We're going swimming!

Katherine was beyond excited that she got to go in her pool for the first time this season today. I remembered to bring the camera outside. Check out our girl.

Cape Cod Songs

The weather around here is gorgeous, looks like we're going to get a big taste of summertime this weekend. Today is my first real Friday off in a while, no more adverse weather time to make up. As Katherine and I were headed to the library this morning this song came on the radio. The combination of the weather and the music brought back memories of family vacations on Cape Cod when I was growing up. My family vacationed on the Cape just about every year from as early as I can remember. We would spend the week camping at Peter's Pond Park (which now bills itself as an RV resort but trust me it was a regular ol' campground when we camped there and by camping I mean in a tent). Most days our feet would be in the sand of one of the Cape's beaches and our evenings would be spent playing miniature golf (which down here in NC is called "putt putt"...I laugh every time I hear an adult say it) and eating soft serve. The radio was always tuned to a particular easy listening station, which would seem to play the same songs year after year along with Paul Harvey and ads for the Falmouth Road Race (Its the Falmouth Road Race from start (gunshot, panting)...to finish (phew!). For the life of me I can't remember exactly which station it was (possibly this one M&D? Although there's a decent possibility it may have been an AM station, my dad loves him some AM radio) since I wasn't the one with the control of the radio. At some point my sister and I dubbed these songs "Cape Cod Songs" since that was primarily where we heard them. My parents seemed to tune into different types of radio stations when we were at home. Yet ritualistically the minute we would hit the Sagamore or Bourne Bridge, the dial would get moved. Years after the annual trips gave way to summer jobs and high school activities, if one of these songs came on the radio we'd immediately think...Cape Cod song. I could go for a relaxing week on the Cape right now. I hope when K. gets a bit bigger we can start an annual family vacation tradition.

So what's in store for this wonderful weekend? I hoping to get K's kiddie pool up. With temps at or close to 90 its definitely warm enough for her to splash around a bit. We'll also keep up with the yard in the mornings and evenings. Tonight is another scrapbooking night for me, I'll be heading out soon to pick up some chocolate for the evening because the two just seem to go hand in hand.

I Want My Swag

Next month Katherine and I will be flying up to Massachusetts for my 10 year reunion from Smith. Reunion is a big deal for Smithies, full of tradition. The biggest event is Ivy Day, which is the day before graduation. There's the big Ivy Day Parade in which all of the alums march into the Quad and cheer on the graduating seniors. All the Smithies wear white (with black shoes because its before Memorial Day). Usually each of the reunion classes have some sort of theme for the parade; every has matching hats or t-shirts or something. Basically they've got swag or flair or whatever you want to call it. Its paid for out of the fees that one pays to attend the reunion (about 50 buckaroos just to attend, not including any additional events you want to go to like receptions and dinners). Well this morning I received an email from our class president with the following message:

Unofficial Class Events/Swag: Since many of us still have Smith T-shirts cluttering up our closets, we decided to use the budget typically saved for swag to host a few class events for FREE! Friday night will be a Herrell's ice cream social and Saturday afternoon we will have a tea-type event at class headquarters. These events are open to everyone in our class (and their guests) who registers for reunion. If you are not registered, or bring unregistered guests (other than children), we will ask you to donate a few dollars to help cover the costs.

'scuse me? You mean to tell me that I forked over the $50 and I'm getting no swag??? Due to the fact that I have a two year old in tow who will need to be in bed at a decent hour and who takes an afternoon nap I may not be able to attend either one or both of those "free" events (yes, I know Papa and Gram are available for babysitting but we're talking principal here). Second you mean to tell me that someone who has decided not to register for reunion (aka: freeloader and I know there will be some) can walk into one of the "free" events and contribute a "few dollars" and participate? Somehow that does not seem right to those of us who forked over the $50 (and in all honestly thought about being a freeloader but thought that wasn't right and hey, at least I'll get some swag, right? Do I want to be the only one at the Ivy Day Parade without my swag?). I want my swag.

