The Blue Bayou

Our Beautiful Girls!

2012-01-27T16:39:00.001-08:00

We just got back from a photo shoot with the girls. Here are some of our favorites.

Other Christmas Pictures

2011-12-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Below are some pictures that didn't quite fit into my last few postings but they are from this past week.
Dedushka and Grammalene gave Maggie a really cool doorway jumper. It comes with a musical mat so when Maggie jumps she activates different songs. She is a little too young to jump in it but she loves to hang out in it and chew on her toys..

Dedushka and Grammalene gave Kate a really cool marble race set. Kate loves to build new raceways and watch her marbles go!

One exciting event that happened on Christmas was that Maggie figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy! For the past week she has been able to roll from her tummy to her back but now she can go both directions. You can tell she is really proud of herself when she does it!

What a happy girl!

Kate received this adorable coat from Grammalene and Deushka. She loves it and she looks so cute and warm wearing it. Thanks for the great gifts!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year despite the fact that Will had to work the closing shift at the hospital. Thankfully we got Christmas morning with him!!! This year we really hyped the whole Santa thing and Kate loved every minute of it! We made sure to leave some cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Kate was very excited to open so many presents. She was very good at ripping off all of the wrapping paper! Sisters!

Kate was not thrilled to have Maggie grab onto her thumb.

Maggie loved watching her new toy since it makes a lot of loud sounds.

Gramma and Papa gave Kate a cool Minnie Mouse rolling suitcase. Kate was rolling it all around the house and putting her toys inside.

One family tradition that I want to keep up with my kids is to make a birthday cake for Jesus. We used to decorate one every year as kids and I loved it! I was very excited to see Kate get so into it too! She did a great job loading the cake up with lots of candy!

Time for candles! Singing Happy Birthday Jesus!

Gramma and Maggie

Uncle Daniel, cousin Chloe and Kate wrestling. Kate kept on tackling Chloe. It was very funny to watch. Family!

Agee Christmas

2011-12-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

On December 23 we celebrated Christmas with the Agee side of the family. I got Kate and Maggie all dressed up for the occasion. They are too cute!

Kate and Maggie love their Gigi (Great Grandma Agee)!

For the past 3 years we have had cousin Chloe and Kate pose for pictures at the Agee gathering. Usually at least one of the girls refuses to smile. Here is the picture from 2011.

2010

2009 (notice that Chloe and Kate are wearing the red dresses that Kate and Maggie are wearing in the Loscutoff Christmas posting)

Loscutoff Christmas

2011-12-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

On December 22 we celebrated Christmas with Will's family. We headed to a restaurant for some yummy dinner and then came back to our house for dessert, tea and presents. Kate did such a great job at the restaurant...I think it helped that she got to spend the entire evening with her Dedushka and Grammalene and then open lots of presents! Present time! I am not sure who was more excited, Kate or Dedushka!

Maggie loved her new phone...yummy!

Loscutoff Men

Loscutoff Women

Singing and Giggles

2011-12-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

Sugar cookies and more

2011-12-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is just a silly picture of Kate with her doll that she dressed up in her princess clothes.
On Saturday we went to Will's pharmacy Christmas party and I got the girls dressed up in matching outfits. The dresses are actually from when Kate was a little baby and Kate wore her dress to match cousin Chloe's dress.

This morning Kate had her first baking experience. At the pharmacy party, Will's coworker, Dee, gave Kate a really cute apron and cookie cutters. Kate has been pretending to make cookies ever since so I figured we might as well do the real thing. I kept it super simple and used store-bought dough and frosting but Kate had a wonderful time!

Kate had to show off her pan of cookies before they went in the oven.

Kate kept licking her fingers while frosting so I let her decorate only one cookie while I finished the rest since she has a little cold.

I think Kate's favorite part was eating her cookie. It took her about 30 minutes to do so, but she finished it!

What Cuties!

2011-12-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread House

2011-12-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we made our first ever family gingerbread (graham cracker) house. Will had the brilliant idea of building the structure of the house with empty milk cartons. Kate sat very patiently while Will built the base of the house.
Kate was showing Mommy the base of the house before it was covered with graham crackers, frosting and candy.

Kate helping Daddy lay out the graham crackers

Time to frost and decorate Kate did a great job placing candy all around the house.

Kate also did a great job stuffing her face full of peanut butter M&M's.

The finished house! We had so much fun making this gingerbread house that I think we will make it a yearly tradition.

Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-11-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we headed up to Apple Hill to cut down our Christmas tree. It was a gorgeous sunny day...perfect for tree cutting! Kate was so excited to pick out a tree, but she was hoping to get one her own size and was a little disappointed when we told her we wanted something bigger.

Kate was very fascinated by the tree-wrapper. After we got our tree we went on a train ride. Kate refused to smile for the camera and gave me a big pout instead.

Maggie was enjoying herself!

This past week...

2011-11-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby girl. Maggie is growing so fast! We can't believe how big and strong she is getting. She is such a delight....oh, I just love her so much!

On Sunday we had the pleasure of Will's Dad and his wife coming to Davis for a visit. We had a wonderful time going out to lunch with the entire family. You can tell that Will's Dad (Dedushka) really loves his granddaughters! Kate was so excited to get an ice cream bar with her spaghetti lunch.

Grammalene and Maggie

For Thanksgiving this year we spent it with Will's Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill. We absolutely love spending time with their whole family and Thanksgiving was no exception. I wasn't able to capture any pictures from the delicious meal since Maggie kept me very busy but I was able to get 2 pictures of Kate with Cousin Drew. They love to play on his bookcase an pretend that it is a bunk bed.

Fairytale Town

2011-11-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

On Friday the girls and I took a trip to Fairytale Town in Sacramento with my mom and my niece Chloe. The park was open for free since it was the day after Thanksgiving. The park was very crowded but the girls had so much fun! Kate's favorite thing to do at Fairytale Town was to go on the shoe slide. Here she is looking up at the tall slide while waiting in line.

Fairytale Town has a lot of fun slides for kids to go down including this tree house slide.

Kate really wanted to ride this deer even though it was meant for decoration.

Friend Zoey's birthday

2011-11-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

On November 18, Kate's friend, Zoey, turned two years old. She had a little princess party to celebrate. The kids enjoyed a little mexican lunch (cheese quesadillas, beans and rice) and then they went outside for some finger painting. Kate had a wonderful time celebrating with her friends!
The birthday girl!

All ready to go finger paint! None of the girls got very messy but they were well covered just in case things got out of hand.

2011-11-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted any pictures. It is virtually impossible to get any computer time since Kate doesn't nap at all and Maggie gives me several 20-30 minute naps during the day but no long stretches. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. It is pretty amazing how much Maggie is growing. She is now cooing and smiling a lot. She has even giggled a bit. She is really good at holding up her head and now her big thing is to shove both fists in her mouth at the same time. For some reason this is more desirable than sucking on a pacifier. Maggie also LOVES to watch her big sister play and dance. She follows her every move!

Yummy fists!
Kate loves wearing goggles in the bath. These goggles are actually from a stuffed teddy bear I received while on the UCD water polo team.

Sleepy baby after a long walk.

More sleepy baby

I tried to get a sister picture and it didn't turn out so great. Maggie just wasn't feeling it.

