Katie Anne's First Field Day!

Today, Katie Anne got to be a part of her first Field Day!

Field Day at Dellinger Park is a big tradition for Cartersville City School students.  It's a great day filled with games, fun, and a picnic lunch at the park.  Katie Anne was so excited that the preK students got to be a part of Field Day, and I was beyond excited that Mr. Gordon let me take a half day off to be with her!  Of course, I took tons of pictures of the Field Day fun.  Here are just a few... to see more, click here to view the Facebook album.

Playing at the Park

This weekend, the weather has been beautiful - it's actually felt almost spring-like!  After spending what feels like the entire month cooped up inside, we decided to load up the double stroller and walk over to the playground in our neighborhood for some climbing, sliding, and swinging.  Katie Anne had a great time and got tons of energy out, and even SJ got in on the action with his first trip in the swings!

Katie Anne had a great time playing tag with Daddy ... but she busted it hard on the pavement and cut her little upper lip up.  She completely manned up and didn't even cry about it!

The playground trip totally exhausted the little man - he spent the last hour of the trip snoozing with me holding him!  Look at these sweet sleeping baby pictures... and how light his hair is in the sun!

Park Playdate

We've been lucky to have nice, sunny weather on the weekends, so Katie Anne and I have taken advantage of it by meeting our friends Vanessa, Lily, and Bear at the park to play!  We start with a picnic lunch, and then the kids are off to the races.  They have a great time playing together and running all over the place.  

The cutest part of these playdates is the big difference between Lily and Katie Anne's play last year and this year.  When we met in the summer and fall, Lily and Katie Anne loved to play on the playground, but they didn't play any other games.  Now, they play all kinds of "big kid" games like Hide and Go Seek, Tag, and Duck-Duck-Goose.  Bear joins in for a few rounds of Hide and Go Seek, too.  It is so cute to watch them play together!

 

We've got to sign this girl up for soccer in a year or two - she's got some skills!

Happy Lily!

Hiding...

Bear found you!

Bear's turn to hide... they love to recycle hiding places.

Tag - you're it!

 Sweet girls...

Saturday, Busy Day!

Yesterday, we had a busy Saturday!  Saunders's friend Ty found a bunch of last minute UGA vs Auburn tickets for his friends, so Saunders headed out to Athens early in the morning and was gone until the wee hours of the night.  We'd already packed a Saturday full of errands before he got the ticket offer.  Saunders suggested we move our plans to Sunday so he could help, but I thought KA and I could handle it. So, it was up to me and Katie Anne to "finish the drill"!

Task 1: Get us up, fed, dressed, and the dogs ready to leave by 9:15.

 

Task 2: Drive to Acworth and get the dogs into PetSmart for their 10:00 appt.

Task 3: Meet Jillian to give her kindergarten math manipulatives for her shape lesson next week.

Task 4: Hit the bookstore to buy the next book club pick, If I Should Be Missing or Dead.  (Totally uplifting title.)

Task 5: Run through McDonald's drive-thru for a lunch pickup.

Task 6: Head over to Atco Playground.  Meet Granddad there.  Eat lunch.  Play!

*Katie Anne has always wanted to play at the Atco Playground.  We drive by it a lot on the way home from school, and she thought it looked awesome from the road.  In person, it was it a little disappointing.  Very few woodchips, lots of graffiti.  We won't do a repeat visit to this playground, but we still had fun playing!

 

 

Katie Anne took this picture of me and Granddad.

Task 7: Home for naptime!  Mommy gets three hours to herself to read and nap.  I got to start the book.  The plot is just as uplifting as the title implies.

Task 8: Drive back to PetSmart for doggie pick up.  Here's an addition problem for you ... Wrangling in one hand the two leashes of two dogs who've been caged up for 7 hours through PetSmart and across the parking lot in semi-darkness + trying to get two dogs, one of whom has pee-in-privacy issues, to pee in tiny pine island in parking lot before the 30 minute drive + holding the hand of one toddler who is also insisting on holding two very large stuffed animals through the store and across the parking lot in semi-darkness + carrying a large bag of guinea pig food in the same hand as the leashes because of the evolutionary failure of my nonexistent third hand + paying the bill with a cashier who doesn't seem to understand I want to just pay and go and insists on chatting with me about her cats + getting everyone loaded safely inside the Element without crushing any fingers/paws or losing anyone =
One Daunting Task

Task 9: Drop dogs off at home and feed them.

Task 10: Eat dinner at my parents' house ... cheese ravioli, salad, garlic bread.  Totally yum!

Task 11: Try out my parents' newly repaired hot tub!  So relaxing!  (Don't worry folks, I know toddlers aren't supposed to get into hot tubs.  It was more of a "warm tub" ... bathtub temperature.  It wasn't too hot for Katie Anne.)

