Family Fun Day!

This morning, we checked out the Family Fun Day at Trinity United Methodist.  It was a carnival with tickets, games, and prizes!  Katie Anne (and Peach the Mouse) tried lots of fun games, made some neat crafts, and got some fun treats.  We had a blast together!

INK!

Gigi is taking some vacation time this week, and she discovered a really cool place called INK (Interactive Neighborhood for Kids) in Gainesville.  She asked if Katie Anne wanted to play hooky from school and try it out, and of course Katie Anne said yes!  So, Gigi, Mamaw, and Katie Anne headed out on Wednesday morning for Gainesville and a fun-filled day at INK.

INK is a cute neighborhood filled with all kinds of stores, businesses, and places where kids can work and play.  Katie Anne loved it!  Here are some pictures of her exploring the neighborhood.

Working as a clerk in the post office:

Working as a teller in the bank:

She loved working at a desk in the bank just like Daddy!

Getting money out of the ATM for her trip to the grocery store:

Time to shop!

The little conductor:

With Gigi on the train:

Checking the panda's heartbeat in the vet's office:

Milking the cow:

Flying the airplane:

Taking care of babies at the women's center:

Getting her teeth cleaned at the dentist office:

Katie Anne and Gigi doing their civic duty in the jury box:

She worked the receptionist's desk as well as gave Mamaw a haircut and Gigi a manicure in the salon:

Reading a book aloud to her kids in the classroom:

Look at Mamaw go at almost 76 years old!

It was a great girls' day out at INK!

Silly Saturday!

While poor Daddy had to work, Katie Anne and I had a fun Saturday morning!  I took lots of pictures of our adventures.  

We started our day by reorganizing Katie Anne's bookshelf.  (You may remember how crazy it looked in the pictures of her making her bed in a previous post.)  Katie Anne did a SUPER job rearranging her books, and she did almost the entire job by herself - she sorted them by size and put them all on the shelf.  I just had to go back and flip some of them spine-out after she was finished.

The finished bookshelf!

She even cleaned out her box full of board books that was overflowing.

Katie Anne chose a TON of books for Saunders IV's room - she even picked out some of her favorites to give to him.  I was very surprised that this was her idea and by her generosity.  After she was done, she was a little wistful about a few of the ones she'd decided to give to him... she said, "If I want to read some of my books, can I go into little Saunders's room to read them?"  I assured her that they definitely could share them.  Here's the bag she filled for him:

It took her almost an hour to complete her bookshelf clean-out, and I was so proud of her that I let her pick a prize from her surprise basket.  She chose these gel clings for the window.  I needed to go take a shower so we could get started on our to-do list for the day.  This little innocent face assured me that she could play responsibly with the gel clings while I showered and not put them on any surface but the window...

but I was not so sure.  However, she was totally confident in her ability, so I left this scene in her room...

and went to take my (very quick) shower.  That's trust, people!

But, when I got out of the shower, I was pleasantly surprised to find this...

Someone was playing very happily with her clings, and not one of them had been stuck to a painted surface or eaten!

Then, it was time to go to the store.  Katie Anne got a dollar out of her piggy bank to spend at the "surprise store" (also known as Dollar General).  Out of all the cool stuff she thought about in the store, she chose to buy a package of lollipops.  Wouldn't have been my choice (I would've picked the ride-on purple unicorn head on a stick thing myself), but she loved her lollipops!

Yum yum - what a fun Saturday morning!

Katie Anne's Three Year Checkup

Yesterday, Katie Anne had a big day!  She was scheduled for her three-year-old checkup at 1:30 in the afternoon, and that threw a little kink in the childcare plans - her school strongly discourages parents from picking kids up during naptime to avoid disturbing the other kids.  Granddad could watch her in the morning after 7:45, but Saunders had to be at an early meeting.  I had planned to work a half day so I can save as much sick leave time as possible for my maternity leave.  What to do???

Well, my bosses were nice enough to bend the rules a little bit and let Katie Anne come to school with me for a few minutes until Granddad could pick her up.  Katie Anne was beyond thrilled to ride to work with Mommy...

 and go to "the big kid school"!  

She had a great time while she was there!  My kids were excited to see her, too.  She got to help me sign in, check my mailbox, pick up my kids, and pass out morning work.  Katie Anne cannot wait to come to the big kid school!

After she spent the morning with Granddad, I picked Katie Anne up and we headed for her pediatrician's office.  She got a great report!  She's right on track for all her benchmarks and is the picture of good health.  She's 39.5 inches tall and 38 pounds.  That's 95th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.  It had been one year to the day since Katie Anne had been to the doctor - her pediatrician literally gave her three cheers for a very healthy year!  We've been very lucky - she's only had one 24 hour virus and a few not-too-serious colds since her two-year-check up!  The best news about the whole visit was - NO shots!

