A Favorite

Katie got a squishy, stuffed dog for Christmas, and she loves it. It's always close by!

My dog is fun just to hug!

The Christmas Dress

Katie loved the dress she got for Christmas this year. She loved it so much that she decided to start wearing it again as a Valentine's Day dress.

I'm just trying to get the most out of my clothes!

Preparing the Soil

Katie couldn't wait to plant her amaryllis. We decided to plant it at Jennifer's house since she doesn't have cats who will bother it.

I had to add water to the soil first, so it would fluff up and fill the pot.

After that was ready, I added the bulb.

A Gift

When Katie got home from school, she found a gift from my sister, Debby, waiting for her.

Aunt Debby got Grandma and me this pretty flower to plant! I love it!

Sharing Stories

Katie's class had written some Native American stories meant for a young audience, so they came to my kindergarten class to share their stories. It was fun to see Katie interacting with my students.

I had fun reading my story!

Practicing Math Facts

After looking at the book order, Jennifer worked with Katie on her math facts.

I've gotten pretty fast with my math facts by working with Aunt Jennifer!

A Book Order

Katie loves getting book orders from school, and it has been awhile since she had one. She was so excited to show Jennifer!

Aunt Jennifer likes to read just like me.

Entertaining Katie

It always makes Katie laugh when the cats always have to lay on top of anything out of the ordinary on the floor.

As soon as the steam mop bottom went on the carpet, General Washington jumped on top of it!

A Jigsaw Puzzle

Katie got an Animal Crossing jigsaw puzzle for Christmas, and she and Jennifer decided to start working on it.

Aunt Jennifer's big counter is nice for jigsaw puzzles, but...

...sometimes the pieces are hard to reach from the stools!

Encanto Inspired Food

Since Katie loves Encanto so much, she decided to try making food inspired by the movie, arepas. We went to Jennifer's, and Jennifer and Katie prepared the meal.

I'm pretty good at measuring things like flour.

The hardest part was getting the arepas the right shape with enough cheese in them. They were really good though!

The Favorite Movie

Ever since Katie saw it in the theater, Encanto has been her favorite movie. 

I think everything about this movie is great, especially the music!

The Funny Thing About Katie and the Cats

As everyone knows, Katie loves the cats and they love her right back. With her strong feelings toward them, you'd think she would pick them up a lot, but she doesn't. She never wanted to get scratched, so she has always just stayed close to them. Recently she's been trying to learn the safe way of picking them up.

The pictures of me picking up a cat are never very clear because it's usually quick!

Helping a Kindergarten Student

The other day the fifth grade students worked with the kindergarten students to learn about respectful behavior on the playground. Katie always loves working with younger students.

My partner was a lot of fun to work with!

Worker Bee

Katie never complains about doing work for school when she is at home. This weekend, she decided to get a head start on a presentation for school by making the slides for it at home.

It always makes me feel better to be a little ahead. It gives me more wiggle room!

A Fancy Box

When my sister, Jennifer, came over, she saw a box in my house that I was going to put in recycling. She realized it would be a perfect box for the cats. She put it by the fireplace and put their new wool blanket in it. They love it!

General Washington is in the box the most.

Mr. Limpet loves to get a chance whenever he can.

A Favorite New Game

Katie has been loving her new Monopoly game that she got for Christmas.

I love Monopoly in any version, but the theme in this version is so fun!

The New TV

Katie was so happy when we got her new TV set up in her bedroom.

I think the TV looks perfect on my dresser!

A Snapchat New Year's

It was time for the Snapchat filters!

New Year's Eve

We celebrated New Year's Eve in our typical way this year. Katie and I stayed up until New Year's on the east coast and turned the celebrations on TV.

My mom and I waited up for the early New Year's Eve.

I always love to watch the ball drop!

It's a new year!

Happy New Year!

Cleaning Her Room

While I was helping Katie clean out her closet, we have a shirt and cape that Katie had made for Bingle quite a few years ago. She had been going through a phase of making pet clothes out of paper and plastic grocery bags. It made us smile.

This brought back good memories of Bingle. She definitely was "The One and Only Bingle!"

Off We Go

We were leaving to go somewhere, and I looked at Katie in the car. It was one of those moments where I thought, "How did she grow up so fast?"

I don't feel like I've grown up too fast!

More Gifts

When we went to my sister's house for Christmas dinner, Katie found some more gifts there.

I got Animal Crossing gifts at Aunt Jennifer's - a water bottle, a journal, and a jigsaw puzzle!

A Gift for the Cats

My sister ordered a gift for our cats from a sheep farmer in Ireland. It was a cat blanket and little toy mouse. The cats loved it as soon as they smelled it.

Mr. Limpet tried to pull his new blanket into his gingerbread house, but he couldn't get it in there.

He didn't stay too long in the house before he moved to the blanket!

Christmas Morning

We had an easy-going Christmas morning. My mom and sister came over, and we all opened gifts together.

When I got downstairs, I found some Disney plushes, a TV for my room, and sketchbooks!

I was so happy to get this Monopoly game!

I also loved the Minnie Mouse bag that I got.

I was also excited to get more Manga books.

Thank you to everyone for all of my gifts!

Waiting for Everyone

 On Christmas morning, Katie doesn't go downstairs until everyone arrives, but she always has a gift waiting for her upstairs from her elf, Nigel.

I loved my new squishy, stuffed dog. It has a pocket in the middle of it, so you can hug it tight!

A Crazy Adventure

Shortly before Christmas, I was in the basement wrapping gifts while Katie was on the main floor. The cats were keeping me company, and when I happened to look down from where I was, I saw that Mr. Limpet had crawled into a plastic bag. I decided that I had better get him out as soon as my hands were free. It was too late though. He spooked himself when he couldn't get out of the bag and took off running (in the bag) around the basement. Then he took off up the stairs before I could catch him. I was yelling at Katie not to look because I couldn't remember what the bag said.

By the time I got to the main floor, Mr. Limpet had already made it to our upstairs floor. I ran up another floor to rescue him. He wasn't in any of the bedrooms. He had squeezed himself next to the washing machine and was so scared. I got him out of his bag, but for the whole evening he was scared.

We tried to give Mr. Limpet some extra attention, but he spent most of the night under the bed.

Learning Geography

My sister was talking to Katie and mentioned some country, and Katie didn't know where it was, so Jennifer got the talking globe and started teaching Katie where countries were.

Aunt Jennifer and I love this globe. It teaches you things, but you can also play games with it!

Another Christmas Card

After opening the card from Jeff's family, Katie found another card from my older sister, Debby.

I love reading the inside of cards!

Thank you for the cute card, Aunt Debby!

Receiving a Card

Katie was so happy to get a card from my brother's family for Christmas!

I read the card first.

Then I found the pictures of Ian and Eva. I couldn't believe how grown-up they look!

Finally, I found a picture. I loved it all!