My Daughter is a Squirrel

My daughter is a squirrel.

Katelee loves to create little stashes of treasures here and there in hidden places around the house. I moved a chair today and found a pile of sparkly beads underneath. I pulled a blanket out from under her bed and discovered a stash of jewelry - some of it mine! I find little piles of candies (or sometime just the wrappers!) underneath the couch or behind her doll house. Today she even hid my car keys underneath the couch - I was so mad when I finally found them! I bet at any given time she has at least a dozen little pockets of treasures hidden. Is this normal behavior?

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My daughter is a flamingo.

Or at least a flamingo-in-training. This is how one of our conversations went yesterday.

Me: Katelee, could you come here?

Katelee: I can't mom! I'm practicing!

M: Practicing what?

K: I'm busy practicing, Mom!

At this point I walked into the other room to find this:

Katelee: (In a completely dead-serious voice.) Mom, I'm practicing standing like a flamingo. I'm busy right now.

And then she went back to her diligent practice.

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My daughter is a songbird.

Seriously, Katelee sings all the time. I love this about her. She sings at home, she sings in the car, she sings (VERY LOUDLY) throughout her long showers, she sings on the toilet, she sings . . . well, just about everywhere.

Tonight we were at the library. Katelee needed to use the bathroom. I watched her go into the children's room and lock the private bathroom door behind her. She knew I was going to be looking at movies in the adult section of the library - a spot quite a distance from the children's room bathroom, but still within sight. Within minutes of her going into the restroom, I heard singing. LOUD singing. Happy, lovely, cheerful little-girl-singing. Coming from the bathroom. People around me (remember - I was standing in the adult section of the library!) began to grin and glance around. Finally I had to go tap on the door and remind her this was the library! She joined me soon afterwards. She was bouncing around and doing a wiggly little dance. "I think my underwear are on wrong!" she announced loudly to anyone within 10 yards. The man browsing the movies next to me couldn't hold it any longer and started to laugh aloud - leaving the aisle to try to hide his laughter.

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My daughter is a fish.

She swam all the way across the pool on her own today! Both on her back and then forward and underwater. Happy day!

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My daughter is a love bug! My love bug. I love her so much. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

'Create' Day

Katelee, Kassandra and I decided to have a 'Create' day last week.

The girls colored pictures and wrote letters to a friend who has moved.

We made necklaces and bracelets....

Stained glass window decorations...

and frosted cupcakes!

We had so much fun!

Chop Chop!

Look what I chopped off today!

I'm donating it to cancer patients through Pantene Beautiful Locks, like I did a couple of years back. :)

Shhhhh.... don't tell. It's a secret. Gerald's out of town and he doesn't know I cut it yet.

Honey, in case you read this before you get home, here's a little preview of my new haircut:

I love it!

Katelee keeps touching my hair and saying things like, "You look weird!" and (my favorite), "New mama!"

Ha ha ha!

Summertime Is Here

...full of sunshine and fun!

We've spent part of almost everyday hanging out at the pool. Of course, I never think to take my camera. I did snap these cute pictures of Katelee rolling down the hill at the park yesterday. Gotta love it!

And playing at the fountains!

And eating a picnic lunch!

I love summertime!!

A Hairy Situation - Hairdo's Week 3

Day 21

Piggytails with combo braid/twist between.

This is a fast, easy way to spice up regular piggytails. I pulled her hair into two piggytails. Then I braided small piece of hair from the left piggy tail and pulled it across into the right piggytail. Then I took an even smaller piece of hair from the right piggy tail, twisted it, and twisted it around the braid and secured it in the left piggy tail. Curl the ends and you're done!

Day 20

"French" fishtail braid.

I've done fishtail braids before, and I really like the way they look, but I've always done the fishtail from a ponytail. Today I experimented with the 'french braid' look, using the fishtail. I kinda made it up as I went, but I really like how it turned out!

Day 19

Three knots into corkscrew buns.

First, I started by putting three knots on the top center of Katelee's head. Then I pulled all the hair two piggytails. I was going to leave it like that, but Katelee wanted me to put corkscrew braids in each piggytail. Then she wanted me to 'knot' them, too, so I tied each one in a knot. This created a bun look with a little tail that we curled. We added ribbons and viola! A fun new hairstyle! Tutorial for knots found here.

Day 18

Headband french braid into side braid.

I parted off a section on top of Katelee's head and french braided it to the side, leaving a little side braid. I just curled her naturally wavy hair under and left the rest down - beautiful! Someday soon I've got to try this headband french braid into a rosette found here.

Day 17

"Star Bun"

We have nicknamed this hairstyle the 'star bun,' because it does kinda make her head look like a star. Pull the hair into a ponytail, leaving about 1 1/2" of hair out all the way around the head. Section off the hair that was left out and secure into little ponytails. Taking half of the hair from one ponytail, and half from the other, do corkscrew braids all the way around the head and secure into the ponytail in the middle. Twist the ponytail hair into a bun.

Day 16

Looped Braid Piggytails

This is fast and easy, but might be one of my very favorite hairstyles ever! Part the hair (I did a zigzag part) and pull up into two piggy tails. Braid each piggy tail. Take the end of the braid and tuck into the piggy tail elastic. Curl the ends. Add bows. Cute!

Day 15

Barbie Bangs with Twists

The website we found this hairdo on called it Barbie bangs - ha ha ha! Katelee loves the name. I just sectioned off a large piece of the front of her hair and smoothed down. Part on the side and secure the ends underneath the hair with a small pony in the back. I kept a small part of each side out and twisted it into little curlicues and also secured these in the back underneath the rest of the hair. I added a little gel and scuinched Katelee's hair up to make it wavy/curly.

Katelee has been really enjoying our month ' hair.

Almost everyday she does her doll's hair in a new style (or begs me to do it) and then takes pictures. Here are the pictures from this morning's photo shoot. Katelee is so fun!

Fancy Nancy Party

I love our library here. They do such fun, wonderful (and free!) things for the kiddos.

Recently we signed up to attend a Fancy Nancy party. (If you've never read a Fancy Nancy book, you are missing out. :)

We had a good time getting Katelee all 'fancified' for the party.

Creating her crown.

And her tissue paper flower.

Then each girl chose a dainty cookie and cup of water to enjoy while listening to Fancy Nancy stories.

They also sang fancy songs with actions.

And then the girls had a 'fashion parade' - throughout the entire library! I thought the librarians were very brave (and maybe a little crazy) but the girls LOVED it!

On parade...

What a fancy and fun party!