Kate loves being in the crib with Maggie. Maggie loves lying on her back and watching the Pooh mobile turn in circles.

Sister cuddles.

Kate loves wearing our shoes and the other night she put my boots on backwards and tried to walk in them...it was very cute. As you might notice Kate is "nakey" in this picture. Kate LOVES being "nakey" and is usually undressed at home. As much as I try to encourage her to keep her clothes on they always seem to come off. Thankfully she has no problem wearing clothes when company is over or we leave the house. :-)

She finally got them on the right way.

Kate LOVES to sing these days and even make up her own songs. The other night she was singing about how much she loves pizza and goats. (The baby goats at the local petting zoo made quite an impression on Kate.)

In this video Kate is singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." This is one of her all time favorite songs and she loves to play her "drum" while she sings. Her hair is a total mess since she had just woken up.

This video is of Kate trying to walk in my boots.

Halloween

2011-11-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

Maggie makes an adorable pumpkin! Isn't she a cutie?

This year we carved Disney pumpkins. Will carved a Mickey Mouse and Snow White and I carved a Minnie Mouse. They turned out great! We had a fantastic Halloween this year. We hosted a kid-friendly Halloween party with all of our friends. Total we had 11 adults and 9 kids under the age of 4. It was a little chaotic in our house, but the kids had so much fun! Kate was so excited to dress up as Minnie Mouse this year. Maggie was an adorable lady bug.

Kate with her friends Abby (bike rider) and Hazel (strawberry).

Kate couldn't keep her tongue in her mouth!

Kate loved trick-or-treating. She had no fear going door to door for candy.

Hazel was showing off her candy for the camera.

Friends Hazel and Luke (zebra) getting candy from our neighbor

Cousin Drew was a very cool firefighter.

Apple Hill and Tahoe

2011-11-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took a trip up the mountain to Apple Hill and Tahoe. We stopped at High Hill Ranch in Apple Hill first. Along with picking up apples, apple juice, and caramel apples we also gave Kate 2 pony rides. It was her first time riding a pony and she LOVED it! She looked like a natural. All she could talk about afterwards was wanting to ride the pony more.

At our Tahoe cabin, the girls had a wonderful time hanging out. Kate enjoyed playing with the doll house, swinging outside and throwing rocks in the creek. Maggie enjoyed taking in all the sights and sounds.

Beautiful fall colors. Out for a walk with Daddy. It was a bit chilly in the morning but it turned into a gorgeous 65 degrees in the afternoon.

We took Kate to McDonald's on Saturday to get some chocolate milk and to play around. She loved climbing in all the tubes.

We brought our pumpkins up to Tahoe to carve them before Halloween. Here Kate is holding her white pumpkin for the camera.

Carving time!

New pictures

2011-10-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

I don't have a chance to write much on our blog but here are some new pictures.

Moby wrap success!

Cleaning up!

Smiles!!!

Kate LOVES to color these days.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

Today we took a trip to Impossible Acres Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time picking out pumpkins for the whole family, petting the farm animals and going for a tractor ride. Kate was trying to decide which pumpkin was best for her. She decided that she wanted a small one and Mommy and Daddy could have the big pumpkins. Kate found her pumpkin. Right after this picture was taken she told me "too heavy, Mommy hold." All the girls posing with Kate and Maggie's pumpkins. Maggie slept through the whole thing.

One great thing about Impossible Acres is that they have a really nice petting zoo. Every year we purchase a season pass for Kate so we can go numerous times during the month of October. They have goats, hens, chicks, piglets, kittens, bunnies, a pony, etc.

We dressed Maggie up in a pumpkin sleeper for our trip to the pumpkin patch. Of course no one got to see how cute she was since she quietly slept the entire time in the Bjorn. She is such an easy baby! We took a tractor ride around Impossible Acres. Kate told us it was like Mickey Mouse...whatever that means.

I love this time of year!

Our girls

2011-10-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our girls from this week. Kate recently discovered that it is really fun to wear swim goggles around the house, especially since everything turns pink. So glamorous!
Our little sleeping angel. Maggie sleeps the best in her bouncy seat or on us. She has yet to sleep in her bassinet or crib since she seems to wake up the moment she is placed on her back.

First smiles...so wonderful!

Maggie's One Month Check-Up and Other Stuff

2011-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had Maggie's one month check-up appointment. She is doing very well and is very healthy. She weighed in at 11lbs 10oz (95%) and measured 21.5" (50%). She is right on par with her bigger sister. Kate was 11lb 6oz at her one month check-up and Kate consistently has been 95% for weight and 50% for height. The day started off VERY rough with Kate getting sick and throwing up numerous times. It was a very big challenge trying to clean up after Kate and to get us all ready for the doctor's but we made it! Being a mother of two is quite an experience...wonderful, but very challenging!

Maggie has been giving us a few smiles and coo's. It is so wonderful to see her face light up! I tried to capture her huge grins on camera but I had no luck. Below are some other beautiful pictures of our beautiful baby.

Kate has been such a great big sister. Everything has been a little more emotional than normal. Kate seems to cry a lot more often than before, but it is understandable when your world gets turned upside down. This morning we were playing in the backyard and drawing with chalk. Kate does an amazing job covering the ground in chalk. She is quite the artist!

Kate has been interested in getting herself dressed recently. She usually needs assistance but she loves to try. This morning she did a great job putting on her own shoes. The other weekend we had the pleasure of Dedushka and Grammalene coming over for a visit. We had a wonderful time with them and Kate loved playing at the park with Dedushka. It is always a treat when they are in town!

Maggie's first few sounds....this video is for the grandparents. :-)

Few more pictures

2011-09-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

It is hard getting really cute sister pictures but at least Kate loves to hold Maggie and pose for pictures!

Tummy time for everyone!

Life with a new baby

2011-09-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Two weeks have gone by since the birth of Maggie and things are going great! Maggie is a very easy baby compared to her big sister. She sleeps most of the time and then happily wakes up to eat. The only time we hear her cry is when she isn't getting milk fast enough. It has been so wonderful having Will home this entire time since he can watch the girls while I nap or take Kate out on errands to keep her busy. Kate has been adjusting to her new life very well. She is such a kind and loving big sister. We have only had a few meltdowns with her, but that is to be expected. Below are some new pictures of Maggie...enjoy!

Maggie is showing off her fancy swimsuit she got from Dedushka and Grammalene. On Sunday we took Kate to the local pool before is closed for the season. Maggie had to wear her swimsuit too though she slept the entire time in the Bjorn front-pack.

Auntie Sarah bought the girls these adorable matching dresses. This was the best sister picture of could get of them in the dress.

Daddy was giving Kate horsie rides. So much fun! This picture represents 4 generations of second daughters. My Grandma, Mom, myself, and Maggie are all second born daughters. Even 3 out of the 4 of us have birthday's in late August. We are super awesome! :-)

We have been able to take several walks with Kate and Maggie. Unlike Kate, Maggie actually sleeps during the walk and is okay with sitting in the stroller the whole time!

Kate does a great job sharing her toys with Maggie...for now.

Maggie's first few days

2011-08-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

Below are some more pictures of our beautiful new addition to our family. Maggie has been such a wonderful, mellow baby so far. We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful girls and to be surrounded by such great family and friends!

