Catherine at Four

My beautiful little girl,

Four years have gone by so fast, but you are definitely ready to move up into older territory. You are so independent, so clever, so creative. I'm already imagining you starting school--it just doesn't seem that far away.

I love your snuggles when you crawl into bed with me. I love the art projects you design for us and hide around the house until our "birthdays" (usually later that afternoon). I love singing Frozen songs with you, even if I always have to be Anna. 

If there is something you want, you figure out how to get it yourself. You have a vivid imagination and can play for hours with random things like spice containers or bags of rice. 

You still want to snuggle in the mornings or after your baths. You hate having your hair done, but you love fancy shoes, sparkly clothing and Mommy's makeup. You have an extensive collection of sparkly Princess chapsticks that you adore, but you never touch your tiara. 

If I'm cooking, you are on the counter next to me begging to put in the "sugar" (salt) or the "salt" (sugar). Having a helper makes for slower going, but I love my Catherine assistant. 

You love Seth and will do almost anything to make him happy. Aaron is more of a mixed bag, as he takes special joy in pestering you. But you still race to bring him his chocolate milk every morning.

You are begging me to start teaching you to read, and you shocked us all by writing our names without any instruction on how to form the letters. Guess it's time to get serious with you!

We love you, Princess Boo. Thank you for the joy you bring to our lives! Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Birthday, Final Round

Catherine's 4th birthday began with her choice of cereal:

Which she insisted on opening herself: 

(Even Aaron figured out that you only eat the marshmallows)

Sparkly purple shirt and Frozen Barbies from Grandma Cathy: 

The (ridiculously expensive) Elsa balloon: 

It also has Anna, but "she is not cool like Elsa": 

More presents for a spoiled little girl: 

The birthday girl: 

That's more like it: 

Aaron was pretty sure that the singing, light-up Barbie doll was actually his: 

Totally unprompted, Catherine invited her favorite babysitter, Logan, to her birthday party. He couldn't attend the party, but he showed up later in the week with an Elsa nightlight for her. He is seriously the best. 

Birthday girl and all her Frozen paraphernalia: 

Pure happiness right there!

Birthday, round 2

All Catherine has wanted this winter is snow. And we have had the crappiest, most disappointing snow storms this winter. Predictions for 3-5 inches end in nothing but rain. Or we get a light dusting that disappears in the sun. SO LAME. 

When the weather called for a few inches the day before her birthday, I really, really hoped it would pan out. What a perfect birthday present! And this time the snow didn't disappoint:

A very, very happy snow Princess

Aaron was fascinated by the snow.

He would have stayed out much longer if I'd had decent gloves for him.

Three Snow Babies

Later that evening we also opened her gifts from Grandpa Russell & Grandma Cathy since Grandpa Russell was leaving on a work trip the next day. Naturally, she was very, very spoiled by her grandparents and went to bed a very happy girl.

Catherine's Birthday, round 1

Since we have no family near to celebrate, we invited our Maryland family (the Knoxes and the Oliveras) to party with us. It ended up being a crazy day, with church cancelled due to icy, cold weather. But by the afternoon we managed to lure them over with cake, ice cream and cheesecake. 

Emma & Catherine

Of course she had an Elsa cake.

Like there was any other option!

(And yes, those mountains are just mounds of icing. So gross.)

Watching Seth sing to her.

She was a very spoiled little girl, of course. Seth got her a treasure chest for all her special things, Aaron got her an Elsa cup, the Knoxes got her a Frozen lunchbox that lights up and sings, and the Oliveras gave her a huge Elsa coloring book. She was a very, very happy little girl to get such great gifts and to have such great friends to play with. 

The House Saga: Miracles Happen

We had our house on the market Thursday morning. I kept the house immaculate just in case, but of course no one came. 

By Friday, however, we had a couple of showings.  Saturday we had an open house, which a few people came to (it was Valentine's Day, plus bitterly cold). Our Sunday showing cancelled due to a storm, but then we ended up with three on Monday (including one who showed up two hours late, so we were already home putting kids to bed). It was more than we ever expected.

