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.

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?

Christmas Review

Pictures and video added! More on the upcoming December album!

Get comfy because I feel that this is going to be long one. We had a wonderful Christmas. Things started on Christmas Eve with the arrival of Papa and Gram Meagher just after K. had gone down for a nap. Her whole face lit up when she woke up and saw them, they got a “Hi Gram!” and “PAPA!!!” I’m happy to say that she was as good as gold at Christmas Eve mass and considering it was over an hour and a half this two year old deserves a prize! There was the traditional nativity play and K. did not miss a beat of it. Her favorite? The angels which she referred to as “buh-flies” once she spied their wings.

When we got home Aunt Colleen and Uncle Sven had arrived, so we sat down to a delicious dinner. She learned to do “Cheers!” and every meal after this had to include some toasts (get ready Papa and Gram Coberly!). And for Christmas Dinner the next day we had a perfect center piece coutesty of my sister. The lamp holds a tea light so you can light it up!

Of course, we checked out Santa’s progress, he was in the Azores when we looked. At first Miss K. was just too worked up to go to sleep, she was busy entertaining and being entertained. When I said it was time to brush teeth and go to bed, her reply was no. However, I explained to her that “Santa Claus only delivers presents to boys and girls that are asleep.” She pondered this for a second, grabbed blankie, said “Com’on Mommi” and was off to her room. I’m not kidding, it happened just like that. I’ve never seen her get into bed so quickly. Once she went down, the assembly began. She must have known that something was up because it took her a while to fall asleep so we had to keep things somewhat quiet.
The next morning (and ok, I don’t care how old you are, don’t you get all excited when you first wake up on Christmas morning?). We brought her downstairs while saying “let’s see if Santa Claus came!” However, Miss K. wasn’t interested in Santa Claus, she was hungry and as far as she was concerned he could wait until after breakfast. She went straight into the kitchen to have a bite, leaving the rest of us dumbfounded. I’m sure that this is the only year that this will happen. Don’t worry; once she had a full belly, it was right to the living room. Presents! Wow, our family got her some great gifts. Each one had to be unwrapped, opened, and played with for a bit before she moved on to the next thing. And I think she’s got the hang of this Santa thing, Christmas night she asked “Presents?” I explained to her that we opened all of the presents, she would need to wait until her birthday before she got more presents.

Christmas card dancing… She loved the card Great Grandma and Grandpa Coberly sent, it had her dancing!

The rest of the time was spent relaxing and hanging with family. Ted and I had the rare opportunity to get out of the house, just the two of us, which was wonderful (and OMG the sales were too good to pass up). Some long overdue date nights are definitely in our future. The decorations are down (thanks for the help M&D!) for another year and the living room is back in its “new” arrangement. I hated to see them come down but I knew if it was either then or the following weekend when I would be completely sick of them. I have a cold…yes if you are counting this is number 3 in about as many months. I don’t know what type of super virus this is but I seem to be the only one who is not immune to it because Ted and Katherine are healthy, the same as with the past two colds.

So what’s in store for us next? Well, the start of a New Year makes folks want to organize, organize, organize and we are included in that group, even the blog has a fresh new look. First thing…Toy Storage. I know that my obsessive compulsive self will only be able to take so much of having the new toys scattered all over the floor. And the number of toys only grows (and grows!) from here so the time has come to find a practical and decent looking toy storage solution. Bookcase? Bin system? Hmmmmm… I also need to start searching in earnest for the “big girl bed” to be purchased this Spring. She’s ready and its time. We’ll be switching out the Classic Pooh decorations for “Buh-flies”/dragonflies (and maybe some Katydids?). I did snag an “oh so cute!” canvas bin at Homegoods this weekend that is perfect for her stuffed animals. The pattern on it is dragonflies.

No big plans for New Years Eve and that is A-OK with us. We’ll probably pop a bottle of champagne and put our feet up in front of a “Rockin’” New Year’s Eve. Ahhhh!

You Better Watch Out...

Santa Claus is coming to town! Courtesy of NORAD, we'll be tracking Santa's path this year. Ok, so Katherine does not fully get it but we've got to start these traditions early. She does know who "Claus" is, as she refers to him but I don't think she gets that the Big Guy is about to leave her a bunch of loot under the tree. I'm sure after about 9am on Christmas Morning she'll have connected the dots. Too bad it's another 364 days until he returns.

In about an hour, I'll be off to attend the festivities in Katherine's class...I can't wait!

