Uh Oh

Wednesday night was Water Night for the toddler/preschool kiddos at church.

Can you guess who's Mommy didn't know about it?

Sunday Best: Backwards Day Edition

Today was an undeclared backwards day for me.

When Mommy asked me what I wanted for breakfast, I quickly replied, "A turkey sandwich." 

This is my breakfast request about once a week.  When I first started asking for it Mommy would look really contemplative for a second or two, then shrug her shoulders and say, "Sure!"

So, a yummy turkey sandwich with cheese got my day started off.

After church we went to Mimi's for lunch.  Not Mimi's as in Mimi and Poppy.  Mimi's as in

photo from mimiscafe.com

If you've been there before, you know that they serve their breakfast menu all day long.  Which means this was my lunch

Lunch for breakfast and breakfast for lunch!

Here are a few other things I did (kind of) backwards today: did not take a nap and somehow managed to miss the potty completely, resulting in a big poopy mess all over the floor (as well as my shorts, feet, and legs).

Just Plain Awesome

Here are some pictures from our recent Mossy weekend.  They aren't quite Mossome, but I wanted to share them anyway.

This little girl was a big hit with the whole fam.  She's 4.5 months old, and the sweetest little baby any of us have ever met.

Mommy asked Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky where they could put in an order for a similar baby on their next go-round...but Bri and Beck weren't giving away any of their secrets!

 I spent lots of time playing (and sometimes fighting) with my cousin, McB.

 

 Notice that cast on his arm? It's waterproof! How awesome is that?

Oh, and that's a sippy cup in his hands.  Not a soda can.

The Exotic Zoo Resort we stayed at had a little fenced in area that allowed us to hobnob with farm-type animals whenever we wanted.  Each morning of our stay, as soon as my little eyes opened up, the first words out of my mouth were, "Can we go see the animals?" 

 

I loved it! 

 The more exotic animals were kept at a safer distance.  We did get to pet many of them on the little guided tour we took of the zoo, though.

They also had a super fun playground that Micah and I thoroughly enjoyed.

Aaand, we got to see some ostrich eggs gettin' all warm in an incubator.

You'd think that would have impressed me.  Honestly, though, by the time we got to the ostrich eggs at the end of our tour, all I cared about was washing my hands. 

"Why, Katie Bug," you say, "you are so hygienically minded!"

Nope, not at all.  After petting lots of animals, Mommy told me that I couldn't suck my thumb until we washed my hands.  I was getting a tad tired and hungry, so my no-thumb resolve was beginning to wear thin!

One Mossome Trip

This weekend, the entire Moss clan was able to be together for 5 whole days! That's right...me, Mommy, Daddy, G-Gi, G-Pa, Gramma, Grampa, Aunt Becky, Uncle Brian, McB, and C-Wa all got to spend a whole hand's worth of days together.

Do you know what Daddy and Uncle Brian call that?

Mossome*

[maw-suh m] adjective- having the characteristics or qualities of the Moss family or it's traditions, while concurrently possessing a high level of awesomeness

Eating G-Gi's apple and banana pie?  Mossome.

 

Chillaxin' with my cousin, McB?  Mossome.

Checkin' out my cutie cousin, C-Wa?  Mossome.

 

 Spending a few nights at an "Exotic Zoo Resort"?  Mossome!

 Feeding a "llama, llama, misses mama"?  Mossome.

Taking a bath with a Daddy-made sprinkler cup?  Mossome.

Spending lots of time with all of my Moss lovies?  Well, of course, that's Mossome!

I've got a few more pictures I might share from our little "exotic" getaway...but they're just plain awesome (not Mossome), so I'll wait to share those in another post.

*Daddy thinks the word should be spelled "Mawsome".  Mommy votes for "Mossome".  Uncle Brian, what say you?

My Tall Genes

Earlier this week, Daddy's Grandma and Grandpa Moss flew into town from Wisconsin for a nice summer visit.  I've had a lot of fun hanging out with them the last couple of days.  Daddy thought that we needed to decide on simple monikers for them, since "Great Grandma" and "Great Grandpa" are kind of two mouthsful.

We quickly decided on "G-G" for Great Grandma...

and "G-Pa" for Great Grandpa.  Pretty clever, huh?

And can you tell where I get my vertical genes from?

What Are You Reading?

Mommy and I are both making big dents in our summer reading lists. 

If any of you mommies-of-tots out there haven't checked out this book yet, I highly recommend that you do so soon:

(photo from ericlitwin.com)

I love this book!  Mommy borrowed it from the librarian at her old school several months ago.  We only had it for two weeks, but I still ask Mommy to tell me the story a few times each week.  To enjoy this book to fullest, I suggest that you check out this YouTube video of the author reading/singing the book.  It'll really help you get in the proper reading grove.

Mommy has read a handful of great grownup books this summer.  Here's one of her top picks...so far:

(photo from rebeccaskloot.com)

Mommy has tried and tried to explain this book in a sentence or two, but she just can't.  It covers such a huge amount of material, raises an enormous amount of questions, and imparts vast amounts of optimism and sadness all at the same time.  If you're a fan of nonfiction, Mommy thinks you'll like this book.

Mommy's nose can currently be found in this book:

(photo from amazon.com)

After which, it will be located here:

(photo from eriklarsonbooks.com)

(And believe you me, ^this^ is where her nose can't wait to be!  Mommy was first introduced to the nonfiction novel through Erik Larson's work.  She's a big fan of that guy.)

Mommy's literary game plan runs dry at Garden of the Beasts, though.  So she'd love to know what you are reading this summer!

Any recommendations for Mommy?

Or for me?

The Art of Compromise

Over the last week or so, I've been awakening to the art of compromise. 

