Baby Katie Updates

Play Ball!

2009-06-07T14:25:00.000-04:00

Katie's Gymnastics Show!

2009-06-07T14:14:00.002-04:00

Katie gets her certificate!

Getting fancy on the balance beam

Hi fiving Daddy after a trick

"sticking" her landing

Completing her balance beam routine with her teacher

Doing her floor routine with her other teacher

Fun Weekend!

2009-06-07T14:06:00.002-04:00

We had a lot of fun this weekend, eating crabs with freinds and picking strawberries at larriland! Katie was much more fascinated with smashing the crabs, not so much eating them. The strawberries, on the other hand, she couldnt' get enough of!

Baby Rock Star

2009-04-07T20:07:00.003-04:00

Tonight when I got home from work, we had a dance party! Katie started by playing some tunes, then broke it down, crazy baby style. The fashion, by the way, is ENTIRELY her doing.

This sweet baby? Act totally crazy? no way...

Katie doing her pumped up version of twinkle twinkle. I wish I had it on tape!

Rock ON!

Will's Birthday Party

2009-04-05T20:50:00.002-04:00

Katie and Will chowing down on cupcakes!
Katie trying to dance/jump with Will, he's just not that interested!

The Baby Rave!

Happy Birthday Will!

In the Meantime...

2009-04-05T20:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, yes it's been a long time. So I thought I'd post some highlights of what KK has been up to in the last two months.

Scaring people with her teeth (she thinks these are hilarious!)

Celebrating G.G.'s birthday!

Visiting Florida and the beach for the first time! She did great on the plane, although she did eat no less than 30 pieces of gum during the 2 hour flight. She LOVED the beach too!

Visiting Great Grandma in FL!

Joy riding in her new Jeep!

Katie Eats a B-day cupcake!

2009-02-04T18:53:00.004-05:00

She did not enjoy this nearly as much as she thought she would after watching Frank do it.

Big mouth uncle and niece!!

She eats just like frank and steve!

It's so YUMMY, it's scary!!

Katie's Christmas

2009-01-09T08:29:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful holiday this year, Katie is almost 3, and was VERY into santa claus. She sat on his lap at the mall and asked for a camera and a scooter. She must have been a very good girl, b/c she got both! Here are some pics from Christmas morning...

Her fav color...ORANGE!
This is the first thing Katie did when she came downstairs...taking off on the scooter!

Playing her new marble game with dada.

The three of us!

Recent Fun

2008-12-12T08:24:00.003-05:00

I went out shopping on black friday (yes I was at kohls at 4 am) (and stood in line at toys'r'us) and one of things I got was new throw blankets, which came wrapped in what Katie thought resembled the masks the doctors at the "pospital" were wearing when she went in for her stitches. So, she wanted to wear it too, and operate on Steve and I (over and over again!)
Here's Dr. K in action:

Dr or Bank robber? I'm hoping Dr.

Having the appropriate surgical instruments is key...

Katie loves when I hold out the camera and take pictures of us. She always tries to mess with my hair right before the flash goes off.

I may live in the middle of nowhere, but I really do love the view. Here's a storm rolling in from my backyard.

Decorating the tree

2008-12-07T09:34:00.001-05:00

Last night, after what we will not refer to as "the crayons in the dryer" incident of 2008-we finished decorating the christmas tree. [FYI- 4 crayons in Katie's pocket=completed ruined load of laundry which happened to include all of Katie's winter coats.]

YUM!! Dada's vegetable soup for dinner-I had to include this pick b/c man her mouth is huge!! She ate 2 bowls of soup!
Santa came by on the fire engine! Katie was thrilled!

Here's the girl in front of the tree ready to go out to see Santa. She hung a total of three ornaments and then lost interest, along with her dada.

The finished Tree!

Tree Time

2008-12-01T20:16:00.002-05:00

This past weekend we went to cut down our christmas tree. Katie searched and searched and found the perfect tree. We had a lot of fun on the farm.

Snowman Katie..what a cutie!

Funny faces from dada and Katie

Cracking up running through the trees

We found the perfect one! Get to chopping dada!

Katie's boo boo

2008-12-01T20:08:00.002-05:00

Katie had her first real trip to the ER two weeks ago. It was horrible for her and even worse for me. She was climbing a stool and fell down, bitting a huge chunk out of her lip. She needed three stitches in her lip, and she was such a brave little girl at the "pospital" as she calls it. She told the doctors that she didn't want them to tie a bow on her face. Anyway, just for the record, here are some shots that show of the injury, and also her stinking cute stink eye poses.

