We started our summer with a trip to the zoo. Our biggest goals were to see the baby elephant and to have fun.
Katie and I love home-grown tomatoes in the summer time. We were so excited to see the tomatoes start to make an appearance.
It was a bittersweet day...the last day of 8th grade, the last day of middle school.
During the sleepover, Katie and Leena made chocolate chip cookies together. It was her first time making cookies without an adult. They did such a good job and even offered to clean up.
Katie loves to have sleepovers with her friends. It was a night full of laughter, cooking, and movies!
Friends always make a bus ride more fun!
Time is going so fast! I can't believe it has been fourteen years since Katie was placed in my arms in front of the hotel elevator. Even though fourteen years have passed, I still have such clear memories of that day. It has been a good fourteen years!
Katie decided to get creative on another late evening. I woke up to another watercolor picture. It amazes me because she hasn't used watercolors since she was around 7 years old. She has practiced her drawing and coloring skills, but not so much painting skills. When I use watercolors, my painting looks nothing like hers!
Katie's Easter basket had some of her favorites this year!
Katie is too old to really do an Easter egg hunt, but I still put some candy in plastic eggs just to have around the house. This year, her "Easter basket" to gather eggs was a tad un-fancy!
Katie had told me she was inspired to do something one night but wasn't sure what. After I went to bed, she decided to grab the watercolors and create some art.
Katie got to spend an evening with Jennifer at the theater. Neither was super excited about the play, but it was part of the annual ticket package, so they went anyway.
Katie has discovered dragon fruit and now can't get enough.
Katie was so happy to make plans with her friend to go see Snow White. They had heard that it wasn't a very good movie, and they wanted to form their own opinion.
Our cats act like such typical cats when it comes to Katie working on homework. She sent me this picture of her work space.
Gilbert loves, loves, loves Katie. His favorite spot is on her lap or right next to her.
Katie and Jennifer enjoyed a day at the theater to see one of her favorite musicals.
While Katie's friend was over during our snow storm, they decided to try to build a snowman behind the house. They rolled a large snowball at the top of the hill and then tried to move it to the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately the sledders ran into the snowball halfway down.
We had a bit of snow a couple of weeks ago, so Katie and her friend decided to spend some time trying to make a snowman. Afterwards, they came in to warm up in front of the fireplace.
We never do anything huge for Valentine's Day, but we always do something small to celebrate the day.
We have officially entered the Year of the Snake. We always do a small celebration to celebrate the holiday with Katie.
It can be hard to do homework when cats who love you are around.
Katie and I were able to go to a musical we had never seen, Kimberly Akimbo. We didn't know what to expect but ended up really enjoying it.
We had a very Merry Christmas. It was laid back and easy and happy!
There's a reason why we put the tree up late at our house. The picture below is just one instance out of about 1,000 instances this Christmas season.
Katie and Jennifer worked together again to build their impressive North Pole village. They always do such a good job, and it adds lots of cheer!
