Zongker Family Blog

Katrina has been excited for all the activities that she’s gotten to do this summer!  The most recent one she’s begun is music camp each day this week at our church.  It is for all elementary school aged children.  She is having a blast, so far!  They are going to do a musical production this Friday evening, for the finale.  So, she received a special learning CD, to practice the songs she’s learning, at home.  She loves doing this & will put on her Spongebob CD player (with headset) & “jam out” – singing the parts she knows & just dancing in place to the ones she hasn’t quite learned yet.  It’s cool that she was interested in going, this year, because when we offered to let her attend last summer, she just said, “nah”.  And, it’s even more of a joy, seeing that she is having such a great time, so far!  We can’t wait to attend the performance at the end of the week!

Katrina keeps having a “best day ever” it seems, at least once a week this summer.  But recently, we went on a short day-trip & she told us that it was her favorite day of the summer.  She had been asking us to go to a science center, like ones that we’ve been to when we go out of town.  Our own locale has a small science center that we’ve never actually been to, because we’ve only heard of its meagerness & failure in comparison to other ones.  But, only a short hour and a half drive away, there’s one that’s worth going to & spending all day at.  So yesterday, we left around 10 a.m., got to our destination city around lunchtime & ate at McDonald’s – something Kat loves to do, anyway.  The, we proceeded to go to the science center.  We literally spent all day there & didn’t even get to see *everything*, but it was still a ton of fun.  They had remodeled & added some cool new features for the kids, since Jeremy & I had been there last.  Katrina especially liked playing & enjoying all the interactivity.  We left as they were about to close & proceeded to find somewhere to eat for dinner.  We wound up at an all-you-can-eat buffet, which had lots of Kat’s favorite foods.  She just thought that was the best ending to an already “perfect” day.  The entire trip home, we kept re-living the day’s events, through her wonderful tales of her favorite summer day.

Katrina has been practicing her balance a lot, lately!  This past week, not only did we take her out for some bike-riding (she has a two-wheeler, but she still uses training wheels, right now), but she also got to go roller skating for the first time ever, just today!  Luckily, she was not apprehensive about either one!  The bike riding she’s done before; we just like to keep a good eye on her, because our sidewalk tilts to one side & it causes her to be a bit wobbly.  But, she enjoyed the “practice”!  Her Daddy mostly walked beside her, while her Li’l Sis & I hung out in the driveway, watching, pointing & applauding her success.  At the skating rink, it was just Kat & I.  We met some friends there, during Alyssa’s naptime, so Jeremy stayed home, not only to keep an eye on Aly, but to do some work, as well.  At first, Katrina was just all over the place – her feet going in opposite directions, almost causing her to do the splits, on occasion, but I was able to pull her up by her arms & help her keep her balance a bit better.  Once we got going, it was great!  We stayed near the walls of the rink, so that she could lean if need be, but toward the end of the session (well, we were there for just nearly 2 hours of it), she was really getting “the hang” of it & even let go of me, a few times!  Although still quite slow, she progressed so much during that little amount of time.  She’s extremely excited to go back again & work on it some more!  Of course, I am too, even though it made my arms, shoulders & back a bit sore  – who knew that helping keep an almost-40-pound kid balanced would take so much out of ya’!?  Hee-hee!  But, we’re all just so proud of her & we keep enjoying helping her develop these new skills!

Katrina has just been having “the best day ever”, almost every day this past week!  It’s really cute & funny!  There’s an episode of Spongebob Squarepants that she took the words from & there’s even a little song that goes along with it.  But, it seems like this summer, she’s just having such a great time that each day keeps topping the next!  The 4th of July was one of them – she was just so excited to get to go to her cousins’ house & swim & to see the fireworks with everyone that evening.  Then she had “the best day ever” on Monday when she got to go over to a friend’s house to play, and that evening, Vacation Bible School started at our church & her friend got to go with her to it.  Of course, today has now been “the best day ever” because her Dad took her with him to get the oil changed on his car & they got to run through the car wash afterwards, *then* she got to go to VBS again this evening.  Now, she’s telling me that tomorrow will be “the best day ever” because we get to go see kids’ morning matinee at our local movie theater & possibly have lunch with some more friends afterwards.  She’s such a great kid with such a happy outlook on life!

Katrina’s a great little artist.  She loves all things creative.  She especially likes to draw, paint, cut & paste.  While over at her Grandma Linda’s, she got to make a picture using some of Grandma’s scrapbooking supplies.  This was really cool & fun for her & it turned out really pretty, too.  I’m not sure exactly if this is when her most recent obsession started, or if she was doing it before, but lately, it seems like she is constantly asking us for paper to draw on.  Then, she will draw, color or sometimes even paint a picture with her water colors & ask for her safety scissors.  She then cuts out some shape or shapes & occasionally asks for her glue stick, to past things to it all.  She has recently made all kinds of little objects for her stuffed ladybug that she got as a prize for completing our local library’s summer reading program.  She made each item red & black, of course & described them all to us.  They include a blanket, six tiny slippers and a nice little tent for the ladybug to sleep in.  She also made some green grass, leaves & flowers out of paper for the ladybug to “eat”.  We love to see her creativity blossom, don’t get me wrong, I just wonder when she’s going to realize that we don’t have room for all this & what a waste of paper it’s winding up to be…  But, that’s our cute kiddo for ya’! 

