Your First Haircut

Dear Kate,

At a little less than 2 & 1/2 years old, you got your first hair cut. We went to Divas & Dudes and you did FANTASTIC.  No tears whatsoever and you sat so still for the lady.  While we didn't do anything drastic, we just got a nice clean cut going, which made it look even prettier than it was before!  

 This tiara was well deserved!   

 As were the braid and sparkles in your hair!

Yay big girl!!!!  So proud!

Clara Lee & Ellie's Birthdays

Dear Kate,

Your two favorite first cousins had big birthdays.  Both Clara Lee and Ellie turned 5.  I really shouldn't say cousins, because the reality of it is these two girls are going to be more like big sisters to you than cousins.  And, I mean, what's greater than a big sister.  I wouldn't know personally what a big sister is, but I am one, and, well, I am pretty awesome, just ask Ash-ash, so 3 big sisters - that has to be awesome.  Right???  Only time will tell :)  

Back to the parties.  So CL had a tea party and let me just tell you, it was one heck of a fancy tea party.  Ash-ash (and her awesome big sister) pulled out all the tricks to make it perfect, including using actual china and tea cups!  And, of course, there were lots of yummy treats.  And tea for those of us who actually like tea.  You stuck with the sweets.    

Em was a perfect server, white gloves and all.

And Ash-ash was the perfect hostess with the mostess, demonstrating the good manners all young southern ladies should have, along with the proper etiquette to a tea party.  Did I mention she dressed for the part, too!

Did I mention you all did?!  All the girls looked beautiful in their Sunday best.

Do you know what you get when you put a beautiful day with a bunch of country (or at least country at heart) girls?  A VERY short tea party.  Everyone got their fair share of treats and we even sang Happy Birthday, but all you girls were just itching to enjoy one of the most beautiful days I have seen in January.  And when goats are involved, there is no stopping you!

The birthday girl herself had to break free!!!!

We all enjoyed the awesome weather and even got some friends together for an impromptu gathering that turned into quite the party!  We should have known.  We have so much fun at Ash-ash's.  Some of us have WAY too much fun.  Did I mention you were pretty much the last man standing??? That's right?  You didn't nap because the party was at 2, so then when you fell asleep on Mimi's lap around 4, Mimi thought it was a good idea to just let you sleep.  Well, at 11 that night, you were wide awake, having a good ole time.  Others (including a couple of adults) were already asleep, but not you little party girl.  But just like the rest of us, you felt it the next day.  This is the car ride home...

I'd like to say "I will never let you nap that late again" but sadly about 2 weeks later, it happened.  More on that later.
Back to birthday parties, though.  Next up, Ellie Bean!  So Ellie's birthday PARTY was on Saturday.  Her birthday was Sunday, but even though Uncle Jaybee and Aunt Steph explained that 100 million times to her, she was convinced her birthday was on Saturday, so we all just went with it.  On Friday night Mexican, we got to sing Happy Birthday to her and we all thought that was so awesome!  She was a little red and I'm not referring to her pretty hair either!

So on Saturday, she had her birthday party at Monkey's Treehouse (and her birthday, remember!).  You love this place and scared/impressed everyone with your stellar climbing rope skills.

You had lots of other fun, too, playing with everything and with Kipper.  

I couldn't get a picture of you and the birthday girls because she was being hogged by Sister (and her 200 friends that were there!) but I here she is 'on her birthday'!

It was a fun birthday celebration, fo sho!  

Happy Birthday Clara Lee and Ellie bean!

and love you bug! 

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Bed Time

Dear Kate,

Sweet Precious Kate...  Look what you have become... 

That's right.  You have become a climber, or more specifically, a Climb Out of the Crib climber.  And, guess what that means.  Sniff, sniff... no more crib...  I am sad for multiple reasons - 1) the obvious 'my baby's not a baby anymore reason, but more importantly 2) Our perfect sleeping nights could be over!  Daddy on the other hand thinks this is the greatest thing ever and has been wanting to transfer you for awhile now into a big girl bed.  I'm positive he's been smoking crack at night.  What is he thinking??  He claims that you and Sister will sleep peacefully together, all night long.  It's the crack.  There is no other explanation.  So the first time it happened, I tried to ignore it and just put you back in the crib.  Nope, you climbed right back out.  I decided for nap that I would just hold you until you fell asleep...

 I wasn't' thrilled about this.  To say the least, you didn't sleep long...

