Grace's 1st "Dance"

Tonight was the schools "sock hop"....don't know why they call it that because the kids don't all dress up in Poodle skirts and stuff...anyways. Jack didn't want to go and Grace did. Jared and Jack rented a movie and I took the girls.

As soon as we got there Kate & I were ditched for a bunch of giggly 1st grade girls and some boys that were chasing them (isn't this a DANCE...not a run).

I finally spotted Grace and she had organized a game of Duck, Duck, Goose...right in the middle of the gym...right in the middle of the dance (again...DANCE being used very loosly).

She finally heard a Miley song played and all the little girls jumped up and ran to the front of the gym where the speakers were and actually danced....until Grace saw me taking her picture. Then she was embarrassed....great...I have already embarrassed my 6 year old- she better get used to it!

Kate wanted to walk all over the gym and the kids were all running in a circle around the outside. Imagine the turtles on Finding Nemo. You have to just jump right into the circle of running kids to get to the middle of the gym (aka...the eye of the storm) where there is peace. Kate loved it. She found a little friend (Vanessa) and they hugged and danced and then tried to run away...stinkers!

Grace and her friend Avery. Kate and Vanessa.

We wrapped up the evening with a couple of cookies and headed home. Grace was a bit tired!

Kate was a bit wound up. She thought that yelling would be an appropriate end to the evening. She wasn't mad or upset, she was just yelling. Yelling at whatever she wanted to. When I finally layed her in her bed at 9:15 she didn't even wimper....she just hugged her teddy bear and fell fast asleep...dreaming of when she is big enough to run the outer circle!

**Make sure you check out the blog story below this one....you never knew Mac N Cheese would be so fun!**

Cheese Head

This is how Kate eats Mac N Cheese (yes, I know it is not nutritious....but, she loves the stuff and so do I!).

1.You start by putting the bowl up to your mouth and eating out of it like this:

2. You realize you have a noodle stuck to your head:

3. You think it is so funny that you put another one on and they start migrating down the face:

4. THEN.....you realize that they stick better in the hair and it is all down hill from here! Squirrels store food in their cheeks...Kate stores food in her hair.

Now you all know how to properly eat Mac N Cheese :). ENJOY!!

Stinkin' Dog!

I really meant to get to bed early tonight....but then I went on Facebook and the next thing I knew it was 11:15 pm. I headed upstairs and let the dog out so she wouldn't wake me at 4 a.m. again. I waited a couple minutes and called her back in. About a minute later I smelled something and it wasn't good...in fact it was horrible. It smelled like a perm gone bad...it brought back some bad memories of my childhood. I quickly smelled myself (it wasn't me this time). I was heating something up in the microwave and I thought the microwave was for sure going to explode. Nope it wasn't that. I looked over at the dog in the livingroom and called her over....she came over with her head down and the smell got worse. CRAP....she tried to play with a skunk and she had been in the house for about 3 minutes before I figured it out. I woke up Jared and he confirmed that she stunk REALLY bad. He took her out and doused her with Vinegar (I saw it online and I didn't have any tomato sauce) and then shampooed her with coconut shampoo. She still reeks! My house reeks! Tomorrow I am calling the local groomer and hoping I can drop her off (or she will be sitting outside in the rain while we are at work). Here's hoping we don't get any calls to see the house in the next week or two! Tonight she is locked in a room in the basement that has no carpet. Hopefully she doesn't tear a hole in the wall trying to get to us. Stinkin' dog!

Just to show that we still love her, here is a picture of her and her littlest buddy from this afternoon pre-skunk.

Our Little Pot Head

Kate has found the kitchen cupboards to be her new toy box. They MUST be emptied daily (hourly) and LOVES LOVES LOVES the pots and pans.

First, she has to take all of them out of the cupboard so she can climb in and sit in her new fort.

Next, she climbs out when she realizes that she doesn't fit in the cupboard.

Then, the pots are tried on as hats...they are a bit heavy and not to comfortable as a hat.

Finally, she crawls away leaving a pile of pots and pans for the cleaning fairy to tend to.

If you need your pots and pans OUT of the cuboard...call our little Pot Head!

Football

Jack is now in full tackle football. In Verona, they start in 4th grade. He has been counting the days since Kindergarten! I admit I was a bit nervous about it....I even asked if he would rather play golf. You can't really get hurt that bad playing golf, right? Nope, football all the way! Verona has so many kids in the Youth Football League that they have to split them into 3 teams (White, Orange & Black). Jack and 2 other boys in our neighborhood were drafted onto the Orange team. Yep, I said drafted. All the 4th grade boys get together for 3 days of helmet only practice and go through drills (kicking, passing, tackling, ect) and then all the coaches sit down and "draft" the players they want. Each team is supposed to be pretty equally weighted with good kickers/passers/tacklers so one team isn't at a huge advantage. Jack is also blue chipped this year. If you are over 95 pounds in 4th grade you have to play the line. You can't run the ball at all. It is for safety sake (for the 50 pounders). So, Jack being 106 pounds is on the line and he is EXCELLENT at it. He loves it.

