Field Trip and Dirt

We had a brief period of amazing weather which allowed Katherine and me to spend tons of time outside. I had not previously realized how dirty a 13 month could get outside, even if it was only for a few minutes. Another messy moment we've been having involves eating. I usually give Kate finger foods while I'm cooking dinner. Sometimes dinner takes longer so I thought I would let her try out a spoon all by herself to take up some extra time. She was such a mess but did really good for never feeding herself with a spoon before. I let her try it another day and she did even better and barely got any on her face which was quite a difference from the first time. I need to make this a regular habit but it is much easier for me to feed her messy food. It really didn't take long to clean her up so I need to accept there will be a mess and just let her have fun!

A big pile of dirt waiting to be played with and thrown around

First attempt at using a spoon

I thought of the perfect place to take Kate and waited all week until Friday night. Jason and I took her on a field trip to the baby zoo (aka Pet Store). She loved it and was able to see dogs, her favorite/obsession, birds, fish, mice, bunnies... I love how the simplest things make for the best times. I also found my second dream dog. My first was a Havanese until I found out how much they cost. My new dream dog is a Teddybear! It's a mixture of a Shih Tzu & Bichon Frise. I had a bichon growing up and they are known for being for smart and lovable dogs but they get incredibly dirty and it's near impossible to keep the hair around their mouth from staining. Jason was determined to get a dog and I promised him he could get one after we had a baby. Very tricky of me since I knew once we had a newborn he wouldn't want a dog right away :) Now Jason doesn't want a dog but I still think we should get one when our "kids" are older so they can have a pet, which gives me a a couple of years to convince him. If you ever see Jason make sure you tell him how wonderful dogs are and how every kid needs a dog as a pet!

Katherine has also become a very good helper. I usually fold laundry in our upstairs hallway. She loves to take clothes out of the hamper and put them in the dryer for me or to take clothes that are neatly folded and put them in the hamper for me :) She also likes to do other chores around the home...

Helping Jason with the garden

Emptying the dishwasher

Eyeing tupperware that needs to go into the dishwasher

Got It!

My sister was also in town for her birthday this past week which is always fun and means I spend pretty much all day at my parents. Our home was sorely neglected during this time but I had fun hanging out with my family. Jennifer got Kate the cutest bathing suit/outfit that I can't wait for her to wear this summer. I wish warm weather would come and stay!

This is an old picture but I love it. It's completely out of character for Kate so she must have been exhausted to fall asleep like this!