California

We went to California for 4 days a couple of weeks ago. Above are some photos of Kate. We had a blast. We spent one day in Santa Monica. Kate did not want to leave the beach. She had so much fun, and the weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there.

We stayed in Beverly Hills and walked the streets of Rodeo Drive, Beverly Drive, etc. Lots of fun. One night we even walked to the Abbey in West Hollywood for dinner. Kate was the only kid there, so she had a ball getting so much attention. She took photos of many of the patrons, with my iPhone, so I had fun looking at those the next morning. I am still laughing at how many of the photos had pictures of people waving away to Kate. What a nut.

Anyways, it was a fun trip.

Dancer

Kate just finished her summer dance class (tap and ballet). She loved it. She starts ballet again in the Fall. She dances around the house constantly, and has many performances for us. Perhaps I will video-tape one of those. To the far left is Kate in her dance leotard, and of course she has to do a curtsy on the way home in her white dress. Mel and I are both tom-boys, so it is funny that we have such a girly child.

Michelle and Hero

Okay, we just went to California for 4 days and then stayed in downtown Chicago the following weekend, so our friend Michelle ended up keeping Hero for over a week. The great news is that she spoiled him rotten and the bad news is that she spoiled him rotten. :-)

As you can see from the photo, he now wants nothing to do with his dog bed. He now thinks he is a person and belongs on the couch. Mel is quite pleased, as you can also see in the photo. He also thinks that when it is nightime, he should be going to bed with us. Talk about crowded!! Me, Melanie, Kate, Bart and Hero. Wow, let's just bring the 60 ants up, too.

Now I know why he is so excited when he sees Michelle, as he is obviously treated MUCH better at her house. Next, he will be on the computer buying us plane tickets so we will leave again.

Young Tiger Update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhikjTtSqt8

Here is the youtube video, with a little clip of Kate doing her punches. She just got her yellow-striped belt, so of course she is already asking when she is going to get her black belt.

The Ants are Coming!!

Here is Kate, getting ready for her ants. She has two Ant Condos, and we connected them with a little tube. Kate wants them to be able to chit-chat and have meetings, so we connected them.

She has 60 ants coming in the mail, and she is already busy coming up with names and worrying about how she is going to care for 62 pets (including Bart an Hero). I will be sure to add more photos once we get them and they are tunneling.

New Bed

We FINALLY bought a new bed for Kate. Of course, Mel thinks this is a waste of money, since she always insists on sleeping with us. She had her little toddler bed for over a year, and I think Hero and Bart used it way more than Kate.

Then, the nerve of the little rascal... Yesterday morning, she comes downstairs and tells me that she did not sleep very well the night before. Me, all concerned, asked her why. She replied that I was crowding her too much in bed. Me, the crowder. I cannot believe her. I just laughed out loud and told her that we are going to be sure she has LOTS of space in her new bed. I suspect no more complaining about the crowding.

I hope to have an update soon about how Kate is sleeping through the night in her new bed. Wish us luck. We bought her a trundle bed, and I hope Mel and I do not end up sleeping in the bottom trundle.

Kate

Okay, this is just a new photo of Kate that I like.  I actually just got her hair cut pretty short today, so it does not look like this, now.  She is taking ballet, tap and tae kwon do right now.  She is supposed to have her hair up, which she hates.  What kid loves having their hair in a bun?!?!  

So, here is Kate before the hair cut.

Keee-Yah!

Kate is loving Tae Kwon Do!  She now has 4 skill tips on her belt.  She should get a new belt in a month or so.  Below are some photos of the little champ.

Young Activist

I am such a proud mom!!  Last weekend, I was scheduled to volunteer at the Midsommerfest in Chicago.  I worked at the Equality Illinois booth, talking to folks about the Civil Unions bill and handing out Equality Illinois materials.  Kate and Mel came with me and toured the festival.  When they stopped by, Kate started handing out materials, too.  Well, she ended up doing this for nearly 2 hours!  She had a ball and I was so proud of her being a young activist for her two mommies.  She proudly wore her Equality Illinois sticker and pin (next time we need to find a small Equality Illinois t-shirt for her!).

