Catelin's Birthday Cake

How. Cute. Is. This?


I didn't have this picture downloaded to the computer when I posted Catelin's birthday pics, but I wanted to show it off.
Our next door neighbor, Sarah, is almost 16 years old. Catie thinks that Sarah is GREAT, and the whole time we've lived here Sarah has been very friendly and kind to her. She has gone out of her way to introduce Catelin to kids her age in the neighborhood. She lets Catelin hang out in the yard with her and play with her dog, showed her the pathways in the woods, etc. Just a really sweet kid/young lady.
Well, Sarah told Catelin she would make her a birthday cake. "What kind did she want?"

A kitty-cat cake.

And THIS is what Sarah made for Catelin for her birthday!!!

White and pink icing, licorice whiskers and Life Saver eyes!

Pumpkins! (or punkuns)

We went to The Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. It was a cute little pumpkin patch run by our neighbor's Methodist church.

Alex was fascinated by the small pumpkins. Mostly, because he could pick them up and throw them like balls. I guess we were lucky we didn't have to buy a dozen bruised baby pumpkins.

Pumpkin Love!

Look at that face. He was not havin' any of that sittin' down stuff!

"Let go, Catie!"

Sweet little angel. *snort*

The church was giving out Halloween coloring sheets and little boxes of crayons.

If you look closely here, you can see that Alex is scribbling on a pumpkin, with a crayon.

Catelin is trying not to laugh out loud.

Me: "Shhh, just get up and go! Alex give me that!"

Catelinisms

After 6 years of speech therapy, private and public school system, Catelin is probably going to 'graduate' out of school speech therapy this year. Now, she is doing great, but when you have a speech delay you seem to lose something, or maybe just be behind, in the phonics department.

Pronunciation can be a bit challenging and we do have to practice more when it comes to "sounding things out". We especially notice this when practicing weekly spelling words.
Or, when we realize she is pronouncing something completely wrong.

Today we were driving in the car. Catelin had been tormenting Alex for quite a while. Then she shrieks: "Alex just picked his nose and threw a burger at me". She totally deserved it.

Yesterday, she asked Dad if we could buy Mollyopy (Monopoly) to play.

She is a good sport about me correcting her. Pumpkin, not punkun, etc.
But, she flat refused to believe that it was a festival, not a festiball. Because, you know, it's like a party.?!

That said, the girl, reads and comprehends at almost 5th grad level (she's in 3rd).
?? Huh?? Love that girl!
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Don't forget to give your kids extra hugs today.

Even if they did: pour cereal on the floor, break a lamp, spill red Gatorade, lose the remote, knock the folded laundry onto the floor, dump the cat's food into her water bowl....................

Lucy

Isn't she da cootist' widdle puddy evah? Huh, huh, who's a widdle sweetie pie?

Look at dat, big, outside kitty sleeping in da dirty backyard.

Hey, that's supposed to be an outside cat, keeping the snakes, mice and lizards out of the backyard and thus, the h0use!

Something went awry with that plan.

The last thing she killed was a purple hair scrunchie!

Maybe we should get another one.

Alex and Papaw

Alex loves his Papaw. He always has.
He was a little baby, at one of the Mommy Only stages, but he would sit with Papaw.


He was barely big enough to walk, and he would go fetch his Big Animal Book, with real animal pictures, and take it straight to Papaw.

For two days before Mamaw and Papaw, came to visit, every morning and every bedtime, Alex would ask, "Where, Paw Paw?" And I would say, 'coming Friday, coming tomorrow or later' etc. I don't know if he understood the time-frames, but an answer seems to satisfy him.

I think Pawpaw got the first hug when they showed up... sorry Mamaw. But them boys do stick together!

I try to keep him a Mommy's Boy, but he really isn't having it. I'm losing the battle. Even when he was smaller, he wanted to be with Daddy. He's a guy's- guy, a man's-man. Wants to hang with the boys. *Sigh*

" Come on Paw paw, lemme show ya the secret passage behind the shed."

New! Improved! Child Containment System!

I guess it's better than tying them to a tree with a rope.

The harder I laughed, the madder he got... heh, heh.

Birthday Girl

Last weekend we celebrated Catelin's 9th birthday. She wanted to make a cake and go to the Georgia Aquarium. Great, very do-able!!

