More State Fair Pics!

Kate is quite obsessed with horses and "ponies". She loves to play with toy horses and ponies whether it is the more authentic looking palominos and such or the fantasy variety such as pink or purple ponies with rainbow-colored manes. She could play with ponies all day! Well, imagine her HUGE delight when she saw REAL LIVE HORSES at the Fair! She had no fear and all she wanted to do was to pet those horses. She was so thrilled and it was fun to see her big smiles.





We made it a point to try several "famous" state fair foods that we had never heard of until we moved here. Most of which consists of "fill-in-the-blank on a stick". Here Nick samples the famous Fried Twinkie. It is fried and drizzled in chocolate syrup and served on (what else) a stick. Very healthy. Nick thought it was OK. Honestly, I tried a bite and thought I would hurl. I found it to be vomitous. :)



GIANT MASSES OF PEOPLE. They don't call it the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" for nothing. There were SOOOO many people! But everyone was, in true Minnesota fashion, "super nice" (you have to say that with the MN accent, doncha know!)


The kiddos crashed out after a long day at the Fair.

Pretty in Pink

Kate after a long day of playing outside!

Polish Jokes...the joke's on us!

Nick just got back from a business trip to Poland. While very busy the entire week, he did manage to have a late afternoon and evening free the day before his departure back to the States! He took the time to explore Krakow as much as he could! During the week he had been in the Polish countryside and mountains and was impressed with how lovely it all was. He was even more impressed with the beauty of Krakow! He said that memorials to Pope John Paul II are everywhere! Krakow, apparently, is a hidden European gem - so beautiful, with street concertos and strolling musicians everywhere, neat little courtyards hidden amongst the beautiful old buildings. Also incredibly affordable as far as European cities go! I loved hearing all the stories he had about his travels - they are too numerous to put down here, and I would probably get the details skewed a little in the retelling, but I will post some pics and that should give some idea!

Here are two pics of St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow. Doesn't it look stunning? I am so jealous that Nick got to see this in person - he said it was beyond amazing.



This is a pic Nick took from his dinner table. Literally! That is his beer in front of him and the umbrella of the cafe table overhead. His table was literally right on the main square in Old Town Krakow!!! He had appetizer, salad, main course, beers (plural!) and dessert for about $20 US! WOW! And the view was free.


This is a picture of a SMALL part of Wawel castle in Krakow.


The square at dusk.

Liam Sits Up!

Liam started sitting up this week! He is so strong. I keep the boppy pillow around him as he tends to still topple now and then, but he loves to sit up next to his sister and play with all his toys. I could just kiss those cheeks off his face!!!!

I've Partied with the Hollywood Stars at Club LAX!!!!!

At least that is what my bank is saying! My debit card number was used to charge many, many drinks and tips to a hot nightclub in Los Angeles! Thank goodness I read "US Weekly" Magazine because I knew right away what the club was when I saw the charges on my account - even though I have not been to L.A. in five years! I have no clue how this happened since my card has never left my person. The Fraud department said it could have been a fluke - i.e. Someone's magnetic stripe was not working and when the server keyed in the numbers they did it wrong and it happened to be my numbers - OR someone got my debit numbers and wrote them down and they have a scam at the club with a buddy who works there who will allow them to just give them random numbers. It is essentially the same as credit card fraud except it is REAL CASH that has been taken from me. So frustrating. Needless to say, that card has been CLOSED.

What an odd thing to happen! Well, at least I can say that my debit card number, if not me in person, has been to a hot nightclub in L.A., frequented by the likes of Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Lindsay Lohan and the skeletal Nicole Ritchie! Ha ha

Wish me luck with getting all of this resolved and getting my money back! I hope it was just a fluke and some creep out there does not have my personal info - we will be on major credit report watch for a while here to make sure it is not true identity theft.

In the meantime, all is well. Nick is in Poland on business (and yes he really is in Poland and not the mystery club-goer in LA! Ha ha) and he gets back this weekend. He says that Krakow is absolutely beautiful. Right now he is somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland doing business and there is no email or easy phone access that does not cost a trillion dollars. I cannot wait to see him on Saturday and see pics and hear his tales of any non-business sightseeing he may have managed to squeeze in amongst a very packed business schedule.

