It's Shake 'n Bake, and I helped!

Yes, we really were making Shake 'n Bake chicken, and yes, Cate really did help. Oh, and yes, Cate is still very anti-pants.

House update

The foundation is done, the basement floors have been poured, and the lumber has arrived!

Being 3 is STILL exhausting!

Yesterday we went to an afternoon picnic with friends, so Cate did not get her nap. By the time we got home around 7, she was definitely ready for bed. And yes, she still hangs on to that Nuk in tired times!

A couple of weekends ago, Cate and I went out to Thorne Head on the north end of town for a nature walk. We decided to look for salamanders, and though I did find one under a log, Cate was not particularly impressed by it (read: a little scared). However, that did not stop her from picking up small twigs and pine needles and calling them her "little salamanders." That's what she's showing off below.

Cate also spent some time fishing leaves out of this little pond.

This morning we went to the library for story and song time as well as a visit from a real bunny. Cate decided the occasion required a dress, and she wanted me to take her picture before we left.

And a video....

Being 3 is exhausting!

Friday night, since Rick was working and Mom is gone, Dad invited Cate and me over for dinner. She had been at school all day, and, therefore, had not napped. After a full day and a good Papou-made supper, she fell asleep on the ride home. I carried her in the house and put her on our bed while I took Zoe out. She's so cute when she's sleeping!

Since she slept through Friday night's bath, I gave her a bath Saturday morning, and I'm always amazed how good her hair looks when it dries naturally and isn't slept on. I'm not sure why that would surprise me, as the same is true for my own curly locks!

Our foundation was poured on Friday, so yesterday afternoon, we went out to take more pictures and walk around in the woods. Above is the view from behind the house. Below is the view from off the left side of the house.

In Cate's hand, you'll see a piece of yellow paper. Before we left, she said she needed to draw a "map" to navigate around in the woods and to help her find reindeer. She also included Gramma and Papou's house on her map.

Below, she claims to have found reindeer tracks, and she is calling Daddy over for a look.

Then she and Daddy were on to nest building. She thought she could build something for the birds to use when they get back.


This is the view from the front left edge of our property looking back down the road. We're at the end of the road, and Mom and Dad are two lots down the road on the left. At the moment, there is no one across from us.

As we ventured up the hill off the left side of our property- which goes up to the top of Great Hill, the highest point in West Bath- Rick spotted some "reindeer" (deer) poop, which satisfied Cate's quest for reindeer. She also was rather impressed with the fact that they are potty trained and only go outside. :) We also saw LOTS of turkey tracks, which makes sinse since Mom and Dad have spotted groups as large as 20 in their yard over the past couple of weeks.

After we left the top of Great Hill, we hopped on to one of the cleared four-wheeler/snow mobile trails that runs behind our properties and followed that all the way back to the back side of Mom and Dad's property. Then we came out of the woods in Mom and Dad's backyard. I loved this picture of Cate and Rick holding hands and walking down the trail.

Random March happenings

Cate making a toilet paper mustache

Having a play date with good friend Nola, from our old neighborhood. It's sad that we can no longer just walk down the street to their house, but it makes it even more cute to see how excited the girls get when they see each other.


Lamb Day at Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick. This little one was born just that morning!


Getting ready for my shower, I turned on the little heater in the bathroom. Zoe loves the little heater and always camps out in front of it when it's on. Cate decided to join her. Don't you love the diaper and the slippers combo?

By the time I got out of the shower, Cate had stopped cuddling with Zoe and decided to cover her in every blanket she could find and drag into the bathroom. I think Zoe enjoyed it.

And finally, a pic from the property I took last night- footers are in, and forms for the foundation walls are going up. The goal is to pour the foundation tomorrow (Friday). Fingers crossed!!

