Craft Project at Home, Part Duex

Again, thanks to Parents Magazine for this great little craft Kari and I were able to create together. We'll be handing these out to her teachers on Monday.

This coming week her school will be celebrating the upcoming holiday with various activities. They will wrap up the week with a picnic on Thursday and parents are invited. At this point, both Kevin and I plan to be at the picnic.

Sleepover at Gran and Beep Beep's house

Family...

...is so precious.

Kari enjoyed her stay with Gran and Beep Beep last week and did very well for two nights away from home. Amy and Jason and the girls were in the Midwest to see family and gave us a chance to get Keira, Audra and Kari together for some quality cousin time. I think we are all seeing the value of getting the girls together a couple times a year so that they can continue to grow and bond together. They had a fabulous time together, as did Gran and Beep Beep.

Kari and Audra enjoying a wagon ride.

Keira and Kari enjoying some time together.

Other than that, we've been trying hard to stay cool with 90+ degree temps in Central Indiana. We've been taking late afternoon trips to the pool to cool off. Kari continues to develop her swimming skills by going under water and starting to kick legs and paddle with her arms at the same time. She initially showed interest in going off the 1 meter diving board but quickly changed her mind when she got to the edge. No worries, we've got all summer to build up her courage.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll post a picture of a small art project Kari and I have been working on in anticipation of July 4th. Stay tuned!

Witherspoon Reunion 2009

This weekend marked the third biennium Witherspoon reunion at lovely Pokegon State Park. We had our largest turnout this year, only missing Mark and Uncle Max, which meant our group reached a whopping 28 people. Some family members hadn't seen each other in as long as 14 years, so it was a reunion well-spent. Cousin Dr. Scott's former life as a cruise director showed through as he had activities and crafts planned for the kids both days and ended it with a luau bash. Kari had a fabulous time with her second? cousins (or perhaps cousins twice removed??)

Saying goodnight to my cousins Jane, Margaret, Janelle and Amanda.
Margaret, Janelle, Kari, Avery, Maxwell, Amanda, Jane, Sybill

We also had a chance to stop in and have lunch with Great Grandpa in Fort Wayne.

Tomorrow we head down to Indy for an outdoor concert with some friends. Kari will be spending the next two days at Gran and Beep Beep's house. It will also be an especially special time as we are looking forward to a quick visit with Aunt Amy, Uncle Jason, Keira and Audra on Thursday who are in the Midwest this week for a wedding.

They Just Want to Grow Up Too Quickly

Kari was helping me fold laundry tonight.

Why? Part II

Kari: Where's Daddy?
Mom: Daddy's at work.
Kari: "Why?"
Mom: He's bringin' home the bacon.
Kari: "Why?"
And on, and on, and on....
until Kevin and I burst out laughing yesterday after dinner as we were not expecting this to come out of Kari's mouth:

Dad: Kari, what does Daddy do?
Kari: "Uhm, homing the bacon!"

Clearly, phrases are beginning to stick, which means we are entering upon a very funny yet potentially dangerous stage of Kari's vocabulary development.

We had a beautiful Sunday and decided to spend it with some good friends and also just happen to have kids the same age as Kari. Charlie, Nolan and Kari enjoyed yet another water balloon "fight" this evening. It's hardly fair to call it a fight as they are mostly thrilled to just watch the balloons burst in the grass. It's amazing how fast 30 some-odd minutes of water balloon prep and fill-up can go in probably less than 3 minutes with these kids. If I had been smart, I would have spent all of Kari's nap time this afternoon filling balloons. Instead, I have begun to try to stockpile uninterrupted sleep while I still can.

Summer

I think we can officially call it summer. Nolan invited Kari down for a water balloon fight this afternoon. They both had a blast trying to burst the balloons.


We also took our weekly trip out to Prophetstown State Park, a.k.a. The Farm. Thank you to Aunt Amy, Uncle Jason, Keira and Audra for the awesome Christmas gift. We are enjoying it tremendously!

Kari also continues to enjoy her swingset.

The Buzz on BIZ

Okay, I need to gush a little. I have a new love in my life, and fortunately for Kevin, he wholeheartedly approves of my new amour. For those of you in charge of laundry duty in your household, you have likely fought a losing battle with stains. I recently thought I had lost a battle after discovering a tube of Vaseline Lip Therapy in the dryer that had polka-dotted my favorite pair of maternity pants. When my traditional tricks didn't work I suddenly remembered my dear childhood next door neighbor's response to stains, "Just throw it in the BIZ bucket." And so I did and now I'm a convert. I still use my OxyClean, but for the über tough jobs, I'll be reaching for my box of BIZ.
Thanks, Mrs. Nelson.

On another note, Kevin and Kari spent the day up in The Region with Grammy Pammy and Dale, serving as an excellent half-way point for everyone. Kari couldn't stop talking about her Grammy Pammy and was extremely well-behaved all day. Reportedly, she tore through her Red Robin cheeseburger, so we may have a slowly developing meat eater after all.

Meanwhile, Natalie, Pam (from Pharmacy school) and I were busy touring around the state on our so-called Farm Day. We were able to visit some fabulous family farms, local markets and organic farms. Probably the highlights of the day were visiting Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville, Stream Cliff Herb Farm in Comiskey and eating dinner at Zydeco's in Mooresville. Who'd have thought little Mooresville, Indiana would have such a fantastic cajun and creole restaurant?

On Sunday we were invited by one of Kevin's co-workers to spend the day up at Lake Freeman. The weather was absolutely perfect for spending time in the water. As we suspected, however, Kari wasn't too keen on lake water. Despite having the security of wearing a lifejacket, the murky water and muddy/sandy bottom was just not to her liking. She spent the majority of the day playing with the water on her own terms- in buckets and watering cans. Lunch was delicious as Kevin brought the main dish-baby back ribs- for everyone to feast on. While lunch was otherwise pretty uneventful, Kari managed to find yet another food to go with her kep-pup: strawberries. At this point we were glad we had left the camera at home. Yuck!