The Really Official Big Girl Bed

I've spent a good part of the weekend working in the backyard. Our backyard has a rather large planting bed in the middle of it. Its a love/hate relationship with that bed. When its all weeded its beautiful but "weeded" is the key word. I could spent my life out there. But this year there's hope. We've been able to get the front and around the house weeded and mulched and considering that's its only April there's hope that I will have the upper hand this year. Yesterday and today I did some major weeding and I'm hoping to put in 20-30 after work this week. Katherine loves coming outside with me..."I help". I should be able to finish the weeding, get some Preen down and get some pine straw down of the next week or so. Then I can spend the next month or so looking for pretty plants to fill in all the empty spaces (empty spaces mean weeds!). Part of our problem has been that we haven't filled in the bed with new plants, hence the weeding. This year will be different! Ha HA!! Take that flower bed!

Speaking of beds, Katherine now has her real official big girl bed. And its pretty special because it was her Daddy's bed when we was a kid. Ted's parents offered us half of the bunk bed set that was in Ted's room growing up. All it needed was a coat of white paint to turn it into the perfect little girl bed. They brought it last weekend and I set to work sanding and painting. Actually it was a fairly easy task and I enjoyed it (see previous post on puttering). Check it out.

Here's one for ya...

Yesterday was an interesting day. I probably jinxed myself mentioning the long nap from the day before because Monday was a no nap day for Katherine. When I realized after lunch that we were going nowhere fast with the snoozing I decided that it would be best to get back outside so that a. I could finish the little project I started that morning and b. It would tire our girl out. So out to the front yard we went where I continued the attack on our patch of pompous grass badly in need of a haircut and Katherine very happily playing in the front yard. Well the UPS man drove up the street which Katherine loved..."Big truck Mommy!" When he came back down the street he gave Katherine a low wave and I wondered why he didn't wave more enthusiastically. I turned around just in time to see my daughter drop trou in the middle of the front yard. Seems she had pooped in her pants (I had been trying to get her to do this all morning...on the potty) and she was trying to inspect her handiwork. Right in front of the UPS man! In the middle of our front yard! Crap! (figuratively and literally) Immediately I sprang into action. Pants up ("We don't pull our pants down in the front yard!"), in the house, to the potty for clean up. Where I discovered the outcome of eating a lot of craisins and applesauce. Long story short, we're out of flushable wipes.

Mommy... LOOK!

"What's happening?" That's how Katherine greeted me yesterday morning. Clearly she knew someone had come to visit her during the night. Not only did she get a kick out of the footprints, she picked them up and she went along (score!). When she turned the corner on the stairs and she saw the basket and Little People Airplane she looked at me and said "Yeah!!!" Obviously the airplane took center stage, she didn't notice the candy until a bit later. And while she asked for it to be "Open please" she actually didn't take any interest in eating it, she gave it to us to eat instead (hmmmm, don't mind if I do!). Still not a chocolate lover although the gummies were tasty to her.

Katherine actually woke up a bit earlier than I thought she would which gave me plenty of time to get to 8am mass as opposed to waiting until 10:30 mass. Check out this adorable outfit:As usual she was wonderful in church, a bit ancy towards the end but who isn't? We just can't squirm and say "I want to go!" We left right after communion as there was no chance of getting her back in a seat. They were setting up for an Easter Egg hunt outside but I decided to bypass it because she's already been to two hunts already and the youngest kids were set up to hunt in the playground among the slides and swings. I would have never gotten her out of there.

The fam spent the rest of the day around the house. Just like my Dad I need to keep busy, why sit around when there are things to get done? I think this drives Ted crazy sometimes, especially when just wants to relax. But what can I say, its in the genes! One of my Dad's favorite phrases is "I'm just puttering." meaning he's busy doing odds and ends around the house. I can say with certainty yesterday that I was "puttering" around the yard while Katherine took her almost 4 (yes 4!) hour nap. I actually got alot done however, I was in no hurry and I found the whole thing very relaxing. So there you have it, I've become my father. I'm also finding furniture refinishing enjoyable too but that's a topic for another post.

