Delightful Day with Dad

I was so lucky that Dad was home this week and able to come on my class field trip with me! We went to the same Orchard that Mom and Zach went to a couple weeks ago. Dad had 4 girls to look after and we were all really good and responsible little kids for him. He was a little nervous about the long bus ride there and keeping track of other people's kids, but it went really well and he had tons of FUN! I cried on the way to school today because I was so sad my Daddy couldn't come again :(

We're off to Grandma D's for the weekend. Mom and Dad have a wedding to go to in Chicago, so Zach and I will be staying at Grandma's from Friday until Sunday. Zach's excited for a tractor ride and I'm just happy to go to Grandma land where I get to watch a ton of TV and eat candy all weekend, wahoo!

Have a great week. Catch you on the flip side!
Katherine




Dad's classic "I'm having fun pose"















The best kids in the group!

Nothing says September like Oktoberfest

We've always been confused by this, but turns out....
"In the year 1812, the Oktoberfest was cancelled since Bavaria was involved in the Napoleonic war. In 1816, carnival booths appeared. The main prizes were silver, porcelain, and jewellery. In 1819, the founding citizens of Munich assumed responsibility over festival management. It was agreed that the Oktoberfest would be celebrated each and every year without exception. Later, it was lengthened and the date pushed forward, the reason being that the end of September in Bavaria often has very good weather. The high temperature in the first week of Oktoberfest nears 19°C which stimulates the thirst of the visitors. However, today the last week of Oktoberfest is still in October."

And there you go, some history. We went to the local celebration on Saturday. It was fun -- Mom like the music, alphorns, food and drinks. There was a bouncy house for us, so that was an unexpected perk. It was a total rip off though -- $14 to get in, $4 a beer, $10 for the bouncy stuff and $10 for a plate of food which consisted of a plain brat, some kraut, cafeteria mashed potatoes and rye bread. But, believe it or NOT, Mom loosened her purse strings and had some fun. We even went to Old Chicago after because we were still so darn hungry.

Today, Dad headed to the farm to get the combine ready for some pickin'! He was supposed to take Zach, but Grandma had her hands full as it was and Dad was on a mission to hurry up and get his job done. He'll be home with us all this week -- last week of "non-voluntary, unpaid vacation" as we like to call it, whew! Mom made the best of the day alone with us. She took us to the middle school park, we painted, made dinosaur magnets, baked a cake for school and watched the Bears triumph.

My soccer match went well. We didn't win, but I had some killer kicks on defense and was much more participative -- and I had F-U-N!

That's about it from here. Oh! I had school pictures last week, I looked totally cute. Don't worry, I opened my eyes for the photographer at school :)

Have a good start to your wonderful week!
Katherine




Hey Dad, wanna compare bellies?

The Day the Curls Died

This is what happens when Dad takes Zach for his haircut. Enough said.

















this is what happens when Zach screams and tries to scare his sister. Enough said. Hopefully no blood vessels were harmed in the making of this face.

Zach has some fun

With me at school now, Mom and Zach have been trying to keep busy. Zach likes to go, go, go and so does Mom. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be very responsible for them to go out shopping everyday like they would like to. So, they violated the naptime rules last week and went out to the Orchard. That's a pretty big deal because Mom never, ever goes anywhere during sacred naptime. It backfired on her though because I happened to come down with a belly ache that day and the school called Mom at 2:30. Fortunately, our neighbor picked me up and Daddy came right home shortly after.

Zach still isn't in any type of preschool program. He'll start 3yr old preschool next year. There are several places where he could go "hang out" for the morning, but the time just doesn't seem right for him yet. Mom took him to watch Tyce's gymnastics class last week -- she really thought he would jump right in, but he was very certain that he did not want to. He also despises going to the daycare at the gym with Mom. He doesn't have screaming fits or tantrums, but he is very sad and sullen the entire time before, during and after. Mom's in a pickle. She needs to really do something to help him branch out a bit and have some fun, but we've all learned that forcing Zach to do something he doesn't want to do only backfires in a major way. I guess they'll just take it month by month and see where he is at. Anyhow, he did have a TON of fun at the Orchard with some friends. He was sweet enough to bring me home a caramel apple and some cider. He was talking all evening about how he fed the goats, played on the toys and played mini-golf. Mom said he was a very good boy.

Our weekend was pretty quiet otherwise. We won our soccer match and enjoyed the beautiful weather all day. On Sunday, we watched the Bears get slapped around by the Packers at our neighbors house. Fortunately, the good company and food helped to ease the blow.

School pictures coming up this week! I'm working on my super-duper sweet extra-dimple smile.

Ta ta for now!
Katherine

The Fish be a Bitin'

We had a funtastic weekend. We really had NO plans whatsoever -- shocker, I know for us not to have a plan. So during my soccer match on Saturday, Dad decided we should head to the cabin for the weekend. We lost our match by the way, but I still did really well and had fun. The first couple hours at the cabin were pretty quiet, but then my cousins came and I had loads of fun. Zach and I both caught our first fish that day. I got a catfish, Zach got some weird thing I had never heard of. Then we got the campfire going and had pizza pies and cherry pies on the fire. Zach and I mostly played inside with our cousins. We didn't leave until 11, we were crashed! On Sunday, it was too chilly to do any more boating, so we came home and vegged like the big zucchinis grandma sent back with us. Today, Mom and I did some shoe shopping, played with some lingering birthday crafts and played outside. Mom tried to keep Dad busy, but he was pretty determined to do minimal labor on Labor Day. I'm ready for school tomorrow. Hard to believe some kids are just NOW starting when here I'm already a seasoned veteran.

Hope you had a nice weekend as well!
Katherine

Bounce Around

After school yesterday, we celebrated my birthday again with some neighborhood friends and a couple friends from school. We started at 4pm, it was the most perfect day ever to play outside. Everyone kind of ran nutty between the playset and the bouncy house. Mom found a giant tarp and Dad let us put it outside. It was fun and the big kids were really good about taking turns with the little ones. Then it was cake time. All the other Moms had to be tickled pink that we fed the kids cake at 4:30 in the afternoon. My cake literally took the cake. It was amazing. The best creation ever! She used my own baby dinosaurs and put little frosting party hats on each one. Mom was certain I would cry when we cut it, but I didn't. Then we strung up the dinosaur egg pinata -- Mom is getting pretty good at making those by now since this is year 2. We all filled up our goody bags, played a quick game of pin the horn on the Triceratops (again, year 2) and everyone went on their merry way. Instead of gifts, we had everyone bring a food pantry donation. We accumulated around 25 canned goods and some dry goods as well. We'll be going to donate them this weekend. A few stinkers broke the rules and gave me a few gifts, but I didn't complain. I'm pretty stoked about the new scooter and practiced riding it around the garage today -- it is very good for my balance and coordination. It was just a super time. Mom and Dad had a blast too! What a great way to kick off what looks to be a very fun and exciting year for me. I like being 6 so far, it really suits me well!

Ciao for now. Oh and here are some pics from the fun.