So far his team...Verona Orange..is undefeated (4-0). We have traveled to Poynette, WI Heights and last week Monroe for his games (with 1 at home)! Talk about a long day for the girls :). We usually have to be at the game 1 hour before it starts and then we sit there waiting for the game to start and then sit through a 2 hour game. Kate isn't fond of football when she can't get down on the wet grass.

If anyone is interested in seeing him play we have a game at Verona this coming Saturday (10/10) at 8:30 a.m. and then the following 2 Saturdays we know we play one at home and one away but we won't know the times/places until after this game. Those are playoff games I guess....serious business! I am just happy he is having fun. His nickname from the coaches is 'smiley'....from the players it's 'gassy' (sorry guys). So, here is our favorite player....NUMBER 2!

1st game at Poynette. It was close to 90 that day...I felt so bad for the boys!

"Smiley"

(sometimes he gets to kick the ball)

Stopping his guy

Nerds....

Grace came home from school and immediately put her hands on her hips and told me this story:

Grace: Guess what S (a boy in Kindergarten) did today to one of his friends!
Me: What?

Grace: Guess one time (this is a favorite saying of Grace's and if you dont' guess one time she won't tell you).

Me: He gave him a sticker. (I was trying to be nice. I know the boy she is talking about and he is usually not so nice).
Grace: Nope....he kicked him in the nerds.
Me: (trying very hard not to laugh at her). The nerds huh?
Grace: Yep, he went right up to him and kicked him in the nerds. That isn't nice to do to a friend. I should kick him in the nerds but instead I just hit his locker.
Me: Please just leave S and his locker alone and please don't ever kick someone in the nerds.

Side note: We just got my computer all cleaned up ***Knocking on wood...er...laminate countertop** and should have some recent pictures up here soon...hopefully this weekend.

WHAT?

I just checked our blog since I have been a bit nonexistant and the counter says 11,000+ hits? WHAT...I am thinking that can't be right because when I put Kate's post "BUN" up there were just over 1,000 hits. Either our counter is going crazy or we just became very popular (a little scary). hmmmm...I will have to watch and see what is happening in the next couple days and maybe even get a post of Jack's football games up here. He LOVES LOVES LOVES football!

BUN

Our baby is "BUN".

One year ago I was holding our squishy, chubby cheeked baby girl for the first time wondering HOW she got into my arms without killing me! Kate entered the world not breathing. It was soooo very scary and she was blue and not moving at all. I didn't have my contacts in or my glasses on but I knew she wasn't crying and they weren't handing her right to me after she was born. Later I learned that they were bagging her. I am grateful I didn't know that at the time. She was never without a heartbeat and our wonderful midwife kept her cord attached to me so she was never without oxygen. Let me tell you, that first cry 20 seconds after she was born was the sweetest sound I have heard. Then she pooped...not a little...it was MASSIVE. I was amazed and a little ticked. They didn't get her weighed until after the poop. I think the poop must have weighed a good 1/2 pound! She weighed in at 10 lbs 1 oz....I think she weighed closer to 10 1/2 pounds :). Most of her 10 pounds was in her cheeks. She was the easiest newborn. She would sleep from 8:30 pm to 4:30 am and then go right back to sleep until 7:30 am.

Fast forward 1 year. NOW, she goes to sleep around 10:00 pm. Wakes up between midnight and 2:30 and then sometimes goes right back to sleep but sometimes we have a little party for about an hour before I convince her that it is night time and she (I) needs some sleep. Kate is crawling...not walking. She has taken 3 steps, clapped for herself and gone back to crawling. Both Jack and Grace were walking around 9 months. Maybe it would help if we didn't carry her everywhere! She is my little peanut compared to the other two giants. She is about 10 pounds lighter than Jack at 1 years old and 3 inches shorter than both Jack and Grace at 1 years old. She starting to talk...a little.

Me: "How old are you?"
Kate: "BUN" and points her finger sideways

Then we clap and laugh. It is great entertainment.

We celebrated her actual birthday at home with just Jack, Grace, Jared & I (and Honey the dog). Jack and Grace used their own money to buy her a present. They are the sweetest big brother and sister anyone could ask for. Jack bought her a baby flip phone.

Grace bought her the stacking rings. She loves both of them! She wasn't sure what to do with presents (she didn't get that from me!) so of course Jack and Grace had to help! That morning I took Kate next door to our neighbors house (she has a beautiful garden) so I could take some pictures of Kate. It went very well (wishing for better camera...Bethany, could you please come and take Kate's pictures?) until I set her up on a bench and she fell on her head..ooops. The bench wasn't very tall and she didn't even cry but she did get scrapped from the woodchips.

(the bench)

Bad mommy! Here are some pictures from BEFORE the tumble off the bench :).

Then, on Saturday we had some friends and family come over for THE party. Our wonderful friend Amanda offered to make her cake! It turned out wonderful and it tasted SOOOO good. Thanks Amanda!

Jenn helped me a ton and made all the cookie cutouts of the #1 to put on the kids cupcakes and helped decorate the cupcakes and cookies. I was very blessed this year with all the help. The cupcakes and cookies turned out great and I didn't get one picture of them. Picture a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and cookie #1's on the top with purple frosting.

