It's a rare occasion these days to get this girl to actually look at the camera, so we take what we can get.
She is wearing a gift from Nana and reading Christmas book from Grandma. Thank you to thoughtful grandparents who have made this Christmas so special.We are looking forward to spending it with you.
Right after she got dressed this morning, she wanted me to find Geoff and present her officially as a princess being announced at a ball. It was so cute.
The best is she actually kept her bows in her hair the entire time we were at church!!
We had our Christmas program today. I sang in the choir and Katherine sat with Geoff until it was time for him to leave for work. Normally, Katherine grabs at the chance to sit with Ella Shea, but today when Geoff dropped her off, she lost it! She did not want him to go and she would not be assuaged. She ended up joining me on the stand, and as you know, the girl came right into her element. She quickly put herself together and began trying to sing with the rest of us. What a trooper! Katherine, you made my day!
This year's Christmas party was a total blast! We had a hay ride, a bonfire, a craft room, Santa and lots of good food! Several members had invited their neighbors and friends so we got to meet a lot of new people.
Katherine was obsessed with Santa Claus! When she saw him join everyone in the gym for dinner, she couldn't help but become his shadow, following him around everywhere. She convinced him to sit next to her and kept kissing his arms and legs. She didn't know what to tell him when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas but she sure liked it when he talked to her.
So many good friends. We love our ward family! Merry Christmas!!
Our neighbor, Amaya, just turned 3 and her mother owns a business from home making tutus. So this was a Juju's Tutus Pinkalicious birthday party!
All girls received a custom made Pinkalicious tutu, ate Pinkalicious cupcakes, were read a Pinkalicious story, and got their faces and nails painted in Pinkalicious splendor!
Katherine did pretty well, but by the end she became a little jealous of all the presents Amaya got to open. I had to remind her that Christmas was right around the corner.
The best part of the afternoon was the runway walk where the girls got strut their stuff. Then they just danced. This party was every 3 year old girl's dream come true! Thanks Amaya!!
The red sweater is out so it must be Christmas! I was invited to a wonderful party by a good friend. It was thrown by one her friends in Surprise. I didn't know anyone, (my friend only knew a couple of people) didn't have obligations to plan or clean. We could just go and enjoy ourselves. It was AWESOME. The food was incredible! The theme was My Favorite Things and each guest was asked to bring 5 items of one of their favorite things at Christmastime. I brought my family's special recipe for hot chocolate mix and loved the variety things of five items I got in return. Such a fun idea!
We were invited over to our friends, Sally and Olivia's, to make Christmas cookies. We attempted a craft but I forgot the glitter and we didn't want to use a glue gun around two extremely helpful girls, so settled to have a picnic on the living room floor while we watched A Muppet's Christmas Carol. A totally fun morning!
It was mine turn to host Friend School this week. The theme was the letter M, we learned a little about music, decorated #10 food storage cans and turned them into drums! We practiced drumming to the The Little Drummer Boy and make a racket!
I was feeling ambitious and we decorated graham cracker houses as well. To my surprise, it went so smoothly. The kids had so much fun and loved making them.
We had a surprise visit today from Katherine's favorite people, the Beazers. The girls immediately threw off their clothes to get their princess gear on, chasing each other all over the house, yelling "The power of destiny! The power of destiny!" It was hilarious!
I'm just really grateful that fun times have returned and we are loving every minute!! We love you all for sticking it through with us. Here's to the best Christmas yet!!
Since the following post has listed several of the highlights during our visit to Prescott. This one has some of the lowest points ever... Am I brave for posting this sad sight? Just read with a sense of humor and compassion!
When we arrived at the house we discovered that mice have moved in. They were upstairs, downstairs, and even nested inside one of the cars! The water heater had stopped working because a lizard had crawled into the motor and died, causing it to shake badly enough that a part had to be replaced. The car died. As the kids became homesick for the parents, the whining and arguing increased exponentially.
Relief came upon us as all the family began to return to the house, but as soon as the Williams shared their horrifying tale of Jonah throwing up at security and twice on the airplane, the illness began to spread. Geoff came down with stomach flu Wednesday, my father Thursday morning, Katherine, my mother and I Thursday night. I counted Katherine throwing up 17x. I managed to hold on till 11pm when my mother and I began taking turns in the bathroom and my father took over caring for Katherine. It was so pathetically horrible and violent, we will never forget it. It took us all several days to recover, but mine rapidly evolved into a painful sore throat. Katherine proceeded to continue vomiting every day though her personality and energy returned.
