Happy Watermelo-ween!

It's 8:30 on Halloween night. Forty-five minutes ago, I had to turn off our front light. We ran out of candy. And Michael is a candy buyer for a chain of national retail stores. And we're new in the neighborhood. Probably won't be making any friends tonight. Kind of an oops-a-daisy kind of evening around here!!

Since Katelyn goes to bed between 6:30 and 7, we decided not to take her trick-or-treating tonight (for this year anyway, she doesn't really know what she's missing!) Over the weekend we still had fun celebrating Halloween with our little...

WATERMELON GIRL!

Katelyn wasn't so sure what to think about the round, puffy melon costume at first. The hat, however, was a hit immediately!

On Saturday, we made our way to Main Street in Maple Grove for their Halloween Fest around 3 p.m. Where were all the costumes? Last year it was packed with little ones. Turns out it ended at 2. Oops-a-daisy (once again)! 

Since we missed the boat on the main event, a stop a the chocolate shop was most definitely in order. Katelyn had some bites of a white chocolate covered rice krispie treat with a spooky eyeball on top!

Several people commented on how cute the costume was and wondered if I made it. Since I can barely spell the word so sew, this was 100% store bought from The Children's Place.

We found out over the summer that Katelyn really likes watermelon, so the costume seemed like a good choice. That and the beret-style hat (with a stem; a stem!) that had me at hello.

We did a little shopping while we were out. When was the last time you saw a guy carrying a watermelon around on his shoulder at DSW?

Sunday morning, we had some ghosts for breakfast. Mmm! I got this idea from my friend Shelly - isn't it cute?

Katelyn liked pointing out the raisin eyes!

Today, we got our candy bucket loaded up for the trick-or-treaters. Since we don't eat much candy, Katelyn didn't know what was under all the wrappers... this year anyway! She does, however, recognize M&M's from a mile away when they're out in the open.

Hope you had a fabulous Halloween and enjoyed all the fun tricks and treats this season brings!

School Days

Katelyn's teachers are really good at taking pictures throughout the week and posting them to the school's photo sharing website. Since Michael and I are always curious to see what fills her days while she's there, we thought you might like a peek too. Enjoy the recent snapshots!

Making cotton ball sheep on pajama day - how appropriate! Zzzzz.

Working on a two-part turtle project. Step 1: Adding green food coloring to the "turtle shells" (pasta shells). Step 2: Gluing the shells to a small paper plate, covering the shells with plastic wrap to keep them in place, adding arms, legs, and eyes. Viola!
(I'm always impressed by the creativity of the teachers and the final products from the budding artists :)

Spaghetti for lunch. Equal parts yummy and messy! 

(Brave teachers, too :)

A little bit country hit the city! One day focused on a cowboy and cowgirl theme. Ya'll come back now, ya hear? (And obviously being a cowgirl is no joking matter.)

Exploring the inside of a pumpkin and discovering that "puck-in" seeds are "ticky!" (sticky not icky although both might be fair adjectives!)

And they collected the seeds for a pumpkin art project on display in their classroom.

Girl power! Prepping for the pumpkin project with friends Claire and Kennedy.

And a goofy grin for the camera!

Kate sure has a lot of fun at school! When we pull into the parking lot, she likes to announce "Cool! Cool!" and when I ask if she's excited for school she responds with, "Yeah!! Friends, friends!!" It's fun to just observe through the window for a minute when picking her up at the end of the day. She's usually either climbing on something, interacting with a little friend, or listening to the teacher read aloud if it happens to be story time. 

Thanks for reading. School's out!

10 Things We've Been Up To Lately

We've been having a lot of fun this fall with all kinds of little adventures. Here's a list of 10 things filling our days lately...

1. Making dresses fancier (why not?!)...

...and taking one-shoulder numbers very seriously.

2. Insisting on taking Lily the counting frog ev. ery. where. (A much loved gift from Great Grandma Verla Ridnour)

3. Hanging out with Papa and Gramma (on the tail end of the pneumonia recovery). 

4. Visiting Daddy at work. Katelyn loved the sparkly wall mural of Spot!

5. Tagging along for Mommy's photo shoots downtown, while Daddy took some urban photos of his own. 

6. Taking walks and holding hands with Daddy.

7. Playing with friends. A total of 6 boys came over for some play time today. There were three infants between 8 and 12 weeks old who were here but not in the picture. Kate's little friends are Bryson, Cooper, and Miller.

