Go Big Blue

It was a beautiful fall day today and we headed out to the lake for a visit with Grammy and Papa. I warned Katelyn not to wear this outfit to Papa's house but she said, "Mommy, I bleed blue and the Cats are playing Louisville today. I've got to cheer for Kentucky!!" :)She prayed and prayed that they would win the game....

And sure enough...UK beat Louisville....Katelyn's cheering worked.

She ran after that red team with her stick and sent them back to The 'Ville.

But then she felt a little bad after the Michigan State/Notre Dame game. Maybe we should have brought her Junior Spartan shirt to change into between games....

(On a side note...look at how tall this child is getting...and good grief, how fast does her hair grow??)

My little Van Gogh

Katelyn has been going through a big separation anxiety phase over this past week or so. All of a sudden she screams and screams when I leave her anywhere...the nursery at the gym, at a friend's house... And it's not just a cry for a few minutes and then stop sort of scream. Last night she cried for 45 minutes and my sweet friend brought her over to the church to me. She just wants mommy. I love to spend time with Katelyn and there are limited times that she's not with her dad, myself or my parents. Amazing how one day all is well and the next day she'll have nothing of it. Anyway, today I decided that she won't be little forever. This desire to be with me all the time will eventually pass and a day will come where she's not interested in spending time with me at all. So if we're going to spend all this time together we're going to do something fun!!!

Obviously our fun activity tonight was painting. What you can't hear is the silly songs CD that is playing. You can't see Katelyn dancing and singing along with "Old MacDonald Had A Farm." Her new FAVORITE song. Eeeeyiyee, Eeeeyiyeee, Ohhhh.

Katelyn looked at me and announced, "I wub to paint!"

Tonight remined me that watching Dora on TV is convenient and Katelyn enjoys it, but she was so excited about listening to music and painting. It was fun to watch her choose her colors and talk about her painting.

I mean, I might just have the next Van Gogh here!

Joy of a child

I came home Wednesday evening after a very full and long day at the church. When I pulled into the driveway Katelyn, my parents and my neighbors were all out front. My neighbors had their sprinkler going and Katelyn wanted to go in it. It had been a beautiful day out and before we know it fall and winter will be here. I told her she could go play in the water and she did a double take...looked at me for a brief moment as if to say, "Really?" And when she saw I meant it she ran next door and right into the water. She stood there with her hands out saying, "It's raining. It's raining." so I grabbed the umbrella...

There are so many times when I have to say no...when I have to tell Katelyn to stop doing something. But I want to make sure there are plenty of times I say yes. It may mean that she ends up wet or dirty or something takes longer to clean up...but kids grow up so fast and I want her to look back on her childhood and remember times of play...of laughter...of wonder. I don't want her to miss out on being a kid because getting messy is inconvenient for me...

And we all laughed and hung out together with a little bundle of joy running around...and then the little bundle got tossed into a warm bath...and slept well.

On the garden front...my tomaotes and peppers have gone crazy. Isn't this beautiful? I paid about $20 for the plants and dirt I needed for this year's garden. Boy has that paid off. We eat the little grape and pear tomatoes all throughout the day. I made more salsa and spaghetti sauce this week. I'm going to can some tomatoes on Monday. I think I should be set for most of the fall and winter.