Happy Brrrrrrrthday to Me!

Gee, it won't be long now until I'm able to start typing these blog entries on my own now that I am the ripe old age of 6!

I had a stupendous birthday weekend. On Friday, I took treats to school (Mom didn't make enough muffins, so she had to buy cookies from the store - gasp!). I had fun wearing my birthday crown and being the golden girl of the day. We left for WI right after school. On Saturday we gathered up with some family at the park. Leave it to the wacky Wisconsin weather to be a chilly day in the upper 50's with some gusty winds! We were all pretty cold, but we still had fun -- had some good food, got to visit with everyone and enjoyed the pretty cake Grandma made for me. After the outdoor party, quite a few of my family met back up at Nana's and hung out some more. I was so lucky to have so many people come celebrate with me. I got lots and lots of books, a bike horn, playdoh, clothes, art supplies, a microscope and too many more cool things to list. I really love my new "pet" from Mom and Dad. PLEO is a robotic dinosaur that acts SO realistic. I've been doing a good job taking care of her and nurturing her -- she's just a baby you know! Zach had fun too. He was a good boy all weekend and even gave me a little toy purple dinosaur.

We came back early this afternoon and put the finishing touches on my pinata. I'll be having some friends over here tomorrow after school for cake and games.

Thanks to everyone for making my day so very special. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Katherine

Here is some video of Pleo entering the world:

Game On!

I had my first soccer match today. It was so much fun! I wasn't feeling my best though -- either a mild head cold or allergies -- but I have been sniffling and congested for 3 days now. Nonetheless, I did really well, I kept up with the ball and tried my best to get a piece of it when I could. I got to throw the ball in from the sidelines one time -- my first try kind of flopped down on me, but I got it in on the 2nd try. My friend Carson scored 3 out of our team's 4 goals; and it was his first game! We were so proud of him. My friend Tyce also surprised me and came to watch my game, that made me so happy. After the game, we went to Carson's 6th birthday party at Safety Town. We rode our bikes around and had a good time. I'm pretty pooped out now, but it was a super day and we had nice, cool weather to go along with it.

I think we're taking it easy tomorrow. Maybe a hike and some lunch but that's about it. Later my taters!

Katherine.






















Zach and Tyce chilling out on the sidelines

Hat Day

We had "hat day" at school today in honor of reading our first book of the school year, aptly called, The Hat. Mom just couldn't get over how cute I looked and snapped a pic of me as we were getting in the car.

School is going really well. I have to do 20 minutes of reading homework each night and we've already dived into math, writing, music and P.E. so far. I'm pretty tired by the end of the day, but I'm always ready to go back for more.

Have a splendid weekend. My first soccer match is tomorrow, yippee!

Away I Go

Here I am all content on the bus (see me in the front seat?). We had a little scare. We walked out to go to the bus stop and saw a Bus #2 go whizzing by. I was in tears. We were convinced that we missed it. But then Mom noticed some other kids still lingering around, so we waited 5 minutes and sure enough, my bus came and I boarded successfully. Mom will usually take me to school to avoid the 30 minute bus ride, but they wanted all kids to ride the first day, so we obliged. I had my traditional breakfast of crepes and Dad even went into work late so he could watch me go. I came home right before lunch. Mom convinced me to take a nap since I have soccer tonight. I had a great first day, loved my teacher and even came home with some reading homework!

Zach marked his territory shortly after I left. He dinojacked my squishy dinosaurs and made some smudge art on Mom's fridge. A sign of things to come. She took him to the hair salon with her this morning and he did really well. Hopefully he doesn't miss me too much, Mom said he kept asking "where my Kackine go?".

Later taters!

Hasta la Vista, Summer.

We had a nice last weekend of "summer". Ok, not the real deal, but the last weekend for me as a summer vacationer. We headed up to the Day Out With Thomas extravaganza early Saturday morning. Much to our pleasure, Zach was really excited to see Thomas and very eager to go for a ride. We met up with some friends of ours and spent a few hours doing all the things one does at a Railway Museum. It was pretty hot though and we were tuckered out, so we left after lunch. We parted ways with Dad who had a bachelor party to go to in Chicago (he survived and was well-behaved to the best of our knowledge). Us kids and Mom headed up to Nana's to chill for a bit before the Dancing Horses show. It turned out to be a really neat place, we enjoyed the petting barns and pony rides before the show. The show itself was quite interesting, I really liked watching the horses "dance" to the music and preform various tricks with their trainers. On Sunday, we had a nice visit with Tyler, Tori and baby Addy. They just moved to Monroe so we're looking forward to many more visits to come. Zach was a little cranky this weekend, hopefully getting back home and in a schedule will help shape him up a bit.