We had about 18 adults and 17 kids and the weather was GREAT. The kids went on the pedal boat, fished off the dock, played ladder ball and bocce ball. The swing set was used a ton (we have 2 swings and a baby swing and I saw 4 kids on that swing set at one time!). Kate looked a bit confused 35 people singing 'Happy Birthday' but was very happy to eat her cupcake.

Then we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to GG (Great-Grandma...my grandma). She turned 89 today! We made her a special cupcake that had cookie cutouts "89"...she was funny and turned it upside down for "68"..nice try GG!

Then Kate got to open presents. Thankfully, Tristin was there to help because Kate was pretty happy playing with the first toy she "opened"....My Pal Violet. She LOVES that dog and we downloaded her name into it so it says "Hello Kate" and sings her song with her name and how to spell her name (thank you Auntie JoJo, KeOra, Nick and Coco!). She got a whole new wardrobe that is SOOO cute! I will try to take her picture in some of her new outfits. I may have to change her a couple times a day so she wears them all!

It was a wonderful day and Kate had a wonderful "BUN"-year birthday. Here are some random party pictures:

Kate and Erica...getting sleepy!

Some of the party guests...at least we know Nicole had a good time!

The birthday girls! GG & Miss Kate!

Happy Birthday Princess! Thank you for all the smiles and kissy wah's that we get everyday from you. We all love you sooooo much.....

Love, Mommy, Daddy, Jack & Grace

Try to stay with us here...

So, last Friday (Aug 28) Grace turned the big 06!
Today (Wednesday, Sept 2) the kids started school. Jack is now in 4th grade and Grace started 1st grade!
Tomorrow (Thusday, Sept 3) is Kate's 1st birthday *sniff, sniff*! Check back tomorrow for her 1st birthday pictures.

Today is dedicated to the 1st day of freedom for mommy school.

I woke up early with Kate (think 5ish) and she played until 7. Then, she decided to snuggle into MY bed and go back to sleep as the alarm was getting ready to go off. So, I got a shower taken and started getting the kids up for school. Grace of course popped up and got dressed in one move. She was VERY excited about starting 1st grade...you get a desk in 1st grade vs a table that you share with a bunch of other kids. Jack was a little slower at moving, until I told him he would have to wear whatever I picked out for him if he didn't get up. He was up and dressed in about 30 seconds. Then they ate breakfast, brushed teeth and THEN....we started getting Grace's hair combed and "styled". She is the PICKIEST princess in the entire U.S.A....I am sure of it. I wanted to pull just the bangs back and leave the back alone since it is so short. NOPE, she burst into tears and said I was making her look stupid. Are you kidding me? So, I asked what she wanted and she said NOTHING. I told her we were doing something to get her hair out of her eyes for school. She said she wanted pigtails. Did I mention she has shorter hair now? It turned out ok from the front but the back had a little pile of hair that would not reach the rubberband..she didn't care about that. At least she stopped crying and got back into her excited mood. Oh, the rollercoaster of emotions with girls...Kate is already showing her mood swings (more on that tomorrow). Then we took pictures out by the tree and we were off.

We got to the school and the kids wanted to be dropped off at the end of the building (instead of walking through the building with me). I met them by their class lines outside. Grace was happy to see me, but Jack smiled a little and gave me "the look". You know, the look that says "Mom I am happy to see you, BUT I would rather you not stand too close to me and my friends"...I got the look a couple times this morning :). I took Grace's picture and she said "will you stand next to me like the other mom's?"...OF COURSE SWEET PRINCESS GRACE (who thinks I make her hair look stupid).

Then Grace's line was called in and off she went. She said hi to all the teachers she knows and finally made it to her locker. That is always chaos. Every kid gets their own locker (no locks) but they have to basically climb over each other to get to their locker...it is kind of fun to watch in the winter :).

Grace found her desk and kept opening and closing her desk top...in kindergarten they share a big table so having your own desk is a pretty cool thing! She was already organizing and cleaning it. I took a final picture and said my goodbyes and left.

Then I moved onto Jack's room..I was a bit late I guess because they were already starting (oops). I tried to get a couple pics from the hallway but I saw "the look" come at me again. He is getting too old, too fast. He was showing one of his friends a word in the dictionary...I don't think I even want to know...

Jack tries to tell us he doesn't like school anymore but he was all smiles when he met up with his friends from last year. His teachers always tell us that Jack is the happiest kid...I believe it! I finally left the school and headed home to the lonely princess-in-training. She was waiting with Daddy. We opened up all the windows when it warmed up enough and she stood on the heat registers so she could look outside and would yell "AAAACCCC" (Jack) and when he didn't come she sat down on the floor, got a huge pout and started crying. She was so lost this morning without them, but that made this afternoon when they came home even more special. She was so excited to see Jack and Grace. It is wonderful to have 3 kids that truely love each other (even if they don't always show it).

Stay tooned tomorrow for Kate's 1st Birthday Post!!!! Can you believe it...a post with NO pictures of Kate? What is this blog coming too?!