Now I Know My ABCs!

Kara loves this song. Kim has also put together a dance routine with Kara to the "My Little Buttercup" song. One of these nights, Kim will let me record and post it.

Saving the World!

Kara is ridding the world of all evil just by her cuteness. No matter where we go she smiles at strangers, plays peek-a-boo with people in line at the grocery store, waves at every kid she passes and expresses how every baby or small dog is the cutest thing she has ever seen. She puts a smile on everyone's face.

Today we were playing dress up and she was just having so much fun I decided to take some pictures. Our neighbor has a daughter who is four and has grown out of a lot of really nice outfits. Kara has a full Tinkerbell outfit, scarecrow, Minnie Mouse, Cinderella and a bunch of light up, fancy Disney shoes now. This Wonder Woman one just cracked me up today.

September Adventures

Over Labor Day weekend we went up to the cabin for the Oktoberfest. The weather was perfect and Kara enjoyed a nice walk.

On Tuesdays we signed up for preschooler time at the library. This was Kara's first week and she really liked the song time and spending time with her friend Keira.

In other news, Kara has kept her pull-ups dry all day for the last 4 days! She has been really busy playing Candy Land, reading a lot, making all of her dolls and cars talk to each other and riding her tricycle. Her overall mood has improved and she has been a big helper with cooking and cleaning up her toys. We are making her a playroom upstairs and are trying to sell a few pieces of big furniture that we don't use so she has more room.

All Better

I have no idea what that was all about but she is just fine now. I took her to the Dr. on Monday anyway just for peace of mind. Of course her temp. was gone and never came back.

In other news it is HOT. It is at least 105 outside and we are trying to conserve electricity so I don't have the air conditioner turned too low. The freeway we can see from our backyard is completely closed due to a big rig accident. I feel so bad for all of those hundreds of people just sitting in their cars in this heat.

Ugh.

Kara has had a fever up to 102 off and on since Thursday. Now I am feeling horrible since my last post. Is she actually sick?! I am taking her to the Dr. tomorrow morning unless her fever is gone for the rest of today, tonight and tomorrow morning. Poor little thing.

Terrible Twos?

Kara has been very difficult off and on since we got home from Oregon. She has totally regressed in the potty training department and has actually just sat and peed on the carpet. She gets so intense. She strikes out and hits me, screams at the top of her lungs or throws whatever is close at hand. She wakes up every morning and asks where Daddy is and is clearly NOT happy that he had to go back to work. Are there too many changes? Is she growing? Is she sick or in pain? Ugh. She gets so completely irrational that we can't reason with her or even BRIBE her. I am emotionally frayed. My parents took her swimming this morning so I could have a break and clean up a little. The funny part about it all is--when she is gone for about 30 min. I start to MISS her and wonder what she is doing--no matter how upset I was before. I just love my little bug.

More Oregon Pics

Kara was a very fun age this year to be at the lake. She potty trained (mostly) which we were pretty excited about. What a big girl! She also had a great time being IN the lake. She loved being outside, eating s'mores, playing in the grass, and going on walks. We heard Jeremiah, the bullfrog, every night but every time she went to look for him we couldn't find him. (We hadn't seen him in a few years but we still let her go out with her flashlight every night to look for him.) One night Ellie started barking like crazy from inside the house while we were out on the dock. After trying to figure out what on earth she was so upset about she found Jeremiah all the way up on our grass! I captured him under a container until all the kids around got to come see him. Kara was SO excited.

So Hard to Say Goodbye

We are home safely from Oregon. We have tons of pictures to post but need to do some unpacking and cleaning/organizing.

St. George Video

One of the advantages of being a teacher is that I have time during the summer for hobbies. Yes, I play lots of video games and read lots of books, but I also enjoy editing video. Here's my latest finished product. My family spent a week in St. George, UT and we had a blast!

Washington

Here are a few highlights from our Washington trip. Thanks Ryan and Summer for taking care of us for the weekend!

Thank you Kim for teaching our daughter this endearing phrase. I'm SO glad that she now knows to ask, "Are we there yet?" a hundred times on long car rides.
Kara and her pirate friend, Elizabeth.

The most expensive pedicure. Ever. Oh, and Kim tells me it was amazing: eggs benedict followed by chocolates in the spa and a pedicure/manicure session at an exclusive health resort. How much was that again?

Funny Quotes from Kara

Now that Kara talks (and talks and talks), she's become our primary source of entertainment up here in Oregon. Here are a few highlights from the past two days:

-Kara saw a man sitting under a tree smoking a cigarette. She asked Kim, "What him doing Mommy?" Kim replied, "Relaxing." Kara watched the smoke collect around the man's head and she said in alarm, "Mommy, him on fire!"

-Kara is currently potty-training. She's been really good about going in the potty, but last night she forgot about not wearing a diaper. We were at the neighbor's, playing on their beach, when she walked up to me and said, "Poop in leg." It took me about five minutes of charades before I realized that she'd pooped her pants and it had rolled down her leg. Since she was wearing elastic-bottomed pants, it settled down around her ankles. What to do with the poop? Well, the neighbors have a black lab named Ruby and they put little orange cones near Ruby's poop as reminders. So I let the turd plop on the grass and put a cone next to it. After taking Kara back home and changing her, I returned to clean up the mess and saw that it was gone! I asked Rielly, the seven-year-old neighbor, "What happened to Kara's poop?" He shrugged and said, "Ruby ate it." Kara heard this and kept repeating, "Ruby ate my poop Daddy!"