Above is a photo of Kate handing out materials.

Racoon Update

Okay, there was MAJOR drama over the racoons.  I wanted to give you all an update.

On the morning we were to leave for our Disney vacation, Mel discovered we had a racoon in the trap.  We were so excited.  Then, we realized it was 2 baby racoons!!  See photo above.  They are adorable!  We called Trapper John and left a message.  In the meantime, the mommy came out from under the porch and tried to pull one of the babies out of the cage!  Yikes!  See above.  There is a photo of this.  We were all freaked out by this.  Mel was hanging her head out the window screaming at the mother racoon to let go.  Kate was crying and very worried about the babies.  

Trapper John finally called and came over.  By then, the mother and 3 other babies had come out to screech loudly about the other two being trapped.  We were a mess, feeling so bad about this.  We told Trapper John we wanted all of the racoons trapped together and released as a family.  He looked at us like we were nuts, but we could not stand the idea of them being separated.  

So, he put the two babies in a cage and set out 3 more traps.  When he came back, he had the mother and two other babies.  He waited around for a while and caught the last little baby by hand.  So, he released them all into the forest together as a family.  

Man, what an ordeal.  But, we at least know they are all together.  Below is a picture of Trapper John putting the two little babies in a cage.

I Kissed a Girl

I just wanted to plug this song.  Who knew that there would be a #1 song on itunes called I Kissed a Girl?!?!  Love the song.

Young Tiger

Kate is now taking Tae Kwon Do. She is in the Young Tiger class. She LOVES it! She is a little in disbelief (and I bet secretly excited) that she has permission to punch in class. When the instructor tells her to do a double-punch, she always looks over at me like "Is this really okay?". Very cute. She still has her white belt, but she already has a red skill tip on it for learning her snap kicks and punches. She is the youngest and smallest in her class, so we had to do a number on hemming the uniform to get it to fit her. It is still giant on her, but it is the smallest they had. I will be posting some photos soon.

Racoon

Okay, here is the scoop on the racoon. I will for sure post a photo once it is trapped. Last week, I was taking our brilliant dog Hero out for his dusk-time potty break. There was a large "kitty" on the end table beside the glider. So, being the animal-lover that I am, I start saying "here kitty kitty" and walking towards it. I am nearly at it when it lifts its head. NO KITTY!!!! It is a racoon! Yikes! Then, I do what I always do when I see a wild critter (or a spider, turtle, anything)... I scream for Melanie. She always comes to my rescue. She chased it away, thank goodness.

BUT, we have since learned that it is nesting under our porch. I figured our zillions of tax dollars would cover someone coming to help with this, but no, you have to hire a private Wildlife Control Company. So, Trapper John shows up last night to set up the trap. Kate is on high alert and wants to check the trap about every 15 seconds. She is very worried about this.

Back to the brilliant dog... He has already set the trap once. The food in the trap looks like chocolate covered sticks (I am tempted to set it off and try one myself). Whatever it is, it is also appealing to Hero.

Stay tuned for an update. We hope there will be a trapping soon.

Visit to Richmond - April 2008

We went on our annual trip to Richmond this year to see friends and go to the Equality Virginia Dinner. It was so much fun to see everyone. And, of course, we always love staying with Jean - the best cook in America I am sure. Now for the photos... 1st one is of Kate on the plane. She named her elephant Katie Norman, and she made sure that he/she was strapped in with her. She always takes great care of Katie Norman. Actually, didn't Cindy help come up with that crazy name? Anyways, photo #2 is of Kate and Beth and Alice. Or, as she calls them... BethAlice. Kate had a ball with Beth and Alice. They even watched her on the morning of our race, and they spoiled her by serving her pancakes in bed. She is still asking me to do that for her. Yeah right. 3rd pic is of Kate and Melanie in Jean's hot-tub. This was Kate's favorite thing during the entire visit! She kept asking us when WE were going to get an outdoor bath-tub! She thought that was the coolest thing ever. Lastly, there is Kate being grumpy on Jean's stairs. Love that photo! I think she has a great grumpy look.

