In case you missed Awana's last week, Katie Anne can fill you in. You may think you know the Easter story, but you don't know the half of it according to KA. Don't worry, though - Katie Anne will be happy to set you straight and tell you the true story of Jesus - IN JAIL.
The Cubbies are learning about Easter, and Katie Anne couldn't wait to tell me all about it. This video is from last Wednesday night when they talked about Jesus being arrested. You may have never heard the story told quite like this:
In case you wonder if her imagination runs wild only in terms of Bible reinterpretations, it doesn't stop there. She can tell some suspenseful, scary stories, too. Just so you know before watching - Kylie (along with her brother Ethan) are Katie Anne's imaginary friends.
I should try to get more of her stories on video, because she tells wild, crazy, imaginative stories all the time. As you can hear in the videos, they crack us up on a daily basis!
Today in the car, Katie Anne wanted to listen to her "How to Speak Spanish" CD from Chic-fil-A. She was so cute practicing her little words that I just had to catch it on video! (I think she thought I was taking a picture, so she's smiling the whole time in between her words - even cuter!)
And, don't worry, the video production process is totally safe... I just turn the camera on and sit it on the back of the Element's headrest and let it record for a little bit. I don't actually hold it and video while driving. :)
One of Katie Anne's current favorite songs is "Say Hey (I Love You!)" by Michael Franti. I sang it to her a few times, and then we heard the song on the radio, and she totally loves it. She loves to sing it, and it is totally cute!
This morning, I was making Katie Anne some cheese toast while she worked in her kitchen. I kept hearing, "This goes with the green ... this goes with the pink..." I walked over and peeked to see what she was doing, and I just had to grab my camera and catch the end of her organization project:
OCD: Nature vs. Nuture?
You make the call.
Maybe I can convince her to help me with my February task of cleaning out my own kitchen cabinets!
After we got back from our Florida trip, some posts I'd intended to do got pushed to the back of the old "post refrigerator" in my mind... meaning, I was planning to use them for NaBloPoMo and just forgot about the ideas. This weekend, we were playing Wii at my parents' house - and I realized that I'd never posted about the Wii playing tournaments on our recent Florida trip! So, I'm posting this entry today so it doesn't get lost down in the Florida section, and after a few days, I will move it to the early date where it belongs. There will be three posts "leftovers" warming up like this over the next few days. Enjoy!
Carlton and Trisha brought their Wii on the Florida trip, and everyone really enjoyed playing the games - especially the old classic Wii Sports. You cannot beat Wii Bowling, Wii Baseball, Wii Tennis, and Wii Boxing! Every night after Katie Anne was in bed, it was a Jones family Wii smackdown.
Carlton vs Vicki in Wii Tennis - of course, Vicki kicked everyone's tail just as badly in the video game as she would in real life!
Saunders celebrates an out in Wii baseball. Carlton scratches his head in defeat.
Everyone made fun of my signature Wii Bowling move, "The Statue of Liberty"... until they realized how that move allowed me to completely dominate the game.
After my crushing victory during the first night's bowling tournament, Vicki and Carlton got in on my Statue of Liberty action... and beat me!
Trisha demonstrates her own trademarked - and victorious - bowling technique, affectionately known as the "Sit and Spin". It's all in the wrist flick, people.
Wii Boxing is a lot harder than it looks! First, I challenged Carlton to a boxing match...
Then, Vicki and Saunders faced off in a mother-son beat down. Look at Saunders's face - total concentration!
And, just in case the pictures didn't do it justice, here are some boxing action videos. My apologies for the commentary during the second video... I was eating a Tootsie Roll.
If you remember this post, then you know that I enjoyed shopping in my own attic over the summer. I didn't have to buy many summer clothes to fit me this year because I had plenty of things from college saved. I knew I had lots of summer clothes from smaller sized seasons up there because I'd seen bags labeled "Summer Clothes" when I put away KA's baby stuff, but I had never seen any bags labeled with "Winter Clothes" in the attic.