Christmas Carols...sort of

Trying really hard to keep my mind on work this afternoon, we're almost there! Anyways in my...ahem...Internet Research for today I came across this. You have scroll down and read all of the comments that people have posted, it is giving me quite a chuckle. Of course it is also making me think of all of the song lyrics that I have butchered over the years. Not only song lyrics, I was high school before I realized (duh!) that the candy "Now and Later" is not "Nalumater" (Shout out to you Bridget!). Katherine is starting to sing songs lately, I heard part of Jingle Bells last night so I'm sure we'll have some additions to what others are posting really soon! Enjoy!

ON TREE!

I know I've mentioned this before but it is so cute that it deserves a repeat. Katherine loves our Christmas tree. We've developed a little routine for when we get home. Katherine runs right into the living room and situates herself in front of the tree while I head over to the plug. I then say: "Say the magic words!" and Katherine literally yells out "On Tree!!". Magically, the tree lights up! How cute is that? We haven't been very good with the video camera in oh, the past year or so but this might worth digging it out.

A Rudolph update. I took a look and found out that the original Rudolph was on CBS on December 4th. No sign of a repeat. That explains why ABC Family is showing that awful animated version, they don't own the rights to the real thing.

Ted and I have been exhausted the last two nights. The CR-V needed a repair which was thankfully under warranty, nothing serious, but it required us to bring the car up to the dealership which of course is NOT on the way home. So Tuesday I left work and drove straight up to the dealership (up my favorite road in Raleigh...Capital Blvd, 8 lanes of pure mayhem) to drop off the car. Ted picked up Katherine and then came to pick me up and we headed home. Last night, we picked up Katherine first then headed up to the dealership so I could pick up the car. All in all this did not take much time but I think it was the extra little bit added to our nightly routine that took the wind out of us. K. went to bed at her normal time and we weren't far behind. We tried flipping through the channels a bit but then realized all we wanted to do was go to sleep. No swinging nightlife around our house these days.

Speaking of nightlife, we are the ONLY house this year on our street with Christmas lights outside. Ok, so I haven't taken a look down the WHOLE street but its not that long and from what I can see from our front porch, we are it. Bah-humbug indeed! I also have to admit the weather forecasts for Western Massachusetts for the next week have been making me a bit homesick. Snowstorms tomorrow, Sunday night and probably something the 24th and 25th as well. A guaranteed White Christmas! Ok Ok, I haven't been away that long, I know that with that snow comes alot of shoveling, scraping and de-icing. This area would be in absolute panic right now (we'll save that story for the annual ice storm around here). But wow! We're supposed to get rain which just isn't as nice.

What a great lamp!!!

Before the family update, some important information. Yesterday was our annual Holiday Walk at work. Before you start thinking "My what a healthy bunch you work with!", think again. We walked no further that the next food table. Being the central office for a state agency we are broken up into various sections according to work functions (i.e. fiscal services, community services, director's office, etc...). I am part of the Program Policy, Planning and Evaluation section. Isn't that a mouthful. Anyways, for the holiday walk, each section puts together a table of goodies, decks the halls and then we all walk around eating and socializing. There are contests for best food and decorations. Sounds nice doesn't it? This year the decision was made to cut down on the amount of food (which in past years has been obscene, you basically eat your way through the week before Christmas around here) and focus our attention to helping the needy. Each section was to create a sculpture made out of non-perishable food that could then be donated to a local food bank. Our section was stumped. We had no problem bringing in the food to donate, but what sculpture to make with it? We hemmed and hawed until 4:30 on Friday when we felt a decision had to be made so any last minute items could be purchased before Monday. A snowman? No. Train? No. Christmas Tree? Taken by another section. Then someone (not me!) jokingly mentioned, "Wouldn't it be funny if we could make the Old Man's Major Award?" Our eyes lit up, that was it!!! Some quick planning (we are planners after all!) and we had it. Check it out. To complete the theme we made sure to have the movie playing next to our display. It was a hit! We won for most creative AND most fun sculpture.

Katherine's fever broke during the night on Friday. She still slept quite a bit this weekend but she was back to her old self by Saturday night. My cold is just about gone as well. So far, so good for Ted, he's felt a little bad here and there but nothing major. We'll keep our fingers crossed that we stay healthy through Christmas. Speaking of which, our preparations are just about done. We are hosting my parents, sister, and her fiancee Sven this year. Presents are all bought, delivered, wrapped and tucked safetly away from prying eyes. The house is decorated and straightened up, it will get the big cleaning this weekend. The only thing that is left is to plan the menu. Decisions, decisions, what tasty treats should we make?