It all started one evening when I told Mommy that I was finished with dinner and wanted to leave the table.  The rest of my family was still eating, so Mommy told me that I needed to sit at the table a little bit longer.  I responded with a very determined, "No.  I'm done."    Mommy said that she would set the timer for five minutes, and I could get down when it went off. 

My response?

"No. Not five minutes." 

Mommy's response?

 "How long do you think I should set it for?"

"Two minutes."

"We'll do three."

"Okay."

Little did Mommy know that this one coversation would be the gateway to my new habit of wheelin' and dealin'.  That lady really didn't know what she was getting herself into!

Here are a few pictorial examples:

 Mommy and Daddy are staunch "no socks with sandals" people.  But this past weekend, I absoultely refused to take off my frilly socks (I had worn them to a wedding earlier in the day) when it was time to go to dinner.  So, Mommy and Daddy decided that they could bend the rules in favor of peace.

This may not look like compromise to any of you, but it definitely was. 

When I got home from the aforementioned wedding, I quickly took out my Little People figurines for some play time.  As we were getting ready ready to leave the house for the (also) aforementioned dinner, Mommy told me I needed to clean up my Little People. 

"Noooo!" I yelled in her general direction. 

That little exclamation was met with a firm, "KK, you need to obey. Mommy said to clean up your Little People."

Tears welled up in my eyes.  Mommy had pulled out the 'o' card.  I knew what that meant: respond appropriately or receive an appropriate consquence.   I made my argument quickly, so as not to waste any negotiating time. 

"But, it's her wedding!" I cried out.

At first, it looked as if my efforts at a compromise were unfruitful.  Then, I saw Mommy's face soften (probably with a little silent prodding from Daddy) and heard the wonderful words, "Okay, the wedding can stay today."

Success!

This is What Compromise Looks Like

Can you spot the compromise in these two pictures?

It's pretty easy in this one.

But not so obvious here.

Sunday Best

Happy Sunday!

I don't know if you can tell or not, but I was sporting some curls this morning.  That's because Mommy got some hair-doing advice from another mommy yesterday.  I'll let you know more about that later!

Car anti-Sickness

Some of you may know that last summer I developed an extrodinary ability to become sick in the car.  Considering that both Mommy and Daddy were car sick kiddos growing up, this really shouldn't have come as a suprise to anyone.  The genes were just stacked against me on this one.

Knowing that there is a (nearly) direct correlation between the temperature outside and the likelihood of me getting car sick, Mommy decided that she needed to take some preventative measures this summer.

I'm a pretty hot natured person.  Combine that with the fact that there are no rear air vents in Mommy's car, and you get one easily overheated tot! So, when our Texas temps started soaring a few weeks ago, Mommy made the bold move to turn my carseat forward facing.

She also came across these little guys in the One Step Ahead catalog.

Those are Sea Bands for kids, and they are touted as a natural way to kick the nausea and vomitting that accompany motion sickness.  They were under $8.00 on Amazon.com, so Mommy decided to give them a try. 

After more than 26 hours in the car for our Alabama getaway, it looks like

Forward Facing Carseat + Sea Bands =  0 Car Sickness (almost)

I did throw up a teeny, tiny bit on the last leg of the car ride back home...but that is waaaay better than any of the substantial car trips we've taken over the last year.

Guess who's going to be buying a few more of those Sea Band guys in the near future?

A Few More Things

Here are just a few more things that I did on vacation last week:

Ate ice cream almost every day. It was awesome! 

Found lots of things to entertain myself with inside the home of the family friends who let us stay with them.  I enjoyed playing with their friendly dog, watching their outside cats through the kitchen window, picking blueberries in their yard, and bouncing on their mini trampoline.  

My favorite activity at their house, though, was opening and closing their doors.  They these awesome lever handles (as opposed to the knobs on the doors at my house) that were super easy to open!  I spend a good portion of each day opening as many doors as I could...so I'm pretty sure that Mommy and Daddy are glad to be back in our leverless world.

I didn't discover this USA puzzle until the day we left, but I sure did love putting it together all by myself!

(Just kidding!  Mommy put it together and I mostly undid what she was doing.)

I also threw more than my fair share of little fits.  The two days we spent at the beach were both nap-free days, so I don't think that the fits should have come as any suprise to my parents!

School's Out!

Over the last two days, I have been 'chided' by at least 5 people for allowing one month to go by with no blog posts.  Well, chide no more, dear ones...school is out for the summer and Mommy has given me free reign of the keyboard once more!

If truth be told, Mommy has actually been out of school for one week already.  We spent 7 days in the Gulf Shores area to kick off the summer, so Mommy and I decided that it was best for me to hold off on the blogging until we returned from our trip. 

This was actually the first nuclear family vacation our little threesome has ever embarked upon, as all of our other vacations have included members of our extended families.  It was really nice to have Mommy and Daddy all to myself for a whole week!

We hit up the beach a couple of times.  I loooved playing in the sand...

and didn't even mind it when that gritty stuff turned my Cheerios into an extra crunchy snack.

We also visited the Gulf Coast Zoo.  

As far as zoos go, it's a pretty teensy place...but that actually makes it perfect for toddlers and preschool age kiddos.  There were even two of these pretty birds strutting their stuff around the little snack shack.

We also checked out the bee-oooo-tiful town of Fairhope.

  I mean seriously, the place was gorgeous! 

(Mommy kept her eyes peeled for Stepford-esque wives the whole time were were there.)

Fairhope had a super long fishing pier...which I just loved walking on.  And which provided the setting for Daddy's favorite picture of our whole trip.

 I've got a few more vaca shots I'd like to show off, but this is gonna have to do it for now...I forgot how much time this blogging business takes!