Callaway Gardens

We decided to take a day trip to Callaway Gardens last minute. We packed a cooler for a picnic and headed to Pine Mountain. We were not sure if Kate would enjoy it, but she did have a good time. She enjoyed seeing the Koi fish and the waterfall at one of the exhibits. We saw butterflies and she loved seeing the parrots. I think she was just tickled to be able to run around outdoors in a different setting than our backyard.

Emma

Meet Emma, the newest addition to our family. She is a very sweet kitten who is very loving and not at all shy. She has stayed on our patio all day meowing for us to come play with her. Kate adores her new kitten and the look on her face was priceless when my friend walked through the door with her new kitten. She calls her "Sweet Emma". I'm 95% sure she is a girl, but she's a fluffy kitten with dark hair. I've already decided that if she ends up being a boy we'll call him Elmer. However, at the moment, she's sweet Emma.

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School was especially fun me me as a mom this year because I was able to be Kate's teacher. Kate had so much fun with her friends and her cousin McKinley at vacation bible school. She was excited every afternoon when she awoke from her nap to get ready for Vacation Bible school.

The kids loved pretending to put mud, which was chocolate pudding, on a face to show how Jesus put mud on the blind man's eyes that made him see.

The kids loved pretending to "walk on water" and being brave as they learned the story about Peter and Jesus.

The kids loved playing instruments to "This little light of mine". Kate loved music time and turned her tambourine into a drum for her instrument. The kids practiced all week and did a wonderful job performing for the church on the last night of bible school.

Kate also loved painting, coloring, and participating in crafts.

The Georgia Aquarium

We finally took a day trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Kate did not want to go this morning and kept saying she did not want to go see the sharks. She's been quite concerned about sharks ever since watching "The Little Mermaid" before we went to Rosemary Beach. Sharks are a frequent topic at our house, so I thought she would really enjoy it. Once she got there she was amazed with all the fish and had a great time. She kept chanting with her arm in the air, "More sharks, more sharks"!!!!!

More Aquarium Pictures

Lightening Bugs

Uncle Brian gave Kate a bug catcher. Kate is usually in bed by dark, so she was very excited to wait until dark to see lightening bugs. We could see them in our woods where it was dark and waited for them to come out for us to catch. We caught 4 lightening bugs.

Fancy Nancy

Aunt Becky gave Kate a book called "Fancy Nancy". Fancy Nancy dresses all her babies and stuffed animals in fancy attire for a tea party. We decided to pretend to be Fancy Nancy and had a wonderful tea party in our fancy dress up clothing.

The Library

One of my favorite summer pastimes as a child was to visit the Hobgood-Palmer Library in Fairburn, GA. The Hobgood-Palmer Library had a distinct smell that I loved, which was probably just the smell of old books. It was always so cold in the library and it felt great after being in the summer heat. Becky and I used to fight over whose turn it was to drop the books in the after hours pull down box. Once you opened the bin to drop the books, a cold draft blew in your face from beneath. Do you remember that Mom and Becky?

With the library being one of my favorite summer places to go, I wanted to start the tradition with Kate. Kate loved her first visit to the library. She knew that the library had a lot of books. She even found a series of little, blue books that apparently Holly has at her house????? She helped pick out a lot of good books and was very excited to read then once we got home.

Rosemary Beach

Everett turned Kate into a mermaid with the sand.

Kate decided go make a bed with the sand. She covered herself with sand and made a pillow to lounge on.

Kate is pretending to call Nanny and is telling her all about the beach.

Rosemary Beach

We had a relaxing vacation at Rosemary Beach. Kate was very excited to see the ocean and the beach for the first time. She loved the Flat we stayed in. She was very excited to have her own bedroom with a queen size bed (with bed rails). She felt so grown up to have her own bedroom on vacation and bathroom. She called the Flat we stayed in her "playhouse". She didn't even need toys. All she needed was her babies and her imagination!

She watched "The Little Mermaid" on the way for Florida. She was quite concerned about the little fish swimming away from the shark. She asked over and over and over where the sharks were in the ocean. We assured her we would not see a shark and we would not let one get her.

She LOVED the water splashing on her.

Aunt Becky gave Kate ice cream money, so after spending the morning at the beach we went to the town square for ice cream.

Pigtails

Kate finally has enough hair to put into pigtails!!!!!

Dress Up

We played Dress-Up today after Kate's nap. She loves Cinderella. We pretended she was "Cinderelli", which is what she calls Cinderella. I asked her who her Prince is that she will marry. She replied so sweetly, "Kinley"! I explained that she loves McKinley, but he's family and you can't marry family. That explanation was too abstract and she still wanted to marry McKinley!

Memorial Day 2008

We did not go anywhere for Memorial Day this year. Everett had to work and everyone in the family wanted to just rest. I wanted to grill out and do something fun with Kate even if it was just the two of us.

I've never attempted to grill out with Kate by myself, but it went rather smoothly. She was so excited when she awoke from her nap to see all the fun things to do from the kitchen window for our cookout. She ran to get her flip flops and said she was ready to go to the "beach" because she saw the swimming pool. She really won't know what to believe when she really sees the beach. She was very excited to put on her new bathing suit and take a swim in the warm pool.

She played in the sand box for a while, but was ready to get back in the pool.

We decided to eat on the patio since it was such a nice day and Kate was still soaking wet. Southern Living had a great idea to keep away bugs while you eat if you can't use citronella or pest repellant on toddlers. Plug up a fan!! It keeps you cool and works great to keep bugs away from you and the food.

After our dinner, Kate decided to do a little yard work.

Sprinker Fun on Memorial Day

Kate had a blast with the sprinker ball she received for her birthday from the Kanners. She ran to get the hose sprayer as soon as she realized the ball was spraying her. I guess she thought she would pretend to spray it back. She had so much fun!!!!