8.23.2010

A boy friend

Katherine has found a new friend.

The neighbor boy is going into 5th grade and has been trying to get her to play with him for a while. Today she decided that all this attention was nice and she would talk to him and play with him.

I just watched him walk her across the street, holding hands for safety, to go play at his house with his little sister and my girls. It was so precious and he was just thrilled. It's her first time allowed over there without me. I've been waiting until she was well enough potty trained. She informed me that if she pooped she would have to come back home.

Katherine has a wonderful gift of laughter, cuteness and language beyond her years. Everyone who meets her just falls in love with that. She keeps us all laughing and smiling around here.


The new schedule begins

Day 1 Watching the baby.

So - I thought he was about 7 months, turns out he's nearly 9.

I'm not sure how to handle the feeding. He does not like to eat. His mom said this is an ongoing issue. He's pretty skinny too. So - he needs to eat. But, he's just not interested. It's like force feeding, which I'm totally not comfortable with.

My kids all loved to eat, they didn't love all the options but they did usually want to eat when they were hungry. I'm hoping his aversion to food is just related to the new surroundings but it is a bit discouraging and I'm insecure enough about my ability to do this anyways.

I'm praying he guzzles his bottle after nap, but I know that breastfed babies really struggle with bottles so... He is happy though and takes great naps. He is a cute little guy and the girls just adore having him here.

I'm sure it will get easier as the days go by.

8.13.2010

Katherine's Party



Katherine loves being with other kids. She is so cute that everyone likes her. She has made friends with all the kids in the neighborhood and they really take care of her. So, I didn't really have any kids her own age to invite to her party but it was just perfect for her. We got a "jump-o-lene" and everyone took turns jumping in it with her.

The heat was intense, the mosquitos were fierce but everyone had a ton of fun.









Katherine's Birthday Day 1







We had to split Katherine's birthday up this year due to Anna & Claire being so sick on the actual day plus pouring rain all day.

But, Katherine still had a great day and was ecstatic about all the decorations and special treatment that day. She loved to hear us sing Happy Birthday. We sang it many many times that day including before cake and after.

We had planned strawberry cupcakes but we had to move the party to Friday so we took her out to the local bakery and let her pick out a little cake to have on Wednesday. Anna and Claire were well enough for the dinner hour to sing and share cake with her.



8.05.2010

school over the summer

Why is it when I sit down to do school work with the kids they whine, cry and throw things? (Okay, just one of them does *all* of that.)

When Matt sits down with them they just love it. They enjoy doing the school work, they work hard and do a great job.

Go Dad!

8.03.2010

lots of rain

and it's beautiful around here.

and humid.

and warm.

and there are a gazillion bugs. I get a new mosquito bite every time I go outside.

But today the kids had a great time outside with water from the hose, some chalk and some crazy fun neighbor kids.

And the only treatment for grumpluenza that I know of is takeout.

The "medicine" is on its way.

Mom would like a day off

So I'm not sick. Not really. I am seriously living on the wrong side of the bed today though. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings (yes, that happens a lot around here) so... could I just have a day off?

A friend suggested wearing an "Out of Order" sign on these kind of days. Anytime someone comes to me with a whine, problem, fight or question I could refer to the sign.

I suppose it really is like being sick. It's an emotion kind of sickness. Grumpluenza.