Katie can ride a bike!!

My baby can now ride a 2-wheeler!! Yippee!! A friend of mine told me a good method of teaching your child to ride. When you take off the training wheels, take off the pedals, too. That way, your child learns to balance on the bike. When they can balance, put the pedals back on. It worked like a charm for us. I took off the training wheels and pedals on Sunday. Katie could easily glide across the cul-de-sac in a few days. On Friday, I put the pedals on. I held on for about a minute so she could get the hang of the pedals and that's all it took!! I'm way too old to be running behind a bike and trying to teach her the old fashioned way..lol.

A Trip to the Museum

Today we went to the Museum of Natural Science with my brother and his son. My sister-in-law is about to give birth to twins, so we decided to give her a break and let her stay home. The kids had a great time and enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs the best.

5 Years Ago Today

5 years ago today I met my amazing Katie. In some ways it seems like only yesterday, in others it seems like a lifetime ago. She is brilliant, loving, stubborn, and strong. I am blessed beyond my imagination. (no fancy restaruant for her, the park and McDonald's is how she wanted to celebrate~ my kind of girl)

The Super Bowl!!

The team Katie cheers for made it to the Super Bowl. Exciting, but not when it is SNOWING outside!! Brrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! Poor Katie froze her little butt off, but it was worth it because we won and she got a trophy!!

Another One Bites the Dust

Another tooth, that is. Katie lost tooth #5 today. It's been loose since September, but I told her not to pull it out until after school pictures (which were a few weeks ago). I need to go find our "Tooth-Fairy" pillow!!

Cheerleader Pictures

Happy Halloween!!

Katie was an Auburn cheerleader and Sarah was Dora this year. We went "Trick-or-Treating" and had a great time. After we went one way around the neighborhood, we came back home. I thought we were just emptying their pumpkins to go back out again, but surprisingly, they both said they were done. We spent the rest of the evening sitting in our driveway to pass out candy. Our whole cul-de-sac sat outside to do this, which was nice. I just love our neighborhood!!

Fall Cheerleading

Katie is starting to like being a cheerleader. When we first started, Katie would often walk over to me during practice and yell, "Why did you sign me up for this!!!" She hasn't said that in a while. Even one of the other moms commented to me the other day how far Katie has come and that she has really started to blossom. Katie loves their halftime dance. I'll have to post it here soon.

Katie is Six!!

I can't believe my baby is now six!! What a beautiful young lady she has become. I am so blessed to be her mommy!!

Katie, the cheerleader

1st day of school!!!!

My babies both started elementary school today. Katie is in kindergarten in our neighborhood elementary school and Sarah is in ppcd (preschool program for children with disabilities) at a different elementary school in our district. I was so worried about both of them today, but both did great and are looking forward to going back tomorrow.

I asked Katie if she learned any rules today and she said, "Yes. Do not touch the walls and do not touch the water fountain."

Aqua Globes

Gone are the days when PBS or Noggin was the only TV channel Katie would watch. She now sometimes watches big kid cartoon channels, which unfortunately have commercials. She is easily influenced by them. We have a flowerpot on our front porch and the flowers are usually pretty wilted. Every time we leave the house, Sarah tells me to water the flowers. However, Katie insists that water alone will not help the poor flowers. We MUST get Aqua Globes < /div>

!!

Vacation Bible School

Katie and Maci are attending VBS this week near our house. Sadly, they are not in the same class, but Katie is still having a great time. I was worried she'd be frightened, but she is holding up very well. My little baby is growing up!!

The Tooth Fairy Returns!!

Katie lost tooth #3 yesterday. #4 and 5 are close behind. She was so excited to put her tooth in her tooth Fairy pillow last night and just as excited when she found money in it this morning.

Visit to the Dentist

Today I took the girls to the dentist for a routine check-up and cleaning. It was Sarah's first visit. I was worried she's be scared, but she did great. Our dentist is wonderful and we love her to pieces. She doesn't let parents go back until the end of the check-up so I had no idea what was going on. First Katie went back to get her's checked. Then Sarah went back. After she was done with Sarah, she called me back to discuss their teeth. First she showed me Sarah's x-rays. My poor baby has 4 cavities. 3 are in the front on top and are due mostly to her cleft (her teeth in the middle are scrunched together) and the 4th is in her back molar. We decided to pull 2 of them because it would be tough to get crowns on them and 2 will be filled. I was kind of surprised Sarah's teeth were such a mess because she absolutely LOVES brushing her teeth. When Dr. L was done discussing Sarah's teeth, I braced myself for Katie's report (Katie hates brushing her teeth and has already had a lot of work done on her teeth~ 9+ cavities in the past). Shockingly, Dr. L said Katie's teeth looked great!! Praise God!! And that she has gotten her 6-year old molars, which may explain her crankiness lately. I have to bring her back to get sealant on her new teeth, but otherwise all is well. Poor Sarah will go back in 2 weeks to get sedated and have her teeth fixed.

Katie's New Haircut

Friday morning, I woke up and noticed that Katie had cut her hair!! I was shocked. I'm usually so good about keeping the scissors out of reach. She had cut off a huge chunk of hair on both sides of her head at shoulder length. And she refused to tell me where the scissors were. Grrrrr. Thankfully she was about to leave for reading class so I had time to search for them without her. After about a 45 minute search, I found the scissors shoved under my comforter. I also found her hair, Barbie's hair, and a Barbie who just got a haircut. After Katie got home, we went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Wendy's shop to even out her do.

Happy Independence Day!!

We had a nice 4th of July. In the morning we met some friends at a park. We had a great time until it started raining. In the evening we went to the race track to watch the fireworks display with my brother and his family. Katie and Sarah both hate the noise of fireworks, but both did amazingly well. This is a picture of Katie and Sarah with their cousin, Ben, waiting for the fireworks show to start (notice the earmuffs we got at Lowe's to reduce the noise).

Katie and Maci

Maci is our next door neighbor, and Katie's best friend. They are both quite the handful, especially when they are together. I am sure they will whip their elementary school into shape when they start school in August. Their kindergarten teachers better be ready!! : )

Swimming Lessons

Katie and Sarah finished their 2-weeks of everyday swimming lessons today. What a difference 2 weeks makes!! Katie has always been terrified of getting her face wet. After the first day of lessons, she told me, "I'm not going back to swimming lessons. I'll just go watch Sarah. I'll just use my vest and noodle forever!!" We will continue with 2 days a week after the 4th of July weekend. I am so proud of my girls!!!!

Sea World

For the past 5 years, I have been scrimping and saving to pay for my adoptions and have not really traveled anywhere, except Kazakhstan and China. I decided it was time to take my girls on a vacation. I have such fold memories of my family vacations when I was growing up and want my kids to have the same memories. We went to SeaWorld and had a great time. Sarah LOVED Shamu (and getting soaked) and Katie loved climbing the big rope wall (and giving mommy a heart attack in the process).