Hello Gorgeous!

So much has happened in this past week that I can't even keep up with blogging all the details, but I will try to summarize. Last Monday I was packing, cleaning, organizing, and parenting. I planned a week trip to Daytona to visit with my family. My in laws were planning a vacation on the beach at the end of the week. So Katie and I packed up and came to Daytona on Tuesday. However, in the middle of my preparations on Monday our new SLR camera arrived. Oh that was really mean for the FED EX guy to show up that morning with a new toy I didn't have time to play with. Somehow, I did pack and we did get here. Coming to my parents house is truly coming home. It has been such a nice week of relaxing with my mom and Katie. Earlier today we went to the hotel to pick up daddy and hang out a little with family. I had fun playing with my new camera and I got this amazing picture of my beautiful daughter! I have tons more fun new pictures, but it is late so you will have to check back soon for my next update! Hug someone you love, life is too short!

Game Night at Our House

Once a month we get together with our friends and family to play games. I think it stems from being an only child that I love playing board games so much, but I truly love these people. It is a good excuse to hang out every month.

Settlers of Catan

We played one game with 6 people and it took hours. We thought it may go faster, but we had a few interruptions...like dinner! We ordered pizza. In the end it all worked out, but the new guy on the phone did not give me good advice as to how much pizza we needed. Pizza is another great reason to make sure we get together each month! It was a good game and guess who won???? EDGAR! I believe it was his first time too. Good Job Edgar!

This is my nephew. Yes, I have the cutest nephew! He is such a happy baby. Eli smiles a lot and makes taking pictures easy. Which is why I take so many when he is around. Eli had a lot of fun playing with Katie's pink toys. My other brother-in-law (Eric) and his wife (Leilani) are expecting. So there will be another little boy in the family in December. Eli will soon have a little boy cousin (Issac) to play with. This is Jessica. And that is Katie -the little one who is attached. Katie really likes playing with Jessica. They have grown up together and hopefully will continue to for many years! Rochel and Eli are ready for pizza..okay only Rochel can have pizza, but I bet Eli would like some!

This is Edgar the champion for the night!

Peek-a-Boo!

Somewhere within the past few weeks my little Katie went from dodging the camera to posing (finally). As many pictures as we have taken of her since she was born you would think she would just give up the fight and take it, but nope! She was putting up quite the struggle being a two year old. Although, I have managed to get some cute shots along the way..now she will sit pretty and tilt her head. She looks at me and says, "take my picture" So, I think we will get even more fun pictures now that she thinks it is fun to ham it up and embrace her camera happy family.

This picture is totally too sunny, but I thought it was amazing how long her legs look. It's like she grows over night. She is barely 35 inches tall so when she gains an inch I can tell.

Look at that girl! Thank you Katie for making mommy's job easy....well, at least in the photography department.

By the Way, Florida is HOT!

Katie really likes to check on the yellow flowers we planted a few months back. They have more than doubled in size which is great, because I do not have a green thumb. Even though it was soooo bright and hot Katie really wanted to pick a flower. Her reaction was immediately to smell it. If only we could all have that instinct to stop and smell the flowers! Then we attempted to ride her bike. She has tried before, but she wasn't tall enough. Since I think she may have grown a few inches I figured she may now be tall enough to push the pedals.

Well, the good news is that she can reach the pedals, but she still needs to grow an inch or two so she can actually push the pedal. She did pretty good. It is so cute to see your child discover the world around her. She really hated the bright hot sun in her eyes. This picture should have been a huge smile, but she couldn't look at me due to the bright sun. We played a little more, but I think in a few months it will be more fun to play outside in Florida.

GO Katie GO!

My Little Swimmer!!!!!

