Continuing on - Fall and Winter

Visits and holidays took up much of our fall and winter. I can't believe how much we managed to pack into those few months!

Katy kept busy at the YWCA with her new room, the Rainbow room. She started swimming lessons and had another outing to the apple orchard. I love to chaperone that every year. School pictures were taken in a dress of Katy's choosing and the sweater I made (and made her wear without much complaint).

Katy also started morning classes at Armatage school, with extra emphasis on speech and occupational therapy. It's amazing how much she's progressed since September! It is an early morning now for us as the bus comes to our driveway at 7am. Thankfully she loves it so much that even on vacation she was heard to say "I want to go home, I miss the bus".

We had a visit from my friend Kate and her family, partner Annie and daughter Maddie. All of us girls had a blast visiting Pine Tree apple orchard and Kate's old stomping grounds at the UofM. We had a dress up party with Katy's Ethiopian dresses and made some fun messes fixing breakfast and painting projects.

In October, Katy turned 3. I can't believe it seems like so long ago. We celebrated the day with Titi at our favorite restaurant Burger Jones.

 

The next weekend we had the birthday party with Katy's friends. I had grand ambitions for a medium-sized, medium-activity party and it went swimmingly! Thanks to all the moms and dads who helped make that happen :-) I couldn't decide on a theme and Katy wasn't forthcoming so we had Thomas the Train plates and napkins and Lego cupcakes and general party decoration. Katy didn't care much for the singing/candle blowing experience but she was happier than the picture shows.

My big idea was one I saw they had done at daycare. Big sheets of craft paper with their bodies outlined that they got to decorate from a big pile of markers, stampers, colored tape and stickers. We had great participation for a bunch of 2-4 year olds! As the kids had their pizza, the grownups cut them out and put them on the wall for the final picture. I think that might have been my favorite part, watching it all come together.

 

Next we went up to Superior to visit Evi and her mom Rachel. It was so fun to watch the girls have so much fun together. We both really enjoyed the whole weekend. We had dress up time, a marching band concert and glow stick/finger light disco dancing. We went to a corn maze, saw pumpkin lights at the Glensheen mansion and played at the Duluth Children's Museum. We know how to pack in the fun! As you can see by the last picture, we did our job tiring the girls out.

 

The obligatory halloween costume shot. She had bumblebee antennae but chose Riley's devil horns instead. It was nice that she walked this year but I'm excited for her to be able to take steps at faster than a snail's pace next year. And maybe next year she'll time her 'trick or treat' and 'thank you' for the doorway rather than the sidewalk.

Thanksgiving came on a warm day so Katy decided to dress in spectacular fashion for some outdoor fun. Then we headed to Nana and Papa's house and had a nice dinner with them and my aunt and uncle Mary and Boomer.

 Just had to include some backyard fun on the way to church one morning. I made this dress for summer but it didn't get done until it needed extra warmth underneath. Still cute I think! Maybe it will head to the state fair this year?

And finally for this long post, Christmas. For which, inexplicably I have no photos. I believe they were on the phone that got stolen. I thought I had downloaded them before the theft but sadly no. All I have is the logo and a shot from Disneyland that I can't get to upload. Needless to say we had a fun trip to California to stay with Aunt Susan and Uncle Erik. Disneyland, bell choir at the San Diego Zoo, a visit to the train museum, lots of food and presents!

Whew, we're getting there!