Growing up too fast...

That's what Mom said today when I came home from school. She asked how recess was and I told her I didn't play at all. I was too busy picking up trash. I was amazed at how much litter was on the playground, so I spent the entire recess, by myself, picking up garbage. And then I apologized to Mom because my gloves were so dirty. Then, she was unpacking my lunch and she asked why the hershey kisses were still in there (she sometimes sneaks one or two in my lunch). I told her that since I didn't finish my sandwich all the way and left 2 carrots, I didn't deserve to have my candy. After all this talking, I walked over to Mom, picked her jaw up off the floor for her and gave her a hug.

Mom's pretty lucky.

Candy Land

Helloooo! That's my super-hyped up hello. Bit of a sugar rush around here lately. Combine the Valentine's candy with all the junk food around here and we'll be well on our way to becoming the poster kids for childhood obesity. Mom made candy sushi for playgroup (see below) and let us sample things that we've never tried before. Fruit rollups = yum! Ho hos = yum! Packaged rice krispie treats = yum! I was allowed to try some last night after dinner since I missed out on playgroup. This resulted in some very bizzare behavior last night. Lots of crying, laughing and defiance. Something to be said about moderation! Mom put the food in front of me and ran to the store to pick up something and I was left unattended while Dad was downstairs. There's no telling how much I ate -- I've never been the type of kid to gorge on junk food when allowed, but judging by my behavior later, it's safe to say I consumed a lot. It was SO totally worth it though. Mom was giggling all afternoon at the thought of all the other kids going bonkers for their moms that afternoon, ha! Payback's a you-know-what.

Anywho, I've had a great week. School has been loads of fun and I'm so excited to go each day. Zach and Mom just kind of putzed around this week with nothing in particular pressing them. Zach is determined to bring anything upstairs, no matter how big. As you can see, he was ready to go shopping the other day. He's very eager to leave the house each day. Every morning after he gets dressed, he asks for his coat and shoes and wants to go 'bye bye'. Mom just doesn't have that many places to go, but she tried to accomodate him best she can.

Looks like a quiet weekend at home for us. February has been a short month, which is a good thing since we're really hoping for some nice weather soon. We've got my school Chili Supper tomorrow night, which I'm sure we'll make an appearance at.

Have a faboo weekend!

Happy Hearts Day

A very happy Valentine's Day to you. I got a fun bag of goodies from Mom and Dad today. Dinosaur Oatmeal, skittles, a puppy snowglobe and some giant, toxic light up "massive googly ball" thing. I gave Zach a little box of chocolates with a train on the box. He loved it! As soon as I got dressed, Dad took Zach and I up to Grandma Ds. I was very sad to leave Mom, my "sunshine girl" as I have taken to calling her. Mom asked what she was supposed to do all weekend without us? I suggested her and Dad give each other Valentines and go somewhere nice for dinner. Gee, I'm smart! Mom is going to get caught up on some cleaning today until Dad gets back. Then they are going to a German restaurant tonight and then to a movie and lunch tomorrow. Mom will come get us on Monday as long as we are doing well.

They had conferences with my teacher last night. It all went really well! They even do standardized testing for us now, which is kind of silly if you ask me. I scored very above average in all catagories, including letter recognition, phonics and early reading. Mom was very proud to hear that I am really getting better at following directions and the teacher has no beef with me whatsoever. My fine motor skills are improving, but we need to keep practicing. Mom helped out at the class party this week and had a blast. We played bingo, sang songs, and made a tower out of conversation hearts. Mom and I made the treats to take in.

Nana and Papa are going to the Badger game tonight, so watch for them on ESPN. They will be on the court level, nearest the left basket. Other exciting news, cousin Tyler and Tori had a sweet little baby girl early this morning. Addisyn seems to be doing fine from what we have heard. Can't wait to see the new baby, hopefully soon!

Hope you have an extra special weekend. Hugs and Kisses.

Katherine

Racing to make heart towers















Doing the months of the year macarena











Us with the other room helpers for the day

Manic Mondays

You know it's going to be an interesting day when the 'baby" comes up the stairs at 7:20 am with roller skates on.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Hello friends. Mom picked up a nifty little paper recycling kit on clearance last week and we tried to make our own paper today. It bore the mark of Bill Nye, the Science Guy, so we thought it had to have some potential. Well, after a couple hours and a big 'ol mess, we now understand why it was marked down from $19.95 to $2.50. The packaging alone far outweighed any potential recycled goods that could come from it. I got bored with it by step 4 and left Mom alone to try to master the task, but she ultimately was defeated. It was a good concept and with a little innovation, it could be a neat idea. See below for the play-by-play. We'll stick with Sid the Science Kid from now on.

I don't need to mention what a glorious 60 degree day it was today. Z and I played outside while Mom and Dad cleaned the garage and cars out. Later, Mom and I went to pick up my Valentines and buy a new printer, plus a bunch of paper to go with it. Again, kind of defeated any environmental aspirations we had for the day. Oh well, at least all the boxes in the garage got broken down to take to their appropriate place in the world.

Zach is still fighting a nasty cold and is a bit out of sorts. Mom hates giving him cold medicines and Zach hates it even worse. Nothing seems to touch his nasty cough. Hopefully he'll turn the corner soon.

Hope you made the most of this splendid day and maybe there will be more to come!

later!
Katheirne





Whoa, that's a lot of ripped up newspaper


















Making pulp in a plastic blender -- the kitchen blender soon took over the job of pulverizing



















Pulp tray that resembled vomit













2 hours later, Mom managed to make 4 sheets of "paper" which resembled the Dead Sea Scrolls

The 100th Day

We had quite a shindig at school today, it was the 100th day of school, wahoo! I was one of the first in the class to join the "100s" club, meaning I can count and write to 100. We had to bring in 100 of something today. I'll bet you can guess what I chose! Here's a hint, they are extinct and rhyme with whine-o-saurs. That's right, that zip lock back in my hand is filled with 100 baby dinosaurs. I had plenty to spare. It was fun grouping them by 5's, 10's and making my way up to 100. We did all sorts of one-hundo related activities today. Like a necklace made of 100 fruit loops and jumping 100 times. I even wore a sweatshirt that we were pretty sure had 100 hearts on it. I probably counted to 100, well, 100 times today! It may be a bit overkill, but boy were we all excited and proud of our 100 days.

Zach's been suffering from my cold this week, so he's been cooped up a bit. Plus, we've had various people coming by to work on stuff in the house, so Mom's schedule has been dictated by others all week. But, hey, it's February, not like she has a whole lot going on anyway. Next week should be fun -- Mom gets to help out in my library on Tuesday and at my V-Day party on Thursday. Zach has a doctor's appt and there's parent-teacher conferences again, so it will be a busy week.

Gymnastics is still going well. I'm pretty tired, but I enjoy it and it is good for me. Zach is doing well in the 2-year old world. He's actually been so good lately, we're wondering when he's going to hit us with the terrible part. He's so sweet and boy are we having fun playing together. His new thing is spontaneously saying thank you without being prompted. He's really good at it and we like hearing him say it.

That's all I got! Better catch some zzzzzzzs.....

Katherine