Since she did such a great job at the doctor's office, she got to pick out a treat at the bookstore on the way home.  She chose a Little Mermaid watercolor book, and she spent some time painting when we got home.

We capped off the day with a big family dinner at a great Mexican restaurant - La Parilla - with Gigi, Granddad, Greg, Jillian, and Mamaw!  It was a fun, busy, great day!

Well, It Took Them Long Enough...

but the bulbs we planted way back when have finally come up!

Our daffodils' green leaves came up, but flowers did not bloom this year.

We haven't seen any signs of the crocus bulbs, but the Muscari bulbs have finally made an appearance!

 In addition to the bulbs, we have some other pretty plants blooming in the yard right now, too!

(These are totally in thanks to my husband and mother-in-law... probably the only reason they're doing so well is because I've barely touched them!)

Thanks for Being Positive

This afternoon, Katie Anne was painting in her new Ariel watercolor book.

She asked me, "Mommy, what do you think about this painting?"

I was sewing a hem in some pants, and I glanced at her painting and said, "Wow, that looks really good, Katie Anne."

She said, "Thank you, Mommy, for being so positive."

Cracked me up!

I asked her, "Who says thank you for being positive?"
She said, "I don't know, but it really sounds good to say."

I had to agree to that!

Chores, Part II

In honor of Katie Anne's new dedication to working around the house (and to inspire her to take her bath before bed without a battle), I got her a new chore chart.  You may remember that I made her a chore chart myself  last year.  However, it has not held up well under repeated use... the Velcro dots are not sticking as well, and the laminate is pulling loose in places.  So, I saw this cute and simple chore chart at Hobby Lobby, and it had a lot of the "chores" I needed to encourage Katie Anne to work on - taking a bath, brushing her own teeth, and making her bed.  Paired with some of the tons of little incentive stickers I've acquired as a teacher, I thought this little chart would be a perfect fit.

She was so totally excited when I brought it home a little over a week ago, and she's been very motivated to fill it up.  It hasn't helped us get every chore done every day ... there's been a few days where we've skipped a bath or haven't exactly met the "Be Happy" goal - and making her bed in the morning was a bit hard for her.  But, it has definitely been a big helper - she loves to earn her stickers, and just reminding her about the sticker chart can help motivate her to hop on in the shower or improve her attitude if she's feeling surly.  

However, making the bed was still a problem after a week of working on the chart.  I blame part of this on all of us... I don't really have time before work between helping Katie Anne potty, get dressed, and fixing her hair to help her make her bed, she's not really motivated to do it independently without encouragement or a reminder, and Daddy doesn't put a high priority on bed making himself.  So, she only earned stickers on Saturday and Sunday for making her bed during the first week.

This problem brought about two changes - one was my idea and one was Katie Anne's.  First, I decided to ignore the days of the week on the chart and just let her earn her way across on the stickers.  She'd already earned the Saturday and Sunday stickers, and I didn't see a way for her to make her bed on the weekdays until I get out of school for the summer. I thought she could at least earn two stickers a weekend in this area until she filled up her chart. (She gets to pick out any treat she wants from the dollar store when she fills up her chart, by the way.)  

Katie Anne's idea works even better than mine.  When it was time to take a nap on Sunday, she got the brilliant idea to sleep on top of her blanket so that she wouldn't mess up the bed she'd already made.  So, she got out her big fluffy blanket and napped under it.  When bedtime came, she just decided to keep the good idea going and sleep on top of her covers at night, too!  As she said, "Now all I have to do is put on my pillows and sit up my animals, and my bed is all made!"  So, she's quickly earning those "Make My Bed" stickers with her smart thinking!

Here are some pictures of her new improved style of bed making this morning!  *Obviously, as you can see in the background, we need to make "Putting My Books Back On My Bookshelf Neatly After Reading" an extra area on the chart.  :)

Straightening up her Dora pillow... she had already put her fluffy blanket away while I was getting the camera.  The little pink and green blanket you see is her cuddle blanket, and it actually counts more as an animal or baby... and so must sit up near the pillows like the animals or babies.  Peach, the mouse KA is holding, is the ultimate loved stuffed animal, and she can't even put him down long enough to make the bed.  :)

It's hard work to put those big decorative pillows over the bedrail!

Once she gets the pillows up there, she drags them up to where they belong and gets them looking nice.

That's a pretty good job for a three-year-old!

Putting her sticker on her chart

Counting how many more she has to get...

Our worker bee is proud of herself!