The End of an Era/The Paci Fairy

The last showing of K's super dooper funny paci trick.

The favorite (and least expensive) prize the paci fairy left as consolation.

These pictures leave out the more anguish ridden aspects of the paci withdrawals and subsequent symptoms.  

I guess it hasn't been too bad.  There was an excruciating bedtime.  There was an almost nonexistent nap.  Then I told Jon it was breaking my heart and he had to be in charge of the next bedtime.  

Dad's ready for the worst.

He tucks her in to bed.

Turns off the light.

Says goodnight.

Kate asks him to check on her in ten minutes.  

He gets busy and doesn't go back to check on her for closer to thirty minutes.  When he does, she is sound ASLEEP.

So unfair!!!!

But I am happy for Katie that the transition, while not smooth, was at least quick!

She's 2

Birthday tradition #1 - Take a photo of the birthday girl first thing in the morning. Goal for next year is no paci in the morning picture.

Gift from us - a "pit ball" like Katie's friend Jenna has at her house.

Birthday tradition #2 - Eat cake for breakfast! Thanks for this idea, Mrs. Linda!

Katie requested Grandma's "black" cake.

Monkeys at the zoo.

Photo of the first official terrible two tantrum. K was there to see animals and ride trains. She had no patience for our lunch break.

The birthday dress!

Included this one for Meme. It reminds me of a picture she has of me at the zoo looking at lizards when I was itty bitty.

Too tired to finish her banana on the ride home.

Great 2nd birthday!
Party this weekend!

Itty Bitty Treat Bag

I sewed this itty bitty trick or treat bag for Lil K using this tutorial. The tutorial says you can make the bag faster than you can make dinner! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I am obviously a better cook than seamstress.

When Katie gets bigger she will realize this treat bag is really a trick to downsize her candy portion.

For now she likes that she can carry paci around in it.

Abbey stayed at my parents while we were out of town. Now when Abbey goes out for a potty break, Katie suffers tremendous separation anxiety.

Pumpkin Carving

Park and dinner (an awesome dinner of pot roast, carrots, mashed potatoes, salad, the best green beans. and brown sugar cake - sorry no pictures or leftovers) preceded the carving. At the park, Grandma and Granddad tried to teach Katie to pump her legs back and forth to make the swing go. She didn't quite understand how to do it as you can see in the pic.



Katie's monkey dress. She wore this even though she had bad dreams the other night after I told her big girls had to give their pacis to the baby monkeys at the zoo. The night I told the story she awoke crying "monkey - paci - monkey". So we are going to try another route, at a later date, to reduce paci dependancy.



While dinner cooked, K and Granddad kept on eye on the Dodger game - keeping in touch with their Cali roots.



Our pumpkin Picasso -



Katie didn't mind the gooey pumpkin guts on her hands. She pulled the seeds out for us.



We had a friendly girls versus boys pumpkin competition. Lauren is working on the girls' pumpkin. When she drew the mouth with all those teeth, I am not sure she knew we were going to make her carve it out. You can see Ryan working on the competition's pumpkin in the background.



Boys' pumpkin on left - Girls' on right
Katie selected the winner. I guess she didn't realize which team she was on! She chose the boys' scary faced pumpkin!



A family of pumpkin carvers!

Step Up to the Microphone

Uncle Heath, Aunt Anissa, and Hope bought Katie a microphone. Here is a video of her using it. She holds it very close to her mouth. You get to hear me sing on the video. As Katie would say, "Awesome!"
She is also having a lot of fun playing with her giant balloon from Aunt Diane.

Mad Dog!

Katie loves her pacifier so much. She can smile, cry, talk, and even spit up while it is still in her mouth. This picture is proof! Meme and Papa were here to see this lovely moment.