-Kara said, "I just farted." Kim replied, "Kara, we don't say 'farted,' it isn't a nice word. We say 'tooted.'" Kara promptly returned, "I know Mommy, I just farted out of my mouth." Kim: "Kara, that's called a burp." I don't think she understood Kim through all the laughing.

More media!

Fishing Buddies

Kittens!

We met a neat kid at Vacation Bible School this year that lives on a farm right down the road from here. We went to buy a dozen eggs from him one evening and found out he had a litter of one week old kittens. Kara was in LOVE. They were soooo sweet and didn't even have their eyes open yet. Kara was in heaven and did not want to leave.

More Fun at the Lake

Lake Videos

Here are some videos from the lake!

No Fear

Our neighbor's new dog, Ruby. She is so sweet.

That tiny pink spot on the left is Kara.

I am so excited that Kara loves the lake! Even though the water is in the mid-60s she jumped right in and wants to swim on her own. She swam all the way out to the buoys with our friend Debbie without either of us even in the water. She loves being on fast boats but didn't like the wave runner as much. I hope she never figures it out that I am afraid of the lake. Maybe with her I will overcome my fear. We will see. I love clear water--pools, Caribbean water...etc. but lakes or the Pacific ocean freak me out. Man made lakes are ok--sometimes.

Today she was running through the house to take a nap in her special bed and she slipped. There was a big bang and then silence. She started screaming. We both ran to her and scooped her up. I couldn't see any blood so I couldn't figure out what hurt so bad. Then I lifted up her bangs and saw a huge purple dent. She smacked her head on the siderailing of her bed. I ran and got some ice and a Motrin. She calmed down pretty quickly and we took a nap together. It probably freaked me out way more than her but that is probably the worst injury she has had in her 2 1/2 years. Now it is just a red line and a bruise. Ugh.

Trip to Oregon

Kara did so well on our drive. On Thurs. we drove half way--about 7 hours. We stayed at a nice hotel that is being refurbished so everything is new. They have a restaurant across the street and the food was so good. We had to get take-out because we couldn't leave Ellie in the car or in the room by herself. In the evening Kara and Aaron went in the spa. Kara just loves the water. By the end we were definitely ready to get out of the car and sleep in familiar beds. Kara has her own room with her own toddler bed. The first two nights she slept in her room, by herself until 8:30. Last night she crawled into our bed in the middle of the night. We are having a wonderful time. I have some pics of Kara swimming in the lake that I have to post. She loves it here.

First Movie

Before we left for Oregon Kara went to her first movie, Toy Story 3. She was happy that she got to go with her "people" (her cousins). She said she liked it but she didn't like the bad guy, "the mad purple teddy bear." She sat through the whole thing and enjoyed popcorn and lemonade.

Home from Utah...

...and on to Oregon.

We had such a great time with Aaron's family in Utah. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Kara really got to know her cousins and aunts and uncles. She was so excited to realize that she has TWO grandmas. She was confused because Grandma K has other kids calling her Grandma. She is used to being the only child of an only child of an only child. When we got home she was so excited that "her people" came home with us. All of her cousins came back to CA and she got to spend some more time with them.

We are now in Oregon. We got here this afternoon and it is absolutely beautiful. I swear we must bring the good weather with us. All of our Oregon friends have mentioned how rainy it has been. The whole 10-day forecast now is nothing but sunshine and high-70s. Kara was thrilled to see her new toddler bed and her friends from last year that somehow she actually remembered. It must be because of the videos Aaron does. Anyway, we are in Oregon and looking forward to a fun-filled summer at the lake.

Having a Blast!

We arrived in St. George Sunday afternoon after a very nice, uneventful 6 hour drive. Kara did not shed one tear. Mainly because Grandma K let us borrow a DVD player for the car. Kara got to watch her favorite movie, CARS. The condos we are staying in are awesome and adjoining. We each have a nice room, plenty big enough for each family, two kitchens, four bathrooms and a connected backyard with an amazing view. Yesterday we hiked the Emerald Pool hike at Zion National Park. Today we took my brother-in-laws family boat out on Sand Hollow Reservoir and wake boarded…etc. Kara loved holding the flag when the wake boarder/skier fell. She has been SOOO good. She has the best little personality and hasn’t cried a bit. She is a great traveler and seems to just take things as they come. She has loved playing with her cousins—she calls them her friends or her people. The food has been great with different families cooking or going to pick up something nearby. Tonight we are having In-N-Out! Yum. It is just so neat to have the whole family here.

Good News!!!

I just called Kara's doctor to verify that she is on the right antibiotic for her UTI and they said that the test they sent to the lab was NEGATIVE!!! She just must have had a flu or something!! We are so relieved and thankful. She can stop taking the antibiotic and we don't have to worry about it every 6 hours on our trip to Utah! Yea!