April 27, 2007

Little Ms. Katherine Anne Tossell was born on this day. It was the best day of our lives! She was five weeks early due to me having severe preeclampsia (high blood pressure) but she was 100% healthy.

When Katherine was released from the hospital (she was released a few hours before me due to my blood pressure), she was four pounds, one ounce and 19 inches long. Yes, she was tiny but long. At the same time though, Brett and I didn't know any different.

We live in a on a street that backs up to the desert. We had a huge wind storm the weekend that Katherine was born and the block wall fell down. Yes, we had lots and lots of little creatures adventure over to the neighborhood.

The day that we brought Katherine home, BJ was playing in one of our bushes out in the backyard. She loves to chase, catch and play with lizards. Anyway, this time it wasn't a lizard. We were eating dinner and Gary (Brett's dad) was holding Katherine. Brett got up to get more food and told everyone to move to the other side of the house.

I peeked over to see what he was talking about and just then I saw a black tail of a snake going behind the couch. I ran so fast (I had an emergency c-section which did not slow me down) and picked Katherine out of Gary's arms. We locked BJ in our bedroom and if it was up to me, I would have gotten a shotgun and "taken care of the snake". It wasn't up to me, Brett who "saves" all creatures, went out to the garage and got the pole in which we put up our Christmas lights with. He helped the snake out to the front door with help from a neighbor.

It was a king snake so it was not dangerous but it was scary. Brett said that the head of the snake was messed up so he thinks that BJ brought the snake into the house. Being a first time mom, I called the HOA right away demanding the block wall to be repaired. The HOA replied that it wasn't their responsibility, rather it was the responsibility of the two houses that shared the block wall.

The block wall was down for about a week and luckily that was the only time that I have seen a snake in the 8 years that we have lived out here.

It was scary at the time but now it is a story that we laugh at. I will never forget the day that we brought Katherine home from the hospital!


April, 2007

April, 2011

Happy Easter!

Fun Friday Night Family Night

This past Friday, stayed home and colored eggs. We usually color eggs the night before Easter but this year we had two birthday parties to go to on Saturday and it was going to be a very busy day.

I cannot stand the taste or smell of eggs so this is one of the few times of the year that I buy eggs. As usual, I had to look up how to hard boil eggs. Yes, I know that it's easy but since the only time I ever cook eggs is for Easter... I just want to make sure that I am doing it correctly.

As the eggs were "cooking" in the pot, Brett walked by and said that I was doing it wrong. I was following the directions that I found on line but he said that the eggs needed to boil not simmer. Hey, what do I know? He turned the heat up and I told him that he could take over.

The eggs cooked and then were cooled. I then looked for the dye for the eggs that I bought a few weeks ago. Yep, you guessed it, I couldn't find it. I put it in that "special place that I wouldn't forget". I forgot. Now we needed to get more dye.

We picked Katherine up from school and went to two different stores before finding more egg dye. Trying to find dye for Easter eggs three days before Easter wasn't such an easy task. I finally found some and the store only had three boxes left. We came home and got ready to dye the eggs ~ putting the towels down, drying rack (I threw out the egg crate) and Katherine had to put on a "smock".

Time to start dying eggs... I wanted all different color eggs. Ms. Katherine had another idea... make all of the eggs PINK! She would get upset whenever I would put the eggs in any of the other colors than pink. Really, buying the kit that had 6 colors was pretty much a waste since we were only allowed to use one color... PINK.
Katherine dyed eggs for her friends, Sam, Alli and Brooksie.

When we were finally done, it came time to wash our hands. Well, mine more than hers since I used all of the dark colors and she only used pink. Two days later, I still have green on my fingers. :)

Anyway... we had a grand of a time. I know that she is looking forward to doing this again next year. Maybe next year we will have less pink eggs and more of a variety. :)

In less than a week...

In less than a week, Katherine will be four. Wow, how time flies!

I had an extremely hard pregnancy (severe preeclampsia) but in the end, we got an incredible little girl. I didn't take many pictures while I was pregnant because I was either too sick or because I couldn't believe how much water weight that I had gained.

I have a few pictures from my baby showers and even then, I had to get permission from my OB/GYN to go to my second baby shower which was in California. Katherine made her grand entrance only two weeks after the party as she was five weeks early.

Below are a couple of pictures from my baby showers. Thank you to Kristen for hosting the first one in Phoenix and to Sherrie for hosting the second one in California.


Five and a half months pregnant.

I am so happy that my grandmother was able to meet her third (and final) great grandchild before passing away when Katherine was only six months old.

Nope, we didn't have a name for her until after she was born. We called her our little "alien" since she would make my shirt move when she would move or kick.

Two Boxes

Katherine has been asking for a new Darbie (Barbie) and with it being so close to her birthday and Easter, I didn't want to get it for until one of those events, until... she packed up two boxes of toys to "give to the babies".

