Yet Another Birthday Celebration for Katie! (and me too...)

Katie spent the day with Nonna on Tuesday so when I went to pick her up, we had a cake for her birthday and mine so that Juli could sing to us and give Katie her present since she was sick for Katie's party. For cake pics, check out Juli and Livi's site.

Sandy showing Katie and Juli how to use Katie's new Leap Pad.
We tried to take a picture of the girls together.
It was like herding cats!!!
I guess 2 out of 3 smiling and looking was the best we were gonna get.
Here's some of Katie and Livi
Livi's telling Katie a story
And we all fall down! (We gave up after this!)

Power Wheels Bike - Take 2!

We decided the first bike Poppy and Rudy got for Katie was too small. Her feet didn't even fit in the space for them! So I found this new one and it's better because it's a car so it's roomier and she'll get much more use out it. Poppy and I returned the old one, and he got her this one. Poppy put it together and it took him 4 hours because there was so many parts! When we went for dinner on Monday night, Katie got to try it out. I think she needs some practice, but she likes it!

Poppy teaching Katie how to push the pedal"I can't look at the camera because what if my popsicle disappears when I look away???

Chowing down on a treat from Poppy

Update on Katie's Big Girl Bed

So... the big girl bed is a no-go so far! Katie says "I not staying there!". I decided this needs a force stronger than Mommy... We need Daddy!!! So once Daddy gets home, there is going to be a serious crack-down on the bed situation! In the mean time, (I know... chastise me...) Katie is occupying Daddy's spot.

(By the way, even though this is dated on the 27th, I'm posting on 8/31.)

Happy Birthday to Denise!

Everyone surprised me with a birthday cake and some singing for my birthday at the beach house. Me, Mom-Mom, and Katie left no long after that because it was just way too hot and me and Katie were both tired. We came home and took a nice long nap and then went food shopping tonight. My exciting birthday in a nutshell!

This picture is funny because it was so humid that when I brought the camera downstairs (from the AC upstairs) the lens fogged up. Pretty much everything felt wet and sticky because it was so humid. Yuck!

Boardwalk

We went up to the boardwalk last night so the girls could go on some rides. By the time we got up there though, Katie was wiped out after her afternoon in the pool, so she didn't go on too many rides. Everyone was pretty tired after the long day so me, Katie, Mom-Mom, Pop, Chris, Jen, and Steve headed home but Karen and Maddie stayed up there after we all left and had some "Mommy and Me" time going on rides. I bet they had a lot of fun since they haven't had much time together since Maddie got home from camp. She starts school on Monday though so no more gallivanting around... time to hit the books! :-)

Dollin' up for the Boards

Trying to let herself out

(and the ride hadn't even started yet!)Spinderella (a.k.a Maddie)Katie was lovin' the motorcycles !Whoa, hold on tight!

Uncle Jack Memorial Fishing Trip

Every year we go on a fishing trip run by the Jim Junod club. The trip is in memory of my Uncle Jack who was a member before he passed away in 1998. My Uncle Joe still belongs to the group and so we venture out on this 8 hour fishing trip each year. The company is always good, but the weather and fishing are not always so great, lol. This year the weather was beautiful and the water was calm (not like last year when Chris begged to be attacked by a shark rather than have to stay on the boat, lol). The fishing was pretty good too. Lots of people were catching fish - someone caught a 5lb flounder! I caught 5 fish, Karen caught 16, and Jen caught 8. Not sure how many Kevin, Uncle Joe and Steve caught as they were down the line from me but they did have some catches too. Out of all of our catches though, only 2 were keepers - both caught by Karen. All I got to keep was a NASTY sunburn! It was only 7am when we left and I thought "oh, I'll put on sunblock in a little bit". Well, I got involved in fishing and totally forgot until it was already way too late! By Sunday, it didn't look so bad but on Sat night... Oh my goodness, I looked like a tomato!!! Two new "victims" (Jen and Steve) joined us this year and Jen had a great time but Steve joined the ranks of Joseph, Chris, Chrissy, and John. He was a trooper though and still fished and tried his best to fight off feeling sea sick. Hope they'll both join us again next year! :-)