Ok - have to run. Almost nap time here at the Harris household for the kiddos!

Pics

Taking Requests

Kate has been obsessed with the concept of Birthdays ever since she attended the fabulous "Princess Party" last week! Accordingly, she has been asking a lot about her own birthday - when it is, who will be there, what presents she will have, what kind of cake she will have. She is really interested in the whole concept. I figure, to be perfectly honest, that I can leverage this over the next month or so when it comes to any behavior challenges! Kind of along the lines of Santa Claus, you know? ha ha

Anyway, so I asked Kate last night, as she was talking about Birthday parties - "And what would you like for your Birthday, Kate?" She thought about it for a second and looked up at me, counting off the items on her fingers as she spoke, "I would liiiiiiiike......a puppy and a vacuum cleaner."

Ok, then!!!!

I gave the standard 'mom' answer - you know, one of those phrases you swear you will never say as a mother but find yourself using almost automatically and without thought - "We'll see!" Though I think it safe to say there will be no canine purchases for quite a while.

O Solo Mio

Kate was incredibly imaginative and creative today! The whole day she was full of imagination. At one point she declared that her rocking horse, who she has named "Ears", was dirty and needed a bath. So she proceeded to use a bucket and a sponge and a fake bar of soap and a towel and "washed" him clean! She then asked me "Mom, what do horses drink?" I told her "Water!" and her eyes widened and she gasped "That's AMAZING!!!! I DRINK WATER TOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Wow.

Later in the day, Kate found a whistle that sounds like a recorder. Only one note, though. She ran around the living room blowing on that whistle incessantly - marching around to her own beat and whistling away. After about 20 minutes of this, my ears were bleeding and my patience was merely a thread. I took a deep breath and asked her to please either stop or do that in another room. She gleefully said "Ok, Mom!" and literally flounced over to the stairwell. Our stairs have a door at the bottom - she started to go up the stairs and turned around and shut the door. Ah. Quiet.

But Wait. Whistle. Whistle. Whistle. It began again. I slowly walked over to the door and opened it. Kate was sitting on the first step, looking up at me with the darn whistle in her mouth. I said "Kate! What are you doing?" I barely had the words out of my mouth when she held up her hand in that "talk to the hand" way, and looked at me with big eyes and said very frankly - "Mom. PLEASE! I am PRACTICING my SOLO!!!!!" Very dramatic. Then she huffed, took a deep breath, and proceeded to work that whistle at all new decibel levels. Heavens, how dare I interfere with the musical genius!

Princess Party

This weekend, Kate went to the 3rd Birthday Party of her best little girlfriend whose name is Maggie! Maggie had a WONDERFUL Princess Party! All the little girls dressed up like princesses and the festivities contained all sorts of fun princess activities - decorating magic wands, making princess necklaces. It was a little girl's dream come true! Kate had a blast - and thanks to the Dunns for having us and throwing such a Princess extravaganza! As much as Maggie loved it, her little guests were just as thrilled I can tell you! Here is a pic of Kate in her princess garb all ready to party. The dress was actually a Halloween costume of mine when I was a little girl living in Hong Kong. I remember going to the fabric alley with my Mom in downtown Hong Kong and picking out the fabric for my princess dress! My little sister got matching fabric in purple. How neat that years later, Kate is wearing it (pinned up because it is a bit too big)! I remember absolutely loving that dress - I hope she felt the same this weekend! And speaking of birthdays, I cannot believe that Kate's is coming up in September! THREE YEARS OLD! WOW.

Saturday Smarty Pants

Here are some random pics from today. Nick and Kate did some gardening this morning before it got too hot. For those of you not spending time on the scorched earth that is presently Minnesota, it has been over 100 for days now. Well high 90s usually and then the heat index brings it over 100. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 102 WITHOUT the heat index! Crazy. I think Al Gore is doing the happy dance that the planet has cooperated so well in supporting the release of his Global Warming movie. I know we should try to do more things like ride bikes and walk to save energy, but who can do that when it is 102 degrees and they are as white as me?!!!