I told her that we needed to go through her playroom and give her toys to other little babies/kids that didn't have toys. We went through her entire playroom and she put all of the toys that she no longer plays with in the boxes. I am so proud of her because she is very possessive of her toys and she really does play with most of them.

Yes, I caved. I went and got the Darbie that she was asking for and it will be from the fairies for her good deed.

Our Disney Wonder Vacation

Brett's dad wanted to celebrate his 70th birthday with all of the grandchildren on the Disney Wonder ~ the parents were also invited. After about a year of planning, we sailed to the Mexican Riviera on April 10th - 17th.

Disney does it right ~ activities for kids, activities for families and activities just for adults. There were three different pools (after 20 years of my mom working in the cruise industry and going on lots of family cruises, this was the very first time that I ever got to enjoy the pool. It was so nice), the Mickey pool (1.5 feet deep), the mid-pool (4 feet deep) with "funnel vision" for movies and the adult pool with two whirlpools and a bar. While in the adult pool, you could not hear all of the kids over in the other two pools ~ it was very relaxing.

They also had shows and games just for kids, families and adults. Every night we would receive our "Navigator" for the next day, making it easier to plan our days. Oh, and don't forget about all of the character visits ~ Princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Chip, and Dale. They were everywhere, including a character breakfast on our final day at sea.

The ship that we went on was 10 years old and you would never know by how clean it was. The carpets were fresh and the cast members were constantly cleaning, polishing and varnishing. It was so nice. The room host/hostess' cleaned the staterooms three times a day and it didn't matter what kind or where your stateroom was. We had a stateroom with a verandah and I still think that we would have been just fine in an inside cabin. Katherine got very upset every time we opened the door to the outside ~ she thought that some one was going to go overboard.

Three quarters of deck five was dedicated to the kids clubs ~ Flounders Reef (babies to age 3 that were not potty trained. It was an extra charge and was first come, first serve and filled up rather quick), Oceaneers Club (ages 3 to 7) and the Oceaneers Lab (ages 7 to 11). They also had a group for the tweens and teens. Katherine begged to go to the Oceaneers Club each day. We would have breakfast with her, then take her for a few hours. She would dance with the princesses, do crafts, play on the computers, play dress up, and even became a Mickey Mouse Mouseketter with Mickey Mouse. Then we would pick her up to swim and have dinner. After dinner, we would take Katherine back to the Oceaneers Club until we would go to the show.

For our one shore excursion, we chose to do the dolphin encounter. We didn't "swim" with the dolphins but rather we stood on a platform and had about 45 minutes of one on one time with them. We were able to pet them (their backs and tummy), give them commands, feed them, dance with them and give them kisses. At the end of the our lesson, we stood at the back of the tank and they swam past us, going about 35 MPH ~ it was fast and awesome ~ ending with a jump. This excursion was priceless and one that I will never forget.

Yes, there was lots and lots of food. It was yummy but as I always say, "Disney isn't really known for their food". Brett and I did go to the adult restaurant, Palo, on Friday night. That was the best meal and only $20 per person. Katherine also had a grand time in the kids club that night. So much so that when we went to pick her up, she didn't want to go. She wanted to still play. It broke my heart but I was so happy that she was having a great time!

At the end of the day, I would really recommend the Disney cruise and I am not much of a cruise fan. As Brett would say, there are places for adults to go to on the ship that are "Disney-free" and then there are places for the kids to go to for a "Disney-overload". I am looking forward to cruising with Disney again (I don't think that Katherine would have it any other way). They made our vacation so special and the memories will last a lifetime.

The only advice that I would offer if you choose to go on the cruise, book on-line or with a Disney reservation agent. We were booked through a travel agent and it did get a bit hard when I would want to add or make changes to our reservation, hearing, "You need to call your travel agent". In the end getting close to our cruise date, I finally got one cast member that did make the changes and did help me book the "surprise" birthday celebration for Brett's dad ~ decorating his room when he arrived on the ship. It was the perfect start to an amazing cruise.

Karate Katherine

The day before we went on our Disney cruise, Katherine had her Karate Recital. She was so excited that she got to go up on stage. I was excited because every time that I would ask what she learned in karate, she would reply, "I don't know". So this was the very first time that I was going to see what she had learned.

She was up front and center on stage. I couldn't hold back the tears of joy. She paid attention for the most part. There were a few times, though, that she was spinning on stage and on one else was. Oh, well. That is my Katherine. She loves to spin.

When they first started, they warmed up and then it was onto gymnastics. Katherine was the only one to jump off of the spring board and do a full turn (all of the others did tuck jumps). Then she went on and did a backwards roll while many of the others only did forward rolls. They all ended with a backwalk over (of course not on their own).

