The Crafts

As everyone knows, Matt loves Iowa State. And he has worked hard to earn Kate's love for Iowa State...or more specifically Cy. Matt has placed various Cy figurines throughout Kate's room on clothing, pictures, ISU brochures, Cy squeeze toys and the list goes on. Lately Kate has found great joy in pointing out Cy and sharing her hugs and kisses with Cy. Last night was no exception. While I was away at golf league, Matt pulled up pictures of Cy online and Kate told Cy how much she cares for him. I guess the pictures are proof. Kate spies Cy. Kate moves in on Cy. Smack!

Kate is doing awesome with her 'big girl bed.' This morning she awoke around her normal time despite sleeping in a different place. And I just put her down for a nap with...I hate to say it...is this a jinx....I'm going to say it anyway....with NO problems!! I put her in bed (after shooing away the cat), sang her a few songs while rubbing her back, said goodnight and walked out. I haven't heard a peep or a cry or a giggle. Perhaps she is playing with her toys and jumping on the bed as I type, but it is going really well so far. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Kate spent her first night in a 'big girl bed.' She fell out twice but is still sleeping right now. I finally pushed her crib up against the exposed side of the bed. She looks like a caged animal. We had no other choice but to teach her to sleep in a regular bed. We spent the night at Matt's grandma's house on Tuesday and when we put Kate to bed in her pack and play, she didn't fit. She is too long. I'm thinking she may take after her 6'4" dad. We are going on vacation in August and in November and if Kate doesn't learn to sleep in a regular bed before our trips then she will have to sleep in the hotel bathtub. I'm curious to see what happens when she awakes this morning...and when it is time for nap later this afternoon. Pray for me. :)

Two of Kate's favorite things is to unpack groceries and to eat grapes... I just never expected the two to occur at the same time. (By the way, I did not place the grapes on the floor for her. I returned from the car with more bags to find her shoveling grapes into her mouth at a very high rate of speed.)

I can't believe I didn't blog this story earlier. Matt pulled off a super dad move taking Kate to church by himself a few weeks ago and the tale is too great not to share. I was planning to go out with some girlfriends one Saturday night so Matt thought he'd take Kate to church while I was getting ready to leave. Ten minutes after the service started I received a phone call from a somewhat frantic, and much more humbled Matt. Within the first few minutes of church Kate had 1. ripped a page out of a hymnal, 2. fallen off the pew and hit her head, and 3. pooped her pants. I thought for sure these fast and furious events would have ended their service early but Matt held strong. They stayed the entire time and each received some sympathy from various church members afterwards. Kate may have tested Matt, but Matt passed with flying colors! By the way, Kate had her 18 month check up last week. Now I know an 18 month old still wants to be held a lot, but no mother should ha...

Matt and I rode a day of RAGBRAI on Wednesday. We rode from State Center to Tama with stops in Albion, Green Mountain, LeClaire and Montour. Don't we look so athletic and speedy?! By the way, the bread I blogged about came out fantastic. I will definitely make this mistake again. Here is a picture of Kate helping. Don't worry, she didn't actually take the bread out of the oven herself. This picture is from a few weeks ago at my cousin Matthew's baseball game. I think Grandma Smith and Kate look very 'Hollywood' in their sunglasses!

So I'm in the middle of following this banana bread recipe that is supposed to be amazing. Unfortunately I just realized that my bananas are not aged and speckled, they are black and rotten. But I already have 90% of the dough put together. So instead of bananas I have added peaches and red raspberries. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. I might add that the batter tastes awesome so if that is any indication then this peach / red raspberry bread is going to rock. By the way...Matt and I are riding a day of RAGBRAI tomorrow (Wednesday.) Hopefully I'll have some great pics to post after we return.

I have to make a sincere apology to Kate for accusing her of throwing away various objects including an oven mit and my Sony running radio. Both items have been found, not in the garbage but rather the Sony running radio was located in a bag, in a box underneath a pile of papers and the oven mit was wedged between the kitchen wall and a table. I did however find Kate today either attempting to throw away the feather duster...or she was dusting the garbage.

Kate took a trip to the College Hill Arts Festival on Friday. She also did a little shopping on historic Main Street Cedar Falls. Here are some cute pics from our expedition yesterday. Despite the beautiful and creative art, Kate's favorite part was looking at the balloons. Kate tapping her inner-hippie over an organic cookie at Cup of Joe.

I realized about two weeks ago that one of our oven mits was missing. Having not seen it for quite awhile I assumed Kate had done a fantastic job of hiding it. Until I was cleaning up lunch the other day... I asked Kate if she would please put away the pot holder. Like a good girl she immediately picked it up, but like a naughty girl she walked to the trash can and threw it on top of our lunch remains. Hmm...perhaps that is also where our lost oven mit was hidden. I'm now realizing that the once missing oven mit may be resting in the county landfill along with my misplaced Sony running radio. I never should have taught Kate how to 'clean up.' MISSING - REWARD AVAILABLE IF FOUND

I've got the itch to paint and no matter how much I paint I can't scratch the itch. So far we have finished a guest bedroom, the dining room and the living room. Kate's room is 75% done. All that remains in her room is the polk-a-dots I'm planning to paint all over two of her walls. Her room is going to be so much fun. I promise to take some pics to share but right now Kate has hidden the camera from me. Even if I could find it, I'm sure she has played with the camera enough that the batteries would be dead anyhow. Well, I'm off to do some more painting...

We had a great fourth of July. My grandparents from Lawton came to visit. They spent the night here Friday and we all went to Cedar Rapids the next day for my cousin Matthew's baseball tournament. After the Saturday night game we went out to eat for a big family dinner. It was great to catch up with everyone...something that doesn't happen too often since we are scattered around the state. Hope everyone else had as much fun over the 4th of July weekend as I did. Take care!

Matt thought I should mention the hills we had to run over during our 10 mile race. We went from a long 13.1 mile, flat, shady course to a 10 mile hilly, wide open route. Darn those flood waters for messing up our plans. Hopefully Cedar Falls can get their trails and parks up and running soon. The trail that runs through La Porte and the campgrounds in La Porte are closed until further notice. That puts a damper on our outdoor activities. I.E. bike riding, running and...well I guess that is it.