Too young for stress

My daughter is a little artist.  I have her artwork all over my office from the times that she's been there with me.  I mentioned to her that some men we're working with right now really liked her artwork and I thought it would be nice if she made some more for me while she's at my office on Tuesday.  She asked me when the men were coming back to my office and when I told her Wednesday I got "I'M GOING TO FEEL PRESSURED!" from her.   

Oh my!  I had no idea asking her to color a couple of pictures was going to be such a stressful request!  But apparently she has visions of a multi-picture display. She's so funny.  Now I just have to make sure she remains calm during her assignment. LOL

I am apparently being replaced

Every once in a while I do something, usually on purpose because I like to drive my husband a little crazy (it keeps him on his toes), that seems to require my husband to ask my daughter what color her new mommy's hair should be.  My daughter typically yells out, I don' t want a new mommy!  Once when he complained that I was being silly and asked her that question she said, "I like a silly mommy."   She's so cute.  I thought.

There are also little things I do to her just because I believe that part of the job of children is to provide entertainment value.  So whenever I make her a hot dog and cut it up for her, I eat one of the ends.  I don't know what started it, but I've always done it.  It was probably just a way for me to make sure it wasn't too hot at one point, but I've never stopped doing it.  However, NOW she notices.  And it bugs her.  So I continue to do it. ... if you knew my father you'd understand. :)     She will tell me not to as I'm making the hot dogs and I invariably find something for her to do to distract her before I start cutting them up so I can grab one of the ends.

The other day I handed her a plate with two hot dogs on it, sans one end of course, and she marched into the living room (doubles as our dining room at the moment) where my husband was sitting.  She sits down and says "Blond".  My husband, completely confused, asks her what she's talking about.  "My next mommy...she should be blond."      Hmpf.  No sense of humor. :)

Got to love cats

This post is not about Katie, although she loved hearing this story.

This morning at about 3:45 our beloved (JC would say I'm using that word without authorization) and somewhat crazy cat was chasing his ball around our bed.  He likes to play fetch and he'll bring it up on the bed to try to get us to play with him.  If we don't he'll just bat it around the bed and jump all over us playing with it.  This morning the festivities began at 3:45.  I had been sleeping through some of it when I realized that JC had gotten out of bed.  I turned over planning to take the ball and put it under my pillow which is my normal response to this nocturnal activity.  I propped myself up on my elbow and looked at the cat as JC was walking back into the room.

As my eyes fell on the ball, JC said "DON'T MOVE."   I said, "What is that?" (Remember I don't sleep with my glasses on.)  He said, "A live mouse." and proceeded to put his hand over it and scoop it up (he had grabbed his work glove while he was out of the room).  

You know, my other cat, my mouser, used to kill the mice.  I wish that she had managed to train this one before she passed last year.  One of my first thoughts when I knew that we would have to put Tigger down was "who's going to catch mice".  Apparently I should have been more worried about who was going to KILL them.  (By the way, my house is not overrun with mice, we ususally get one a year.)

Fun way to start the day! 

She's not as smart as I thought...

I'm just kidding, my child is quite smart.  However, I assumed that when she figured out that the tooth fairy was not real she would keep it to herself until she was out of teeth. LOL    But after Church today she turned to me, and proving that she had been thinking of other things during service, said "So if Santa isn't real and the Easter bunny isn't real - does that mean that the Tooth Fairy isn't real either?"

I tried to get around this, I truly did.  I himmed, hawed and tried to change the subject but Katie can be very persistent.  When I finally couldn't take the pressure anymore I gave in and admitted the truth.  Then she started to discuss how WE were giving her the silver dollars (or half dollars, I can't actually remember)  and how when she lost her next tooth she would get ANOTHER one.  I looked at her and said, "Not if you tell Daddy you know about the tooth fairy."  She stopped dead in her tracks, looked at me and said, "Please don't tell him I know."   There's my girl.  That's what I thought was going to happen. LOL  

So everyone - ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh   :D

New Year's Eve 2009

Okay, I'm usually a very good planner. And everything did eventually turn out for the best. However, we did get off to a rocky start new year's eve. Just as we were going to head downtown to the Intercontinental Hotel for dinner and their NYE party, I read the confirmation. Which said ROSEMONT, not Downtown Chicago - it actually did say Chicago/O'Hare but the driving direction was to Rosemont. I think that may be where my online confusion came from but I'm just guessing.


