Springtime Fun!

Kate & I have been loving this spring weather! We (well, I, and Kate had no objections) made it our goal to do something outside every day this week. Tuesday we met Meghan and Adelaide at the zoo, Wednesday we spent a ton of time at one of Kate's favorite parks by Olbrich Gardens (and I like it because it's shaded, so the slides don't get too hot) before meeting Tracy for lunch, and Thursday Kate & I spent the morning at Olbrich Gardens itself. She loves all the flowers; she goes up to every single one, sniffs it, and says, "Mmm. Smells good!" Friday we had our last art class, so afterward we went to the Laurel for "hot-hots" and then after lunch, we noticed there was an awesome park right by the restaurant. We had never seen it before, but thought, "Why not? Let's check it out!" So Kate & I spent a good hour after lunch on Friday playing at this beautiful park. She loved the merry-go-round (I haven't seen one of those in years!) and the Little Tikes red car. I loved the fact that there was a gorgeous view of the lake, framed by some beautiful trees. So pretty and peaceful! Kate did not want to leave at naptime; the only way I could get her to calm down was to promise we'd come back sometime with Daddy.

Saturday we went as a family to Olbrich Gardens again; Kate loves this one fountain in the rose garden. She just runs up to every spout, touches it, gets all wet, and laughs hysterically. Then Sunday was the perfect lazy springtime morning; we sat out on our patio and had breakfast while Kate climbed the hill, and then we headed to the park before going to lunch at Outback. Then it was home for nap, and then off to Rori's dance recital at six. Kate was in heaven at the recital; I can't wait until we can get her into classes of her own! She sat so nice and watched the whole recital (of course she liked the dances with Rori in them the best!) until the second to last dance. It was "Footloose" and she just wiggled down from my lap and started dancing like crazy. Kirsti, Dan & Dan Hines were just laughing right along with me; she was so happy to be dancing and actually kept the beat quite well! How a person that tiny has that much energy, I will never know.... Rori did an amazing job, by the way. She is so talented, and she looked so beautiful in her costumes! I actually got kind of teary during the ballet one; it was this cool version of What Child Is This? and I just thought back to how I remember when she was born and now she's nine; where did the time go?

So there was our week in a nutshell! I tell ya, I am so looking forward to our London trip, but I honestly have so much fun just doing little local things with Kate that I don't really know how I'm going to handle being away from her for eight days! I know she'll be in great hands with Nana, but I am going to miss her like crazy. I utterly adore spending time with my little girl and going out and about on our little adventures. She's such a good little companion and helper; I am so blessed I get to spend my days with her!

Our Olbrich adventure on Thursday; I told her that she could pick where we went, and she had so much fun being the leader and choosing which gardens we would go to.

 Hmmm, which way now?

Ahhh... just relaxing.

 Ok, enough relaxation. I've got places to go! 

On Saturday. Good thing it was 80 degrees by 10 am, because this little girl got soaked! She didn't seem to mind, though...

 I love this silly, cheesy grin!

She would just put her face completely over the spout and then pop up laughing, which is so weird, considering she doesn't like to get her face wet at all in the bath!

 Look how wet I am, Mom!

 "Mmm... smells good!"

 At the park on Sunday

 Helping (or hindering, whichever) Daddy as he tries to build a house of cards... er, coasters... at the Outback

 According to Dan, it is impossible to build a house of coasters with a two-year-old next to you

 After Rori's dance recital.

 I love both my daughter AND my goddaughter so much!

Art Class

Here are some shots from art class two weeks ago, when we were making masks. Kate just wanted to sort her products into various buckets and ice cube trays, so I had to make the mask. Hmmph.

 Yep, that's my edgy, artistic, lion mask. Not much better than what Kate could do, huh? ;)

Here's a shot of her running wild at music class; it's so blurry because she wouldn't hold still! Oh well, at least she likes it, right?

And because I also use this blog as a journal (since I'm terrible about keeping up with her baby book!) I wanted to jot down some of the cute things Kate's been doing/saying. She's already changed so much in these two years; I want to remember all of the things she did/said when she was this age.

