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Last night Sam was going to work late so I called my good friend Madi to see if she and her son Ben wanted to hang out and eat dinner because her husband also works late sometimes. Well, Andy has a different summer schedule so he was home but they invited me to join them. So Katherine and I went to play with Ben. Time with Madi is always fun and this evening was no exception. It was time for her to bathe Ben and get him ready for bed and I asked if I could bathe Katherine as well. You see last week we had tile put into two of our bathrooms and currently the toilets have been removed and are sitting in the bathtubs. So, it makes it more difficult to give Katherine a bath. So, we gave Katherine and Ben a bath together. This is certainly something that they will outgrow soon, but it was convenient and fun for now.

Another night this week I watered the front flowerbeds after a family walk. Katherine stayed outside to “help”. She was so interested in the hose and kept wanting to put her hands in it. She was getting so wet and muddy that I stripped her down to her diaper. (the dark backside is mud by the way) She helped by holding the hose too. She loves the water whether it is a sink faucet, a hose, a sprinkler, a dog’s water bowl, a pool or a bathtub. The only thing she does not like is when I have to wash her hair.

We enjoyed an evening with our friends Lauren and Zach and their almost 2 year old, almost big brother Cole. (Lauren is being induced with baby boy #2 tomorrow morning.) When we get together with them, we usually order pizza (I highly recommend the chicken florentine pizza from Picasso’s) and then the dad’s play with the kids while the moms work on their scrapbooks.

Sam and Zach loaded Katherine and Cole in the wagon to take them to the elementary school down the street. Notice this is not your old radio flyer. This wagon has seatbelts and cupholder. We need to get one of those. The kids had a fun time in the wagon and playing on the playground. The moms thought it was fun for the dads to have a playdate.

Today we went to Play Daze at the Heights Church. It was so much fun. We met Amy and JG, Heather and Quade, and Lauren and Cole. They had wading pools on the sand volleyball court and the kids could just play.

Katherine loves to get dirty. Gravel, grass, cement, dirt, sand - you name it - she will sit down and dig in it, not caring how filthy she gets.

The kids were given a special treat of a popsicle. Katherine had never had ont before. She really liked it. Of course she made a huge mess and had orange all over her face, hands, legs . . . She would set it down in the sand to play and then pick it up again to eat. Gross.

As you can see, all of my friends are very pregnant. Lauren will be having a baby this week, Amy in July and Heather in September. I later wished I was in the picture so I could sing that old Sesame Street song, “which one of these is not like the other”. At least I felt very skinny! 

 Katherine has started pointing to her belly button on command. It is so cute. She gets frustrated when she is wearing a onesie because she likes to lift up her shirt to point to her belly button. This can be akward when asked where someone else’s belly button is because she wants to lift up their shirt too!

 

Warning! This post does not include a picture of Katherine!!!!

This has been a great holiday weekend and it is not even over yet! It started Thursday night with a double date with our friends Jesse and Amy (La Villa Gringa Blog). We were supposed to go to Jazz Under the Stars at the Dallas Museum of Art for a picnic and evening of culture. BUT…it was pouring down rain. We both had the kids at their grandma’s house so we had to still go on a double date. We went to an Austrian restaurant in downtown Plano. I didn’t even pay attention to the name of it. It was very good. I spent a month in Vienna between my junior and senior years in college taking an Easter European literature class so I love find a good schnitzl. This one was good. Sam enjoyed a yummy sausage. It was a great evening of mature, uninterrupted conversation.

Friday Sam took the day off of work. It was only supposed to be an afternoon off, but Katherine (and therefore mom and dad) slept in. We have been going to bed way too late this week (try after 1 am every night!) so we took advantage and slept in. By the time we were up and going, Sam decided to work on his conference details from home. We dropped Katherine off at Nanna’s house again and went to the Science museum to see the Body World’s exhibit and the Museum of Nature and Science (formerly the Science Place). This is the last weekend it is here in Dallas. We really enjoyed it and recommend it if you have not gone. It was a little weird, but I thought it was very well done and very informational. Though it was sad, I think my favorite part was the pregnant woman and fetus’s because it was such an obvious argument that a fetus is a living being and therefore should not be aborted. The whole exhibit was a testament to an amazing Creator! I also like seeing the heart and different diseased or damaged hearts since my dad had just had heart surgery this month.

