New Bath Toys

Katie got a whole slew of new toys for her bath this Christmas, which is great, because she recently decided that baths are the worst thing that could possible happen to a little girl. So now we have bubbles, baby dolls, and musical instruments to entice her with.

Love

This is Lee. Lee is Katie's favorite Lovie. And he is very well loved.

New Camera

Thanks to Mom and Dad for our new Nikon D40x. Although I have a whole whole lot to learn, Steve and I both had fun taking a million pictures yesturday. Hopefully our pictures will only continue to improve. I am quite sure Katie is sick of seeing that camera in her face though.

Beth's attempt at photography

Steve's attempt at photography

Some of Many

Here are a few more shots of Katie this christmas. Here's pary Katie.
Testing out some of her favorite presents, here's Katie in Elmo slippers blowing bubbles.
This is just one of my favorite shots of her.

Merry Christmas!

Katie had a wonderful christmas, full of family, friends, and way too many presents. She went to parties,stayed up way past her bed time, and entertained everyone with her version of "jingle bells."

Oh Christmas Tree

As mentioned previously, we finally finished (OK, so the star's not on yet, but we're basically done) putting up our christmas tree. It's the tallest one we've ever had. I had to use a ladder (OK step stool) to decorate the top. In addition, it is in the front window, which means it has to look good from all angles. I'm so used to "cornering" my trees that I barely had enough ornaments to get it done. Tonight Katie, Steve and I (emphasis on the "I") finished the decorating while it snowed outside. It was a lovely family night.

The First Snow

It is snowing for the first time since we've lived in our new house, and I have a new favorite room. That's right - the garage, a.k.a. the best room ever. I have never had the privilege, the luxury, of of parking my car in a garage before. Never.Ever. But now, No more scraping ice and snow off my car at 5 in the morning! No more totally freezing car that has to warm up for 5-10 minutes. It is a wonderful thing. And to Steve, whose car doesn't currently fit in the garage due to the level of junk that's still in there from the move, all I have to say is - SUCKA!!
We've just finished another thing at our new house that I have always wanted to do - put a christmas tree in the front window for all to see! (not that you can see it that well in this picture, but trust me, when you drive by it looks really nice.)

What Katie Might Look Like If She Had Hair

Katie has just been the most adorable, most agreeable, generally awesome baby recently. We hosted Thanksgiving at our new house for the first time, and Katie got to see "everybody" four days straight. She loved it! Talk about center of attention. Now we are getting ready for the next family holiday. So far it has been so much fun, and we don't even have the Christmas Tree yet! We have driven around to look at "christmas houses," wrapped presents and put out some decorations. And of course, we have watched "Wiggly Christmas!" It's going to be so much more fun this year with Katie understanding a bit more, talking a lot more, and she'll actually be able to unwrap her presents! Of which there will be way too many, but I just can't help it! Most toys Ifor her age are just not that expensive and I just can't stop getting her everything I think she would enjoy. I can't wait to see what she thinks of the tree!

Sweetest Baby (and Cat) Ever

This is my very first video post. I hope it works, because a picture could not capture the sweetness of Katie holding and loving on Lucy. Of course, this cat is amazing for even letting a child Katie's age pet it, let alone hold and kiss it. Enjoy!

Lovin' Leaves

This weekend at Ganny's house, Aunt Melissa and Katie had a ton of fun exploding Gandaddy's leaf piles. Katie cracked everyone up with her jumping and throwing and just pure joy. I love the fall!

Candy Snatcher

The look on her face says it all.

Trick or Treat

Katie is totally into Halloween. We have that one house in our neighborhood that went crazy with the blow-up decorations and lights, she loves it and is so sad now that she can't see Halloween house anymore. We had trick or treating this weekend, and I must say, Halloween is much more fun when your kid can walk! This year, Snow White (a.ka. Katie) and Indiana Jones (a.k.a. Dada) went to several houses to collect candy, and she whispered "tank you" to everyone. The biggest fun on Halloween was not the trick or treating, but the trick or treators. Katie loved the kids coming to our house, ringing the ding dong, and handing out candy and mini playdough jars. All in all a very fun night.

Cooking with Gas

The best little sous chef around! She had to concentrate so hard on her mixing. When I took out the eggs, she picked one up, held it out to me and said "open!"

Say it Sista!

Katie will be 21 months old tomorrow! She is only 3 months away from the big 2! She is going to start "school" 2 days a week pretty soon. I can't believe how big she is, how much she no longer looks like a little baby face, and how much she communicates. Some of her favorite phrases (because she's beyond just a word here and there) are:
Pick it up (major emphasis on the "p") She actually means to pick her up when she says this.
Blow Bubbles
Brush Teeth
Sit Here
All wet (she squirts steve with the bath toys, then laughs and calls him all wet)
Play Playdough
Eat Apple
Baby Doll House
Peek-a-boo, I see you
Ride Heeboo (Horse)

These are just her regulars, she is also a parrot and will try to repeat almost everything we say. I am honestly suprised that she has not produced a curse word yet. I think she is saving it for the most inappropriate situation she can. She will also sing you a song if you ask for one. Her favorites to sing are the ABC's, elmo's world, and rockabye your bear. She gets out ABC and then repeats to the tune of the song. With the bear song, she tries to do the motions that go along with the lyrics and it is so cute. She also loves her buddy, baby Will, and regularly asks to see Baby Will. My girlie is so grown-up!

