Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus!

Tonight we took Katelyn to the Circus with her friends Luke and Jacob.  I have to say, I am not sure who was more excited, me or Katelyn.  I have been trying to get Chris to take me to the circus ever since we met, but he always responded with "the circus is for kids".  Well now we have one of those, so after waiting 2 long years, we finally got to go.  Yahoo for me! 

So we got there about an hour early to visit with all of the animals.  As a kid, I remember being able to ride on the elephants and see the animals up close.  Unfortunately they don't do that anymore....total bummer!  You do still get to see the animals, but no riding elephants.  After the animals, we headed to the pre-show.  Very entertaining.  You get to see some of the acts up close and lots of other stuff.  Katelyn was thrilled to get a tatoo, try on some of the costumes (although she was less than pleased when I tried one on), take pics with the clowns and pick out a fun toy!

Once she show actually started, she did very well.  At intermission, she was more than happy to get up and walk around a little bit.  The line for the ladies restroom was terribly long and Katelyn was due for a new diaper, so I sent Chris into the men's room to see if they had a changing table.  Since they did, he got handle the diaper changing.  He was mortified at first, but quickly realized he was 1.  Not the only guy doing this and 2.  He was much better at it than the 2 yahoo's in front of him.  I personally thought it was awesome!  After that, she was ready to go.  We got her a box of popcorn and she was happy as a clam and happily sat, talked and pointed the entire 2nd half. 

Needless to say, it was a great evening!  It did get even better for me when we got home.  Katelyn has been talking more and more lately and has slowly been putting sentences together.  Well after bath and tv time tonight, I laid her down in bed and she began talking to me about the circus.  She went on and on about the Clowns, Tigers, Elephants, and jumping.  We chatted for a good 3 mins about everything she saw this evening.  She was so cute laying there, all snugged up, carrying on a conversation.  I can not believe how much she has grown up and how much she is learning every day.

Stages?

So, why does no one warn first time moms with girls of the lovely stages they go through?  I mean, we know we want kids and we realize that there is a 50/50 shot at having a girl before we get preggo, so why not be upfront?  The only conclusion I can come to is for entertainment purposes.  At least that seems to be how its working with me. 

Now, what exactly am I talking about?  Well, Katelyn has decided that she is going to refuse to wear anything blue jean (dress, skirt, shorts, capris, etc.).  By refusing I mean she kicks and screams and throws a massive fit if she even thinks you are trying to put something blue jean on her.  Really kid?  She used to always pick her blue jeans in the winter, what the heck?  I have resorted to letting her pick which bottoms she wants to wear and giving her shirt options that match.  Yes, they have to at least match cause I am anal like that.  According to my mom, this is the first of many of these stages.  Wonderful.

Fantastic 4th of July- Final

You would think we would have been worn out by Monday, but nope!  We are young...haha!  Monday morning we headed to the mall.  We have not been to traditional mall in forever.  I now remember why...haha!  Since it was the 4th of July, it was not crowded which was great.  Chris did some shopping while mom and I entertained the princess.  After a hour or so, the princess was done shopping (I sure do hope she grows into this whole shopping thing eventually), so Nana found the cool kids play store.  Yes, in the mall there is an inflatable wonderland just for the kids!  They have tons of bouncy things, a play area, a food court, etc.  Its very inexpensive to get in and Katelyn had the best time.  Its really a great idea and more malls should have something similar.  After a quick snack, we were off again.  This time to the carousel.  She had never ridden on one before, so we gave it a try.  Needless to say she LOVED it!!  We rode once while daddy was shopping.  Once he was done, she begged to ride again.  Yep, "daddy, I ride again" was all it took.  She even took the money from him to pay!  This time he was able to ride with her.  I think he enjoyed it as much as she did.   

