Putting Aurora to Work

Katie loves her princesses. She decided though that they should work as hard as her.

I helped Aurora hold onto my broom, so she could clean the floor. 

After her hard work, I got her ready for a bath to relax!

Playing Outside

Now that we're inching towards summer, Katie is so excited to be outside. She could spend hours playing out there!

Of course, I had to make a new puddle to jump in while I had boots on. 

Then I noticed the water running down the cracks in the driveway. I kept watching it and saying, "Isn't that interesting!"

I realized that my favorite tree had flowers and I could reach them this year! 

I found a loose leaf and decided to chase little bugs with the leaf stem. 

Then I played Hide and Seek with my mom! Let me go hide! 

Before we went in, we went over to the blackberry bushes and saw that they had blossoms. I was pretty excited when my mom said that berries would come next! Yum!

Fixing the Soil

After carefully planting seeds in our planter in front of the house, we saw that one of our wild critters around the house had discovered the tasty seeds. Whichever animal it was had completely messed up our soil, and it ate our seeds - or at least part of them. Katie took the time to fix the soil, just in case any seeds were left in it. We'll see what happens!

I hope there are still some seeds in here!

Hanging Out with Panda

Sometimes when Katie is in her room, she has to make the time to cuddle with her panda.

I love Mr. Panda! 

He's so cuddly!

Learning to Play with Puppies

Katie has always been very gentle with dogs, but we quickly realized that there were certain things we had to teach her. We realized quickly that Katie had never been around a dog that is small enough for her to pick up on her own. She quickly learned to pick up dogs behind their front legs. Now if they'd quit slipping down as she held them, it would be perfect.

We also had to help Katie understand that these dogs have much smaller legs right now than Chloe did. They can't be put on couches and be expected to jump down on their own. She tries to be very aware of where the dogs are so they don't get hurt.

I know how to hold the puppies now! 

I found out that puppies move fast and like my feet a lot more than Chloe ever did! 

I was acting out Sleeping Beauty with the puppies. Sophie was the fairy, Bailey was Maleficent, and I was Sleeping Beauty. 

Sophie fits in my Mrs. Potato Head glasses! 

Bailey loves to sleep by me!

A Puppy Show-Show

When we got home with the puppies, it didn't take Katie long to decide to do a "Puppy Show Show" for everyone. At this rate, the new puppies are going to grow up to be very good dancers!

Bailey Aurora got the first chance to perform because she's older. 

She was a good dancer! 

Pearl Wagon (now known as Sophie) was a little hesitant to perform, but I eventually got her to be comfortable too!

A New Best Friend

On Saturday, we took a long car trip to meet a new best friend. We decided it was time for a new dog, and we found some cute miniature American Eskimos. Katie was very excited at the thought of a puppy, so 25 minutes or so into our four hour drive, we started hearing, "Are we there yet?" It seemed like such a long trip for her to meet her dog.

When we arrived, the breeder had two puppies with her. I couldn't decide between the two by watching videos and seeing pictures, so the breeder wanted us to meet both. When we saw the dogs, I still couldn't decide. I liked both for different reasons. Katie, however, knew right away that she wanted the dog that was named Aurora because "she likes me." The breeder bred dogs along with her daughter. The two puppies were from two separate litters. Aurora was two weeks older than the other puppy, Pearl.

As my mom held Pearl, she decided that she wanted to give Pearl a home too, so we went to pick up one puppy and returned with two. We talked about names on the way home. I had decided to name our dog Bailey, but Katie didn't want to drop the "Aurora" since it's Sleeping Beauty's name. She wanted the dog to be called Princess Aurora Bailey. We have since got it shortened to Bailey Aurora. I call her Bailey, but Katie continues to use both names.

Since my mom hadn't planned on a puppy, she wasn't ready to name her dog. Katie came up with a random name that made us laugh a lot. For some reason, she referred to the dog as Pearl Wagon. My mom really didn't like the name, but it made the rest of us laugh so much that the name has stuck until my mom comes up with a name.

For now, both puppies have been staying with us. It has been nice for them to have each other as they have made the transition to a new home with new people.