At the hospital, my parents and Kate were the first to drop on by for a visit. Even though my mom has 6 grand kids, she LOVES them all so very much!
Since I went into labor on my birthday, I was not able to enjoy any birthday cake so my mom brought the cake to the hospital and had added Maggie's name to the top. It was a very cute and fitting surprise!

Papa and Maggie

Kate was amazing at the hospital. On the day of our discharge, Kate had to hang around the hospital for about 3 hours. We kept her busy with movies and crackers. She also loved playing with the buttons on the hospital bed. Very happy Mommy with Maggie!

Ahh, the bouncy seat is the best baby holder when you need to eat or get chores done. It was my lifesaver with Kate and Maggie seems to like it too. Hooray!

Sister bonding.

She looks so much like Kate when she sleeps!

Auntie Sarah and cousin Chloe meeting Maggie for the first time

Kate LOVES her new sister. She was so excited to hold Maggie!

Kate insisted that she and Maggie needed to take a nap in Maggie's crib. Too cute! Sisterly love...

Maggie Has Arrived!!!

2011-08-24T07:55:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update. We are still at Mercy General Hospital, hopefully we can come home today. Will came home to upload a few pictures to keep everyone in the loop.

Here we are at the hospital. This is Monday night, probably around 7:00 PM.

Maggie graced us with her presence at 1:38AM. 8 lbs, 12oz, 18.5 in long. Just like Kate, she has a full head of dark hair!

More pictures soon!

Some cute pictures while we wait...

2011-08-21T12:23:00.001-07:00

Since Maggie has decided that she would like to take her time arriving in this world, I thought I would share a few pictures of Kate from this past week. I have been trying to get Kate to sit still for me while I attempt to do her hair. I have been able to do a few pigtails but I still need to work on mastering them.

This afternoon Kate asked Will to help her make a robot out of newspaper. I think she got the idea from a Curious George episode. Check out our Robot Kate.

Princess Bell

2011-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Kate was being super goofy today. She dressed up as Princess Bell and danced around in Maggie's room. This is the kind of thing we are doing to keep busy while we wait for Maggie to enter this world.

Stretching with Daddy

2011-08-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

The other day, Will was getting ready to workout by starting his stretches. Kate thought it looked like a lot of fun so she had to join in.

Today, August 8th, marks my 38th week of pregnancy! After my last doctor's appointment, I have been told that I could go into labor at any moment. We have made sure that everything is ready to go. We cleaned the house and dropped off Kate's suitcase at Gramma's and Papa's on Saturday. We are all ready to go so now we just sit and wait. I am hoping I don't have to wait too much longer since we are very ready to have this baby!

Kate's first haircut

2011-08-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today was Kate's very first haircut. I have never taken scissors to her hair, except to take out a couple of impossible knots. I felt like now was a good time to even out her hair before out lives are completely chaotic with a little baby. Kate was amazing for my hairstylist. She sat very still and very patiently. Afterwards she was rewarded with a little lollipop and chocolate milk from Starbucks. What a big girl!

Before picture of hair.

An after shot of Kate's hair. We cut off very little...just enough to even it all out. Of course I had to save some of her hair for her baby book.

Kate's Second Birthday

2011-07-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

On July 23, our little baby girl turned 2 years old! It is hard to believe she is no longer a baby but a little girl. The first thing we did in the morning was to let Kate open up her gifts from us. We gave her a new baby doll that comes with several outfits, a bottle, teddy bear and diaper. She was very excited to receive a new doll and quickly got started dressing it all up and changing it's diaper. A very happy birthday girl! Later in the morning we headed to a local park to have a Winnie the Pooh birthday party with all of Kate's friends. We had 8 kids attend, ranging in ages from 15 months to 4 years old. The kids had a wonderful time running around and playing in the sand. Kate spent most of the time keeping her Dedushka very busy going up and down all the slides.

Cake time! I made Kate a Winnie the Pooh chocolate cake this year. It took several hours to pipe all of the frosting but it was well worth it since Kate was thrilled to see her cake.

Kate loved having everyone sing to her. She felt so special! Kate tried really hard to blow out her own candles, but Will had to give her some assistance.

I also made some gluten-free "honey bee" cupcakes and Kate loved diving into her blue frosting. What a messy face but a very happy girl!

On a completely unrelated note, below are some pictures that my parents took today while Kate visited Gramma and Papa's house while Will and I took a long date to Napa. Before we left we had to get a family picture taken before our family permanently expands. :-)

This is a picture of Kate refusing to put on sunscreen before heading to the pool. Pool time and goofy time...of course!

Build-a-Bear and our own Builder Girl

2011-07-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kate, my mom and I headed to Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento. Our first mission was to get Kate's 2-year portraits taken at Picture People. She did an amazing job posing for pictures so we decided to treat her to a Build-a-Bear experience. (Eventually I will try to scan in her portraits so you can all see how cute they turned out). At Build-a-Bear we had Kate make a bear for herself and Maggie. She loved the whole process and now she is toting the bears all around the house, dressing them up and down, and placing bows on their ears. It was a great experience!

Kate was a little unsure about the stuffing part at first but she quickly got into it. I had to hold down her foot on the stuffing pedal since she was too light to do it on her own.

Picking out a heart for her bear and Maggie's bear Putting the heart in Maggie's bear

Bath time! Kate loved giving the bears an air bath!

Later in the day, we all worked as a family to build a dresser for Maggie. Kate was thrilled to help and spent the entire time sticking screws in holes and using "tools" to tighten them down. She is a natural born builder. :-)

The other night we had Kate's friend, Hazel, over for dinner. The two girls were being so goofy at the table!

Quick trip to Fresno

2011-07-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon we headed to Fresno for a quick visit with Dedushka (Will's Dad) and Grammalene. We arrived around 5pm and within 5 minutes of arrival she was already in her swimsuit and ready to jump in the pool and swim with her Dedushka. Dedushka and Grammalene were quite impressed with her no fear of water and her direct personality. The girl definitely knows what she wants!

After swimming and dinner, Dedushka and Kate ran laps around the living room chasing their two little dogs. Kate loved playing with the dogs, Coco and Susie, since they were just her size. Shortly after this picture was taken we all got back into our swimsuits and took another dip in their hot tub, including Kate.Bedtime story with Dedushka! The next day we all took the dogs for a walk in the morning. Kate was so excited to be able to hold the dog leashes. After the walk, Kate played with Grammalene's Tinkertoys and playdough. We also all got back into our swimsuits one more time and took another dip in the hot tub (it was actually pretty chilly for a typical Fresno morning so we avoided the cold pool). After lunch it was time for us to say our goodbyes and head back home. It was a short but wonderful trip!!!

Kate absolutely adores her Dedushka and I am pretty sure he feels the same way. :-)

Kate with her Dedushka and Grammalene. She is so loved!

This video shows Kate showing off her twirling pool skills.