ANYWAY, I digress. The point is, Kate and Nick did some lovely gardening work in the 9am 85 degree weather! I got to stay inside where the freckles don't melt off my face. Along with Liam. We sat by the window - he in his swing - and watched the Harris laborers. Kate loves her pink shovel.

Here is a fun story about Kate and her gardening, which she has done with me repeatedly but I never get the good stuff like Nick does! They were replenishing the mulch under our cherry trees when Kate pointed out one sad withered branch hanging down. No surprise in this heat! The whole thing was brown and all the leaves had shriveled into little cocoon-like spirals that pointed straight down. Kate misunderstood the state of the branch and instead said "Look! Daddy! A Chrysalis!" For those of you who do not recall the exact workings of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly - the chrysalis is "the pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon". I know this because I looked it up. My brain pretty much recalls "The very hungry caterpillar" process of Bug with lots of legs - cocoon - prettier bug.

So we all got a lesson from our in-house entomologist, Kate. What a wonder she is!

Super Liam

I think I may have my hands extra full soon! Liam is quite the mobile 4 month old - well, almost 5 months! He now rolls fully back to front to back like a barrel - he can roll across a room. And tonight a new milestone - he "crawled". I put that word in quotations because he was not up on his hands and knees. But he combat crawled across the whole room! Scooching on his tummy using his arms and legs to propel him to grab a toy. Once he had the toy and tired of it, he just kept on going. By the end he was grunting and screaming as if his life depended on just. Making. It. One. Inch. More. Arrgghhh!

Nick and I just stared in awe and then looked at each other with a gleeful "uh oh" expression. No more plopping Liam down on his play blanket and having him be content to play with his own toes! The boy is on the move! Look out world!

So Big!

Kate is growing more sweet, sassy and cute every day - in my humble opinion! I marvel daily at the way she forms her sentences, her imaginary play scenarios with all her toys, and even how she draws, dances and sings. She is this little amazing person and I love her so! Here is a pic of her latest artistic masterpiece and her first day wearing "big girl braids". They are a tad messy - with my RA it is tough to do braids - but it was fun to see her looking so grown up!

Kiddie achievements

The kids are geniuses. It is official. Please observe the lifelike and detailed aquadoodle drawing penned by Kate. Also please take in the astonishing gymnastic feats of Liam the 4 month old as he demonstrates his amazing ability to roll over. Please also note Kate's look of total disinterest as he does this - that is because he does it so often lately that the novelty has completely worn off for her. But please do not let her passive reaction inhibit your own gasps of awe and amazement.

Theta Girls

This weekend I attended the bachelorette party of one of my sorority sisters, Angela. There is a group of seven of us and we have successfully seen each other - as a full group, or sometimes just partial - at LEAST once a year every year since we graduated from college. They are the most wonderful, supportive, beautiful and FUN women. I am so blessed to know them and it is always such a joy to spend time with them, no matter how brief. I always leave with sore cheeks from smiling and aching abs from all the belly laughs. These women are a part of my heart and a huge part of my life even with great geographic distance between us. And oh my GOSH do we all have fun! Cannot wait for Ang's wedding! :) Aren't they all just gorge (in the words of my fave Project Runway star and favored clothing and perfume designer Michael Kors - means gorgeous!).

Curious Kate

Kate has recently been hearing a lot about her body due to potty training. I guess it must occupy a lot of her thoughts since she has seen her body in action in a whole new way now that the diaper is off! She has been asking a lot of questions about what parts of her body are and what they do - pretty much only while she is actually on the potty and things are happening, if you know what I mean. I have just been quite frank in my answers of what body parts are and what they do. I don't make a big deal about it, I don't want her to be ashamed of her body, but don't want her necessarily running around showing everyone either you know?

Anyway. Her new found abilities and new words are interesting to her now not just while she is in the bathroom. Today I was putting Kate down for a much needed nap (it took a couple of days to get over the late night ice cream insanity that put her to bed around midnight the other night!). She looked so sweet all snuggled in her cozy bed. I leaned down to kiss her goodnight and she said "Mom? I have a question for you!" I said "What, sweetie?", fully expecting her to ask for water, a song, a story - anything to delay naptime. Instead, with furrowed brow she asked me "Where did I come from? From Mommy's belly like Wiam?" I told her "Yes! From Mommy's belly, just like Liam. We loved you so much in our hearts and God gave us you!". She smiled and seemed satisfied with the answer. Then she asked right away, with a little mispronounciation, "And did God give me my Pagina?" while pointing to her pants.

