Intruder Alert

Our dog was barking like crazy this morning and I couldn't figure out why. He often barks at the cats, but they were in the kitchen with me. The dog was going nuts barking and growling at something in the hallway, so I decided to check (I was thinking maybe a mouse?).

I laughed when I saw the subject of his distress. It was too horrid, too gruesome, to frightening for the poor dog to handle. It was ...

A toy piggy bank

Voting, according to a 3-year-old

I took Katrina and Mikayla with me to vote tonight. I'm pretty sure Katrina has accompanied me to vote every opportunity in her 3.5 years. I told her today that we have to make a very important decision - who will be President. I explained that the President is in charge of all the people in our country, and it's a very big job to have.

She ran around the saying, "I go vote! I go vote!" I quizzed Katrina in the van on the way to our polling place (all of 0.9 miles away), asking her questions like, "What are we going to do?" and "We are voting for ... ?" Her response: "We vote presents! Vote my teachers!"

This reference to her teachers puzzled me. Did her preschool teacher talk about voting last week? Surely not. Maybe she overheard some of the childcare providers at the Y playroom talking?

Voting was simple and quick. No lines, no wait. I love voting in Braddock Heights.

Back in the van on the way home, I put two and two together. Katrina was not saying "I go vote," she was saying "I go boat." I finally figured this out when she made a sad face and whispered, "I go beach, Mommy, please?" She thought we were going on another cruise to the beach! Ah, my child. She's a funny one for sure. I clarified that I was saying V-O-T-E, and Katrina replied, "Oh, yeah! That's funny, Mommy."

The end. :)

And the Angels Rejoiced Greatly

My pocketbook is rejoicing greatly, too. I saw a sign yesterday that said, "Coming soon: Aldi"

We're getting an Aldi here in Frederick! Yay! For those of you who don't know, I'm from the Midwest, where it seems like there's an Aldi in every town. Aldi is a super-cheap grocery store. You won't find name brands, or much variety, but it's fairly good stuff. Aldi was great for surviving summers on campus without food service.

Until now, the nearest Aldi is in Hagerstown, about 30 minutes away. Not a big deal, but I've never managed to get over to that store. We have a huge Aldi warehouse or corporate building outside of Frederick that tricked me the first time I saw it.

I was wrong.

For quite awhile now, I have thought that Mikayla is much bigger than her sister Katrina was at this age. While the girls were very close in birth weight (Katrina was 6 lbs 10.5 oz and Mikayla was 6 lbs 12 oz), Katrina stayed scrawny for a very long time. Even today, she is very lean and muscular. On her third birthday in May, Ryan accidentally dressed her in her sister's size 3-month pants, and they fit her like shorts! Mikayla put on weight much faster, and earlier, than her big sister did, or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this comparison:

02/15/2005 - Katrina's 9-month well visit
Age: 9 months, 2 days
Weight: 17 lbs, 2 ounces
Length: 29 1/4"

09/23/2008 - Mikayla's 9-month well visit
Age: 9 months, 4 days
Weight: 16 lbs, 12 ounces
Length: 29 1/2"

It's only a difference of 6 ounces and 1/4", but I thought for sure that Mikayla (or Baby 'Kayla, as we call her) was growing bigger faster than her sister. Looks like we are in for another banana baby.

I haven't done a good job of keeping the gallery up-to-date. I did recently post some new pictures of the girls on Facebook. Let me know if you aren't on Facebook - I think I can share the album with you anyway.

In other news, we booked a vacation today ... for next week! It's a 6-day Bahamas cruise departing from Norfolk, VA. We leave on October 5th and return on the 12th. I would link to it, but the stupid Carnival Cruise website doesn't work on my computer (Firefox for Linux). Katrina is very excited about going to 'the beach.' Let a crazy week of packing begin! I've never cruised with a 9-month old ... any tips on what to do (or what not to do)?