Katherine and I are home today. Because Friday was my normal day off, I get to take my holiday hours on another day. It just so happens that the daycare happens to be closed today, the whole place got painted over the long weekend and the teachers are setting everything back up. We have a few errands to run and then I'll probably do some more puttering around the house with a two year old in tow.

The Easter Bunny was Here!

Not only did he bring some goodies he also checked up on Miss K! And he left a trail...or bunny tracks! I can't wait for her to find them in the morning!

Now I know my ABCs!!

Turn your volume up for this one.

Bright Pink Tubbies

I’ve been working on a new Kodak album which I should have out some time today or tomorrow. I got way behind in that area so its two months in one for this album. I also got a lovely notification from Kodak that I need to spend $17.55 by May 15th or they’ll start deleting albums from my account. Now in reality this shouldn’t bother me because I have all of the pictures saved on my computer. But it would mean that no one else could look at old albums and hey sometimes I like to look back and see how much our girl has grown. Since I do have a goal of getting that scrapbook done I am planning on putting in a picture order that would cover most if not all of the pages I want to do. However, $17.55 worth of pictures? I’m not sure that’s going to happen and Ted and I have decided that we’re not going to buy something just to buy something. Some of my friends use Picasa instead of Kodak but I’m wondering if they have that type of fee, especially if you put a lot of pictures in there.

We had a lovely weekend up at Papa and Gram Coberly’s. The community they live in was doing an Easter egg hunt on Saturday and of course our girl Kate had to participate. K. loved it (I’ll get a picture or two up soon) but did not love the Easter Bunny. Kind of the same thing as with Santa Claus, I’ll say hello but I’m keeping my distance. We also have a cute cute cute little video of her on the swings belting out the ABC’s. Incidently, we didn't tell K. that we were going up to "Papa's house" until about 10 minutes before we left. We have found that information like that is on a need to know basis around our house otherwise you have a two year old that is screaming because you're not heading out the door RIGHT NOW! When I did ask her if she wanted to get in the car and ride to Papa's house her response was...YEAH!!!! She also doesn't know that Papa and Gram Coberly will be picking her up on Thursday and spending the day with her Friday on their way to Charleston or that Gram Meagher will be flying in next Tuesday for a few days. Need to know...Need to know...

Saturday was a bath night and I had forgotten K’s bath gel. So I asked Gram if she had anything that would make bubbles in the tub. She didn’t have any bubble bath but she did have some Calgon. To my surprise, when I poured it in the tub, it turned the water bright pink! As far as Miss K. was concerned this was better than any old bubble, she got ALL excited for her pink bath. Add in a few Tupperware containers and we had one happy bather! Kerri, possible idea for the tub wary Caroline?

Big Leaguers Coming to Town!

I am probably the last person around here to know this BUT...I was just taking a quick break from some endless html editing for the Federal submission of our State Plan (long story but if anyone who works for RSA happens to come across this post my boss Phil and myself are desperately begging you to come up with a better system!) to see that the Cincinnati Reds are playing at Five County Stadium tonight! For those that don't know Five County is the home of the Carolina Mudcats, the double A affiliate team for the Reds (although I swear it was a different team before, maybe the Marlins??? Ted, Dad help me out here!). The stadium is right around the corner from our house, we can usually see the tops of the fireworks from our upstairs window. We used to be able to see more but I think the trees have grown. I thought that our family up in the Cincinnati area would be interested! If you look on the stadium webcam you can see players doing some warm ups.

I'm also wondering what traffic is going to be like on the way home.

The fashionable Mrs. O.

