Testing with photo? From a super fun outdoor concert tonight



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Testing an update from my phone


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I know there are people who have blogs where they share a picture each day. I'm sure I could do that, because Lord knows I take enough pictures. But I just don't always remember to share them here.

Today though? Today you get pictures!  

We had 8 yards of mulch delivered this morning. WOO HOO! It was thrilling......for the girls at least.  And actually, I ended up only doing about 1/3, maybe only 1/4 of the heavy work, so it was pretty thrilling for me too!  Everything looks clean and fresh now. Although, in hindsight, we could have used 10 yards, not 8 - who knew?

 Funny Katherine-ism: I came home this afternoon and found her covered in mud. She was digging in a sand bucket full of mud. For no other reason that to play in mud. Ok then!  She had also been outside all day, most of that was without shoes on. So when everyone went inside, I told her to go up and wash her feet in in the tub. I said, "You have 5 minutes. Water on. Water off. Soap on. Rub feet. Water on. Water off. DONE. Do NOT make a mess."  About 4 minutes later, she was calling for help, " There's so many bubbles!"
What? Why?
I went up to help and found that she had used the shampoo/conditioner to wash her feet, and yes, indeed, the tub was filled with bubbles.  Good grief!

Luckily, our other accomplishment for the day was a yummy dinner. Roasted Red Pepper Pesto sauce with  pasta and yummy bread, and green beans.  Everything is better when you can eat good food on the patio, enjoying the view of a clean, fresh yard, right?

(Can you see the mulch in the background there?)

It was while sitting and chatting after dinner that Katherine came up with another one. She said "Look at the sun, it's peeking through the trees!"
Yes, it was.
"BUUUUUUT, If you put your eyebrows DOWN, it makes the sun look even shinier!"
What? Eyebrows down? What do you mean?

Try squinting - do your eyebrows go down when you squint? Yup. That's what she meant.

And because I want to blow your mind - 2 posts in one night!

Here are some videos of Katherine, she's been busy this week!

Gymnastics Expo

Kindergarten Graduation

Reading the EXCELLENT book she wrote and published at school

 So, Katherine's birthday was 2 weeks ago, but if you're one of the few regular readers of this blog, you understand that NOTHING is ever updated on time. 2 weeks is rather early!

Katherine actually had about a week of birthday - with a friend party the week before, and family celebrations extended past the actual day.  She loved every minute of the extra attention (especially after suffering through Abby's birthday and Maggie's Communion - it was finally her turn!)

The day of her birthday, the Kindergarteners had a day off of school  so that next year's class could come and tour the school. Chris was off as well (that day was a snow day make up, but the lack of snow this year meant a 4 day weekend for South Milwaukee!) Since everyone would be home, we told Maggie should could stay home as well and we'd all do something fun. Maggie started by saying she wanted to go to school, but in the end she was glad to have fun with us. We went downtown to Discovery World, the Art Museum, and rode bikes along the Lakefront path.  In the afternoon, a friend happened to call for a playdate with Katherine. We invited her to our house (to give her Dad a break, he's recovering from broken leg after a motorcycle accident, sound familiar?) and the girls played nicely. Then it was off to Texas Roadhouse for dinner followed by a stop at Whitnall park for time on the Monkey bars for the birthday girl. All in all, a thrilling day!

We spent the next day in Evanston - happy to cheer on our favorite runner - AUNT NORA- who ran the Soldier Field 10 miler that morning. As well as celebrating AUNT BRIDGET and her graduation from Law school.

It was on the way home from that day that Katherine gave me my first "Deep Thoughts with Katherine" quote for this post. She's been coming up with the funniest (and sometimes heartwarming) thoughts lately!

Driving along the highway, the sun was coming through the clouds - with individual rays (I'm sure there's a meteorological term)  Maggie said, "Oh look, I know from my Bible that's what it looks like when Jesus comes down, I wonder if he'll come to our car!" Katherine responded, "We don't need him in our car, because he's already in my heart."

Last week as I was frantically trying to get dressed for church, Katherine came to me with 2 quarters and a nickel and said, "I want to bring this to church and give it to the poor people, I don't need it, I have so much!" And she did bring it and put it in the poor box on the way into church. It was so sweet!

Chris reports that on learning what a laundromat was, Katherine suggested"Why don't we just take out laundry there, then we wouldn't have to put it away at our house!

