Clean up, Clean up!

So my little Miss Independent loves cleaning up by herself now. We've pretty much established where all her toys go (that was until her birthday and now we're going to have to revamp that) Most of the time cleaning up is easy and is usually accompanied by the clean up song Nonnie taught her that starts out, "Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do your part!" But every now and then...


...it's just a little bit harder to put our favorite toys away. These are the moments I love so much and I know I'll be telling her when she's older about having to tell each Yo Gabba Gabba character that she loves them before putting them back up. Have I mentioned I love being a mom?

School

So I've been beyond bad at updating this blog since school started back up, but in my defense I switched grade levels and am learning all new curriculum....so there. Don't judge me.

Kaitlyn has been loving her "school" and I'm loving all the benefits!!! She is coming home with so much more vocabulary now and talks about her friends (that's my favorite part!) She is having a blast and the teachers there are just beyond amazing! My sweet little girl is even picking up a little bit of Spanish which I'm thrilled about!

The other bit of assurance I needed came last week. I've been so worried I'm not doing enough for Kaitlyn at home. I know how to teach five and six year olds, but I wasn't sure I was teaching Kaitlyn enough when it came to the basics. Well, one of her teachers said that she has to teach Kaitlyn things other than the normal curriculum for the class because she is ahead of the other kids. (Insert sigh of relief here please) I know, I know, I'm the crazy teacher mom. But somewhere deep inside me is the fear of moms saying, "Well, she should know more - her mom IS a teacher and all." Well, no worries. I'm feeling pretty darn proud of my little goober right about now. Now if we could just get her to not dump dirt on her head each day at the playground.... :)

Her "gear" for school the first day. I LOVE shopping for Kaitlyn!!!

Getting ready to leave on the first day of school.

She walked right in and was ready to play - and that's my girl going straight for the books! :)


I think every single mom out there should buy these dishwasher safe name labels. They are awesome! I've already washed them SO MANY times and they are showing no signs of coming off. Love them!

(A More Real) Love Story

Love to all my mama friends out there! :)

(A More Real) Love Story from renfroe3 on GodTube.

Where Does the Time Go?

Today my daughter is 23 months old.

23 months.

That means she's only not two for a month. Um...how did this happen so quickly?? There is no way that it's almost been two years since we had her. Seriously - time must slow down.

But time won't slow down, and I'm actually afraid it's only going to keep getting faster from here. K will be starting a real preschool in two weeks as well. My baby - at a school. She will be having a set curriculum and even a chapel time - which I know will just be beyond cuteness.

But there's a part of my heart that hurts so much. My baby is no longer a baby. She's turning into a little girl. Gone are the days of being able to rock her (not that she was ever really big on that anyway...but just go with me on this) Gone are the days of cooing and those cute little baby giggles. My baby is almost two.

Now, don't get me wrong - this time has been so much fun. Seeing her discover the world is like nothing else. But man, going out is so much harder. I thought it was hard with a baby. Nope - I'd take baby any day over toddler. Just today at lunch she is screaming out, "Hi purple!" "Hi green!" "Hi red!" over and over. Yeah - you probably just smiled at the thought of that right? So cute right? Maybe the first ten times. Then it gets old - oh and usually a bit louder. And let's not even talk about what happens when she's not happy. I try to block those times out of my mind.

While it is heartbreaking to think of my baby as no longer a baby, I know what lies ahead will be so much fun. I can't wait until we can truly talk about her day together. I can't wait until she can tell me exactly what is making her so upset. I can't wait for her to ask me to go shopping. :) I know this is just the beginning of lots of mommy/daughter days ahead, but I sure am going to miss my baby days.