The Aquarium was very cool, we all enjoyed our visit.

Catelin's favorite's were the Whale Sharks (there were 4, wow!) and the Beluga Whales. Of course, after seeing the Belugas, I couldn't stop singing the Baby Beluga song.
Thanks Raffi.

Japanese Spider Crabs. These were pretty neat, they were HUGE. They can reach a span of 13 FEET and live 100 years!! They are the largest known arthropod.

Don't they just look sweet and lovable??

I like the jellyfish. They just seem so stress free floating around in their blue water.

Catelin and Mamaw made her cake and she wanted to decorate it herself. Colored icing and sprinkles spell out Follow your Inner Star American Girls. I'm not sure what this meant, but it was important..... and she was very proud of her cake.

Summer teeth, sum'er there sum ain't.

Matching American Girls pajamas and slippers, Too Cute!!

More Bugs

UPDATE: They were "seed ticks". The MD said she must have fallen into a nest of them out in the woods. She said Catelin had "Too many bites to count" in "to many places to list". Yuck!


Catelin complained of "itching" Monday after school. She seemed to have a rash, no big deal. Before bed time I put her in an oatmeal bath. She has red bumps all over her belly and legs. No fun to be so itchy. I thought, chiggers maybe, she played in the woods Sunday evening with the neighbor kids.

"I saw two ticks today at school. One at recess, and one after recess, in the class." She is afraid she has ticks.

Well, around here it is a reasonable fear... Upon closer inspection, guess what... little tiny brown specks near her splotchy rashes.

OMG. I picked about 10 teeny, tiny, microscopic, can't hardly see 'em with your naked eye, TICKS off of that child! I had to use tweezers, they were too small to grab otherwise!

Yesterday, she was still itchy and had a rash. Another oatmeal bath, and two more ticks...

We have an appointment with the pediatrician today to check the rash. I saved the ticks on a piece of scotch tape because I know the doctor won't believe me when I tell him they were tiny ticks.

Who knows where they came from: the play ground at school, the woods behind the house, the neighbors yard????

I'm starting to feel like Eva Gabor in Green Acres. "Oli-ver I vahnt to go bak to the city!"
All this nature is making my twitchy.

Welcome To Wild Kingdom

I am not making this up!
Today, as we are leaving for the airport, a bird flew into the house. A little brown Georgia bird of some sort.

It flew into the garage, then into the open door into the house, buzzing Rita across the top of her head as it entered. It then proceeded to fly around the dining room until it flew smack into the window and sank, stunned between the window and the blinds.

I grabbed a towel, but got squemish, so Rita scooped him up and deposited him into the bush outside.

Bugs, critters, snakes, what's a little birdie flying around the house?

Manic Monday

Oh, look! It's been over a week since my last post. Ooops. I think the #2 rule of blogging is Post Often. Sorry... But it has been a busy, full week. Rita and Don (MIL & FIL) arrived last weekend for a visit and they just left today. *sniff, sniff*

We had a really good time while they were here. Mark and I were able to take off for 2 nights to Biloxi for some grown-up down-time. Mark was really needing that! Stress, stress, stress.

We went to the Georgia Aquarium for Catelin's birthday. That girl is crazy for the aquariums. She loves the one in Las Vegas too! Georgia has the World's Largest Aquarium, who knew? Well, the aquarium was really cool and the area where it is located in Atlanta is really nice and there are other things to do there as well. Coca-Cola World, a Children's museum, etc. Many things to try another day. Read: "$$$$".

We hung out, ran around, ate out, had birthday cake... All with extra Grandma hands for diaper changes, naps, baths, playing outside, etc. They also keep my house clean and do laundry. It was almost a vacation to have so much help!! Thank you!

Today is Catelin's actual birthday Oct. 6. Nine years old, hard to believe. I will try to get some pictures up this week from the aquarium and of the birthday girl. But we have a big homework project to work on this week, the school is getting ready for their Fall Festival, and the kids and I are leaving Thursday for Illinois, to spend a long weekend with my mom. Aka: Nanny.

I need a nap just thinking about this week. Oh, and that reminds me, Alex decided this past week, that he doesn't need a nap anymore. He also started climbing out of his crib to emphasize the point! I feel a "match of wills" coming up, he not giving up his nap. Mommy has spoken...