I'm hoping we can go for a brief ride around town this weekend to look at the Christmas lights. Katherine gets quite a kick out of all of the displays..."lights!!!" We also heard that Santa Claus came to visit preschool yesterday, to collect any last minute gift wishes! I tuned to ABC Family last night in the hopes of watching Rudolph only to find out that it wasn't the original Rudolph but some computer animated remake. Excuse me?? There is no need to mess with the original.

Ta Daaaa!

I present to you the decorated living room! In the end, I had to move the loveseat under the front window. I started assembly the tree there and quickly confirmed that there was not enough space period. So, I very easily slid the loveseat over and moved the tree to its usual spot. After the Christmas though, the loveseat is going right back to its new spot (thanks Bryn!).

Miss K. is home today. She woke up at 3:19 last night quite chipper but also quite warm. She stayed up for a while before falling back to sleep around 4:30. My cold had fully broken through so I was miserable. Ted let me stay in bed. however, unlike Miss K. he never fell back to sleep himself. We are splitting up the work day, I have a can't be missed meeting later so Ted is coming home early. And I'm switching next week's Friday off for today. Katherine just went down for her nap, poor thing just does not feel good at all today, a fever and I suspect I may have given her my cold. Ted is on his way home and I need to get cracking putting the fresh sheets on the bed. My guess is he's exhausted having been up since 3:19 and a nap is in order for him as well!

Mickey Recap

So we sat down and watched Mickey last night. Did anyone else notice that it was even more cut down than usual? I mean I already knew Mickey's Christmas Carol was a truncated version of the real deal but this was like how fast can we get through this so that we will have room for our 5 minute commercial breaks? A few scenes and lines that I always enjoyed and was waiting for (like when Goofy falls down the stairs at Scrooge's house..."Marley watch out for that last...step!") were cut out. What gives?

We are also probably one of the last families on Earth that does NOT own a DVR so there was no prerecording and watching minus the commercials. This is what got Katherine mixed up; until we started watching holiday specials this year she had never really watched commercial TV so she didn't have a clue what a commercial break was. When a break came she would look at me like "Huh? What's this? Where's my show?" and lose interest in the TV pretty quickly. We made it through Mickey and most of Pooh ok but by the time Santa Claus is Coming to Town came on she had had it with the commercials (so had I). She watched the beginning then got bored at the first break and I decided it would be best for all to just head off to bed. This technological laggert is beginning to see the benefits of DVR.

We are experiencing some weird weather around here today. It is very unseasonably warm with thunderstorms and tornado warnings. The warm temps won't last for long though, a cold front is coming through, so we'll be back down to normal by tomorrow.

Elf Yourself

Around my office, we get QUITE a chuckle out of this. Last year there was also a Scrooge version but I don't think its running this year.

In addition to some great holiday TV tonight, we need to catch up on our chocolate Advent calendars. K. got a little inquisitive and was trying to open all of the doors..."Mo Choclat?" So I had to put them up on top of the fridge which means we totally forgot about them for a few days.

FRAGILE

Katherine woke up at 4:30 this morning. I went into her room and firmly told her that it was still “sleepy time”. I got her to lay back down until 5:00 when she started talking again. Ted went in and again got her to lay back down but at 5:20 she announced “Daddy, Daddy! Wake up!” Ugh. We were fortunate for two things, 1. We get the Sprout Channel now and 2. Sesame Street was on. So I propped her up on pillows in the TV room, covered her up with blankies and she was content for the next 30-40 minutes. I immediately hit the hay again (VERY thankful that our family room is on the second floor) to see if I could squeak out another 25 minutes of shut eye. However, there was a distinct lump in the back of my throat and my head felt a little heavy, which could only mean one thing. I am about to get a cold. Ugh, again. I know I’ll feel a bit groggy today but tomorrow will probably be the day it all hits me. Lovely, of course I have meetings tomorrow so staying home to rest?…not really an option unless I’m dying.

I forgot to mention that A Charlie Brown Christmas was on last night. Not too worry though, Miss K and I were tuned in. She seemed to enjoy the Halloween and Thanksgiving specials a bit more but she did watch quite a bit of this one before she got ancy. This is quite the week for Christmas specials. Garfield is on tonight. On Wednesday there’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol followed by Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too and finally Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Wow, that’s a jam packed evening. Rudolph is on Thursday night but not until 9pm, which is too late for Katherine. It will replay on the 15th at 7, which is perfect.