 That night I had to rock you until you fell asleep and 'gracefully' put you in the crib.  Not an easy task at all.  The next day was a no brainer, we had to switch you over to a big girl bed.  Thankfully Sister has two twin beds in her room so we just moved on of those over to your room.

You and Sister were thrilled.  Daddy was having a moment of clarity.  At naptime, we had a bit of trouble in the new bed, to say the least.  I got this text from Daddy...

He realizes now he needs to lay off the crack.  He was very proud though that he did indeed get you to sleep.  Who cares if it meant rocking you in full princess attire...

 It didn't last too long, but at least you got a nap in.

So that night we decided to kick it in full gear and do the whole "take you back to your bed as many times as it takes" routine.  Low and behold, it worked and maybe one or two times out of the bed and you were asleep!!!

 This can't be true!  It can't be this easy!
No, it wasn't.  For some reason, the first couple of nights were no issues, but then the realization of it all kicked in.  We found you being a bit creepy a couple of times.  Yes, that's you in the corner of Sister's room.  She was sound asleep.

You never really cried and thankfully, we never had to lock you in (like a certain sister of yours), but you would go to the door and just sit there, occasionally peek your head out, then slam the door shut.  It took a good 2 weeks, but I can say now that you are, again, perfect to put to bed.  We had to make a few adjustments to your nap (as in waking you up earlier) so you can be tired by bedtime, but now all we do is read you a book, sing you a song and tuck you in!  You stay put and stay asleep.  Most of the time.  As with any kiddo, there are those nights you need Mommy to come in at 2 in the morning and lay with you, or you wake up at 5:45 at the foot of my bed.  I guess it's just the next step in growing up, huh.  I'm so happy the transition to the big girl bed wasn't that bad.  You are such a big girl now and it makes Mommy so proud!!  Love you big girl! 

The Start of a New Year

Dear Kate,
Just because the holidays are over doesn't mean the fun stops.  What's up, you ask? Well...
Daddy got you donuts, for starters.  I mean, seriously, what screams more fun than a chocolate donut?!

  And he built the trampoline you got for Christmas! Daddy's really rocking it out in the month of Jan, huh!

 You got to 'sleep' in Sister's big bed (you didn't really, but you sure wanted to!).

 And got a head towel!  Well, actually not in this picture, but I did have to go get you one.  Mimi got all the older girls one for Christmas, not really thinking you may want one, but if there is one thing I have learned with you, it's that if Sister has one, you need one!  Mommy was clever enough to improvise for the time being and you were fine with it!

 We've also had a couple ice cream breaks, which is always appropriate in the middle of winter...

 We gave Knoxie a bath, which, well, wasn't his/our finest moment, but at least he was clean!

 He just doesn't look the same does he!
And you got to dress yourself one day.  The truth is, you actually were playing dress up and we needed to go get Sister from school and you were NOT taking off that dress, so, off we went!

 You also got to have your first shopping spree.  Billy (Sarah's daddy) got you a $20 gift card to Walgreens.  This was the best present ever especially since we went after Christmas when everything was on clearance.  While Sister settled for one big thing you walked away with 3 finger nail polishes, a Minnie Mouse flashlight, and Minnie Mouse bowling set, and something else.  Talk about making out like a bandit!!!

 You and Sister have taken a couple drives through the neighborhood...

 and a couple million jumps on the trampoline...

 And given Knox a couple ka-trillion hugs...

 We also decided that winter would not stop us from eating our fave - WATERMELON!!!

 We had a scary mask person haunt our house for a bit...

 And we had some down time in the bed...

 We drank hot chocolate and put puzzles together...

 And even had a lemonade stand!!!!

 Probably our favorite and most frequent thing we've done in January is having our nightly performance of Let It Go on the kitchen counter.  You both are very good at it...

Speaking of performances, we went to see a ballet at the Franklin Theatre performed by the Nashville Ballet.  It was REALLY good and you were so impressive with sitting still and by yourself the entire time! That's you front and center!

 Afterwards they let the kiddos come up and perform.  You were ALL about that!

 We had a good time and even got to check some books out at the library!

 And to wrap up January, you got to go with me to the vet for Knoxie.  You got a little sidetracked though and thought maybe we were at gymnastics...

Yowzas!!!  January has zipped by, no doubt!!!  Fun times all around.  Love you crazy girl!