Kaitlin's First Trip to the......

DENTIST! I had been putting this visit off until summer, but we finally made it to the dentist for Kaitlin's first cleaning. I had planned to take her to a pediatric dentist, but recently decided to take her to the dentist I've gone to since I was three years old. I know many people in this office and just knew they would do really well with Kaitlin.

Although Kaitlin was extremely excited about her upcoming trip, I really didn't know how she would do once we got there. She did great! There were toys and books in the waiting room, so she immediately was drawn to those. We know one of the ladies who works at the front desk pretty well, so she really talked to Kaitlin a lot during our short wait. Once it was time to go back her dental hygienist, Karen, talked with Kaitlin quite a bit before even having her sit in "the CHAIR". She showed Kaitlin all the special tools, and of course used cute little kid-friendly terms to explain everything. The dentist said her teeth look great, and of course they had lots of treats for her to take home. Kaitlin absolutely LOVED visiting the dentist, and says she can't wait to go back!

Big News

I know this really isn't news for most of you, but I needed to create a post about it anyway. We are very excited that we are expecting a new addition to our family. Our second child is due on January 6th. I am now 13 weeks along. We had an ultrasound back at 8 weeks and everything looked great.
All of our family members are very excited, especially Kaitlin. She talks about the baby every single day, and has already shown us a 1 foot by 1 foot space in the hall outside her bedroom where the little one can sleep! She is really a very loving child, and I know she will be a terrific big sister. She has already taken awesome care of me and gives me flowers every day to make my tummy feel better. Kaitlin even said to me, "Mommy, I can see the baby is making your belly fat." It was so funny because she said it in the sweetest and most sincere way!
Be sure to ask Kaitlin if we are having a boy or a girl. She usually tells people that we don't get to pick...we just have to take what God gives us. Then, she'll tell you which one she prefers. Cute stuff.

Hate

As a little girl, I remember so well being taught by my daddy not to "hate" people. This (among many other lessons) was very important to him. He doesn't even like the word "hate". As I grew and tested the waters of life, I became aware that it is okay to hate concepts, ideas, actions, etc...... or to at least dislike them strongly. So today, I will say that I hate cancer.

Cancer has entered the lives of two of our close family members this month. Scott's Grandfather, Mr. Chance, was found to have cancer in his stomach when they opened him up during a recent surgery. He spent a little over two weeks in the hospital and came home on Monday. They are not yet sure if there will be any treatment of his cancer, as he already has the same form of muscular dystrophy that Gary Wayne suffers from. His health may not be able to endure treatment. So, please pray for him as he regains strength at home.

My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer last week. This is the same cancer that took the life of his father twelve short years ago. Dad regularly has blood work done. A recent blood test indicated that his PSA level was slightly elevated. Thankfully, he has a wonderful doctor who wanted to go ahead and check things out. After a biopsy, he was found to have cancer in three of the eighteen areas they tested. The positive side of this is that it has been detected early and is not a real large amount. Mom and Dad remain positive as they have been meeting with various doctors to discuss possible treatment plans. He does have several options, so now he just has to choose a course of treatment and endure it. Please pray for him as he makes this choice and begins treatment to get rid of this horrible, hated disease.

I Love Summer

I am so very glad that summer is here. The last few weeks of school are easy but also trying. We don't try to throw as much at the kids, but at the same time they think they shouldn't have to do anything. During the month of May, teachers turn into babysitters. I don't mind this so much though. It allows me the opportunity to loosen up and really enjoy spending time with my students in a much more relaxed atmosphere.
Most people seem to think that once school is out for the summer, that a teacher's work is done. Actually, I spent two full days in meetings just last week. We are required to complete a minimum of 30 professional development hours. Some years I put in closer to 50! With that said, I am glad that I don't have any more days scheduled until the last week in July (unless something else pops up).
We don't have any major plans for the summer. Kaitlin has already made her first trip to Holiday World with Ella Kate and Scott's parents back on the last day of school. They had a blast. We are planning to go there next week, so I guess that's something to look forward to.
It feels like this is my first true week off. I've been passing most of the time around the house. Hopefully, Kaitlin and I will start getting over to the pool soon. I think she'll really enjoy it this year.
There is so much to be done here. I have a few projects I want to tackle, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm still trying to catch up on laundry and other messes we seem to create.
Those are all my ramblings for now. I know it's not much, but keep checking back. I promise it will get more interesting!