So after a quick call to verify and another quick call to Keith (pictured above) and his girlfriend MB to let them know what happened we spent a few minutes rearranging dinner reservations. Everything turned out great - better for Keith and MB since they were going to drive in from Algonquin. We had a great time, heard a good cover band (okay, not sure how many of us thought they were good - but I did), saw the Gin Blossoms were also good and entertained ourselves people watching.


Meanwhile at Nana & Papa's house... apparently Papa fell asleep and Nana had to stay up with Katie. Poor Nana. She didn't sign up for that.


Hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Christmas, New Year's and Holiday lights at the Zoo

There was a nice side-effect to Katie learning about Santa - she likes to wrap gifts. Our gifts were wrapped and under the tree as they were brought into the house this year. Very nice. :)


This Christmas was much more pleasant than last Christmas. And much more appreciated than last year. Last year I wasn't in the Christmas mood but I made up for it this year!


Katie's too most loved presents this year were her new DS and her Easy Bake Oven. Are you aware that the Easy Bake Oven cooks with a light bulb? Can a light bulb cook? I'm scared... for my stomach...because you know she's going to make me eat this stuff, right? Actually, we have made sugar cookies in it and they were actually a little overcooked - I'm not sure how. But I did not hear the same thing about the chocolate chip cookies she made with her cousin while I wasn't around.


Katie is ringing in the New Year with Papa this year while JC and I spend New Year's Eve downtown. She's very excited - and I did check with Papa to make sure that he would stay up. Apparently the zoo has a New Year's Eve celebration but she wasn't even going to ask Papa about that - she just wanted me to know. I have a feeling I know what we're doing next year.


We did the zoo Holiday lights last night - that's what the pictures are from. It was fun - although very cold. But the lights were great! Better than the last time we went.

No Katie, there is no Santa Claus

Well, it happened. The question I've been dreading (and lying about for a couple years now) but this time it was followed by "tell me the truth". Okay, now I have a problem. I had a problem lying before, but wasn't point b lank asked not to.


So after reminding her what the real reason for Christmas is, we talked about how Santa is a wonderful story and is in our hearts during Christmas making us want to be happy and giving to others. In other words, I winged it. And then shed a few tears. lol The end of an era.


There are a few more notes to this, there always is with Katie. When I said that Santa was a wonderful story she was still trying to figure out if he was real or not so her response was "stories are fiction". Then after our talk she sat up straight and looked at me with a shocked look on her face. When I asked her what was going on she started discussing the year she got her play kitchen and how it was "huge". She was surprised that we, mere humans, had been able to pull that off (my words, her sentiment). Well, at least she showed some gratitude. :)


Oh, and we also discussed how you do not tell younger children and if they ask you direct them to their parents. Yeesh. Don't need to be responsible for a disbelief epidemic.

My Pastor's Blog

http://www.danmarler.blogspot.com/ This blog is my Pastor's blog. It is definitely worth a read. He's both intelligent and humorous, a great combination. If you do go to his blog, our church's link is on it. You can actually listen to some of his sermons from the church link.


I know I haven't been on alot. I do miss blogging, but there seems to be so much going on these days that it's hard to find time. I will try to post some pictures and stories this weekend. We've all been very busy - who isn't? - and I just haven't found the time. But I will update. What I'd really like to do is turn my When I'm Queen blog into a bible, etc. discussion blog. Just not sure how to start, but I haven't dropped the idea.

I'll be back!

School's starting

Katie is eight now. And as I watch her sitting near me watching Design Star, I realize that I'm seeing a glimpse of what she's going to be as a teenager. She's so beautiful, even if I am a little biased, and so smart. There are things she comes up with that I just take for truth because she's so confident in what she's saying. I assume she learned them somewhere, though I'm not sure where.


