Happy Halloween - 2013

Katie and I have had SUCH a great time this year getting ready for Halloween. We decorated the house together, carved our pumpkin together, and even picked out a Halloween Pinata for her preschool classroom's Halloween party. As she gets older, its been so much fun to celebrate all the holidays. She loves getting into the craft projects, the decorating, and overall traditions --- which makes all the holidays more fun for me too.

As costumes go, this was an interesting year. Initially, Katie wanted to be Rapunzel. Not suprising because most of the summer and early fall she has been in a bit of a princess phase. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago --- after we had already purchased her Rapunzel costume --- she changed her mind. At first, I was reluctant to allow her to change her mind. I told her she had already picked out one costume and we were going to buy another one. She said, "we don't have to buy this one mommy. We can make it together!" Now, how can you say No to that?? The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "Well, if you don't want to be Rapunzel what would you like to be?"
Katie: "I want to be a super hero."
Me: "Which super hero? Super Woman? Bat Woman? Wonder Woman?"
Katie: "I want to be Super Katie."
Me: "Super Katie?"
Katie: "Yes. Me, but with special powers."
Me: SPEECHLESS

All I could think was --- Oh my! We are going to need a custom costume, and I am NOT crafty. My second thought was, where is Auntie Katherine when you need her! :-) After my initial fears/concerns subsided, I decided to be a good sport and make the most of her request. We headed out to the craft store together last weekend to gather supplies. Katie was very helpful, as she LOVES the craft store and doing fun projects. If I do say so myself, the end product didn't turn out too bad. Notice the extra jewels/bling on the cape? Yeah --- totally her idea. What 4 year old girl doesn't like shiny, sparkly things after all.

Fall Preschool Pictures

Preschool pictures are in...and just thought I'd share. I love that the photographer always takes pictures with Katie's glasses on and off. We are actually having family pictures taken this weekend with this same photographer. Should be super fun!!

October Festival

I'm a little behind on my blogging...and trying to get caught on all our October fun. The 2nd weekend in October we headed to Woolwine for the annual October Festival. We try to take Katie each year because its a wonderful chance for her to see family. My grandmother (GiGi), my Aunt Connie, my Cousin Angie and her two children Brayden & Allie are almost always there. Katie loves playing with her cousins and I enjoy seeing my family and folks from home. Matt was actually able to come along with us, which is a rare occassion lately because he has been studying for his cumulative clinical skills final. It is essentially 1 year's worth of medical knowledge crammed into a single test of approximately 300 questions. Additionally, he has to get at least a 75 before he can begin Clinical Rotations in November. Yeah. So, No Pressure. Right?!?!

Okay --- Back to the October Festival. When we arrived this year, I tried to get Katie on the dance floor. She was rather tentative and wouldn't go. I thought that one of her cousins would manage to coerce her onto the floor, but it never happened. One time I went out with her, to see if she would tolerate it. Nope. Not a chance. She 100% ran away from me. Oh well.

She and her cousins actually had more fun chasing one another up and down a hill behind the open chair seating area. By the end of the day, she had tied a jump rope around Brayden's waist and was dragging him down the hill pretending he was a dog.

Potty, Wipe, Flush, Wash

Potty, Wipe, Flush, and Wash. Simple bathroom procedures, right? You would think so. Only for Katie it seems that 3 out of 4 is good enough. Katie will go potty, wipe, and flush --- and forget to wash her hands. Or she will potty, wipe, and wash hands --- but not flush. Or she will potty, flush and wash but not wipe (GROSS!).

I would go into the bathroom with her, but she is fiercely independent. As soon as I walk into the bathroom with her she says, "Mommy, I need my privacy please." Ha! A 4 year who "needs her privacy." I try not to get frustrated. I realize that most of the time she is just in a hurry to be done with the whole potty process and back to her playtime. However, she is 4! Shouldn't we have this down pat by now? Good grief, she's been potty trained for 1.5 years. At home I go behind her and reinforce all 4 --- we even have a chant/song as a reminder. But I sometimes wonder if anyone is checking behind her at school....and what she does/doesn't do there. Eeeck!

She will get this eventually....but, oh boy, in the meantime it is eventful around here. I'm sure all of you are going to really enjoy reading this post. I mean, who isn't interested in the bathroom habits of a 4 year old. :-)

Note: Pictures from this post are obviously not from the bathroom. I figured I would at least spare you that.

Dads And Doughnuts

Katie's Preschool does so many wonderful activities through the year. First up this year was Dads and Doughnuts day. The class is making their way through the alphabet one week/letter at a time. This past week was the letter "D". To show all their dads what fun they were having with the letter "D", the school invites fathers to come for a visit and some doughnuts (aka --- Dads & Doughnuts). I couldn't help but tag along so I could get some pictures. I left quickly though to give Katie some time with her daddy.

It was so sweet to see the two of them in the classroom. Katie insisted on sitting in her daddy's lap the entire time. Matt told me later that he asked if she wanted to show him around her classroom --- she said "No." Then he asked if she wanted to show him her favorite books/toys in the class. She said "No. I just want to sit here with you, and show you the card I made for you."

I was so very impressed with all the daddy's in the class --- every single one was there! Amazing really --- considering several of them travel for work. Such a sweet group of little ones in her class. The group will be split up after this year, because some will go to Kindergarten and some will not. I'm trying to savor the year, and soak up each of these wonderful little moments.