Merry Christmas!

Kate had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas. We had my whole family over for Christmas Eve and went to Jamisen's aunts on Christmas Day. Kate loved all her presents. She got marching band instruments from my Aunt Gail and she recruited everyone to march with her. She also got my little pony stuff from my mom which she loves. My grandma got her a Koala necklace which is her first jewelry. My aunt Denise got her a doll to take in her bath and a play doh Cookie Monster set which she's been begging to open. We'll probably break out the play doh today since we're staying home. My dad got her tinker toys which for some reason she thinks is to build a robot. Jamisen's aunt got her a princess tent and car track set. She has so much to play with so I can't wait until the basement is finished so we can get some of these toys organized. It was great to spend time with all the family. I'm tired and looking forward to some rest, just a few more weeks until the baby is here. Now that the holiday craziness is over I'll be trying to get everything ready.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is so close!

Kate is getting really excited for Christmas. She likes everything about it: decorations, presents, cookies, what's not like? She got a gift this week in the mail from Jamisen's Aunt Linda, Uncle Mike, and their kids. She was very excited to open it as you can see in the video. We've been reading her new books over and over.

Getting ready for Christmas!

Kate has been really excited that Christmas is getting closer. She pretty much asks everyday is it's Christmas. She's been having fun watching all the Christmas shows. My mom came over last weekend to make cookies. Kate had a really good time decorating cookies, especially adding the sprinkles.

Kate pumpkin carving on Halloween

This is from a weeks ago but I didn't get a chance to post it. Kate was kind of grossed out about touching pumpkin "guts."

Kate's been busy

I haven't posted much lately, we've been really busy. Kate was just sick and I've been pretty tired lately. It only took her a few days to get over her cold and she's back to normal. Kate was asked to be a flower girl in my cousin Angela's wedding. I'm not sure she really understands the whole thing but she seems excited. We'll be practicing as it gets closer. She really likes Livia, who is the older flower girl so I'm sure she'll be fine. Here's a picture of Kate with Angela and Livia at Angela's engagement party. The party was really nice and Kate especially liked the cookies.

Happy Halloween!

Kate loves Halloween and now she's in a pre pre-school class. Yesterday they had a Halloween party so Kate got to wear her costume. I tried to talk her into a cute ladybug or bumble bee but she was determined to be Mickey Mouse. So after asking her a for a few weeks to make sure she didn't change her mind, I bought her Mickey costume. Each kid had to bring a treat so I let Kate pick out the treat for her class and she wanted "puppy treats." Don't worry, they're graham cracker cookies shaped like dog bones. She was really excited about bringing her treat to school as you can tell from the picture. I'm trying to keep her sugar intake to a minimum which has been tough with all the special cookies and treats. Luckily she usually doesn't have much of an attention span so if I give her a bite and hide it she sometimes forgets and then I get to eat all her treats!

Fun at the apple orchard

We took Kate to the apple orchard to pick apples and pumpkins. The weather was a little chilly but Kate enjoyed it. There was a petting zoo and a straw mountain to climb. Kate was very selective about her pumpkin but she finally found the perfect one to bring home. This will be the first year that we'll carve a pumpkin with her. She was not a big fan of some of the displays they had that talked and moved. The skeleton that moved and talked scared her as you can see in the picture. She also loved the cider and doughnuts of course.

Kate is in pre pre school

Kate started a class once a week that is at the pre school. It's a parent and tot class so it's not exactly pre school yet. She loves it. Jamisen took her the first week since I was out of town. She told me all about it. I took her last week and she gets to excited to go. They have story time, snack time, marching band, and a pet guinea pig. We did discover that she should apparently know how to drink out of a cup without a top. We've been practicing because she's not so good at it and all the other kids knew how. We're practicing with water for now, I think you can see why.

My first haircut!

Kate got her first haircut yesterday. Her hair was getting some split ends so it was time for a little trim. We took her to a salon that has a kids area and she seemed to like it.

