Easter Blessings

Ah, Easter. It was a great day, filled with church, friends, egg hunts, and croquet. Who could ask for anything more?

But, first, the pre-Easter party at one of Katherine's friends' houses. Five girls from Katherine's day care were invited for an egg hunt - they were all dressed in their easter finest.



And then, it was Easter.

Stage Fright

Katherine's big debut in the dance world was last weekend - at her preschool's open house. Through the preschool she attends dance class each week and learns some basic tap and ballet.





The group had practiced their two pieces for weeks - the song was annoyingly catchy...something like, "when I wear my magic tutu." I had it stuck in my head all last weekend. Anyway, Katherine got all dressed up, walked out with the group, and then started crying (before the music started).



She enjoyed watching it instead from the sidelines. Her best friend Benny came to watch her, but I think he was happy just to play with Katherine on the playground.



After the "recital" we toured her preschool room - and saw all the projects Katherine has been working on over the last few months. The theme for her room was the four seasons.

That's her beautiful purple birdhouse (purple is her color of choice these days).



And, this is her art with dictation.



We are so thankful that Katherine loves her school, and especially her teacher, Mrs. Gutic.

Room makeover

After living in our new house for 10 months, we have finally begun re-doing rooms, one at a time. Katherine's room was first. Pete painted the room and we had a new closet system installed to make the space more efficient. The new baby and Katherine will be sharing the space - so the more storage, the better! Katherine enjoyed the process - originally, she wanted the room to be pink, purple and blue, but she was satisfied with purple - lilac, really.



While the paint smell was still strong, Katherine slept on the floor in the guest room - she thought it was pretty fun to sleep in her sleeping bag. Good thing, because she ended up sleeping there about a week!




Here's Katherine's bed these days....we're waiting for the new mattress for her twin bed.



And, Katherine just loves all her "friends." She puts them all to bed every night - face down all around her. I'm surprised she can breathe with all of them so close to her!

Birthday gifts

Katherine's grandparents were very generous with the birthday presents - of course. And this year, they seemed to have a musical theme. Katherine loves to sing and to make "music" on any kind of instrument. Currently, she seems the most interested in pianos - she has to play the piano at her daycare every day before we leave, and guitars. She loves watching Lloyd and Brian play the guitars at church, and Suzi play the guitar at her music class. So, the grandparents obliged with a keyboard and a guitar. Here's the result.... And, Pete and I gave her an umbrella - it gets a lot of use - even in Sunny California.

Katherine's birthday at preschool

Yes, Katherine's birthday was at the beginning of March, but these pictures were too cute not to post. A couple of days before Katherine's birthday party, she celebrated her birthday with her church preschool class (she also had a celebration at her daycare preschool - but I wasn't there for the celebration). Katherine's teacher made her feel very special and let her build her own felt birthday cake - she got to choose the flavor and the candles.



And, then Katherine became very serious - I guess birthdays are serious business. Although, K's friend Audrey seemed to be very happy about the occasion.



Here's the crew...



And, here's the crew enjoying birthday cupcakes.



And my favorite picture of the morning.

Katherine's Birthday

On March 7, we celebrated Katherine's birthday with 25, or so, of her closest friends and their parents! Yes, we are crazy. We tried to limit the amount of children, but Katherine kept inviting more people! She's a very social girl - shy, but likes to be around people. So, we had everyone at our house - in the backyard. Katherine insisted on a Cinderella theme - and wore the dress to match the cake! We also surprised her with a visit from Cinderella - "the real one" as Katherine explains it. Katherine didn't really know what to do with her - she wouldn't let her paint her face, but she did take this picture with her. And, she still talks about Cinderella coming to her party!

The kids also enjoyed the bounce house...my mom, too!

30 days go so quickly, Part 2

And in the last 30 days....or so, we had a presidential election - YAY! And Katherine and I watched all the festivities for hours that day.



And there were dinners with Amy and Nikki - which always involves lots of playing...Nikki's such a good sport.



And there were two birthday parties...the first was at a place where they have a room full of bounce houses - Katherine had absolutely no fear about these things -much to my dismay.



The other party was at the Aquarium - didn't get any good pictures, though.

Finally, we had a day in South Orange County - first, a much needed haircut for Katherine - good-bye lopsided hair, hello cute, short hair cut.

Before pictures....





After pictures...





After the haircut we went down to Dana Point for a walk along the beach - beautiful. Katherine didn't want to leave - I can't blame her.

30 days go so quickly, Part 1

Well, I knew this would happen - I just can't seem to blog any more regularly than once a month. So, here's the monthly wrap-up.

We had a great time seeing my college friend, Judy and her beautiful family.



And, we went to my high school cross-country reunion. Katherine had a great time meeting a new friend. She and her new friend decided to celebrate their meeting by jumping into the bathtub together.



Katherine made lots of cookies in her kitchen and served them up to us!



And there was chocolate pudding...



And two trips to Disneyland - I caved in and bought the cheapest pass. Her favorite ride is Dumbo, and her least favorite ride is "anything with pirates" - Pirates of the Carribean has now scarred her for life. Who knew! One day we went with some friends...







And, of course there was ice cream involved.



The other day that we went it was rainy - so, it kept away the lines, but we did get a bit soaked. The highlight of the day was meeting Mickey Mouse - or as Katherine calls him, Mickey Mouse-y - and we only had to wait 5 minutes. Unbelievable! Katherine went right up to him and gave him a big hug. It was precious.