Long Time No Post

Yes, I realize it's been 10 months since I posted and I am not even going to try to make up for lost time. Everyone knows what we've been up and has probably seen pictures along the way (I hope).  Anyway, I am going to try to post more regularly again but I also think the time has come to change it a little bit. When I first began this blog, I wrote as if I were Catherine because she was still little enough that I felt I could do that. However, I don't think it makes sense to write in the first person as Catherine anymore - she has her own identity, opinions and ideas and far be it from me to put words in her mouth, so from now on it will just be me, writing as myself. I'm sure one of these days she'll want to start her own blog!

First order of business is Halloween. We celebrated for two weeks and it was great. Our neighbor, Gwyn (Laird & Claire's mom) is a huge Halloween fan, possibly because her birthday is the 30th. They hosted an adults-only party on the 20th. The kids were right next door at our house, watched over by Talia, another neighbor who is 11 and just starting to babysit. It was perfect - she got some experience but all the parents, inlcuding hers, were right next door.

Richard and I threw costumes together. I found an old dress of my mom's from the 1970's and wore my fancy witch hat. Richard, well, I'm not sure what he was. He wore shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and a sherriff's badge, kerchief and cowboy hat we had from Laird's birthday party two years ago. The party was a lot of fun for the adults, the kids had a great time hanging out together and watching movies.

The next weekend was another costume party and I told Richard we needed to step it up so I sent out an SOS to friends. My good friend, Michelle, came to the rescue with a couple of beautiful costumes she made - a Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) dress and a Wonder Woman outfit, complete with red boots and the Golden Lasso of Truth! Wonder Woman is a brunette so I bought a wig and voila! Richard's costume came together after I had mine - we ironed a Superman S on a white t-shirt and he wore suit pants, a dress shirt open to reveal the S underneath and I bought him some "nerd" glasses and he was Clark Kent.  We both felt it was the best costumes we've ever come up with - thanks to Michelle.

Catherine had waffled back and forth over what to be for Halloween this year and we ran out of time to have Granny and Auntie J make it so we ended up buying a witch costume and Catherine loved it.  It came with the hat and all we added was her broomstick.

On Halloween day, Richard and I were able to watch the Peabody costume parade, which is always a treat. That night, Richard and Catherine went trick-or-treating with Laird & Claire and their parents, Gwyn & Chris.  Not too far from us, on Argonne Circle (near the church) is ground zero for trick-or-treating for San Roque.  Literally thousands of kids descend on the circle and the houses go all out with decorations. I stayed home and passed out candy - we only had about 60 kids, but that is the most we've had here.  I think more and more kids are finding the circle too crowded. But I'm not complaing - our friends who live just off the circle ran out candy after 1,000 kids!

That's all for now. But I do promise to post more regularly in the future.

Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know it's been a month but here at last is our Christmas post.

We had a wonderful, if low-key, Christmas. As you will recall from the previous post, we spent December 23rd at Disneyland, not getting to bed until 11 pm. Needless to say, we were all exhausted the next day (Christmas Eve). Catherine even fell asleep in the car on the drive home from LA, a very rare occurrence!

With her beloved Pillow-Pet (I'm still wondering how Colleen Nicklos knew!)

Making Catalina's new bed

Ta Da! (Now if Catherine could just make her own bed like that!)

Since Catherine has been asking for a guitar every year since she was 3 years old, we thought it was time to finally buy her one. Lessons to follow...

We still can't get used to this SoCal "winter" weather, but Richard at least is giving it a good try! Yes, this really was Christmas Day!

Disneyland!

On the day before Christmas Eve, we went to Disneyland with my friend, Colette, and her family. It was so much fun! Disneyland was decorated so beautifully, with more lights than usual, garlands everywhere and wreaths shaped like Mickey Mouse ears. Sleeping Beauty's castle was dazzling, especially after dark when the lights came on and it looked like it was covered in shimmering snow! It even snowed on Main Street! It was so beautiful and I loved every minute of it.

With Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.

We asked her where her tiara was and she said it was in Flynn's napsack because it keeps slipping off her head.

With Colette on It's a Small World

Riding the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups with Mommy & Colette

The King Arthur Carousel

Waiting in line for one of my favorite rides - the Matterhorn!

It's a Small World after dark

See how beautiful Sleeping Beauty's Castle is!

Come Sail Away

A few weeks ago we all got to go sailing during a Sunday race. The weather was perfect and it was a great race, although it was a bit windy and Mommy and I got stuck down below with two other non-sailors, so we wouldn't get in the way on deck. I can't wait to learn how to sail so I can stay up top and help.

Summer Vacation

Okay, time for a little post-summer vacation clean up.  Let me bring you all up-to-date on my super vacation in Sunriver.  Papa and Nana came for a few days and we celebrated Papa's birthday with him.  My friends from Seattle, Colin and Alexa, were there, too.  We played tennis, swam in the pool a lot, rode our bikes a lot and saw a lot of deer - one night they crossed right behind the house!  One of the most fun things we did was rent a canoe and paddle down the Deschutes River.  The people at the marina only gave Mommy and Daddy paddles but I commandeered Mommy's paddle and helped Daddy out for most of the journey so Mommy could put her feet up and enjoy floating down the river.  A family of deer right alongside the river stopped and watched us go past.

Hanging out at the pool with Alexa & Colin

Look - no hands!

On the trip up we stopped at Crater Lake and I got a junior ranger badge for participating in a Park Ranger talk.  I couldn't believe how blue the water is.  Crater Lake is the deepest lake in North America and it is so blue because of its depth and because it filled with fresh water, just rain or snow melt.  There are no rivers that feed into or out of Crater Lake.  A huge volcano, Mount Mazama, collapsed and created the caldera that is Crater Lake (see, I learned a lot!)


Posing with Wizard Island in the background



Earning my ranger badge





Saying Good-bye to Colin



Playing Catch-Up

Yes, I know: it's been ages since I've posted anything new. I thought with summer I would have some extra time to play catch-up. I was wrong. Here are a few photos of what Catherine has been up to so far this summer.

Saying good-bye to beloved Mrs. Perkins on the last day of school. Mrs. Perkins was everything you could ever wish for in a kindergarten teacher and we feel so lucky to have been in her class. She'll definitely be a hard act to follow!
More tennis lessons this summer.

And some nights Catherine is so tired she falls asleep in the middle of a story!

Jog-A-Thon!

Last month was the Peabody Jog-A-Thon. We had been practicing in PE for months and my goal was to run 20 laps in 40 minutes. I took Papa's advice and didn't run too fast, I stopped for water breaks and to take a picture every time I passed Mommy. I ended up beating my goal and ran 21 laps. I raised $360 and won a ticket to Disneyland. My class raised the most money out of all 5 kindergarten classes and won an ice cream party!

With my tally sheet

Carah and me approaching the finish line - whew!

Colette, her little sister Ava and me before the race

Mrs. Perkins' Class aka The Blue Lightening Bolts