Cut. Cut. Cut.
(It’s her favorite thing to do lately and now she realized there are kid knives in the drawer.)
Kaitlyn
She heard the beeper and before I could get to the kitchen she had my oven mitts on. Thankfully she has no interest in opening the oven.
Kaitlyn can take her shoes off, but can’t put on her shoes. This makes it difficult to change shoes the twenty million times a day she would like. Today she convinced Teague to help her put on a new pair.
I wonder where she got this idea? (see here)
Sunday shenanigans.
Another benefit to having Gram in town is her green thumb. She helped me get my pots planted for the backdeck. (Or rather she helped me pick the plants and the kids helped us plant them.)
Snuggles with Gram.
Today started my three day garage sale. My neighbor coordinated a neighborhood-wide garage sale and it sounded like a great idea to get rid of so many unwanted items. Then I realized there was no way I could have a garage sale and watch Kaitlyn. (I might could have handled the boys.) My Mom was nice enough to agree to come for a visit and watch Kaitlyn while I sold $2 items. Kaitlyn did check out all the items before approving them for sale.
We introduced Gram to the beach today.
The race is on between Madison’s ability to stay and Kaitlyn’s attention span when it comes to cleaning up her mess. (Too bad the spill involves raisins which Madison can’t eat. Otherwise it’d just end up being a nice treat for her.)
Kaitlyn couldn’t wait to help Gram with the replanting.
Napping.
Their mom has a thing for red, white, and blue.
(Stars too.)
We spent the day in Milwaukee with friends. We ate, we laughed, we played. It was a perfect Memorial Day.
I convinced everyone to get together for a group shot this year!
Today’s family activity was bowling. The boys loved it and Kaitlyn was fascinated. It actually makes me miss my one year on a bowling league while I worked at the Patent Office in DC. (Those were the days….)
Monkey see. Monkey do.
Kaitlyn’s first time in the boat. She was just a little excited.
To really get summer going, we convinced Wade to join us at the beach. The boys loved having him and Kaitlyn got her first ride in the boat.
Alone time? Unwinding? What’s that?
I’m going to go ahead and call this a parenting win simply because she isn’t using her hands to eat it straight out of the big bowl. Bonus points that she is using the serving spoon to try to fill her own bowl.
My new favorite picture of Kaitlyn and me – taken by Alex.
Alex’s last day of school was today. We did pictures in the morning and then Maria had some awesome after school traditions we joined in. Evidently the kids are met at the bus stop by Moms and siblings with silly string! Everyone knew was what coming except for Alex. He actually took it pretty well and I thought it was an excellent idea.
Then we headed up to Maria’s back deck for ice cream and water balloons. The kids had a wonderful last day of school and I am officially ready for summer!
To wrap up Alex’s school year here is a first day and last day comparison:
Kaitlyn was already dressed when I got myself ready. The minute she saw me put on my denim shirt she ran to her room and came running back with her jean jacket. She’ll always want to dress like me, right?
Today Teague had his last day of school in preK. We decided to celebrate big. There were lots of pictures (of course) and the school provided popsicles. Then Mary and I loaded up the kids for lunch at Lindy’s Landing. (A place where we can eat outside and the kids can play in the sand. Best idea ever!)
Then we had a crazy evening of a babysitter not showing up, a rush to dinner with Kaitlyn in tow, and off to Teague’s preschool graduation. As you can see from the pictures, he handles being in the spotlight quite well.
To wrap up the school year here is a first day and last day comparison:
She still pulls everything out of the cabinets, but at least now she knows how to work the puzzles.
We always seem to have some extra time in the mornings and usually spend the extra minutes outside at the bus stop. Some days Alex is a little too wild and crazy so today I convinced him to bring a book. Kaitlyn also realized the boys both have her favorite kind of clip to fasten (the chest clip on all backpacks) on their backpacks. They were kind enough to let her clip it over and over and would undo theirs while she went to clip the other boy’s.
If Alex didn’t have blue hair for crazy hair day, this might be one of my all time favorite pictures of walking to the bus stop.
Kaitlyn still has only a few words. Her only animal sound is “quack” and she loves to show it off. That might be why this duck is one of her favorite toys. She loves to walk it around the house saying, “Quack. Quack.”
First beach day of the season.
We kind of have a Saturday morning tradition of Cinnamon Toast.
Kaitlyn sleeps with 3 blankets, 3 or 4 stuffed animals, 5 or 6 loveys, and 1 baby doll. She rarely every asks for something to leave the crib, but if she wants something it is always this particular blanket.
This one has a personality all her own. I predict the next few years are going to be filled with many, many battles but lots of laughs.
– The hat was all her own idea, but definitely cute enough to leave.
Taking her baby shopping.
This is life. Kaitlyn was adamant about wearing a too small winter puffy vest with only a diaper and a yellow hair bow. They all wanted seconds on fruit for breakfast but wanted it out of the big bowl – why not?
She wants to be just like her big brother.
I turned around to see Kaitlyn had helped herself to the iPad and headphones.
(Wonder where she got the idea – see here.)
Her favorite activity – “cut”
School year activities are starting to end. Running club ends with the Wacky Sock Run. Alex has been talking about this for weeks. I thought it sounded like fun and was a great first run for him to try. Everyone had the option of running a 3k or half of that. The problem is we woke up to a freezing (literally not quite 32 degrees) morning. We bundled everyone up and headed to school. The turnout was a lot less than years past (or so I hear), but we actually had a good time. Alex and I ran while Wade, Teague, and Kaitlyn cheered us on. Then there were snacks and door prizes.
Wacky Sock Run 2016
(Brrr!)
Wade cut down a tree in our backyard a few weeks ago and the larger branches have just been sitting in our driveway. Today Wade rented a large chipper and made wood chips for the kids’ Spy Club. Obviously we had to move lunch outside to watch the show.
Hanging out in Dad’s shop.
She always helps carry the groceries and gets mad that I won’t let her carry the milk. Today I let her try to carry a gallon and she made it all the way to the backdoor.
World’s best big brother right there.
Napping.
Deep concentration.
I don’t remember when Kaitlyn first learned her body parts, but she loves to point them out. She has even made them part of her bedtime routine and wants to show you eyes, nose, head, mouth, and teeth before you turn out the light.
Happy Mother’s Day
To make the weekend even more special I got to spend Mother’s Day with my Mother. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms.
She can’t fathom that this car isn’t made for her and doesn’t understand why she does’t fit. Showing her how well a doll fits inside has done nothing to change her mind.