So, I felt a lot of fear in my heart when I saw the temperatures dropping these last few weeks. I am not kidding... I didn't have one long-sleeved shirt to wear. Not one single, solitary shirt that fit. About two weeks ago, I went to Kohl's and spent $200 on clothes - jeans, shirts, two pair of dress pants - just because I had to have something to wear to work. Saunders wasn't too pleased about it, but I told him that he better just get used to the idea, because I can't wear pants that are six sizes too big for me to work. People were starting to make fun of me at the end of the winter last year, and this time it would be much worse. Most of my winter pants from last year are 14 or 16, and the jeans and dress pants I bought last week for my reunion were a 6. So, that math just isn't going to add up... or look at all professional.
I did need to put away all my summer clothes, though. So, I thought I'd pack them up and just check to see if there was anything in the attic today. I dragged my one little bag of summer clothes upstairs...
When I went through this little door, I had very little hope of finding anything I could wear.
When I pulled out the three boxes labeled "Winter Clothes", it was just bad news... all my clothes from the last two winters would not fit. I packed them all back away (because I know I will need them after I have another baby), and prepared to go downstairs and inform my poor, sad husband that I would indeed be spending $$$ on new clothes...
But wait. What's that stacked in the far, far corner of the attic? What is that mound of dirty trash bags, with no labels, that have obviously been up here for years? Could it be?
Yes - wow! Count them! Seven trash bags ... all filled with winter clothes! Hooray!
There are no pictures of me trying these things on, because I didn't really feel like trying them on after digging them out of the attic and sorting them. But, I did snap a few illustrative photos of things I found...
I found lots of things with the tags still on, like this sweater from Eddie Bauer which actually may be too big...
Pair of new with tags super-cute red dress pants from Gap... perfect for an office party or UGA game!
Then, there were a lot of old faithful things from winters gone by. Oh, "Ground Beef" sweater, how Saunders has missed you... he will be so happy to see you on my body - haha! (Saunders really hates this sweater, which is why he says it looks like raw ground beef. But, I love it.)
Also, I sadly found that one of those bags was an unlabeled summer clothes bag, full of things I would've enjoyed wearing this summer, like this cute little fuschia skirt... sigh...
As you can expect, since most of these things have been packed away since 2005, a lot of the clothes are now out of style or just old or plain wierd. (And, how smart of me in 2005 to double-bag... no clothes were ruined inside. The bags were filthy because they were in the attic when we had the house reroofed two years ago. I guess that, since they were piled in the dark corner, we didn't see them when we moved everything out before roofing began.) But, a lot still can't be used. For instance, there's this unflattering shapeless greenish-blue sweater thing...
Why would I do that myself? But, I remember wearing it to work a lot! So, needless to say, much of what came out of those seven bags went right back into the Goodwill pile...
However, after I culled out the old, should've-never-been-saved stuff and the trendy-two-years-ago stuff, I wound up with a BIG pile of current, still-nice-looking, my size stuff! Here's a picture of the final haul, all sorted and ready for washing or dry cleaning and wearing!
So, I won't look like a total homeless clown when I get dressed this winter. And, Saunders will sleep much easier tonight, knowing that my insane need to save my old clothing and my forays into the deep recesses of our attic today have saved us lots of money!
And, one little fun addition to this post... whenever I clean out my closet, I like to sing Eminem's song of the same name. I only know the chorus, but I just sing it over and over, every year. Kind of a whistle while you work thing, I guess. Katie Anne picked up part of the tune as I worked, and here's a little video of it:
Katie Anne watched the videos on the Mr. Golden Sun post, and she is really insistent about something this morning (yes, we're both up bright and early ... and watching videos of herself while the dogs eat breakfast and my coffee brews). She wants me to add that what she was trying to say in the second video was...
"Kindermusik is a quiet game, just like the funeral home."
She could never think of the end of her sentence last Thursday when I made the video, but when she saw it, she said, "I meant the funeral home. Kindermusik is a quiet game, just like the funeral home. Put that part on the laptop, too."
And, she is correct. Kindermusik, and especially the funeral home, are quiet places.
Remember, a few weeks ago, when Katie Anne tried to sing Mr. Golden Sun?
And she didn't know it?
Well, good news... she knows it!
And, guess what?
She loves loves loves loves to sing it in the car!
