ooooohhh...SHINY!

Well, we managed not to put child locks on the cupboards and drawers in our new house for long enough. I guess we ought to do that soon!

Such a Big Girl!

Katie will be 11 months old on the 7th. I can't believe that in 5 short weeks, she will be 1! This first year of her life has just flown by. She is standing by herself, kneels by herself, likes to put toys away, waves bye-bye, opens and closes her hand to indicate that she wants more to eat, loves to clap to music, has made it very clear that she hates wearing shoes, and has even taken a few short steps.

Any time now!

Here a few pics of Katie at 7 months. She gets around everywhere! She is just about ready to crawl. I took a series of pictures of her going from a sitting position to her "crawl" position. This is just after we got home from camping...and she got just a bit too much sun...but it has toned down quite a bit, now.

Happy 4th!

Here some pics by the pool and some of Katie in her 4th of July outfit! She and our dog, Lola, are best friends!

Summer Fun!

We pulled out the trusty blow-up pool for the kids yesterday. It couldn't have been a more perfect 4th of July. The tempertature didn't past 95 degrees and the sky was blue with white wispy clouds. There was even a slight breeze! What a change to the icky, smoky-filled skies we've had the past week. We barbecued brats (as in bratwurst) and ate a yummy picnic-style dinner complete with an awesome new pasta salad recipe I made, corn on the cob, lemonade. At sunset, we pulled our chairs onto the driveway and enjoyed frosty cold rootbeer floats...well at least Mike and I did...Colin dumped his out right after his first bite. When the sun went down, we lit off our fireworks along with some other of the neighbors. Mike's favorite firework is the Piccolo Pete (or Whistlers as they are called now)...I had to cover Katie's ears for these ones! I love the "flowers" and Colin would take the blanket off his head to watch the fountain fireworks. By the time we got back into the house it was almost 10pm! But is was a relaxing and fun 4th of July.

So here are some pics of the kids enyoying the cool refreshment of the wading pool!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Arizona

Start 'em young!

Katie is starting to make her way around. We left the GameCube controller on the floor the other night and she grabbed it. Guess she really wants to play!

She makes baby food, too?

Yes...I have done it! I made homemade baby food. It really wasn't that difficult. I started with pears and sweet potatoes today. I found these at the Farmer's Market on Saturday so you know it's fresh! You don't even have to cook the pears if they are ripe enough. The sweet potatoes are just baked so they get soft. I pureed the food, put it into ice-cube trays and froze it. Now all I have to do is pull out the individual portion, defrost it and serve delicious, nutritious homemade goodness to Katie!

I found all kinds of neat and yummy recipes on the Internet. I can't wait till she is a little older so I can try some of the "dinner" recipes (like the "Tiny Tot Turkey" and "chicken noodle"). Stone fruit is next to come into season so I can't wait to make up some peaches, apricots, plums. I also want to try avocados. I never thought about feeding her avocados, but I am willing to try it.

This has nothing to do with baby food...well she is sitting in her high chair...but I just had to post this adorable photo of Katie. Where does she get that look from??!!!

She sits alone!!

I caught this picture of Katie sitting up all by herself a couple of days ago. I can't believe that she is already 6 months old! She just wants to be on the move. She can pull herself up from the floor. She is still a bit unsteady and I keep the Boppy behind her just in case she goes backwards.

She is also big enough now for the "Jumperoo." This was Colin's when he was a baby and I dug it out from the garage, gave it a good wash down and now it is Katie's. She loves to be in it...but just for about 15 minutes at a time. Her feet just touch the floor when she sits in it.

Colin plays the "drums"...Katie laughs

Colin was pounding on the desk last night and Katie just started to laugh out loud. He would pound on the desk...she would laugh. When he stopped pounding, she stopped laughing. Too cute!

Here's a Katie Post

Katie is getting so big. She is learning all kinds of new things. She can sit up by herself if she leans foward. She is getting pretty stable if I have the Boppy behind her. She likes to bang her little toys against the ground. She loves to look at books and will make lots of noise when you have the hymn book in front of her and you are singing. She loves our dog, Lola, and lets her lick her hands, feet, and face (although I don't let this go on too long). Katie loves to eat rice cereal, strained pears and applesauce. She hates the swing and bouncer seat and loves to be on the move. She prefers the floor so she can roll around and turn herself around, searching for her toys and grabbing them.

If you look at Katie in a shy, coy way and smile at her, she will do the same to you.

Katie loves to chew on everything...and I mean everything!

Katie loves to look at whatever you are eating and will stare at it and then follow it as you put the said food item into your mouth with a gaze of steel! i.e. I made fresh blackberry cake yesterday for dessert and served it with a scoop of ice cream:

Yummy Toes!

Katie found her toes yesterday. She has been grabbing her feet for the past week, but she started sucking on her toes yesterday. I caught this picture of her. She seems completely delighted to be sucking her toes!