Kate started school at Wildflower Montessori this Tuesday and she absolutely loves it!!!!  She started her first day by bringing her teacher a flower and earning brownie points!  By today she has made two friends and her teacher said that you would never know she was only 2.  She also said she was smart for her age and she was a perfect student!!!!!  Yeah, I am bragging!!!  (no shame!)

The first day was her roughest day because she did not take a nap because she was missing her “blankey”.  A blanket from daycare that I had no idea she had grown so accustomed to.  So after she gave me a good guilt trip over how soft and cudley her blankee was we went on a shopping trip in search of a replacement.  We found a suitable replacement for her blankee and the rest of the week has been great.  I am kinda worried that tomorrow morning she is going to be upset because she does not get to go to school.  She has been excited every morning to get dressed and go to “MONTESSORI SCHOOL!!!”.

Kory is also so excited because on Wednesday they sent home the Scholastic Book Reader forms to order books and he felt like he was a kid again.  I wish I would have taken a picture of them sitting at the dining room table last night picking out books!

Kate quotes from the week:

“He had crazy eyes and a crazy head.  He was a WILD man!!!”   (she was referring the the man that brought the milk in for lunch.  She told me the next day thought that he was not wild or crazy.  I have no idea???)

“Mom, will you pack me a sandwich in my lunch box tomorrow?”  (she was talking about another little girl at lunch that had a sandwich and I guess she decided she needed one too)

About to Head out the door on her First Day

Needless to say a lot has happened over the last six months and to even attempt to remember might make me crazy, so I will post some pics I have captured here and there and try to express how “growny” Kate is getting.  Where does the time go!?!?!?

Well….how can I post pictures if I can’t find my camera!?!?!  It always stays in my purse and I move it once and poof it is gone!  Figures…. I will see what I can find in my “big” camera pics and post my favorites.

The following pics go all the way back to April up to now, in no particular order…

Just a-swinging at Easter

At cousin Braxton's birthday party

Hanging with Cousins Ciaran & Aidan.....loving them!!

Easter 2011, Aunt Brandi pushing her on the new swing Papaw made.

Oh yeah, she LOVES music! Hanging with Granddaddy. (Kory's grandfather)

Cutie being used as Daddy's test model.

Making a glue and sprinkles pic at Lila’s b-day party

On our trip to Big Cedar. Maybe Kate can tag along next year!

Our precious little girl in growing up tooo fast!

Cuteness at Lila's b-day party in July.

Hanging with cousin Zoe...she adores her!!

We just got back from our first family vacation in Perdido Key! We left town around 6:00pm on Saturday the 30th hoping that Kate would sleep most of the seven and a half hours it would take to drive down. It was a good plan in theory, right? Eight hours, 400 miles, and a midnight pit stop in a McDonald’s parking lot to clean up a car sickness episode, we arrived at the Indigo East condominiums.

Kate wasn’t sure what to make of the ocean at first. We waded into the water and everything was fine. Until the first wave almost knocked her down that is. She was pretty much anti-ocean for the next couple of days then. She loved playing in the sand though! We got her a sand “ice cream” kit that had little scoops and cones and she played with those a ton. We were always getting offered different flavors of ice cream to try.

There was also a pool on the premises that a zero entry kids area with spraying fountains of water. Kate loves these and even better, she met a new friend named Abby. Kate loves to make new friends, but gets her feelings hurt very easily if the other kid rebuffs her. Luckily, her and Abby hit it off and there played together for several days when they would meet up in the pool. Now if you’ve ever had the “privilege” of giving Kate a bath, you know that pouring water on her head results in a fit of gasps, crying, and thrashing around. Abby was a year or two older than Kate and was able to jump off the small ledge and go under the water. You could see the gears spinning in her head as she watched her keep going under the water. After carrying her through the pool to all the different sprays, fountains, and waterfalls that I would let pour over my head I asked her did she want to try going under the water like Abby. “Ok” she said. Surprised, I told her to close her eyes, hold her nose and close her mouth. Then I dunked her. All the way under and back up again she went. A little spluttering, but she loved it. Laura and I both cheered her on as she did it again and again. She took her bath last night and she had to be the one of pour the water on her head this time. It’s the little things that make a dad proud!

