Holiday Spirit

We have been decorating for the holiday. Katie and Bill worked on a gingerbread house - it was delicious :)
We are making paper snowflakes.

Then hanging them on the windows - its the next best thing to real snow.

We got our Christmas tree last weekend - Katie did an awesome job decorating it.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Katie singing " OH Chrsitmas Tree" and dancing while decorating. She is definitely in the Christmas spirit

Thanksgiving

We headed south for Thanksgiving - NC to visit mom and dad.
Maggie is now 10 months old and here she is pointing a butterfly while we are out taking her for a walk.
Katie and Maggie had fun playing. Maggie loves to give kisses.

Katie and Grandpa fishing off the boat - not very successful but had fun.

We took the boat out for a sail. Katie does so great walking around on the boat - no fear at all. Here they are having a snack on the boat - mom,Katie and Emma ( the dog)

Emma loves to go sailing

Captain Bill and hi First Mate Katie

Enjoying the sail.

We stopped in Virginia Beach on our way home to visit Bill's sister and her family.

Katie got her first guitar lesson.

Cousins had a great time cheering on the Dukes to a victory.

Katie and mom blowing on the conch shell and playing on the dulcimer.

Liberty Science Center

We visited the Liberty Science Center early November. Here Katie is pointing out the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Writing with a quill

Very cool science experiment about estuaries

Always fun to get your hands wet - learning about water flow

Some rock climbing

Bill and Katie took on a project to build a special cube (polyhedral) out of 3D magnetic blocks

Well done guys!!

Oops - guess it wasn't meant to be sat on.

And she rode on a square tired tricycle - who knew.

All and all a fun day - with a little learning thrown in

DJ Katie

I don't know where she comes up with this stuff

Swimming

We went to the Y this past weekend. Katie finally tried on her goggles and put them to good use.
She has been "trying" to put her face in the water for a few months - she would stick her face in or put her head under but come up immediately. We finally convinced her to try on her goggles and she loved it. It took her a few attempts before she would open her eyes, but once she did and she saw that there was no water in her eyes she was good to go.
She is acting silly

Gotta love the foot in the ear.

We asked her what she saw under water - her answer "feet - lots of feet" love that kid

Outdoor Expo

last month we went to the Outdoor Expo in Jackson. It was fun. Katie was brave enough to hold a little corn snake.

There were crafts for kids.

Here she is stuffing a pine cone with materials that a bird can use to make a nest ( neat idea )

She tried shouting an arrow. It didn't go very far but she did enjoy it.

Then we all went on a "scavenger hunt" around the lake. The call it Orienteering - you use a map and natural landmarks to find set points on the map. At the point there is a special stamp to mark your card that you were at the point. Bill did an awesome job getting us around the lake and finding all our points.

The points were marked with flags - some of them were set back a way.

All in all a fun day.

Black Belt

Katie is still doing great at karate - she will test next week for her solid yellow belt.
Here she is getting an honorary black belt for her birthday
I am not sure if you can appreciate how intensely she is standing there. She definitely has a black belt attitude

The face says it all.

Here she is sparring with her Sensei. She is the little one - front left

Happy Birthday Katie

My little girl is now 6 !!!! WOW were does the time go. As much as I love this photo I thought it was time to update.
Here she is the morning of her 6th birthday. Love you kiddo - we are so proud of you.

Monster Mini Golf

Bill, Katie and I went up to Manalapan to play Monster Mini Golf last weekend. We had never been and thought it might be fun - we were right. It was an 18 hole course under black lights. Nothing too challenging but enough for Katie to stay excited.
It's hard to take pictures with the black light but this is her enjoying herself.

A look at the whole room - the balls also glowed ( mine was yellow and it was awesome). The holes glowed so you could aim at them.

The final hole was a little creepy. The only time Katie really got scared was when Frankenstein made some noise unexpectedly.

All in all a good time - will definitely be going back in the cooler winter weather.

Riding the bus

Katie couldn't get to the bus stop fast enough - who knew riding the bus was such an adventure. I wish the day was a little nicer but it wasn't actively raining so not too bad. She had on her new dress, her new shoes, a necklace, and her bus tag - oh and a huge smile.
The bus came - I knelt down to take this picture and before I got up she was on the bus - never looked back. I was a little sad but relieved also.

She had a wonderful day. Made some new friends. And drew a great picture of herself on the bus. She is awesome.

Kindergarten

Its almost here. Katie starts kindergarten next week - she is excited - I know I am going to be a crying fool. We had orientation the other day. We were able to go to the school, meet her teacher and see her classroom and she even got to ride on the bus.
Katie showing off her new lunch box,back pack and shoes ( which I think she put one of her feet on backwards - ouch ) . The hat is on for extra flare.

Her class room was very bright and colorful. Loads of activities to stimulate her growing mind.

I know she is ready to start kindergarten. She is an incredible little girl who I am sure will excel at all she does.