Fun pool lifts with Dedushka

Kate and Dedushka chasing the dogs

Tahoe: Part 2

2011-07-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Kate decided to get up this morning at 6:30am and instantly start to play with the dolls house and accessories. One of her favorite things to do is to shove as many dolls as possible into the family car.
This afternoon we headed over to the lake. We were there for about 3 hours and Kate loved every minute of it. The water was FREEZING but that didn't stop Kate from occasionally wading in. Her favorite activity, though, was playing in the sand. We all helped create a little moat for Kate's toys. The weather was a perfect 77 degrees and sunny. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Kate had to get her hair "all wet" like she does at home in her swimming pool.

I was finally able to convince Kate to take a lunch break after much coaxing.

Tahoe: Part 1

2011-07-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Kate and I are currently enjoying some much needed relaxation in Tahoe while Will holds down the fort in Davis. As a side note, I need to give my husband some HUGE props for all that he has done at home since Kate and I have been gone. He has broken down our universal weight machine in our future nursery and then set it back up in our garage that he had to completely reorganize to even get it to fit. He did it all in one morning with the help of our friend, Rusty (thanks!). He also has gone to the hardware store to buy paint for the nursery and worked out all the details for our painter to come and take care of the room before we get home. He is such an awesome and amazing husband.

Anyway, back to Tahoe....we arrived in Tahoe on Tuesday with Will. Our first order of business was to go and explore the overflowing creeks that surround the cabin. We quickly realized that this was a ridiculous venture unless we wanted to get eaten alive by enormous mosquitoes. On our way back to the cabin (after being outside for 10 minutes) Kate decided to pick some of the pretty wild flowers.

Since we couldn't spend much time outside, Kate had to find ways to entertain herself inside. Here she is modeling my visor.

Will had to head back home on Wednesday shortly after my parents arrived at the cabin. We didn't do too much except play with a cool doll house (cabin toy) and watch Elmo movies. On Thursday, I was hoping to get out of the cabin and my parents suggested going to an indoor pool in Nevada. My sister and I used to play at this pool when we would come to Tahoe as kids. They have made several updates to it since we have been there. One of which is a neat kiddie pool with tons of falling/shooting water. It also only gets to 2.5 feet deep so Kate was able to stand on her own the whole time. Kate was in absolute heaven at the pool. She splashed and jumped around for almost an 1.5 hours. I had to convince her to get out of the pool at 1pm since we still hadn't eaten lunch yet. She was very sad to leave the pool.

Tomorrow we will head to the lake and play in the sand. Kate is so excited to go to the beach. I will try to post more pictures of Tahoe in a couple of days.

Our Fourth of July

2011-07-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful fourth of July this year. This was our 4th annual bible study BBQ at our house. We started out the festivities by going to Will's Uncle and Aunt's pool (thanks Bill and Carol!!!). It was a great way to cool off on such a hot day. After the pool, we headed back to our house for some delicious BBQ and outdoor playtime. Will made some amazing cheeseburgers and brats. Yummy! Later in the evening we all took a short walk to the park to watch the fireworks. Kate loved watching the fireworks and would say "pop" every time a firework went off. We also had the ongoing commentary from local wild turkeys in the neighborhood. After each firework we would hear "gobble gobble gobble"....it was very funny.
Daddy's girls: (from left) Will & Kate, Derek & Zoey, Rusty & Hazel

Kate's slide is always a favorite attraction with all of her friends. Unfortunately one of Kate's friends, Abby, was missing from the party for a bit of time. Abby had a very hard fall at the pool and bonked her head very badly. Her parents had to take her to the ER to make sure she didn't have a concussion. Thankfully she was fine and was able to come back and join the party.

Our big girl!Our friends, Amy and Brenna. Brenna is 35 weeks pregnant (with another girl) and is due two weeks before me. We are very excited for Maggie to have an instant playmate. :-) They guys chillin' and enjoying their beer.

Hazel (almost 3 yrs old) asked me to take some pictures of her so she could look at them. She looked so cute in her little romper. Zoey (19 months) was enjoying a refreshing drink of her water while lounging away.

More slide time! It has been priceless having our "new" backyard! It is so wonderful to have place for the kids to play and for the adults to hang out.

Sunday Happenings

2011-06-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we headed over to Will's Mom's house. She recently bought Kate a brand new Vespa bike. Kate loves going over to her Babushka's house to ride her new bike. It plays Italian-type music that Kate loves to dance to. She is still trying to figure out how to use the pedals but it is still fun to be pushed around.
Babushka also bought Kate a new animal book to read at her house. Will was helping Kate show off her "animal deciphering" skills.

"Green Eggs and Ham"...everyone's favorite! Just watch the video and you will see why Kate makes her Daddy very very happy. :-)

Recent videos

2011-06-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pool time!

2011-06-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today we all went to the public pool and enjoyed some wonderful swim time. Kate loves the water and has so much fun splashing around. Below are some pictures of our water bug. Of course she refused to smile for any of them. :-)

"Splashies!"

She loves to stick out her tongue these days.

Sacramento Train Museum

2011-06-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

Today we took a trip to the train museum in Old Sacramento with Drew, AJ, and Auntie Lilli. The kids had a great time looking at all the trains and walking through the different coaches. It is pretty amazing how huge some of the trains are...one weighed over 1 million pounds!

Everyone wanted to press the train horn button, but AJ was just excited to be free from the stroller. Kate loved watching Thomas go around the track.

I thought Kate would really enjoy playing at the Thomas train tables, but she didn't get too into it. Instead she begged me to go back downstairs to the yellow train.

After the train museum, we sat down for lunch in Old Sac. Kate LOVES spending time with Drew. She especially loves to follow what he is doing so she can feel like a big kid too.

So goofy!

Over the weekend...

2011-06-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of Will's Dad coming into town on Saturday since Will's older brother, Walter, was graduating from the UCD Graduate School of Business. Kate was thrilled to play with her Dedushka!

Kate was helping her Dedushka color in her coloring book.

On Sunday we dressed Kate up in a dress we got from her Auntie Robyn and Uncle Walter. She received several compliments on her dress at church.

After church Kate was treated to her very first Volkswagen ride! Kate and I took a seat in the back while Will drove us slowly around our neighborhood. She loved it and was very sad when we stopped so Will let her play inside the car.A very happy Kate and a very happy Daddy.

"How can I find Raffi on this old radio?"

"Okay Daddy, I am ready to drive!"

Summer is here...finally!

2011-06-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

After some crazy, winter-like weather, summer has finally arrived in Davis! Thankfully we have not gotten close to triple-degree weather...recently it has been perfectly in the mid-80's. Since we finally have some warm sun, we have been enjoying our little pool I bought at Target for $10. The pool actually fits all 3 of us so we have been spending long afternoons chilling in the water. Kate has LOVED every minute of it! I usually fill up the pool while she is napping so the water has a chance to warm up a bit...it is perfect! Below are some pictures of Kate in her new pool. Now before you judge us for her swimsuit, please know that we got this swimsuit as a gift at my baby shower from one of her great aunts. We couldn't resist dressing her in it since she is just too cute, but we plan on her only wearing it at home and wearing a one-piece in public. :-)

Another Day at Six Flags

2011-06-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Despite the cold weather and occasional drizzle Kate and I headed to Six Flags on Monday with my Mom. This was our third time in the park this "summer" but it was our first time to go with Gramma. We headed to the animal section first before we got too involved with the rides. Turns our Six Flags actually has some pretty cool animals that you can see up close. We really lucked out at the elephants and got to actually pet one on its trunk! Kate didn't want to touch it but Gramma and I were thrilled to pet one. Surprisingly they have a lot of coarse prickly hair on their very rough trunks. Kate enjoyed watching the giraffes eat from the tree. She had an amazing view of the whole thing.