Monday late afternoon/evening we went out looking at houses and out to eat since we couldn't be home. In the middle of dinner (crazy, horrible dinner with three kids who refused to stay in their seats), Jon got a phone call: someone had put an offer on our house! We'd only been on the market five days! 

After a bit of back and forth (they want our projector and sound system, so we asked for a slightly higher price), we signed and made it official! It's a bit of a longer wait than we were hoping (mid-April closing), but we're just so happy to be in this position. 

I'm loving not having to keep the house perfect, which means I can actually do things like school with Seth. I don't have to have the house immaculate anytime we leave for a short trip to the library. And I don't have to worry about Aaron needing a nap during a showing. 

We have been so, so blessed during this whole process.  Now just cross your fingers that the inspections go well and that nothing falls through...

Disney on Ice

I got a great deal on tickets to Disney on Ice through a local homeschool group. Jon was off that day and kept Aaron, which made my life a LOT easier. Amazing how easy two kids can seem when you're used to three!

Minus the part where I couldn't find the parking garage I paid to park in (so paid to park somewhere else), and the part where it was FREEZING and I got us all a little lost (thank heaven for smart phones), we didn't do too badly.

Turns out we had great seats: front and center, eight rows back! I was totally expecting the nosebleeds.

I will admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the show. The music and the speaking came directly out of the Disney movies. So it was like watching a Disney movie, except on ice. Not sure what I was expecting, but I was a little bored. I think Seth was bored, too. He just kept asking for food.

Catherine, though...Catherine was entranced. As soon as we left she wanted to go back again. She still asks just about every day to go to Disney on Ice. 

Ariel & Eric

Tinkerbell (Catherine's favorite): 

Sibling love during intermission: 

During intermission they flooded the seats with salesmen selling popcorn/cotton candy/trinkets. My kids wanted some (of course) until I mentioned how much they cost. Now that they earn their own money and have to spend it instead of mine, they've become a lot more judicious with their purchases. I was pretty proud of them.

After the show I took them to McDonalds to enjoy a Happy Meal. Once again, this was made infinitely more enjoyable by the lack of Aaron. I actually got to sit and eat my food without help or whining!  

The kids loved this adventure. It was a nice way to thank them for being so patient while we took care of all the stuff with the house. 

Catherine's Cast

We did as we were told and took Catherine into a specialist when we got home. Good thing we did since we ended up with a broken tibia instead of a broken kneecap! Luckily the bone had been healing correctly (they don't think it broke all the way through the bone) so they didn't have to do anything crazy. But she got a full on cast to keep her from jumping or running. That wasn't a problem: she wouldn't even walk in it. I got to carry her (and Aaron) around for two weeks. Super fun.

She did eventually get good at gimping around on it. It was pretty funny to watch.

After two weeks she got the all-clear and had her cast removed. She was still supposed to be careful for another few weeks just to make sure everything was healed. Of course, she managed to totally turf it on the concrete outside Wegmans a few days later, but luckily no damage.

Now she's happily back to jumping, running and climbing. Not too bad for our family's first broken bone! 

House Saga: The Pictures

We put a lot of work into getting this house ready. It looked really good. But then we got the pictures back from the photographer and suddenly our house looked AMAZING! For fun, we found some pictures of the house right after we bought it to compare:

In 2008:

Now:

Jon did some amazing landscaping and grass rehab!

2008 (their stuff, not ours):

And now: 

2008:

(SO MUCH STUFF! STUFF EVERYWHERE!)

(I hated those cupboards from the first time I saw them)

Now: 

2008:

(look at me, all pregnant with Seth!)

Now: 

2008:

(contractor grade flat white paint!)

Now: 

2008:

(Literally everything in this bathroom was almond-colored)

Now: 

2008:

(Bye, bye, wallpaper border!)

Now: 

2008:

(oh, how we hated that fan!)

Now: 

(I'm so proud of that valance I made!)

2008:

Now: 

(I may have picked this paint color just because of the name: Quietude)

2008:

(We call this one Dripping Yellow Madness)

Now: 

2008:

(Sing it with me: "Everything is Almond!")

Now: 

2008:

(This is the only thing that was better as it was in 2008. 

Stupid HOA).

Pictures were taken on Monday and we went up for sale on Thursday!