The many faces of Katie

Gotta love the kid, she's a ham.

Early Katie Pictures

I was looking through some old pictures of Katie and thought I'd share. I can't help it, I think she's cute... smart, smart... sorry Libby, I forgot your advice! :)

Newborn



My soldier baby



My Rapper Baby


And my cuddly baby.

Okay, maybe I'm not the most compassionate Mom

Is it wrong that while I'm mid-nagging/arguing with my child over eating dinner and she states that she misses her daddy I reply "so do I because then I wouldn't be sitting here telling you to eat, he would"?

I know, real compassionate, but I truly believe that she uses her father as an excuse for bad behavior.

And yes dear, even when you are half a world away, I can still find a way to blame you! It's a gift.

Screenwriter, Director ??? Hmmm....

This was a good weekend. Katie and I went malling on Saturday, she displayed her fashion sense (and stubbornness) but we had a good time. This morning I was planning on spending the day at home, but decided I was hungry. So, out we went for breakfast. She is so funny to just observe. She decided that I was her sister (both our names were Mary). She went from putting her hand out saying, "No, no, I don't drink coffee.." when I was asked if I wanted any to "Mary (remember- we were sisters), isn't this a lovely restaurant?"

I'm convinced that she's going to be a screenwriter. She sets scenes so well already, I can't imagine her being anything else...other than a director. Anyone that spends any time with her at all is given a role, a script and is expected to comply with her direction. I'm going to teach her to yell "Action!" and "Cut". Then I think I'm going to take her out to Hollywood. She'll show them a thing or two.

My little storm tracker

For those of you who don't know me well, I love storms. Way more than a normal person, I would love to chase tornados (with the experts - I'm not completely crazy). I have loved watching the footage of Katrina itself (not the aftermath) and I'm amazed by how powerful the forces of nature can be.

I found out last night when I got home that my daughter has been watching Rita's progression. I have not mentioned it to her, watched the weather reports with her or anything else. I'm not sure how this came about. Last night she was crying because she didn't want to go to bed and in a very tearful plea she said, "I want to watch the weather!"

The fact that I did not roll over laughing at this request is a tribute to how well I've learned to hide my true feelings when my daughter cracks me up. I can't wait for her father to hear about this. I can see his eyes rolling now.

Last time in the sandbox for the year?

Okay, I can't help it, I love little kiddo feet. I always thought that people that liked babies' feet were odd... then I had Katie and became one of those people. Although people tell me that I've always been odd anyway. I had to get that in before the comments started adding up on that topic.

We spent out time in the sandbox burying and digging out her dinosaur and her little lizard. Everyone got a bath afterwards. I took video of Katie playing in the sandbox which I'm going to try posting, but I'm not sure how the video will work.

September 14th

Happy Birthday to Me!

First Day of School Pictures

Here's some pictures of Katie's first day of school. The many faces of the drama queen.

After telling me she was "losing patience" with me this afternoon on the phone, she finally did have a conversation with me regarding how her first day went. Heartbreaking news folks. Michael is not in her class this year.

Two posts in one day!

But I had to share. I was trying to talk to my daughter over the phone about her first day back in school. As I tried for the second time to get her attention I hear a sigh and "I'm losing patience...." She had handed the phone back to Cynthia (her nanny) and walked away.

I've been dissed.

Educational Value of Spongebob

The other day in the car, I was talking to Katie about the Katrina victims and how the people that had lost their houses were being taken in by other states. How some were coming up here to Illinois and how others were going elsewhere. I mentioned that Texas had taken in a lot of the people without homes. When I mentioned Texas she said "Where Sandy used to live?" I repeated the name and started trying to think of someone that she knew named Sandy. Then it hit me. Sandy is the squirrel that lives in Bikini Bottom with Spongebob Squarepants. They had done an episode on Texas. So much for my argument that the show has no educational value. Leave it to my daughter.

My child can make a baby out of anything

I came home the other day to find evidence of Katie trying to "baby" her T-Rex.

Her favorite animals are both furry and scaley. She doesn't discriminate.

And just out of curiousity, does this pose look painful to anyone else?

Just cuz

My bug bought me flowers today. I've got to get her to teach her dad that. Another thing that she does that I simply find adorable is when out of the blue she says, "Mommy... I love you!" Such a sweetie.

What a salesbug

For those of you who don't know Katibug is Katie's pet name.... She and I were watching TV this evening and an item appeared on a commercial that she is enamored with, but realizes she's too young to have. It's a gadget that provides a quick way of highlighting your hair. She said, "Mommy, I want that when I'm older." And then she got very excited when they said that "your mom can use it too". Mimicking the commercial the next thing I hear is "Mommy, it's even safe for your hair!" So glad she's worried about healthy hair at the age of 4.

When I'm Queen ...

I'm starting a separate blog so if I feel like sharing my opinions, I'll feel comfortable doing so. The link is on my sidebar "When I'm Queen"- or it can be found at http://whenqueen.blogspot.com.

Hearing my words... out of her mouth

Okay, so Katie and I are playing today and she decides that we're going to do some role reversal. I am now the daughter. She's done this before but today she put me in time out - I swear I didn't do nuthin'! Then when I started giggling I heard out of her mouth - "It's not funny, I am not laughing!" Which, of course, made me laugh harder. I'm in BIG trouble. The last thing that she said is "You are SO grounded!". Okay, now she's getting ahead of me - I haven't grounded her yet!

By the way, Dad, not sure I can make it tomorrow, I might not be allowed out of the house yet.

Katie's dying stuffed animals

Um.. I got home from work last night to find out that my daughter's horse head (one of those things with the pole that you pretend to ride around on) had died. According to her. She wanted to lay it down in her room on a pillow. She apparently had some "food" that would bring it back to life, but she wasn't feeding it any of that. Which was a good thing since overnight the animals that she was sleeping with squeezed one of her stuffed dogs and he died (she was giving the animals responsible for this a time out), then while I was in the shower the rest of the animals died from unknown causes.

When I left for work she was feeding them all the magic food that would bring them back to life.

Thank God, I didn't want to have to start burying stuffed animals in the backyard.

Can I just say....help... please.....

Katrina Victims

I just want to send prayers and good thoughts to the people that are being directly affected by the hurricane. I also want to send prayers to all the emergency workers and National Guardsmen for everything they are and will have to go through until things get stabalized.