Potty update

Kate has been doing pretty well lately using the potty although she still doesn't tell us she has to go unless she wants a treat. We were giving her half a cookie every time she went but we had to switch to 1 M&M or a mini oreo. She also really likes it when I go on the "big" potty at the same time she goes on her "little" potty. She claps and cheers and says "yay for mommy." She has not yet gone #2 in the potty but we're working on it. We may try potty training boot camp again this weekend.

Ready for Halloween!

Kate is so excited for Halloween. It's her favorite holiday and she can't wait. We went to get some Halloween crafts which she picked out. This Halloween house was our first Halloween craft.

Kate is getting so grown up!

I can't believe how independent Kate is getting. We're still working on the potty training but Kate is doing pretty well. The bribes are definitely a good motivator. She's also getting pretty proud of herself for going and is starting to tell us she has to go. Sometimes I think it's just because she wants a treat but she seems to be figuring it out.

Kate is going to have a little sister!

We found out this week that the new baby is a girl so Kate will have a little sister. She'll be able to teach her little sister all about fashion. As you can see, she's very stylish.

Working on potty training

We are trying to work on potty training but it's not going so well. Sometimes after sitting on the potty or if she really wants a bribe she will go. I think she can do it but doesn't want to. Most of the articles I've read recommend taking off diapers and clothes so they feel when they have an accident. We tried that this weekend then Kate wanted me to come look at the "stones". There were some small brown stones on the ground. I asked her where they came from and she said,"It's my poop mommy." She also told Jamisen about her stones as well as everyone she saw for the next few days. She said it was an accident so at least she knows she's not supposed to go on the floor.

Hopefully she'll be potty trained soon....

Video of Kate painting

Finger painting and play doh

Kate and I spent a lot of time this weekend playing with play doh. Mostly she just tells me what things she wants to make her. I'm getting pretty good at sculpting with it, maybe I'll have to post some pictures. We also got her some finger paints this weekend which I took a video of her painting. She didn't really like to her fingers full of paint. I bought the color wonders which is pretty good since it's clear until it goes on the special paper. It's not messy at all.

We also went to visit Kate's great grandma today. Kate had a good time at her house exploring and finding all kinds of treasures. She especially likes the plastic animals from when we used to go to dinner in Frankenmouth and they would put them in the orange sherbert for dessert.

Up North

Kate had a great time on vacation up North. She was especially excited to have so many people around to entertain her. She really enjoyed swimming in the lake although she hasn't quite mastered floating she mostly just liked to walk. She also gathered a rock collection, luckily there were plenty of rocks to keep her busy. We took her to get ice cream when it was about 95 degrees out. I should have gotten pictures of that since the adults couldn't even eat the ice cream without it melting Kate was pretty messy.

She had Uncle Ben to play in the sand with and somehow she had everyone chasing the beach ball Aunt Denise bought for her. She thought it was hilarious to kick it into the water and have someone chase it. We had a good trip!

It's been awhile since I've posted...

Kate has been very busy and I have not been feeling very feel which is why I haven't posted lately. We're very excited that Kate is going to be a big sister. The morning sickness (all day sickness) hit me harder than last time although maybe it just felt that way since I had a 2 year old trying to drag me to play. Finally now that I'm 12 weeks pregnant I feel better.

Jamisen has been taking Kate to do all kinds of fun stuff while I have been stuck in the house. She has been to the "giant pool" and went down the kids waterslide all by herself. She is talking all the time and is very bossy. She loves to go to the playground and ride her bike.

She's getting very grown up, now we just have to work on potty training!

Kate learns to blow bubbles

The blog is back

I finally figured out why I have been unable to post for the last 6 weeks. Apparently the browser I was using stopped working with blogger. I've finally fixed the problem so now I will be catching up on the Kate pictures.

Kate has been very busy already this summer and we have been spending a lot of time in the park. We've set up her pool a few times on the really hot days and she's having a lot of fun.

Mother's Day

I haven't updloaded in quite a while. Below is a link to a video from Mother's Day. Kate had just learned to blow bubbles.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5mOKoqNpgE

Kate is looking for her tail

Kate likes to wear her kitty costume from Halloween still. She is also facinated by tails so she really likes that she has a tail when she wears it.