The ocean was still another matter though, we just couldn’t get her back in the ocean. She kept saying that the waves were too loud and she didn’t like them. We even tried going for a walk just on the edge of where the waves washed onto the beach and she was scared of them. Try as we would, she wasn’t interested in the water. There were sand flavored ice cream cones to be made! Either Tuesday or Wednesday, Laura and Kate had been giving Blue Bell a run for their money while I was reading a book. They had been at it for awhile when Laura said she was going to wash off in the water. She had been gone a few minutes when Kate comes walking by heading towards the water. “Where ya going, Kate?”, I asked. “To wash off. I like the waves now”, was her reply. Stunned, I dropped my book and carried her into the water. She never had a complaint the rest of the trip about the ocean. She kept telling everyone that she liked the waves now. As I would hold her and bob with the waves she would periodically tell me, “I’ll keep you safe Daddy.” That’s what it’s all about right there.

I’m sure Laura will have more to add later, but I’ll leave you with some photos.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.  I feel blessed to be in the “Mother” category today and to be celebrated.  Kate is an absolute God send in our life and I am thankful everyday for her sweet little self.

Today I  not only celebrate being a mom but being a daughter to the special mom that put up with me in the same house for 18 years!!!  Mama, I love you and appreciate everything that you have done for me.  To Mrs. Judy, my second mom.  You were my second mom before Kory and I ever started dating.  I love you you and am so thankful to have you in my life.

Today my heart and prayers go out to anyone that has lost their mom, who never knew there mom, or to anyone that wants to be a mom and is not.  May God’s love comfort you today.

Soon to come will be Easter pics and more!!!

So I have been keeping an eye on my friend Denise’s blog and secretly comparing myself to see which one of us would post first.  Of course she won!  (http://candidcavin.wordpress.com/)But now that she has made a post I am making myself put one out too, but I am not promising this is going to be long!

This year has been a crazy year to put it lightly and I truly can’t remember all of the adorable and not so adorable things Kate has been up too.  However I have managed to catch some things on camera.  She is absolutly precious and it such a little girl these days, no more baby in our house.  Being 2 has brought about several new things: terrible 2 tantrums (YAY!!), actual conversations (on the phone now), potty training challenges and more.  She is loving her new class and so are we, her teacher is great and she learns something new everyday.

Okay, I said it was not going to be long…how about some pics?!?!

Creating a Starbucks addict early!! (Hot chocolate I promise)

She insists that this bowl is her rain hat

Poor Little sick girl

Trip to ToysRUs for her birthday since her party got canceled.

Happy 2nd Birthday!!

1st ponytail of the season

Lila & Kate at the BKing have a play date!

Not sure what looks she was going for here...

This is mom's makeup... Note to self: be sure you know what Kate is doing at all times.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I realized that Christmas got us a little side tracked and things have been crazy busy, so I wanted to documents so stuff before I forget…and I think I already have forgot some.

Just like Baby Center said she would, Kate has gone from saying 1-2 words to 4-5 words sentences.  When you tell her something she thinks it through and then typically responds with some other option.  She is doing really good with her potty training and will move up at daycare on Monday.  In this new class, they will finally let her wear her panties, so I really expect her to be completely potty trained really soon.  She can count to 10 (always skipping 5) and seems to know several of her colors and shapes.  Her absolute favorite thing still to do is watch Blue’s Clues….yes that is always her request when you suggest she do something else.  ”Watch Blue’s Clues new minutes” …. her “new” means few.  Since her break from daycare (they are closed the last week of the year) she has been doing really good when I drop her off in the mornings.  But we had a first yesterday, and I am not sure my heart can take it if she continues this: yesterday I went into work for a few hours and when I got home we were sitting at her table eating lunch and she said “I missed you”….talk about break my heart!  Kory swore that he did not set her up for that.  She continued to tell me that she loved me and mentioned that she had missed me a few more times.  Really, how I am supposed to handle that?…it was only a few hours…does she know that the weekend is supposed to be all hers?  Anyway, I guess we will see what next week brings on that front.

