CUTE COUSINS! *sidenote* Kate's not still using a pacifier, but she likes to chew on one when she's teething. Okay, that's all.

This last picture is not related to Halloween, but it’s awfully sweet.  : )

And, big news, Kate started walking!!  She looks like such a big girl and seems pretty pleased with herself.  I took a video of her doing it, but she fell at the end and bonked her head so I feel bad posting it.  I’ll get another one where she doesn’t get injured at the end and post that.  : )

Yep, this is what my sweet husband would do every Saturday morning while I went out running.  I’d come home to a glass of ice water waiting on the counter for me and the entire house vacuumed.  Even the stairs.  

 

Not only is he so sweet to me, he is amazing with Kate.  She loves getting to play with daddy when he gets home from work and had a great time playing the guitar with him.  I think I’ll keep Chris, he’s a good one.  : )

Last weekend we had the pleasure of visiting Linder Farms.  It was quite cold but Kate did really well being out for an extended amount of time.  When we first arrived, we visited the petting zoo since Kate absolutely loves animals.  I think she was a little nervous because the animals were much bigger than anything she’s seen up close before.  There was a camel, an alpaca, two newborn alpacas (I thought they kind of looked like dinosaurs because their long necks weren’t hairy… very cute, though!), a pony, a calf, sheep, goats and a cat.  I don’t think the cat was actually a part of the petting zoo, but we stopped to pet it nonetheless.  : ) 

"Don't put me down, okay Mom? I'm not too sure about those things!"

 

After we left the petting zoo, we set out to pick some pumpkins.  There were these crazy stickers that got onto everything so Kate didn’t actually get to get down and pick out her own.  Oh well, next year.  We found some good ones and my parents snapped a picture of our first family pumpkins.

One of our pumpkins is missing in this picture... not sure where it was.

 

With pumpkins in hand, we took a hay ride back to the farm (That sounds funny to me.  Took a hay ride?  Hopped on a hay ride?  Rode on a hay ride?  How do you say that?!).

 

After the hay ride, we drank some delicious hot chocolate and apple cider and ate corn dogs, hamburgers and some delicious roasted corn.  Seriously, it was amazing.  We had a great time and will look forward to going back next year!

Well, I did not get to run in my half marathon on Sunday.  Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Chris and I were having my three friends who were running with me and their spouses/boyfriend over for a very big dinner on Saturday night (because, really, the best thing about running long distances is having zero guilt about eating a lot).  Saturday morning I felt fine, Saturday afternoon?  Not so much.  I had to cancel dinner, which made me mad because I had already purchased all of the supplies for dinner AND started preparing the food.  Later in the day it was becoming clear that I probably wouldn’t be able to run, either.  I texted my three friends and let them know and then cried and cried and cried and cried.  I was (and still am) so frustrated to be missing out on this race because not only was it a goal to complete another half marathon before Kate’s first birthday, I also felt really good about this race.  My friends and I had trained really well, my times were faster than they’ve ever been and mentally I just felt so ready to tackle the race.  So, Sunday morning rolled around and instead of riding over to the race with my buddies, I requested for Chris to take me to the doctor because I felt absolutely horrible.  My mom came over to watch Kate, Chris and I headed out to the doctor, and we came back about forty five minutes later with the lovely diagnosis of H1N1 influenza.  Sounds scary, but thankfully I’m already feeling much better.  Still though, stupid Swine Flu ruined my race!!!!!!

I had envisioned posting these pictures with me actually in them, but this one will have to do.  Here we have Chelsea, Alyssia and Candice – three of my best friends who have been so great to train with these last four months.  Hopefully I’ll get to post race pictures with me in them at some point…

Although a couple of days ago the temperatures were around 90, today it was only in the 50s with a pretty chilly wind.  Now, I really don’t like cold weather (at all!!), but Kate got a cute new hat so I decided to brave the “cold” weather and head out for a walk.

 

 

In other weather related news, I’m running a half marathon on Sunday and it’s only supposed to be a high of 50 and a low of 34.  And windy.  And rainy.  (The average temperature for October 4 is 72.)  So… yeah….

The other morning Kate was quietly playing in the bathroom while I, well, went to the bathroom.  She was being so good that I didn’t think much of turning around to wash my hands.  When I turned back around she was smack dab in the middle of this:

She was having so much fun I couldn’t bear to stop her (plus, it was rather cute), so I instead dashed out, grabbed my camera, and came back just in time to see her smiling proudly next to her finished pile.  So fun.  : )

 

I was also realizing that at some point I am going to have to relinquish some control over meal time.  I figured that unless I want to be spoon feeding her in kindergarten, I probably  should allow her to try and figure out how to self feed.  It’s a messy lesson, I tell you what.

 

And finally, I leave you with a picture of one of my very favorite things about fall.  : )

I walked into our room the other day (I’m sure I was going in to make our bed, since it is clearly quite rumpled in this picture…) and found Astro sitting like this:

 

He was just sitting there looking out the window at some birds.  He looked at me like, “What’s the problem?  Cats sit like this sometimes, okay?”

I’m not sure if I’ve yet captured the cuteness of Kate’s puff. When she was younger it was just a sweet little curl in the middle of her forehead (isn’t there a nursery rhyme about that? Hopefully Kate won’t be like that little girl..), but as she’s grown up, it’s increased in volume and size until it has become this glorious poufy puff on top of her head. Absolutely precious! : )

 

 

Also, I want say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad!!  So, happy birthday, Dad!  Hope you have a great day!!!

And by people, I mean my mom and dad who have requested a blog update.  : )  So here’s a brief-ish synopsis of the last few weeks…

I started painting our kitchen and am sooo pleased with how it’s turning out.  The color is one that I stole from Beth and Casey’s master bedroom, and I was a little nervous because it’s not your typical kitchen color, but I really like it!

(new color on the left)

 

 

In other news, I’m training for another half marathon that I’ll be running on October 4.  I’ve been training with three good friends which has been a lot of fun.  What was not a lot of fun was the traumatic incident we had a few weeks ago in which we were chased by a goose for close to half a mile.  And wow, that sucker got close!  At one point while we were running away, I turned around to see how close it was and its wing flapped my arm.  The goose incident had quite a horrific ending (which shall not be discussed) that left me unable to sleep for a couple of days.  It was terrible.  And it completely changed where I feel safe to run.  Don’t laugh!  This goose was terrifying I tell you!!

Hmmm, what else…  we got together with Chris’ family a while ago for some good summer fun.  My nephews are great!  So funny.  : )

 

 

 

Also, a friend from work gave me these cute little veggies.  They’re cucumbers!  Lemon cucumbers to be exact.  They’re almost too fun to eat!

 

And finally, of course we’ve been having so much fun with Kate.  She took five steps tonight toward Chris and is turning into such a big girl!!

looking out the window at Chris mowing the lawn

 

done

Yep, I think my daughter is pretty stinkin’ cute.  So here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure!  Not too much to report other than Kate has started standing up in her crib and isn’t sure how to get back down.  This makes for many, many trips into her room to lay (lie? I can’t remember the rule) her back down.  So, any tips from you veteran parents would be greatly appreciated!

 

showing off her BIG bow

 

hanging out at my old table : )