Katie the Little Mermaid

We all spent our last day with Sandy, Wade, Liz, Nolan and children by the pool. Doug got to try out his new fish cooker that Wayne and Laura gave him for his birthday. We took it with us to June and Pat's for a fish fry. He loves it! The guys fried up some fish and hushpuppies. We also had salad and some of Maryann's wonderful baked beans. Everything was delicious!

As soon as we got there, Katie had to have her swimming suit and floaties on. Thankfully, Natalie, Leslie and Liz were in the pool to watch Katiebug for me. I didn't get in because I haven't felt all that great for the past few days. Katie had a blast in the pool. She did so great swimming by herself, without anyone holding on to her. Leslie or Natalie (I can't remember which) tried to teach Katie how to jump in the pool. I remember when my other nieces and nephews were little, about Katie's age, we would teach them how to jump in the pool. Katie did good jumping in the pool with the girls. When she jumped in, the girls let her go under water a little ways. She did great holding her breath, she didn't come up coughing very much. She liked the jumping, but I think she preferred swimming. We had to remind her to kick her legs. I was so proud of her.

I have to tell this story. While Katie was in the pool, she told me that she had to go potty. Well okay, here we go. Right? She wanted to go in the house, but I wouldn't let her because she was soaking wet. I told her that we were going to pee-pee around the back of the house, so no one would see us. I stripped her down and got her to squat. She didn't like the whole pee-peeing outside idea. She kept telling me, "I not think this is a good idea Mom. I not want to go pee-pee outside. It's not a good idea." She's been coming up with new phrases like " . . . good idea." I think it's cute.

When it was time for the girls to stay out of the pool, I set up the Princess Tent. Maddie seemed to like it and of course, Katie loves her tent. We put a blanket and rug inside the tent, along with all the kids' toys. Some one put Jake inside the tent to play. I didn't know he was in there for the longest time. He was having a ball with the girls and toys. Maddie kept trying to recruit people to come sit inside the tent with her. She got Wade in there for a while, but I warned him that it gets hot because there's no circulation inside that tent. It wasn't long before Wade had to get out. It was getting way too hot for him. Natalie was brave enough to stay in there for awhile.

We had a wonderful evening visiting and it wasn't long before the day was gone. It was great seeing everyone again and I believe we were all wore out by 9:00. We got home, gave Katie a bath and we all went to bed around 10:00. I think Katie fell asleep as soon as her little head hit the pillow. I have more pictures on the photosite.

Yesterday, I really didn't feel good with a stomach ache. Needless to say, I didn't go to church with Doug and didn't get to visit with my Mom either. I haven't see Mom since Friday, so I wanted to go visit her a little bit. I was too afraid she might catch what I had. Lord willing, I'm going to sneak away later this evening and go visit with her.

Today, Katie and I got out our new pool. Katie played in the pool, while I washed all of her outside toys and furniture. It's amazing how filthy her outside toys get. It's too bad, we don't have a storage building to store them. Maybe the storage building fairy will visit us some day.

Birthday Gift List
Okay, some of Katie's Aunts have been asking me what they could get Katie for her birthday. These are just suggestions that I've gotten out of Katie the past few days.

• Red matchbox car (She's been playing with a matchbox (I think it's called) car from a McDonald's Happy Meal. The toy theme is from the "Speedracer" movie. She told me that she wanted a red car for birthday).
• I've been looking at some Barbie doll accessories and I've found a cute Barbie car, she might like too.
• "Barbie in Mariposa" DVD movie
• Storybooks