another catie quote

mommy: Can you do it? (refering to a task I gave Catie.)

Catie: Sure can.

(Who says that?!)

Good dog, BEAUTIFUL girl

check out the background...

We found this spot with a beautiful view. We don't know who owns the land, but we drove out into the field, thankful that it was still just a field, but still wondering why noone has thought to build a home here. There are 360 degree views. It's breathtaking.

milestones

Lydia got a tooth and is working on the next one. Here she is showing it off.

We discovered (about a month ago) that Catie's hair is long enough to put in a single pony-tail. I love it up like this. If I had never been pressured to cut her bangs, they would be long enough to fit in also. Oh well, it will reach soon.

I hit 31 and James took me out on a dinnerboat cruise on Keuka Lake. It was beautiful. I had never seen that area of the lake before.
Our first trip to the Steuben County Fair with Catie. My parents were there along with my sister and her family. Catie and Ross have no fear when it comes to animals. We stayed that night to watch the monster trucks. Catie kept saying "monser trucks jumping". (and yes, I do know how to spell monster, but that's how she pronounced it.) (they were so loud!!!!) That was a month ago and Catie still talks about those trucks. When asked what monster trucks do, she says "they jump". And when asked what they jump over she says "cars". James bought her a matchbox monster truck and taught her how to set up her matchbox cars for the truck to jump.
I'm really slow about posting. All of these things happened at the end of August. I hope you don't mind.

2 down....1 to go

We had a nice visit to Virginia. Lydia ended up with an ear infection the morning of the day we were supposed to leave so we made a quick trip to the Dr., got a 10 day supply of antibiotics and started on our way. I ended up sick on saturday morning and slept while Lydia slept. James and Catie played in the rain from Hurricane Hannah. Mom and Dad took pictures.

Weekend #2: I went to camp for Ladies Retreat. Lydia was supposed to stay with Jane for the weekend, but on Friday morning she called and said Janelle was sick during the night. I spent the day trying to come up with another option. The best one I found was taking her with me, but James stepped up and said that he would keep both girls. This meant that he was not going to get things done like he had wanted. As much as he adores those girls, I know that it was a sacrifice on some level for him to do that.

I had a good weekend and even got to go shopping for an hour BY MYSELF. I realized how much I miss my alone time without responsibility. I have alone time when the girls are napping, but they are still there and I have to always be thinking about them and listening for them and worrying about them (b/c that's what I do). James did a great job and proved to himself that he is capable of having them both and doing well. I think it turned out to be easier than he thought it would be. Well....everything except those poopie diapers!!!

Next weekend starts on Friday when I have Ross and Maggie all day. And James leaves for Virginia. It will be a long weekend, but I have a few things planned.

the weekends are spilling into the weeks

September is going to be a busy month. We had a great time at camp last weekend. The girls loved it, but they are still recovering. We leave tomorrow for Virginia to gather up some of James's belongings at his parents' house so they can pack up their house to move north. We also plan to try to see some of his old buddies since we won't be back down there for a long time. They need to meet Lydia and some of them want to see Catie again (cause she's so cute). We don't plan to be home until Monday evening and then I will take 3 days to settle in and pack AGAIN!!! I leave for a Ladies Retreat at camp. The original plan was for James to stay home with both girls for the weekend, but Jane has offered to take Lydi. That will work out better, so James can still work around the house, and Catie could use the one-on-one time with Daddy. The weekend after that, James will head back to Virginia to pack his parents' stuff into a truck and help them drive to NY. Meanwhile, I will be watching Ross and Maggie so my sister and her husband can go away for the weekend. I won't have them on Saturday and Sunday, but I will have them on Friday and Monday. That takes us to the final weekend of the month. Nothing is planned yet. I have no doubt that it will fill up eventually.

I'm a little overwhelmed now that I've written all that out. Pray for me this month. I've not been handling stress really well recently.

a quote from Catie

Mommy (at about noon): "Catie, what time is it? "

Catie: "5:30."

(I was expecting her to say "naptime" like she usually does.)