Thankful

I got this idea from a friend. We call it a "Thankful Tree", and everyday in November we write down what Kate is thankful for that day. Obviously November is not quite over yet, but I thought today was a good day to post Kate's Thankful Tree. She has quite a lot to Thankful for, as most of us do.

1. Groceries and Food
2. Cake
3. Cousin Aubrie
4. Mommy
5. Books
6. The Library
7. Home
8. Pocket Money
9. Paints
10. the Airport
11. Mommy's Birthday
12. Kate
13. Nonni & Pa-Pa
14. Michael
15. Mike (Sorry Beth, you never did make the list!)
16. Uncle Zach, Aunt Sami & Annalise
17. My new haircut
18. Great Grandma
19. Daddy
20. Ballet
21. Toys
22. my teachers
23. my Friends
24. presents
25. Old McDonald's Farm
26. French
27. my princess mat puzzle


And Michael? I think today he is thankful that he finally walking. He started taking unassisted steps across the room this morning. Hooray Michael!


Happy Thanksgiving! Love to you all.

Most Helpful

The UK doesn't have the wonderful food-fest we call Thanksgiving, so we are heading to Paris this weekend. This way, I can stuff my face with cheese, wine and crepes and not think about all the pumpkin pie I'm missing.

Since Kate is the only one of us who speaks any French, and she can't yet read, I was studying up on a few French phrases to learn before our trip.

What did I learn from my handy-dandy translation dictionary?

Filed under, "Helpful Phrases":

Je suis lesbienne
J'ai une maladie contagieuse
Fous-moi lapaix!

Translation, s'il voux plait?

I am a lesbian
I have a contagious disease
Drop dead!


Tres Bien. We're all set now!

A Girl and Her Namesake

While we were in Orlando, we were very fortunate to be able to go visit my grandma in Tampa. My Kathryn is named after my grandma Catherine, don't ya know?

Kate is still talking about Great Grandma, and how funny she is. This was Grandma's first time to meet Michael, and he had a harder time warming up to her.




Soon, both of the kids had a great time. A funny story: Kate was looking at all the pictures around her house of John and me as kids. She would point to the photos and say "Look! There is you and Daddy!". I explained to her that it was actually Uncle John, and she was so confused. "But where is Daddy? Why are there all these pictures of you and Uncle John? Did you marry Uncle John too?". She loves to look at the photos of danny and I "getting married".



Grandma said that she felt like she had her own family back around her, with both a Kathryn and a Michael there. She had a son named Michael too. Maybe my next kid will be named Anthony (her other son) and we'll go for a hat trick.

Prom Pictures yet to come

While I was in Texas last week, I got the chance to meet up with some friends and their kiddos. Kate had so much fun.
She is still talking about how "her friends left her outside. They would run inside and close the door on me". The kids would be playing outside, and then they would all run inside and leave her out there by herself. It didn't upset her, so it was quite funny.
A look at Kate and Jack.

2 months before their grand debut (Kate is 2 weeks older than Jack):



Two months old:


and last week, finally able to play together:




Thanks for having us Judie. Kate told me that she really "liked all of Jack & Cooper's toys, but not the make-up. The make-up wasn't fun".

(Us moms were playing with make-up for awhile, and apparently Kate didn't want to look to feminine in front of all those boys).

My, what big eyes you have

The UK doesn't really celebrate Halloween. There is no trick or treating, and although some children do dress up, the holiday is more about witches, ghosts and goblins than Buzz Lightyear or clowns or whatever.
So we were really excited to be in Orlando for Halloween, since Danny & I, I mean Kate & Michael, love Halloween candy.

Kate dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, and Michael was the Big Bad Wolf, or the Cute Little Wolf, as it were.








It was quite difficult to get a picture of the two of them sitting still, so this is the best I could do. Kate loved their costumes, and referred to Michael as "Wolfie" for about 5 days straight.


We attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which was a lot of fun. They had a parade and fireworks, and Michael just couldn't stand the excitement.

Blogcation is Over

I'm back from Dallas and ending my blogcation. Danny's parents ended up having to postpone their trip, so I have a bit more time on my hands than I thought I would.

I still have to go back and do some serious updating on here, but I quickly wanted to post this PSA to any and all of you who fly. When you are at the airport waiting to board your flight, if you see some small children waiting at the gate, it's really nice when you groan loudly and tell your partner in an almost-shout "Hope those rugrats aren't near us!". It is especially effective if said children are sitting quietly on the floor, reading a book and not even running wild.
When you get on the plane and see that you are indeed sitting within 4 rows of these small children, make sure you throw your bags down onto your chair in a huff while you storm off to see about "changing seats so you don't have to sit next to those brats for the whole flight". When it turns out the flight is full and you're stuck, evil eyes, lots of heavy sighing and pointed stares are definitely appropriate. Make sure you turn around every two minutes to peer between the seats to get an eyeful of what those wretched children are doing. Be sure to talk disparagingly about my children loud enough so that my three year old can hear and understand you, too. Make a big show of putting on your headphones and your eye mask, so that everyone around you knows just how angry and irritated you are.

Next time, I'll ensure that my kid kicks the seatback, screams loudly and throws cheerios in your hair. And maybe I'll throw a dirty diaper under your seat, just for good measure.


I never cease to be amazed at what jerks people can be to people traveling with children on airplanes. Not just once, not a couple of times, but nearly every time we fly. And although my kids don't usually sleep on airplanes, they are really very well-behaved and quiet for the duration of the flight. Yes, even Michael. I just shove food at him for the entire flight and he stays happy and quiet.

The 6th in the 6th

OK, I know I said I wasn't going to post for awhile, but I am addicted to the internet.
Plus, I got tagged by my friend Stephanie, and I never get tagged. So I have to live up to my tag so that I may get more.

Anyway, I'm supposed to grab the 6th picture in my 6th folder. iPhoto doesn't really have folders, so I'm grabbing the 6th photo in the 6th event.



Not super exciting, I'm afraid. It is a statue outside the memorial of the OK City Bombing site. Danny and I visited OKC (with a side trip to Norman for a disastrous A&M Football game. The score was, no lie, like 77-3) in 2003, I think? We spent a good deal of time at the memorial of the bombing, and it was quite moving. This statue is titled "And Jesus Wept". The grey building in the background is the entrance into the memorial, and it reads "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived, and those who changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, peace, hope, strength, and serenity".



Okay, back to my blogcation!

Blogcation

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We went to Disney World for a wonderful week, & then came home to play catch up. I'm leaving tomorrow to fly back to the US for a little over a week to deal with some family matters, and then Danny's parents will be visiting us for the following 2 weeks. So it will likely be some time before I am able to get back on here and do some updates.

I'm flying alone tomorrow for 10 hours with the kids. And Michael is cutting his molars and hasn't napped in a week. It's going to be awesome. And alcohol is no longer free in coach. I'm going to need copious amounts of it to deal with him. Or, need to buy copious amounts of it for the people sitting around us.