January... or June?

OK, so today wasn't quite as warm as summer, but it sure felt like it! Pittsburgh was unseasonably warm, reaching a high of 65 at lunch today. Our family celebrated with a quick walk to the park. Katherine got to go on the swing for the first time in several months. As you can see, she was a huge fan:

You can also check out the awesome stroller that we're testing for 4Moms-- the new Origami. It's the world's first power-folding stroller, with pretty much every feature a parent could ever want. Katherine thinks it's pretty great too:

Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!

Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!!

We hope this year is filled with happy memories... don't forget to enjoy the ride!!

Little Miss-chief

Katherine has developed quite the knack for finding trouble. One of her favorite games is to crawl from any point on the first floor of our house to the steps as quickly as she can. She squeals with delight as we chase after her as she climbs the stairs. She's amazingly fast, and we can't turn around for even 10 seconds without her sneaking off!

To keep her safe (and us sane) we got a gate for the bottom of our stairs. Here's what Katherine thinks of it:

Here, we set Katherine down in the living room as we brought some groceries into the house. In less than a minute she managed to find this box of crackers and wasted no time helping herself:

Katherine sure keeps us on our toes! Luckily for her, she's so cute we really can't get mad. With a face like this, she's as good at getting out of trouble as she is at getting into it:

Happy 27th Birthday Uncle Tom!

Here's a picture of Uncle Tom holding Katherine exactly 10 months ago-- the day after she was born!

Katherine (and Mommy and Daddy) are so proud of Uncle Tom for the cool houses he fixes, and we're very thankful that he's living in Pittsburgh (not only because he helps us fix stuff around our house too!).

Many blessings and happiness to Uncle Tom today and always!

Terrific Ten Months! (and Happy Hundredth Post!)

Time really does fly-- Not only is today Katherine's 10 month birthday, this also marks our 100th blog post!

Well they certainly do not come any cuter! Katherine has been so much fun to watch these past 10 months and we're sure the next million (give or take a few) will be just as amazing. Katherine is sure full of personality, and as you can see in the picture above, her mischievous side is just emerging. :-) 

Katherine recently noticed Mommy and Daddy blowing out some candles, and quickly tried copying us. If she keeps up her practicing, maybe she'll even blow out her first birthday candle!! It's hard to believe her first birthday is right around the corner... Mommy and Daddy are already brainstorming party ideas. Mommy wants pink cupcakes galore, and Daddy wants to hire penguins to serve drinks.... we'll see how it all turns out! One thing we're sure of is that the guest of honor is sure to be as cute as can be!

Sew Pooped

Mommy has been working very hard lately on making some super pooper holders (a.k.a. diapers). We are just so proud of her and all that she has been accomplishing lately. With her new business, her job with nutrition education, and now making reusable diapers for Katherine's next size of diaper! Speaking of super, she sure is a super mom!

Here's Looking at "ZOO" Kid

That's right! On our Martin Luther King day off, we ventured the wild outdoors to go to the zoo. Grambie and Grand-pop had given Katherine a season pass to the zoo this year and we were fairly eager to see how Katherine would take to the whole experience. Turns out, she loves it! There is no telling what she thinks these creatures are, but she certainly found them to be intriguing. Here are a few pictures from our visit:

So, this is actually not from the zoo... but it's super cute! Our little ballerina eater!

and we're off!

Kat... and cat

Thanks again Grambie!

Isn't it ironic? eating animal crackers...

Mommy's favorite

Katherine was a bit confused by the elephant though

Even elephants can yawn

Katherine did come around to the elephants though.. whew

Looking at some monkeys. Monkeys not shown.

A beautiful peacock

Katherine certainly thought so

Lunch break!

It's hard to see, but that white thing in the top right corner is a penguin.

As you might imagine, the fish were especially confusing

Just how do they float like that...?

Are they not the most beautiful girls ever?

of course the usual play toys were around...

Including leaves!

Daddy just loves otters. I mean aren't they cute?

By the end of the day though, she was just pooped!

New Camera = More Pictures!

Earlier today a rather exciting package arrived in the mail - a new camera! Immediately after it arrived Daddy went ahead and dressed Katherine up and took close to 400 pictures with it! Rather than rave about all of the awesome features, how about we just skip to the results:

If you can believe it, she was shaking her hand quite vigorously during this photo

She's on the move!

We were even able to get a couple photos of her teeth

Isn't she just adorable?

Glamour shot!

Moving Up

Katherine reached the first milestone that we actually aren't super thrilled about: she's officially learned to climb the stairs!

Daddy and Mommy were playing with Katherine this afternoon, allowing her to crawl around the first floor. She pulled herself up on the first step (as she's done many times before), and looked over at us. Suddenly, she figured out exactly what she wanted to do, and for no reason apparent to us she started giggling hysterically. We laughed as she laughed, and didn't think much of it.

A minute later we looked over again and she had her hands on the second step, and was pulling her little body up behind her. Mommy ran over quickly and spotted her as she started crawling, step by step up the stairs. She paused several times to look up at Mommy and giggle-- apparently very proud of herself.

Here's a clip of Katherine showing off her new skills:

Here comes trouble!! :-D