Tiptoeing through the Tulips

Katie had her first outdoor soccer game on Saturday and seemed to enjoy it. She was very excited about her red soccer shirt . . . until she saw that there was a pink team! And speaking of soccer fashions I thought Katie looked quite cute in her pink and black shin pads and coordinating cleats, that is until we added the red tee and the blue goalie's vest! Caroline did a terrific job at the game this time- of course, I had packed a lunch for her and she ate most of the time, but thankfully it worked out.

The girls have a lot of fun together and Caroline loves playing with Katie's things- especially her markers. Every time we turn around she's at Katie's desk. Or trying on someone's shoes. Caroline continues her funny sleeping. On Saturday we went to wake her up to go out to dinner and found her jeans off in the corner, her face smooshed into the blanket and her feet crossed at the ankles.
Saturday night we all enjoyed an evening out at our local "lifestyle center" (outdoor mall). We enjoyed dinner at Mongolian Barbecue where you make your own stir fry. It was challenging assembling all of our ingredients and managing the bowls, sauces, kids, etc., but Katie enjoyed watching them cook on the huge grill and we saw lots of prom dresses. From there we did a little shopping--mostly for Katie, as always--and then got some ice cream. Caroline seemed to think the ice cream was too cold, so we were more than happy not to share!

On Sunday we went out for donuts to celebrate Katie's last day of Sunday School. No surprise that Caroline enjoyed that, although the plan backfired because eating is usually one of our church amusements, so Jamie and Caroline spent a lot of time in the hallway. Katie was excited to take flowers for her teachers and suckers and "notes" that she made for the kids in her class. (And yes, Ricia, she's wearing the fruity wrap dress again!)

After church we met some friends at the neighboring park, at which point they decided that they should go get some donuts, too, so the kids had a few more nibbles in between playing. When we got home Katie rode her bike around the culdesac and played with the neighbor kids while I supervised-- of course Jamie caught me at the one moment when I was actually sitting down reading my magazine. In reality I was up untangling Lily's leash, helping Katie with her bike (we're in the process of establishing how many driveways down she can go and which ones are flat enough for her to turn around in since she's still figuring out how to use her brakes), helping blow bubbles and talking to the neighbor girl, who had a lot to tell me.

Sunday afternoon we went to a local park/Arboretum and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful flowers. Caroline liked seeing the Tur-tulls (pronounced as two words) and the giant fish. Katie was happy to pose for some photos. And Jamie was happy because he felt young and cool when we left (in relation to the other visitors to the park)! I entitled this post "tiptoeing through the tulips" but as you can probably tell from the images, this isn't exactly accurate since Caroline was not very gentle with the flowers.

We were there for a little longer than planned so we returned home to race through dinner preparations, only to discover that the healthy lasagna recipe I had chosen required 75 minutes of cook time and that we were out of onions, which necessitated an urgent run to the store (Jamie's requirement, not mine). And when it was all said and done (at 6:45), no one liked the healthy lasagna. Thankfully the salad was good and we had some tasty lemon bars for dessert.

One other note, before I sign off. We had our annual parent-teacher conference at Katie's preschool and she got great reviews. Her listening is much improved since February (another 10 smile week last week) and she is doing very well with writing letters (she can write the whole alphabet in order, spell all of our names and is spelling some words). They said she is very bright and knows a lot for her age and she excels at art and has strong motor skills, large and small (I know Grandma the kindergarten teacher will appreciate these details).

Spring?

From Beth: We had a week of gorgeous spring weather, which of course turned to rain and gloom in time for the weekend, but we enjoyed our time outdoors while we had the chance. On Tuesday night Katie had soccer practice, so I took Caroline to watch for a bit. My first mistake was letting her out of the stroller when she sweetly gestured that she wanted to sit on my lap. She sat on my lap for about 30 seconds, and then climbed down to make a beeline for the field. From there she launched into a fit every time I picked her up and removed her from the field, complete with the old limp arm trick, so that it makes it harder to pick her up! I literally carried her from the field kicking and screaming, so we'll have to figure out a new approach for the next time.

On Thursday the kids had a Daddy night as I was participating in the annual scholarship interviews for the local kids who have been accepted into Notre Dame. For those of you not keeping track, tuition for next year will be $49,025. Friday Jamie met friends out so we followed up the Daddy night with a Mommy night. Katie and I made butterscotch pudding and the girls ate that right up.

Saturday I did errands and met a friend for brunch, so the girls were off the the Y with Dad and then hit a nearby high-end grocery store to pick up a few things. As Jamie reports, the girls ate their way through the store enjoying everything from lemon cake (two servings each) to cheese, mango & grapefruit salad and steak. Caroline was apparently making rapid use of her sign language sign for more! When I got home and Caroline awoke from her nap, we discovered that she had been up to her usual tricks. She had half of her onsie off and both legs in one pant leg of her now inside-out pants! THis was her best move yet!


On Sunday we enjoyed a parent's program following Katie's Sunday School. I got some video of this, but the file was uploading for 10+ hours and still wasn't done, so we'll attempt that again separately. Anyway, it was pretty comical. Katie stood in the very front and alternated between going through the motions in a very spacey fashion and being very loud and crazy with her actions. It's an intersting group of kids. Jamie's favorite was the little boy who sat on the floor behind all of the other kids with his hand down his pants.

