Guess the Change

Katie was playing with her Shopkins, and if you have never heard of those, they are little toys that are objects you'd find in a grocery store that have a face on them. She put them all together on the table, and then she'd remove one and expect us to guess what was missing. To us, it was impossible. She was just amazed that we couldn't solve her mysteries.

Could you identify the missing Shopkin if I removed just one?

The Book Revisited

Before school got out, Katie had the goal of writing a fiction chapter book on the computer. After awhile, the computer stopped coming out, and I thought she was done working on it. However, she recently remembered it and has continued her saga.

In the evening, I like working on my book for awhile. I'm done with two chapters. My goal is to write five.

Thank You

Katie was so surprised to find a box with her name on our doorstep. When she opened the box, she found the best surprise gift from my sister, Debby...a box of books!

Thank you, Aunt Debby! You know I love to read!

Back to Ballet

Katie took last year off of ballet to focus on tap, but she decided she missed it, so she signed up for summer classes.

It felt good to start practicing my ballet positions again. 

My teacher taught us everything down to how to hold our fingers. 

It's a lot slower pace than tap, but it takes concentration to move just right. 

I liked my new teacher a lot too. 

After my first class, my leg muscles were sure sore for a few days!

A Summer Haircut

Katie always looks forward to her summer haircut sometime after her spring dance recital.

I was excited to change my hair a little again. 

Time to start snipping! 

I ended up getting my hair cut to my shoulders. 

Thank you, Nikki!

Heading to the Bookstore

A little while ago, my sister, Jennifer, wanted to go meet an author who was visiting a bookstore. Right away, Katie decided she wanted to go along too.

I always love to go to a bookstore! 

While Aunt Jennifer listened to her author, I entertained myself with some Where's Waldo!

Candid Recital Shots

There was a photographer backstage at Katie's dance recital who took pictures throughout the dances. It was fun to look back and see the dance through photos.

A Trip to the Farmer's Market

We love the farmer's market, and each time we go, Katie tends to find more and more fruit.

One of these days, we'll have to start bringing a bag to hold all of this!

Building an Office

Katie decided to collect empty boxes this summer and build herself an office.

I have all of my boxes labeled, so I can organize my space, and I use the flat box in the back like a bulletin board.

Off to See a Show

We went to see Wicked recently. It was Katie's first time seeing the show and she really enjoyed it!

We were all seated and just had to wait patiently for the show to begin. 

I loved the show, but the theater was so cold. It felt good to get out into the sun afterward!

A New Doll

I love to see Katie with a new doll. She examines every little detail about the doll so carefully before she starts playing with it.

You have to know what comes with your doll before you start playing!

Back to the Mountains

Katie loved her last hiking expedition so much that we took her back for more. We still had fun on this hike, but Katie preferred the first hike.

The first part of our hike had a lot of trees in it. 

I took a notebook with me, so I could track what I saw along our hike. 

One of the things I wrote about were the flowers that I was seeing. 

Every hike I go on has bridges to cross. 

The first big thing we walked to was a lake with waterfalls around it. 

Of course, I had to throw a rock in the lake!

After that, we headed up towards the top of the waterfalls. 

 After walking up a long way, we reached two lava fields with big boulders that we had to cross!

I wasn't a fan of the boulder climbing, so we climbed part way and stopped for lunch. 

I always get a ham sandwich from Subway and eat my ham, cheese, and vegetables, and then I nibble on the bread. Yum!

It always gets cold when we stopped, so I added a scarf to my outfit!

Even though we didn't go as far as what we planned, we still climbed up high.

Before we left our lunch spot, we left our own mark!

On the way down, we saw some more huge trees!

We also stopped at this tree had been cut apart for the walking path. We watched the ants crawl through the trunk and come back out with a mouthful of sawdust and dump it on the ground. They were amazing to watch!

Everyone else warms up while they hike, but I always stay cold!

Near the end of the hike, I found this rock that I really liked because it looked like a slide.

This was our favorite flower we found on our hike. It looked like a lantern.