Catherine Life

Aunt Lori sent taffy!

Good thing I love Catherine enough to share...

A piano story: Once upon a time we had a piano. It was my piano when I was little. It was my mom's piano before that. And my grandma's before that. And some old church's piano before that. It had literally been moved across the country and back but still kept on working great. Sturdy little thing. Not very pretty, but with a nice sound. 

Out of the blue I got a text from a friend. She was moving and didn't want to bring her piano. No one used it and she was sure the move would destroy it. She wanted me to take it. For free. Her piano was fairly new and super pretty. I absolutely said yes. 

And so, for a week or so, we had two pianos in our piano room. Catherine would pop from one to the other, trying them both out.

Catherine and new piano

Catherine and old piano

After several days, she announced that we needed to keep them both. The new one was prettier and had a muffler pedal that actually worked. But the old one just sounded better (new piano was pretty horridly out of tune). Old one had a nice, bright sound. New one was more muffled. 

It was hard for me to decide as well. The sound was better, plus I had a pretty strong emotional attachment (4 generations playing on one piano!). But in the end I couldn't pass up a generous gift from a friend. We passed our piano along to a friend who immediately painted it white, much to my horror. But it made it easier in a way--it's completely hers now! 

New piano, which will hopefully sound better after several tunings and lots of Catherine playing.

Found in a random notepad:

Catherine signs her name in plant roots, apparently:

Latest obsession: ninjas. She'll come down wearing all black clothes and with her face wrapped in scraps of black cloth. She even demanded a short haircut so her hair wouldn't stick out the back of her head covering. Most days she'll practice her stealth by spying on me or Jon. Or hiding from Elise. 

Catherine drew the ninja and blood.

Seth drew the bear. 

Not sure where the label and 'im so fat' came from...

Still climbing all the trees.

I didn't even take this picture. 

A friend did when she spotted Catherine way up in the tree at the playground.

Every morning we read aloud for 30 minutes outside together.  Catherine usually chooses to listen from up in her favorite tree. One day she grabbed my phone and was snapping pictures. Apparently this is what I look like from 15 feel in the air:

Tree selfie:

Despite church at home, Catherine still chooses to get dressed up every Sunday for our 'church at home'. She took this picture one morning. She's definitely growing up to be a beautiful girl.

My camera roll is full of bug pictures, I have to force her to shower, and she likes to sass when she's tired, but I still think she's a pretty amazing person. I'm lucky to be her mom.