Cate's first "real" haircut

Yesterday morning I took Cate to Supercuts to get her first real haircut. There are two reasons why she is just now getting her first official haircut at the age of three. First, it's taken her this long to grow enough hair to require a real haircut, and two, because Cate is Cate, we knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

We both spent days, weeks, talking about haircuts and how great they are and how everybody does it and how fun it is. She wasn't buying it. Finally, on the morning of, I got her in a place where she just might allow it, and she even decided to wear a dress in preparation for her new "fancy hairdo." We talked about it the whole way there, and all was fine until we walked through the door. Then, she became velcro on my leg. She wasn't having any of it! She wouldn't let go, she wouldn't look at anyone, she wouldn't take off her coat, and she sure wasn't going to get in that chair, even with me sitting in it already. I had promised her a trip to the petting zoo (aka. Petco) afterwards and to Target to spend her dollars Gr. Aunt Kathy and Gr. Uncle Larry put in her Valentine's Day card. I told her if we were leaving without a haircut, we were going straight home. She stood her ground, and I stood mine. I apologized, and out the door we went. Into the car, out of the lot, and then came the tears.... "But I DO want a haircut! I want one of the girls to cut my hair!" Ahhh, now we were getting somewhere. As I had been talking about haircuts, I had always talked about the girl who would be cutting her hair. Turned out, there was a guy (with a huge mohawk!!!) working that day, and that's who was available when we went in. How could I blame her? I wouldn't want someone who willingly did that to his own hair touching my hair! Maybe Cate was more intuitive than I gave her credit for. So we had a chat while I sat on the side of the road, blinkers on, and after we struck a deal, I did a U-turn at the Home Depot, and back we went to Supercuts.

With some shame, we went in again, and thank the Lord, Mr. Mohawk was on to someone else, and Ashley had just become available. I couldn't have asked for better. She was young, cute, knew her Disney princesses, and had the speed of Edward Scissorhands. I still had to sit in the chair and hold Cate, and Cate still was not thrilled with having to wear a cape, but we got through it. Bless Ashley's heart, she made it happen, even though I had to touch up a few spots in the back when we got home (those spots that were facing me during the cut!).

As we pulled away from Supercuts and headed across to the Petco petting zoo, I said to Cate, "So, did you just not want that boy to cut your hair?" Cate responded, "No," followed by a short pause and then, "He had funny-looking hair." :)

Disney On Ice.

Cate got tickets for Disney's Princess Classic's on Ice. I have never seen her this excited. She danced, clapped, laughed and cheered. She told us it was wonderful. Here are some pictures from the night.

We have snow.

I don't know if this is the winter of relentless snow or if this is just such a cold winter none of the snow we're getting is melting, but either way, we are up to our ears (or at least our waists) in snow. We probably have between 2 and 3 feet on the ground, and since Rick blows all the snow from the driveway into the backyard, you can imagine how deep that is. Above is Cate trying to get up what are usually stairs from the backyard onto the deck. The look on her face is partly that she sank up to her waist and partly her starting to say, "Mom, my foot's stuck and my boot is coming off."

Even Zoe has to struggle to get through the snow that is almost over her head in most spots!

Now if only she still enjoys shoveling 10 years from now... notice the snow piles on the deck are taller than her.

Our fence has become little more than a snow retaining wall.

For those of you who know what our driveway looks like in the summer, there is a stockade fence and flower beds where this wall of snow is.

More shoveling...

We went down the street in the sled to visit neighbors. This is our street, and you can see the snow piled up like walls on either side.

Cate got some new tap shoes from her Nana Davis and she loves them. This has been a great month. We have put about 100 miles on the sled Great Aunt Tish got Cate last year. We have so much snow there is no where to put it anymore.

Cate, the budding violinist

For the first time in probably 10 years, I played my violin publicly- church on Christmas Eve. Since I was practicing, Cate wanted to play too, so we found this little decorative violin a friend gave me back in junior high. It has become one of Cate's new faves, and here Rick caught her playing AND singing. Such talent! :)