Katie is just about finished with her swim lessons. We have one last fun lesson tomorrow evening and Daddy gets to attend. We started in the end of May. It is a 6 week course that teaches them how to swim and gives them skills to survive in the water. Katie has learned how to swim and swims under water quite a distance now. She has learned to turn over to her back to get air when she needs it. She is certainly not "drown proof" but these lessons give a little added insurance that she would have some basic skills to get to the edge of the pool and get her air. I am so proud of her. I think it is the greatest thing we have ever done for her. As you can see she is not very happy in this picture. This is how most lessons start and then she warms up and doesn't want to get out of the pool. She was really confused as to why she was going in the water with her clothes on.

Even with heavy wet denim she still managed to swim through the pool. I could tell she was working really hard.

Then we added sneakers! That was interesting. She had to swim in her clothes and heavy shoes. Since these are survival lessons it is important to see how she does with the added weight of clothing on. The shoes made it much more difficult to kick, but she did it!

Towards the end Katja threw a wet t-shirt over Katie's face while Katie was floating on her back trying to get her air. The correct response is that the child will grab the shirt and throw it off their face. Katie did it! Last summer there was a little girl age 8, who fell in the pool with her towel wrapped around her. She drowned because she could not get the towel off her face.

I am so glad we did this with Katie. I will admit that I was totally nervous to put my kid in the water and let her go, but in the end she is a swimmer. I am looking forward to swimming this summer.

Check out Katie swimming!!!!

Planning on Homeschooling? Or Need Preschool Ideas?

This past year Katie has had a chance to play with many different types of arts and crafts. She likes to color, trace, paint, fingerpaint, cut, and play with stickers. We have also played with pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes to make fun little pets.. Last week we colored wood magnets with markers. These were surprises for the grandparents. Katie loved it! I love just sitting back and letting her go with it...whatever "it" may be. She is 2 so we don't get into too much trouble this way. When I was in college I did a lot of research on the power of play and the impact it has on learning. Giving your child "play" time is one of the best things you can do for them. I also found in the classroom that my students had better imaginations when engaging in play. I am not telling you anything that is new, but it is valuable to embrace play as an educational tool. I think some moms may underestimate its value. My daughter plays a lot with the TV on in the background. She will watch some shows, but mostly just likes having it on in the background. There were times when I wondered if this was okay, because as a teacher I know how TV watching can impact kids. Even when my daughter is playing in her playroom she is learning. As moms we want to do everything right and sometimes feel guilty when we do our own thing instead of spending hours on end with our kids. I have way too many hobbies. I like to sew, bake, blog, take pictures, and even sell kids clothing on Ebay. I also must manage a household. This does not give me the freedom to spend hours on end playing with my kiddo. Now please understand that I do spend tons of time with my precious little k. But knowing the value of play helps me relax knowing that even when I am not engaging with her she is still actively learning. My preschool plan for the fall is basic, but yet creates an opportunity for teachable moments. The age range I am focusing on is 3-4 year olds. My daughter will be 3 in September. Starting our preschool is more for me than her at this point. I have to learn how to organize life in order to make space for planned teaching. I am very excited and would love it if you followed me on this journey!

Ooh Katie!

Smiles and Giggles!

I think I can almost hear her laughter by looking at these pictures! I wanted to take a few pictures of her with the floor pillows I made. It started off innocently enough and turned into a ticklefest. I love tickling Katie. She has the best laugh/giggle.

I think it is fair to say that she likes the pillows.

Fridays have become sewing days. I don't seem to have enough time for all my hobbies, so I made a day! I remember growing up it was fun to lay on the floor and watch movies or cartoons on huge floor pillows. So instead of buying them I made them. My sister-in-law showed me how to sew them with an opening on the back so I can take the pillows out and wash the covers. This is a big deal with a 2 year old in the house!!!!

This is how we started, sweet, calm, and posing.....then the giggles started!

Here's the result of my hardwork. It only took an afternoon to pop these out. These are pretty pink, green, and blue polka dots with solid green on the back. I am sure I will make more covers for them in the years to come.

Oh Sweetheart!