After another long shopping day, it was time to head home.  We made it back to Pearland just in time for the fireworks.  Oh thank heavens because its just not a 4th of July without fireworks!  We drove down the street from our neighborhood and joined others in the Lowes parking lot.  While Chris wrangled with Haley (she's terrified of fireworks...and thunder), Katelyn and I enjoyed the show.  It wasn't long before Katelyn was pointing and telling her daddy to "ook" at the fireworks.  It was a nice ending to a great weekend.

Fantastic 4th of July- Part 2

Sunday was a nice relaxing morning.  Mom throws ball with Abby every morning and when Katelyn is there, she has help.  After we get her milk, the only thing she wants to do is "ouside mama.  abby ball!"  Its actually quite entertaining.  She demands, yes demands, to throw 2 balls every single time.  Usually she gets one of them while Abby gets the other!  I think this is partially my fault because when I throw ball for Haley at home, Katelyn usually brings me her soccer ball and tells me to throw it.  So I end up throwing ball for Haley and Katelyn.  Does it make me a bad mom that I play fetch with my 2yr old?

After ball time was finally over...yes, it lasts a long time, Katelyn made us some pancakes! They were super tasty.

After breakfast, we headed to the outlet mall. Its a favorite of ours and since I have lost some weight, I was in desparate need of some new clothes. Katelyn and Nana joined us, but she was not having the shopping, so after some play time on the "rides" and a smoothie, Nana took her home where she had much more fun. Chris and I continued to shop and had a very successful day! Gotta love $60 J. Crew pants for $7.50....SCORE!!! After a long shopping day, it was off to the Round Rock Express game. We love going to those games. They are so laid back and very kid friendly. They have a "kid zone" in the outfield with multiple kids activites such as a playground, jump house, rock wall, bungee jumping thing, and a basketball court. Katelyn spotted the playgroud and jump house right away, so off we went. Once over there, she decided she was big and brave and begged to go on the bungee jumping thing. She barely met the minimum weight of 30lbs, but she made it so we bought her a ticket. After patiently waiting in line (yes she was surprisingly patient) it was her turn. What did she do? Yep, thats right, screamed! It was actually kind of funny. Since she was terribly unhappy, the guy took the harness off and was going to let her jump on the trampoline, but she was too traumatized to even do that. Thankfully, we were able to get our money back and head back to our seats. Sadly there were no fireworks this year which is always a favorite! Regardless, it was a nice relaxing evening.

Fantastic 4th of July- Part 1

We made our annual trip to Austin for the 4th of July again this year.  You would think we would make it up there more often since its not that far, but timing never seems to work out.  At least we always have the 4th of July long weekend to look forward to!

Anywho, we had the whole weekend planned as usual.  Seems we never have enough time to do everything we want.  Saturday we had a much needed relaxing day at the pool and hanging out at home.  After doing my workout and then walking the dogs...yep, I worked out on my Vacation!  Go me!!  Ok, back to the story at hand.  Judy and the girls joined us at the pool.  Those girls have grown up so fast!  Steph is going to be a senior this coming year.  CRAZY!  All of the girls are very athletic and so beautiful!  After some fun swim time with Katelyn...back and forth between the baby pool and the big pool, Chris and I got lucky and were able to enjoy the pool kid free for a couple of hours....thanks Nana!!  After some pool time we all headed to the house for a big fajita dinner and games.  Nothing better than tasty mexican food after pool time.  It was great to spend time with Judy and the girls.  Its fun to compare stores of their childhood with Katelyn.

Concentrating on squishing bugs!

 This wasp or whatever attacked the giant spider.  While kinda disturbing, it was very interesting to watch.  The wasp ending up killing the spider...crazy huh?

 She found the skittles and figured out how to turn the knob to get some whenever she wanted!  We had to hide it when she wasn't looking so she didn't eat anymore.  She's a candy princess!

This is the 2nd mama dove to use mom's plant for her nest.  There were 2 eggs there.  Katelyn loved seeing the eggs and talking to the mama bird.