Renaissance Festival

Yesterday we took a family trip to the North Carolina Renaissance Festival in Charlotte, NC. Boy, did we have big fun or what! It is a little over 2 hours in the car from our house, which passed rather peacefully. Catherine went all day with no nap (not even in the car!), and no tantrum. Bill and I were utterly amazed, and wished we could bottle the tantrum-free day for future needs!!!

We started our adventure with me blindly taking a photo of my adorable family. The sun was too bright for me to actually see what I was doing. =)


Immediately the Swan Swing was spotted, and taking a ride was requested.



We spent some time looking around, getting good food, watched a show, then spotted the Butterfly Ride. It took some serious debate, since it was a kid only ride, but in the end it was decided the fun far out-weighed the scariness of the lady running the ride.

We watched some more shows, looked at the animals in the petting zone, did a little shopping, then got some dessert. This is seriously what Catherine asked for for dessert, and with the exception of 3 bites (she shared one with Daddy, one with Mommy, and one with Grandma Ellen) devoured the entire thing herself!

After 5.5 hours of pure bliss and excitement, she hitched a ride back to the car in Daddy's arms. A good portion of the ride home was spent teasing Grandma by pretending to eat the glitter off the butterfly wings. Finally the teasing came to an end when I told her she'd have glitter poop if she actually ate it. This idea was not at all appealing, because apparently she thinks glitter poop is gross!

If you're signed up as one of my friends or family you can see more pictures of our adventure on our Flickr page.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week Catherine and I took a trip to a Ganyard Hill Farm for some serious fun with our SAHM group.

Some of the activities we enjoyed were:



"Milking" a cow. There was water in the utters, =)


Picking cotton from a real cotton plant!



Taking a hayride.

Picking a pumpkin right off the vine in the pumpkin patch.

Looking at some pigs. They apparently have sharp teeth and are not to be fed!

I also ran many laps through a corn maze sized just right for toddlers, climbed a jungle gym built of hay and irrigation tubes, fed some goats, and enjoyed the company of many good friends. More photos of our adventure can be found on our Flickr page.

Tagged!

I was tagged by Kara!


Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

10 years ago I was:
1. 20!!
2. Just starting college at The University of Cincinnati.
3. So insecure that I decided to pursue the most difficult major I could think of: Chemistry.
4. Living in an apartment (nice one too) with my best friend from high school, Jennifer.
5. Very proud of how long my hair was.

5 things on today’s to do list:
1. Work on my sweater for Chase.
2. Attend Barnes and Noble story time with Catherine (hopefully without her having a tantrum).
3. Spend some time with my husband discussing an interesting topic that is not about children, bills, or work.
4. Watch an episode of The Gilmore Girls.
5. Rest!!

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Breyer's Double Churned Vanilla Ice Cream
2. Ghiradelli Raspberry chocolate squares with a cup of coffee
3. Bill's popcorn
4. Kettle Salt and Pepper potato chips
5. Vanilla yogurt with granola

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
2. Hire a cleaning service
3. Improve my wardrobe
4. Move my parents closer
5. Buy a new purse finally!

5 places I have lived:
1. Newtown, OH
2.Cincinnati, OH
3. Columbus, OH
4. Morrisville, NC
5. Durham, NC

5 jobs I have had:
1. waitress at Skyline Chili
2. Bench chemist for AkzoNobel doing organic synthesis
3. Laboratory assistant at UNC Hospital
4. Math and science tutor for Treasure Tutorial Services
5. Stay at home mom!!!

I can only think of 3 people who blog that might answer these questions, so I tag Laura, Tara, and Mom!

A fun day at the park

We finally are having some weather that is amicable for outside play, so we took full advantage today. Catherine very much enjoyed playing with her friends at the park, and I snapped this adorable picture of her with Grace, while they grabbed a snack. More photos and a short video is available on our Flickr site. Kimberlee made up the best-game-ever of tickle monster that incorporated the slide, and it was all we heard about this evening. Thank goodness for good friends!

Diesel vs. Steam

A quick Catherine anecdote:

While waiting in the OB office today, Catherine was playing with some small Tonka trucks. She picked up one of them and said, "This one has diesel engine." I asked her if Daddy had told her about diesel engines, and she responded, "No, Thomas has steam engine. This one has diesel engine." I guess the topic of diesel and steam engines must be on Thomas the Tank Engine show. I should pay more attention to what our child is watching!