In a slightly different genre, let’s talk Christmas movies. I have been remiss at not officially mentioning the hands down favorite around this blog, though I’ve hinted at it multiple times. That would be A Christmas Story. My sister, cousins Bill and Aly and myself have a small obsession with this movie. When it’s on 24/7 on Christmas Day? Oh yeah…we’re watching. We can spout off quotes at a moments notice. Others in our family do not get what we see in this movie. My husband is included in this group; the other half of this blog loves National Lampoons. And I’ve discovered in conversations with others that you either love the movie or hate it, there’s not much in between. To us it’s hilarious each and every time. Just thinking about it is making me chuckle right now.

Swede (Bob Clark): "It looks like a lamp."
The Old Man: "It is a lamp, you nincompoop. But it's a major award. I won it."
Swede: "Damn, hell, you say you won it?"
The Old Man: "Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Mind power, Swede, mind power."

Santa!

I took Katherine to see Santa Friday morning. I figured the crowds would be much lighter on a weekday and I was right. We first encountered Santa on our way to the restroom at the mall. As we were walking into the women's bathroom, we heard jingling coming from the men's room. Two seconds later, who should appear but the Big Guy himself (wouldn't I be shocked if the jingle bells weren't from Santa but some merry shopper). He stopped and said hello to Katherine, who just beamed back at him. Took some weight off of me as I quickly realized she wasn't afraid of him. He informed that he had just been feeding his reindeer (make your own joke out of that one).

We were luckily enough to be first in line to see him at the official Santa place. Again when he came out Miss K. started grinning from ear to ear. She went right up to him and said hello. The only she refused to do was sit on his lap, she was fine interacting with as long as she was on her own two feet. I told the person with the camera to just take pictures and not worry about the perfect lap shot, we'd just see what we got. The first two pictures were pure K. poses, the fact that Santa was in the shot was of no consequence to her (think Bill and Bryn's wedding). The third one they took was the keeper:

Yup, that's her back your seeing. But see that present in front of Santa? It was part of the decorations next to him. Katherine picked it up and brought it over to Santa to give to him. You can't tell cause the picture is small but Santa is smiling at her for giving him a present and she is grinning from ear to ear right back at him, very proud of herself. How could I not purchase the picture that captured that moment, even if it is of her back? After that, I felt our time with Santa was up, after all there were other children waiting, even though Santa and the staff were super nice and probably would have let us stay for another minute or two to try to get that perfect shot. And I swear to you, put the lady who was taking the pictures in an elf costume and you would have gotten..."we've got a lot people waiting little boy, so get moving!" (only in looks though, she was really sweet). Katherine very cutely said "Bye Santa!", we paid for our pictures (its not cheap to see Santa these days) and we were off. Being the nice Mom that I am, we took a walk over to the mall play area for a bit.

Combine that with an after nap library trip and all in all, it was a fun and busy Friday for Miss K. Saturday and Sunday were the usual weekend fair. As we head into a new week I owe all of you two things: 1. an November photo album 2.Pictures of the decorated living room. Both will be completed by mid-week!

Decking the halls

Katherine and I set right to work after we arrived home on Monday setting up the Christmas tree. She got quite a kick out of the whole thing. I think the challenge this year won't be keeping her away from the tree, it will be keep her from UNDER the tree:I loved laying under the Christmas tree myself when I was a kid, so I know the fascination. For the last two evenings, we went over to the light the tree first thing when we got home. Her whole face lights right up as soon as the tree is on. I love watching her discover this whole time of year, there's nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of a little one.

Small things make me really happy. Katherine was dry this evening and used the potty! Maybe we are moving forward once again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Turkey Day! We arrived here in VA just before noon, just in time to see Santa make his appearance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Katherine enjoyed thanksgiving dinner, scarving down turkey, mashed potatoes, corn casserole and green beans. I'm not too sure about the pumpkin pie though, she had a few bites but didn't seem all that enthrawled with it.

Ted and I are headed out early tomorrow to NJ! It sounds like Miss K. is going to have a wonderful weekend with Papa and Gram Coberly. There are preliminary plans to attend a parade tomorrow and a possible trip up to DC on Saturday! Looks like she is going to have the run of the house!

Public Service Announcement

For those who like holiday specials as much as I do!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on tonight! 8pm on ABC. It will also repeat again on Thursday night. Miss K. and I will be watching tonight! In fact if you look on the left hand side of the ABC site it also tells you when are other specials are going to be airing, we're almost full swing into that time of year! I know you can buy most of these on DVD now but as I've said before, there is something special about watching it the night it is on TV.