After that we went for a ride in the wagon (with Caroline all suited up!) and went swimming at the Y as a reward for Katie's terrific week of listening at school-

Guaranteed Headache

From Beth: Katie started outdoor soccer this week and Jamie reported that she scored a goal. Thankfully her first practice was on Tuesday before the chilly weather returned. She is delighted that her team color is red this time. Jamie and I are hoping that her team t-shirts will be sponsored by someone other than the local OB/GYN, and are thankful that we made it through the indoor season without any inquiries about that.

Saturday was a busy day for us. We hit the gym as usual in the morning and stumbled upon a kids healthy fair happening there. The kids collected all sorts of goodies and Caroline fell in love with a fruit smoothie. She was like a baby bird seeking a worm with her little mouth open for more and more and more. She left with red sticky stuff all over her face (sorry, we didn't have the camera). Katie talked to firemen, did yoga, shot some hockey pucks (which merited some medals) and did some fitness activities.

From there we had to get home to get ready for a Pump It Up birthday party for one of Katie's classmates. Katie had a terrific time on the inflatable slides and obstacle courses (and so did I) and when the play time was over the kids were sweaty and exhausted. Katie was ravenous and ate a ton at the party. When we got home she had a terrific little nap, which was nice because Jamie and I had to get ready for a black-tie event- The Mayor's Ball. The kids were both crying when we left (see Katie's sad little face in our picture), but of course they settled down right after we drove down the street.

Jamie and I had a great time at the event and I was a little "under the weather" on Sunday. Jamie was kind enough to take Katie out to breakfast before Sunday School and he took the church duty. Caroline was kind enough to snooze until 10, so I felt much better after that extra sleep. She woke up a happy little bear and was content as long as I let her take "Baby" (her blanket) to the breakfast table with her.
When we came downstairs we found that Katie had been up playing hockey and awarding her dolls hockey medals. She must have been inspired by the Notre Dame hockey team who made it to the "Frozen Four", beat Michigan, but then lost to BC for the championship. Jamie was very gracious about missing the game to attend the charity event, but when we got home he did mow down the babysitter to get to the TV to check the Tivo'd game for the score.

After we all had rest time Katie and I ventured to the mall to buy her some new sneakers. They measured her as an 11, so we had to get her first lace up shoes and we spent the rest of the afternoon practicing tying the laces so that she could wear them to school on Monday. From a wardobe standpoint I was happy that she picked something that wasn't bright pink and didn't have Dora on it, but of course I did have to endure my least favorite store in the entire world- Kids Footlocker. Ugh. But, it's a good lesson for Katie to learn that sometimes we have to sacrifice for the right pair of shoes. . . . even if that means waiting for the sales associate to finish her 15-minute phone conversation before we can get the right size!

Got Milk?

Spring is finally making its way here- and we've had plenty of rain showers. At least the girls are happy to wear their new raincoats and boots! And along with all of this rain, we have had some huge puddles in our backyard. In fact, the one puddle was so big that a couple of ducks have taken to visiting us and swimming around in it. On the day of their first visit, Caroline was happily eating her breakfast at the table and then she looked up and exclaimed "Duck!" All was well until Lily caught sight of them and then she freaked out trying to get through the door to protect us from the infiltration. The ducks took off in a hurry, but they have returned to see us every day since.

The big event of our weekend was Katie's "date" for the hockey game. She and one of her best buddies from school have been talking about going to a hockey game together for ages, and we finally managed to coordinate this with Zach's family in time for the last regular-season game of the year. We sat in an area where there weren't many people and the kids ran around all over the place. As excited as they were to see hockey, they didn't seem to see any hockey, except for that brief time when they happily sat eating their snow cones. Jamie spent a lot of his time roaming the concourse trying to keep Caroline happy (and purchasing beer for me). Caroline really wanted to take off and climb around, but it was hard to allow her much freedom with concrete floors and steep steps. Jamie did get the team mascot to pay us a visit in the stands and Katie who had been yelling his name for an hour, all of a sudden decided she didn't want to be very close to him. Although, she did get brave enough to pose for a photo with him after the game on the ice. The kids walked out of the rink with their arms around each other (unfortunately, I was far away and the photo is blurry, but it was very cute).

Both the kids were exhausted when we got home. Caroline was a little off all day Sunday after being up so late, but she loved getting outside to enjoy the sunshine. Jamie kept busy by slice seeding the yard for 3+ hours and the girls and I walked through the mud and picked up stray dog toys. Caroline just loves having her boots on!

The girls and I made a springy grasshopper pie for dessert. Caroline loves to help in the kitchen, but she's not very helpful yet! She spilled the milk and threw the pudding box into the pudding to name a few examples, but if you can manage to keep her hands under control, she's so happy to help pour or stir-- and even happier to eat whatever is on the counter. When she was supposed to be smashing up mint Oreos she ended up eating them instead. And of course Katie used Caroline's diversions to lick the Cool Whip container!

By late afternoon it was really warm out and Katie ran around playing with the neighbor. While they were busy on the neighbor's swingset I took Caroline to the park and faced the challenge of managing Caroline from both the top and the bottom of the big tunnel slide. We let her go down it last time, so there was no way she was going to be content to go down the little ones (and believe me, I tried). I ended up staying on the top since it was more important to keep her from falling from a height and after the first time, she figured out how to hop off the bottom at the end. It was usually punctuated with a "Wooh" as she regained her balance.
We're looking forward to a warm week, and Katie is ecstatic to get to wear some of her summer wardrobe. I hope the weather is nice wherever you are.