I'm so proud of her. Half of me wants to stop time so she's always my little girl and the other half of me can't wait to see what kind of person she turns into. I have to admit at the moment, the half that wants to stop time is pretty strong right now. But I know I'm going to lose this one. Here comes third grade!!!!

How funny is that?

Just when I'm looking forward with dread to Katie entering puberty, Parenting School Years has an article about it. Someone's looking out for me. At least this is starting at the end of the school year, I wonder if I'll see a big difference in her by the start of the next school year?


Okay, I'm going to go hide under my bed now. I'll be back soon.

Miscellaneous

One of the things that Katie has gotten into lately is archery. She's pretty good at it from what I've heard, though I have yet to see it. But I know she hits the bullseye alot because she comes home with pins/medals for doing that. ** Okay - update ** I did see her shoot her bow at the family reunion and here is a picture.

She wants to find a martial arts class as well and I have to say, I have some mixed feelings about this. I mean, who do you think she's going to practice on? I'm preparing for bruising.


Katie is taking communion for the first time the Sunday after this one. She's not making her "1st communion" because we don't belong to a Catholic church, but she's taking it for the first time and has studied for a while to get to this point, so she's very excited.


Okay, now for the disturbing news... at least for me. This morning when I came downstairs, Katie and Cynthia were talking and Cynthia told Katie to tell me about her bumps. While I'm wondering to myself if I have the kid's version of benedryl (my mind went straight to allergic reaction), I hear Katie say, "You tell her." I thought that was odd, so I said, "What bumps?" My daughter looks at me at this point and lifts her shirt. REALLY? She's just turning 8, is this supposed to happen? I didn't even check her out at that point because the thought of my not even 8 year old starting to develop could not/would not register in my mind. So I had a mom of the year moment and told her to pretend that they weren't there. LOL


Don't worry, I came home from work and had an actual talk with her. I just needed time to process. LOL But really? 8? Is that normal? I'm going to go hit google....

Hello out there...

I'm going to attempt to get back into blogging. Not necessarily because I want people to read my blog - because when you only blog every six months, who can expect that? - but because I seem to be unable to keep a written record of Katie's doings unless I blog.


So in a nutshell for the moment, until I can get back on - hopefully tomorrow? - and add to it. My daughter is now without her two front teeth. She lost them around Christmas time. Well, she lost the second one, she kinda had the first one knocked out. Now, you have to understand that it was loose to begin with. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. I was helping her out of the shower and had her towel in my hands ready to dry her off. I decided to mess around with her and said, "I'm gonna get this face first!" and proceeded to "dry" her face - basically just rubbing it in the towel. Then I heard - "ow! my tooth!" Ooops. Down one. She lost the second one of it's own free will ... and with a lot less blood. Did I mention oops?


Okay, I'm going to leave you with some pictures ... although they'll probably be at the top 'cause that's how they load and I'm too tired to move them around tonight. I'll be back soon.

Sorry it's been so long!

Katie is doing well in school. I can definitely see them preparing them for more work. I don't think I had to do this much work in second grade, but then I have no memory, so who knows? With the leaves falling, we have already begun the Christmas list. I know, we haven't even gotten through Halloween yet... speaking of which, I need to find some orange tights... no, not for me. LOL


With the Christmas list has come something I've been trying to avoid. Yesterday an American Girl catalog entered my house uninvited. Before I realized what was going on, my child had noticed it, grabbed it, and RAN with it to the couch so she could start her perusal. Katie has never been introduced to American Girl dolls because, well, I don't think they're worth it. Not for a doll that really won't be a collectible after my daughter gets done with it. And I'm not big on buying toys that don't get played with.


So, dear readers, any opinions? Am I being backwards by not really wanting the American Girl empire in my house? Did I mention that my child has 48 items circled in this catalog - she counted. Not that she would get everything she asked for, of course. And we're having the same issue that we had last year with pricey objects - "but this is going on my SANTA list!" Don't worry, I'm not going to tell her about Santa.... LOL

If it's not one thing it's another.....