Next we headed to the butterfly exhibit. Kate wasn't too interested in the butterflies since the koi caught her attention. We watched them for quite a while.

Kate's favorite ride at Six Flags is the carousel. She would ride it all day if we gave her the chance. She especially loves to ride on the gorilla that she calls "chee chee" referring to any sort of monkey.

Kate's second favorite ride are the tea cups. She actually tries to turn the cup, though it can be a little tough to do so.

The last thing we did before we left the park was go to the Shouka show. We all enjoyed watching the whale perform several tricks, but what Kate loved the most was when the whale splashed the crowd. She would say "people all wet!" and laugh....too cute.

28 weeks...12 to go!

2011-05-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant! I can't believe I only have 12 (or so) more weeks to go. This pregnancy is going well, though it certainly isn't nearly as easy as my pregnancy with Kate. I think having to take care of a toddler along with having no time to exercise is contributing to me feeling a lot less "beautiful" this time around. Everyday Will has to listen to me go on and on about how huge I feel. At times it seems like there is no more room for the baby to grow! The next few months will be filled with getting Maggie's room ready, buying more baby supplies (lots and lots of diapers...thankfully no new clothes) and throwing Kate an awesome 2nd birthday. The time will hopefully fly by!

Below are some belly shots... Kate is very excited to become a big sister, though I am pretty sure she has no idea what that really means. I try to talk to her a lot about where Maggie will sleep and what Maggie will do when she arrives. Kate is mostly excited to play in her playhouse with Maggie and share her crackers with her little sister.

Our little singer

2011-05-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Below are some pictures of Kate this week. At the bottom of the blog is videos of Kate showing off her singing.
Our cat, Annie, is a very good sport with Kate's play ideas.

Kate has discovered that her pink stool is the perfect height to climb up on and turn on/off lights all over the house.

Kate has gotten really good at singing songs...well, for a 22-month old. Her favorite to sing are "ABC", "Happy Birthday", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Row Row Row Your Boat". I guess she might take after her Gramma and become an amazing singer and performer!

What a cutie!

2011-05-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Below are a few pictures from the other night. Kate decided to play dress-up and chose to wear a bikini top with a long skirt...she looked like a hula dancer. She is just too cute for words!

This past weekend

2011-05-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had the pleasure of spending our very first night away from Kate! I wish I could report that we went away for a romantic getaway but we had a few hold-ups. We initially were supposed to go to North Tahoe to a lake-side hotel. After reading the weather reports that predicted thunderstorms and snow we decided to cancel our reservations since we were hoping for beautiful Spring weather. It turned out to be a blessing that we cancelled since Will was hit with a bad case of food poisoning Friday night and ended up spending the night on the bathroom floor. On Saturday, Will was feeling a little better so we decided to proceed with our plan of spending a night apart from Kate. We felt like we all needed the practice since Maggie's arrival is only a few months away.

We dropped Kate off Saturday morning at my parent's house. Will and I stayed in Davis and with our free time we went out to a movie, ate at a new restaurant and then rented another movie for the evening. It wasn't as romantic as we would have hoped, but it was a wonderful and relaxing time at home. Kate had a fantastic time at Gramma and Papa's. She didn't seem to miss us one bit. She even slept really well. Thanks Mom and Dad for the HUGE treat!

One of the things we did at home while Kate was gone was rearrange her room and set up her "big girl" bed. Thankfully my sister had a toddler bed that we could use. The room is a little cramped until we get Maggie's room set up with the crib but it will work for now. Kate was SO THRILLED to have a "big girl" bed in her room. She has already slept in her bed, twice. Unfortunately I had to rock Kate to sleep before she could go in her bed. When I tired to leave her alone, she got out of bed and cried at the rocking chair. I guess we need to work on a few things....

Another thing we took care of this weekend was to clean out Will's closet. It has been the storage of all my old childhood items and one treasure I found were my old troll dolls. I pulled them all down for Kate and she has proceeded to carry them all over the house. Too cute!

Water fun

2011-05-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

One of Kate's favorite backyard activities is to play with her new sand/water toys. I found a big (and cheap) set of sand/water toys at Costco the other week. Since we don't have sand, we fill up Kate's buckets with water and she proceeds to splash and dunk in the water, soaking herself thoroughly. I wanted to get some good pictures of her getting really soaked, but she was getting a little too cold last night so most of the water stayed in the buckets.

Kate has realized that her playhouse is not just for playing in, but also for climbing on! She looks so grown up!

Singing Cutie

2011-05-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Recently Kate has been trying to sing along with some of her favorite songs. She does a great job belting out the words she knows, even before they are sung. She loves singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC, and several Psalty songs (a kid's Christian group that I grew up with). Tonight I was able to catch some of her singing/dancing on video as she listened to one of her favorite Sesame Street songs on YouTube.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

2011-05-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to get some season passes to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. On Friday we went for the first time and had a blast. Will had the day off from work so all three of us got to enjoy a wonderful day at the park. The entire day we stayed in the "little kid" section and let Kate decide which rides she wanted to go on. (We figure we can see all of the animals another time.) Kate LOVED all of the rides and decided she wanted to go on them all again and again. We did every ride at least 4 times. Her favorites were the helicopter, carousel and train.

Backyard Bliss!

2011-04-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's official! We have a new and very improved backyard!!! After living in our house for almost 5 years, we figured it was a good time to make some much needed improvements to our landscaping. Our old yard was considered to be "low maintenance" when we first purchased our house. We quickly found out that "low maintenance" meant a lot of weed pulling, pruning and sweeping. Over the years, our desire to care for our ugly landscaping quickly dwindled and our maintenance became a once-every-six-months affair in which we would spend an entire day pulling weeds. As Kate has gotten older and more active, we realized that we were going to need something a lot more functional for kids so in January we started working with Andy Gagnon Landscaping to come up with a solution. Several months later we are happy to announce that our beautiful new backyard is complete. We are SO thrilled and VERY pleased with the final outcome. See pictures below:

BEFORE: Ugly weeds and stepping stones

CONSTRUCTION: One of the biggest parts of the project was removing a portion of our existing concrete patio to make room for grass. It took them almost and entire day to remove the concrete since it was 6-inches thick!

Mapping out our new lawn FINAL PRODUCT: Isn't it beautiful!

We still need to add some plants to our new red pots but that should come in the next week or so.

Kate LOVES playing in her new playhouse. She actually received this as a Christmas gift from Dedushka and Grammalene, but we couldn't build it until our yard was complete.

Kate learned all about the excitement of sidewalk chalk. Who new that playing in a backyard could be so much fun?

Easter

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We started our morning off with church and then a trip to Starbucks with Gramma and Papa. Kate had her very first Starbucks drink...chocolate milk with whipped cream. She greatly enjoyed her drink, but her favorite part was climbing up and down the bench.