Right now all she ever asks to eat is “apple bogurt” and apple sauce….and sometimes she throws fruits snacks in the mix.  She really likes putting her babies “night, night” in their new bed Granna and Papaw got them for Christmas.  We are still really struggling with bedtime ourselves, but it has to get better, right?  No matter what time we start the bedtime ritual or what tricks we pull out of our sleeve, it always seems to be around 10:00 before she gives up and finally goes to sleep.  The sign that she is finally going to stay in bed and not get up and ask to potty, ask for milk, ask for “bogurt”, ask to sing Twinkle “one more time” is when she asks for a kiss and tells you good night and sweet dreams…I think she knows that may make up for the 30 minutes we spent sitting in the bathroom waiting for her to poop because she saved it up all day as a bedtime stall tactic!

Well, I seem to have run out of things to ramble on about.  Be sure and check out the Christmas post below.  I got up before Kate and Daddy and thought I better use the time to make a post or two!

I will leave you with an oldie, but a goodie…I can’t believe she is going to be 2 in less than a month!

We had a really great Christmas this year!  Kate got so excited about Santa Claus  and now she thinks everyday is Jesus’ birthday.  With our 25 days of Christmas she has asked to open presents a few nights since Christmas, but she has understood when I told her we did not have anymore (even though our Christmas tree is still up!)  On Christmas morning, both sets of Grandparents got to be here to see her see all the goods that Santa left for her in exchange for the pacis she left in her stocking. We did have to wake the  little sleepyhead up at 8:30 to come and see all of her gifts.  She got a little table, just her size, a tent and tunnel set, and she got a stuffed Blue and a few other things from Santa.  I love the table!  Everybody was so sweet to her and got her lots of fun things for Christmas.  We even had to rearrange her room to make them all fit!  Below are a few pictures that I had on my camera, I realized when I imported them this morning that Kory must have taken all of the Santa time pics.  (Maybe sometime within the week he will post them…hint, hint!)  And maybe Pop will e-mail me the ones he got with all the girls!

Like I have mentioned before, our daughter has such style…..

Gotta put on her new boots

I know ya’ll are thinking “who is this person that is actually posting on a regular basis?”!!  I am grabbing every chance I can to get all of my pictures straight now that they are coming from different cameras.  I should also add that I have a little more “free” time now that Kate has become addicted to Blues Clues….the child can’t get enough.  She wakes up asking to watch it and comes home asking to watch it after she eats…I am not so sure that the attraction is not getting to lay in Mommy and Daddy’s bed to do it!  Please don’t judge me!!  I do not always have her sitting in front of the TV!

Some things that I have been going on with us lately.  We are having our first annual family 25 days of Christmas.  We have been exchanging gifts every night since Dec 1.  And can I say, Kate LOVES to open gifts, no gift gives her problems!  It is so cute, she gets so excited no matter what it is…she says Ooooooo over cups and bowls!!  Kate is in a phase that she HATES going to daycare and every morning is a battle for me and her teachers when I drop her off.  They told me this afternoon that this morning’s fit “only” lasted 15 minutes.  I feel absolutely horrible, but am at a loss over what has triggered this and am upset that the magic fix it button is lost!  I feel like I have been so busy, but for the life of me I can’t say what we have been doing.  Oh yeah, Kate and I went with Aunt Aarin and Baby Gray to visit Santa Saturday morning.  Kate has been soooo excited about Santa and could not say enough about him when we saw him, but she was not so sure about sitting in his lap.  She was like wait a minute, he is real and not a picture!  Kory has been just shy of breathing photography.  We are both excited about the opportunities that have opened up and are looking forward to where they will take us.

Okay enough of my babble onto pictures!