Fishing

Uncle Jody bought Kaitlin her first fishing pole. She is very proud of her pink princess "Sishing" pole. Uncle Jody, Scott, and Granddaddy took Kaitlin to the pond one afternoon for her first fishing adventure. (I was still at work, so I didn't get to go.) Kaitlin didn't actually catch any on her pole, but she helped Uncle Jody reel his in. If you ask her how big that fish was, she'll open her arms as wide as she can. This, of course, is unrealistic....but very cute! Kaitlin loved getting to touch her first fish (GROSS!).

I spent last Saturday cleaning the house. By Saturday afternoon, I was determined I was going to get Kaitlin outside to enjoy the nice weather. I asked if she wanted to go fishing, and of couse she did. This time Scott, Granddaddy, and Gramby joined us. Kaitlin grew quickly bored with holding her pole, so Scott caught lots of fish of that pink princess pole! Kaitlin had a ball throwing sticks and rocks into the water. It entertained her so well that she didn't even care to reel in the fish on her line after the first couple. She just kept on throwing rocks and sticks. We caught several small bass and brim. Great times.

BIG Family Vacation

On Spring Break, we headed to Florida with both of our families. We rented a house near Disney World for the ten of us to stay in. That's right......ten people. You would think that would be a lot of people in one house. It was, but it was a very spacious six bedroom house, so there was plenty of room.

Everyone had different ideas for what they would like to do all week, so the teacher in me created a chart to indicate where everyone would be going each day. Some of the people loved this plan, while others thought I was insane.....those were the same people who I later saw refer to the chart many times! :)

Of course, Kaitlin and I are Disney World fanatics, so our week was pretty simple to plan. My mom and Melinda ended up joining us at Disney World each day. The guys golfed, fished, and went to Disney World as well. Scott's favorite part of the trip was probably when an alligator stole a fish he was reeling in....very funny video!

On our last day in Florida, nearly all of us loaded up to head to Tarpon Springs and Clearwater Beach. Gary Wayne's girlfriend, Brittany, had never been to the ocean before, and I wanted Kaitlin to get to go back. Kaitlin had not been to the ocean since she was about 18 months old. It took a long time to get into Clearwater because of all the traffic (Spring Break + Florida = Busy).

Once we finally got into the beach area, it took a lot of driving to find a place to park. This was not much fun with a three year old who was ready to be out of the car and on the beach. We finally found a spot and walked to a restaurant for lunch....Crabby Bill's (I think...???). Once there, I realized I left Kaitlin's swimsuit in the car (MANY blocks away). I really didn't think Kaitlin would care much for the ocean's waves and dirty sand anyway, so I decided to just leave it and let her wade in the water in her shorts.

Back to Crabby Bill's...everyone was tired of walking and starving by the time we sat down to eat. My sweet baby decided to pick up her cup of milk by the top, thus dropping the full cup on both of us....mostly me. I tried really hard not to become Crabby Kerri, but the last 30 minutes had contained: long car ride with 3 year old, frustration with lack/price of parking, long walk with 3 year old who wanted to be carried, hunger, outdoor dining in wind, and now a milk bath. That was probably the lowest point of the trip for me.

After lunch, we walked over to the beach. Kaitlin's fascination with the sand and the water were just what I needed. She was a picture of pure glee. The child could care less that her clothes were getting soaked and that she was covered in sand. This was a big shock to all of us as she can't stand for anything dirty to be on her.

Our parents stayed at the beach just a few minutes before continuing on to Tarpon Springs. The rest of us stayed at the beach a couple of hours and then went back to the house.

We stopped in Live Oak, Florida on the way home. This is a small town my Dad lived in when he was a young child. He took us to an old spring that everyone used as the summertime swimming hole. It was very special to get to see this important part of his life.

Overall, it was a very fun trip. I still LOVE Disney World, but I recommend avoiding it during Spring Break. I also prefer staying at one of the Disney resorts as we did in October. The house was nice and saved a lot of money due to the number of people in our party, but it is much more magical and stress-free when you are on Disney property for the entire trip.

Of course, we took a ton of pictures. Here are some of those:

My girl:

She was not a bit afraid of Beast!

She asked Snow White where the dwarfs were.

Mulan was very sweet. She spent a lot of time talking to Kaitlin.

We were so lucky to meet Pinocchio! This was her favorite part of this day.

Isn't she adorable!

It was very hot waiting for the parade. Funny!

Only Melinda and Jody were brave enough to ride the Spinning Tea Cups with Kaitlin.

Kaitlin's favorite ride was Pooh's Honeypot. I don't know what Scott was doing!

