Excuse the shakiness and weird angle -- Todd and I were at the sound/video table. At least you can hear her -- SHE WAS AWESOME!
Kate had a GREAT baseball season this year thanks to awesome coaches (thanks Bro. and Sis. Tribe!) and her best bud, Sadie, as her teammate! She made great strides this year and really learned to be a much better batter and ball handler.
All was going well until her last at-bat of the season... you won't believe it when you see this video ... all I can say is prepare to cringe.
Poor kid! She's got a giant goose-egg tonight, but I'm sure it will look better in the morning. Our family doctor happened to be coaching the opposing team, so he looked at her and made a quick makeshift ice pack -- better than a housecall! I wonder if I'll get a bill. :)
I hope Kate doesn't expect every week to be as great as the last one. That would be a tall order!! Besides winning 2nd in the PBS Kids Young Writers and Illustrators Contest, she also won 2nd place overall in her school science fair -- and 1st place in the 3rd Grade age group. Science day and the science fair were INCREDIBLE!!! Such fun and amazing activities. She learned so much and really understands that science isn't scary -- it's amazing and interesting!
 |
| From Collages |
Kate-a-roo got some exciting news... she won 2nd place in the 3rd grade division of the Idaho PBS Kids Young Writers and Illustrators contest this year! She is invited to an awards ceremony this Saturday in Pocatello and is one HAPPY little girl!! On June 1st you'll be able to read her story online, but for now, you can just follow this link to see her name listed among the other winners. :) If you're in Pocatello on Saturday let us know, we'd love to see you there!
 |
| From Collages |
Kate is such an interesting child. She is sweet, thoughtful, deeply caring, sensitive, smart, quirky, and unique. She recently decided to research "brain freeze" for her school science fair project. After some research and study she was able to focus in on the question "Does brain freeze go away faster if you put your tongue on the roof of your mouth?" An incredible local frozen yogurt store called "Kiwi Loco" let her come to their store one night last week and subject willing customers to "brain freeze". They donated 50 little cups of yogurt and even posted a Facebook invitation to help her out. Talk about generous and supportive. Wow!! We are so grateful! Her science fair is next week, but we though you might enjoy seeing some of her pictures...
My little girl is growing up! How the years have flown with this angelic, spunky, creative, beautiful little whirlwind we call Kate. She has been such a joy to raise. She is a tender-hearted, snuggly little redbird, but she manages to hold her own with her two brothers in a most impressive fashion. I love that she ADORES animals of any and all kinds (be they stuffed or otherwise). I love that she loves to dance and sing and play dress up. I especially love that she and her best friend, Sadie, dream up crazy make believe games like "Scientist Princess"! I love? that she is so naive and tender that she gets absolutely scared to death during Scooby-Doo! She makes me laugh so hard when she gets up in the night to go to the bathroom -- she never remembers a thing -- but she is highly entertaining!! What a blessing to have been entrusted with one of the most angelic little spirits to have ever graced heaven's planes. We are truly blessed. We love you, Katie-bug! Happy Birthday ... and many more.
 |
 |
| Personalize your own free collage |
Kate's classmates were learning how to compose poetry last week. They voted to write a poem together using Kate as their subject. She was tickled pink! Here's the finished product:
Kate,
Kate,
Kate,
Happy Kate,
Sad Kate,
Little, smily, cute Kate,
Short, thin, quick Kate,
Those are just a few.
Smart Kate,
Funny Kate,
Mad, glad, rad Kate,
Enthusiastic, energetic, excited Kate,
Nice Kate, too.
Cool Kate,
Awesome Kate,
Don't forget Great Kate.
Last of all, best of all
I like friendly Kate!
I whole-heartedly agree with all of the above and greatly appreciate her classmates for writing such sweet sentiments about her.
