Katherine's Birthday - Part 2

Katherine Anne finished off her birthday festivities yesterday. And I am super happy to do so. =)

Thursday, I got an e-mail from Katherine's teacher saying that Katherine was complaining that she didn't feel well. Since that never happens, I was very concerned. She came home and seemed fine, but Friday she woke up with a fever, coughing, sneezing, etc. Needless to say, she didn't go to school. I also canceled her friends' party - the last thing anyone needed was to send their child to a sick child's party. Not fun!

Friday I spent running around and making cupcakes and cakes. And, like their predecessors, they were pretty darn good. Although, I'm glad I'm done with cupcakes for a while. They're great, but I need a break to appreciate them.

Saturday - I made homemade macaroni and cheese and baked macaroni for the party, along with easy cheesy salsa dip. The pictures from the party are here. My family came and Jon's parents came to help celebrate Katherine's birthday. Lots of conversations and playing around. It was great!

This week is Thanksgiving - Thursday we'll be watching the parade in the morning and then having dinner in the early afternoon. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, yams, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie - yummy! We'll also be watching the Lions game. Go Lions!

Then Friday we will be decorating for Christmas!!! Christmas tree, lights, stockings and putting out the presents we already have. Katherine and I had the privilege of seeing several Christmas light displays while driving this evening. She squealed with delight everytime we saw one. A Christmas tree, a bush decorated. They all look beautiful! We are both huge fans of Christmas, so we will be having a fantastic time this Friday and the rest of the Christmas season. The music will be allowed too! =)

Katherine's Birthday - Part 1

Katherine, my little angel, turned 5 years old last Saturday. We had an amazing day. It started out kinda slow. We stayed up past midnight to make cupcakes and Katherine was so excited. Heck, I was excited. It was her birthday!!!

For the record, I stayed up until 3 am making Raspberry Jell-o cupcakes, but I forgot to take a picture. So, here is a picture of the ones I made for her class the day before.

And yes, they were as yummy as you can imagine. They were delicioso!

So anyway, back to Katherine's birthday. This year Katherine's birthday is very confusing. There was the "party" at the school, where I sent treat bags with invitations to her home party, some candy, sunglasses, treasures, a notebook and crayons, along with her cupcakes. Everything seems to be a hit.

Then there was her actual birthday, where we had a visit from Gigi bearing a funny card. Then we were going to go out for pizza, games and bowling at The Gate. Oh, before hand, Daddy took Katherine to the store and let her pick out 2 toys, one of which Gigi had purchased, which is cool. (We paid $17.99 at Meijer on Saturday - Gigi paid $7.29 at Wal-mart the day before. Not cool Meijer, not cool.)

Well, we got through the Gigi visit and Katherine was only a little disappointed that she wasn't going to Gigi's house, but only because I was always convincing her that we were going to the games. So we get to the Gate (3 pm in the afternoon on a Saturday) and it's dark, cigarette smoky and crowded with adults. So we're can't bowl. We run through the alley part to the kids section (why is that at the back and not the front?) and almost all of the games were broken. Talk about crap. Plus, Katherine plowed through 5 bucks in 5 minutes. Not right!

So Jonathan had a brilliant idea - let's go to Chuck E. Cheese's! So we did - we went down to Alpine Ave. We got in there and had to wait in line a bit, but it was so worth it. We ate pizza and took turns running around with Katherine. She loved the crane game, but I didn't get a picture of her on it. But I did get pictures of her on pretty much everything else. =) And guess what? It took her 3 hours to plow through 5 bucks of tokens. That's awesome!

Afterwards, we went to the theatre next door and saw Madagascar 2, which was so funny. The theatre was virtually empty (there were 11 people in the whole place) and so Katherine walked up and down the rows picking out her new seat, all the while through the movie. She was quiet, though, and really enjoyed the movie.

After a long day, we headed back to Big Rapids, but stopped in Cedar Springs for a movie and something to eat. It was a long long day, but the best time. Katherine was so excited to go home, when we pulled into the exit, she screamed "HOME!". It was very cute.

Well, this weekend is the Family and Friends party, and then Katherine's birthday will officially be over. We've only gotten an RSVP from one of Katherine's school friends, so I don't know how fun that hour will be, but once her friends go home we will have family over for games and food. I'm scatter brained as to what I have to do yet, but I'll get there.

Keith Olbermann speaks to us

Fall to Indian Summer to Winter?

It could only do that in Michigan. And it did it within the past week. Talk about weird. Katherine was wearing shorts last Wednesday and wore capris to school on Thursday. Saturday she was wearing a winter coat and her boots because it was snowing.

So this weekend we unexpectedly had Nathan with us. It was awesome. We had a good time. Friday night we had a mini game night. We played Yahtzee and then Chutes & Ladders. It's kind of hard - Nathan and Katherine both have short attention span. It's always fun though to break out the board games, the good music and the hot chocolate to spend time with the kids.

