As promised

Just a little late, but I put all the blame on blogspot.  I tried to upload my gardening pictures last night, but it just wasnt having it.  So here they are...
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Gardening

One of the many many things I love about my mom is that she knows just how to make me smile!  I love to garden and love when my landscaping is picture worthy, but I dont always have the time to keep up with it.  This is where mom comes in.  She loves to do it as well, so when she is here visiting, she works on my landscaping.  Since she was here for a week this time, she got lots done.  I was so happy that we had a free weekend where I could be out there with her.  We got everything in tip top shape for the fall.  It looks so great...pictures to come tomorrow!  Thanks mom!!

Another month in the books

While on vacation, Katelyn celebrated her 18 month birthday!  Shes learning so many new things everyday.  As I was giving her a bath tonight, I was thinking of all the things she learned over the past month or so.

1.  She has added ice, moon, dog, go and hot to her list of words
2.  She has learned how to use a broom and loves it
3.  She learned how to take her shirts off (or at least try)
4.  Shes started to get on her belly in the tub and swim
5.  Shes started to float on her back in the tub
6.  Shes mastered going down slides and up stairs
7.  She can brush her teeth
8.  She knows how to take her ear plugs out after bath time
9.  She has mastered drinking from a straw (a big people straw)
10.  She has started to get a diaper and wipes when she needs her diaper changed.  If she cant get the diaper, she pulls at her diaper and points to let us know.
11.  Shes gotten like 10 teeth in the past couple of months
12.  She is now in charge of feeding the dog and cats (with help of course)

I am sure there are many more that I have forgotten.  I really should be documenting these. 

Here are some pictures from her 17th month....

You have to be kidding...

The day before we were set to leave for our vacation, we got some bad news.  Katelyn had been sick, so I had taken her to the doctor Wednesday morning.  After her appt, we headed to school so I could get to work.  When we got there, her class was outside so I started to put her things away before taking her outside.  At the same time, I was approced by a teacher (also the parent of a child in Katelyn's class).  She, thru tears, told me that she was concerned about the classroom.  She said that Katelyn was being put into a highchair with nothing during nap time if she did not sleep.  She either sat there until she feel asleep or until nap time was over I guess.  I do not really know.  After hearing this, I called another teacher (also the parent of a child at the school) and asked what she knew.  She confirmed that it was happening and that the same thing had happened to her daugher in that room so she moved her out.  By now, I am hysterical and Chris is irrate.  So, I scheduled a meeting with the director for that evening.  Both of us went and she was a bitch.  We had been told by the 2 teachers that they had approached her about problems in the classroom yet when we asked her if she had, she lied.  She was very passive and non responsive.  The next day, I talked again with the teacher who first approached me and she told me she had other concerns including 1.  They spend a large amount of time restrained at the table in the afternoons (hours sometimes), 2.  Sharing of snacks (this did not bother us much), 3.  The teachers have been seen picking up kids by 1 arm and carrying them across the room.  After hearing that, I knew we made the right decision to not send Katelyn back.  So we go on our trip and come back.  Chris goes to meet with the director (I could not go cause I am still too upset and was afraid I would do more harm than good).  She said that she had spoken with 9 teachers and discovered that kids had been confined during nap time with no activity on multiple occasions.  Her solution to the problem was to write the teachers up and add another teacher in the middle of the day.  He informed her that we would not be returning and said he wanted to get Katelyn's things.  When she walked him back to the room, they already had her stuff packed up and ready to go.  Guess they didnt want us there anymore.  So I talked again with one of the teachers that we had gotten information from and she said nothing has really changed and that the director seemed more interested to know who told us what was going on than addressing the issue. 

Its still an extremly sensitive issue with me and I have done alot of crying the past few weeks.  I do not understand how someone could do things like that to helpless babies!  Needless to say, Katelyn has not returned since we found out.  She spent last week with my mom while we searched for a new place for her.  This week she is with Chris' mom while the search continues.  We are trying to find the best place for her, but its hard to trust anyone anymore!  I am hoping that we will find some place great soon.

So much fun!

So, as most of you know, Chris finished in the top 3 in points in IHRA Division 4.  Doing so got him an invitation to race for the World Championship in Virginia.  Since we were going for the race, we decided to make a vacation out of it and spend the first part of the week with Trish and the kiddos.  What a great time we had.  They now live in Chapel Hill which is gorgeous!  They are renting a house super close to the UNC campus that is 150yrs old.  Its amazing how different things are on the East Coast.  While there we got to go to William's soccer practice a couple of times, visit UNC and Duke, and spend lots of time with family.  Trish's youngest, Thomas is about 5 months older than Katelyn, so she had a playmate her own age the whole time.  It was great. 

We arrive on Monday afternoon and headed straight to soccer practice.  Much to our surprise, Ricky and his kids and Emily and her kids were all there.  It was great to see them and we really appreciate them coming in for the afternoon.  Emily's youngest, Drew, is 2 months younger than Katelyn.  The kids had a great time playing and Trish and Rick did a great job coaching!  Tuesday morning we visited Duke (the Chapel and Coach K Court were highlights).  Wednesday Chris dragged me to UNC (I am a die hard Duke fan!!).  We visited the Student Union, Bell Tower and the UNC Basketball Museum.  We spent the afternoons at home with Trish and the boys just enjoying our time together.  Aunt Becky visited on Wednesday as well to meet Katelyn.  It was great to see her.  Its been over 2 years since we saw everyone and I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip.

On Thursday we headed up to Virginia to meet Chris' parents.  They made the drive with the racecar and motorhome.  After a few bumps in the road, we arrived at the track and prepared for a busy race weekend.  Although the racing did not go as well as we would have liked, we had a great time.  Chris' mom's cousin lives nearby in Virginia and was able to visit us at the tract to watch Chris race.  It had been 10 years since they had seen each other.  It was so nice to meet some extended family and hear childhood stories.

All in all, it was an amazing trip.  I have lots and lots of pictures.  I will post a few here and the link to my picasa album for those who would like to see more.  Enjoy!!!

 
Here is the link to the picasa web album for more pictures.....East Coast Vacation.

Where did October go?

Wow oh wow, the month of October has flown by!  We have been super busy this month with fun stuff and not so fun stuff.  We started the month racing in Ennis, TX.  From there we headed to North Carolina for a visit with family.  From there we headed to Virginia for more racing.  All said and done, we were gone for 10days.  It was a great trip and there are lots of pictures to come!  That was the fun stuff. 

The not so fun stuff is having to find Katelyn a new daycare/school.  This has been our project since returning from vacation.  Story to follow!

Corn on the cob

Katelyn has discovered corn on the cob, finally!  We have been trying to get her to try new things everyday.  Tonight, we had corn on the cob and she kept pointing and screaming.  So, I cut off a small piece of mine and gave it to her.  She was so happy!  She ate almost all the corn off of it.  Guess we will be trying that again in the future!

Cowgirl boots

Katelyn is going to fit in perfectly at the Houston Rodeo next year!  We ordered her some really cute cowgirl boots.  Shes still getting used to them and they are a bit big, but oh man...they are adorable.