Mischevious stink eye version...

Singing...as you can see she had a nasty bruise on her chin too.

super serious stink eye mode.

Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T19:59:00.002-05:00

We had the family over to our house again this year for thanksgiving and a good time was had by all. Poor Tate wasn't feeling that well, and went to lie down right when we sat down to eat dinner. But before that, even with a fever, she was being a her goofy self. Here are some pics from the day...

Katie with Ganny and Aunt Melissa
Everyone sitting down getting ready to chow down-the food was delicious!!

Frankie in Katie's little purple chair

Katie so happy right before a walk with Aunt Melissa!

Fun Fall Day

2008-10-23T20:02:00.002-04:00

Katie loves hanging out with Frankie, Lauren and "sister" Kayla. Here are some great shots from outside last weekend on a beautiful fall day. two are pretty unique-usually I'm behind the camera, not in the picture, and we actually got both kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time-very difficult!

Greenhouse

2008-10-23T19:56:00.003-04:00

It's taken a while, but our house is finally in color!! at least the kitchen, living room, foyer and hallways. and the color of the day-Green!!! Because there is no break at all in the wall between the kitched and living room, they had to be the same color. Red would be too much of a dark color. (I do love a red kitchen though-esp. Frank's hooker lipstick red!) Tan, toupe or some other shade of neutral wouldn't do. 1. I love color, 2. that would just be way to much brown with the maple cabinets and hardwoods. So, go green!! I think it turned out well, and am happy to finally have color in my house again! Now, what do do with the bedrooms....

Random Recent Cuteness

2008-10-14T20:21:00.002-04:00

Katie and Kayla playing in the sand boat

Katie showing off her sculptural artwork

Katie's big beautiful smile

The camera gets to wear the silly glasses,
and then it's Katie's turn

They are too Funny!

2008-09-26T10:49:00.002-04:00

Katie and Will hung out a bit ago, and I am super slow putting pictures up. Katie is having issues sharing her toys, hence two of them in the car and the compelely hilarious face at Will using her keyboard. Appearently she is also a bit of a tattle tale. Note her finger pointing (there was yelling that went with it) that Will is putting his fingers in the dip, which Katie is not allowed to do. She also ratted him out when he tried to take pens of my desk.

Riding the Rails

2008-09-26T10:40:00.003-04:00

Katie has been asking to pick up daddy from the train station, so we headed down to Point of Rocks last Friday to watch the train come in. Katie was all good until the train whistled and scared the crap out of her! After that she WOULD NOT let go of Steve.

APPLES!

2008-09-26T10:22:00.002-04:00

I love the fall, one of the best parts is apple season at Larriland! Every weekend, we go to pick apples. This past weekend, we got empires, Steve's fav.

Katie showing steve which ones to pick

Katie chowin' down! She usually eats at least two apples per picking session!

Cousins

2008-08-19T10:32:00.001-04:00

Katie's cousins are always so good to her, playing with her and answering to her every whim. She just loves when she gets a chance to hang out with them!

It was Ms. Katie in the kitchen with the Knife

2008-08-19T10:23:00.004-04:00

Katie loves to be a momma. She carefully feeds, changes and bathes her baby dolls and stuffed animals. But most importantly, she puts them to bed. She will use anything she can find, dishtowels, dryer sheets, tissues, etc. to put her animals to "night night." We find night-nighted babies and animals all over the house, and it is always hilarious because she covers them compeletly, resulting in a very dead body/crime scene look. It was just too funny to me, when we walked in the kitchen to find this scene:

Clearly, it was Ms. Katie in the kitchen with the knife.

GoofBalls

2008-08-19T10:17:00.000-04:00

Cheerleader

2008-08-08T09:48:00.002-04:00

We love Football!

2008-08-08T07:39:00.001-04:00

Go Ravens!! Here we are, dressed up for the first time this season to watch the Ravens first pre-season game.

2008-07-30T18:45:00.002-04:00

I just got a flip video. I LOVE it. it's the size of an ipod, just a bit thicker, so it's super easy to carry everywhere, and the best part - it takes batteries, I don't have to worry about charging it! So, I've had it for 30 minutes, here is Katie's first video. She loves to sing.