Katrina is just such a responsible kid.  Not only did she just do a wonderful job raising 5 caterpillars into butterflies (with a little help from us, and thanks to the Bugville Butterfly house & instructions that she got for her Birthday, of course), but she is also very wise in day-to-day things.  To elaborate, we had a “butterfly release ceremony”, where we let her butterflies go, out into the “wild” (our backyard) yesterday, and although we thought she might be a little sad to see them go, she completely understood that it was time & that they would be more happy, living freely out on there own, from now on.  She enjoyed watching each one emerge from their enclosed habitat, almost as much as she loved seeing them come out of their chrysalides the week before.  She also recently spent some of her allowance on a new toy fish that actually “swims” in water & a fairy puzzle – things that she picked out herself.  After these purchases, she had a few dollars left.  She already seems to comprehend the importance of saving a bit, for something else in the near future.  We love how we can explain things & she “gets” them so well, nowadays.  She’s getting to be such a “big kid”! 

Katrina is a good caretaker.  For about a week & a half now, we have been taking care of her new “pets” – some caterpillars that we sent off for, using the instructions that came with the Bugville Butterfly House she received as a Birthday gift from her Nana.  It’s been an interesting experience so far & much simpler than I originally thought it would be.  The baby caterpillars came live, in an enclosed cup, with everything they need to eat & grow each day & eventually make chrysalids on the inner side of the lid.  We kept the cup in Kat’s room & told her not to disturb them, which she understood & was really good about.  She’d look in on them every day, of course & would excitedly tell us how big they were getting & all.  We would check them out, too.  Once they all made their chrysalides, we followed the instructions & moved them into the butterfly habitat.  It took a few more days, but they have almost all emerged as adult butterflies, now!  Two came out yesterday, then two more today.  There is only one left to emerge, which will more than likely happen tomorrow.  Again, following the instructions given, we have been making “food” (a mixture of sugar & water) & placing it in the habitat for the butterflies the past 2 evenings.  Katrina enjoys watching them get excited & fly down to eat.  She has named them, using her own name, plus 4 of her Kindergarten classmates – assuming they are all female, of course.    It’s a great learning tool & we are proud of Kat for taking such good care of her little insect friends!

Well, Katrina started Girl Scout day camp this week.  She was excited, of course, but being a mother, I was anxious, because it’s something new & different, where she’s going to be gone all day.  At least they don’t do overnights or longer, at her age, though!  It’s like having her gone to school, except for the fact that they learn about other things (like camping) & for the most part, do outdoor activities.  They have a “space theme” this year, and her unit (the incoming 1st graders) is called the “Pretty Pluto Princesses”.  There are at least 2 other girls (maybe more) from her troop & one of them is carpooling with us: her mother takes them to camp in the morning & I pick both girls up in the afternoon.  It’s a nice arrangement, because, well, those of you that know me understand – I’m *not* a “morning person”!  Ha-ha!  Anyway, today, they actually had a field trip to the Tulsa Air & Space Museum, with a picnic lunch at the park, just outside.  Both girls were just gushing about how great it was & telling me all the neat facts that they learned!  We’re excited to see what else they have planned – each day is something different.  There will be a “water play” day & also a “cookout day” that I’m aware of.  We’re glad our “big girl” is enjoying her first camp experience!

Katrina is excited!  She gets to go to day camp all next week!  It’s run by Girl Scouts & there are at least 3 other girls in her Daisy troop that will be attending.  All the 1st graders are in the same camp group together, so that will be nice.  We went to a special meeting just the other day, so we would know where it is, the drop-off/pick-up arrangements, and what to bring.  They have different activities planned for each day.  Since the theme this year is outer space, they are going on a field trip to our local air & space museum on one of the days.  They also have a cookout day & a water day (for water play, like with squirt guns & inflatable water slides & things).  She is more than ready; it’s just a matter of us being prepared to let her go.  She is just getting so big, there’s no denying it!

Katrina attended her first ever slumber party at a friend’s house this week!  It was exciting for her, but as parents, of course we were just slightly anxious.  The next day, we were pleased to find out that all went well, though & that she was well-behaved.  There were about 8 – 10 girls, including her best friend from school, whose Birthday they were celebrating.  They ate pizza, played games, watched a movie & stayed up late.  The next day, we got there to enjoy cake & ice cream, watch the Birthday girl open her presents & help the kids enjoy a water balloon fight in the backyard.  Alyssa & I stayed under the covered patio, dry, but Jeremy got in on the fun, to the point that by the end, his clothes were soaking wet!  And, we hadn’t brought a change for him, of course!  Ha-ha!  But, Kat had so much fun!  On the way home, she asked if we could have a water balloon fight sometime, in our backyard!  Once we got back, we put Alyssa down for a nap & Katrina actually fell asleep on our couch for about an hour, herself – passed out while watching Spongebob on T.V., that’s just how worn out she was!  But, we’re glad she got to experience her first slumber party with friends around her age.  It was a great time!