Then the curtains closed and they got dressed in their karate outfits. When the curtains opened, I don't think that there was a dry eye. It was awesome to see them. Then they started their karate and every single little person payed attention ~ not one was "doing their own thing". It was really neat to see have three and four year olds staying in sync.

At the very end, they were presented with metals. Katherine wore hers all day and showed everyone what she had accomplish. Now I know the "keywords" to ask when asking what she learned in karate.

A Carousel Ride

Friday Family Fun Night

It has been so warm here ~ a preview of the summer, I think ~ that we picked Katherine up from school and took her over to the outdoor splash pad. She had a grand time. She had her Tinkerbell doll, and buckets. Sharing with the other kids there, was not an option. It was very unusual but she wanted to play all by herself.

After she cooled off, we had dinner and then went over to the big stage for her to dance on. This was awesome because there were about twenty little kids up on the stage dancing. Katherine found a little boy to dance with and come to find out, he is a boy from school.

I am really liking our Friday Family Fun Nights. It is a blast going out as a family and at the end of the night, Katherine is exhausted. Once we get home, she starts her bath and is ready to go to bed.

Not sure what we are gong to do next Friday since we will be going out to L.A. the next day to get ready for our cruise.

Swimming

We have a pool with a waterfall in our backyard. We do not have a fence around the pool because where the pool sits in the yard, it's just not possible. Yes, we do have a lock on our back gate so none of the neighborhood kids can just come on back when they please.

It was a big discussion while I was pregnant about the pool. What do we do? After much discussion and exchanging stories about pools in our childhood ~ our parents putting us in the pool with our clothes on to teach us how to swim and get out ~ swimming lessons is the best decision.

Before Katherine was mobile, I put her into swimming classes. She was six months old and able to pull herself out of the pool. Amazing in my eyes!

She has been in swimming classes ever since. At the end of the day, it's not my pool that I am worried about. I am think about the future... when she has a playdate at friends house with a pools and I am not there to watch. I want her to be able to get out of any pool without panicking.

Katherine is a very strong swimmer and has the skills to get herself out of the water if she were to fall in. Last week, the swim school had Safety Week. They had the parents dress the kids in long sleeve shirts, jeans, socks and shoes over their bathing suits. Oh, that was not an easy task. For all that know Katherine, she ONLY wears pink dresses. Whenever it is cold out here (yes, 50* is cold for us considering it gets to 115* in the summer), I have to bribe Katherine to wear jeans. She always has to wear a pink tutu over her pants. As Brett says, "When did she get so girly?".

So, the instructors had the kids swimming with all of their clothes on across the pool. They also had to jump into the pool and make it to the other side. Katherine did awesome!

I am so happy with our decision about swim lessons. As I have said before, I don't care what sport that Katherine does but she will be participating in a sport throughout school. Maybe it will be swimming. It is in her blood, after all. My dad did go to the Olympic trials in 1962 in swimming...

70th Birthday

Last Friday was Brett's dads 70th birthday. We are going on the Disney cruise for his birthday but don't depart until next week. So, we thought that we would go out to L.A. and celebrate Gary's birthday with him. It was our Friday Family Fun Night!

We went to Kincaids on Redondo Beach pier. The food was good as usual but the service was extremely slow. Sitting for a two hour dinner with a three year old gets to be a bit long. She was great, though. I don't think that Gary could be any happier. The smile on the faces of Katherine and Gary were priceless.

We stayed out in L.A. for a couple of days. Brett went to his 20 year high school reunion on Saturday and Katherine and I hung out with my best friend and her kids, Harley and Tanner. Katherine just loved hanging out with Harley because she is a "big girl". We went to As You Wish and painted pottery. Of course, Katherine's pottery was a pink and purple butterfly. I will post a picture after we pick it up.

While we were out in L.A., we went down by the beach. I really do miss the smell of the ocean. It was so relaxing being down by the water. We had a snack and drank coffee and hot chocolate. Time passed by and we didn't even know it.

After a few days in L.A., we made a stop over in Palm Desert for the night before going home. Katherine and Brett went swimming in the beautiful pool at the hotel and then we went to a bbq with a couple of families. The next day, we went by the gym in which Katherine did gymnastics. They moved buildings since we were there last and the new facility is beautiful. It's not too big or too small. It is just the right size. The gym out here in Phoenix is way too big and so this felt nice. The coached invited Katherine to stay for one of the classes and she did awesome!

We made it home by three in the afternoon and went to pick up the dogs. It took the dogs about two days to recover from their doggie slumber party. I wonder how long it will take them to recover when we are gone for nine days on our cruise. :)

It was nice to get out of town for a few days. It was a fun time by all and looking forward to our next adventure on the high seas in about a week.

Butterfly Bathroom Pictures