Mom and Kaitlin outside Minnie's house:

Waiting....

Scary Dinosaur Ride:

Grandparents were all a big help at Disney World! Kaitlin caught a nap during the Festival of the Lion King Show.

In her happy place:

Loving it:

Water was cold...she didn't notice though!

Spring in Live Oak....water is much lower than normal:

Live Oak:

Love this picture:

No luck!

Mom and Dad at Spring on Suwanee River:

Kaitlin's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe that my sweet baby girl is already three years old. I am so thankful that God chose me to be the Mommy of this precious little life. Each day, I remind myself to enjoy every moment because the time goes by so quickly.
Here are some pictures from Kaitlin's princess party.

This first one is of some of the dresses we had for the girls to wear during the party. We also had tiaras and princess shoes. It was really cool for each girl to get to be a real princess! (I think Kaitlin wore 4 different ones that day!)

Kaitlin had a castle birthday cake topped with some of her favorite princesses.

During Happy Birthday Song:

Cake Time!

Of course there were presents:

Here's Kaitlin with some of her special guests:

I had to include this picture of Scott. Doesn't he look like he's having a blast?

I Know.

I know it has been nearly two months since I've posted any blog entries. I'm not sure why. I have been quite busy lately, and I will admit that when I finally do get a free moment the last thing I want to do is to THINK in order to create a blog entry. I just haven't felt up to it. I have plenty of stuff that I really want to put on here (including Kaitlin's THIRD birthday pictures). I know I will post more soon.... Just have to be in that mindset.
I've been on Spring Break all week. You would think that would free up some time, but we are actually on vacation right now with both of our families. We've spent the week at Disney World, and right now we are in the car traveling to Tarpon Springs. This is truly the Family Day of the trip...some of the folks want to visit the Greek Community and a car museum there. I know you are all aching with jealousy over missing those places:). We are also going to stop at the beach for just a bit today because Brittany (Gary Wayne's girlfriend) has never seen the ocean. I had really planned to go back to Disney today, but I am sort of Disney-ed out.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'm coming out of my slump!

My baby is growing up!

Kaitlin started going to daycare/preschool two days a week when school started back up in January. She is nearing three years old, and I wanted to provide her the opportunity to be around other children. We have been so fortunate for our moms to keep her all this time, but I want her to know how to play with kids....yep, that's right....she knows how to play with grown-ups, but would love to have more playmates her age.
As you can imagine, this transition was difficult and scary for me.....not Kaitlin....me. However, after seeing how well she has done, I am perfectly happy with her going.
Scott has been taking her each morning, and the funniest thing happened the first day. He walked her into Miss Cori's class (Miss Cori is FABULOUS by the way!!!) where she did the typical Kaitlin around strangers act (head down, playing with fingers, doesn't move, silent). Immediately Emma (Kaitlin's second cousin whom she has been around a few times) and another little girl we did not know came to her and began talking up a storm to her. The other little girl proceeds to smell Kaitlin's hair....are you picturing animals smelling the new meat? The girls begin to touch Kaitlin's lunch box, coat, and of course her hair. All the while, Kaitlin just stands there frozen in her stranger danger mode. None of this bothered her, but the poor thing was like a fish out of water.
Scott said his goodbyes that first day and left. Kaitlin did great! She sat in Miss Cori's lap for much of the day, but did venture out and begin to play a bit by mid-morning. I rushed there after school because I couldn't wait to get to her and see how she liked it.
We're in the third week of daycare now, and Kaitlin is doing fantastic! Not once has she become upset or shed a tear over going. She gets so excited about packing her lunch in her princess lunch box and making sure she has her princess sheet to take with her for nap time. I love hearing her tell about things she did that day and talk about friends she has made. We are thrilled that she loves it there so much. Interesting note....she still gets her hair smelled each morning when she arrives!

Kaitlin's Dance Recital

Kaitlin absolutely LOVES her dance class. She has the sweetest teacher, Miss Jessica. Kaitlin is really comfortable in the environment Miss Jessica creates for the girls.

They have had the last few weeks off, but I wanted to share these pictures from the recital they had in December. You would not believe how well Kaitlin did. She really listened and followed Miss Jessica's directions......if only she would listen that well at home!

The ladies had the stage decorated so cute for Christmas! The girls danced to Jingle Bell Rock and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. As Kaitlin would say, it was "just adorable".

Kaitlin was so excited to receive a rose and Christmas ornament, but I think her favorite part was the food she got to chow down on afterward.

What a fun night!