I went to the doctor after we all returned home on Wednesday to discover that I have strep. As of tonight, we have determined that Genet, my mom, Bennett, Sarah, Paxton, and Katherine all have strep. How did Katherine react when it was time to give her the antibiotic? Even with the help of a friend, she managed to throw up over all of us and give herself a nosebleed... I petitioning tomorrow to get this girl some shots. I'm done with wrestling!
We had to cancel a very special Sarager family reunion because of it and made me mom really sad. We thank you, Mom, for all the effort you make getting us all together. We love you.
The week before Thanksgiving, Mark and Genet dropped off their kids and took off to Hawaii. We got to all play together for a good week! I was so glad to have one-on-one time with each of them. These kids are amazing and fun and wonderful to be with.
We spent one day at Out of Africa to see the lions and tigers. We took a safari ride where all the kids got to feed a giraffe and Nana kissed a camel! Jack convinced us to stick around for the snake show and the entire time, Katherine BEGGED to be able to touch it, on the verge of tears. Of course, when it became our turn to get close, she wanted NOTHING to do with it. So what happened when our family got in position to take an exclusive picture with it?? The staff member places the head right on our lap. Katherine FREAKED. We had to sing Carebears to calm her down...
Nana had prepared a couple of really fun games that played later on that week when everyone was there. This one is moving M&Ms from cup to cup using only a straw.
We had a talent show and Jack impressed us with his memorization of the Table of Elements using a song as a mnemonic device. Mark sang along with him because it moves superfast! It was awesome! Lucas played a Christmas song on the piano which all the girls danced to. Bennett performed a joke. And the little ones... Well, you'll see if you watch the videos...
Most of the time, we played and wrestled, watched movies and played games. We saw "Tangled" at the movie theater in 3D, which was totally fun.
The boys were so good to play with Katherine. Here they are teaching her how to draw dragons, inspired after a group favorite "How To Train Your Dragon" watched several times this trip.
The actual birthday was somewhat of a nonevent this year. However, because we had to stay home for a couple of weeks, it was WONDERFUL to open a birthday present to add some excitement whenever the time lagged. THANK YOU to everyone who remembered her.
Katherine grew comfortable with our new quiet routine at home. She LOVED her movies and the books and the games. It came the point where I had to remind her that she was not sick and that she needed to get out and be active. So every day around 4pm, when there was not direct sunlight, we would go to the park and play. I've noticed a huge amount of growth during the this time involving her speech, her pretend play, her manners.
So when we got to Nana's the week before Thanksgiving, we made sure that we got to do cupcakes in Katherine's honor. Baking is one of her favorite things to do with Nana.
Bennett and Katherine became good buddies during this trip. They made up special games like Light Saber Pool and Caloonan Ball (jumping off the ladder of the bunk beds onto a pillow).
Everyone got to decorate three cupcakes. I think Sarah Jane is the only one who remembered to eat them all (if only, the frosting!)
I tried to find birthday footage that had the most entertainment value... and this is all I could come up with...
Thank you again! We love you!
I had to give myself a good month before I could post.
By now, most of you know that Katherine was bit by our neighbor's dog on Oct 28th.
Two days later, we noticed that an abrasion under her chin had become infected. Since she didn't have a fever, we leisurely went back to the hospital for the staff to look at it... It was a puncture wound an inch and a half deep. The surgeon was immediately called and Katherine had to go back into surgery to clean it thoroughly. The nurses tried 3x to stick an IV, but ultimately she had to get a shot to go into conscious sedation.... That was the worst part for me.
However, I think Katherine has become infamous on Facebook due to my ranting about her unrelenting non-conformance to taking her meds. I devoted 30+ hours to getting her to swallow her medicine. During those 10 days, I spat on, peed on, pooped on, thrown up on, kicked, hit, almost bit, as we cried together because she had to take her medicine twice a day. Geoff was a genius several times and I love him for his bright ideas.
We would like to thank everyone for helping our family get through this. So many people in our ward brought dinner, delivered care packages, offered their entire Disney DVD collections (some of which we need to still return!) Our families called consistently. I felt the most peace as people visited. They truly helped us feel like we were not alone. We could not have made it through without you.