This afternoon, when I found that the girls were not weeding the way I had told them to, Katherine exclaimed in exasperation, "Well, where do weeds come from anyway? Do you plants 'Weed Seeds' or something?"

And finally, while discussing flip flops at dinner tonight, she stated, "Well, I don't know why they call them Flip Flops anyway. I mean, I guess if you throw them in the air they might 'Flip' but they certainly don't FLOP!"

Oh Katherine, you certainly keep life interesting!

This picture was from Wednesday night - after going to the Library for FAMILY ART NIGHT and coming home with 3 pirates - complete with hooks and parrots. Oh boy!

But my reason for posting is not about pirates, but rather, the craziness that sometimes happens with these girls.

Chris was gone all day today at a conference. The girls and I worked hard, changing sheets, doing laundry, cleaning house, and  most of all, cleaning the garage and then starting to organize for the rummage sale we are having next weekend. (Yes I hate the idea of doing the rummage, but we have so much stuff and the whole block does it. Peer Pressure!)

So a college roommate was going to be in town, and we arranged to meet at a Gelato store for a late afternoon treat. We did that, then played at a nearby park, and finally headed home after 2 hours of fun. On the way home, Maggie suggested singing 'Row Row Row your Boat' in a round. I giggled to myself, but didn't say anything. She started singing, but so did the other girls. So then she said, No, Katherine starts and then I'll sing. So Katherine started, but ended up in unison with Maggie, and Abby  started crying "I WANT TO SING ROW DA BOAT TOOOOOOO!"

I spoke up and said I would sing with Katherine to keep her on the right part. So, we tried that. But then Abby wailed "BUT I WANT TO SING WITH MOMMY!"

Sigh.

We tried twice more, succeeding once, and then I said, "Hey, let's go home this way and look for deer." (Through a forest preserve area)  Maggie reported it was too early, too light for the deer to be out. Katherine suggested that if they sang songs, the deer would think they were lullabies and might come out to say goodnight.

Oh dear, (ha ha) I knew this wasn't going to be good.  Maggie started with Row your boat, Katherine started Twinkle Twinkle, and Abby started Mary had a little Lamb.  Talk about singing in a round!  After about 5 bars they started yelling at each other that they were all singing the wrong songs.  Certainly, the deer would come out if they heard/saw a car full of screaming kids, right?

They agreed on Mary had a lamb, we sang it, and no deer came out.  Soon enough we were home, and they  had other things to fight about.  Just another day in the life!

 I don't mean to get personal, but when you go to the bathroom, do  you stop to think about how you're going to get yourself onto the toilet to do your business? I'm going to guess not. You just do what you have to do and move on with  life.  This is one of those random deep thoughts I've had lately. For Abby, it's a challenge. She is just barely tall enough to get on and off the toilet independently. And, let me tell you, she is independent! That's what's so crazy. I often think of her as being a "big kid" because she wants to do everything the big girls do and won't let too much stop her from doing so. But then something so simple as going to the bathroom stops her.  I don't know. Just one of those things that has struck me lately.

 My little girl turned THREE 2 weeks ago. And she might as well be 13! She's not tall enough? She'll get a stool to be taller. Tell her "no?" She'll come up with a logical reason why you should say "YES" instead! I just want her to be my baby (because there will be NO MORE babies!) but she is fighting me, wanting to be a big kid like the big girls.   I think of her as so little, but really, her sisters were already "big kids" when they were 3, they had a baby in the house!  I was probably encouraging her sisters to be independent so I could focus on the baby! Poor Abby, being the 3rd child is tough!

 Abby had a great birthday-time for family and presents and naps!   She loved being the center of attention.  And since she's not shy at all, all week she grabbed the attention of anyone who would listen to her say  "It's My BIRTHDAY!"

A few funny Abby-isms

Last week: "I need to tie my shoes, Mom, I can do it all by myself!"  And then she took her velcros shoes, and twisted the velcro strip for about 30 seconds before putting git in place and declaring her shoes "ALL TIED MOM!"

As I was driving down a street near our house, I saw a house with a large "NO TRESPASSING" sign posted. I muttered to myself, "No Trespassing? what's that for?"  Abby piped up from the backseat, "No Trespassing means DON'T COME IN!" and then gave me a detailed synopsis of an episode of 'Super Why' that taught her that lesson.  Thank you PBSKids for developing my 3 year old's vocabulary!