8. Cooking. (Actually, it looks like she's washing dishes. Probably trying to tell us something.)

9. Cleaning. (It's never-ending isn't it, Katelyn?)

10. Shopping. "Store! Store! Buh-bye. Seeeeee yaaaa!" 

(Thanks for the Halloween shirt, Gramma Debbie!)

And that's a wrap for now. Enjoy the week!

Counting Our Blessings

One thing we have done since Katelyn started walking was count up the stairs whenever she'd hold onto our hands taking one step at a time, making our way up them. Doing this multiple times a day has evidently paid off. Enjoy the clip - but beware of some loud squeals around 23 seconds!

20 Months Old!

Yesterday Katelyn turned 20 months old. Yes, folks, twen-tee. As in 2-zero. As in two-oh... my goodness! 

Katelyn is at such a fun age - of course there are fun things about every age, but the surprises she has in store for us are just such a blast to discover these days!

~ Katelyn loves to chat. She says countless words individually and is now stringing them together quite clearly. Her favorite sayings are, "Oh boy!", "I see you!", "Daddy did it!",  "Buh-bye, see ya!" and "Olive you" (I love you.)

~ She loves to help around the house. Whenever I ask if she wants to be mommy's helper, she's always a willing participant. How long will this last? Not sure, so I'm enjoying it now :) She puts clothes away, toys away, sweeps the floor (or at least pretends to - hey, don't we all have days like that?!), and one of her favorite ways to help is to feed Malone. She opens his food container, fills the scoop, holds her palm upright toward Malone and commands, "wayyy" (for wait), dumps the food in his dish, and tells him to eat. 

~ Maybe it's because of her recent illness, but Katelyn hasn't been as interested in eating as much lately. And she also seems to be getting a little picky; at times refusing foods that have traditionally been favorites (ahem, yogurt and cheese!) She still drinks whole milk at every meal so at least she's getting some good protein and fat there.

~ She still loves to sing songs and dance. A recent favorite song is Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. She will often times start singing, "Meme this mornin'..." (woke up this morning) to get us started. She also likes "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." When we ask her to dance she'll either reach for her shirt or pants and pretend she's swinging her skirt around or bounce her shoulders up and down (this is her modified dance move for use at times when she's restricted like in the car :)

~ This time of year, Katelyn can't get enough of all the pumpkins! On our walks she always points to them on people's doorsteps and once we pass them, she says, "Mow puck-ins?" The one color she can consistently identify is orange, so she oftentimes points out that fact about them.

~ Her favorite things to do include: going to the park, playing outside, going on walks, playing in her kitchen - especially with the microwave that dings when the food is ready, playing with her cash register (after she takes all the coins out, she says, "Mow money?" - she'll probably be saying that for the next 18 years!), and of course reading books. 

~ Whenever I ask Katelyn what she did at school, she almost always says, "art" and do we have enough completed projects for her own gallery! She loves going to school and is always happy to see her friends.

She also tells us which friends she plays with each day as well as her teachers names: "Meme" for Miss Mindy and "Mia" for Miss Maria. For the past couple months she called Miss Maria "Dora" (no idea why) but we've finally turned the corner on that one ;)

~ Katelyn also does a great job of identifying family members when looking at pictures. She loves looking at photo albums and pointing out who is in the pictures or looking through the photos on our phones. 

~ We say grace before dinner and lately Katelyn says, "again?" after we finish, so we'll say another prayer. If she asks again, we'll ask what she's thankful for. With a bit of encouragement, we started offering some ideas. "Are you thankful for pumpkins?" "No." "Are you thankful for this food?" "No." "What are you thankful for, Katelyn?" .... long pause, "Elmo! Eeee-men."

What a true blessing you are, Katelyn! We are thankful for the constant smiles, laughs, and love you share with us. We did not know how fun this ride would be!

Drumroll, please....

Thank you, Katelyn, for fulfilling the request...

(Little drummer girl playing Uncle Jason's drums during our recent visit!)

Drumroll......

On Monday morning, Katelyn tinkled in her potty chair for the first time! (Photo taken a few seconds after this achievement :)

Here's the play-by-play (because I know your day would not be complete without it :)...

Katelyn: "Potty, potty, potty. Pee pee."

Me: "Oh, you need to use your potty?"

Katelyn: (very matter-of-factly) "Yes."

Me: "Okay, here we go. Let's sit on your potty."

sitting for about 30 seconds

All of a sudden a celebratory song begins playing from the "throne" - this is a special potty chair, I tell ya! (Full disclosure, I actually forgot this chair plays a tune when she goes potty, so I was as surprised as she was at first.)

Katelyn: (jaw drops and eyes are as big as buckeyes at the sound of the song)

Me: "Yay, Katelyn!! Good job!"