OK-one more story. The other day Katie and Steve were watching the Jungle book. At the beginning the baby is left in the forest and it is alone and crying. Katie got very worried when she saw this, and pointed to the baby and said to Steve "pick up, pick baby up!" It was the sweetest thing!

Rave Reviews

As a parent, of course you always think your baby is the best - the cutest, the smartest, the funniest, just overall the best there is. I am certainalty a huge Katie fan! But, it's always nice to hear an outsider, a third-party, someone who doesn't know you at all agree that your baby is awesome. Last night when I went to pick up Katie from the playroom at the YMCA, a new babysitter immedialty told me, "she is a smart little girl! She sang a song to me! We talked and played and she is just such a joy!" Go Katie!

Visiting Apple Dada

Steve is back at Larriland again this year. So, Katie and I stopped by to visit him in the pumpkin field last weekend. On the way there she bust out with "see apple dada!" She has continued to refer to Steve as apple dada randomly all week.

Check out the pics, taken on my new Black Cherry Chocolate phone with the super convenient removable memory card! I am loving it.

Katie lovin on the ghost (he got kisses too)

Katie and Apple Dada in the field

Wheelbarrow ride!

(this seemed like a great idea, until I tried to end said ride. Katie was not having it!)

Daddy's 28!

Steve and many other Shearer family members have birthdays in September, so we all celebrated last weekend at Granny's.

This is Katie not liking pumpkin pie. Don't worry, we aren't giving up on it yet, by New Year's she'll love it!

Katie's cousins took great care of her, including cleaning off this "wee" for Katie to play on!

Modeling Mama's earrings (thanks Amber & Jack!!)

Swinging with the girls!

Watching the Game

No big suprise here - We all love to watch the Ravens! Even Tater-tot, who knows what football players and footballs are and can say "touchdown!" Now if we could only get her to say Ravens...

Here's a shot of the three Ray-Rays

I like to call this shot "Katie's Heaven" because she loves to dip, and disgusting as it is, would go from caramel, to french onion to humus with one chip.

Bye guys!!

Fun Times

Katie loves laudry. She throws it everywhere, piles it up, and then bellyflops onto her pile. I didn't put her in this basket - I was getting ready in the bathroom and heard giggling, which always means she done/doing something she wants attention for. This time, giggling baby had climed into the laundry basket and piles the laundry back over herself. Needless to say, she was extremely pleased with herself!

Play Time

Because her huge bedroom, and play room on the main level aren't enough (ha!), Katie's bigger toys have also overtaken the basement! Here she is on her favorites. The "WEE" (or slide for those who don't speak Katie)

The ball pit- a new fav since I added 100 more balls. I wish I has something this cool when I was a baby! I had to go play in the McDonald's ball pit with God knows what lurking at the bottom.

And of course - she loves the family tradition - her Herbie car!

(I can't believe how little she looks like a baby and how much she looks like a little girl in these shots!)

Darth Taten

She may look like a sweet baby -

But she will eat you!!

DJ KK in da House!

DJ KK took some time out from swimming and tickling herself to spin some tunes for us on her new keyboard. Her brand new track "lalala" will hit stores soon!

Tickle me Katie

This is Katie tickling herself, and then falling on the floor laughing over her own tickliness. What a crazy.

Party Time

We all went to Steve's Aunt's party last weekend. Katie's cousins took great care of her, played with her, took her in the moon bounce, on the trampoline, on a walk, Katie couldn't get enough of them! Of course, she did make time to do several dance performances. Her best booty shaking moves, which I had never even seen before, were done to "All my exes live in Texas."

Suma Baby!

My new McWhip

Sadly, I have to report that Alero is no longer with us. She was a great car for a long time. As a matter of fact, I got Alero the day I first met Steve, (or should I say the day Steve first spilled beer all over me). I was definately sad to trade her in. Steve did not share my sentiments at all. We were both excited however, to drive away with our new Elantra. Or, as Katie prefers we call it, our new Big Red Car.
maybe someday we'll actually be able to park it in the garage!

Girly Girl

My little girl (notice I did not say baby)had her first little mani/pedi today. Magically, she was able to sit perfectly still while I painted her nails. Every now and then she rediscovers that her hands and feet have pink paint on them and says "oohh, aahhh." Could she be any cuter?

I love Summer

Nights like tonight are the best of summer. It's light a little later, you get to stay up and take special trips - like to the carnival! Katie rode rides, played games and even became a total Sticky Monster trying to eat cotton candy.
Here we are riding the merry-go-round - I think this was her favorite - it played music, which she danced to!
Flying high with Daddy on the Dumbo ride!
Moon Bounce was a hit!
My old favorite when I was a child - looks like Katie loves the duck game too!