Katie Loves a Carnival

2008-07-29T12:09:00.002-04:00

Let me start by saying that whenever I tell Katie that I have to go to work, she asks "why?" then I tell her to earn money. And then she replies "for the rides?" The girl is all about carnivals this year, and going on so many rides all by herself. And she doesn't just do the actual riding by herself. She holds her tickets, in line, by herself. She hands them in, and gets onto the ride by herself, and then she gets off and comes out the exit gate by herself. I can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be. Speaking of which, you have to be 38" to ride the big swings, and they have that little measurement bar - well Katie passed with flying colors, but mom and dad weren't quite ready to let her on that ride by herself yet. Here are some she did go on:

She often looks terrified while the ride is in progress, but always asks for more, so that must be her this is really fun face!

She also played the duckie game, the fish bowl game (future post to come on that), and the water gun race game. Which she won. And picked a stuffed spiderman as her prize. Who now keeps her safe from the monsters when she goes to sleep!

Home Brew

2008-07-29T12:01:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, Steve, frank, and basically every other guy they know, are brewing their own beer. So, here's Frank and Katie, each trying their fav beverages - Beer and Apple Juice (from a big girl cup of course. She only tolerates sippy cups in the car anymore)

Little Gym, Last Time

2008-06-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

Katie graduated from her little gym class this past weekend. She got a medal and a certificate, which she really liked. Here are some pics of her enjoying her last day there.

Momma Katie

2008-06-18T10:07:00.001-04:00

Katie loves being a momma to Will. She pushed him all around, and made sure he had a doll to ride with, and some snacks. They are too cute!

Potty Training

2008-05-29T19:57:00.002-04:00

Katie is officially in big girl panties!! She is doing so well with potty training, she basically trained herself. Isn't this the cutest little butt ever?

This is our new nighttime routine, big girl style-which means doing everything "self"

This is just too good a smile not to share!

Update

2008-05-29T19:45:00.002-04:00

I know, I know it has been pretty few and far between on the posts here. what I hoped was a temporary misplacement of my memory card (and all 808 pictures on it) seems to be permanent. I finally got a new card and have some new pics of girly.

Climbing on the jungle gym

Loving on her Daddy

Putting herself down for bed outside. (She went inside, got her pillows and stuffed animals, set up her bed and told us she was going night night outstide!)

It's that time

2008-05-06T20:27:00.002-04:00

Katie has finally done it. She been thinking about it and talking about it for weeks now, but yesturday she actually did it. She put her pee-pees in the potty!! That's right, and just a day later the girl is on her way to being potty trained (at least the pee-pee side)! Last night she tried some hot salsa, and ended up drinking a ton of fluids, so we hung out in the bathroom and waited. She told me her pee-pee was ready to come out, sat on the potty and did her business. Of course we did all the fan-fare, which she loved. This morning when she woke up she told Steve that she needed to go and wanted to use the potty. Then, at daycare, she held it all the way to the bathroom with her teacher escorting her and made it to the potty. Then tonight, twice she told me she needed to go. We are very excited, and are happily looking forward to no more diapers in the not to distant future!

Full disclosure: she also went #2 tonight, and when asked if she wanted to go to the potty she replied "no, I'll put it in my diaper this time."

Farm Visit

2008-04-14T19:55:00.002-04:00

Katie loves to go check out the "hebos" up close and personal when we visit Ganny and Gandaddy's house. There are mamas and babies and she always asks to visit, despite getting a little scared sometimes (those horses are huge, I don't blame her!!)

My Birthday

2008-04-14T19:51:00.001-04:00

Mama turns 28! I know, it's SCARY!!!

Baby Face

2008-04-14T19:42:00.001-04:00

For the files

2008-03-14T20:47:00.001-04:00

I have to save this picture to whip it out when she's a teenager and refuses to clean her room. I'll be able to say, "see Katie, it used to bring you so much joy to help your momma clean!"

Don't Ask

2008-03-14T20:42:00.002-04:00

What happens when you ask a toddler to go get a tissue and blow her nose?

You walk into the bathroom to find this -

Said runny-nosed child holding entire roll of toilet paper.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma!

2008-03-14T11:56:00.002-04:00

A couple of pics from my recent weekend away to sunny, wonderfully warm Florida to help celebrate my Grandmother's birthday. It was a great time, and needless to say, the train platform was extra sucky Monday morning.

