Beautiful Day for a Picnic!

What a beautiful day for a picnic and egg hunt, even if it was a bit on the hot side. Kate's school had their annual Easter Egg Hunt and picnic. She was SO excited about hunting eggs that she could hardly eat lunch.

We started off with lunch with her little friend A, who didn't seem to notice that there were eggs laying everywhere in the field beside us (believe me, this didn't go unnoticed by our child).

Then (thankfully) there were games and other kid fun until the hunt began.

Sidewalk chalk with G.

Plinko

Jump castle - where she got jumped on by a boy. Apparently because he was a boy and that's what boys do (according to K).

Ball toss - the girl has skills!

And... the hunt!

It was such a challenging Easter Egg hunt (if you were blind).

Kate was all about what was hidden in the eggs.

Like this Yo-Yo. I had no idea she knew what a Yo-Yo was.

What a fun day all around!

Happy Birthday!

It's a happy day! It's Grandma Meredith's birthday!

Kate and I celebrated it on the way to school. She thinks Grandma needs a cake - probably a princess one.

Hope you have a wonderful birthday Grandma!!

Wednesday

Just another Wednesday afternoon.

Some butterfly art.

Lots of Iris blooming (although Kate calls them Daffodils)

Swinging (like pirates do).

And a caterpillar. Can you spot him?

Welcome Spring!

This is the post in which I do not comment on our health, other than to say that it got much worse before it got better. But, as you can see, we were out this weekend making the most of our beautiful weather.

Don and Kate tagged along on a trip that I made to Clemson to give a short talk about Dengue Fever. I think it was tiger paw overload for Kate, but she enjoyed herself immensely!

Riding Daddy's shoulders.


Flying a kite on Bowman Field.


Exploring the Military Heritage Plaza.


"Where's he going, Mommy?" (yes, the question phase is in FULL swing)


Just in case you were wondering how round I actually am. Can you believe a lady actually compared me to a watermelon?! How uncool is that?


My favorite quote of the trip? On the playground (there was a mirror at the top of the slide):
"Now I can look in the mirror to see how I'm pretty. Yep, I'm pretty. Now I can slide."

And then last night Kate modeled my apron (which is a full dress for her).

Hanging in There

Remember the post several weeks back about how we were all on the mend and Don had escaped the yucky cold and so on and so forth? It was full of optimism. Then there was Kate's brief vomit-in-the-checkout-line episode that was just a freak accident, right? Boy were we wrong. My on-the-mend cold turned into an ear infection that never went away until a couple of Z-packs (hopefully) kicked it to the curb. Just in time for the stomach virus that has afflicted everyone in the house, including the cat. So. We are just waiting this out and hoping that we're back to our old selves and out and about again soon (and that we haven't passed it on to anyone else - sorry Nan and Pop). Until then, here are a few pictures from our beautiful Sunday downtown.

Out with a Bang! (Our weekend, that is)

We had a fun weekend overall and enjoyed the warm weather. We also had an unfortunate incident in the checkout line at Publix that sent it out with a bang. One mintue Don said to me: "I think you're right, Kate does feel warmer than usual." Moments later, she had covered him head to toe (literally) in toddler vomit. He didn't bat an eye and took great care of our little sicky. Never fear, she improved after some Tylenol and is sleeping soundly. Really... you haven't lived until you've experienced being the "cleanup on isle one" due to a sick 2-year-old.

Today we lunched at the Gourmet shop (pictures to follow b/c I'm too lazy to go find the camera and download pictures) and I made a visit to the nursery to get some plants to spruce up the porch (which I also cleaned while K was napping).

So Far Today...

We have taken a walk, played in the sandbox, fed the woodpeckers, planted zinnias, and eaten popsicles. The flip flops and sunblock are out, and we're hoping this lasts a few more days!

Potty Time!

Slowly but surely Kate is getting into the potty thing.

Did I say slowly?

I am certainly not above letting her have a binky for a few minutes while she goes to the potty. Lately, she has forgotten about that and we are "bribing" her with something else.


In other, non-potty related news, she's also letting us put a bow in her hair.


And she has enjoyed testing out her umbrella and froggy boots (on the wrong feet, of course).

Up for Air

Hi friends. Do you know what happens at 27 weeks when you've decided that you are absolutely, positively done and not going to be pregnant for one more day? That's right. Nothing. You're still just as huge and tired and stretchy and achy as you were the other 189 days. After much sniffling, "bless you-ing," and coughing, it appears that we are going to survive. Kate and I, that is. Don mysteriously escaped the current cold afflicting our house. After spending the entire weekend inside recovering, we are hopefully on our way to more adventures. In the mean time, since I know you've been missing Kate, I'll throw you a couple of pictures from our pre-plague days.

