Cutting Up and Being a Big Sister

Kate's big new thing is cutting with scissors. She will cut anything you give her (magazines, work sheets, pictures from the newspaper, things we get in the mail, etc.). Luckily I recently got a free subscription to Sports Illustrated (which comes weekly) and Golf Magazine, so there is ample cutting material. Plus, Angela found a great work book with cutting activities. Anyway, she has gotten pretty good at it. She cuts a pretty good straight line and has really progressed from when she started by cutting a little slit and then ripping the rest of the page. The first part of the video below is Kate cutting. Note the "Micheal Jordan" tongue action that cutting requires. She has made some beautiful collages that adorn our refrigerator.

The second part of the video is a typical example of Kate being a great big sister. She is really great with Owen. She watches him to make sure he does not take out his hearing aids, she plays with him and is quick to bring him toys (especially when he gets into her toys), and she loves to point out noises to Owen ("did you hear that airplane Owen...oh Owen, listen to that motor cycle...Owen, did you hear Mattie bark...). The video also displays her great imagination that never ceases to amaze me.

Rub your neighbor!

While watching the news the other day, the weather man came on and was talking about some extreme heat in Oklahoma and Arkansas - the heat index was around 90 at 9AM, which didn't bode well for the rest of the day. I remember thinking that my sister, who lives in Oklahoma, but is deployed, would be glad that she wasn't home - ha! Except I momentarily forgot that she is in the Persian Gulf, and the temperatures where she is are reaching about 120. For once, she probably wishes she was in OK (lol, Carrie)! Anyway, they were talking about that being the kind of heat where you want to be sure to check on your neighbors and elderly people you know because it can be dangerous. I was telling this story to James on the way to church and Kate, who always has open ears in the backseat, piped up "I want to hear 'Rub Your Neighbor!'" James and I couldn't keep ourselves from busting out laughing. It was so funny! The song she meant is a Veggie Tales song actually called "Love Your Neighbor", but she evidently hears rub instead of love and she sings very loudly RUB YOUR NEIGHBOR, WHEN SOMEONE (mumble... mumble...) STAND, IF YOU RUB YOUR NEIGHBOR, RUBBING IS RUBBING MY HANDS!"

I think it should go something like:
Love your neighbor.
When someone helps you then you'll understand
If you love your neighbor. Loving means lending a hand.

Mission Complete

I made it through my three days of single parent hood. I realize that Angela handles two kids by herself all all the time, but she is a girl (just kidding, I do appreaciate more though what she goes through on a daily basis). Kate, Owen and I tried to stay busy so we did not miss mommy while she was off furniture shopping with her mom in Hickory and enjoying some time away at Biltmore on Sunday. We made a trip to the mall to play on the playground there (although we ended up just walking around and running around trees since there were a lot of kids on the playground and Kate was afraid) followed by a trip to McDonald's for a chocolate sunday. We went to the Farmer's Market on Market Square for muffins and to play in the fountain (again Kate got scared so we walked around all of downtown while Owen slept), and of coarse we went to the play ground to swing. Kate was a great big sister and helped out with Owen. Both kids did great and I really enjoyed my time alone with the kids. We are glad to have mom home though.