You'll notice that there's a new blog on the list to the right. In my Internet reading yesterday I found out that there's a blog devoted to the fashion of our new First Lady, Michelle Obama. Of course I had to check it out. Can I just say that woman knows how to dress and I especially like it that she mixes in some more affordable pieces with her designer duds as well, proof that you don't have to spend a fortune to look good. Check it out!

The Rest of the Story...

I said I would get a longer post out “tomorrow” and here it is Wednesday already!

After Ted ran the half marathon the rest of his weekend was spent relaxing and recuperating. Lucky for him that Katherine took a nice long nap on Saturday and Sunday which allowed him to do some napping as well. For me it was a weekend to get back to scrapbooking. My little craft table in the guest bedroom closet (affectionately called my “hole”) had become a heap. Because we recently took down K’s crib and put away the Pooh décor, the table had become a nifty hiding place for the stuff that needed to be put in the attic but which we didn’t want Katherine dragging all over the house. So task one, put said items up in the attic, including the crib, changing table and a few other items of baby paraphernalia. The jury’s still out on the if/when of a baby #2 so we’re not throwing anything away at this point. Which, quite frankly, we’re screwed if and when that time comes. I’ve been good about boxing up K’s clothes when she outgrows them but I haven’t been too good about sorting and marking sizes on the boxes. Translation, if we do have another child and it’s a girl this will necessitate taking EVERYTHING out and sorting it at that time. Remind me of this if that happens and I post being all cranky about the mess that is in each of those boxes. Then again, maybe it’ll be a boy in which case all of those boxes of girl clothes can go straight to Goodwill or the next family member expecting a girl at that time. I’ll let them sort the boxes out for themselves, (my apologies at this time to those said family members…Colleen, Bryn and Aly…I’m talking to you!).

So, anyway, back to scrapbooking. On Saturday night, I was invited over to Adrienne’s house (a co-worker of Ted’s) for an evening of scrapbooking. OK, it was a lot of conversation and a little book of scrapbooking. I had a great time and I did get the first page of K’s first year book all laid out. During the conversation, the topic of Archiver’s came up, of course. This nifty store is located at the Triangle Town Center Mall and is devoted to all things scrapbooking. I could not remember the last time I had been there and since my curiosity was peeked I drove over on Sunday to browse for a bit. Wow, you can easily spend an hour or more in that place poking around. Plus if you really want to spend some time they have two workrooms where you can bring your stuff and scrapbook for the day. I’m thinking that could be dangerous because if you need something as your working you can just go right over to the rack, grab it and have it added to your “tab”. How high would my tab be after a day of that? I try to buy only for a page or two at a time, it keeps me focused and it saves me $$$ and I had to remind myself this as I walked around…”Cute, would look nice on such and such page, I’ll make a note of it and pick it up then.” Still I did walk out with a few goodies. Of course, then I went over to Target and found the fancy edging scissors I just purchased as part of an 8-pack at a much cheaper price. You bet your bippy I picked those up and went right back to Archivers to return the pair I just bought there.

On the K. front, this past weekend was the start of some challenging bedtimes. Now that she’s in a big girl bed, she realizes how easy it is to get out of bed whenever she feels like it. Which, truthfully it was just as easy when she was in the toddler bed but maybe because it was the converted crib there was a psychological factor that was working to our advantage. So lately, the bedtime routine is that we get her in bed promptly (so to speak) at 8:00 only to have her get right back up and find us with that sly little grin. We sternly return her to bed and this continues for the next 30 minutes or so. Yes, she thinks it’s a game. It usually ends with one of us loudly saying to her “Katherine go back to bed!!” which for a few nights resulted in tears but she would put herself back to bed. Last night I was on the computer and I heard the sound of little feet coming down the hall, so I nipped it before she even hit the room…”Katherine you need to go back to bed!” ha HA! Mommy supersense, I can’t see you but I know you’re there! She plodded back down the hallway and that was it for the night. Foiled!

She also has developed a love for the “peanutbutterjellysan-which” which she asks for just about every night during Dora or Diego. Clearly, we know which Papa this comes from!