Kate-isms 2.0

Kate got in trouble for saying something she wasn't supposed to say. Instead of saying "Oh, gosh" we want her to say "Oh, man".  One day she said "Oh, gosh" in front of Kevin and so to discipline her, he popped her on the hand.
Kevin said to her "Kate, we don't say that.  What do you say instead?"
Her response: "Ouch!"

Kate has become a Taylor Swift fan.  I have the CD in my car and made the mistake of playing it in front of her recently.  Now, every time we get in my car I hear Kate saying in the back seat "Ever, ever! Peas!"  I never, ever ever want to hear that song again!

I got Kate a new bathing suit at Old Navy and when we got home, I took her into her room to change her.  Once it was on, I said "Go show Daddy your new bathing suit."
So we both walked into the kitchen where Kevin was and our conversation went something like this
Me: " Kate, tell Daddy what are you wearing."
Kate: "Baby soup!"
Guess that's her way of saying bathing suit. :)

I sent Kevin a text as I was leaving work one day to see if I needed to get anything extra from the grocery store. He responded in Kate-language.  Can you guess what he was telling me to get?

(Pretzels, Chips, Cereal and Chocolate)

Kate is not calling Kevin by his first name as often as she was a few months ago, but she still does occasionally.  The one time she ALWAYS calls him by his first name is when she wants him to come with her.  She'll wave her arms at him to motion him to come with her and says " 'mon Ke-fin!" (Meaning- Come on, Kevin.)

Kate loves sports. Every time we turn on the television (which isn't that often around her) she will point and say "back-et-ball".  This is probably her favorite sport to watch, which stinks for me since it is my least favorite sport to watch.  I guess I better get used to it since she's in the 100th percentiles for height.  There might be a lot of back-et-ball in my future.

I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and had cut up some strawberries to go with my meal.  I said something to Kate about putting a little bit of sugar on top and she gave me a kiss.  I was confused until I found out that Grandma Betty has been telling Kate "Give me some sugar."  So now when Kate gives out kisses she says "su-ga. su-ga."

We are right in the middle of potty-training (eek!) and let me just say, Kate is definitely a strong-willed child.  My mother-in-law (Diane) keeps Kate during the day and is helping doing the majority of the "training" in the whole potty-training deal.  We've been letting Kate wear panties or training pants instead of pull-ups.  After a few accidents, Diane reminded Kate that she shouldn't go to the bathroom in her panties.  A little while later, Kate decided to take off the panties and just tinkle on the floor. Geez.  I guess she follows directions.  She knew not to go in her big girl panties.

Memorial Day Weekend- Part 2

Picture overload.  You've been warned!

Sunday morning Kevin and I were able to visit the church that I grew up in.  It's not often that we are not at home on Sundays so it had been quite a while since we were there to visit.  We had fun catching up with friends that we hadn't seen in a while.  After church, of course we had to take a few pictures. :) 

Kate learned how to do "thumbs up" and was SO proud of herself.

Kate is the first grand child on my side of the family, so when she was little my mom and dad had to decide what they wanted to be called.  Mom decided on Gigi (her name is Gena) and my dad decided to go with Papa Rick.  It took Kate FOREVER to say my mom's name.  Not sure why, because I wouldn't think it would be that difficult, but she eventually got the hang of it.  For my dad, she often called him just Papa and sometimes just Rick, but never really put them together.  She's just recently started stringing words together.  However, this weekend she decided his name would be "Pick".  So that's apparently what she is going to call him, at least for now.   Even if you ask her to say "Papa Rick", she'll just look at you and say "Pick".  The first grand kid usually decides on the names themselves, right? :)  I'll be interested to see how long this one stays around. She sure does love him though.

After church, and lunch, and a little relaxation, it was time to head down to the lake. 

For a little fishing...

And a little bubbles...

And a little boating...

Thanks to Kristi for photo-bombing this sweet moment of my mom and Kate.  

And last, but certainly not least, we had a little fishing competition.  We all successfully got a fish, though it took some of us longer than others.  I must point out, even if it doesn't LOOK like it from the pictures, my fish was 2nd biggest.  Only my dad beat me, and that doesn't really count since he lives at the lake and "practices" all the time, right? 

Memorial Day Weekend- Part 1

We spent Memorial Day weekend like you are supposed to- on the lake! :)  On Saturday morning we packed up the car and traveled to my parent's lake house for a few days.  We didn't waste any time and after a quick lunch, we hit the water.  Kate loved being on the boat, and was all over the place.  First the front, then the back.  Repeat process. Over and over and over. 

Sometime in the last few weeks, she's fallen in love with Kristi's aviator glasses.  She wouldn't wear anybody else's glasses.  I wonder if they make these in kids sizes?

We enjoyed a fun weekend with friends and family.  I've got so many more pictures to share, so I'll be back tomorrow with more.

"School's" Out For Summer

Kate's last day of "school" was yesterday.  In reality, she just goes to a one-day-a-week Mother's Day Out program.  We call it "school" to her though because it's so much easier.  She's had a great year and we're looking forward to next year, when she'll go more than just once a week.  I took a picture of her on her first and last day and think it is so crazy to see how much she has grown.

I mean I know every mom thinks their child has grown a lot between the first and last days, but seriously, to me it looks like Kate is 3 years older instead of just 8 months older.  She started as a baby and now she is a little girl.  I'm kind of sad to think of what her "last day" picture will look like next year. For now we will just enjoy the summer!