I had meet the teacher night at school tonight. I really like my new teacher and classroom. I was proud to show Mom the first grade "hall" and I excitedly unpacked my supplies and scoped the place out. It really doesn't seem real that I'm starting school tomorrow. I'm anxious and a little nervous, but mostly excited and ready. Mom is definitely not ready for summer break to be over and having to get back into a routine. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. I'm sure it will be smooth sailing. We only have half days this week which will help make it an easier transition for all of us.

Signing off for now, next time I sign on, I'll be a first grader, for REAL. Wow, where does the time go? Oh and don't worry, as you can see in one of the pics Mom found time to take me to IHOP for my traditional pre-school kickoff pancake breakfast. Crepes are on the menu for tomorrw at home!

Katherine.








Jam Master Cranky Crank













blowing his whistle on Thomas





















Horse breath, ewww











The "real" Thomas

It's the Final Countdown....da na da na

Only one week to go before I make the gianormous leap to first grade. We went and picked up my school supplies today, it was fun to get new crayons, markers and such. Mom's making me use the same backpack though, el cheap-o at her finest! We're trying to cram in a LOT of fun activities this week to make sure our summer checklist is complete.

I had a blasty blast this weekend! Saturday was pretty chill, actually it was HOT so we stayed inside a lot. On Sunday though, the fun was in full force. Dad took us up to the cabin for the day. Mom stayed back...she had some stuff to do and really seemed excited for a day to herself. We went boating with Grandpa and even got to get out at the sandbar and play in the beach/river. I waded out to the deep part with Grandpa and he helped me work on my swimming skills. We got back around five and our new neighbors came over for dinner. Zach and I have so much fun with their kids and Mom and Dad are happy to have some cool grown ups to hang out with. Their little boy is about Zach's age and they have a lot in common. It's nice to see Zach at the age where he likes to play with other kids rather than play by himself. I think the little squirt is really going to miss me when I go back to school. Although we've kind of been at each other's throats the past few days, so maybe a break will be good for a bit. He seems like he's ready for some one-on-one time again with Mom.

Here's a cute pic of us, Gramps and Betty from last week that I forgot to post before. We're so happy they came to see us for the day. We've got a very busy week coming up -- soccer starts tomorrow and then we've got lots of little activities planned for the week, leading up to the big weekend with the Meet Thomas the Train event and some time at Nana's as well.

Hope you all survived the brief heat wave and had some fun!

Lates!
K.

This n' That

Pretty much a little bit of everything going on around here. We're trying to cram in a few things from our summer to-do list. Hard to believe I'll be starting school in just 2 short weeks. The time really flew by and it still feels like summer has yet to hit us, judging by the cool weather and lack of swimsuit time. But I am ready. Mom really isn't, but I am. We'll do my bts shopping next week and be all ready to go!

Late last week, Nana came for a couple days. We had a fun visit. We went to the zoo and she played with us lots. Mom and Dad even sneaked out for a movie. The next day, Mom took me to see the Guinea Pig G-Force movie. Sounds boring? Well it was in 3D, so there! Actually, it was fairly cute, Mom even chuckled once or twice. On Monday, it was MY idea to go to the Discovery Museum, so we did! We ended up spending almost 5 hours there including a break for lunch. Zach had so much fun as well. Our favorite thing was the pretend pizza shop complete with delivery truck. Mom is going to look into some pretend pizza stuff for the house. It was a really good day. Tomorrow, Gramps and B are coming for the day. I am looking forward to showing them my toys and spending time with them. Maybe even a trip to the park will be in store.

So Zach news has been kind of slow lately. Here is a nice list of some things he has been doing lately:

He is obsessed with running around being a race car. He also likes to kung fu kick Mom in the chins a lot. He likes to shut the dryer and dishwasher doors on her when she is doing her chores. He likes to ask for a snack like ALL THE TIME, including breakfast, which usually leads to tears since Mom won't let him eat snacks for breakfast. He can swing really high on the big boy swing and can almost pedal a trike. He is talking in mostly short sentences now and is really conveying his emotions a lot more to us -- telling us when he is sad or hurt or silly. We took his bedtime paci away about 2 weeks ago and he's doing ok. He gives Mom a fight for naptime now and then, but he goes down at night well and is sleeping a little later now. I'm going to miss him when I go back to school. We have a lot of fun playing together. He is in the "mine" phase right now, but I handle it well and have some good tricks up my sleeve for distracting him. He's a fun little boy, he keeps things exciting around here, that's for sure.

I better go settle in for the night, got a busy day tomorrow!