Summer 2011

Summer is almost over and I guess we've been having so much fun that I haven't posted any pictures. So here is a picture recap of the summer.

Portraits

Paul (I can't believe he's almost 3):

Kate (already 15 months old but just barely 1 in this picture):

At the beginning of the summer Kate was just learning to walk, in love with stairs, and insisting on feeding herself:

Now she's a true toddler and loves to climb on everything and get into everything. It's a good thing she's so cute when she does it all:

Mother's Day 2011

This is the best I could get from Paul on a Sunday morning

Hair cut day for the guys:

I need a Hair cut day for Kate:

End of May Chicago trip!

We all had a great time (or at least most of us did)!

Paul enjoying the high life in his Chicago hotel:

Kate on her Birthday!

(and because this is the only place I document her stats here they are: 23lbs and almost 31in tall)

Happy Birthday Kate!

Sharing her first bite of cake:

Happy 4th of July!

What summer means to us:

And of course the Great Minnesota Get Together (aka the State Fair):

Paul was in heaven riding the "Sky Ryder"

And of course Kate only wanted to play in the one place the stroller couldn't go - the stairs

Two and A Half

Paul had his half birthday last week! It was extra fun because Chris had some time off work.

We went to a model train store and Paul spent the entire hour mesmerized by the model trains.

He followed the trains all along the track and provided a little commentary with his non-stop jabbering of "wow" "look at it go" and "here it comes!"

Katiebug, as always, was happy to go along for the ride. She's a good sport.

One of Paul's other favorite places to go is a huge indoor play structure. Can you spot Paul in the picture below?

(hint: he is climbing up to the top...top right that is)

We took Paul to a studio for his 2 and half year old pictures and while I don't have any digital copies of the portraits they took, I did make sure to snap some of my own pictures when we got home. Here are my favorites. I can't get over how much he looks like his dad both in his features and in the way he carries himself. I love it.

In an effort to indoctrinate the kids while they are young, we all dressed up for BYU and the Mountain West Conference finals.

After taking several pictures like the one above, Kate somehow figured out that you are supposed to smile for the camera and this is the face she's come up with :)

And of course whenever Kate get's her picture taken, Paul decides he wants his taken too.

Paul has been successfully trained to chant "Go BYU Go BYU" whenever he sees either the BYU logo or just any old Basketball game. We hope it is indicative of things to come.

9 months

Kate is 9 months old!

She's a healthy 21lbs 2 oz (90%) and 29in tall (90%).

Here are some fun pictures.

My Favorite Picture:

Two bottom teeth!:

Still Snowy (I'm beginning to think it will never melt):

I love watching Kate and Paul together, but I just can't seem to get a good picture of them. This is the best I have so far. Kate really does adore Paul and he loves showing her new things. It is a great combo. Unfortunately Kate is figuring out quicker than ever how to push Paul's buttons. But I guess that is part of the fun too, right?

This one's for Paul. He LOVES trains and on top of that what two year old doesn't love seeing picture of himself?

Here is Kate's first attempt at crawling. I knew she could do it if she just had enough motivation so I cleared off the floor and made a pile of her favorite "toys". She's been at it for about a week now and even though she is still pretty slow, she can get anywhere she wants to go and that makes her happy.

Snow

Like so much of the US, we just got TONS of snow!
I tried to take Paul out in it, but it was just too much snow for him to walk in.
Plus our noses almost froze off. Here are some pictures before the huge snow fall:





Here is the snow after the storm. It is as high as the picnic bench, almost as high as the table!



Also, Kate just had her 6 month check-up and here are the stats:
Weight 19lbs 3oz
Height 28.5 inches
She's still an inch ahead of Paul, but a couple of pounds behind. We'll see how long that keeps up.

Update

Katie Bug
Yesterday was Kate's Half Birthday! I can't believe she is already 6 months old and is now closer to being a one-year-old than she is to being a newborn.

I love this picture of Kate even though she isn't smiling because to me it looks the most true to what she looks like in everyday life (except that her hair is usually very messy in real life). It is an image like the ones I have of her in my head that I want to freeze forever. She spends a lot of time just looking around and observing. Unless you interact with her one-on-one that is, and then she lights up and is very giggly and smiley.


Kate is rolling all over the place and pretty close to sitting up, but isn't quite there. She is getting more and more fun every day as her little preferences start to shine through. I can no longer be on the computer or eat with her in on my lap because she just goes crazy trying to get the keyboard or my food. It is fun to see her start to really like certain things.


Thanksgiving
Some friends invited us to their place for dinner and everyone had a great time. Here is Kate watching football with Dad.



It is hard to tell in the picture, but her hair is getting pretty long and is in her eyes most of the time. So by the end of the evening our friend, who is a hair cutter, was nice enough to trim up the extra long hairs in the back and give her some bangs so that her hair isn't in her eyes anymore. She looks like such a big girl now!


Later that evening we decided to give her a taste of Thanksgiving so Kate got sweet potatoes for her first food. She ended up eating the whole jar. Here is the video (and a good shot of her new haircut)


Paul, Halloween, and Everything else
Paul still keeps us going. Lately he's been really into trains which means I spend most of my time building tunnels and bridges for him out of blocks.






I can't not post a picture of Paul as Mickey Mouse for Halloween. I think it was the highlight of his year. I wasn't even going to dress him up, but some friends let us borrow their boy's Mickey Mouse costume and Paul was in heaven. He wore it all night long at the church Halloween party and never even tried to take the gloves or hat off. The rest of the weekend he kept asking to be Mickey Mouse.



There is finally some snow on the ground and Paul is loving it. He wakes up every morning asking if he can go outside. He loves to hear the snow crunch under his feet. Unfortunately for him I'm not so eager to get him and Kate and myself all bundled just for the adventure, but sometimes he gets lucky and we head on outside. Here are a few shots of us enjoying the snow.





And here is my wonderful family