It was wonderful to spend so much time with everyone. And, thanks to Jean for taking Kate to see Horton so Mel and I could actually see an adult movie - Juno. A rarity for us.

I am glad I got to have breakfast with Sarah O. She looks great, as always. And, we got to spend time with Kat, Chris and Baby Emma. Man, that girl is beautiful. She looks like Baby Shiloh. I took a few photos with my iPhone, but she moves too fast. So, they are blurry. :-)

Royal Tea Party

I LOVE this picture. One day, Kate was saying that she really wanted to have a tea party with Mel. Of course, Melanie was working. Kate insisted, so we called Mel at work and Kate told her she needed to be home at 3pm that day for Tea. Mel, being the big Executive that she is, cancels her afternoon meetings to come home and have Tea with Kate. Here is the picture of them.

As is typical, Kate is naked. If she is home, she is naked.

Chicago trip

Kate and I recently took the train into Chicago. The 1st picture is of Kate on the train. She got to ride on the top section, so she thought she was very cool being up so high. We spent most of our time at Millenium Park, having lunch with our friend Amy. The 2nd picture is of Kate admiring the Big Bean sculpture. The last one is of her getting ready to attack me with her seahorse quirt gun. Very deadly.

Easter 2008

Easter is a very religious time indeed. So, what did we do to celebrate? WE WENT TO VEGAS! Woo-hoo! Mel and I went to Vegas with our friends Cindy and Jean, while little Kate stayed at home. What happens in Vegas really should stay there, so I will focus on the time that Kate had back here (even thouh Cindy has plenty of footage...). My parents flew in to take care of Kate. They took her to church, took her to the Easter egg hunt, etc. She had a ball with them.

And, of course, Kate thinks all holidays are about dressing up, so she wanted an Easter Bunny costume as her Easter present. And, thanks to Rosemary, she now has one. I included a couple of photos above of Kate in her Easter Bunny costume. Funny kid. My parents said she wore it the entire weekend.

Kate is 3 1/2!

Since Kate has a summer birthday, they celebrate 1/2 birthdays at her school. So, here is Kate at school with her 3 1/2 hat on.

Britney Parenting

Okay, there will probably be more "Britney Spears" parenting posts. Melanie and I went shopping one day. Poor little Kate hung in there as long as she could. Finally, she just laid down and took a nap. This is when we decided it would be a good time to go home.

Curse words...

Okay, the brilliant parrot (Kate) has finally picked up on all of the curse words Mel blurts out all of the time. I have had a serious talk with both Melanie and Kate. :-)

Yesterday, we were in Target waiting in line at the register. Kate was in the cart and wanted out. I told her she had to wait. She looked at me for a few seconds and then blurts out "Get my ass out of here." Not good. It would have been less embarassing for her to scream out that I have an enormous crush on Jennifer Beals (actually, who wouldn't be?!?! She's hot!). My God.

Once we got in the car, I had the "curse word" discussion with her, but she began the debate by claiming that MaMel curses. Mel said she did not, and Kate then went into details about what she said and where/when. So, we spent the weekend having this conversation many times. I thought it was behind us.

THEN... I was just outside doing yardwork while Kate was playing. She has a little play-house outside, and apparently Hero pooped in it. So, Kate came running up to me telling me that her play-house smelled like dog-shit. Next year, we might want to buy that insurance for school where if your kid gets kicked out, you can have a pro-rated refund. :-)

I suspect we are in for many discussions on this topic.

Hero's Sweater

Well, Hero got a new sweater for Christmas. And, as you can tell by the photos, he loves it. :-)

The 2nd photo shows what he usually does when we put it on him - plays dead. He is such a baby, but when he strolls outside in the sub-zero temperatures here in Chicago, he might grow to love it.