(Yes, I made that video while driving, but it was totally safe. Can't you tell by the horrible filming that I wasn't even looking? Just holding the camera on my shoulder with one hand, driving with the other.)
For Katie Anne's birthday, Erin, Ella, and Jason gave her a very neat present... an Explore Box! When we were playing with it a few days ago, I thought I'd snap some pictures and do a blog post about it because I bet it is something a lot of other moms would like to put together. It also makes a great creative gift! The Explore Box starts with a big plastic container full of sand and digging toys.
Then, there's lots of little bags full of items to dig for ... little dinosaurs, frogs, lizards, and snakes; tiny smiley face erasers; gold coins; magnetic letters and numbers; etc! (Warn your husband before he takes it upon himself to play Explorer Box while you're not at home ... we like to keep things separated. Do not pack Ziploc bags back into the box with all the little pieces all mixed together. Play with them all mixed up? Sure. Put them away all mixed up? Oh, no. They all like to live in their own little baggie homes. No mixing. Momma don't like no mixing.)
Throw in some cool little "explorer" items like a spyglass, magnifying glasses, and a kaleidoscope, and you're ready to explore! We do so many fun things with the Explore Box. Of course, we bury things and dig them up. However, this type of activity leads to soooo many opportunities to think and talk and learn, especially about Katie Anne's favorite subject - math. We count things as we bury them and find them. We hide two or three or four kinds of things and sort them as we find them. We name colors as we find items. We describe the things we find. So many teachable moments hidden in the Explore Box! And, most importantly ... Katie Anne loves it!
Obviously, the Explore Box is an outside toy. Are you wondering why we didn't play with it outside? Oh, we did ... for about five minutes, after we sprayed down heavily with Off's kid-friendly bug spray. It didn't work. This poor little baby is a magnet for mosquitoes. These pictures were made just minutes after I realized that mosquitoes were biting her, even with the bug spray on, and we moved our exploring adventure into the garage. Even when coated down with bug spray (we're now trying brand #4 with no luck), Katie Anne draws mosquitoes like moths to a flame. And, she is severely allergic to them ... even if she doesn't scratch them, they welt up, swell, develop into a nasty knot, and hurt her terribly. She cried for three days with these bug bites. We need to buy stock in Cortaid and Benadryl. Look at that nasty blister that's already coming up on the bite on her foot. Poor baby girl! Regardless of the mosquito issues, the Explore Box is a really fun, engaging, learning kit. Katie Anne asks to play with it at least once a week. I am glad Erin came up with this great idea for Katie Anne, and I encourage anyone who is a parent to a toddler to steal her concept! :) Thanks, Erin!
Sing, sing a song- Make it simple To last your whole life long! Don't worry that its not good enough For anyone else to hear. Just sing, sing a song!
I realized a few days ago that I've really fallen off the video wagon. I haven't made any videos of Katie Anne in quite some time. In fact, I took our nice video camera to Florida this year, and then didn't make a single video the whole week we were on vacation! Yikes! Of course, I've got about 10,000 pictures to make up for it, but still ... I need to do better on the videos.
So, when we were driving around after buying Hoppy yesterday, Katie Anne was in a musical mood, singing tons of songs. When we got home, I sat her up at the kitchen table and tried to catch a few on video.
Video #1: In this first one, Katie Anne sings Itsy Bitsy Spider. (You'll also hear Saunders leaving me a voicemail on my cell phone.) I love how she completely enunciates the words - you'll see what I mean when you watch it. Also, she wants to sing Mr. Sun at the end, which must be a song they sing at school because I don't know it. And, apparently, she might not either. :)
Video #2: In this second one, Katie Anne sings a song that Saunders taught her called Peanut Butter. It is so funny! We love to hear her sing this one. This is what she was singing in the car, and this is what I was trying to get on tape. I love the George McFly laugh at the end, too.
In case you can't get it all, the words are: Peanut sat on a railroad track And his heart was all a-flutter. Down the track came a choo-choo train, Uh-oh! Peanut Butter!