• I always tell her, "I love you very much!" so when she wants to tell me she loves me, she'll come up and hug me and say, "Very much!" She almost sounds worried when she says it; I think she's trying to sound soothing like I do when I say it, but it's funny because it ends up sounding like she's worried.
• Now that we've been watching the Disney movies a lot, everyone is characterized as "good" or "bad". So she'll often say, "Mama good!" or "Belle good!" or "May-May and Adelaide good!" and then sometimes she'll focus more on the evil side of humanity, saying, "Gaston bad!" or "Mif-cent [Maleficent] bad!" She just brings it up out of nowhere, which is funny. 
• Every dress she wears now (or even her shirts); if they can be twirled, it's a "pretty dress." 
• She can count to 10 without skipping any numbers; yay!
• Sometimes I'll ask her if she wants a little brother or sister, meaning "Do you want a sibling?" but she just emphatically replies, "Sister! No brother!" Ok, then; we'll see what we can do about that.
•  She has been talking more and more in close-to-complete sentences. Last night, for example, we were sitting on our patio as she went up and down the little hill between our patio and our neighbor's yard. She kept saying, "I climbing hill!" Or she'll say, "Baby eating lunch!" or "Kate reading book!" It's so crazy that just in the span of a few months she went from saying just two words together (Mama driving, Daddy work, Baby bath, etc.) to saying, for all intents and purposes, full sentences. The funniest was one day when I had given her a little chocolate, and she wanted some more, but I said there wasn't any more (meaning I didn't want her to have any more since she'd already had enough.) She looked at me for a moment and then said, "Go store, get more choc-choc." I was just amazed that she could put that thought process together and actually make a coherent sentence out of it! My little baby is sure growing up.

Summer's Here!

Well, maybe not according to the calendar, but if going by the weather is any indication, summer is here in full swing. You know what they say about spring in Wisconsin (that there is none....); it seemed like we had a few beautiful weeks of moderate weather and sunshine, and now it's HOT. Oh well, Kate & I are loving it; we can't wait until our pool opens up!

Today we had music class in the morning, which Kate loved as much as ever, and then we met Meghan and Adelaide at the zoo. We did our usual carousel and playground routine, and even managed to squeeze in looking at a few animals, too. Kate & Adelaide are so cute together; it's so fun to see them play and interact. After the zoo, we walked over to Zuzu Cafe; both girls loved it because there was a nice toy section to play in after lunch. Then we headed home, and Kate is still napping right now while I do some work (and, uh, update this blog), and then I think we'll head to the park before getting some groceries for dinner. We love being outside, and since Wisconsin isn't exactly known for year-round excellent weather, we want to take advantage of it while it's here!

 Ready for music class! 

 "Am I done having my picture taken inside this stupid frame yet?"

Mother's Day Weekend

We had such a great Mother's Day weekend! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter; they make every day worth living.

Our weekend started out on Friday. I had been so busy with work on Wednesday and Thursday, but Kate was so patient and understanding that I couldn't play with her those days. She would play with her toys, or watch (a lot!) of Sesame Street, etc. But finally on Friday I was done; I just had to approve proofs and a few final PDFs, and then we were finished! So Kate & I got up early and headed to the gym. She loves the kids' club there, and I had a great workout. Afterward we went to art class, where we played with paste and colored sand. Kate was so enthralled; the teacher even commented on her persistence. She was still playing (and mixing, and getting messy, but that's ok!) for a good 10 minutes after the other kids were done.

After art class, we went to the Laurel to eat "hot-hots" (as Kate calls hot dogs) and fries. Then once Dan got home that night, we used the gift card my mom gave us for Mother's Day and had dinner at the Outback before going to the little fair that was in the empty parking lot next to the mall. Kate had noticed the "up-down rides" as they were setting them up, and she been begging for days to go on the rides. I told her we could when Daddy got home on Friday. Each day she'd ask, "Rides today?" So when Friday came around she was so excited. She went on the carousel (which is way faster than the carousel at the zoo!), the planes and the cars. She loved all of them, but the cars were her favorite. She just laughed and laughed the whole time; a big huge belly laugh that you could hear even above the rattling of the ride.

Saturday was mostly a stay in and clean day, although Kate & I did head to the park while Dan stayed home to fix our dishwasher. We also watched Tangled that night (that relatively new Disney movie about Rapunzel). Kate seemed to like it, although I feel like the Disney movies are longer now than they were in the past. She has no problem sitting through Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or even Beauty and the Beast, but she was getting kind of antsy toward the end. Luckily we were at home and not in a theater!

Then on Sunday I woke up and came downstairs to a beautifully set table with a delicious breakfast. Dan had made homemade bacon, egg and cheese quiche (SO good!), Greek yogurt and fruit with homemade granola, coffee and mimosas. It was excellent! Then they gave me their cards and Kate's gift; a book called "I Love You More", which is about a mom's relationship with her child. It is so good, we've already read it several times.

After breakfast we went to Olbrich Gardens because it was SUCH a beautiful day out. We had so much fun roaming the gardens; Kate loves flowers, and add in green open spaces in which to run, and, well, it's a success! Then we met the Hines at Johnny's Italian Steakhouse for brunch, and after that we went to the fair again. Kate had just as much fun as she did on Friday! All in all it was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

 Yeah, I know, they're Halloween pajamas; oh well!

She loved her quiche. I still can't get over how well she eats, especially since she's only two!

 

  

 I love this beautiful girl and I'm so glad I'm her mama!

She walks by every flower and says "Mmm, smells good!" even if she doesn't even get close enough to smell it, haha.

 At Johnny's Italian Steakhouse

 Tracy & I each "holding" our goddaughters

 

 She's on the edge of the photo but I still loved it because it captured her expression so well!