My Girl

2008-03-14T11:44:00.002-04:00

Every night, Katie chooses a book to read before bed. See below for a picture of what she choose last night. I couldn't talk her out of it either. So, into her room she marched, carrying the book that's 1/2 as long as she is, plopped down by her bed and preceeded to "read" the book "by self." And she did too. When she flipped to the answer key section, with all the bubbles of the correct answers filled in she exclaimed "Momma, Jelly beans!! Jelly beans in the book!" "one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, ten Jelly beans!!" (for some reason four and five are mysterisouly left out most times when she tries to count to ten).

Note again, that when given the choice of what she wants to wear, (to bed or out, it makes no difference) she always picks her halloween stuff. And it's not just that she requests it by name. She goes into her draw, pulls out the shirt she wants, and tells me "I wear that one Momma!" And like I said, it's always a halloween shirt.

Practice

2008-03-01T21:35:00.002-05:00

Katie wasn't that into the easter egg hunt last year. This year, we were figuring she would enjoy hunting eggs. Well, she does. Ganny made her a "practice" hunt at our house, and she kept asking for Pam to "hide again! hide again!"

Here she is desperatly trying to cover her eyes and wait a minute while the eggs are hidden and rehidden.

She's got one! Whenever she would spot an egg, she'd just let out this excited, adorable giggle and run to pick it up.

Looks like we'll be having quite a few easter egg hunts this season!

Watching her boyfriend, Harry Potter

2008-03-01T16:31:00.002-05:00

Yesturday Katie told me she had a crush on Harry Potter. She really likes to watch the movies in 10-15 minute bits before bed each night. She carefully selects what she will wear and hold. This is her favorite - halloween pjs, santa hat, "wand" and doggie.

Daddy's Valentine

2008-02-17T09:33:00.002-05:00

Katie was Daddy's valentine this year, and very much enjoyed the chocolates and teddy bear Steve go for her. Here she is enjoying the chocolates - all at once of course.

Superbowl at Ang's

2008-02-17T09:27:00.002-05:00

How did Frankie end up with all the babies?
This is the exent of Steve hanging out with Katie during the superbowl.

Katie's Favorite

2008-02-17T09:02:00.003-05:00

Kaite LOVES Orange Julius. Luckily for us, anything that's a smoothie is a "julie" to her. So we make "julies" for Katie alot, and of course she has to help. The funniest part is how she sneaks bites at every step, and thinks she being really slick.

Happy Birthday Katie!

2008-02-01T11:41:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Katie turned 2! Of course, she celebrated in style at the Little Gym. Since it was her party, I let her pick what she wanted to wear. What did she choose? Well that's a no-brainer. Halloween shirt all the way! Here are some pics from her party.

Here, her new BFF Nathan is telling her how to blow out the candles! He also cleared her plate away for her when she was done, at got very mad at his mom when she said it was time to go b/c "I'm talking to Katie!!" (Also,notice how Katie's outfit matches the cake - purple and orange, because orange is her favorite color!)

Here's everyone bouncing around on the airmat with bubbles -

or as James put it "it's like a rave-for babies!"

Here's Katie doing her favorite thing - hanging! She will even start singing counting crows "hanging around!" She cracks me up.

Katie, who had been placing red plastic cups on her head and saying "happy birday" for weeks, absolutely loved having a real party hat to wear all weekend!

So, all in all, it was a great birthday for her and now she's officially not my baby girl anymore. She's a big girl who does everything "self." *sniff sniff*

Helper

2008-01-19T14:26:00.000-05:00

Everything we do these days, Katie says "I help too!" Here she is helping shovel the snow. She was not pleased when I told her she had to come inside because it was getting dark.

"Campy Bed"

2008-01-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

At christmas, Katie was enomored with her cousin Samantha's canopy bed. I decided to look around for a canopy bed for the tot bot and found a great, inexpensive, princess toddler bed with canopy. It was supposed to be for her big 2 at the end of the month, but she was so thrilled with it when it arrived, Steve put it together for her right away. And, man does she love her "campy bed." As soon as it was made, she flopped on it and said " I go night night in campy bed." No baba, no nothing, just give her the blankets and Lee and she was out. It's been like that for the last three days. I can't believe how much she loves the bed and doesn't even care that she doesn't get her night night baba or sleep in her crib anymore. I think I miss the rocking her and feeding her the bottle more than she does!

Happy Birthday Piper!

