Back Seat Driver

Kaitlyn and I were headed to the library and I went through a yellow light (Kaitlyn insists it's orange, not yellow). Anyways, from the back seat I hear, 'Mommy, you didn't slow down for that orange light. You are suppose to slow down! Next time, you NEED to slow down and stop. Got it?'

Wow, back seat driving at three?!

Watch Out World, Here Comes the Fireballs

Kaitlyn had her first soccer practice this week. Anyone who is looking for a little humor only needs to look as far as pee wee soccer. Seriously, watching 10 three and four year olds at their first soccer practice is an experience that will have you peeing your pants. Kids going everywhere but where you want them. Thank goodness there are coaches out there willing to step up and take on the madness! Maple Valley had 400 kids sign up for pee wee soccer! WOW!! So come out on Saturdays this fall and see Kaitlyn and her team, the Fireballs, in action.

On a side note, after KP went to bed that night Ryan looked at me with a sigh and said, 'I don't think her coach is the one to get her to the college scholarship!' LOL! 

Bridging the Gap

Last Saturday was Jennifer's 40th birthday! Happy, happy birthday Sis!

Nonetheless, I woke up feeling really sad. I had lots of questions running through my head. Would we still be able to relate across the big age span? I mean 40-somethings definitely have different things on their minds than their younger 30-something counterparts. Would our conversations always turn to aches and pains and talk of where she could find the best coupons for Bengay or Icy Hot? While I'm still focused on fun shoes and finding the next hip and yummy drink would she be worrying about finding shoes that don't hurt her bunions and the rising cost of Metamucil? Would I have to start calling her REALLY early in the evening knowing that she'll be in bed by 7 pm? Sad, indeed! It's yet to be seen but I'm really hoping that hanging out with her much younger sister will keep her young in spirit even though her age seems to be marching ahead.

The good news is that Chris pulled off a fabulous surprise party for her and she was actually able to make it past 8 pm. So all is looking up! Pictures below are compliments of Jen's blog. It was one blast of a party!!!

Celebrating Papa Dirt

Last weekend we headed down to my parent's to celebrate Papa Dirt's birthday.

Our day was jammed packed; time at the park, beach combing for shells, sprinkler fun, eating fresh veggies from the garden, pizza, birthday cake, and the annual picking of the pumpkins by the girls.

Kaitlyn was a BIG fan of Papa Dirt's garden! We took a bag of veggies home for later. She chowed the peas and was quite disappointed when I told her there were no more. She also loved the cucumber lemons. As for the beans, well she just kept hoping they were peas and was very irritated when she couldn't open them up and get the peas out. So I don't think it was so much that she didn't like the beans, it was more that she really wanted to the beans to be peas! LOL!

In Papa's garden

Look out world, Papa Dirt is back in business and online again!

Who doesn't love drinking from the sprinkler?!

A Tale of Two Zoos

Two weekends ago Kaitlyn says, 'I want to go to the zoo!' It's mid-day at this point on a beautiful sunny day so I know the zoo is packed (the only way I'll do the zoo is if we get there right as it opens). But we did want to get out of the house so I proposed a different kind of zoo...a trip to Petco.

Details:

• Cost: $0
• Animals seen: kittens, LOTS of fish, turtles, gerbils, rats, mice, ferrets, and birds (my favorite)
• Pros: Kaitlyn had fun checking out everything in the store and looking through all the cat accessories she thought we should get Peaches (the Mosers cat). I assured her Peaches didn't need the ultimate luxury litterbox penthouse.
• Cons: We almost walked away with a kitten. The look on KP's face when she was asking to take one of those little balls of fur home would melt anyone. We are soooo in trouble. It's just a matter of time before we have a dog or cat. *sigh* When Sheila asked her about a pet, she said, 'I'm working on it!'

Last weekend we went to the real zoo...Woodland Park Zoo. They have a dinosaur exhibit (KP LOVES dinosaurs) and it's ending Labor Day weekend so we thought we'd get her up there before then.

Details:

• Cost: Admission $70.50 (although we did buy a season pass); Carousel ride $2; Dinosaur exhibit $3/each; Dinosaur gift shop $15;  Parking $5.25 - crazy how it all adds up quickly!
• Animals seen: giraffes, gazelles, hippos, penguins, bears, gorillas, a wallaby, birds, jaguar, emus, and of course the dinosaurs (we sort of zig zagged through the zoo and missed entire sections as we let a three-year old lead the way. She was very insistent we give her the map and let her navigate. It was actually pretty cute!)
• Pros: It's always fun to get up to Seattle and the trip through Dick's burgers on the way home was really yummy! 
• Cons: Although Kaitlyn was somewhat interested she kept asking where the park was. Really??!! We could've taken her to a park and not have had to bring out the big wallet. And in fact, we hit a park on the way home and she was in heaven. I asked  her if going to the park was her favorite thing in the whole world. She thought for a second and said, 'No, birthday cake is then parks'. Alrighty then! The other con is that the dinosaur exhibit scared her a bit. We went through the first time and she didn't really know what to think. Later she asked if we could go through again. She kept talking to herself saying, 'I'm not going to be scared, I'm not' and sure enough the second time through was better!

On the second trip through she warmed up and was willing to take a picture

What three-year old wouldn't be a little scared by this guy?!

KP's Deep Thought of the Day

'Daddy, (worried look) why is there no foot sanitizer?'

Perhaps this is our million-dollar idea? I'm off to do some product research. Oh wait, perhaps our child is the only person who enjoys using her feet for a wide variety of things (picking things up, sucking on, etc.)? Hmmm..if that's the case, I better not quit my day job.

Hanging Out In The 'Can!

No, this isn't a Kaitlyn potty story! A few weekends ago Jen and I packed  up the family truckster (Jen's Venza) and headed on a road trip to Spokane with the girls. My Mom was already over there so we met up with her, too. Our summer girls' weekend trip to Spokane has become an annual tradition but we've always flown in the past. This year we braved the car. With a sweet in-car DVD set-up and lots of food and activities, it wasn't awful. I think we only heard, 'Are we there yet' 20 times or so. Each time, I heard my Dad laughing in my ear (yep, payback baby!). BTW, my sister and I reminisced about our drives as kids. No DVDs and no A/C...my parents were BRAVE. LOL!

We had a total blast! We got to see Aunts and an Uncle and a cousin, all of which we hadn't seen in quite a while, and meet our new baby 3rd-cousin. We spent tons of time at Riverfront Park, eating snow cones (yummy!), riding the carousel, and enjoying the pavilion rides. The weather was fantastic so lots of water time came in the form of pools and water parks. Really great memories!

Some of my favorite moments:

• On the ride over, out of the blue, Emily asks, 'Mama, how are babies made?' I thought my sister was going to drive off the road. I totally had to keep from laughing hysterically.
• Kaitlyn eating some cereal in bed. Two seconds after asking her to be careful not to spill I hear, 'Ah, nuts! My panties are all wet!' Yep, sure enough...milk all over (thankfully her side of the bed - lol!). Nothing like hearing your three-year old shouting out the word 'nuts' in that context.
• Watching Emily and Kaitlyn playing together just like siblings. Many sweet moments but several not-so-sweet either. Both are great memories!
• Pulling the girls around Riverfront Park in the wagon, especially as they smiled contentedly at their enormous snow cones.

Thanks, Moser girls and Grammy Jill for a great weekend. Looking forward to next year!