1st Hair Cut

As the below pictures clearly indicate, Kate was in need of her first hair cut. While her longer shaggy hair was fun and gave us quite a few chuckles first thing in the morning, it got to be sort of difficult to manage, even with hair accessories. So, we decided to have it cleaned up a little bit. She has several hair styles. First thing in the morning she rocks the "Conan O'Brien" and after her bath she sports the "Gordon Gecko" slicked back 'do.

Just out of bed look - the morning of her hair cut

The "Conan O'Brien" look

The finished product

The "Gordon Gecko" look

11 Months!

Kate turned 11 months old on May 24th. She has become quite mischievous and is constantly on the go. Ben isn't quite sure what to think of her new tricks. I think he misses the days when she couldn't do much because now she requires more attention from mom. She is so sweet and easy going and is such a pleasure.

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Murray. It was a short trip, but we fit a lot in. Ben went fishing for the first time and Kate took her first boat ride on Kentucky Lake. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Hanging out at Dennis & J.R.'s pool.

Ben testing out his water wings.

Getting ready to fish! Ben was in charge of the crickets and worms.

Ben fishing for the first time with help from Great Uncle Dennis

Success!

10 Months

Baby Kate turns 10 months old today. It's hard to believe she's so close to being one! Pretty soon we'll need to stop calling her "Baby" Kate. She is crawling everywhere and, as you can see from the picture below, has four teeth. She gets into a lot of stuff now, but when you tell her "no" she just looks at you with the biggest, sweetest grin and it's hard to deny her anything!

Ben is a huge fan of Baby Kate. He wants her to stay at school with him, wants her to play trains with him and doesn't like for her to be asleep while he's awake. She is a big fan of his, too, as he makes her laugh harder than anyone else. He always says "her thinks I'm funny!" The other day he looked at me and said "Mommy, Baby Kate smells like pizza."

Here are some pictures of Baby Kate @ 10 months old.

Daddy doesn't think this is a very flattering picture, but I think her snaggle teeth are quite cute!

Kate is a huge fan of this car. She squeals with joy and flails her arms about when riding in it.

Baby Kate & Mommy (sans makeup, I want to add)

Happy 10 month birthday to our little Peanut!

Summer in Spring

The thermostat reached 90 today so we broke out the water toys.

Easter

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC for an Easter brunch, Easter egg hunt and to visit the zoo animals (in that order). Ben did not appreciate getting to the zoo and then having to sit down and eat brunch. He wanted to "first go to the zoo, then dinner, then easter egg hunt." It didn't help matters that they didn't have any pancakes or milk available. I was very close to putting a combination of coffee creamer and water in his sippy cup! He then boycotted the egg hunt, which ended up working in Elise's favor since there was a 5-egg max for the kids (???) and she was able to collect Ben's portion. Thankfully his spirits improved once we went into the zoo and rode the carousel.

Baby Kate enjoyed the brunch and even posed with the Easter Bunny.

Daddy took this picture. He took about 5 of us with the Easter bunny and I am cut out of most of them. The bunny didn't fare much better.

Ben refusing to participate in the egg hunt.

Elise & Ben feeding some animals in the petting zoo.

Here are some other recent pictures:

9 Months

Kate is 9 months old, which is hard to believe! She went to the doctor today for her check-up and everything looks great. She has lived up to her nickname of "peanut" because she is small! She weighs 18 pounds (35%) and is 27 1/4" long (40%). She must be quite the thinker, though, because her head circumference is in the 80th percentile. She continues to be so good natured and easy going and is such a sweet little girl.

Ben & Kate playing "tickle tackle" and Kate also displaying her morning hair.

March

March has been a busy month for us. We started a big landscaping project at home and then Ben, Kate and Mommy went to Murray for a week-long visit.

Before pictures of back yard:

After:




Before picture of front yard:

After:

Pictures from our visit to Murray:

Ben asleep with Kitty Baby

Doing some computing - I think he had just e-filed our taxes when this picture was taken.

Baby Kate with Great Aunt J.R.

And Great Uncle Dennis

At the Nature Center in the Land Between the Lakes

Kate is starting to think about crawling. Hasn't been perfected yet, but one of these days!