Laci's Party

Friday night we were at my parents house giving Kaitlyn some much needed Nana and Papa time. On Saturday we went to Laci's 2nd birthday party. Kaitlyn and Laci are the only two great-grand kids on my dad's side. They were born five months apart. The two girls are drastically different in size. Laci is a little petite girl who will one day be a petite woman while Kaitlyn is going to be a sky scraper. LOL... Okay there are women over 6', I know that, but she will be tall none the less hitting around 5'10 1/2". The girls have never sit still long enough when around each other to have their picture taken together. We couldn't get them both looking at the same time, but here's some attempts.

Notice Laci is closer to the camera, but Kaitlyn still looks a lot bigger.

Attempt one at getting the girls together. I knew Laci would cry if I held her so I gave her to her Nana. I thought Kaitlyn might cry, but goodness. She wasn't having anything to do with Aunt D.
Attempt two... Whatever! At least Aunt D and I are smiling.

Ahhh... toys... the wonderful thing that draws all children.
This is as good as it gets. When we saw the girls playing with the same toy we grabbed our cameras and started snapping photos.

For parents with kids who are about to be in or could possibly be put in a Rhino Cruiser Brace Kaitlyn is wearing one in the photos. She has on dark purple capris (pants are mandatory under the brace) so anything you see that isn't dark purple is the brace. The white in the front of the last photo is the foam and Velcro that wraps around the front of the brace. The dark blue in the second to last photo is the flexible plastic that makes the brace hold it's shape. What you're not seeing is the Velcro "belt" with a foam piece on the belly holding the brace up and on.

My Birthday

Yesterday I turned thirty-(runs hand over mouth making last number garbled). Mom, Kaitlyn and I went to the Mall so I could get my haircut. We were going to have a mani/pedi first, but we left to late for it. It turned out to be a very wet day so perhaps it's a good idea we didn't do it. When I get a pedicure I like to wear sandals away from the place so as not to smug them. Rain and open toe shoes don't mix.

While my hair was being cut mom and Kaitlyn went down to the play area. Kaitlyn played until she was completely worn out. I met them there then we headed off for the food court. A little Bourbon chicken does the body good. Hehehe... I bought Kaitlyn a cheese burger from Wendy's which she only ate the top bun of. After eating we rode the carousel.

First Kaitlyn and I rode. She was on the zebra and me a horse.

Here she is hanging on tight to her zebra.

Then mom and Kaitlyn rode the carousel. Kaitlyn rode on Fred the frog. Her zebra didn't have a name. =)

We ended our evening at Olive Garden with my dad and brother. They opened a new restaurant since I've been here. I'm thinking it's best to go to the old ones until this one gets some experience under their belt. We had bad, slow service. The waitress took 20 minutes or more to bring us our salad and bread sticks after our order was taken. She poured water down the back of my arm. Thank goodness it wasn't my back. Our food took a century. It was probably and hour after we gave our order that we finally got it. The was good. My dad had to wait around for a while to get and pay the bill. When he finally did pay it, the waitress brought back the wrong receipt, twice our price, with my dad's card number on it. So she charged us for another customer's bill. Personally... I would have left her a two dollar tip max and would have paid a little visit to the manager. After eating we all came back to my parents house for cake and ice cream, then we watched Twilight.

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!!

Today my Christmas Eve baby turned 2!!!
We took her to Burger King for a kids meal then let her open her presents. She was so excited to see Igglepiggle she didn't even car to unwrap UpsyDaisy. We had to motivate her a little.

She is now playing in the community center for the last time. They close in less then 45 minutes until after the holidays. I think we may go for ice cream before Baskin Robbins closes for the holidays.

Kaitlyn's Wishlist

For those who are wondering what Kaitlyn may like for Christmas or her birthday (although we aren't having a gift party until the third Sunday in May) here are some things she really likes right now.

Little People Learn About Town

Kaitlyn likes to play with this, as much as possible through the packaging, every time she sees it at the BX. When folded it's a bit big, but she needs toys in Texas so I thought I might buy it once we are stateside and ship it to Guam. She likes most anything that is Little People. She has the house, plane, school bus, mini van, two-seater plane, and tow truck. The last two were dropped off at the Airman's Attack and a friend gave them to me for Kaitlyn along with enough people to fill up the bus and plane seats.

Bubble Bath

Her love of bubbles has nothing to do with the brand, but the love of what the general product does. Recently I found a brand new container of bubble bath that needs to be used before we leave England. Kaitlyn has been getting a bubble bath almost every night. As I take her upstairs for a bath she is usually saying "bubbles".

Arts

Kaitlyn loves to color. Seeing how she now decorates her highchair (against our wishes) we only let her play with washable Crayons while strapped into her chair. She typically colors in a small notebook which she seems to prefer over coloring books.