Later in the day, we headed over to my sister's house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. We had a wonderful time hanging out with our family. Everyone was there including Gramma, Papa, Uncle Daniel, Auntie Jessica (Daniel's fiance), Auntie Sarah, Uncle Ben, and cousins Josh, James, Andrew and Chloe.

When we first arrived, Gramma let Kate open up her first Easter basket full of goodies. Inside was a little chick that "peeps", a chocolate bunny and jelly beans. Yum!

All the kids waited in Chloe's room while the grown-ups hid all the Easter eggs. Andrew, Josh and Chloe were having fun wrestling on the bed.
Time for Kate's first Easter egg hunt! She had so much fun looking for her eggs. She was really good at finding them...I think next year we will have to hide twice as many.

The highlight of Kate's evening was jumping on her cousins' trampoline. She could have spent the entire day jumping if we would have let her. My mom is convinced we need to buy her one, but thankfully we don't have any place to put it. :-)

After dinner, Chloe brought Kate this blue costume to dress-up in. Kate happily agreed.

Such cute girls!

Fairyland

2011-04-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kate and I traveled to Oakland with Auntie Sarah and Cousin Chloe for a girls' day out. We first stopped for a nice visit with Grandma Agee (a.k.a. Gigi). We had a wonderful time catching up with Grandma and the girls stayed busy by looking at old photo albums and playing with the Connect Four game pieces. After our visit, we walked over to Fairyland. Sarah and I have many fond memories of going to Fairyland as little girls. A lot of things brought back memories, but I was also very surprised at how small the whole park felt. I remember it being HUGE when I was little. Kate and Chloe had a lot of fun time exploring the park. I think Kate was still a little too young to get the whole experience, but she still had a wonderful day.

Three Little Pigs Brick House
The Crooked Man's House

A little Chapel

Pinocchio's House...Kate spent a lot of time inside yelling "tunnel!" It had a nice echo to it.

Kate loved crawling through this tunnel.

Chloe enjoyed pulling the little clothes line around and around.

Waiting in line for the train

Pony ride!

Our silly little Kate

2011-04-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Kate is just such a goofy and happy little girl. She loves to pretend and dress up. One of her recent fascinations is Daddy's work clothes. She loves to put on his work shirt and tie. Sometimes she even tries to walk around the house in his shoes.

For the past couple months Kate has been very interested in bikes. Every time we see one on the bike path she talks to me about how "Keet" wants a bike and "Mama and Dada." I have told her that we will get her one soon and yesterday was that day. I picked up this super cool tricycle at Target and she insisted that I put it together for her immediately. An hour later, and lots of tears from both Mommy and Kate, the tricycle was put together (the instructions were a little harder than I thought they would be). Kate was SO excited to go for a ride and to wear her new helmet. We already have taken her new bike all over the greenbelts and to several parks. It is so wonderful having a handle that I can easily push and turn with. What a great invention!

This morning Kate asked to listen to "cuckoo" (So Long, Farewell) while I was getting breakfast made. Somehow she convinced me to put her on the counter and let her dance. She is just so cute!

Kate is getting really good a communicating and using lots of words. The first video is of Kate talking about the baby and singing her ABC's. The second video is her talking on the pretend phone. She only seems to call Papa when she is on the phone. She actually has pretend conversations with him.

We are having another girl!!!

2011-04-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we found out the amazing news that we are having another girl! We are so thrilled to be having another girl...we really wanted Kate to have a little sister. Both Will and I teared up when we heard the news. Looks like our lives will be filled with lots of pink and princesses. Our ultrasound appointment was about an hour long in which the technician looked at every little detail of our baby. It appears as if our baby is very healthy and has every working part. You can't deny the existence of God when you get to see your growing baby moving all around in your tummy! It is absolutely amazing!

San Francisco Zoo

2011-04-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kate and I had the pleasure of going to the San Francisco Zoo with my mom and my sister's family. We had a wonderful time at this beautiful zoo. The weather was perfect, the crowds were light and Kate was very well behaved. I wish I could say that Kate was amazed by all the animals but she didn't seem to care too much about them unless there were baby animals. She just loved spending the day keeping up with her big cousins.

Even though I brought the stroller, Kate walked the entire day since she wanted to be just like her cousins. In this picture, Kate is chasing after Josh and James as we head to the giraffes.

We had so many great views of all the animals. My favorite were the giraffes and zebras.

My sister, Sarah, and 2 of her kids, Chloe and Josh.

Kate liked looking at the gorillas since there was a little baby that was climbing up the tree.

Kate and Gramma

Probably one of Kate's favorite things at the zoo was this elephant. She played on it for quite awhile and was sad when we had to leave. She would tug on his trunk and say "honk." She would point out it's eyes and ears and give it big hugs.

Kate also enjoyed watching the penguins swim in the water. The fence was the perfect height for her to look over and see what was happening.

The tiger didn't come out and play for long. I barely got a picture before it disappeared from view.

Kate with her 4 cousins...Chloe, Andrew, James and Josh.

Kate loves her cousin Chloe!

For some reason this polar bear had his head stuck in this trash can. We watched it for a while and the bear never moved...it almost seemed like it had fallen asleep like this.

Beautiful Macaw

At the very end of the trip we stopped in at the petting zoo. Kate was a little interested in the goats and gave this one a little pat but soon her attention was drawn elsewhere (see below).

Once Kate found this tractor she didn't want to get off. She sat on this tractor and pushed it around until it was time to leave.

We also enjoyed a fun train ride around the zoo. Kate loved going on the train but all of my pictures were washed out. She was so sad to get off the train and say goodbye. All in all, we had a fantastic time! We will certainly have to go back when the baby is old enough to enjoy a zoo.

Milestones

2011-04-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Milestone #1: After 20 months of either being nursed, rocked or danced to sleep, Kate now puts herself to bed. This is a HUGE deal in our house since she has been very reliant upon us to get her to sleep. Now all we need to do is read her some books, cuddle for a few minutes, put her in her crib and close the door. She cried for the first week of us doing this, but no more than 20 minutes. Now, after 2 weeks, she quietly goes in her crib and falls fast asleep. God certainly answers prayers!!!! Milestone #2: Kate can tackle the park almost 100% on her own! She can climb up most structures and go down big slides all on her own. We can thank her cousin Drew for showing her how it is done. :-) It is so nice to be able to just watch her play instead of having to do all the climbing with her. Milestone #3: Kate loves to play pretend! She is always putting shoes and clothes on her dolls. She also likes to use a wipe and diaper when the dolls go poo poo. Kate has greatly enjoyed pretending with her kitchen...we are always having hot cups of tea. We even "go to the park" with her stuffed animals in which she pushes her play stroller to and from the front door and then sits them on her slides. Milestone #4: Kate's vocabulary is growing so big everyday. Her favorite 2 phrases right now are "oh well" and "green light." She loves to repeat most of what we say and it is becoming easier to understand her words. She is a VERY talkative little girl. Milestone #5: Time outs. After debating how and when to start discipline, the other week we started to put Kate in time outs. Thankfully it is not a very common occurrence since threatening her with a time out works most of the time. The few times she has gone to time out she has cooperatively gone to the corner and stayed there until I tell her she can leave. Usually she is very sad to be in the corner and requires a cuddle afterwards. Everyday Kate amazes me with all the new things she is learning. She certainly has a mind of her own and expresses her opinion frequently, but she is such a beautiful person. I have so many people tell me how cute she is and how much fun they have playing with her. God has blessed us with such an amazing daughter!