And here's a little preview for her upcoming birthday. We decided to do a fish/ocean theme since K loves fish right now. I already made her bow because I know my free time will get pretty scarce once I start teaching again. Plus, I'm really on a bow making kick right now - not like she doesn't have enough already. But big girls need bigger bows right? ;)

Bow Helper

Kaitlyn has been on this helping kick lately and I must say - it's adorable. Just yesterday I brought home some things from school that were laminated and I was cutting them out in the living room. K picked up a piece that I had cut off and said, "Trash?" I told her that it was and she preceded to take that piece into the kitchen and throw it away for me. We have one of those trash cans that opens when it senses motion, which is part of the reason why I think she likes to throw trash away so much, but it makes me feel better about her doing so because I know she's not getting her hands all dirty. :)

So today I got out my bow making "stuff" (for lack of a better term) and she literally sat down on the mat and said, "Kaitlyn help." Oh I love her little heart right now. Makes me proud. :) So, she "helped" me as much as she could. I can't wait until she's a little older and we can start doing more craft projects together. Hmmm....maybe she needs some basic craft supplies that are just right for her age. Santa better get on that.

So here are some pictures of our progress.Helping measure.

She saw me put a pin in my mouth while I was working with ribbon, so when she did it I couldn't really tell her no. Way to go mom. Do as I say not as I do right? ;) But it sure makes for a cute picture. (And for all the gasping mothers out there - relax. I took it away and all of the clips, pins, etc. are oh so out of reach)

She was pretty much disinterested towards the end. Her tiger was much more entertaining. And please know that the tiger in NO WAY means she will like LSU. If she does she can hang out at Grandma and Granddaddy's house during college football season and not ours.

The finished product!

Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is by far Kaitlyn's favorite song right now. She sings it probably 300 times a day.

I'm. Not. Kidding.

It's to the point now where I found myself humming it when I'm not around her. But then a big smile creeps up on me because I remember just how darn cute my daughter is. I love her and her excessive singing. :)

The other night Cody and I went to a movie and Cody's mother kept Kaitlyn. Caleb was back in town and was there too. When we went to pick her up K was already in her pjs, but not tired so we hung around for a little while and Caleb got out his guitar to play.

When he played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star K was in love and was just singing away. I asked Caleb to play it one more time so I could video it and below is the result.

To say I love this video seems like an understatement. It just makes me tear up every time I see it. It's nothing too special just looking at it, but I know it's one that in a few years I will look back on and wonder how in the world she was ever this small.

SIDE NOTES: Yes, my daughter looks like a little girl version of Alfalfa in this video. Welcome to my hair nightmare that I go through with her each day. Now you know why she always has her hair pulled back in some way. Thanks Bush genes. Thanks.

Cody also moved at the beginning of the video which threw K for a loop. She thinks her Daddy hung the moon - and what little girl doesn't? But she had to make sure he wasn't leaving her before singing and jamming to the rest of the song. :)

Morning Park Visit

This morning when K got up it was very overcast. I had already made plans to go to the grocery store, but I told myself that if they weather would hold out I would take K to the park right before lunch. Lately it's just been too hot to do it during the day and by the time it cools off it's just about her bedtime. So around 10:00 we headed out to the park that is literally a minute from our house and it was perfect. There were only three other kids there so it made it so very nice. We went to check out the ducks first. Kaitlyn was waving and saying hi to them, but of course not while I was trying to film her. :P And for some reason I can't get that video not to crash when I try to upload it (I'm still learning this new iphone 4 thing) but hopefully I can get that one put up later!Well, it's halfway there - just no sound, but I'm not going to mess with it now. I'll try later.


Then we headed to the playground area. Kaitlyn has just recently found her love of sliding independently and probably climbed up the stairs and went down the slide at least 20 times by herself before I asked her if she was ready to go. And to my surprise she actually said, "Yes" and came right to me. I was worried she wouldn't want to leave, but poor baby must have worn herself out! She got her water and headed to the car.

Here's a video of her doing the slide all by herself. She scared me a few times, but she was just fine.


I know mornings like this morning are few in the Texas summers, but I'm so glad we squeezed one in there before school starts back up!