2008-01-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

Piper turned one, and we all went up to Jess's beautiful new house in H-town to help celebrate. As you can see, all the kiddies had a great time. I think Katie enjoys being the oldest and the biggest though. She'll have to watch out when she's not!

Growing Up

2008-01-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight as we were sitting down to dinner, I walked over to the table with my salad and sat next to Katie, who already had her plate of food. Steve asked me from the kitchen if I had a fork already. I said yes, and Katie shouted " I have a fork too Mama."

She's getting so good at talking!

MINE!

2008-01-04T18:48:00.000-05:00

Katie had a friend come over tonight - Baby Will! While she was very excited to have him, we have discovered that while Katie may be good at sharing in general, when it comes to "her" toys, it's a whole different ball game. She snatched her push toy and her soccer ball right out of his hands! Clearly we need to have other kids over more often to get her used to other poeple using her toys. But of course, she still loves him, and wants to kiss and love on him. Here are some of the cute "friendly" Katie photos.

Fort Taten

2008-01-04T18:39:00.000-05:00

Tonight Steve built Katie her first fort. She loved it! In, out, jumping around, Baby Doll invitations, blankets on, she was having a ball!

Resolutions

2008-01-03T13:01:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping this way I may actually keep up with some of my resolutions if I write them here for all the read. And I'll also have more to write about as I provide updates of my amazing progress, right? That's exactly how this whole posting on my resolutions will go, I'm sure. So here they are in no particular order:

1. Bringing sexy back (my gym buddy Colleen's favorite phrase) Which is to say fit into some college cloths before the year's out.

2. Take Katie to do something new every month. I voted for iceskating this month, but was overrulled by the "experts" that say she is too young. So, January's activity will be one of those updates I'll be able to provide.

3. Stick to a budget, and generally avood running up any more credit card debt. With Katie starting a new pre-school program, this will be imperative otherwise we will have no money for number 4.

4. Take a a family vacation for a whole week this summer. We have not been on such a vacation since our Vegas honeymoon, so watch out beach - here we come!

New Bath Toys

2007-12-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

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

New Camera

2007-12-26T11:29:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-26T11:20:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-12-26T11:15:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-28T13:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-14T17:57:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

The look on her face says it all.

Trick or Treat

2007-11-01T20:07:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-26T10:22:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-26T08:11:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-17T10:27:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-05T20:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-05T20:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-14T21:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-05T17:46:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-17T14:19:00.000-04:00

She may look like a sweet baby -

But she will eat you!!

DJ KK in da House!

2007-08-08T15:11:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-06T21:16:00.000-04:00

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

Party Time

2007-07-25T11:40:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-18T15:14:00.001-04:00

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

2007-07-18T15:09:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-11T21:30:00.000-04:00

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!

visit to Nambikia (almost)

2007-07-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

Katie, Steve and I traveled to the Poconos this past weekend. Besides the trip up being a diasterous 5 hours long, kicked off by us being pulled over, once we got there it was great. Katie got to see/entertain everybody and enjoy the beach and lake. Here are just a few of my favorite beach baby shots.

A Fourth BBQ

2007-07-11T10:48:00.000-04:00

We all had a great time at the Stoner's BBQ for the fourth of July. Katie experienced her first fireworks, which she watched with complete fascination and total horror. She was scared while they were going on, but asked for more boom-booms immediatly after they stopped.

Kelly was a hit giving Katie some of her favorite dessert - whip cream and chocolate. I love the totally messy face with the "who me?" expression.

A rare shot of all three of us together.

Katie finally got to meet Mason, and they enjoyed a game of back and forth sharing of golf balls tied to strings.

Say Cheese

2007-06-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

Katie's "I'm hamming it up for the camera" face.

The Musical Stylings of Baby Katie

2007-06-22T08:47:00.000-04:00

Whenever Steve gets his guitar out, or when we go to Angie's (she has the xylophone), we get the pleasure of listening to the musical stylings of Baby Katie.

The FIsh

2007-06-20T11:34:00.000-04:00

Who knew, but Katie is actually a fish. That's right, and fish do not like to be out of water. That pretty much sums up Father's day. We went over to our friends, Mark & Sheri's house for a BBQ and they have a pool. It didn't matter to Katie that her lips were purple and she was shaking, nor did it matter to her when she lost her balance and fell completely under water, she DID NOT want to get out of the pool!

