A Guest Teacher

When Katie went to her lyrical dancing class, she saw that her regular teacher was gone, and Mr. Marty was her guest teacher. Mr. Marty usually teaches hip hop, and when Katie had had him as a guest teacher before, she loved him. He always works the girls hard, and this time wasn't any different.

During the class, he taught the girls a brand new dance that went very fast. Even though she was happy at the end, Katie was very tired. She exclaimed, "I feel so tired that I couldn't even pick up a tiny speck of dust right now!"

It was hard to keep up with the speed of our new dance!

It looked so easy for Mr. Marty! 

This was my favorite part of the dance because I could catch my breath for a minute!

Thanks for the challenge, Mr. Marty!

So Happy

Katie has had several dreams about what she wants to be when she grows up. The two most common hopes are to become a princess or a teacher. Recently, she was so excited to live out part of her teacher dream.

At this time of year, my school invites next year's kindergarten kids to come after school for an hour and do an activity in a kindergarten class while their parents have a meeting. Katie has been counting the days for this to happen. She got permission to join the teachers and helped to show the new friends around. She was beyond excited!

When the kids first came in the room, they could play with toys. These two boys were interested in books, so I read books to them until "my tongue got tired."

More Designing

When Katie found a spare piece of fabric, what was she to do with it? Design a Barbie dress, of course!

When you don't have a sewing machine handy, you do a lot of wrapping! 

I thought it made a beautiful dress! 

A Lucky Day

Katie always loves the day that I receive my Scholastic book order for my classroom. She always gets to look through the books before I add them to my library, and of course, I always add a couple of surprises just for her.

This was all of the entertainment I needed for the evening!

Creative Girl

I always love to watch Katie's creativity. I hope it never goes away!

I decided to design my own paper dolls with accessories. 

I thought they'd be really easy to pack on a trip!

The Time Change

The spring time change is always hard to adjust to every year. This year I got Katie ready for bed early, so she could be in bed in plenty of time for her bedtime. Everything was great until she found her book light.

I thought reading sounded a lot better than sleeping!

A Beautiful Day

Some of our favorite days are the first days in the year that feel like spring. They always seem extra beautiful. The calendar hadn't quite struck spring yet, but it was getting close when we had a day like this. My mom, sister, Katie, and I decided to load up the dogs and head to a beach that we had never gone to before.

We stopped at a town for a quick walk before we got to the beach. It felt good for all of us to stretch our legs a bit! 

When we got back in the car, Sadie was ready for the beach! 

 I was so excited to see all the kites flying in the air when we got to the beach.

When we found a spot on the beach, I set up all of my necessities...a blanket and my toys. 

 Grandma decided to do some digging with me while the dogs went on their walk.

When Sadie was on her walk, she kept finding washed up crab legs that she thought would make a perfect treat. She picked up some, but we didn't let her eat any. 

You can't always count on Sadie to explore every new smell! 

One of the most exciting parts of our trip was when a bald eagle landed close to us. Even though it doesn't show in the picture, the eagle looked huge!

I forgot my shovels and pails at home, so I had to just depend on my hands to build a mountain! 

My goal was to make the mountain taller than my Barbie. 

Grandma kept putting Barbie next to my mountain so we could compare heights. 

It was looking pretty good!

When I put Barbie far away, it made her look a lot smaller than my mountain! 

Nothing beats a beautiful beach day! 

Feeling Like a Princess

When we were out shopping one day, Katie spied a tiara that she loved. I didn't buy it for her, but I let her try it on in the store!

I feel just like a princess!

A Surprise

We went over to Jennifer's one day after school, and Katie found a surprise from Jennifer there!

I loved the new Barbie bedroom set that Aunt Jennifer got for me!

Sharing the Wealth

After Katie got her new outfit and a spare from Jim's birthday party, she took the outfits to school to share with her friend!

We got dressed and opened a Mexican restaurant!

Dress Designer

One of Katie's favorite things to do is to draw princess dresses. When she got a whiteboard at Christmas, it became the perfect tool for sketching.

While my mom did some cleaning, I did some designing.

A Birthday Party

After going to the zoo, we all met again at a Mexican restaurant that night for Jim's birthday. Katie enjoyed every minute of her time with Bailey before she had to travel back home.

I got into the spirit of things by wearing a mustache! 

 Bailey and I enjoyed a cheese quesadilla together.

 I was excited because my friend, Ella, was at the party too!

At the end of the party, Garyldine gave me a whole new costume to wear! Happy Birthday, Jim!

Going to the Zoo

When our cousins came to town, we met up at the zoo for an afternoon of fun!

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I found a new little friend! 

Then I passed some time checking on my balance skills. 

When everyone arrived, there were a lot of kids. I found Bailey right away and we went through the zoo together. 

The boys were really excited to see the alligator. 

Bailey and I loved the flamingoes. 

We looked at how we measured up to them. 

It's hard to see, but we had two huge hippos behind us. 

It was also fun to play with the lion statues!

Bailey had an iPad, so she took a picture of us. 

After playing on the statues, we went to see the real lions! 

I always like to see them! 

Before leaving, we all stopped for a snack. Yum! 

We had a good day!

St. Patrick's Day Mail

We don't do much at all for St. Patrick's Day, so Katie's highlight is always getting mail!

Thank you Aunt Lois, and... 

...Grammy Noreen! 

I read my cards over and over. I love that I can read them all by myself now!

St. Patrick's Day, 2018

When you don't have very much green in your wardrobe, you have to accessorize!

Thank goodness for necklaces and bracelets!

Running a Restaurant

Katie stays with me for awhile after school ends, and her favorite days are when other staff kids come in to play with her. She loved the day that her friend came in, and they used our play kitchen and turned the room into a restaurant.

We worked together to take orders and make food for our customers. 

 We used the stuffed animals as our customers and set up meals for each of them.

It was so much fun!