Task 12: Home again for bedtime by 9:30!

Whew- a day full of adventure for two girls! 

Noccalula Falls

Yesterday, we took a family trip to Noccalula Falls in Gadsen, AL. My grandparents had taken Greg and I there as kids, and my mom wanted us all to go back. My parents rented a big van so we could all ride together, and it was a lot of fun! We met at my parents' house, loaded up our coolers full of food and drinks, and headed out to Alabama.

After about two hours, we arrived at the state park. They'd added a lot to the park since we'd went years ago, and there was a lot to see and do. We rode on a train, toured the Pioneer Village, watched the deer and other animals in the zoo, and of course visited Noccalula Falls! The falls didn't have much water because it has been dry lately, but it was still very beautiful. It is a very, very nice park and a lot of fun for kids - I highly recommend visiting there!

We had a yummy picnic lunch at the pavilions - everyone brought something, and it was all really tasty! We were all exhausted on the ride home ... except for Katie Anne! She sang and played all the way back to Georgia, and wound up never taking a nap the whole day! She was in a great mood in spite of missing her rest time, and we all had a blast together.

Here's a Smilebox slideshow of only 56 of the over 100 pictures I took yesterday!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rotary Park Playdate

On Saturday, we met the McWhorters at Rotary Park for a picnic lunch and play date! Lily, Bear, and Katie Anne had a great time running all around the park, sliding and climbing, chasing bubbles, and just playing together! The great thing about Rotary Park is that it is toddler-sized, small, and totally fenced in, so we parents got a chance to catch up while the kids could run around. There's almost never anyone there, so it is like our own private playground! Here's some pictures from the afternoon!

Rotary Park Playdate

On Friday, Katie Anne and I met up with my friends Amy Barkley and Haley Wilson and their kiddos for a playdate at Rotary Park. I love this little park - it is never crowded, there's a big fence all around so the kids can run around without worrying about them getting in the road, and the playground is low to the ground so Katie Anne can do the whole thing independently.

All the moms brought picnic lunches, and we ate together at one of the big, nice picnic tables at the park. Then, the kids ran wild for the next two hours while we all got to sit on a park bench and catch up! We all agreed that we should've been doing this all summer. It was a great time - Katie Anne had a blast climbing on the playground with all the kids, playing chase with Sawyer, and going up and down the slides and ladders. The weather was totally perfect, too. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Enjoying lunch! PB&J, banana, pretzels with cheese, and fruit snacks.

The Barkley family, minus baby Brycen, who was in the stroller.

The Wilson clan!

Hot and sweaty!

Running with the boysReady to go down the slide!

Playing chaseToo cute!

Sorry Jackson, I think Katie Anne's got a new crush on Sawyer!

The whole gang!

Playground Fun

Last weekend, we walked over to the play- ground in our neighbor- hood to let Katie Anne play. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and we wanted to take advantage of it since there may not be many more oppor- tunities for the play- ground.

Saunders had never been to our neighborhood playground with us. Katie Anne and I had made it a weekly adventure during the summer, and we've been over once or twice on Saturdays while he's been in Athens, but usually are weekends are so packed that we haven't had time to go as a family. He was really surprised by how nice it is! Also, I was glad to see that they'd added a new piece of equipment (monkey bars) since we'd been there last, so that means they're still taking care of it and making it better.

Katie Anne did a great job of playing on the slides and climbing around- it is so incredible to see how much her balance and dexterity have improved since the summer. Back then, she needed help with everything... now, she can do a lot of the playground things by herself. This was the first time she got to go down the "big girl slides", and she loved that!

The nicest thing about the play- ground is that, in the probably 12 times we've been there to play, there's never been ANYBODY there. No one at all. That's so nice! It is like our own private play- ground. We had a fun time!

Katie Anne's Fun Friday

While we're in Arizona, Katie Anne is staying with Gigi and Granddad. This is the longest she's ever been away from us, but she, Gigi, and Granddad are enjoying every minute!

Yesterday, Katie Anne and Gigi went to play in Rotary Park. We've never played there, but we've driven by it several times and I've always thought she'd love it because all the playgrounds are really low to the ground and toddler-friendly. Since we're missing Katie Anne so much, they sent us pictures of her!

She did love it! She and Gigi had a big time playing on the playground, and Katie Anne met a new friend named Jay. He was a little older (2) and showed her the ropes. They had a fun time running around together.




























After playing at the park, the girls went to meet Granddad for lunch at Chic-fil-A, which is one of Katie Anne's favorites. Today, I think they're hitting the Kiddie Day Parade. Fun times!