Photo summary of June, July

Sorry I've been MIA...I haven't been feeling well the past few months:

Due 2.5.12 :)

Ballet

How did it get to be almost June? Sorry for the long time with no updates. We've had a very crazy, very busy spring. 

Our house in NC sold and (finally) closed, and our condo in Iowa City also sold, so we were thrilled about that! 

Loren has been spending some time in San Antonio and some time in Austin. Still 3 nights/week gone. He is only sleeping in his truck in Austin, though--and he did buy a cot this weekend so he can upgrade to sleeping in his office. San Antonio pays for him to have a hotel room, since he is "on assignment."

Kate is continuing to thrive at her preschool. She can write the entire alphabet and can write words that are dictated to her. She loves to collect sticks on walks and loves ballet lessons. She recently had a recital, and Annie came to see it. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Getting ready:

She looked at herself in the mirror and said "I'm beeeeeeautiful!" and she was.

 You can just see the excitement in her face!

These are some of the girls from Kate's preschool.

Kate is the 4th from the right.

...phew! That was a lot of work!

Annie!

...and then meltdown on the way to the car. It was a long, exciting day! Kate wanted to take off her shoes and leotard and walk in just her tights. She "compromised" with having one arm inside her leotard.

Needless to say, she slept in the next day!

Houston Rodeo

The Houston Rodeo is a big deal in Houston...it lasts the entire month of March and takes place at Reliant Stadium, just about a mile from our house. We went the last weekend and had a great time! It is really like the State Fair, Texas style. They have famous country singers perform each evening and a rodeo. Kate's favorite part was the mutton busting, where 5 year olds wearing helmets hold onto a sheep and attempt to ride it across the arena. It was hysterical, however, no chance I'm letting my baby do that! She also loved the rides. She brought her piggy bank and spent her own money to buy tickets for the rides.

Kate loves her Texas hat and wears it whenever she can:)

Kate has made some new friends at preschool- Nethia, Snow, Lucy, Solice and Eden, to name a few. They are a very diverse group of kids!

She also loves the little girl down the street, Simone. Their favorite game is hide and seek.

Like mother like daughter

We've had quite a busy past few months with moving, new jobs, new preschool, new home, etc. We've finally found a church that seems to fit us pretty well (although they do serve free doughnuts every Sunday which really is annoying) and it is a bit far to drive, but we think it is worth it--at least for now.

Kate has really been thriving in her new preschool. She can now write her own name, and is very interested in writing in general. She asks me to spell words to her so she can write things on paper all the time. And she loves cutting and pasting. She is quite the little craftster. Not surprising, I guess, considering her mother's love for sewing!

Speaking of sewing, remember that kids sewing machine Annie gave Kate for Christmas? Well, here it is in action. I love that she has her scissors and cell phone ready next to the machine and she is wearing her slippers that are just like ones that I have. Really reminds you that kids are always watching! The baggie in the bottom of the photo is her scrap bag where I put all my little pieces and she uses them to cut and sew on her own machine.

Speaking of new machines...I was dying to get an embroidery machine and I finally did--I got a cheap one off craigslist, but look what it can do! Sneak peaks of Kate's spring wardrobe:

I'm currently in San Diego for a dental teacher's conference, which is why I actually had time to get a long overdue post up!

Spring sewing with a plan (SWAP)

Ok, here is my Spring sewing plan!  Wish me luck! I'd love any suggestions or additional ideas.

I've actually already finished the rain coat (it was a necessity in Houston). I was planning to do one for myself as well, but this fabric was really a pain to work with (laminated cotton). So I really can't do it until I get a teflon foot for my machine, but since I got in trouble with Loren for the credit card bill last month...maybe I'll wait another month:) Hey, we were moving...what did he expect?!?

Princess Bedroom

Kate requested a princess bedroom for her new room in Texas. So far, I've managed only one princess item: her princess bed canopy. She picked out the flowers and tulle herself and helped me put it all together. I'm hoping to put some princess wall decals up to spruce up the plain white walls, but haven't found any that are what I'm looking for yet...

Here she is proudly displaying her art wall filled with artwork and schoolwork.

And of course the dollhouse from Santa. This was a HUGE success.

I couldn't resist posting a wardrobe creation. Gotta love Christmas socks with striped leggings.

What can I say...we live in Texas!

Don't mess with Texas!

Hello!

We've been busy since November! I graduated from residency (yippee!!) and we spent two weeks in Colorado for Christmas before moving to Texas. Phew!

Here are some photos of moving into our new home:

First arriving

AHHHHHHHHH!  What a mess!!

It took us about a week and a half working from 7am-11pm very hard to get everything unpacked, organized and put away, but we did it!! Kate was a good little helper.

We were all exhausted!

I'll get some "finished" pictures, some Christmas pictures and I'll post about my new job later. I had been having so many requests for a post, I figured I needed to get something up!

 We sure miss everyone in NC and CO!