Papa's hat

2011-03-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Kate and I headed to my parents house for a lunch/park date with Papa. One of the things that caught Kate's attention was Papa's hat. She just had to try it on! "Yo yo, what up dog?"

I unfortunately did not get any pictures of Kate playing with Papa or our time at the park, but we had a wonderful afternoon. Thanks Dad!

Creative Playtime

2011-03-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

For the past month, every Tuesday morning Kate and I head out to our Creative Playtime class through the City of Davis. The class is 2 hours long in which the kids get free playtime for an hour and then after cleanup we have snack, story time, circle time and then park time. Kate enjoys her time here and loves playing with all the fun things that surround her. Below are some pictures from today. One of Kate's favorite things to do is organize the little animal figurines. Sometimes we build a zoo with blocks for the animals but today we piled them in the barn. Next, Kate found the ponies and brushed all their hair...she is such a girl!

Play dough time!

This kitchen is a bit too tall for Kate but it didn't stop her from washing the plate in the sink.

Kate loves to hold the "baby" and take her all around the classroom. The doll also likes to walk the balance beam with Kate but unfortunately that picture didn't turn out.

Puppet show! Well, sort of....Kate likes to pull all the puppets off the stand and look them over. I was surprised she actually let me put these two puppets on her hand.

Kate has a huge fascination with helicopters. The other week we saw a helicopter at Daddy's hospital. It was getting ready to take off and the noise was pretty loud so Kate didn't want to see it lift off the ground. However, ever since that day she talks about going "up, up, up" in the helicopter with Mama, Dada, Bebe, Chee chee, Papa, and Gramma.

Kate found all the baby dolls and arranged them on the chair...she is quite the organizer.

Park time! Kate loves going down the slide all by herself.

Toys are brought out during park time and so the kids get to share wheelbarrows, strollers, balls, and cars.

Kate especially loves it when she gets lucky enough to get a baby and a stroller. Frequently this has posed a huge problem when it is time to clean-up. Kate usually throws a fit when I tell her we need to take the baby inside.

We have 2 more weeks left of playtime. It has been a lot of fun!

Block belly

2011-03-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

The other day Kate decided to stuff as many of her mega-blocks in her shirt. She was able to get quite a few in there. She was so proud of herself that she had to show Daddy.

Kate and Elmo

2011-03-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Kate wanted Elmo to wear one of her winter hats. Of course Kate had to wear Chloe's old hat while Elmo wore her new one. She is a very goofy girl!

Just around...

2011-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

"Do you want to give me a kiss?" One of the very few foods that Kate enjoys is spaghetti. Her messy face made for a cute picture.

Kate loves to wear the hat she received from her cousin, Chloe. She wears it all around the house and says "Cree!" to indicate that she is wearing Chloe's hat.
Kate loves to play dress-up. This morning she found her Tinkerbell costume hanging in her closet and asked me to put it on her. The frog pajamas underneath add a nice touch!
Kate was very excited to see the moon this morning. She kept on looking out the window and saying "mun." (We got up at 5:30 so the moon was out for quite a while).

Kate and Drew

2011-03-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Will's cousin, Lilli, and her two boys, Drew and AJ have moved back to California after being in Indiana for 4 years. They are currently staying just a few blocks away from us at her parent's house while her husband finishes up his last rotation for optometry school in Chicago. Over the past week we have had the opportunity to hang out. Drew and Kate have now become good friends and they love to play together. Drew is 3 years old so he shows Kate around while Kate just follows what he does. Thanks to Drew's Dedushka, he has a very cool playhouse that Kate loves to go in and out of.

"Momma, can you put down the camera and help me reach the hoop?"

Exploring the backyard

Rocking away!

Cute little AJ is 10.5 months old. He was trying to get in on the fun with Drew and Kate. He actually climbed up on Kate a few times and whacked her on the head. Kate didn't seem to mind....she just stared at me like "Momma, what am I supposed to do?" Drew wanted to ride the rocking horse with Kate...Kate wasn't too sure about that.

We are so thankful to have Lilli and her family back in town. It is so fun to watch the kids play together and it is great to finally have a stay-at-home mom nearby. :-)

Oh so stylish!

2011-03-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

This morning Kate decided to try on my fuzzy blue slippers. She is so stylish!

Just a few pictures of our girl...

2011-03-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report but here are some cute pictures of our goofy girl from this evening.

Murder Mystery Party

2011-02-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

Last night Will and I attended a really fun murder mystery party for our friend's 30th birthday. The premises was a 1920's night club opening in which a big mob boss (Will) gets shot and killed. We spent the evening in character...I was a wannabe movie star, Donna Wannabe, and Will was the mob boss "Big Jim" Ravioli. Once he was shot and killed he came back at Rhett Bumbler, a gambler from out of town. There were about 15 people participating and the whole point of the evening was to bribe, extort, and share secrets with each other and eventually solve the mystery. In the end, Will won "best performer" and I (along with a few others) solved the mystery. It was a wonderful and very memorable evening!

Of course I had to add a picture of Kate. This was taken yesterday morning...I occasionally set up our mini DVD player while I am getting ready in the morning. Kate was watching one of her Elmo movies and enjoying some Cheerios.

Not much to report...

2011-02-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

I have been informed that I need to update the blog more frequently. I guess I have been waiting for something exciting to go on in our lives but things have been really quiet. We got colds last week so we have spent a lot of time inside, trying to keep busy...it is really exciting stuff! Kate enjoyed playing on the toilet paper I got at Costco. It was her mini stage until it collapsed.

Recently Kate has really enjoyed watching Will play Mario Kart. Occasionally she asks to play so Will gives her a remote without any batteries. She doesn't seem to notice.

This morning Kate decided to show Valentine (monkey) and Bobo (bear) how to race like Daddy.

A Girl and Her Bear

2011-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Kate and I were Valentine's Day shopping and Kate came across a HUGE bear she just needed to hold. She refused to let go of the bear the entire time we shopped so I only had one choice...buy the bear. Kate was inseparable with the bear once we got home. She tackled it, gave it pretend food, gave it kisses and went down the slide with her new friend. The bear is bigger than her so it was pretty cute to watch her lug the bear around with her everywhere she went.

18-Month Check Up

2011-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today was Kate's 18-month check-up. She weighed in at 26lbs 12oz which puts her in the 75%. She is certainly thinning out since she has always hovered around 90-95%. For height she is 31.3" tall which is very average. Her head is still quite big and is in the 90%.

Tahoe Winter Wonderland!

2011-01-31T08:24:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a wonderful 4-day trip to our family cabin in South Lake Tahoe. The first two days were just family time with Will, Kate and me. Kate spent most of her time playing with the cabin's doll house. Will and I enjoyed reading and relaxing...it actually felt like vacation! The weather was a beautiful 50 degrees and sunny. The last two days were joined with our bible study. We had total of 11 people (including 4 kids) at the cabin. We had so much fun hanging out with our friends! While I was napping Kate decided to pile all the doll house pieces on me.