First Day of School

I had this great plan of getting a picture of Katrina wearing her backpack, smiling, etc. Yeah, right. Mommy's plans + strong-willed child = tears. We did get a few good pictures, though.








































(Note the beloved new sneakers. She slept in them the first day we got them. Literally. She refused to take a nap until Daddy helped her put her sneakers on - then she went right to sleep.)

And the outtakes ...

"Hold me, Mommy, hold me!!!"




















"No take my picture."














Tears.















If you look closely, you can see her fat lip. It's almost healed now. Wednesday night we were playing in the living room when Katrina hit her lip on the hardwood floor. Instant fat lip. Those pictures are on our other camera, but I'll post them soon. Of course she gets a split lip right before the first day of school. When Ryan was praying with Katrina Wednesday night, he said something like, "Help Katrina's lip feel better soon." Katrina interrupted him and said, "Mom did it, Dad." She blames me for her hurt lip! (We were roughhousing ... and she tried to dive on top of me and hit the floor.)

I can only imagine what she will tell her teacher today. She'll probably say that her mom hurt her lip, and her teacher will call Children and Family Services.

'Twas the night before preschool ...

Katrina starts preschool tomorrow. I think she's all ready.


Her lunch is packed:
















Her backpack is ready:




















She has a nametag, so the teacher can learn her name:















We've read some stories to get ready for the big day:




























Homework is done:













*Her class will read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, so our homework was to trace a parent's hand and send it to school on the first day. I, of course, went overboard and traced everybody's hands - Daddy's, mine, and Mikayla's. I couldn't get the cats to sit still long enough to trace their paws.


And Katrina is fast asleep, resting for the big day ahead:














The question is, am I ready for my little girl to go off to school?


Edit: Blogger is driving me crazy. I can't fix the layout of the text and photos. It looks fine in the preview, then is all messed up when published. Grr.

Life at Warp Speed

Suddenly life has gotten very busy.

• Work is picking up again ... it's the end of the Government fiscal year on September 30, so everybody's trying to allocate money ASAP.
  
• Work is busy for Ryan, too. He just got home around 9:00 tonight. Thankfully he's able to work from home tomorrow.
  
• We rejoined the YMCA with some friends, yet ironically, haven't had time to go together. I'm trying to go three times a week. Exercising has become my "me" time. I can read, listen to music, or watch t.v. ... without interruption. I can shower without interruption, too! Gym childcare is a blessed invention.
  
• I have some major forms/paperwork to fill out for Ministry Assessment in January. Ministry Assessment is a requirement of the Mid-Atlantic District before being granted a district license. It's meant to be a time of, well, assessment. The paperwork includes registration forms, records of service, some pretty intense questionnaires ... yikes! Those are all due by October 1.
  
• Katrina starts preschool on Friday and dance class on Monday. She'll go to preschool one day a week (Fridays) at a church near our house from 9:30 - 1:30. She is growing so fast! I keep forgetting that she is only three. We went shopping this weekend for 'school clothes' and she was so funny. Her response to just about everything I held up for her to look at: "It fit, Mama! I like it!" I couldn't get her to choose any new pajamas, though! She turned down every option. Pictures of Katrina in her dance clothes will follow soon ... she's too cute!
  
• Mikayla is nearly 8.5 months old (today? tomorrow? sometime soon) and a sweetie. She has two teeth on the bottom and more are coming. She HATES baby food with a passion and only wants her bottle and whatever 'table food' we happen to be eating. Oh, and Gerber Puffs. She's a little crack addict with those things.
  
• Women's Bible study starts on Monday. We'll be studying Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado.
  
• I'm thinking of taking the girls on another trip to Illinois in early October, if it works out at work. Or maybe we'll go on a 'real' vacation, if we can find the right cruise. We love cruises. Haven't taken one with the girls yet, though. Could be interesting ...
  
• I've decided I want another baby. Not necessarily any time soon. But I want a chubby baby. I'm serious! Both of our girls are/were skinny babies (especially Katrina). I want a baby with chubby cheeks and cute baby tummy rolls. More baby to love, right?
  

How's that for a random list? This started out being about how busy this month is and ended on the topic of babies.