Christmas wrap up

We had a wonderful Christmas.

We still aren't finished, but on a break for now. :)

Kate had her Christmas outfit. We had to distract her to get those shoes on. We went to my office Christmas party at Tom's house. It was fun, and Kate liked playing with the other kids.

I believe this was before we went to my friend Kim's party.

such a daddy's girl!!

We went to my family's Christmas at my aunt and uncle's in Auburn. Here's the little cousins playing together!

Grace and Kate had a lot of fun.

We also traveled to Lexington, and we had to have the right shoes on before we could go..

Goodness gracious, these shoes. Every time I turn around, she's wanting to put shoes on or take shoes off. :)

I could have picked a better photo without the camera strap, but blogger is being very difficult tonight!!! Sorry.

We got together with Mel, Lisa, Jennifer and Melissa in Lexington. Kate had a ton of gifts to open!

She started getting into it more as we went. Everyone was so sweet to do Kate's gifts first!

Whee! Kate decided to make a game of falling back onto aunt Jen. Over, and over and over!

Jen said, "we're bonding!!"

We also saw Lanndyn before coming back to Atlanta, but alas... no photos to share. :(

On Christmas day, we were at home. It was very relaxing. It was a normal day for Kate - she still doesn't know what's going on. (I should enjoy this, right?)
In fact, I even found our little santa in the toilet on Christmas morning!!!

Kate had been taking Santa away from his table all month (we even found him riding in the mini bus with the little people toys), but I didn't expect this. Poor santa.

We did a good bit of napping and TV watching.

My parents joined us for lunch and more present fun! My dad kept telling Kate to give Elmo something to drink.. he was thirsty.

There you go Elmo, drink up.

My parents had to leave to avoid the snow. Snow on Christmas was awesome though!

And now we are in the 3rd snow of the season. When will this stop?! It's really pretty, but I'm ready to leave the house now.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was great for seeing family and having a little time off of work. I forgot how long it had been since I had several days - I've been trying to rebuild my vacation and sick leave for almost 2 years since Kate was born! I'm looking forward to Christmas and New Year's - more holidays!!

James wasn't able to eat anything on Thanksgiving; he had a stomach bug! :( Kate and I went to my parents to visit. Lunch was amazing as always: chicken and dressing casserole, green beans, cream corn, rolls and cranberry sauce.

My mom had a spoon at the table for Kate, which she hasn't gotten the hang of using before. she usually gets frustrated, and we either feed her or we take it away so she can use her hands.

Thanksgiving was different - Dad helped her get food on her spoon, and she ate a ton of cream corn!!

Yummy!!

She finished before we even got started.. typical. She ran to the living room to get my old rocking chair. She brought it to the kitchen so she could rock while we ate. Of course she came back for chocolate cake - the little stinker nearly ate my entire slice! :)

Now Kate is doing really well with her spoon and fork. As I'm learning with everything kid related - you have to wait until they are ready, or it just won't work. I think she's eating baked beans here.

And this was spaghetti.

Penne pasta alfredo! She is good using a fork, too.

Lisa, Mel and Melissa also came to stay with us on the weekend. We watched a lot of football... some of us were happy with the outcome, and some were not. I will say... go dawgs!! :)

Here's Kate showing off her new red coat. Good thing we have it - it's so cold outside now.

Airplane!!

Birthday Party

What a weekend! I have to say that I was exhausted after this birthday party. I know I put it on myself, but it was a ton of work. James helped where he could, but I just like doing things a certain way.
I think Kate really enjoyed it!
Friday started with some snow. A lot of snow!! Kate was home with "pink eye" which she's never actually had, and I don't believe she had it Friday either. She gets a swollen eye (whichever one she is sleeping on) when she gets a cold. It never develops into anything, and usually gets better within the day with no drops. So anyway, she was home, and it was really nice because we got to enjoy the snow from the house. I put her down for a nap, did some sewing, and when she woke up... it was white outside!
she was digging it. dropped her blue frog to take a closer look.

beautiful.

But the snow was not going to keep us down.. we had a party to plan! Saturday, we continued on with the decorating, etc.

cupcakes!! Time consuming, but way worth it. I made white cake with strawberry cream cheese icing (the same icing from my friend Alicia's shower that I made). That girl Paula Deen.. she knows what she's doing with that icing recipe.

Kate had to have her own cake.

she had a valentine's tree on her birthday.

Aunt Jen sent beautiful flowers!

I made Kate a pin to wear on her clothes, that way she would still be wearing something special for her birthday no matter what outfit (which turned out to be a good idea).

Posing with daddy!

Checking out the cake with mom.

so here's the trouble with the dress. It was a little more form fitting than she was used to. Maybe it was a tad too small? I'm not sure. But she dropped this orange ring, and tried to get it.. and fell to the floor.

Insert thumb: remain on floor. She wouldn't move!!

It was just like that story my mom was telling me about dressing up the cats in doll clothes when i was little.. they wouldn't move either (what torture)!! Well she wasn't telling that story because of Kate, but it's funny now that I'm putting the 2 together.

I had to take her out of the dress and tights. Oh well!! ;)

Outfit #2 was just as pink and more comfy. Pin still on.

We sang and put the cake in front of Kate. As I guessed, she freaked when she got the icing on her hands (notice she is still holding her golf ball, too).

We had to take her out of the chair to stop the crying, and then we just did what any normal parent would do - forced the cake in by spoon.

she really like it! She ate her whole piece of cake. Yea for birthday cake!

My Mom and Dad and James's Dad and Lisa and sister Melissa were all there to party.

I am very sad that James' mom and Gail were not able to come. Not to worry Grandmamma Kathy and Grandmamma Gail!! We will see you soon, and this little valentine can party again!

Kate had lots of fun with her gifts. She loved them all!

Yehaw!! tissue paper.

We had so much fun.

And then we were exhausted..

Happy Birthday Kate!!