Showers of Happiness

Last night Katie INSISTED that she had to get a shower in the downstairs bathroom so Joseph and I figured why not, let's she what she does when she gets in there. She loved it and didn't want to get out, as you'll see, LOL.

Having Fun

Just chillin'

And here's what happened when we told her it was time to get out after about 10-15 minutes. It wasn't pretty!
She had a major meltdown and wouldn't get out!

We finally persuaded her to get out but it wasn't easy! Tonight, she wanted to take another shower. Guess she liked it!

Congrats Joseph!

He's been trying to get this for weeks now...

C is for Cookie... W is for Wii!

Tonight we made some chocolate chip cookies. I made the dough, Katie scooped the dough on to the tray (and sampled some dough along the way), Joseph put them in the oven and took them out, and we all enjoyed them after they cooled off. :-)

Teaching Katie how to put the scoops on the cookie sheet
Giving it a try for herself
Who stole the cookie from the cook-cookie jar?
Katie stole the cookie from the cook-cookie jar.
Who me? Yes you. Couldn't be!
After we were finished making our cookies, we played some Wii together. Aunt Karen let us borrow Super Mario Galaxy and Katie took a turn too!

Alright, so I push the A button while I move the nunchuk?
Getting into the action!
Who loves Wii? "Wii" do! :-)

Battled the Cold... Took a Walk Tonight

After dinner tonight, we decided to take a little walk. Katie needed to burn off some energy and Joseph and I wanted to burn off a few calories (although at Katie's speed, don't know how many calories we knocked off, lol)

Katie brought her video camera so she could
take pictures of people in their houses.
I told her there are laws against that, lol.

The Line Leader

Taking a break on a neighbor's step

And then feeling the need to stop at just about every house for a photo op!
Daddy trying to speed things up.
It was getting pretty chilly and we were still a block away from home.
C'mon Kate, keep up with me so we can get home and warm up!
Exercise... how exhausting!!!
Got a 2nd wind
(climbing up on the arm of the couch)
Rosy red cheeks
(and a dirty face, lol)

I'm A Big Girl Now!

Katie's potty training is a success! She's only had one accident (the day after we started) and has been doing great ever since. This is her second potty chart and she's filled it all up in only 1 week, and we didn't even remember to put a sticker every time. I promised her that we'd go to Chuck E. Cheese's after the chart was filled (figuring it would take a while to get to that) so I guess we'll be making a trip there this week or weekend.
Last night we were at Jenine and Chris' house and Katie was upstairs playing with the kids. She came down and asked me to help her wash her hands. I asked why and she said "because I felt like I had to go potty and I went all by myself." Wow! I was so proud! I went up to check the bathroom with visions of TP everywhere but she managed to keep it clean, just forgot to flush. Ok, I'll forgive her for that since she took care of the rest! :-)

Taking A Break

We did give Maddie some short "union breaks" from the sod house project but not as many as she probably would've liked!

Playing with Katie
Showing off her dress-up girl

The Sod House Project - Day 2 (Building a House)

Mixing up the strips of "sod"

Laying the first row of sod
Working Hard
The walls are up and now it's time to raise the roof.
(and yes, I say that with hands pumpin' up in the air, LOL)Maddie and Joseph working on the roof while I glue in the garden veggies.
I think Joseph likes this project better than Maddie does!
(But she's been working really hard to get it done,
they're having fun and she's learning along the way.)
Here's how it looks at the end of the day today:

Maddie and Joseph are going to finish it up next Monday with a sod and clay roof, a fence around the garden, some farm animals and some other pioneer-type decorations. I know I'm a little biased but this thing looks great! And I've learned something too because I never heard of a sod house before this project so Maddie and Joseph have been teaching me along the way.

The Sod House Project - Day 1 (Getting Started)

Maddie has to do a project for school where she has to write a report about and build a model of a sod house. On Saturday we spent most of the day out gathering the supplies and then Joseph and Maddie got to work on creating the ground layout for it.

A River Runs Through It
(and a hill, and a farm, and the floor for the house...)

The Bed Time Routine

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before bed on Friday night

Maddie and Katie humoring me with a smile
Mickey Mouse Junkies

Playing Ball With Rudy and Minnie

Playing at Poppy's house on Thursday night...