Kate has her own fashion sense

Kate likes to dress up in shoes, jewelry, and barrettes. She loves to pick out her clothes and she thinks a tutu goes with any outfit.

Haven't updated in a while...

I haven't been very good about updating Kate's blog lately. I've been really busy starting a new job. Kate has been busy playing and talking a lot. She really comes up with some funny ideas. Today she decided she wanted to try to catch the birds in the park. She said to me, "Mommy I want to catch them." She is so anxious to get outside so we're hoping for more warm days soon. Jamisen's grandfather passed away and we were down in Florida for a few short days. Kate was glad to see everyone and we were able to get in one swim in the pool.

I'll post more pictures soon!

Fun with dress up and finally it's almost spring

Kate has really been into dress up lately. This week she decided she needed to wear her tutu, a straw hat, bear slippers, and her plastic bracelets. It was a pretty nice outfit. She has been pretty restless after a long winter so since it was 42 degrees today we took her out to the park on her new bike. Of course her kitties had to come along for a ride in the trunk. She played on the playground for about an hour and then had a tantrum when we left but it was getting kind of cold. Hopefully there are more warm days to come so we can go back to the playground. Now that she's older we don't have to worry as much about her running off the equipment.

Kate had a nice warm bath tonight and played with her Dora bath toys. I gave her kitties a bath since they were getting pretty grimy. We'll see if she's ok with not sleeping with them, she has to have all her favorite animals to go to sleep.

Kate's 2 year stats

Kate has been growing a lot over the past year and she had her 2 year appointment last week. She is 35" tall and weighs 28 lbs 8 oz.

Kate is so fashionable

Kate loves to dress up and she asks to wear her tutu almost every day. Today she also insisted on her party shoes and a straw hat. She definitely has her own sense of fashion. She gets really upset if one of her shoes comes off.

She is really talking a lot and has definite opinions about everything. She has an entourage of animals that has to sleep with her. It includes Mama kitty, Daddy kitty, little kitty, mama squirrel, baby squirrel, and bunny. It is a huge crisis is any of them goes missing. Little kitty was missing for 2 days but turned up in the speaker this morning along with several pieces of chalk.

Kate is almost 2

Kate will be 2 tomorrow. I can't believe she's getting so big. She loves to talk now and sleeps in her big girl bed. We haven't mastered the potty yet but hopefully that will be coming soon. Kate is really looking forward to her birthday party. She loves cake. On her birthday, we're taking her to an indoor bounce play place.

I know my last name...

Kate is a little chatterbox and is learning her last name and how to count in Spanish. She talks all the time and sometimes says sentences. Daddy is still her favorite person.

Look how much she's grown

My dad just sent me some pictures he took this summer at Ben's house. I can't believe how much Kate has changed. I wish the weather was this nice now.

Kate has a big girl bed

Kate was starting to get ideas about climbing out of the crib. I was afraid that she would fall out so I got her a toddler bed. It's in her room for now but she will be moving into her own big girl room soon. I thought I would have until this summer until she needed a bed so I wasn't really ready to move her. She loves her bed and she's doing pretty good. She gets out of bed sometimes at first and cries a little but then she gets back in and falls asleep. Now if we can only conquer the potty!

Dora the Explorer!

Kate is really into Dora the Explorer. She sings the songs and just loves all the characters. These children's shows really know what they're doing, she's hooked. She isn't really doing so good with the potty training so we're letting her sit on the potty about once a day but she doesn't always go. She's talking a lot and using more sentences. She knows all her letters and numbers. Jamisen taught her how to spell her name and she recognizes it when she sees it. She's very independent and bossy.

Video of Kate's first pee pee

Kate went pee pee on the potty!

I bought Kate a potty today in the hopes of having her start to practice. She was really interested in it when I brought it home. She drank a lot of water at lunch so I figured I'd see if she'd sit on it before her nap. I gave her a book and she sat on it then I thought I heard something but didn't think she would go that soon. She started to get restless so I asked her if she was done and when she got up she had gone in the potty. I was thrilled but she didn't seem to think it was a big deal. We'll see if she'll do it again.