Creative Catherine

Catherine spends her days bouncing from project to project, making little (or not so little) messes of paper, tape, or cloth wherever she goes. My favorite times are when she involves her siblings. Elise and Aaron LOVE when Catherine makes up a game for them to play. This is no mere box: it's a SPY bus, which would oh-so-quietly move around the house with definitely-not-giggling girls inside it. 

Elise loves to match with Catherine and Catherine usually obliges.

This particular Sunday they even asked for matching pigtails:

She still loves bugs. After an initial bad experience that left her quite hesitant, Catherine is now an avid collector of cicada shells. This was in my kitchen for quite a while this summer. Even more fun were the actual dead cicadas she'd squirrel away in the backseat of the van or other unexpected places. There's nothing quite like feeling something odd while reaching into the back of the bookshelf, only to pull out a very dead cicada...

Catherine is also one of my best Elijah helpers. I'm still surprised that scrawny Catherine can carry around such a chubby guy, but she does! And he ADORES her:

I was ready to sell him this night, but Catherine saved the day!

For years, Catherine has been my kitchen buddy. Sometimes it was hard for me since it made everything take longer and generally left a bigger mess, but the payout finally came! I was teaching piano lessons one day and came into the kitchen to find these beautiful cookies, made 100% by Catherine!

As long as we keep her stocked with baking and craft supplies, we generally have a happy, helpful Catherine!