Ok. I almost lost it. Where to go with this one? I played it cool, answering "Yep! God made ALL of you!" More rapid tucking into bed. Quick kiss goodnight. Quick about face to exit while calling out "nighty night! Sleep tight! Love you!" in some strangely high pitched strangled voice because I was trying SO hard not to laugh! She was SO serious about that question. And my answer apparantly met with her satisfaction. We'll see what other body questions come up - I know it is not the end of them.

This is not the first time we have had a good laugh at Kate's use of body part terminology. When she was a bit younger, she basically referred to the whole diapered area as "her butt". Fine. No prob. Then one day she grabbed between her legs and said "Mommy! My Trash hurts!". Shocked, I asked her to repeat herself. "My Trash Hurts". I immediately began to wonder who on EARTH taught her to call her privates "Trash" and WHY they hurt? My heart began to beat out of my chest. I took a deep breath and asked her to explain. She said "I have a wittle trash on my butt". OOOHHHH!! She had A RASH. Her RASH hurt. Ok. Breathe. Get the diaper cream out. Explain the difference between Trash and Rash. Problem solved. But funny.

Kate has also taken a recent interest in the difference between her and Liam when it comes to what is beneath the diaper. She proudly announces "I SEE WIAM'S PENIS, MOMMY" often when I am changing his diaper. I just calmly acknowledge her observation (If I don't, she will repeat in incrementally louder tones "I see his penisI I SEE HIS PENIS" until I credit her discovery). Then I move on to another topic. This has not really deterred her from trying to get me to be super impressed by her knowing what a penis is. She still shouts it to the mountaintops at various intervals. And if someone else happens to be in the room - particularly friends or relatives - while I am changing Liam, then she most definitely crows about her knowledge of Liam's equipment. On a recent visit from my Mom and Erin, Kate shouted during a diaper change "LOOK NIA AND AUNTIE ERIN! IT'S WIAM'S PENIS! IT'S HIS PENIS! HIS PENIS! PENIS!" When met with mild disinterest, she then decided to make up a lie about the Penis to try to get them to pay attention. There is no way she could have known that the lie would cause such laughter when she pointed and shouted, "LOOK! HIS PENIS IS GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER!!!!!"

OMG. I thought I would faint with laughter. I thought all of us would. Sadly - Kate got JUST the reaction she wanted. A BIG REACTION. She was so proud. In between gasps for air, I told her that was a fib and it was NOT getting bigger and bigger....Kate moved on. But we all get the funny in that.

Ok - enough of the incessant genital talk. What has HAPPENED to this blog?! Poops, pee, penis's and Pagina's?!!!! Hey, all these "P" words are just part of the big "P" word that is our life "Parenthood". And Praise God it is all so wonderful!

Twinkles Update

For those of you who have chosen to read the "twinkles" saga, I have an update. Kate did what she had to do, finally!!!! As promised, her Daddy took her out to the ice cream shoppe immediately following the deed. Hence, it is 9:30pm and they are off having ice cream right this minute! Hey - we had to follow through. The hyperactivity that is sure to follow and make for a late night is well worth it. Now hopefully she sticks with this trend and has conquered whatever fears led her to show her most stubborn streak to date. Also, hopefully, this will be the end of discussions of toilet matters on my blog! More and more as a Mom I find myself saying things and doing things I never thought I would say or do. From "Because I said so" to potty tales. -Sigh- Thanks for putting up with me!