Saturday we woke up and cleaned the apartment. Gigi came over and took Katherine to her and Papa's house for the evening, so the three of us (Jonathan, Nathan and myself) took a midnight stroll through downtown Big Rapids. Not exactly midnight - we left our house at 9 pm and came back at 11 pm. The weather was a bit cold but the air was crisp and it was great for a walk. We goofed around, chatted, listened to music, and got to experience the freaky people that inhabit our town after dark. Mostly Nathan.

Katherine had a lot of fun at Gigi and Papa's (my parents). She got to play Papa's drums while Papa built her a playhouse from a huge cardboard box. Then Papa, the superman he is, made cheese pizza, her favorite. Think she's got them wrapped around her finger enough? =)

Sunday, we woke up and decided to play games again. I whooped Nathan's behind at Monopoly. Thanks to my brother Ryan for being a cutthroat Monopoly player from the age of 7 so that I knew how to completely abolish Nathan at the game. =)

Since I really killed him at it, he wanted to play Risk with me. We had to go get Katherine at this time, so we put the game on pause for a Katherine and food run to Baldwin, then came back and started.

I will state this now - I don't think I properly know how to play Risk. I read the instructions over and over and over again, but I still don't get it. So, we play based on what it seems like the instructions are trying to tell us. It's a mess, but Nathan and I have fun.

Well, it's cold out, but we haven't yet turned on the heat. I really don't want to either. Sweaters, blankets, boiling water, whatever, just don't turn on the heat! I'm dreading seeing the first bill, deciding whether to get the kids presents for Christmas or just to pay for heat. =P

And here is Katherine's "I Love You Mommy" song. It rocks!

It's Fall? Says who?

Ah, says Election Day.

President Obama!!! Katherine calls him Bo-mama, which is hilarious. I'm so so so happy. I felt a thrill through my soul when I found out he won. It's like hearing a close friend won the lottery. You are so happy for everyone involved, including yourself, because you know you will benefit too!.

Well, the kids and I enjoyed this week's weather. It's been gorgeous! During the days, it's been getting up into the 70s. Too bad it's been getting dark so early or else we would be able to enjoy more than early afternoon.

It's been a weird week - I don't know why. I just haven't been feeling myself. I feel awkward and slow and uncoordinated in almost any aspect of my life right now. My weight is becoming a big thing in my mind and heart right now, so I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing.

Katherine's birthday party is two weeks and a day away and I can't for the life of me get back on party planning. I haven't even sent invitations to her class yet! This weekend, I promise that I will be making them up and sending them to her classmates on Monday. Katherine just can't wait to have Aimee Jo come to her house and her party. She can't stop talking about it!

Thanksgiving is the week after her birthday party and I'm semi-excited for that as well. I keep hoping that I will be able to have dinner for our family. I like preparing big dinners like that. Hate the dishes, love the work.

Well, off to collect fundraiser items, see if my car is needing a new radiator and pick up my girl from school.

Halloween 2008

Happy Post Halloween to everyone! We are recovering from our candy fueled rush last night.

Katherine's party and parade at school was fun. She made a craft, then they had their Costume parade around the neighborhood. They then had donuts, cider and cookies while watching Dora's Halloween episode. All the children in her class are very sweet. You can view pictures of her class here.

After school we had to bust tail to take Nathan to his mom's pick up time at 5 pm in Cedar Springs. What a nightmare. We ended up being stuck behind slow traffic and then switching routes to get there faster, only to be 15 minutes after pick up time. Katherine also fell asleep on the way there, fueling my fear that this whole arrangement had ruined trick-or-treating for us.

So Jonathan and I fantasized about being rich all the way home, which was quite fun. It distracted me from being upset about Halloween being ruined, so he's good.

Then we had trick-or-treating. We went to the same neighborhood we went to last time and had a pretty good time. Katherine was escorted to the door on the first house, to the porch on the second, and then I was forced to stay at the sidewalk with Daddy after that. She's so confident and outgoing and was very excited. We kept having to remind her that she needed to say "Trick-or-treat" or "Happy Halloween" when they answered the door and "thank you" afterward.

We got to walk by the Haunted Jail. It was pretty awesome looking. They had strobe lights and spooky shadows. I can't wait to take Katherine when she's old enough. They had treats outside so we bought some popcorn and kept trick-or-treating.

After walking around for almost 2 hours, I came to get angrier and angrier about one thing - Halloween etiquette. If you are handing out candy, you should have your porch light on. If you aren't, you shouldn't have your porch light on. My beautiful, confident 4 year old went to every single house with the porch light on, only to get frustrated because half of the people weren't there. Or how about the houses that had porch lights on, people at home, my daughter screaming "TRICK OR TREAT!" and knocking as loud as possible, they still wouldn't even come to the door to say "no candy" or anything. Losers.

So today we are being lazy. Cleaning the house, eating, playing. Just normal stuff.

More information on Katherine's party coming up!