Katie loved the ballerina Nutcracker we saw at Target... And also, No Diet Coke!

We went out on Sunday afternoon to do our bi-weekly grocery shop.

It was a looong day. Started at Payless to return my boots because I had already found a cheaper pair at Kohls. Katie tried some shoes on but decided that none of them hit her fancy EXCEPT for the pink sparkly pair that really weren't at all practical and wouldn't even match her Christmas outfit. So mommy vetoed. She had her foot measured and came up as a toddler 8 1/2 or 9. As we were leaving, the lady who helped us said goodbye and Katie stopped just outside the door and lifted her booted foot and said "I didn't find any shoes but we buy these already." Then she kind of nodded her head and off we went.

On to Aldi. I don't usually shop there but we paid our quarter for the cart and found some wonderful bargains. Katie also found the toy section and asked me over and over "Mama, when I grow up, can I have this toy?" and I always say "Katie, when you grow up and have a job, if this is in your budget, you can buy it." That works for her and for me! She got a little fussy there, wanting to go over each toy and ask that same question.

Finally we left (after getting our quarter back) and drove to Costco. Got some yummy samples that I gave to Katie and was so tempted to buy a juicer for $398. I had to repeat to myself over and over "I am not a juicer person. We have a juicer we do not use." That got us out of the immediate area. Besides, it was a big box and there wasn't any room for it in the cart, what with the baby wipes, Katie, chicken, and other assorted goods already taking up most of the space.

Got done shopping and paid with one of the two checks I brought with me. Then we stopped at the snack area and ordered a hot dog and pop. And had to break out the other check. Cause they don't take cash cards! Arg. Enjoyed that while Katie had a long chat with Honey who happened to be sitting between her and a man and woman on her other side. I wonder what they were thinking. Her conversation with Honey was very long and there were many hand gestures.

Went to Target next and got a few grocery things. Bought a trash can that I thought would fit in the cupboard under our sink (since Jake thinks it's the funnest thing EVER to hold onto the trash can we already have and try to chew on it. Maybe he thinks our expressions of horror as we rush across the room to him are funny.) but when we got home I realized that there have to be pipes under the sink to, you know, drain the water or something techy like that.

Got some other stuff and stopped so Katie could look at every one of the Nutcrackers on the end display. She very carefully touched the ballerina's long hair and it was almost like she was holding her breath and trying to be so gentle. So precious!

We walked through the girls section and Katie saw the Christmas dresses. As we're walking, I saw her head slowly turn to stare at them and she veered off to look. That's the first time I've seen her do that for clothes! She said "Look Mama." I asked her if she liked that dress and if she wanted to get that dress instead of the other Christmas dress we already had. She did... her face was beaming! Then I reminded her the her other Christmas dress had a small matching dress for Baby Doll. She took her hand away and thought about it and said, "No, I keep that dress." Then looked at the other dresses and said, "Oh, this is pretty." I told her it wasn't in her size and she said "Oh, I so dissappointed. Okay, let's go mommy." And that was that.

Then we went home and hung out.

Watched So You Think You Can Dance (and I can not dance so it's just fun to watch). Katie watched the dancers and then Daddy danced with her. The next type of dance was hip hop. John told her that for hip hop you don't hold hands... you just dance. She didn't like that and said "I no like hip hop. I want to hold hands!" So they held hands and danced and it was sweet to see.

Jake went to sleep early and Katie fell asleep in the middle of the conversation between her toy frog and toy whale.

Oh, earlier while I was taking a shower and she was "just bisitin" me in the bathroom, she was playing with the two fish, frog and the whale (they are bath toys) and she came and asked me "What does a whale eat?" and I told her fish. Then she said "Okay." and went back to her toys. A few seconds later, she came back and asked "What does a frog eat?" and I told her insects. She said okay again and went back to playing. I heard her say "Here are some yummy pretend insects froggy. And some yummy pretend fish for you whale."

All in all, a pretty good day.

Oh, except for the fact that there was NO Diet Coke at Target... at all. The lady even checked in the back for me. Grrrr. Arg.

Pirates didn't take the cash. Sorry Katie.

Katie had a stash of cash (about $14) she found on the counter that *someone* (not mommy) let her play with.

She played with this money for a very long time till she finally set it down and went off into the kitchen. So someone (mommy) took the money** and hid it in the waistband of her "at home" pants. She came back in and was very concerned.

** I only took the money away because she's been known to tear paper just "because" and even after I told her very seriously about the value of the cash, I was still a little worried that to her it would only be "paper" and we would be having another discussion about how not good it is to rip it up while we're actually looking at a pile of ripped up cash.

I could see that this was going to be a big deal. So I told her that I thought pirates took the money and ran off. I know, not nice to tell a lie. But this could have gone down very badly had I just told her that she couldn't play with it anymore.