Monkey Joe's Bracelet: A Tale of Insanity

When you take a child to Monkey Joe's they put a matching bracelet, very much like a hospital bracelet, on you and the child.

On the way out the door, they check the bracelets to make sure you're leaving with the same kid you came in with, and then cut it off for you. Seems like a simple enough procedure...then Catherine is introduced. Words cannot describe the fit she threw when the young girl at the door offered to remove her bracelet. After assuring her she could keep it, she finally calmed. Later that evening, an identical fit was thrown when Daddy suggested taking it off before getting in the bath tub. We went to Monkey Joe's last Friday. Every day since Friday night we have heard about nothing but the Monkey Joe's bracelet, and sentences such as, "No take it off, Mommy," "My Monkey Joe's Bracelet," "Tie it back on," ect. ect.


One evening before bath, Bill tried a different approach. He got her other bracelets and suggested a trade. All of her other bracelets, for just the one, now very dirty and tattered paper Monkey Joe's bracelet. She refused. A fit was thrown. Out of desperation, Daddy tried some reverse psychology, and said, "Fine, I'll just put all these other bracelets in the trash then, since you won't be needing them anymore." Catherine responded with, "No, I put them in the trash!" Then she proceeded to throw away all of her other bracelets!! After she went to bed, Daddy removed the bracelets from the trash, just in case something remotely close to sanity returned to our daughter, and of course, because he is not at all a mean Daddy who ever intendend to throw out all her bracelets.

A few more days past, and the bracelet remained, even more disgusting. Finally last night, I come home from tutoring, to a very happy, clean, Monkey Joe's bracelet-free Catherine! She was, however, wearing every other bracelet that she owned. Once she was asleep, Bill explained to me that he showed her the other bracelets that he had taken out of the trash and tried offering a trade again. He said she started a fit, and not wanting to make the same mistake twice, he quickly thought to himself, "what would make sense in Catherine's head?" Finally he proceeded with something along the lines of, "Okay, calm down. I'm not going to take your bracelet off. As a matter of fact, I don't even think I could. By now it is probably stuck." Well, that was a horse of a different color! A new fit started, but along the lines of, "No, no, no. I don't want it stuck. Take it off, Daddy! Cut it off, Daddy!" Much to his pleasure, the only way to calm her was to cut the forsaken thing off!! After her bath, she happilly put on all her other bracelets, and the Monkey Joe's bracelet was never seen again.

Monkey Joe's

Today we went to Monkey Joe's with our play group. It took Catherine a good 40 minutes and a snack to warm up, but once she did, she had a blast. When we went to leave she kept saying, "No, Mommy. I still playing." The photo up top is with her bff Grace. There are a few more pictures of our outing on our Flickr site.

The Sentence

I've debated all day about whether or not to post this to the blog. After much deliberation, I decided the humor out-weighed the embarrassment.

Last night while Bill was giving Catherine a bath, she passed some gas, and said, "That was a big stinky fart!" Of course, we made the mistake of laughing at her, so she just kept saying it over, and over, clear as could be.

Happy Second Birthday

Yesterday Catherine turned two! If I thought the first year went by quickly, the second year was on light speed. We had a play-date party at our house, to which all of her friends from our play group were invited. All she said she wanted was hats, blowers, and birthday cake, so that is what we had. There were also about a million balloons. The kids were entertained by coloring on huge sheets of paper that I taped to the floor, running around after balloons, putting on tattoos (temporary of course!), and playing "the blanket game". The "blanket game" is when all the kids hold on to a sheet, walk around singing Ring Around the Rosy, and run under the blanket for "we all fall down!" We're still opening gifts, as each one needs to be inspected, opened and thoroughly enjoyed before moving onto the next. This process seems to overwhelm her a bit, so we're trying to make it as enjoyable as possible. There are a few preliminary photos available on our Flickr site that were taken and edited by my friend Kristy. More will be posted this weekend.

Toddler Speak

Being the mom of a fairly fluent toddler, I like to fancy myself well educated in toddler-speak. That is, until three days ago, when the following sentence was spoken, and I was stumped. Phonetically it sounded like this:

Whoop dots going with the bishop.

