Ears and Earrings

Quite unexpectedly today, while at Claire's, Katie decided she wanted pierced ears.  I'm pretty certain that what she really wanted was the owl earring holder and a pair of panda earrings, and I insisted that only big girls with pierced ears could have either of those items.  Much to my surprise, she said, "Ok, I will get my ears pierced then."

I was amazed at Katie's stiff upper lip as she sat still waiting for the ear "stapler" to be applied to her little ears.  What a brave girl she was, knowing that another little girl was waiting next in line and would decide to go or not go depending on Katie's reaction to the piercing.  Though you might note that in the video, she is tightly clutching Claire Bear, a teddy bear to soothe frazzled nerves.

Katie has spent this entire evening playing with her new collection of earrings and earring holder.  She is anxiously awaiting October 21st, when she can replace her initial studs with her new panda earrings.

Wedding Belles

Seven years ago, we counted ourselves blessed when we found a wonderful older home tucked back on a cul de sac.  A large yard, a fence for the dogs, a big basement to support my packrat tendencies, and mature trees.  The perfect place to raise our child.

What we didn't know is how blessed we would be with neighbors.

Katie has grown up surrounded by the most wonderful families.  On one side of us is Miss Jackie and her husband John, with their regiment of adorable chihuahaus.  Katie loves their dogs and Miss Jackie's beautiful garden.  On the other side is Grandma Enochs and Paps.  Their grandchildren have spoiled Katie since day 1.  And Grandma Enochs has been waiting outside every year on the first day of school to give Katie a hug as she walks to the bus stop.

And across the cul de sac are the Longests.  They have 3 beautiful daughters, the oldest of which who has just announced her engagement.  And this week, Katie has been asked if she would be the flower girl for that wedding.  The bride to be hand delivered a special princess cupcake along with the official "Will you be my flower girl?" inquiry a few days ago.

Of course, it didn't take a Gigi's cupcake to solicit a yes from Katie, but it did guarantee a giant smile from her at the prospect!

Luckily, I documented the beautiful wrappings of the flower girl cupcake................

Before this happened................



I can't wait for the wedding next year--the Longest girls and Katie will all be so beautiful.  There will definitely be Wedding Belles that day.

First Day of the Second Grade

Yesterday was the first day of the new school year.  Sniff, sniff.

As you can see from this photo, Miss Katie was ALL smiles.  Her new teacher, Miss Lyons, is quite nice and Katie already knows her.  We met her last Sunday at the "Meet the Teachers" Ice Cream Social.

Katie was happy to pose in her new school regalia.

We are calling this school year, "The Year of the Panda".  She even has coordinating panda underwear.  Ssh, don't tell her that I told you.........

She got a little shy at the bus stop, as we had lots of new folks at the corner this year.  Before, it had always just been Katie and Miss Daelyn who is 4 years older.  But this year Daelyn has moved on to Middle School and is riding the earlier bus to school.  Now there are two boys at the bus stop instead--hardly a fair trade.  Katie is missing her already.

At the end of the day when we asked how her first day went, she replied, "AWESOME!".  Looks like Second Grade is off to a good start!