An update (it’s about time!)…

I know, I know!  It’s been a while since I’ve updated.  Sorry!  : )

We tried to make Kate’s actual birthday a pretty fun day for her since she’d already had her party.  We started by taking her out for pancakes in the morning and let her open one more present,

 took her to a park in the afternoon to swing,

and got her an ice cream cone after dinner (actually, my mom and dad got her the ice cream… thanks!).

Hopefully it was a good day for her… it was a very fun day for Chris and me!  We sure love our little girl. 

Kate is walking around sooo quickly!  I think it could be considered running when she really gets going.  She got two new pair of boots yesterday and was busy trying them on today.  I didn’t get any pictures of her cute snow boots, but here she is modeling her everyday boots:

Sorry this video is sideways.  I’m sure there’s a way to flip it, but I have neither the time nor the patience to figure it out.  So turn your head to the side and enjoy!

done

Happy birthday, sweet baby girl!

Well, my baby’s turning one tomorrow.  Absolutely unbelievable.  I mean, it is seriously inconceivable to me that in one year we have gone from this

to this

to this

to this

 

Kate has been the most wonderful little addition to our family.  She is sweet, smart, funny and busy, busy, busy.  Not a day goes by that Chris and I don’t thank God for her.  So, happy birthday darling Kate.  You are dearly, dearly loved by so many people!

A brief birthday preview

I’ll post more pictures later, but I wanted to post a couple of videos from Kate’s party on Saturday (she got her party early – lucky girl!).  We had such a great time and are so thankful for such a sweet little girl.  We absolutely cannot imagine life without her and feel so blessed to have her in our lives… what a sweetie!

done

 done

Thanks to Beth for being in charge of the camera during the party… you’re great!

Oh, and how sweet is it that Kate shared her cake with me?!  : )

Swine Flu Recovery Half Marathon

Exactly six weeks ago I missed out on doing the half marathon I’d been training for with friends.  I was quite upset about this since my goal had been to run another one before Kate turned one (which is in a week and a half).  On Thursday my friend Candice and I decided that we would run one today.  So, we had a couple of days to prepare.  : )  Both of us have to continued to run a little in the last six weeks, but not much.  Candice ran seven miles once.  I ran six miles once.  We’ve run four miles together a few times.  You get the picture.  BUT, we did great!  We both ran our best times yet, we were able to talk the entire time (except between miles 10.5 and 11.5… that was a tough one), and most importantly, we finished!!! 

The cutest little chicken and pumpkin you’ll ever see

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.  : )

sweet hubby, sweet daddy

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.  : )

Linder Farms

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!

Disappointment

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…

Chilly weather cutie

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….

Oh, the things you can learn!

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.  : )