Our little toddler

Below are some pictures of Kate from the past few days.

Yesterday she really wanted to try on her sunglasses and wear both at the same time. She was so amazed to have them on her face. She kept them on for a few minutes and then pulled them off.
Our walking girl!

Daddy and Kate time...Annie wanted in on the action! :-)

Kate loves her Daddy!

She is gearing up to be a piano player like her daddy.

Kate loves to look in the cupboards. She thankfully doesn't pull anything out but she loves to slam them shut.

This morning my sister treated me to a belated birthday breakfast. At the restaurant Kate got to try crayons for the first time. She actually did a really good job drawing on the paper. She only tried to eat the crayon once and quickly stopped when I told her "no."

Cousin Chloe before she enjoyed her strawberry waffles.Thanks for a great morning, Sarah!

More video of Kate walking

Happy birthday to me! :-)

Yesterday was my 28th birthday and it was filled with many special moments. In the morning I got to open up gifts from Kate and Will. Kate gave me a cute card in which she wrote that said she loved me more than Elmo, cheese, and tickely ribs combined! Will gave me a BEAUTIFUL perdiot pendant necklace. So gorgeous! After church Will treated me to a yummy lunch at Chevy's (my choice since I wanted a margarita) while my mom watched Kate. After lunch Will insisted that I try to drive his 1952 VW bug. It was pretty scary double-clutching but he was proud that I gave it a try and did pretty good for my first time. When we went to pick Kate up from Gramma's we were treated to my mom's famous whoppie pies. They are so delicious! That evening we stayed home and enjoyed watching season 4 of Dexter. It was a great birthday!
Gramma made Kate her very own whoppie pie. She took a few bites of it and then dropped it on the floor...very typical!

Below are a few pictures from this past week:

Annie is getting really good at letting Kate approach her and pet her. Usually Kate tries to grab Annie and hold on for dear life but Annie doesn't seem to mind too much. She just loves the attention.

I had an impulse buy at Cost Plus the other day. This giraffe rocking horse was on clearance and I couldn't resist buying it for Kate. Afterwards I treated myself to some Starbucks and ordered Kate an ice water.

Kate has been very fascinated by a hat Will bought in Maui. She likes to wear it on her head or carry it around. I tried to get a picture of her wearing it, but she got mad that I was forcing her to keep it on her head so this is the picture I took.

Eventually she calmed down and decided she would rather eat the hat.

Kate is walking!

Yesterday Kate took her first steps! It happened completely by surprise...I was certain she wouldn't walk for another few weeks. I encouraged her to let go of my fingers and stand on her own. She had really good balance so I asked her to take some steps towards me and she did! It was such an exciting moment. A few minutes later she showed off for Will by taking a few more steps and by bedtime she was walking 10+ steps! She has yet to walk today, but I am hopeful!

Maui Sweet Maui

We just got back from an amazing 10-day trip to Maui. We spent our vacation with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend in a beautiful house on the beach in Lahaina. Kate did a fantastic job flying both to and from the island (it is about a 5 hour flight). She barely napped but we kept her busy with Elmo DVD's, books, toys, and snacks. We also had the pleasure of celebrating our 6 year anniversary while in Maui (August 7) and went out to a wonderful dinner on Kaanapali Beach at the Hula Grill. The whole trip was filled with wonderful family time, plenty of relaxing and a lot of playing in the water.



The house we stayed in was 3 bedroom/2 bathroom home that was recently remodeled. It was the perfect place to stay since it was on a great beach and 1 block from downtown Lahaina.

Backyard view

This is a picture from Kate's first introduction to the ocean. She was so excited to walk in the

rolling waves and feel the sand under her toes.One huge perk to staying in Lahaina was the amazing sunsets we were spoiled to every night. They were all so breath-taking.

View of Lahaina Town

Kapalua Beach....beautiful beach with soft sand and small waves. Playing in the sand at Kapalua

Kaanapali Beach

The famous Black Rock in the background

Rainbow in Napili while waiting in line for breakfast at The Gazebo

We spent one of our afternoons at the Maui Ocean Center with my mom. Kate loved looking at all the fishes. It was a very nice aquarium!

Kate enjoyed touching the sea cucumber. It was pretty slimy and squishy.

Kate and Daddy walking on our beach with Lahaina harbor in the backgroundHanging out in our backyard

We found a local park not too far from where we were staying. Kate loved going on the swings and sliding down the slides. We also went to the local public pool which was located next to the park. The pool was free to enter and had a really nice baby pool section....these are the things we now do on vacation since she can't snorkel or go on long car rides.

Kate and Gramma playing in the waves

Daddy and Kate watching Elmo

We brought a baby pool with us for Kate and she loved spending hours in it everyday. It was the best $5 I have ever spent!

One of Kate's favorite things to do was to hose off in our outdoor shower after playing in the sand. She could spend all afternoon under the faucet if we let her.

Kate being silly trying to drink from 2 sippie cups

We spent some family time on the hammock and actually got stuck. We had to wait for my parents to get home to rescue us and pull us out.

Kate showing off her new shoes (or Gramma's shoes)

Kate loved playing in the ocean with Papa. She would kick her legs furiously whenever a wave would come in.

Will and I on a little car ride to some lava fields while Gramma watches Kate

Dad, Daniel and Jessica rode some scooters for a day. They seemed to have a lot of fun!

Last day and all packed up...it was very sad to leave but hopefully we can go back soon.

Movies from Maui

Dancing Kate

Kate was showing off her dance moves this morning. Normally she dances standing up but she decided to give it a try on her knees today.

1-year check up

Kate had her 1-year check up today. She came away with a clean bill of health and 3 more shots including her chicken pox vaccination. Overall Kate did very well at her appointment but she screamed while getting weighed and measured. The doctor also gave me the go-ahead to let Kate eat just about anything including honey and peanut butter. Yay! It is nice to no longer have any foods that are off limits.

Her stats for her appointment are:
Height - 29.5" (slightly above average)
Weight - 24lbs 1oz (90%)
Head circumference - 90%
Kate was showing off her new purse the other day. She likes to wear it over her shoulder.

Kate's birthday party

Yesterday we celebrated Kate's first birthday with a party full of friends and family (24+ people). It was a fun and special day! Our theme for the party was a cupcake theme...the invitations, balloons and cake were all decorated with cupcakes. I found an awesome cake pan that was a giant cupcake for Kate's special cake. I think it turned out pretty good!
In addition to the large cupcake, I bought some cake from Nugget Market to make sure we had plenty of cake for everyone.

Kate and Will hanging out before guests arrive.

Kate received a whole bunch of wonderful presents! Thank you to all for your generosity!

One of Kate's favorite presents is a baby doll she received from Dedushka and Grammalene. She hugs it and cuddles it all day long.

After presents it was Kate's turn to try some cake....

"You want me to eat this?"

"Hmmm, I guess the frosting isn't that bad!"

Unfortunately that was the extent of Kate's cake eating experience. She wasn't too interested in diving into the cake and making a big mess. I will blame some of it on my frosting...it hardened up a bit overnight so it wasn't very easy to smear around.

Here are a few pictures of Kate's friends. They all had a fun time helping Kate play with her new toys. Zoey was having fun munching on the shovel. Abby enjoyed playing with my mom's skirt. It was adorable to watch her tug on it.

Hazel was a big help during the party and helped us clean up all the wrapping. Tomorrow is Hazel's 2nd birthday!

We had a such a great time celebrating Kate's first birthday. Thank you to all who joined us in the festivities!