Bet you wouldn't have guessed that we could all fit into the little green turtle sandbox, eh? Squeezing one more in is going to be tight though.

A trip to the zoo because she "missed the merry-go-round." She's into sunglasses now. As a matter of fact, she woke us up crying one night at 2 am. Me: "What's wrong?" Kate: "I need my sunglasses." Me: "Um, really, you don't because it's time to be asleep and it's very dark."

She picked the peacock. It didn't move. I wasn't all that thankful for this until the ride started. Then I remembered something about how pregnant women weren't supposed to ride amusement rides.

Dinner at the Flying Saucer. It was nice and warm on the deck. When we're about to lose her, we whip out the iPhone for Mickey Mouse videos.

Pooped after a long day.

If you weren't convinced that this kid likes the park and the zoo, on the way home from the grocery today, Kate tells us from the back seat "We go to the park and the merry-go-round and the zoo! That sound like a good plan?" It sure does! Those never get old.

Pancake Day!

Not that I need an excuse to celebrate with pancakes, but yesterday was National Pancake Day at IHOP. I thought Kate might enjoy it, but little did I know what a HUGE hit pancakes would be. She started the day in a great mood....


We ordered the "Make-a-face" pancake. She wiggled from the moment it was placed in front of her until she had devoured (half of) it!


Oh, and the chocolate chip pancakes weren't too shabby either. She asked to go back to IHOP when I was buckling her in the carseat. We're going back on Saturday so Don can witness the excitement.

Sidewalk Chalk. And a bath.

Kate LOVES sidewalk chalk. Since the weather has been nice, we play almost every afternoon. Sometimes we play hopscotch like Ruby (of Max and Ruby). Sometimes we draw on the steps.


Sometimes Kate draws circles around her feet/body.


Don taught her to draw body outlines. There are several on our sidewalk. Who knows what visitors think.


And because there are only outlines of her and Daddy, she was determined to outline me today.


And totally unrelated to chalk (other than perhaps washing it all off) is a video of Kate in the tub.

Feels like Summer!

Let me first apologize to all of my friends who live in snow-covered cities for what I'm about to blog. It has been amazingly beautiful here for the past few days. We haven't been posting b/c we've been out....

Sunning and sliding...


Sanding....


Playing with stickers...


And enjoying a few summer days in February.


Never fear... it is going to be cool tomorrow.

And here's a picture of Foz.... just because.

Birthday Dog!

Guess who has a birthday today!? Foster turned 7! We all went to the PetSmart to buy a toy, some "biscuits" (Kate's choice of words), and dog food.

We love you Foster! Fozzit! Foz Man! Dog-a-log!

Here's the Birthday Boy with his Birthday Monkey:

Valentines Weekend

We've been celebrating all weekend.

Playing with Dad.

Enjoying spring weather on the porch.

Birthday Bash for B.

Pink pancakes for breakfast.

Happy Valentines Day!

Early Valentine

This is the one thing that is sure to improve a bad day once you get home:

This afternoon Kate and I went Valentine shopping at Target while Don worked late. We bought Valentines for her class and for Daddy.

Silly me. I forgot that NO secret is safe with Kate. When we got home, the conversation went something like this:

Don: Did you get Daddy a Valentine?

Kate: Yes!!

Don: What did you get?

Kate: Chocket and a Puzzle!

So much for the surprise. Daddy got his Valentine early. I think the puzzle might have been more for Kate than for him. The puzzle is of Mickey and Minnie, so I asked: Who is Minnie's Valentine?

Kate: Mickey!

Me: Who is Mommy's Valentine?

Kate: Daddy!

Me: Who is Kate's Valentine?

Kate: Foster!

Me: Did you ask Foster if he would be your Valentine?

Kate (runs off after Foster): Foster, will you be my Valentine?

Foster: No response

Kate: He not say yes.

We then assured her that it was only because he couldn't talk. She seemed satisfied.

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Snack Time

Has it really been a week? I'd love to tell you that we've been off doing exciting things with our time, but if I told you what we'd been doing, you'd be thoroughly unimpressed. Instead, I will wow you with photos and video of today's snack time. This is one of the ways we get food into Kate.. tiny portions. How sneaky of us?


Multi-compartment snack tray. It's a pineapple - the leaves (which you don't see here) have places for dipping sauces.


And stuffy me (who caught Kate's cold) and Kate discussing snacktime.

And now I'm off to work out a little to make for all of the ice cream I just consumed before the princess wakes up from her nap. Then we'll be sure to squeeze in some park/library time to cap off the weekend.