Fun at Ms. Holly's

For my birthday this year, Holly gave me a CD of pictures taken all last year while I worked. It begins with her first day at Holly's and has pictures throughout the year until May. Ms. Holly has done so many thoughtful things with Kate while I have to work. It's neat to be able to see pictures of Kate working on the projects she's created and good times she has with Holly and the girls. I thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures.

This was Kate's first day with Ms. Holly and the girls.

Kate was at Ms. Holly's for her first snowfall. I believe she noticed it outside the windows and asked Ms. Holly what is was.

More Favorite Pics.

Ms. Holly had a fancy Valentines party.

They made Valentines and yummy treats to eat.

Kate painted a beautiful flower pot and planted flowers for me for Mother's Day. She was so proud of her gift.

Pretend Play

It's a bird, a plane, no...it's SUPER KATE!!!

A few weeks ago I showed Kate that her treasured silky can become wonderful things during play from a wedding veil to a cape. She loves turning into Super Kate and runs as fast as she can around our kitchen table in circles!!!

Kate' favorite movie at the moment is "Peter Pan". Can you tell who she is pretending to be with her Potato Head parts? I was doing dishes this afternoon and heard her calling for me as best she could with the mustache in her mouth. She said she was Captain Hook. I was quite impressed she had the Pirate's hat, hook, parrot, and the wooden leg with her big toe inserted into it as best she could!

Trains and Tractors

Kate and McKinley just LOVE trains. Nanny has a train track that backs up to her farm and several trains go by daily. Kate was so excited to hear the whistle of the train to let us know it was coming and to watch it go by.

Kate was a little shy around her Great Uncle Tim, but she was his buddy once he took her for a ride on the tractor. She cried just for a second once I put her on his lap, but then quickly stopped to enjoy the ride around the field. She kept saying how much fun she had driving the tractor with her Uncle Tim.

Great Nanny's Farm

We visited Great Nanny in Kentucky. Kate loved sitting on the porch and rocking in the rocking chairs. She also enjoyed taking her shoes off and running around Nanny's yard until her feet were black on bottom. I've never seen her feet that dirty!

Locust Grove

We went into Louisville for the day to do a little sight seeing at Locust Grove. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide and he went in depth about the history of Locust Grove. Kate, being 2 years old, was not at all interested. Therefore, we spent quite a bit of time outside watching the preparation for a wedding on the grounds while everyone else was inside on the tour. Kate loved being able to roam the grounds of Locust Grove and I was able to take lots of pictures to entertain her.

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.