Katelyn: "Again? Song? Again?"

She used it one other time this week when home with Michael, so he got to celebrate with her too. We're really just in the introductory stage of the potty chair and aren't using it consistently, but more just familiarizing her with it and letting her tell us when she wants or needs to use it. But there's only one first time success story from the potty, so there ya have it!

Katelyn also said her first four-word sentence this week. We were coloring and she dropped a crayon, reached down, picked it up, and said, "I gawd it, Mama!"

Katelyn surprises us everyday and these were a couple zingers worth sharing!

(On a side note, Katelyn is slowly recovering from pneumonia. She stayed home from school all week and we're hoping she'll be good as new after a weekend of R&R&S - rest, relaxation, and snuggles :)

Why I'm Not a Doctor

All weekend I thought Katelyn was teething. Wrong. Today I got a call from school that she had a temp of 102. I picked her up and took her directly to the doctor thinking it must be an ear infection. Wrong. Maybe strep? The doctor did a throat culture. Wrong. Lastly, the doctor did a chest x-ray. Ding, ding, ding... the mildly hazy pockets in her lungs confirmed that our little darling has pneumonia. :( :( :(

She's had a cold for about 10 days and that stinkin bug has settled deep into her little chest. We started the antibiotic right away and she spent most of the afternoon like this...

She's been so snuggly and generally exhausted - even walking through Target didn't inspire her to lift her head from my shoulder. But after a long nap this afternoon, we have already started seeing glimpses of Katelyn's spunky self bubbling back up to the surface (in the form of climbing furniture, squealing, and singing "row, row, row your boat"). She'll be home resting and recovering tomorrow. 

I may have spent my 7th grade Career Day shadowing a doctor and nurse, but I'm obviously not suited for that line of work.

Black Cauldrons and Apple Jacks

Owww! We think Katelyn is cutting some new teeth - and they must be big 'uns - because our normally bubbly girl just has not been herself the past few days. On Thursday night, she ran a low-grade fever that kept her up (yes, up, as in awake) from 11 pm - 5 am, but a trip to the doctor on Friday morning ruled out ear infection and strep throat. She went to bed at 5:30 Friday night (and I followed suit 2 hours later). 

After a good night's sleep, we decided to keep our plans for Saturday evening which involved some friends coming over for dinner. 

Katelyn certainly perked up for our visitors - maybe laughter is the best medicine!

Terri, Marcy, and I all worked together about 6 years ago. And until we moved, we all lived in Maple Grove and would get together occasionally. It was fun to get the families together again! 

Here's a picture of all the little girls: Abby - 20 months (Marcy's daughter), Katelyn - 19 months, and Navy - 10 months (Terri's daughter)

Katelyn and Abby used to be in the same class at school until we moved, so we wondered if they recognized each other. They got along famously! Which might be because they're just a few weeks apart. Want to see something crazy? Here's the first time Katelyn and Abby met.

It was such a nice night, so we played outside for a little while. Abby and Katelyn enjoyed the tire swing...

While Navy and her big brother Owen got ready to climb up the ladder... 

Mark, Abby, Katelyn, and Michael enjoying the swings (and a fall brew!)

We moved the party inside for a fun Halloween project that Owen brought to share with everyone. 

Owen, Katelyn, and Abby each got their own cauldron to decorate with foam stickers for Halloween. What a cute idea!

What we don't have any pictures of, but was arguably the highlight of the night, was when the kids got their second wind right about bedtime and started running laps around our main floor. Abby and Katelyn were chasing Owen and Terri around and vice versa - between the pitter-patter of little feet and screams of delight, it was a great way to close the night! The next time we get together, there will be a new little baby in the group: Abby will be a big sister by the end of the month!

Sunday was another fabulously beautiful day begging for a fun family activity to fill the afternoon. Apple Jack Orchard sounded like a good place to visit. By the time we left, it was mid-afternoon and Katelyn was starting to get bothered by her teeth again. We thought the orchard would be a welcome distraction for her, but at this point she looked like she'd rather stay in the car!

Even the plethora of pumpkins couldn't draw a smile out of this little one, but she did seem to enjoy just taking in all the sights (including some animals: turkeys, goats, and a pony).

If we make this an annual tradition, we'll have to see how much Katelyn grows each year!

We took a tractor ride all through the orchard and Katelyn liked this part - it was nice and relaxing!

It was a beautiful fall day and we were glad to have enjoyed it! Our early bird who normally wakes up between 6 and 6:30 slept in until 8 this morning, so here's to hoping the extra shut-eye is just the ticket for a fever-free week.