Twinkles

I know I have been M.I.A as of late! That is because I have been in the land of potty training with Kate! I have to admit I was REALLY dreading it. I was so tired of hearing from various people "oh, I trained my child on one bag of M&M's!" or "I trained in one day or one weekend". It just put pressure on me! :) Being the competitive gal that I am, I felt I had to do as well or better than that! Hee hee No pressure, Kate! :)

So I finally started the training last Thursday. Warning for those who don't care to read about "tinkles and poopies", but they will be discussed in the following sentences! Anyway, Kate had three accidents Thursday morning of wetting her "big girl underwear", but has gone "tinkles in the potty" every single time since then for a straight week! She got it pretty quick and got more than a few chuckles out of me as she called out from the bathroom "Mom! I'm doing it! I'm going twinkles!!!" (instead of tinkles!) She is darn cute. As a reward she got to have mini-chocolate chips because they were in the house already as opposed to me going out to buy candy. She NEVER gets candy, so this is a big deal for her. One problem though, lest you think I am bragging on my daughter's rapid potty training accomplishments. She will not, and I mean NOT go poop in the potty. The girl has amazing control because she refused to poop at all anywhere for almost three straight days. Not sure what the issue is. She waits until we put her pull up on at bedtime and then goes in the pull up before bed and then we have to change her pants again. I have tried everything. Her fave thing in the world is ice cream and she rarely gets it - she has been promised a trip to Grand Ol' Creamery with her Daddy if she "does her business" where she is supposed to, but still nothing. Hmmmm....we have tried bribery, encouragement, and just acting like it is no big deal and figuring she will figure it out. Nothing has worked yet. She picked up the first part of potty training so quickly and easily. Oh well. I think that we just need to let her figure it out on her own! Hopefully she will learn before she starts preschool at the end of August. The good news is, she will not go in her big girl pants because she does not want to dirty them, but I don't want the poor thing to develop some sort of medical issue from holding it for so long!!!

So - our big girl is on her way - here's hoping the potty fairies will help kate figure it all out! I am so proud of her, though! A world without Kate diapers - almost!!! Any advice on the current dilemma is welcome.

You know, I just read back over this and I'm pretty sure that Kate, upon reading it as an adolescent in the future, will want to kill me for publicly writing about her toilet habits. Sorry, sweetie! I'm just so proud of EVERYTHING you do!!!! Even "twinkles"! :)

A-Camping We Will Go!

Kate had her very first sleepover/camping trip. We have some great friends here, the Dunn Family. Their daughter, Maggie, is Kate's age and they have been buddies since before they were even a year old. Erin Dunn, my dear friend, had twins last fall and so our youngest are close in age as well. Tim and Nick are friends and we all just generally have a great time together! We even share a passion for the Boston Red Sox as they lived in Boston at the same time we did, though we did not know them then! Anyway, Tim got a great camping tent for Father's Day, so we all decided that the Daddys would take the girls "camping" in the Dunn's backyard. The girls had a blast! During the afternoon they swam, played on the swingset, blew bubbles and just ran around having a ball. After a BBQ where the girls devoured ears of corn on the cob, Tim built a fire in their fire pit (did I mention they have the greatest backyard of all time?) and we all made S'Mores. Though the girls just wanted to eat plain "Marshum-mewwos" as Kate calls them. Finally the Dads and the girls settled into their sleeping bags for a night in the backyard! Nick says that Kate slept great and believe it or not, even with the sunrise at 5am or some unholy hour, the girls slept until 8am in the backyard!!!! Too fun! Kate has not stopped talking about it. Thanks to the Dunns for a terrific time! Here are some pics:

Maggie and Kate - such good friends!


Kate ready for a night in her sleeping bag - don't forget the all important flashlight!


The girls worked out the kinks after a night of sleeping on the ground by doing a little post-camping yoga workout in front of a yoga DVD!


Liam on his Dad's lap.

Liam's First Food

We fed Liam his first rice cereal. He really was not a big fan of it and only had a few bites before a VERY loud protest! We are going to try again during morning hours instead of dinner time as he is generally more agreeable in the morning!

Best buddies

More pics!

Here are pics of Kate reading in the sun and of Liam and Mia being buddies!

Nia and Liam at the Children's Museum in San Antonio

Kate in San Antonio

Here are a variety of pics of Kate in San Antonio. She went to the Alamo, the Children's museum, and on a riverboat cruise! She loved every minute!

Liam's Baptism Pictures