Well, it may have been a little late in coming, but I had the "anatomy" talk with Katie this weekend. We were at the zoo and she asked how you can tell a boy camel from a girl camel. I realize that she's seven and should probably know this already, so I decided it was time. I suggested we go sit somewhere and talk about it. I started talking about how the way we go to the bathroom is different because we have different body parts. She kinda got it, but not really. So yesterday when I was going to let the dog out, I told her to come with me. Before I let Sherlock out I told him to sit down and pointed "it" out to her. (I don't want nuts googling and getting my blog. LOL) She said, "Wait, HUMAN boys have that too???" It took all I had not to laugh out loud. After a couple questions and answers regarding exact location and my making sure she didn't think everyone had one covered with fur, I think we have conquered this part. I realize I'm just one step away from where babies come from, but I'm going to hold out on that for a while. LOL

Oh! And I'll have zoo pictures soon!

Well, it happened....

Black and white have entered my child's scope of knowledge. The other night she was talking about something and she said something like "the black and white kids..." and I looked at her and said, "What happened to brown and peach?" She said, "Well, you know sometimes people say black and white instead." But then she switched back to brown and peach. LOL Maybe I bought myself a couple more weeks? I like when we're all crayons.

Pictures, PIctures, Pictures

Well, the pictures seem to be backwards from how I wanted them, so my narrative is a little backwards too. The pictures above are the sidewalk fair at Katie's school this past Saturday. We're hoping that next year she might actually help draw (she did do the multicolored snake by herself). She sketches out a picture and then pretty much directs from there. LOL

Hopefully these pictures will actually come out the way I'm picturing, but since they probably won't, you're going to have to figure out which are which. It shouldn't be too hard. The pictures above, hopefully, are the first day of school. You can see what kind of mood she was in in one of the pictures - can you guess which one? One thing I noticed about this year. She didn't need us around once she got there, she was immediately in the middle of her friends chatting away.

Yes, I know

I have been completely remiss about telling you folks how 2nd grade is. LOL I have pictures, I need to download them. Yes, I also know you've heard that all before.

I was very excited to see Katie's classmates the first day. There are quite a few kids that she was friends with in Kindergarten, didn't see too much in 1st grade that are now in her 2nd grade class. A couple really close friends, so I was happy for her. And the male child that she had a crush on in Kindergarten... and again in first grade.... yep, same room again. I'm going to have to figure out who to bribe next year. LOL

At any rate, I will post pics and the sidewalk fair that we went to is coming up on the 20th, so we're all looking forward to that. I'll be back online soon with photos.

Last Year's Fair

Brief word to FFs

I know some of my FF friends read the blog so I wanted to say good-bye but please keep in touch. I tried to say good-bye before I left but the site and I weren't agreeing about my wanting to share my email address. So, I'm locked out of sending messages or, even replying to posts at the moment, but if they let me back on I'll try to say my good-byes.

Love ya!


EDITED TO ADD: I'm officially completely off of FF. I wasn't able to get back on, just cancel my membership.


I will get back to our regularly scheduled program shortly! Promise!

Okay, one more story before vacation pictures

I've got to get this story out before I forget.

Last week I was talking to JC and he walked out of the room while I was talking. Not necessarily an unusual occurrence, but when he walked out I looked at Katie and said, "Katie, when you get married, please make sure that your husband doesn't walk out of the room while you're talking to him."


Later that day we were stopped at a gas station. Katie had gotten out of the car to stretch and JC was putting her back in the car. She was talking to him when he closed the door. She looked at me and said, "And I GUESS that I should make sure my husband doesn't close the door on me when I'm talking to him either!"


I was laughing so hard when JC got in the car that I had to tell him both conversations. That kid cracks me up.

No pictures yet but.....

I do have a couple stories. While we were in Wisconsin we had a couple meals at a place called the Wolfpack Cafe - highly recommended by the way. Anyhow, when you come in they give the kids some crayons and a picture of a wolf to color while they are waiting for their food. My darling daughter colors the wolf and then asks JC to draw a deer in the background. At this point, I wasn't paying too much attention to what was being drawn. When I looked over to see how her picture was coming, I realized that she had made JC draw the deer lying down. And then she colored it red. And colored the mouth and snout of the wolf red. Eek.

P E T A - People for the eating of tasty animals. Yep. That's my kid. JC is going to turn her into a hunter yet.