We've taken a step backwards in potty training. Katherine was doing wonderfully but now she wants nothing to do with the potty when we're at home. We encourage and remind her constantly. I should say almost nothing to do with the potty because last night she refused to use the potty, waited until I got a fresh pull up on her and her pjs and then announced that, yes, she was going to go and use the potty. As if to tell us, I'll let you know when I'm good and ready to use the potty.

Snow!

Katherine and I woke up to a snow shower on Friday morning. I pulled up her shades and grabbed her to see what was going on. She was mesmerized and once we went downstairs she was running from window to window going "Look Mommy, snow!". I new it wouldn't last and since snow is a relatively rare event in this area (by rare I mean we get only a couple of small storms a year) I immediately asked her if she wanted to go outside and run around a bit. Her response "Outside!!" So we ate a quick breakfast and then bundle up. I knew nothing would really stick to the ground but I thought she would enjoy trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. Check her out all bundled up.

Besides that, we took it easy this weekend. Katherine was still recovering a bit from being sick and I have a touch of it today myself, although nothing too bad. The other bugs were DEFINITELY worse. I did some Christmas prep, got the decorations down, put up the lights outside and got out the North Pole Village. This set belonged to my Grandma and little by little its making its way to us here in NC. I thought Miss K. might get excited to see a little Santa's Village right here in her own house. I think for my first time, I did pretty good. I put it up on the ledge in the foyer to prevent sticky fingers from getting to it. She enjoys looking at it from the top of the stairs and saying "Pole!"

I also checked out the Department 56 North Pole collection website to see what is currently available for the set. Fun to look at but I don't think I'll be adding anything new right now, there's still another 5-6 houses to come down from my Grandma's house and join the ones I already have. That should fill up the ledge nicely. I did however spy this. He he!

Trick or Treat!

Katherine had her first official trick or treat last night! She caught on to the concept right away, when we left our house it was as if she'd been doing it for years. Aunt Carrie brought her a Hello Kitty treat bag to collect all of the goodies in. It coordinated nicely with the costume. We only went to a handful of neighbor's houses however, Miss K came home with quite a stash. She definitely had the cuteness factor working for her!

The party at preschool was a success as well, lots of goodies. The kids also went trick or treating at the pediatrician's office next door (the daycare is co-located with her pediatrician). We heard from her teachers that all the doctors and nurses thought Katherine was the cutest little thing, especially with the tail.

After we got home from trick or treating in the neighborhood, she spent some time checking out her loot. And she kept a tight grip on that loot, when it was time for bed, she gathered it up and took it to bed with her! No one was getting their hands on her candy! Mom was sure to remove it after she had fallen asleep.

Happy Halloween!

Katherine got all dressed up in her kitty costume this morning. She looks A D O R A B L E. I snapped a few pictures in the middle of the morning madness although I am hoping to get some better ones tonight before Trick or Treating! I might be able to get one or two posted when we get home from work. Miss K. caught on real quick to the excitement. She was running around saying "kitty cat!" and swinging that cat tail all over the place. Let me tell you, that room at preschool was WIDE OPEN this morning and those kids haven't had any sugar yet! So far, I caught glimpses of a fireman and some princesses in addition to our little kitty. I can't wait to see all the costumes at the party this afternoon.

We carved our first Jack O'Lantern ("JackLantern!") last night. The actual carving was left to the adults (me) but Katherine got a kick out of pulling the seeds out of the pumpkin, always my favorite part when I was a kid. We're saving some of the seeds with the hope of being able to plant them in the back of the yard in the spring...our own little pumpkin patch!

Aunt Carrie is also on her way down today to visit for the weekend. She plans on being here in time for Trick or Treating, which means Miss K. will have a little entourage with her tonight. I don't know who's more excited, the adults or the two-year old!

Oh What a Night!

No need for a fancy lead in, let’s get right to the news…Katherine peed in the potty at home last night! She had done it once for Ted this past weekend but this was my first time. The smile that emerged from her face when she realized what had just happened was the sweetest thing in the world. I was also grinning from ear to ear right back at her, we were both soooo proud (stop the chuckling, this is big stuff)! Seeing my excitement got her really wound up, of course, right about the time we were getting ready for bed but whatever! It not everyday such exciting things happen!

It was also a big night for another reason, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! was on TV. I am a huge fan of the Charlie Brown specials so of course I let Katherine stay up a bit later so that she could watch for the first time. One second she was running all over the room, the next second she was enthralled with the Peanuts Gang. Definitely a success! This makes me excited for the upcoming holiday specials on TV. I realize that nowadays you can buy them all on DVD but there is just something special about watching it the night it is on TV. Do any of you remember the music that would play right before a CBS Special came on? Still brings a smile to my face!