I figured she would let it go after a bit and play with something else. She did not.

I heard so many quesitons about pirates. Why did the pirates take my money? Where did the pirates go? Are they bad pirates? Are the pirates still here?

After about 40 minutes of this, I finally dropped the money behind my chair (into her "kitchen" area by our front door) and told her she should check her kitchen to see if they were hiding there. She glanced over and said "no, no pirates there" and I told her she should really check the door. So she did and exclaimed "Mommy! The pirates left my money!" She was very happy.

I thought she would go back to quiet playtime. That didn't work because now she wanted to examine the motives of these pirates all over again. All. Over. Again.

Mommy, why those pirats come here? Why those pirates leave my money? And so on and so on.

So I told her that she should go talk to Daddy... because he knows pirates. And she did (hee hee hee). That worked great till daddy (AKA: The Rat) told her that Mommy knows lots more about pirates because Mommy studied them in school. Grrr.

So we were on again. Till she finally ran out of steam. And she was distracted by Daddy leaving the living room.

So, Mommy learned her lesson. Next time I tell her to talk to daddy because he knows soooo much about whatever it is she's curious about... Mommy won't sit in her chair, waiting to see how Daddy will respond to Katie and her million questions. No way.

Instead, Mommy will run.

Christmas Gifts - Check. Wrapping Paper - Uh oh!

We're done shopping for Christmas. Woooo Hooo!

I am still amazed that we got done in roughly 3 hours. Without spending a fortune. AND buying some pretty cool stuff, if I do say so myself!

Mostly thanks to Grammy and Grampy who watched the kids for us this last Saturday, because nothing adds 2 hours onto your shopping time than two kids with kids needs.

So we're done. Now everything's in the bedroom on the side of the bed... but Snoopy McSnooperson (AKA Katie) has been in there many times and just *happens* to meander over to that side of the bed and while she just *happens* to be there, she peeks. Totally. And without remorse. Even mentioning the gifts she can see and asking questions about them. Grrr!!! :)

I've got to wrap these things up soon. But I need paper.

I might see if anyone's got the comics left over from... oh, 6 papers, maybe 10... Mom and Dad? Grammy and Grampy? Are you reading this? :)

Our Tree and Bam Bam (AKA Jake)

We got the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. It's beautiful. Katie got home from the lake and just stared up at it. For about 10 seconds, then she ran off to play downstairs.

Jake doesn't seem to care much. The only time he pays attention to the tree is when the bench is moved out of the way of it and he can alllllmost touch it with his tiny hands if he stretches as much as he can. So, the bench is usually in the way.

He's actually started to grab the edge of the window ledge and, holding on tight he lifts up his legs. I tried to get it on video last night but the lights were dim and the picture wasn't clear.

Between that and climbing onto the couch, I would say we're going to be in trouble sooner than I thought.

The kids have gone to play center and Katie's gone to Cubbies. I think they enjoy the activities.

We went to Paigey's birthday party a last weekend and had fun watching the kids play. Katie wanted to be rightnexttoPaige during present opening and at one point asked if she could play with the little people game after Uncle Mike got done opening it "and then Paigey can play with it" but that was vetoed. Because, you know... obviously not Katie's birthday or Katie's toy.

It was cute.

Not much else has happened in our little world aside from the usual hijinks and catastrophies courtesy of two wonderful children who make me laugh pretty much most of the time I'm with them.

Santa Claus

So, yesterday we were sitting around in the living room enjoying the humor that is Sponge Bob* when the topic came up.

*(Really, we were *watching* episodes of Sponge Bob and talking about funny scenes from them. Really. I know, strange.)

Oh, so the topic:


Santa Claus.

Now, I have been telling her over and over that the reason for Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birthday. And she gets that... but when I ask "what's Christmas for?" She'll flip back and forth between "Jesus' Birthday!" and "Santa?"

So, as we're sitting there, I looked at John and he looked back at me. I said, should we tell her the truth? Would that make us bad parents? And he didn't think so, and I didn't think so (cause I think she's old enough to understand that Santa does not = presents... No-ho-hoooo, mommy and daddy = presents and really) so we...

*gulp*

told her that Santa isn't real. That's he's just pretend. That mommy and daddy buy presents for her for Christmas and that the mall Santas are just people who dress up in Santa outfits. Because Santa isn't real.

After taking a second to catch my breath, I looked at Katie to see how she was taking it...

And she was fine.

She said something about the Santas at the store being strangers and that Santa is pretend. And I calmly agreed.

I was still waiting for tears or some indication that we had burst all of her little girl dreams but she just said "Santa is pretend." and I said yes, again. And that was pretty much it.

And then John piped in with "And so are the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny."

Now, I don't know if Katie heard that but I sure wasn't going to burst every little bubble on such a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Also, I didn't want her to start asking questions about the validity of the Toy Fairy... because she's TOTALLY real.