Lesson Plans

I know, I know... I'm not spending any more money. BUT!!!!! Katie is such a smart little munchkin I have decided to start making up lesson plans for her to add to her learning the alphabet and numbers. She caught on really quick and is showing interest... so I think I am going to use flash cards, wooden blocks, pictures, arts and crafts, etc... to help her learn the numbers and letters that she is having a hard time with.

Which means.... I will need to buckle down and finally buy a printer, (we have lived without one for a very long time) and some school supplies and figure out a reward system that is age appropriate - other than M&M's cause I still plan on using that for potty training when we start that again in a few weeks.

She really likes going to "school" but that was only for 5 weeks and this Thursday is our last one, so I figure I will just structure 45 minutes every day for us to start doing lesson plans and sing alongs, etc.... and as long as she's interested... I will think of new things.

I'm super excited to start and might jump ahead to animals since she loves them so much. I am thinking of doing Ocean Animals and making a collage for her on our Art wall. The great thing is the dollar store across the street has some great stuff we can use to make a bulletin board and decorate it so at least some of the stuff will be super cheap:)

She has already learned basic shapes to the point where she can identify them on her puzzle and her shape sorting toys and even her webkinz game online with Dave. But sometimes she gets confused if it looks totally different than what she is used to. She is VERY good with numbers and letters she's hit and miss these days. She loves animals so I think all in all this will be a great experiment for both of us.

On a side note... I totally painted her toenails last week and they look so freakin cute!!!!!
Happy Wednesday

Grandma is here!!!

MAMA is here!!! All the way from Puerto Rico. She hasn't been stateside in over 15 years and we are very happy to have her here visiting. We already got to see her twice and we are going to see her again this weekend!!! She brought me a super cool princess cup that I LOVE... pics below.

I went to the doctor yesterday and she said I'm doing GREAT! 32.5 inches - which makes me ABOVE AVERAGE... can you believe it??? Mommy said that's probably the last time I'll be considered "tall" and almost 25 pounds. She said my talking is exceptional and at the milestone of a 2. 5 year old. Although no one seems surprised by this yet... so mommy said she doesn't know if she should be offended or proud;)

Katie was so good at the doctors office... until the doctor came in of course... then she gave her a stone cold look and kept saying... bye bye and pointing to the door. As soon as we put her on the scale to get weighed and measured... she started FREAKING OUT... hyperventilating and everything... NO NO NO NO NO through tears and snots and screams. Then the doctor tried to listen to her heart and lungs and she kept swatting at her hands. It was HEART breaking...
We finally got her to calm down after the doctor left but then she came back in with the shots and the freak out started all over again. It made me think that I couldn't stand it if she ever got hurt and was crying like that because of real pain.

Dave put her in the car and we came home and watched Elmo on her princess couch with Ba Ba and her blankie and binky and she was all better. The doctor said we should take away her morning bottle and that we should start considering taking away her binky... so I think I will wait until we get back from Mimi's house this weekend to try that.

Potty training is officially on hold for now... but in 2 weeks or so I will try again with her.

Here are some more pictures from the past few days... some day soon I will be able to start scrapbooking all the stuff that is on here in a real live old fashioned book versus an online blog.... I'm just so happy that it's all here, so it'll make that much easier!

Happy Summer!

What does Grumps Do?

Katie has turned into quite the copycat... so while at Mimi and Grumps this weekend, she was patiently (ha ha , yeah right) waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him to come out of the bathroom in the morning. Well, Grumps clears his throat in a VERY yucky sounding way and she could hear it from the bottom of the stairs, so as soon as he did it... she immediately copied!!! Mimi and I almost peed our pants and Katie thought it was the funnest thing ever!!!

So, now just ask her what does grumps do... and she will kindly respond!!!

Early Potty Training

Yes, I know she's only 18 months old. But... She was doing very very well last week. Every time I put her on the potty, she went pee pee and was so excited to get M&M's.. (TANDY she calls it)

Then we went to mimi's house and to a few parties so it got all messed up (which is what happens)

so I tried pull ups but I don't think they work well because she just goes in them... so I went out and bought training pants and we are trying that, but she was constipated yesterday and this morning and I think that really put a hinder on our progress, so I am going to be very easy and make it light tonight and then start again tomorrow morning with the training pants and see how it goes... cross your fingers for us. If it doesn't work, at least I tried. But I want to give it a good try so I am going to try for a full week and see what happens and if that doesn't work, then we will go back to doing it sporadically.

My grandmother is coming to visit from Puerto Rico so we will be a little busy the next few weeks trying to go and see her as much as we can, so I think that will make it a little difficult too... but we are going to keep trying!

Catch ya lata!

I know I know

I know I said I wasn't going to spend any money... And I tried... I really did.

But... I found a cute dresser for Katie (Not the one I posted) AND a cool hutch type drawer unit for our room to hide all my yarn and needles and scrapbooking stuff - for the price of the other huge dresser I almost bought for Katie... that would have taken up a full wall in her room.... so I figure I kinda saved us money in the end. Right?


Then we got our kitchen table finally... so we needed to get a booster seat for Katie so she could eat with us and so we don't have to have her highchair take up so much space in our kitchen.


Then we started potty training... Yes I'm crazy... but last week she really took to it and went pee pee on the potty every time I put her on there. So, I decided to get pull ups mostly for me so I didn't have to put diapers on and off while she was standing up - that didn't work so well..

So I went out and bought training pants instead and we are trying to see how that works! I also got a portable potty because other moms swear by it for potty training... and she needed a new puzzle... so I got her a shapes one (and she's already learning her shapes... so clearly that was an investment in her future)

Then I bought myself the most adorable little plastic re-usable take out looking cup by Copco... I LOVE IT and I needed a treat from all the stress of researching deals and buying all this stuff....

And our chairs needed pads - so I went out and bought those, although we might change them because they move around a little and that bugs me.

I can't help it. We needed this stuff... this is why we don't own a house, so we can spend money on stuff like this that we can one day take to our house and not have to buy lots of furnishings, etc at the same time. So I think it's all warranted.

I do want a Keurig for my EMPLOYEE LOUNGE (kitchen) but I have held off and refuse to buy it as I guess since there is only one employee I can just use the regular old coffee pot.
I also want this teeny tiny vacuum I saw that's perfect for keeping in our STAFF CAR, but I have held off on buying that one as well as I should just suck it up and get one of those for all of Katie's spills.

I really am trying. There is just so much stuff we needed to make our apartment more complete... I think we are almost done now, at least for now;)

Fathers Day Pictures

Fathers Day weekend I got to see all my grandparents again! (who is luckier than me)

When Mamie and Pee Pee were here, we went and did a family photo and this is what we ended up with!!!! Mommy says she thinks it's a really good picture!!!

The photo shoot was VERY quick because I have entirely too many things to do other than sit down and smile - so the photographer literally got maybe, 9 pictures of all of us together but luckily they were good ones:)

We got to hang out and play and I gave daddy the very first picture I ever drew with crayons in a soccer frame. (He is suffering from World Cup Fever) AND he gets to go to another soccer game at the stadium nearby to see the Red Bulls play. I like having my grandparents over and sometimes I ask for them when they aren't around.

Happy Weekend everyone. It's time to go in the POOL!