I knew right away that I wanted this puppy! 

Grandma decided to get a puppy too! 

After holding Pearl for awhile, I determined she should be called Pearl Wagon. 

We were happy together! 

We finally all decided to take a nap after our big day.

More Posing

After studying her Sleeping Beauty stickers and posing like the pictures, Katie decided that she could pose like other princesses as well.  She loves it!

I am Snow White looking at my imaginary bird sitting on my finger. 

Now I'm Elsa, using my ice powers to keep away my enemies. 

Elsa also uses her ice powers to create beautiful ice palaces. 

I can also stand like Princess Anna.  

I love how princesses hold out their dresses when they pose!

Creating

Katie loves her art kit that my sister, Debby, sent her a couple of years ago. It has markers, crayons, glue, and scissors. She'll get paper and create and create and create. This particular night she decided to make paper crowns for her dolls and stuffed animals.

It's fun to use your imagination to create things!

A Picnic

On Mother's Day, Katie really wanted to go on a picnic to celebrate. Instead of going a long way and making a big production of it, we just picked up some food and took it to our local park. It's easy for us, and Katie likes it just as much as going to a park that is farther away. When we left, Katie saw that the sky was cloudy, so she just knew it would rain (even though rain wasn't predicted). She dressed for her own weather prediction, and we took off for the park. She has a lot of fun!

With the clouds in the sky, I decided I had to have my rain boots and umbrella! 

I gladly followed Aunt Jennifer to the table to set things up. 

I realized I didn't need my umbrella after all, so I just set it on the table. 

I enjoyed the playground even more than the meal. 

I'm pretty good at climbing this wall! 

It gives me a sense of accomplishment when I reach the top. 

This is the bridge that wobbles when you walk across it. I try to be brave about it, but it scares me a little. 

I'm not scared to go down the straight slide anymore, but... 

…Aunt Jennifer still has to encourage me a lot to go down the curvy one. 

I'm pretty comfortable with most everything though. 

The second time Aunt Jennifer made me go down the curvy slide, I just sort of hung at the top for awhile until I got brave enough to let go! 

In the end, I had to empty the bark chips out of my boots. 

Then we ended our picnic with a "hike" though our neighborhood woods!

Enjoying the Fort

Katie still uses the fort she designed out of a cardboard box. It comes in very handy when she wants her privacy. She just puts her fort up and blocks us out. She loves it!

This is perfect! You stay on that side, and I'll stay on this side!

Watering the Sidewalk

After planting the flowers on Mother's Day, Katie was not only excited to keep up the watering. She was also excited to create puddles and jump in them like she had done after planting. She always conveniently has water left over in her watering can that she dump on the sidewalk, so she has a puddle to jump in.

How lucky that I had extra water for a puddle!

The Presidential Visit

A little while back, President Obama came to visit our area. It was early evening when Air Force One landed, and the news was covering every minute of it. As soon as I told Katie that the president was close to us, she screamed out in joy and jumped up and down.

In case you don't remember, Katie has a thing for the presidents. She loves to practice naming the presidents in order as we eat dinner. She's pretty good at the first presidents and the last presidents. It's those middle ones that are hard! So to hear that one of the presidents that she knew the name of was fifteen minutes away was more than exciting!

She waited patiently for President Obama to get off the plane, and when he finally did, she celebrated by jumping up and down some more. Then she pointed him out to all of us (in case we didn't know who he was) and ran to get her president place mat to point him out on that as well.

The only bad part about the whole thing was her disappointment in hearing the answer to, "Can we go say hello to him?" I wish it was that easy for her, but alas, she just had to watch him on TV.

Holy cow! The president is here! 

That's President Obama. He's right there! 

Yippee! 

Here he is - #44!

A Package

Another surprise for "Gotcha Day" came in the mail from my friends, Noreen and Joe. Katie is always thrilled to get a package in the mail!

I know who this is from! 

I got a Frozen book, and... 

…a Pinkalicious book! I was so excited! 

Just when I thought I had unwrapped everything, I found a card and was over the moon! 

Thank you for my presents! I loved them!