Doll Paraphernalia

Kaitlyn is just starting to get attached to her dolls. We will be taking at least one doll to Texas with us and a doll stroller. It's the smaller items I know she would love, like doll clothes, blanket, doll carrying pouch like this one from Cashmere Cuddles.

Or this doll carrier/bed by Mimas

She also sells these cloth diapers for dolls.

I'm sure these would be easy to make. A little elastic in the legs, maybe some batting down the middle, and Velcro closers.

The more I look the more fun doll stuff I'm finding on Etsy. For those looking for great handmade gifts and would like to help support a stay at home mom etsy.com is the way to go.

Clothes

Kaitlyn is still growing into 2t. For the most part if I buy her anything while stateside I plan on getting her summer items in 3t. Seeing how we are moving to Guam at the end of May and every day is summer weather, even if the 3t won't fit by then, they will fit her soon enough and will get plenty of wear. Dresses are more forgiving if they are to big or small so my plan is to buy her 3t dresses and make her 2t (for now).

She loves purses, but still doesn't understand necklaces and bracelets.

She loves shoes too, but we are having a bit of an issue there. She still walks funny (on the ball of her right foot) and may have to start wearing a special "boot" to correct the problem. If we are cleared to do so I want to buy her some good sandals when we are stateside.

Other Ideas

Gift certificates to You Can Make This. I buy all Kaitlyn's clothing patterns off YCMT. A gift certificate to there is the start of an outfit for Kaitlyn.

I wish Fabritopia sold gift certificates because I love getting fabric from there. The owner is great and her fabric is wonderful quality!

Fabric.com is another place a buy a lot of fabric from that mostly becomes Kaitlyn's clothes.
Oh, movies. Kaitlyn has the second Ice Age, Open Season, and Nim's Island. I think she would like most any animated feature with animals like Madagascar and Barn Yard.

And for those wondering what to get me this last section is good for me too. I have gotten a couple patterns from YCMT for me and of course the fabric came from fabric.com or Fabritopia. I do shop other online stores, but these two have become my main choices.

*Once we are in Guam there are some little bit bigger items we plan on getting her, but I rather not ship. Some of those items are (but not limited to) child size mop and broom, doll bed, and doll highchair.

Insanity?

Last night I asked Neal how many parents spend hours on something they can't keep and may never see again? The preschool children's network (Cbeebies) here in the UK shows birthday cards every day. They have several requirements like size, the child's name and age on the card, what kind of picture of bday child, and what characters go on it. Saturday Kaitlyn and I went to a local grocery store to raid their magazine rack. Who knew you could actually buy preschool/toddler magazines? We bought three. Kaitlyn was thrilled when she saw all her favorite characters on the magazines. My plan was to cut them up for the birthday card. I felt really guilty cutting up some magazines she seemed to take joy in; I opted to go to the community center and print off her favorite Cbeebies characters instead. I think I will put the magazines away for our plane trip next month. My original plan was to paint the three puppets from The Shiny Show. After drawing Tiggs then panting the picture I decided I couldn't take out the time to pant Mukka and Dogsby too then send them off never to be seen again. When Kaitlyn saw my version of Tiggs she knew who it was right away. She kept pointing saying, "Shiny Show". I still have to put a picture of Kaitlyn on it.

This is the one I'm going to use. It will go at the top between the star and number 2. As a disclaimer I just want to say I didn't draw any of these characters. The only thing I can take credit for is the foil star and her name. The star is the "super shiny" from The Shiny Show. When you win the game show you get the super shiny. The dog, monkey and cat below it are from The Shiny Show. The three hand puppets on your left are the Doodle Do's. Kaitlyn sounds so funny when she is talking about the Doodle Do's. I think it's one of the few double word things she can say fast. By the way, the Doodle Do's are chenille gloves with eyes on top of the hand and feathers, rope, and/or other random bits covering the puppeteers wrist and arm. The dog on the bottom right is Pippin. She is always getting into mischief. Kaitlyn loves watching her and has even cried on several occasions when the show ends. The #2 is from the Numberjacks. I used it mostly because it's a 2. Kaitlyn does watch Numberjacks, but I think the math is over her head.

Because we will be in billeting on Kaitlyn's birthday and not getting Cbeebies we are saying her birthday is on the 17th of December. We are hoping the card is actually used so Kaitlyn can see herself on TV. They show them on the child's birthday hence the reason we are making her birthday come early. Our household goods will start being packed up on the 18th. On the back of the card I have to write her birthday, name, and a message from us.

Alright I need to go get ready to leave. The Kodak store will be open in about 30 minutes and I want to get that picture printed.