So much to be Thankful For.

Our Thanksgiving post is long belated, but we realize it doesn't have to be a national holiday to celebrate our gratitude.

We're extremely thankful for our family-- our little family, as well as the tremendous support we receive from our extended family. We're also thankful for having a safe home. We have plenty of food and so many luxuries. We have good health and most importantly, we have our faith.

We certainly enjoyed our Thanksgiving celebration. Katherine sampled all the traditional foods. Her favorite was mashed potatoes with gravy, with cranberries as a close second.

We pray your family also had a great Thanksgiving, and we look forward to continuing to celebrate family during this holiday season!

Eight is Great!

It's hard to believe that Katherine is 8 months old today!! To celebrate, she committed to crawling with her belly off the floor all day! 

When putting Katherine in her PJ's for bed, we remembered looking at these clothes a couple months ago thinking "she'll never be that big at 9 months old." Now her 9 month clothes are actually already tight on her, and she mostly wears 9-12 month clothes! 

One of Katherine's favorite things to do right now is to dance. We turn on the "toddler" Pandora station, and she starts bouncing up and down. She also loves it when we dance around the room with her. Here are some pictures of her snuggling and dancing with Daddy and Mommy:

Happy Birthday Opa!!!

Katherine sends Texas sized hugs to Opa on his birthday! We wish we could be with you to celebrate your special day, but know you're in our thoughts and prayers! Just a couple more weeks 'till we get to see you for Christmas, and you can see how excited Katherine is to give you a great big hug:

Wonder-Fall

Over the last week or so we've been lucky to enjoy relatively warm, clear weather, which has helped us savor every moment of fall. The skies have been clear and sunny, and since Mommy gets off of work pretty early we've been able to take a couple afternoon trips to the park before it gets dark.

Katherine is amazed by the leaves and trees. She demanded that Mommy put her down and let her "walk" (holding onto Mommy's fingers) and sat playing in the leaves for close to an hour this Monday. She giggled as they crunched and loved it when we threw leaves up in the air at her.

Here you can see the beauty of her wonder. It's such a blessing to see a child explore Fall for the first time. Katherine's enthusiasm is contagious and helps fill our days with joy:

Splish Splash!

Over the last few weeks we've officially moved Katherine to the big bath tub instead of her infant tub. She loves to splash around and chase her duck! Here she is making a splash:

Where'd we go??

If it seems like we left our blog and went out of town for awhile, it's because we did!!

We recently got back from a wonderful trip to San Antonio, visiting Oma, Opa, Aunt Mary Beth and Casey. Our trip was super relaxing (Mommy and Daddy both got to sleep in almost every day thanks to some great babysitting :-D ), delicious (we got to fill up on Kolaches, Mexican food, BBQ and our favorite Texan treats), and fun!

Here are some highlights:

Playing in the Pumpkin Patch:

Sweet and Spooky Halloween treats:

Dogs!!! (A definite favorite for Katherine on the trip):

All dressed up for Halloween:

Sharing lots of snuggles with Oma and Opa:

Every moment of the trip was absolutely perfect, but without a doubt the best part was the company! We were so blessed to be able to visit our Texas family, and we can't wait to see them again soon!!!

Busy Day

Katherine is clearly feeling much better today-- she hit three developmental milestones in one day! This morning while getting ready, Katherine rocked back and forth on her hands and knees and right onto her bum. This was one of the first times we've seen her get into the sitting position from laying down on her own.
Next, when Daddy went in to check on Katherine after her morning nap he found her standing up after pulling herself up on the side of her crib:

Finally, while our running some errands over Mommy's lunch hour, Katherine started waving to people in the store. She consistently waved to people at least four times this afternoon!

Katherine doesn't quite seem ready to perform these tasks consistently (at least not consistently enough that we've caught them all on camera), but we're super proud of her-- and she smiles and giggles showing how proud she is of herself! All her hard work has her tuckered out, and hopefully we'll all sleep well tonight!