Jen striking a pose

As our guys would say... Sea Hags! LOL

Hmmm... where's Mike? He chickened out on us!Jen and SteveKatie took this terrible picture of me but
I had to include it to show my "lobster look"

Denise's Birthday

Poppy, Rudy, Karen, Chris, and Maddie came over on Thursday night to celebrate my birthday (the 26th). Karen made a cake that fell apart and looked like a big pile of poo, lol, but it still tasted delicious. The Chinese food we had on the other hand... no so good. I mean, it tasted good but Katie wound up throwing up and me, Karen, Chris, and Maddie all felt sick that night. I guess they used some bad cat or something, lol.

Blowing out the candles (and Katie seriously eyeing up that cake!)

Who needs utensils?

Making Up For Lost Time

Wow, no posts in almost a week! It's been a busy couple of days. I'll do a couple of posts to update...

Noah, get your ark!

The rain is coming down strong and steady right now and has been for the past 3 days straight. I feel like I'm in Seattle! I hope it stops soon, Katie is going stir crazy after not being able to play outside for 3 days.

Big Girl Bed

On her birthday, Katie climbed out of her pack-n-play for the first time at Mom-Mom's house. Then on Sunday and Monday, she climbed out of her crib and she was insistent that she wasn't sleeping in her cribbie any more. So tonight, we took the front off of her crib and gave her a big girl bed, :-(. She was so excited and kept jumping on to the bed and then rolling off.

I wasn't sure how she'd do when I put her to bed tonight but so far, so good. She fell asleep watching Barney in my room and I carried her into her bed. She laid right down with no problem so hopefully she stays asleep all night. I told her she can't get out of the bed until the sun is out again in the morning so we'll see how that goes! Can't wait for the bed rail to get here tomorrow. I'll feel much better about her sleeping in the bed once that's up. Right now I just laid pillows beside the bed in case she falls off. It's only about a 9-12 inch drop so not too bad but still enough to jolt you out of your sleep!

I was really hoping she'd stay in the crib longer (for my own convenience and sanity, lol) but I'm sure we'll all adjust to any new sleeping schedule...

Daddy taking out the screws for the front

Katie helping out

Trying the new big girl bed for the first timeRolling off and cracking herself up!

Getting used to the idea of a big girl bedSound asleep...

Katie's 2nd Birthday Party

Although we were short on kids because of a virus going around (Katie had it earlier in the week but was better by Saturday), we had Katie's birthday party yesterday. The weather was great and lots of people came to help Katie celebrate her "dirthday". She loved having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her. I think she was singing the loudest!

WARNING: Picture overload ahead :-)

You should have seen this sight with us driving along 611 at 10 miles an hour! LOL

Trying not to float away... I think I may have gotten too many balloons!

Is that Poppy on the right or did Elmo stop by???Party PeopleMom-Mom bringing out the cake since Mommy
almost dropped the whole thing on the way outside
Happy Birthday to Me!Make a wish...This cake is yummo!
Poppy and Rudy getting their party on!Taking a break up on the hill with JaredSamantha playing with her Mom-Mom

This birthday stuff is serious business!Maddie
All these presents for me... Muhahahaha!!!
Playing with the new toys
(I think Maddie wants this one for herself!)

Maddie's Home!!!

We went to pick up Maddie from camp this morning and don't ya know the bus was late! Last year we wound up being the ones who were late... go figure...

Here's Katie keeping busy while we waited for Maddie's bus to get here:

Picking acorns
Got one for Maddie!
Walking with her "cane", like "Two Mom-Mom do"
The bus finally arrives...
I don't know who was more excited!
The Happy Camper