Iphone Dump

Apparently I've taken 800+ pictures since the last time I cleaned out my cell phone, and I'm running out of space.  Definitely time to download all of my pictures to my computer.  Since I have tons of pictures that I've never shared, I figured this would be a good time to go back and show some of the best.  So here we go...

Back in January, Kevin did yet another home improvement and updated our back door.  Now we have a full-glass door, which has blinds between two glass panels, and we LOVE it. Our room is so much brighter!  Here is the before and after. 

This was just taken yesterday before we headed to church.  I really didn't want to wake her because she was sleeping so peacefully.  I do have to point out that she HAD to sleep with my calculator.  She takes after her mommy! :) 

Last weekend my cousin and her family were passing through and stopped by for a quick visit.  Kate LOVED her little cousin, Collins, and always has fun with Christopher. 

Lucky Kevin got to go to the Master's on Monday.  I haven't been yet, but I'm counting on us winning the Master's lottery and actually getting tickets one year!

Kate grabbed the keys to her John Deere Gator and tried to stick them in the door knob.  She kept saying "Keys! Keys!"  Hey, at least she knows what to do with them!

We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (Mr. Salsa) last week.  Kate loves chips and salsa.  She actually loves salsa more.  I think she would actually just drink it out of a cup if we would let her. 

We visited Kevin's favorite store- a golf store.  Kate didn't have any use for a golf club, but she sure did love getting the balls out of the hole and throwing them around.

Earlier this year we took Kate back to the eye doctor for a follow up visit.  This is the WORST time of year for me to have appointments, so I made Kate's appointment for 7am.  Although I hated waking her up that early, it was awesome.  We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. 

A quick family picture one Sunday before our small group bible study...

Another picture taken earlier this year.  Kate likes wearing my sunglasses more than wearing her own. 

Recently she has started playing with the camera on my phone, and taking pictures of herself.  Oh that face!  This is a combination of her playing around, and making her "sad face" with her lip poking out. 

Toddler Toys

Well you KNOW it's been a fun weekend when your child walks into the room with an Elmer's glue stick in her had, the top is off, and she's rubbing it all over her cheeks saying "makeup! makeup!"  I think she's watched her mama put on blush a few too many times! :)

In all honesty, we did have a great weekend and WONDERFUL weather, which meant lots of outside time.  Kevin was in a golf tournament on Saturday so Kate and I hung out together all day.  We didn't have any big plans and it was nice to just "do nothing" all day long.  We stayed outside for well over an hour and Kate played on her swing set, ran around, and played on her John Deere Gator.  She did just about everything EXCEPT drive it around.  She put the key in and out of the ignition, put the little tailgate thing down and sat in the back, and then sat in the front floorboard. Silly kid.

We have had some indoor fun lately though.  I bought a pack of pipe cleaners for Kate to play with since my 3 and 4 year olds at church have so much fun with them.  I pulled out a strainer and she spent probably 30 minutes sticking pipe cleaners in the holes and just bending them back and forth. Another score for the Pinterest ideas. :) 

And of course we broke out one of her Easter presents, Crayola Bath Dropz.  I have to say, these things are pretty neat. We had to use 2 of the drops to get the water a dark enough color.  In the pictures below, we used red and blue so our water was supposed to be purple but it actually just ended up a darker blue.  Still pretty neat and Kate seemed to have fun.  Now at bath time she points and says "color".  I'm thinking these aren't going to last very long. 

Favorite Children's Books

It's no secret that I am a reader.  One of the best gifts I've ever given myself was my Nook quite a few years ago.  I have no idea how many books are on that thing, but there are a lot.  :)  Now, I end up reading on my iPad or on my phone using the Barnes and Noble app. With as much as I love reading, I really hope that Kate loves it just as much.

We started reading to her at a very young age, and it surprised me that at 6, 7 and 8 months, she would just sit and listen, or even flip through board books herself.

Before she could talk, books were one of the few things that would keep her entertained in the car on long trips.  Not sure if it would work NOW because she is so into music, and talking, but we will definitely be packing some books on the next long trip just in case.

Life has been so hectic lately, that we haven't had a whole lot of time to just sit and read together before bedtime, but that is one of my favorite things to do with Kate.  She is such a wiggly, on-the-go kid, that this is one of the only times she will sit still and I can just hold her!  

We have quite a few favorite books, but here are just a couple of our favorites.  The first, is That's Not My Fairy... by Fiona Watt.  Each page has a different part of the fairy that your child can touch (her wand, shoes, hair, wings, etc).  It's one of Kate's favorites. Maybe because it's pink! :)

This next book might be MY personal favorite, although Kate seems to like it too- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  I remember reading this book over and over when I was growing up, and I've enjoyed sharing it with Kate. I'm sure one day Kate will be reading it to me, instead of the other way around. We also have Brown Bear by Eric Carle and love that one too. 

