Katie is One!

One year ago, Craig and I were awaiting the imminient arrival of our baby. We didn't know who they'd be just yet, but we were in love with them already-- we never could have expected the wonderful little girl we got.

Katie is one year old today. Its gone by so fast and she has grown so much. In the last 2 weeks she has learned to walk and now climbs EVERYTHING. She has about a dozen words and that is expanding everyday. She loves when we read to her and will bring books to you anytime you are still. She's precocious and has very definite ideas about what she wants. She loves her animals and is a little stinker when it comes to getting into mischeif-- but she is a happy child and we are so glad she's ours.

Here are a couple of pictures from her birthday party this weekend.

Mommy, What the heck is that on my cake?!?!?!

Oh nevermind, this cake stuff is pretty tasty. (It should be! She had a Chocolate Stoudt Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream!-- The grownups had dark chocolate ganache on theirs)

MMMM... Must demolish cake!

The requisite cake smashing photo! She really was pretty delicate-- even with her Cappy yelling over the SKYPE line to put cake in her hair! I'd say this mess is about average for a meal for her. The big mess came later when her Grandad and Kakie filled the water table IN THE HOUSE (Thanks guys... :-P )

Overall we all had a great day with family and friends. Katie was utterly spoiled with presents and hugs and kisses. She showed off all her toys and her walking skills and enjoyed her sugar rush. Once everyone had headed home, she CRASHED and slept on her Daddy for a few hours. It was a wonderful 1st Birthday!

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

That could very well be the first word Katie spells the way its being chanted around the house these days. Daddy and Katie are watching the game right now, but I wanted to share a couple of quick pictures of them.

Katie and her Daddy cheering on the Eagles!

Katie rooting for a touchdown!

As a tribute to her Kakie and her Aunt Kim she'll even cheer for the Steelers to score!

And for her Mama who couldn't give a lick about professional football-- she has the cutest shoes ever! (I wish they came in my size!)

A Very Katie Christmas!

Just a quick movie of some snapshots of Katie from this Christmas. As you will see, we had a wonderful Christmas-- We hope you all had a good one too! I'll try and get some more posts up here once the holiday madness has passed.



Merry Christmas!

Redecorating by the Baby

I mean, I knew we'd have to rearrange the house to make things safer and easier for the kiddo-- but I really didn't expect her to get so involved so soon in the "deciding" where things should go...

I was wrong. (see a small portion of the chaos below)

All I wanted was 10 minutes of peace to take a shower and this is what I returned to in the nursery-- Of course, she was so proud of herself for figuring out how to get the clothes out of the drawers and off the shelves. Oh well, could be worse-- at least she hasn't been taking lessons from her cousins and dipping everything in the toilet first!

Katie's First Thanksgiving

She wasn't a huge fan of her mashed potatoes and turkey bits-- and she fell asleep during dinner itself-- but apparently some things are genetic-- Mom tells me I did this at my first Thanksgiving too (ok... I was only 2 months old and it was my great-grandmothers "fault", but still!)

And isn't she way cuter than a turkey anyway?

Brownie-Spider 2008

Even though the Brownies lost miserably-- it was one of the most enjoyable games I've been to. Garrettson and Craig argued about the two teams merits and the gals all enjoyed catching up. We headed out for lunch afterward to thaw out-- it was COLD! But seriously-- Katie was the cutest Brownie there. (And I was mistaken for a student, but that is a WHOLE different issue!)

Off to DC with Katie!

We spent a few days in DC last week-- Craig was at a conference and Katie and I tagged along to enjoy the city. We went to the Natural History Museum (Katie liked the small tropical aquarium there-- dinosaurs were not interesting yet though!) and took a picture just for my Mom... so Mom- Here you go! (sorry about the lousy look, we'd hiked 10 blocks in the pouring rain-- and then I had to haul her stroller up 9 billion stairs to the entrance because NOWHERE was it marked that the handicapped access was around the other side, and it was still pouring and there was NO way I was hiking to the other side of the building at that point!)






The next day we went to the National zoo-- it was pretty chilly, but we met up with friends and walked around. Katie got a HUGE kick out of the small monkeys--- particularly the golden tamarins-- they were so colorful and active. She also watched the gorillas and orang utans (yeah, that's 2 words, who knew?!)pretty intently.
The new Asia exhibit has a lot of nice features-- there are displays at kiddo height with swatches of the fur of each animal that you can touch and buttons to push that make the animals sounds and such-- Katie was a big fan of the Red Panda fur-- so we got a snapshot of her on the panda statue!
It was a nice day at the zoo overall.

















And then to top it off, we finally got to eat at Jaleo-- a Spanish restaurant in the DC area that I have wanted to go to for years! We had pan amb tomaquet (toasted bread with tomatoes), gambas al ajillo (sizzling garlic shrimp and peppers), house made chorizo, and rosejat-- sort of a paella made with vermicelli and seafood. It was all delicious-- and other than the hostess thinking we were nuts for having our baby with us, it was wonderful. I'm not sure why she was so shocked it was a Sunday-- its not like I feared a wild party crew was going to come and start a brawl or something... who knows? Katie was pretty good though, so it all worked out well.

It was definitely a nice trip away and I enjoyed taking a few days away from work!

Start of election season 2012?

Still confused, but bits of good news

Still unclear on what people are thinking-- I know Bush was unpopular--- but to think that a swing away from personal responsibility is the answer-- well, that I don't get!

There were some good bits of news coming out of the election cycle-- sadly the defeat of Murtha was not one of them-- that man is really a jerk.

Anyway, Californians upheld their previously passed and then knocked down by the judicial system act-- to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Whether you agree with the purpose of the bill or not. It does demonstrate the power of the voters over the power of judges which may become important again in the future.

A number of states had ballot issues surrounding affirmative action (a BIG pet peeve of mine!) Nebraska passed theirs banning state and local governments from giving preferential treatment to people on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or national origin. YAY! I am pretty sure that even though we have elected a president of a different race-- many will still claim it is "impossible" for minorities to gain success without handouts based on skin-color, but we shall see. Nebraska joins CA, MI, and WA in similar bans. The decision in Colorado is still up in the air.

No sour grapes, just a lot of confusion...

Apparently the majority of voting Americans feel that the government knows better than they do how to manage their lives-- so that being said--

I expect that those who voted for Obama will remove their children from their private schools and enroll them in the public ones-- after all, the goverment knows best and we want to ensure that EVERYONE receives exactly the same education and opportunities.

That those same people will allow the bureaucracy that plagues the VA to infect their medical care. I mean, just because you've PAID for your health insurance, doesn't necessarily mean YOU should get medical care before others or in the location of your preference. Expect months to year long waits for procedures and diminished access to health care for "hopeless" cases.

That they will allow the government to determine the timing and viability of your children-- its only a small step from allowing abortion to encouraging it in the cases of "undesirable" children who would be a "drain" on society. Particularly when society is footing the bill for these children.

That they will abandon their protests of free speech since they rapidly have abandoned their recognition of other portions of the Bill of Rights.

That they will immediately start writing checks for the government to determine where and how to spend. Regardless of income-- your tax money will be used to fund an increasing array of social-welfare and special interest groups.

That they will prepare for a semi-imminent shift in world-power and increased intimidation in the face of a US leader who is more interested in accomodation than defense.

But, the majority has spoken. That being said, I hope you all somehow found something I missed and that our new president turns out to be the man you hope for, and not an embodiment of the lack of traditional American values I fear. I will defend those values in my home and with my family and will watch the next 4 years with a mixture of curiousity and hope that things are not as dark as they seem right now.

Someone who puts it better than me