Here are a few quick videos of the kids' piano solos and their duets with me. Their recital was last Saturday.
 |
|
| This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox |
It's already May. Which means dance and piano recital time. Kate had both recitals on the same day this year, so last Saturday was jam-packed with clothes and hairstyle changes! Enjoy a few pics of her ballet performance. Her goal this year was to earn a gold medal -- which she did! Yea for Kate!!
 |
|
| Scrapbook design made with Smilebox |
Kate's 2nd grade Discovery group wrote an opera this year. They chose to research the Tlinkit Indians and then write an opera that teaches (through a story) the customs and culture of the group. They did an AWESOME job! Kate was the lookout guard in the story, so be sure to click on the video to watch her little solo. The kids are absolutely amazing! To see the other pictures a little better, just click on them and they'll be enlarged in the lefthand frame. Enjoy!
 |
|
| Personalize a free collage |
Okay, so I'm not really a pet lover. I'm sure you already know that about me. Brad is exactly 95% less enthused about pets as I am (severe allergic reactions may have something to do with that). But we were adopted by this funny little kitten that showed up in our back yard in June and refused to leave. After a couple of weeks of wishin' and hopin' that the cat would go back where it came from, and a couple of weeks of listening to the kids fall hopelessly in LOVE with this funny little creature, I finally broke down in a moment and weakness and let them feed it a can of tuna. Well, obviously, if there ever was a chance of the cat leaving before that moment, we had just put that notion to bed. Okay, whatever, we can have an outside cat. Fine. I can handle that.
Well, Kate named her Mittens. She's been a sweet cat, very mellow, and only tried and succeeded in sneaking into the house a few times. The kids have enjoyed her immensely.
Brad and I thought we had better get her to the vet for the basic shots and "the operation" so we didn't end up with lots of little Mittens' running around. So last week I loaded her up in the car, picked Kate up from school, and headed to the vets. During the exam the nurse became completely perplexed as she looked at the cat. First she confirmed what we thought, that Mittens is a girl. Then she took a second, third, and fourth look. Then she started probing around (something I'm just not willing to do). Pretty soon she found a boy part, but not the accompanying boy parts (please don't make me say it). She was very perplexed so she called in the vet, who came to investigate. Long story short, after some intense yowling on Mittens' part it was determined that SHE is a HE, and if you want to get really technical, an IT.
He came to us as a kitten, but apparently was just old enough to be neutered before he showed up on our doorstep. So, a big THANKS to whoever fixed Mittens, (who is now known as Mitt around these parts!). We are relieved to know that we won't have anymore little furballs running around here!
Just as a sidenote: Kate was so distressed while they were examining Mitt. She tried so hard not to cry, but couldn't quite hold in her emotions. She is such a sweet, sensitive, caring little thing. She really ADORES animals. She'll probably have a houseful when she's an adult. Poor little kid, she's got a couple of meanies for parents! Just to prove what a gem Brad is, though, he's agreed to build a cat house for Mitt so he can survive the winter. Kate is elated!
Kate, Regan, and Morgan were the CUTEST little Gertrude McFuzz's that there ever were!!!
Last week was "Rise Up and Sing" music camp. Cindy came for the week and Mom came with Chloe and Lily. We had a wild and crazy time and the kids had a blast learning and performing all week long. I'll continue to post videos as I get them uploaded. I wish I had gotten more and better recordings of everyone, however, enjoy what I did get. :)
Hooray! I got the video download working so here are the promised recital videos of Kate. More to come of Jack and Todd.
Kate had the wonderful opportunity to dance in the Ballet Conservatory Performance Awards Recital at the end of May. The director of the Royal Academy of Ballet in New York came to little old Burley, ID for a couple of days to judge each of Miss Katriina's students. Each girl got to do 2 dances onstage by herself and then be judged and awarded for her efforts. Kate received a "Silver medal with distinction"! She was thrilled!!! :) We were so proud of her. It takes courage to stand up on that big stage all by yourself and perform. She was a pro. She messed up just a little bit and instead of falling apart she just found her place and kept going. It was a proud moment to see her react so positively in a tense situation. She's growing up. I'll try to get her video uploaded if I can figure out what's wrong with my computer.