We have quite a few Sandra Boynton books, but these seem to be the two that Kate pulls out the most often- Moo, Baa, La La La! and Doggies.  

Our all-time favorite, and the one we read together the most, is Kate's Bible.  We have The Beginner's Bible for Toddlers, and this was actually a gift from Kate's birth mother.  She gave it to us the day that we met Kate in the hospital. So sweet! It's a great beginner's Bible, and really on Kate's level.  We've read this together a LOT and she knows to call it her Bible.  She loves to point to the Earth, and will either call it a "ball" or will say "whole world".  I can't wait until she can point to Adam and Eve, Noah, David and Goliath, Daniel, and Jesus and call them by name, or better yet, repeat their stories. 

So those are OUR favorites, and I'm sure we will add many more to the list with time.  What books do your kids enjoy?  Is there anything we're missing out on?

Toddler Fashion Show

Now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit (FINALLY!), I pulled out some of Kate's clothes from last year to see if anything fits.  Pretty much, nothing that she actually wore last year fits. We did have a few things that we bought a couple of sizes big at the end of the season to save for this year.  Luckily, we guess right on the sizes (2T and 3T) and they fit!  Kate had fun trying them on. I should have grabbed my camera sooner. She was so funny!  I told her to "strike a pose" and her first inclination was to cross her legs...

Her next pose was to put her hand on her head. 

How does she know this stuff? I don't think I've ever even SAID "strike a pose" to her before, but somehow she just knew what to do.  Funny girl. 

I can't get over how long her hair has gotten! 

After the fashion show, she ran around in some dressy white sandals, her diaper, and a Braves hat. What a combination.

She's going through a phase now where she loves to give kisses.  I'm not complaining at all. It's the sweetest thing!  But when she saw herself in the mirror, she wanted to give herself a kiss.  

Wonder why our mirror stays so dirty?

And then she wanted another kiss. 

And yet another kiss!

Silly girl!

Easter 2013

He is risen!  No matter how much I enjoy spending time with family, my true joy comes from the peace and comfort of knowing that I am a child of the King. It comes from knowing that my future is secure, and today as Christians, we celebrate what Jesus has done for us by overcoming the grave.  I am so thankful for that empty tomb! Happy Easter! 

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 

  

  

We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again.

Death no longer has any power over him. 

  

When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. 

But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God

  

So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

   

  

Romans 6:8-11

"Whole World"

Last weekend, the children at our church performed a few songs that they had been working on for weeks.  Kate's class sang along to "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands".  They had their final rehearsal the Wednesday before and Kate did SO good.  She did all the motions, sang along with the words that she knew, and I was really impressed.  

And then Sunday came along, and I was sure that since she did SO well at rehearsal, she would probably zone out during the real performance.  I was right.  She was all over the stage.  She started off in the front, then decided she wanted to see what was going on in the back, and then changed her mind and shoved some of the other kids out of the way to get back to the front. And then, she spotted her Papa sitting on the front row. 

She held out her arms and yelled "Hold you!" and when he didn't come get her, she lept off of the stage. That's right, my kid "fell" off of the stage. She has no fear.  It never crossed her mind that somebody wouldn't catch her.  Luckily, we were prepared for something like that happening with the little kids so we had adults stationed around the stage. Kate's teacher caught her just in time.  Of course I got it all on video. Here she is pre-fall. 

And here's the video that I will be holding over her head one day. 

Weekending (Sort of)

I feel like these days, every time I sit down to write a blog post, I'm writing about what sicknesses we've been dealing with.  We have NEVER had this much sickness since Kevin and I have been married, and lately it seems like it is one thing after another.  First Kate had an ear infection, then it didn't go away and turned into a double ear infection.  Then, she had a bad reaction to augmentin and we had to get her medication switched.  Next, Kevin and I both had stomach virus.  And now, I have a sinus infection and an ear infection. Oh and this is all within the last 3 weeks. Seriously.  We need to catch a break around here.  

This weekend, I was on Kate-duty all alone while Kevin was in bed with the virus.  We try not to let Kate watch much TV (if any), and the main reason is because she learns the characters and begs to watch them.  Some days, you just do what you have to do.  So Saturday, we watched a lot of "Chuggy" (Chuggington) and "Ein-tine" (Little Einsteins) and spent half the day in our pajamas.  

We also did a little bit of this...

I never realized how happy these little Popsicle sticks would make her, but they do.  She makes a MESS but has so much fun.  We store them in a little box, and I love how she will hold the box high, dump every last stick out, and then say "Oh no!" in a tone that suggests that something is WRONG.  Nevermind the fact that she was the one that made the mess.  Some of the best $2 ever spent.