Gearing Up For The Cold

Katie trying out her new hat, coat, and gloves. She sure needs them this week. It's SO cold here! Waiting on snow tonight. Not a lot but enough to be a nuisance!

Kelly's 5th Birthday

On Saturday night, we went to Kelly's 5th birthday party. Katie had a great time playing with Kelly, Liam, and Sammie and helping Kelly open all of her presents.

Waiting to sing

Making a wish!

Yummy chocolate pretzels!

Katie, Kelly, and Jenine opening gifts

Super cool!

Katie and Sammie hanging out with their Mom-MomsKatie doing a little light reading before we leave.

How Exciting!

On Saturday, me and Chrissy went dress shopping for her wedding. We brought our "kids" - Katie and John - and let me tell you, John was THRILLED! See...

Oars

Katie is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in my bedroom and I'm in the computer room printing out my resume. All of the sudden I hear her yell "the pair of whores". Um, say WHAT??? LOL Here it was the episode where Mickey goes fishing and Tootles brings him a pair of OARS to row out onto the lake!

Uncle Jack

Today is the ten year anniversary of my Uncle Jack's death. I can't believe that ten years has passed by so quickly. So much has happened in that time and our family has grown with marriages and kids but there's still an empty spot where he should be. :-( I'm a big believer of everything happening for a reason (even when it seems to be so senseless) so I know Uncle Jack, Pop-Pop, and now Aunt Jeanne are up in heaven making sure we're all taken care of.

Uncle Jack was an awesome person, always with a joke or some way to try to get your goat. When he was around, there was always laughter. Our family is not the same without him! I wish Joseph had the chance to meet UJ and spend time with him. They would've had a great time together (at the expense of the rest of us! LOL).

The Kid's Got Good Taste

Katie was eating a Godiva biscuit (commonly called a cookie to the rest of the non-Godiva world, lol) and suddenly she said...

K - Mmm, this is good chocolate. Who made it?

Me - Godiva.

K - Godiba?

Me - Yes.

K - Yep, it's good!

Joseph and I better start saving up. Apparently Katie's got champagne taste! Too bad for her that Joseph and I have beer pockets! LOL

Day One - Potty Training Boot Camp - Sucess!

Hopefully it's not just beginner's luck but Katie was completely dry all day! She went potty a bunch of times and actually was getting annoyed that I kept asking her if she had to go, LOL. I think the sticker rewards and the promise of a trip to Barnes and Noble to get a new book when she fills the chart with stickers motivated her to go, and go often. I purposely made the chart only have 8 blocks so she will likely fill it by tomorrow afternoon and then we can go to BN. Nothing like (almost) instant gratification to motivate!

Breakfast and A Show

This morning Katie realized that when I take a video of her she can watch herself afterwards so she just wanted me to keep making movies of her.

ABC's

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I Can Do It Myself

Katie's all about putting her own clothes on lately (and taking them off too). She's been doing pretty good but sometimes her arm gets stuck or both of her legs wind up in the same pant leg! The other day she was insistent that she could do it herself. So fine, I let her go at it. About a minute later, she turned to me with a shirt all tangled up on her head and said "Maybe I need some help." Hmmm, you think? LOL

Here she is giving it a go tonight...

Yikes, I think my head is stuck!

Now which way do these go?

Potty Training Boot Camp

This weekend it's bye-bye diapers and hello panties! We started tonight by making a big deal of throwing away all of the diapers (we only had about 4-5 left anyway) because only babies need diapers and Katie is a big girl now! Then we opened up her Pull-Ups and she got to pick one out and put it on for bed. Tomorrow morning it'll be straight to big girl panties. I'm sure there will be some accidents but she's been doing well without a diaper on at night after dinner. Tonight she didn't have a diaper on and she went potty 3x before bed with no accidents. So she's definitely ready, it's just a matter of me following through with it. Wish me luck!

Hello Pull-Ups!

Putting on her Pull-Up

Headed to the pottyGathering her supplies

Katie and her new best friend

Success!

Hey look, it's the plumber's daughter! LOL

I'm a big girl now!