Oh my little sweetheart! This picture was actually taken a few months back, but I started playing with photo software and needed a cute picture. I really like the way this one turned out. It is soft and sweet very unlike a two year old. Okay I take that back, Katie is soft and sweet. She is also talkative, curious, stubborn, and determined. Most of which are good qualities that she has inherited from her mother no doubt. The editting process is not that easy with new software, but as I go through the trials and errors I learn more. That is very exciting! I do not plan to be a pro by any means, but maybe I could save a little money by taking my own pictures. I already take great pictures of my little cutie and now I can doctor them up a bit.

Katie Cleanin' House

Katie really wanted to help me clean the other day and I gave her a swiffer duster. She was thrilled. I started her on the t.v. After she cleared out the dust bunnies around the t.v. she moved on to her dollhouse. I had to take her picture. She did this all on her own. I guess she has watched me enough dusting the house that she is copying me. At least now I look good. When she was constantly playing on her toy phone Eliud figured that was all I did all day. I get some good cleaning done while chatting with a girlfriend. It even got me through folding the towels the other day. I am also excited that as the years go by I will have a little helper. Who knows maybe we will have 2 or 3 little helpers running around here in a few years!

A New Hobby

If you know me at all you know that what I don't need is another hobby....but oh well. My sister-in-law and I are only sisters through marriage, but I swear we were cut from the same cloth. A few weeks back she showed me this fun new blog call I heart faces. It is a photography blog where you can get involved. Photos are submitted and other fellow photographers who enjoy enhancing photos can work on a weekly challenge. I honestly have never done this before and don't have much if any knowledge in how to enhance a photo except for cropping and other minor adjustments. I have a middle of the road photo software that has a lot of bells and whistles. Its no photoshop, but its pretty good. After downloading the weekly picture I played around with it a lot. This is the original picture. The weekly goal for this picture was to make the eyes pop. This is my crop job with eye enhancement. I think it looks better than I originally thought. There maybe some blaringly obvious boo boos to a pro, but I am happy with it. So perhaps I will post my pictures here each week. It was a lot of fun, however I truly enjoy taking the pictures. Maybe if I doctored up Katie's pics I would be a little more excited.

We are supposed to give a step by step set of instructions to explain how we created the new version, but I honestly don't know. I cropped it, cloned the white to lose the bear nose on the hat, cut out the eyes, I changed the brightness and contrast on the eyes only.....and not sure what else. Maybe next time I will have a better understanding of the photo tools and be able to describe the process better.

My little swimmer!

On this rainy morning my Katie and I have been quite snuggily. Eliud brought her in my bed at 6:30 am. It was raining so hard that she was hiding under her covers and crying. She is truly afraid of the "boom-booms". I did have pity on her even though it was 6 am and the sun was not even awake yet. Being in bed with a 2 year old is much like being pregnant, you can't get comfortable, you can't sleep, and every once in a while you get a foot or elbow poking you. It was tricky, but we rested like this for about an hour. Then we transitioned to the couch. Katie toting her blankie and pillow announcing that she wants to watch the Einsteins. So I snuggle with her on the couch for 2 episodes wishing I could fall asleep for just a few minutes. This was only wishful thinking because every time it thundered I got a huge death grip hug. Let's just say it thundered a lot this morning. Although my morning started much earlier than I like it was such a joy to be with my little Katie. It was one of those memory making mornings that I won't forget. I love that she clung to me when she was scared. It filled my heart to overflowing. I bet this is how the Lord feels when we come to him. No matter how often we come he always has open arms to comfort us when we are afraid. I really hope that the rain will stop so we can go swimming. My little fish is ready to go. Her lessons were cancelled yesterday. We have 7 lessons left........come on let's get this finished. I told Katie a few weeks back that we would go to Busch Gardens together when she finishes swim lessons. I keep hearing about the elephants and monkeys that she wants to see. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be done! Katja just called...no swim today....bummer!