Working at the Carwash

2007-06-14T09:25:00.000-04:00

One of the many advantages of our new house, Steve can wash cars in the driveway. Katie must help of course. Thanks to her, that bumper is extra clean. (the entire time Steve spent washing the whole car, Katie spent washing a 2 foot area of the bumper)

At one point, I looked over and Katie had removed a huge glob of suds and placed them directly over her mouth. That must have tasted fabulous!

Bath Crayons

2007-05-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

Katie loves her new bathtime toy - colored soap crayons. She war paints her face, uses them like lipstick, colors on momma and dada and the bathtub. And somewhere else that caused Steve to shout a sentance he never thought he'd say - Stop drawing on your vagina!

Family Tradition

2007-05-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

"If I drink milk and play all night long - it's just a family tradition"

Summer- It's Official

2007-05-30T21:30:00.001-04:00

Kaite's first freeze pops. She ate hers and then commandeered mine. Let the summertime begin!

Memorial Day

2007-05-30T21:12:00.000-04:00

We visited DE for a Memorial Day picnic at my Aunt Carol's house.Lots of little girls, sandbox, pool and swingset made for a great time for Katie, and Steve and I had a good time visiting with everyone we don't see often. We also went by Ganny Pam's, where Katie got to hang out with her new crush - Aaa'eee.

Katie the Cable Guy

2007-05-18T21:50:00.001-04:00

It's official, we have finally doubled our mortgage payment! That's right, we bought the house and moved in! It's been a busy week since, but very exctiting. I still can't believe I live here. More pictures and adventures to come...

Just Because

2007-05-04T13:32:00.000-04:00

Just because she's so cute!

My New Ride

2007-04-30T18:27:00.000-04:00

Katie got her first big wheel this weekend. She can't quite get the whole pedaling thing yet, but as you can see, it seems like we have quite the daredevil on our hands. These shots are just a few of her maneuvers.

Melmo

2007-04-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

Katie was very excited that it was finally warm enough for her to wear the Melmo (aka Elmo) outfit that's been hanging on her closet door for so long! She also has pampers this week, which have elmo on them, and she wants to kiss the diaper before she puts in on now!

I can't do my Work!

2007-04-20T14:53:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how much a child will observe you and try to duplicate what she sees. Most of the time, you don't even realize she is carefully studying you, watching, learning, and most importantly, remebering. When we first sat Katie in the desk chair, immedialty she started typing. Then after a couple seconds she reached over, put her hand on the mouse and tapped her fingers a few times. Then she went back to typing. She's brilliant!

Too Funny, Really

2007-04-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

For some reason, Katie's shirt in these pictures cracks me up. Probably way more than it reasonable should. But I can't help it. I had to buy it (full price, which I try not to do, I mean 10+ bucks for tiny baby t-shirt, come on people)and then I have to laugh when she wears it. Little one thinks she's just too funny for Momma. I especially love the little easter peeps that are running across the back of the shirt. Sorry you can't see them here, they are really too funny.

Can They Really Be Ahead of Schedule?

2007-04-13T21:51:00.000-04:00

We recently received notification from our builder that we will be closing on our new house in three and a half weeks, which is ahead of schedule. Let the packing begin - again!

Bad Grass, Good Grass

2007-04-11T17:44:00.000-04:00

I have to wonder, what will she think of tinsel?

Much Better than Last Year's Easter Costume

2007-04-07T14:12:00.000-04:00

Last year at Easter, we had Katie dress in a head to toe bunny costume. She HATED it. This year, she kind of likes the furry, fuzzy ears. She wore them on her way to see our new house on Friday. Here's what it's looking like now. Inside, we also have coutnertops, doors, fireplace and mantel, moldings, tubs and toilets, and hardwoods! We will probably get to move in before the end of May. Can't believe it! What I am most excited about is that we will have all this grass for Katie to go out and play in everyday! She loves going outside, she would stay out all day and night if we let her. It's hard for her to go out and play at the apartment, so the yard for Katie to play in is going to be the best part (OK and maybe also the whirlpool tub!)

Steve's Family Easter

2007-04-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

We celebrated an early easter at Aunt Susan's house this past weekend. Katie had fun walking everywhere, even though she did get a little tired and therefore, whiney. But Ganny Pam, um I mean, the easter bunny, got her a really really big ball, which she rolled around all over, and acted all big and tough as she tried to lift and throw it (she managaged it!)

Daddy's Girl

2007-03-27T19:02:00.000-04:00

what a hard day at work! Time for my bath and warm milk bottle!