I have been guessing different things this could mean(mostly chess references) every time it has been spoken, only to be answered, "noooo." Tonight while sitting on the couch watching Empire Strikes Back (Bill is fully responsible for this) with Catherine I heard her saying something about a bishop. Then it clicked...spaceship. So I asked her about our mystery sentence, and if it had something to do with a spaceship. She said yes, became quite excited, and started saying it over, and over, and over. Bill and I were looking at each other, desperately trying to decipher "whoop dots" when we finally asked her if she could point to one. Then R2D2 came on the screen and she pointed and said, "There. A whoop dot." Ah..it all makes sense now. The mystery sentence in English:

Robots going on the spaceship.

How old is...

Catherine has attended many birthday parties recently, so she has become quite fond of singing Happy Birthday. At dinner tonight, she was singing it, so we started talking about asking people how old they are. She went around the table asking, and the conversation went as follows:

Catherine: How old you, Daddy?
Daddy: I'm 29.
Catherine: How old you, Grandma?
Grandma Ellen: I'm 68.
Catherine: How old you, Mommy?
Mommy: I'm 30.
Catherine: Oh no!

Mommy's feelings exactly. =)

I Rock-A-Bye

We think this is Catherine's spin on the classic Rock-a-Bye Baby. If this viewing wasn't long enough for your liking, there are two more short films of the same show that kept on going on our Flickr site.

A Harry Potter inspired conversation

While watching Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets the following conversation took place.

Catherine: She (Hermione) sick.
Mommy: Yes, she is. She needs some medicine.
Catherine: I need medicine.
Mommy: What do you need medicine for?
Catherine: Fuzzies.
Mommy: You need medicine for fuzzies?
Catherine: Yes. Fuzzies in my mouth.
Mommy: You don't need medicine for that. You need water.
Catherine: Oh, okay. I need water.

Trip to KY

Catherine, Ellen, and I had to take an unexpected trip to Kentucky to help my mom out while she had an emergency surgery. Thanks to great doctors, Grandma Trish is going to be just fine. Although the circumstances were less than ideal, we used it as an opportunity to spend some time with loved ones, and get some cute photos. You can see more at our Flickr site, like always.

O-H!

So I was being silly with Catherine this afternoon, showing her the difference between big and little. I would put my index finger and thumb together and say, "Little," then I'd throw my arms up above my head and say, "Big!" When I put my arms up above my head, Catherine suddenly said, "O-H!" We just about died & had to respond, "I-O!"

I guess she's really a Buckeye!

Things Kids Say

You always hear the cliché kids say the damnedest things, well yesterday we had two. First, while sitting on the potty Catherine and I had the following conversation.

Me: Are you finished?
Catherine: No, I still pooping.
Me: Okay, let me know when you're finished.
Time passes
Me: Done yet?
Catherine: (irritated) No, I still pooping. ( Pointing to the door) Get out. I need privacy.

Later that evening, Daddy told me that after giving her a bath she said, "Sucker please. I ate tricious food." To translate tricious = nutritious. She has been obsessed with suckers as of late, and asking for them at the most inappropriate times and skimping on meals waiting for them. We've been telling her she cannot have any treats until after she's eaten some nutritious food. To be fair, she had eaten a very large, nutritious dinner before the bath. =)

Big Girl Room

This past weekend Catherine moved into her Big Girl room upstairs. She loves her new bed, which we just realized used to be her Aunt Elisabeth's! We've posted some more pictures on our Flickr site.

In other news, one of her new favorite past times is "playing" chess. We took this short video last night. Sorry about the lighting quality: the camera is just too sensitive.

Trip to Ohio

We finally made a trip to Ohio with Catherine. It has only been 2 years now since we've been home. This picture was taken at Mirror Lake on The Ohio State University campus. It was one of our trip's highlights along with running around The Oval and watching the monkeys at the zoo. We've posted pictures of all our fun adventures on our Flickr page.

Two Old Videos

I just found these two videos that I never posted. As you can see form the potty in the background that I took these a while ago. The potty has been out of our living room for a long time now!

This video has horrible visual, but it was worth posting for the audio.




You can't hear the music, but she is dancing to the song "Five Little Monkeys". If you are not familiar with the lyrics they go:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Then they count down. This is why she keeps hitting herself in the head, just to clarify.

Hmm...lets see.

Catherine's latest phrase:

Hmm, lets see...

She says this when we ask her questions such as what would you like to wear today, or which book would you like to read, as she hunts through her options.

Also, her two new favorite things are toy trucks and fake tatoos. She had some gift money and when I took her to the store to pick something out, she chose a box of Tonka trucks (2 tow trucks and 3 dump trucks) and a small basketball and soccer ball set. For the past two days Catherine and her trucks have been inseparable.