Len had said the very same thing and even attached a fake star to it. I don’t think I ever really noticed that it didn’t have a star—or I did, but didn’t think it was any big deal. Amazing how the original Katie AND her namesake both had the same thought. 🙂
Subtitled: Well that’s a first.
Subtitled: That’s not how you play with Legos.
Subtitled: Owen put one up his nose, Katie ate one.
Subtitled: There will be NO pictures of this.
Subtitled: SERIOUSLY?!
Submitted: Katie ate a Lego head today.
Tom and I were in the office and Katie was watching TV. She came into the office and said she put Elsa’s head in her mouth. She knows she’s not supposed to put toys in her mouth and she usually tries to hide it, so we were interested. Tom asked where Elsa’s head was and Katie pointed to her throat.
What?!
We asked if it was in her mouth. No.
We asked her to go find Elsa. She was indeed headless.
We asked again where Elsa’s head was and she pointed to her throat.
On her last day of Fairy Camp: Mama, there’s a lot of tutu in here!
Waiting for class to start.
Recital time! Tom was able to get off work to come, and it was going to be a surprise for Katie! It was funny because she just kept staring out at me and then Tom and then me and then Tom. I was just happy she didn’t freeze up or cry like Owen has done!
The studio records every ceremony so this is from their YouTube channel:
I took a few still shots…
Getting her fairy wings:
Beautiful dancing:
Her fairy group:
Family selfie!
The post-recital lunch…which Katie walked in and thought it was all for her birthday! 🙂
She LOVED the experience. I would really like her to do another week (they have a Sophia the First camp in August), but full price is $175!! Even with their $25 discount for taking the Fairy class…$150 is too much. (We got this camp via a deal site and I only paid $89! so I’m a bit spoiled!)
We knew the weather was going to be a crapshoot, but we figured we had to try since they were just three miles from our house!
It started off well enough…Tom and Owen went off to check out the food offerings and Katie and I had a picnic (oranges, string cheese, cheddar Chex, and a juice box) which she loved: “Mama! This picnic is the best ever!”
And even though it was sprinkling, she was running around in the grass and having a blast…until she realized she had a boo boo on her foot and then she turned into a hot mess drama queen as seen here.
Then as soon as daddy came back 15 minutes later, she was all smiles and amazingly forgot all about her boo boo.
As soon as daddy laid down, she copied him. 🙂
Then I jumped in for a picture.
Owen had been off playing football with some kids but he came back to check in and said “We’re tackling and I knocked two people down!”
Since we had everyone, we took this shot. A lady behind us actually offered to take it but I said “No thanks, this is how we do it!” And it was perfect—done in one shot!
And then it started to rain harder. And it was chilly. And we had already been here two hours and still had about 45 minutes until the fireworks were going to start…do we stay or do we go?
The show was happening rain or shine and I hated to miss it after being there so long already…so we decided to go sit in the car and potentially watch from the tailgate or through the moonroof if it was a downpour. Thankfully it didn’t do much more than a light rain.
We had the car on to listen to music so the kids were having fun in the tail lights…
Owen: “This is burning my face!”
…and playing to the music…
Owen being a lamppost:
And then the show started! They both immediately covered their ears so we got out the noise-canceling headphones for both of them.
Yes, I was happy we had the minivan so we could do this!
Both kids said it was the BEST DAY EVER and they wanted to know if we were going to go to the fireworks next year. Ha HA! I’ve created fireworks monsters!! (Tom doesn’t really care for them, but now we outnumber him three to one! And he really did enjoy watching the kids loving everything!)
Wow, flashback time! This was supposed to have been posted on July 16 of 2014! I’m not sure how it got lost, but it’s here now!
Katie was holding Gramma Jean’s travel Yahtzee.
Katie: I want Sophia the First please.
Grandpa David: Katie’s a muppet.
Katie: No I’m Katie.
Katie, to me: Are you Katie?
Katie, to Grandpa David: Are you Katie?
Days after I painted Katie’s toes, she keeps bringing me the bottle of the polish:
Katie: Mama! Katie’s toes!
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was on and Gramma was singing The Hot Dog song.
GJ in a normal voice: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie: No sing.
GJ in a loud voice: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie: NO SING!
GJ in a whisper: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie in a whisper: No sing.
Owen was testing out a new scooter. Katie was running in front of him clearing the path.
Katie: Watch out! Watch out!
Owen: What is your favorite shape?
Me: A heart.
Owen: Me, too! Wanna know why?
Me: Yes.
Owen: Because it stands for love!
Katie: Mama! I see a Lego head! Look! Right there! 🙂
Me: How many library books are left?
Owen: Four.
Me: Only four?!
Owen: I’m rocking through these!
At dinner, we were talking about how Owen didn’t want Katie to come home from the hospital. He asked why.
Me: Because she cried and was loud!
Owen: Why did she cry?
Me: Because babies cry. They don’t know how to talk.
Owen: But she speaks human now!
Tom turned on a woodworking show.
Katie: That’s like papa!
Me & Tom: How does she know that?!
Katie: Mom! Look at the pretty tail she has!
Things you hear in a house with kids: Owen! Put your sword up and dance!
