you're still here??

Congratulations to you for checking if I have finally written a new blog post -- six months since my last!!

I had a baby 3 months ago. I will show you pictures...soon.

I received the world's greatest hair flat iron for Christmas.

The kids were in a homeschoool play.

Adam built a castle for a princess's birthday party because he is the best dad and husband ever.

It snowed in October, but was 79 degrees last week.

There. I think we are all caught up now.

not over yet

I loved summer.

It flew by.

But I think I enjoyed it as much as I could.

(And at the end of everyday I was so very tired that all I could think about was sleeping. So the blog just sat here; undisturbed, but not forgotten because my husband will often remind me how I haven't posted anything lately.)

Even though we started school in the beginning of August, and today begins September, my summer isn't over yet. Our little pool is still up and providing afternoon fun. The grass is still growing like crazy. And there is still some beach in my future. The official first day of Autumn is three weeks away, and I am happy about that.

The baby's arrival is about 100 days away and I am happy about that too. Happy because 100 days means I don't have to wait so very long to meet her, but 100 days also means I have that many more days to finish up all those things that "have" to be done before it's baby-time.

And I do want to catch up on this blog, only because at the beginning of the year when I was posting more regularly I was excitedly planning to have my blog printed out at the end of the year into a book as a sort of family scrapbook, and if I do that now, the book will have some rather large voids even though the year was filled. So here's hoping that I can catch up. Though as I recall, I was hoping to catch up on the blog when I was pregnant with Lizzie too...and that never happened. Oh, well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy every last drop of summer these next weeks provide. Love the sun, the smells, and the fresh veggies while they are still around. I know I will.

up to

birthdays

summer break

creek dam building with Mom-Mom

Flag Day fun with out-of-town friends

cake

cake

more cake

river wading

Father's Day

Cape May

fresh caught flounder

skee ball

kiddie pool

sunburned shoulders

cleared-off dining room table

good-bye bags of basement trash

belly bump grows

bunk bed collapse

mattress trampoline in the basement

lost tooth

forgetful tooth fairy

cousin fun

new baby teeth

strawberries

van vacuumed

booboo kisses

teeny tiny baby kicks

flip flops everywhere

steaks on the grill

books in the mail

bridesmaid dress fitting

photo shoot with my sister and soon-to-be hubs

bacon pecan waffle with whipped cream and real maple syrup

bean sprouts

cut grass

seeds

front porch evenings

thunderstorms

yard sale treasure

sidewalk chalk

bubbles

fresh paint

family time

fun

happiness

daylight

I have things to blog about, but unfortunately I am currently being held hostage by my basement.

The terms of release require the disposal of all trash, clutter, and otherwise purposeless junk that I have been storing there for the last four years.

Hopefully I'll be out soon!

end of the year

I just received my evaluation for Joey's first grade school year:

At bedtime tonight Joey told me, "I used to think reading was boring, but now I think it's amazingly fun."

I'm happy.

cake pops

Joey had a birthday.

So we made a cake.

And then they scooped it out of the pan into a bowl.

Then they crumbled it into crumbs.

Then Joey dumped in almost a whole can of frosting,

and mixed it up until it was nice and squishy.

Then we shaped it into balls,

but then flattened the balls on the top and bottom.

I then sliced some marshmallows into four slices and the kids cut little circles out of them using an icing tip.

Using some melted candy melts, the kids attached the marshmallow rounds to the tops of the cake balls.

Then we dipped the tips of lollipop sticks into the bit of melted candy and inserted them halfway into the pop.

While we waited for the pops to harden in the freezer, we melted a bag of candy melts in a double boiler,

then we dipped the cake pops into the melted candy and twirled and shaked to try to get the candy coating on evenly.

(Note: up until this step, this project is extremely kid-friendly. The dipping and twirling and shaking is not. I had never worked with candy melts and this was hard for me to do. The kids can dip the pops into the melted candy, but it is best for an adult to do the finishing.)

Can you tell what they are yet?

After the candy was nice and dry, it was time to give them faces.

They're Lego heads!

Joey was happy with the results.



All that was left to do was to light the candles,



blow,



and enjoy!

(These turned out nicely because I used the directions I found here. I used icing instead of decorator pens for the faces -- the pens would have been much easier.)

little people live here

Little people make the house noisy. They fill it up with crumbs. They leave artwork on the refrigerator door and on the wall in the foyer.

And they do things like this:

An interesting discovery I made while turning off the bathroom light before bed that made me smile and enjoy her Katie-ness just a bit more.

There is an even littler little person in this house who discovered she can do things like climb on top of the kids table,

stand on top of stools to see what is out of view,

and climb on top of the kitchen table when she needs to study the nutritional value of a Happy Meal.

(She realized that sadly, the food standards in this household have taken a turn for the worse since my stomach got all weird and icky with the pregnancy. Hopefully we'll be back to normal in a couple weeks.)

And, alas, I am stuck with no clever way to finish this post.

I will blame that on being pregnant too; which, I guess, is the result of a little person living inside of me, so there's my ending after all. :)

So, what have your little people been up to lately?

(update: I just re-read this post at 9:50 and found a typo in each of the first three sentences. Arg! What is wrong with me?!)

learned

Lessons of the first trimester I have been reminded of in these past few weeks:

1. No matter how much of a good idea your weird pregnant appetite tells you it is to eat a big bowl of baked beans for lunch -- it isn't. Ever.

2. Someone will inevitably get the stomach bug while you suffer from morning sickness. Consider each yucky crib sheet change as some bonus supermom points.

3. An awesome husband who takes over cooking dinner, grocery shopping, changing yucky morning diapers, and numerous other household duties is an invaluable asset. Do not take him for granted. Love him, thank him, and promise him you will be normal again...soon.

4. There is no such thing as too much peanut butter and jelly.

5. When you have an opportunity to sit, sit. Sitting is wonderful.

6. When you have the opportunity to sleep, sleep. Sleeping is even better than sitting.

7. Growing a baby is hard work, but it's worth it.

nicknames

JoeyBear



KatieBug



LizzieBee



KidneyBean





Ok, so the last one needs a little work. I have 7 months to think about it.

ponder

Why is the thing with a thousand choking-hazard-make-a-mess pieces...




...the very thing they want to play with?

good for something

Do you know that first day of summer weather in the spring?

Do you know what that day is good for?


It's good for a picnic at the park



and hanging out.



It's good for showing off how awesome your hair looks blowing in the breeze



and eating soft pretzels.



It's good for discovering how mulch feels



and discovering how mulch tastes.



It's good for showing off



and cooling off.



It's good for making new friends



and finding friendly creatures.



It's good for climbing the highest



and showing that you can do it too.


(and for showing off that awesome cloth diaper rear)


It's a good day to just be a child.



And it's a good day



to take way too many pictures



of some piggy-tails.