My cuddle-bug!

"Oh! Snow!" Kate was very excited to walk in the snow. She had a lot of fun playing in the snow as long as she didn't have to touch it.

First breakfast with our friends.

We were trying to get a picture of all four girls but Kate refused to sit down and stop crying. She wanted to slide down the hill with Mommy more.

Kate and Rusty

Kate and Hazel

On Sunday, a huge snow storm hit Tahoe. There was tons of fresh snow! Thankfully it was really light snow so we didn't need to use chains to drive out.

Kate loved swinging with her friends.

Kate and Abby

2011-01-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of watching Kate's friend, Abby, for the afternoon. The girls got along great! Abby was very thrilled to play with all of Kate's balls and Kate was just thrilled to have a playmate!
Kate helped Abby eat her snack...she loved the raisins!

Story time! Here are just a few silly pictures from today...

Kate asked me to put all her barrettes in her hair. I think we might start a new fashion trend.

Kate got mad at me for taking her picture since she wanted to hold the camera and see the pictures of "Keet!"

She is just too cute!

2011-01-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Kate woke up at 5:55am this morning and so to kick-start our day I made us some waffles. This is what you get an hour later when you give a toddler some syrupy waffles.

Priceless!

2011-01-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Kate loves watching videos of herself. She will go around the house asking "Keet? Keet?" If we tell her "no" then she gets very sad.

A couple pics

2011-01-16T12:49:00.001-08:00

Kate asked to be put in her Mega Blocks bin with her blocks piled on top of her. She is so silly!
Kate was reading Annie "If You Give a Pig a Party." Kate's favorite part is finding the cat on most of the pages...she calls the cat "me-me" (named after Annie).

Coming the summer....

2011-01-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Kate will become a big sister at the end of the summer. My due date is August 22....my birthday! We are VERY excited to welcome this little baby into our family!

Fun with a scarf

2011-01-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Once a week or so Kate and I go to our local library for story time. It is 30 minutes long and we sing songs, recite rhymes and have playtime with either musical instruments or scarves. This past week they pulled out the scarves and Kate had a wonderful time putting it over her head.

Kate's friend, Hazel joined us for story time and had a fun time with her scarf too! Will likes to do headstands occasionally (I think it helps him feel young). Kate loves watching Will do his handstands and so the other day Will helped her do her very own.

Kate loves the computer!

Diaper Daredevils

2011-01-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Today was Kate's first day at Diaper Daredevils. It is a toddler gymnastics program through the City of Davis. The kids can play on all the gymnastic equipment for 30 minutes, twice a week. Kate wasn't too interested in exploring all of the activities today. She mainly enjoyed the slide, building a tower and playing in the balls. She actually cried at the end when I had to pull her out of the balls. I think it will become her favorite place to play!

Christmas!

2010-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. My parents and brother came over from some Christmas brunch in the morning and then we visited Will's mom in the afternoon. For dinner we headed to my parent's house with my sister and her family. Santa was very generous this year....I got a Tom Tom navigation system for my car, all 4 Shreks on bluray and cozy boots. Will received some comfy slippers, Last of the Moheicans on bluray, and a VW calender and bar stool. Kate got the best gift of all...an awesome play kitchen (see pictures below). Despite the rainy weather, we had such a great time hanging out with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus!

Kate all dressed up for our church's Christmas Eve service She didn't like me taking pictures of her

Christmas morning! Kate loved opening up all of her gifts. We gave her a lot of pretend food/plates/cups to go along with her play kitchen Papa and Gramma gave her. Yummy strawberry!

Santa brought Kate a "Tickle-me-Elmo." Kate was very excited to receive such a silly gift.

The kitchen! Kate was watching Papa cook Playing at Papa and Gramma's house

Tickle time with Gramma and Papa!

Papa and his 2 girls

The play kitchen has become Kate's obsession. She loves to reorganize the shelves and "cook" anything in the microwave. She also enjoys talking on the phone and washing her hands. From the moment she wakes up to the time she goes to bed she is at her kitchen. It is so amazing to watch her pretend!

Kate's Dedushka bought her a log cabin playhouse for outdoors. We probably won't put it together until the weather gets a little nicer, but stay tuned for more pretend fun!

Agee Christmas and other pictures

2010-12-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we had our annual Agee Christmas (Dad's side of the family). Kate had a fun time exploring her new surroundings and meeting new people. Here favorite two activities were going up and down the stairs and playing with the bean bag toss. We had a nice time hanging out with the family and catching up with everyone. We tried to get a cute picture of Kate with her cousin, Chloe. We weren't too successful this year.

This is the picture from last year...boy, things certainly have changed!

Kate played with the bean bags for quite a long time despite the cold temperature outside.

Here are a few more cute pictures from this week. Kate received some bath crayons from her friend and she LOVES playing with them! They are supposed to completely wash off but I am finding some color left behind in the grout... grrrr.

After her bath, Kate was wired and running laps around the living room.

Loscutoff Holiday Gathering

2010-12-20T14:20:00.001-08:00

Last night we had the pleasure of Will's family coming over to our house for our annual holiday dinner. It was a wonderful evening with delicious Thai food, neighborhood carolers and fun family time. Kate had such an amazing time playing with her Dedushka showing him all her new tricks!

First thing Kate did when Dedushka showed up was pull out all her books and have him read to her.
Grammalene decided to join in on the fun!

Jumping on the couch with Dedushka

Playing catch with Grammalene

This picture was taken this morning, hence the messed up hair. Kate's new thing is to put all her stuffed animals in her crib and arrange them in a certain order then she either sits on top of them or throws them out. She can easily spend an hour doing this. Kate decided to read to her stuffed animals this morning.

Kate and Dedushka playing

Russian singing!

Just some pictures...

2010-12-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Since it has been a while since I lasted posted, I figured I would share some pictures of Kate from this past week.
Kate loves spending time with Annie. She is always asking where the cat has gone and when she finds Annie she usually gives her a big hug.

Today Kate and I went to Ikea to find her a chair. She went straight to this rocking chair and didn't want to get off. The price tag said that it was sold out but a sales associate told me that there were only 2 left. Thankfully we were able to purchase one and I put it together right when we got home. She already loves sitting and rocking in it!

Recent Videos

2010-12-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

Before we get to the videos, I had to post this picture of Kate mopping. She wanted to help me out and she did a great job! She mopped almost the entire floor for me. She is such a big help!
Kate's Words

Jumping...well sort of. :-)

Uh-oh!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

Over the past week we have been working towards transforming our house for Christmas. On Sunday we spent the afternoon adding lights to our front yard. It was a bit chilly but Kate had a fun time, especially looking at the light balls we hang from our tree.

Kate loves looking at the lights. She is always asking us to turn them on, even when it is bright outside.On Thursday we headed up to Apple Hill to cut down our Christmas tree. Since it was a weekday we had the entire tree farm to ourselves. It took a while to find the perfect tree, but we found it! Kate loved walking around in the mud and looking at all the pretty trees.

Since the tree farm was quite large we had a tractor take our tree to the car. It was nice not having to carry it ourselves. Kate wasn't too sure what to make of the big moose.

Our tree...all decorated with ornaments and lights. So pretty!