Daddy's Jeans

Cody doesn't like to go shopping very often, but we convinced him to go to the mall with us this weekend. He got a new pair of jeans a year or two ago - that doesn't sound too bad until you see a picture of Kate from the last time we went jean shopping for him! To commemorate the occasion we took a pic of her this time too. You'll be glad to know Cody found a perfect new pair of jeans in his size - they should last him a while, so who knows what Kate will look like next time around :).

Imaginary Friend Photo Frustration

Kate's imaginary friends seem to be appearing more and more frequently lately. I'm not exactly sure how to respond to these "friends" that join us at random moments, but I usually just play along. I think those are great opportunities to play pretend and help develop her little imagination - so unless these little friends of her start encouraging her to disobey or misbehave, they're welcome in my house.

This morning Kate ate her oatmeal and blueberries at the table next to an imaginary turtle. She insisted on wearing her party hat left over from a birthday party she went to last weekend because she told me that Turtle was wearing its party hat and wanted her to have one too. And then she begged and begged me to take a picture of her eating breakfast with Turtle. So - being that my camera is always handy - I took the desired picture.

None of these activities were that unusual for our mornings around the Bettis house. But then the girl wanted to see the picture on the screen on the back of the digital camera. It was at that point things got tricky for me...

Kate couldn't understand why she couldn't see Turtle in her hat in the picture. She was pretty sure it was my fault - I simply wasn't showing her the right picture. She eventually started crying because she wanted me to show her the one with Turtle in it. She thought I didn't understand her or that I was being mean for some unexplained reason, but I couldn't get her to understand that Turtle can't be in a picture because she's not like Kate or that I did understand what she was asking even though I couldn't make it happen. I was at a complete loss.

What was this momma to say?

Advice from the older, wiser mommas out there is needed :).

Princess Movie Day

Kate's friend Alden's mom read in the paper last weekend about a special Disney princess movie matinee this week at a theater near us and invited us to go. The girls were all supposed to dress up in their princess dresses, have a special "curtsy school" before the movie, and watch MULAN. Could there be an event better suited to my girl?!?

So Kate chose to wear her Cinderella dress with princess slippers and joined friends Alden and Avery at the theater. For once she wasn't the only one in public wearing dress up clothes! The girls munched popcorn and did really well together during the movie.

The Disney matinees are going on every two weeks with different movies and in all different areas of the country. They will be showing Cars, Tarzan, and a Winnie and the Pooh throughout the next several weeks. If you're interested in going to a matinee, check out this link to get specifics on the movies, dates, times, and locations.

The Gray 30

I'm exactly a week away from being the big 3-0.

It's definitely a milestone worth taking note of, but I'm not losing any sleep over getting older.

While we were sitting on the couch this weekend, Cody spotted a gray hair amidst my brown locks - and I'm pretty sure it has at least a few friends up there sprouting out of my head along with it. Let's face it, there's safety in numbers... So chances are great that several gray strands are headed my way.

In an effort to help me, Cody put his hand on my head so he could isolate my evidently misfit hair and pluck it from my tender scalp. But I was APPALLED at his behavior and sharply leaned away from him when I realized what he was doing. He proceeded to tease me about needing to start dying my hair since I'm "going gray". In the most offended tone I could muster, I told him ABSOLUTELY NOT. We laughed, but I was completely serious.

I've lived a lot of life in these short 30 years - and thus I feel like I have EARNED every gray hair that may or may not be growing on my head. Funky, off color hairs represent seasons of countless joys and sorrows - and all the continual struggles/successes of life in between. To cover them up with dye would feel like I was somehow invalidating my journey.

I wholeheartedly support every member of the actively hair dying community that may be reading this humble blog. Everyone should be 100% free to make their own choices in the "To Dye or Not To Dye" decision according to what is best for their individual preferences - but as for me, I feel a certain level of inexplicable pride in the endurance of life demonstrated by my crazy textured gray hairs and have absolutely no desire to hide them.

Stay tuned to see if I'm singing the same tune when the big 4-0 is just around the bend...

Sweet Friends

Kate has been blessed with several very good friends in her young life - and among her most special friends are Avery and Luke. Yesterday she was lucky enough to have BOTH friends over to play. They played inside and out - picked lots of "flowers" together - and did so many other fun things together. Kate and I are undoubtedly lucky for all the caring, fun friends we have in our lives!

Spring Fun

The weather here has been so nice and warm this last week that we've been able to get back outside and have some fun. Cody bought Kate some fresh sand for her sand and water table and we broke out the chalk from last summer. Since the outside toys have been in retirement these past few months it's like they're new all over again to the girl. And looking at the toys with three year old eyes is definitely exciting because she can do so many different things with them this year than she did last year. She's been having SO MUCH fun outside, but the highs in a couple days are supposed to be about 30 degrees cooler so we're trying our best to enjoy this breath of spring before winter returns!

Kate's Adoptiversary Date

This weekend Kate and I went on a special date to celebrate her adoptiversary (adoptiversary is the word I created for the anniversary of her being 100% legally ours... it's an important date for us despite the fact she's been with us since she quite literally took her first breath!).

Our first stop was James Avery. I've been thinking for the past couple years about buying Kate a charm bracelet for an adoptiversary keepsake of sorts. My plan is to add a charm of her choice to the bracelet each year on her special day - so with a portion of my lovely recent Google Adsense check I decided to take the plunge. She loved looking at all the charms and getting to choose all by herself which one to take home. Can you guess what she chose? She found a turtle charm - I couldn't believe they even made one - but when I saw what huge smile spread across her face after she saw it, I knew we were going to be leaving with a turtle charm!

After that I took my sweet blue eyed girl to lunch. The lighting in the restaurant made her eyes sparkle so much I had to take a few pictures! Then we did a little window shopping, headed back to pick up her bracelet, and went home to enjoy a great night of grilling in the backyard and playing games with Daddy.

I'm blown away on a daily basis by what an amazing gift God gave us in our sweet Kate, but there's still something that makes me feel uniquely nostalgic whenever her adoptiverary rolls around. Right now she merely looks at the day with delight since she has another special birthday type of day (in fact, she called it her "adoptabirthday" a couple times this weekend!), but as she gets older I hope her adoptiversary will be a time when she can look back with us and see what an incredible testimony of God's faithfulness and His sovereign plan her story truly is.

Though I'm utterly undeserving, I'm so incredibly thankful for all the blessings in my life - especially the blessing of my precious girl!