You may remember that, last May, I brought home Shark (a beta fish formerly named "Jack the Pirate Fish"). Katie Anne got to keep Shark in her room, and she got quite attached to him being there. I think she really enjoyed having a little pet of "her own". Who knows where she gets this? Definitely not from me. :)
Well, Shark returned to school last week, and her little fish bowl has sat empty on her dresser, waiting for another friend. Today, I was able to leave work at a semi-decent time (4:00 has now become decent), and Chloe was in need of rabbit food, so I thought we'd stop by Land and Sea to see what they had. Land and Sea is a local pet store owned by the mom of a former fourth grade student of mine, and I like to patronize the store whenever I can.
There were lots of cute animals there - tons of birds, gerbils, lizards, and a sweetie pie rabbit - and lots of fish. Katie Anne was really drawn to the African clawed frogs, and that sounded like a good idea to me. I'd almost gotten her a frog while we were in Florida this summer... I thought that would be a fun Shark replacement. I've had African dwarf frogs before, but they're small and can be hard to find in the bowl/tank. This clawed frog was big and bold, and she could easily see him swimming around. So, bag him up - he's ours!
She can't quite decide on a name for him. Her first idea when we were driving home was ... Car. Um, no. I gave her lots of froggish suggestions like Hoppy, Froggy, Ribbit, Leap, Jumper, Skippy, Pickle (his back kind of looks pickle-ish to me), and she seemed to decide on Hoppy. Then, when we got home, she said that she liked Froggy better - and that's what she calls him in the video. But, when Saunders got home, she introduced him as Hoppy again. Hoppy is what he's been all evening. So, I'm not exactly sure of his name. I liked Pickle!
Sooooo excited about getting the frog into the bowl!
Splash - there he goes!
Whoa!Showing Hoppy (or Froggy) a sweet smile.Cheesy frog-lover grin.Lots of kisses for our new friend! (Don't worry - the outside of the bowl was really clean.) Welcome to our home, Hoppy-Froggy! And, here's a video of Katie Anne feeding Hoppy his first meal ...
One of the things I dislike doing most in our house is unloading groceries... the drive-under garage (and subsequent walk up the big flight of stairs from the basement to the kitchen level) is the one of the biggest annoyances I've got with the house. I've said ever since we moved in that I couldn't wait until I had a kid old enough to help me lug all those groceries to the kitchen and unload them. Ladies and gentleman, almost four years after moving in, that day has arrived ...
Yesterday morning, while taking our first potty trip of the day, Katie Anne wanted to read a new book. I grabbed one of Saunders's old board books from when he was little that VJ had given us - Green Hat, Blue Hat by Sandra Boynton. We'd never read this book before, but Katie Anne loved its predictable pattern... the animals all put on clothes correctly except for the turkey, who always puts them on backwards (and says "Oops."). She said she was going to read it to me... she did such a good job remembering it after only hearing it once that I ran for the camera and made her start over! She doesn't get it 100% right, but she did a super job after only hearing it one time. So, here's the first video of her "reading" a book. :)
Yesterday, while we were waiting out the brief rainstorm in the library parking lot, Katie Anne read her Animal Alphabet to me. (I'll try to get a video of her reading that for posterity, because it is so funny... she gets "A is for alligator" and "B is for Bear", but then every other animal starts either with an S or a P.) Then, she sang the ABC song at the end while she pointed at the letters on the last page. One of her favorite things to do now is singing. Her ABC song has improved dramatically in the last ten days since she sang it this time on May 18.
It is crazy how much she's learning and growing every single day!
Today, we went for our first swim of the summer at Doc and VJ's house. We were wondering how Katie Anne would respond. Last year, she really liked the water, but you never know what a toddler will do!
She loved the water and had a great time! She desperately wanted us to just let her go and let her swim by herself, but she'd sink like a little stone the few times we let her try. But, we were just glad she enjoyed the water and wants to try swimming. We swam for about an hour before it started sprinkling. Here are some pictures of the fun!
The dogs came along, too! Here's happy Ginger.
Swimming with Daddy A little coaching from Dad, and then... Whoa! Into the drink! Mommy stops taking pictures and gets in the pool. Fun day at the pool!
And here's a video of her crazy jumping and swimming!
