Butterflies, Yankee Candle, and Ice Cream

A couple of weeks ago, Kathryn's good buddy, Danielle, asked if Kathryn could go with her and her friend, Chris to the Butterfly Place and Yankee Candle in Deerfield, MA.  I have to be honest and admit I was a little nervous letting Kathryn go.  She's never been anywhere without one of us, except one time with daycare.  It was strange watching her drive away this morning, but Kathryn did seem bothered at all and she ended up having a great time.  We cleaned the house and went to lunch.  Danielle says they'll go out again and I think I won't be as nervous this time.  Danielle is so good with Kathryn and Kathryn really loves her.  Danielle said she was so good and that makes me happy.  She was tired when she got home, but luckily she'd slept for about an hour in the car so she was good until bedtime.  It was funny though because around 7:25pm, we were playing in the living room and she just stopped and walked over to the gate.  She walked right to her room.  We read one book and she pointed to her bed and fell right asleep.  She's so sweet.  I'm glad she had such a fun day.  Oh...yes, she's wearing the same outfit as yesterday.  She looked so cute in it and I wanted her to be comfy, so I washed it last night and she wore it again today.

They told me she loved the chandelier at the restaurant.

She loves her watermelon!

Stopping for ice cream in Thompson.

They said she loved this little tug boat at Yankee Candle and the only time she fussed was when they tried to take her out of it.

Kathryn and Danielle

Danielle said Kathryn was terrified of the real butterflies.  This picture is sad and funny at the same time.

A Girl and Her Dog

I left the room to use the bathroom and returned a few minutes later to find Kathryn and Buster happily working together to clean out what little remained of the McFlurry I'd left on the end table.  It was hilarious and luckily they had no problem continuing their mischief so I could grab the camera.  It makes me so sad to know they won't have years of trouble making how I once thought.  He's such a great dog.  These two are hilarious together.

What a difference a year makes.

I've been having issues with the SD card slot on my laptop.  It won't recognize any cards, so I've had to use the cord to get pictures off the camera.  When I was downloading some today, for some reason there were a whole bunch of pictures from our trip back to Arizona last summer (July 2012).  I was scrolling through all of the old ones and then they just jumped to the ones I took starting a few days ago.  It was really cool to see how much she's changed in a year.  She's such a little girl now and I love her so very, very much.

These first two were taken at my parents house a little over a year ago.  Look how short her hair is, but her smile is still the same: bright and beautiful!

This was taken a few years ago.  She was riding her little car and kept turning around all sweet like.  Look at that gorgeous golden hair.  She's not a baby anymore.

She thinks she's a blow fish.  She's still as goofy as ever.

Yes, her potty is in the middle of the entryway.  We're slowly working on potty training.

She loved the new Minnie backpack Daddy picked up for her.

She looks like a ragamuffin with the hair in her face, which is why I always pull her hair back.  I'm not giving her bangs until she asks for them. 

She looked so cute yesterday, but wouldn't stand still for a picture.

She's always had the most beautiful profile.

A Day at the Lake

Since today was an absolutely gorgeous day (high of 75 with very low humidity), I decided to keep Kathryn home from daycare and take her to the lake with my friend Leigh and her daughter, Sydney.  Kathryn seemed to really enjoy it and I think it was better for her since the water is very calm, not like the ocean that rolls in pretty fast.  She was able to just sit in the water and have a good time.  We only stayed about an hour.  We left around 11:30 so she could have lunch and get cleaned up before her nap.  She started acting a little fussy, so I though it was best we go home.  It was fun though and I think we'll be going back there again some time.