Today we went sailing on Lake Texoma with our community group. It was an almost perfect day to go sailing. There were clouds so it was not too hot and we did not have to worry about getting badly sunburned. There was a lot of wind so we were able to sail very quickly (almost 7.5 knots for those who know anything about nautical speeds). We docked in a cove to have lunch and a few brave souls went swimming in the cold lake. There were a few sprinkles but the major rain held off until we returned to the dock. Katherine and the other young kids stayed back at the lakehouse with a babysitter.

The rest of the weekend continues to have fun plans. Sam’s parents will be in town for dinner on Sunday and there is a childrens concert at the arboretum.

A new take on the common playground is the sprayground. Basically, a bunch of sprinklers spraying water and kids playing in it. A new one opened in our area last summer but we never went because Katherine was not yet sitting or mobile. This week we met some friends there for the first time. It was a blast. Katherine really enjoyed it. She went right out there to explore and then would come back to grab my legs. Then she would explore a little more and then run back to mommy. I have a feeling that we will be going there often this summer.  

We had our dear Gary, Alysha and their boys Ethan and Caleb over for lunch on Saturday. I met Alysha ten years ago when we went on a mission trip to Russia together and I met Gary about 8 years ago. That was long before there was a “Gary and Alysha”. They started dating not long after Sam and I. We were all in the same marriage equipping class at church and they were married a little over 2 months after us. Ethan came quickly and we told them we would catch them on the next round of kids. Sure enough we did. Katherine and Caleb are 2 months apart. We always enjoy getting together and spending quality time with one another. It is harder to do with three toddlers in tow. We have decided that at this stage we should not go out to eat but hang out at one of our houses. So, they came over. The men grilled burgers. the kids played in the yard and the women talked. Hooligan just barked, tied to a tree out of range of the kids.

I love spring and I love our membership at the Arboretum. Kathy and I took the kids for a trip before she has baby girl this month. We thought it was a cool day, but it ended up pretty hot.

It was a lot of fun this trip since the kids are now both walking. They had a lot of fun exploring. They wanted to touch the flowers, play in the dirt, look at the fountain and for Katherine, not be in her stroller.

This was the first trip where I took Katherine to play in the frog fountains. She was not so sure about it.

When we got back into the car, the kids kept holding hands. It was so sweet. Luckily for Sammy, I know he is a good kid from a great family.

Today we went to the Dallas Zoo with Tess and Louis, Meg and Hannah. It was a perfect day for it. The weather was not too hot and not too cool. It was sunny. A welcome day after storms on and off for the past few weeks. I decided to buy a membership so I will be returning to the Zoo many more times this year.

It was a really fun group because the three kids were born within one month. They were all walking, but not running so they were equally curious and able to explore. I think their favorite part was playing in the dirt and rocks though they really enjoyed looking at the animals too. I think the chimps were the most fun because they moved a lot.

 We did not see many four-legged creatures like lions and tigers today but I wondered at what age Katherine will really be able to distinguish between all of the different animals. If you think about it, many animals are really are quite similar in that they walk on four legs, have a tail and sharp teeth. How really do you explain the difference between a dog and a cat to a kid? We read tons of books with animals but at what point does she take a 2-D animal from a book and apply it to a 3-D animal at the zoo? Hmmmm…just some thoughts. Regardless of knowing the animals, Katherine had fun and we would tell the kids the names of the animals (even those we had to look at the signs to know).

It’s funny, we spend aver three hours looking at all of the animals, but most of my pictures were of the kids.

 

Another monthly pot luck with our former Sunday school class. I sure love these friends and miss fellowshipping with them every week. It was so much fun to watch all of the kids having fun in the back yard. There was a trampoline. Katherine was not sure what to think of it.

We celebrated the birthdays of two of our dearest friends, Kathy and Richard, with a party in the park. It was a perfect day. The kids played in the grass and with the toys. Unfortunatly Robert also played in the ants. Keith brought his beautiful black lab, Annie. When Katherine saw the dog, she started crawling as fast as possible towards her yelling , “Da, da, da” or “Dog, dog, dog”.