Being Confident As Mom

For the very first time, I’m joining up with the “Build ‘Em Up” series hosted by Erin, Jennifer, Kelly and Courtney.  Today’s topic is about being confident in your choices in motherhood.  It seems like every where we turn, moms are debating about the “right” way to parent a child.  I’m sure lots of other blogs joining in on this link-up are going to mention the mommy wars in one way or another, and I have my own thoughts on that too, but I’m going to go in another direction with this. 

So what does it mean to be confident in motherhood?  To me it means knowing exactly who and what I want Kate to be when she grows up.   Especially to those with younger children (Kate is 21 months), I’m sure you are thinking “But there’s no WAY I know who my child will be when she grows up!”   While it may be true that I don’t know what kind of job Kate will have, and I don’t know where she will choose to live or if she will choose to get married and have a family, I do know exactly who I want her to be when she grows up.  More specifically, I know WHOSE I want her to be. 

I want her to be a child of God.

Now I know that we're all children of God in that He created each and every one of us.  But, I desperately want Kate to know Jesus Christ personally as her Savior and Lord, which is a completely personal decision that she will have to make as she gets older.  However, I can do everything in my power to make sure she knows the love of Christ and the power of the cross.  And when I sit at night and read a bible story to her about Daniel and the lion’s den, or David and Goliath, or Jesus feeding the 5,000, I can be confident in knowing that at least for the next 10 minutes, I am doing exactly what God created me to do as Kate’s mom.  I’m teaching her about Him.

So to me, being confident in motherhood means knowing what my role is as Kate’s mom.  Yes, I need to teach her manners, and how to work hard, and to love others, and a ton of other things, but my biggest role as a parent is to teach her about Jesus in everything that I do.  That’s a big job because it not only entails teaching her about Jesus, but living Jesus in front of her.  

And one day if she does choose to make the decision to trust Jesus with her life, I’ll be confident in knowing that all of the OTHER stuff in her life will work out.  She might not have the biggest house, or the nicest car, but she’ll know what true joy is.  And that’s more than I could ever hope for her.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28

Lazy Fridays at the Park

Friday evening was one of those rare evenings when we had no plans.  So after dinner at a local pizza place (which we visit pretty regularly for the cinnamon bites), we drove over to our City Park.

I'm embarrassed to say that this was the first time we've been with Kate.  She had so much fun on the playground and just running around.  We actually have a really great park, and should take advantage of it more often. 

The picture below is what Kevin and I witnessed about 95% of the time while we were there.  If I'm being honest, this is pretty much how Kate is 95% of her life.  We are constantly seeing her zip past us yelling "Ruunn! Fast! Run! Fast!"

Hopefully we'll remember our park more in the future.  Maybe we will even take advantage of the summer outdoor movies this year. :)  Anybody else have a great local park near you? 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We spent Mother's day afternoon at a Greenville Drive baseball game.  We got tickets through my work in a lottery system and we just happened to "win" tickets to the game on Mother's day Sunday.  We were excited to see Kate's reaction, but weren't really sure how the afternoon was going to go for a couple of reasons.  The biggest reason was that the game was at 4pm that afternoon and other than a 10 minute nap in the car, Kate hadn't slept all day.  She did great though. 

Our seats were right behind the dugout, which was perfect because there was nobody in front of us for Kate to bother.  And, the wall was high enough that she wasn't able to climb up onto the dugout, but it was short enough for her to see over.  Perfect. 

We ended up staying for 5 innings, which was plenty of time.  And the weather was great.  It was a bit warm when the game started, but then it cooled off a bit. 

Kate seemed to enjoy everything, except for the mascot (Reedy Rip'it the Frog). She was not a fan.  She loved him from a distance and would point and say "Elmo".  That in itself is confusing since she doesn't watch Sesame Street, but whatever. If he came close though, she would put her head on my shoulder and try to hide. And once he got on top of the dugout right in front of us, she was terrified. She climbed under the chairs to hide.  

Other than THAT, I think she had fun at the game (or maybe it was just the cotton candy).  It was a good end to my second Mother's day.

Mother's Day 2013

This past Sunday was my 2nd Mother's Day as a mom, and it was a pretty packed day.  After church on Sunday we went to a Japanese steak house for lunch.  It was good, and although I thought Kate would LOVE it, she did not. She was terrified. She did like watching people from across the room, but once our guy got to the table and started doing his thing, she was not a fan. Not of the fire, not of him throwing things, not of the noise- nothing.  She pretty much scrambled out of her high chair and into my lap, saying "Hold you! Hold you!".   I was really surprised because she was having so much fun watching the other tables, and so far she has not been scared of anything. She's usually pretty fearless.

After lunch we came home to rest for a (very) brief amount of time.  We did take some time to snap a few pictures in our church clothes though...

Here is little miss bossy with her two dogs. 

And of course since it was Mother's Day, I had to get a picture with my little one.  It was quite an ordeal though.  Here are the progression of pictures. They make me laugh.

#1 - So not in the mood.

#2 - Look at Max and Cooper!

#3 - You asked for a smile.  You didn't say a REAL smile! So, CHEESE!

#4 - Are we through yet?

#5 - I'll just give you sassy!

We spent the other half of the day at a local baseball game. I have plenty of pictures of that too, so I'll wait and share them tomorrow. :)