Well, we finally got family pictures done! Our friend Mandie did them and did a fantastic job! Looking through other people's family pictures is typically boring, so I will make a fun game out of it. Throughout this post, I will randomly insert several photos -- look closely and see if you can find them!



Conversations With Kate
1. We had the extreme good fortune to inherit one of my favorite childhood movies from a friend: The Last Unicorn. My friend said it was too scary and psycho for her kids, and she knows that's exactly the kind of thing I want for my girls. ("See kids? This is what happens when you do drugs!")
The movie was pretty intense for Kate, and she would occasionally climb on my lap screaming "NO! NO! NO!" but I could tell that deep down, she really like it. Afterward, she seemed particularly troubled by a certain "red pot." She wanted to know what the red pot was, and what his intentions were. I was floundering. "What red pot?" I asked her.
"You know! The fire one that wanted to get the unicorn!!" she said in exasperation.
Suzy's internal dialogue:
"She must be talking about the Red Bull, but where did she get "pot?" Ahhhhh, Red Bull, Red Bowl, bowls are kinda like pots... I get it."
You may think that a stay-at-home mom's brain gradually turns to mush from lack of stimulation, but that Kate keeps my mind as sharp as aged cheese.



2. For the last month or two, I've been making green smoothies for breakfast. It's just fruit and veggies blended up with some ice, and it tastes much better than it looks. I always tell Kate that the smoothie will help make her body strong and healthy. One morning while drinking her smoothie, she flexed her arm and said, "Hey Mom, look at my muscles." She almost busted through her shirt sleeves, they were that big. I dutifully marveled at her awesomeness, and continued emptying the dishwasher. A few minutes later, she came back (with a lovely green mustache), took a swig, and said, "NOW look at my muscles!" I conceded that, however improbable, they had gotten even bigger! That is one miracle smoothie! She asked if she could call Daddy, and I handed her the phone. With more confidence than I've ever displayed in my life, she said, "Daddy? Can you come home from work and arm wrestle me?" I'm a little insulted that she didn't think I was enough of a challenge.

3. The word of the month last month was "Citizenship" in Kate's gym class. They talked about being a good citizen, and the teacher gave a few examples that demonstrated what it meant. Later, Kate wanted to tell Daddy about it, so she called him at work. I could hear both sides of the conversation, and it went as follows:

Kate: "Hi Daddy! So, if you are outside and you throw trash on the ground, what do you think about that? Is that a good ci'izen?"
Daddy: "That's great!" (obviously hasn't understood a word)
Kate: "No Daddy. That's not. Should you pick it up and put it in the trash?
Daddy: "Uhhhh..."
Kate: "Yes you should. And whafabout (what about if) a little kid falls off a swing, should you laugh at him? NO! You should help him up, Are you okay?, and push him (on the swing, presumably). What do you think about that, Daddy?
Daddy: "Sounds like fun! I love you!"
Kate sighs in exasperation and hands the phone to me, at which point Daddy asks me, "What on earth is she talking about?"

4. Kate and I are picking up toys in preparation for our hometeachers coming over to visit. Did I say Kate was participating in the cleaning? That was a typo. Just before they are due to arrive, Kate announces that she has prepared a lesson for them. We do a little lesson for family night on Mondays, and I always feel like they are futile. But a glimmer of hope surfaced when I saw that she wanted to teach us something she had learned! I asked her to tell me what it was about, and she said it was a surprise. I finally goaded her enough that she relented. I sat down, and she described her lesson. She took out a small stuffed cow and an plastic knife. She began to saw its neck, and said, "Today, we are going to learn about how it is nice to cut cows."
Boy was I proud.
And glad I got her to give me the lesson before our hometeachers arrived.


I love this picture below. Check out Kate's classic sassy stance. Mandie asked her to climb on Daddy's back. With more petulance than a 3 year old should have, she said,
"I will NOT get on Daddy's back! It's all sweaty!"