Jon and Kristen's Party

Hanne played in the fountain

Luke and Emma put on a show!

The happy couple in one of their gifts - handmade chairs by Mr. Tom

Katherine took it all in

Paula with Luke and Emma

Jon and Kristen practicing cutting cake!

Our second party on Saturday was a pre-wedding party for Jon and Kristen in Gallatin.  It was a warm night but that did not put a damper on the festivities.  Luke had fun running around with Emma and Hanne again.  The Martin's have an amazing house and garden.  The kids played all over!  We had a great meal and then enjoyed hearing about wedding customs from all over the world from Sharon. 

We had talked to Luke a lot before we got there about not "hovering" over Emma and Hanne.  We invoked a "one hug" rule.  He could give each of them one hug and that is all.  He tends to be kind of in your face sometimes.  He did really well with our new rule and the kids had fun.

Pancakes and Pajamas!

Luke making his very own apron!

Katherine waving "hi" to everyone

Attempting a group shot - Luke would not have his picture made

Smart boy - at a table with all girls!

Eating a sausage ball

Luke was right in the middle of the girls opening their presents

Emma and Hanne got lots of fun gifts

"Pin the topping on the pancake"

Katherine loves to be standing up now

Too much partying for K - she fell asleep!

Katherine woke up from an evening nap Thursday night with a temperature of 102.  So, we knew she could not go to school so I stayed home with her.  She did not really run a temp all day Friday so we proceeded with our jam-packed weekend.  First up was Emma and Hanne's birthday party.  The theme was "Pancakes and Pajamas".  It was great fun!  All the parents loved that it was in the morning.  It started at 9 which is perfect for little ones since they are up by 6 anyway.  Each child got to make their own apron which was so neat.  Of course, Luke picked a yellow one!  There were lots of toys to play on in the backyard and then everyone enjoyed breakfast.  After that was gift opening.  If you are an avid reader of our blog you will remember how Emma "helped" Luke open all his gifts for his birthday in January - well, he had the chance to return the favor.  He helped the girls open their gifts so fast no one could keep up with everything.

After gifts they played "pin the topping on the pancake".  The kids had a great time and Luke did not want to leave!  He just loves Emma and Hanne.  We got him to leave by promising him he would see the girls later tonight at another party. 

Living Life

All smiles at our stroll in the park

An unexpected surprise at Dos Margaritas!

Like father....like son

Daddy, Mommy, Grandmommy and baby duck

A co-worker and friend of mine died tragically in a car accident this week.  None of us are quite over the shock of it all.  She was married and had two children.  She and I were pregnant at the same time.  Her little boy and Luke are only two months apart.  She had such a zest for life that was apparent to anyone that met her.  This sadness has made me look at life differently.  I hugged Paul and the kids a little tighter when I saw them.  We just never know what the future holds for us or those we love.  We always try to maximize the time we have together.

We did that tonight.  We met Mom for Mexican where we ran into part of the Morris crew.  It was a pleasant surprise and we all enjoyed chatting for a bit.  Since the weather was so nice we went to the park. We had not been to this particular park before so Luke loved it. They have an awesome playground and walking trail around a lake.  We just enjoyed being together!

His Little Girl

If there was ever a doubt in my mind that Paul would not love having a little girl it would be long gone by now.  He absolutely adores Katherine!  It is pretty apparent when he comes home from work with a new dress (or two) he picked up for her while he was out that day.  Paul bought Katherine this orange and white dress and dressed her in it recently.  The teachers at their school said they knew Paul must have bought it since it was UT colors!

Chilly Weather

The weather has been unseasonably cool here this week.  We are barely seeing highs in the upper 60's with lows in the 40's at night.  I had to get this kids winter clothes back out.  Luke has been wearing his fleece jacket and jeans every day.  I hope warmer weather comes quick as Miss Katherine has almost outgrown all her cooler weather clothes!

First Big Girl Party

Paula, Katherine, Me and Kristen

Lauren joined this shot.  I wish K had looked toward the camera.

Luke seemed to be feeling much better this morning and did not have a temperature. So, we decided to proceed with our plans.  There was a shower for Kristen in Murfreesboro this afternoon.  We met for lunch before that and then went and visited the new house to see what kind of progress they had made.  All the girls went to the party while the boys (Luke included) stayed at the house to work.  We had so much fun at the shower.  Everyone ohhh'd and ahhh'd over Katherine and she ate it up!  She was a doll while we were there. She never whimpered - just smiled, cooed and talked in her cute baby talk.  Claudia had to work but Lauren was able to come.  We really had a good time.  We will always remember Katherine's first big girl party.  I jokingly explained to her that being a Southern lady meant going to lots of showers, teas and parties! 

When we got back Luke was happy to see us and ready to go home.  I had plans with Laura and Virgina tonight so Luke spent the night with Nonna. Paul, the kids and Mom ate supper at Chef's then Mom took Luke home from there. I had a wonderful girls night.  We celebrated Virginia's new place!  She has not moved in yet but that did not matter -- she had lawn chairs for us to sit in and a yummy salad for us to enjoy.  It is always great catching up with them. Our lives are so hectic that we rarely get to keep up with each other's day-to-day lives so it takes us several hours to go over everything that has happened to us since we last saw each other.

On your mark...

get set....GO!  The kids really play well together.  Luke just can not wait until Katherine can walk and talk though. His latest thing is to try and "race" her crawling.  He will get up on all fours with her and rock back and forth.  His favorite phrases are " on your mark, macaroni, spaghetti, noddles...go" It is hilarious.  Usually Katherine is giggling so hard she does not go anywhere but Luke proceeds to crawl all around the room like a baby.  I know it is just a matter of time before Katherine really is crawling.

She has also taken a liking to Luke's trains.  We will even build her own little track with a couple of trains and she will still come after his!  She especially likes to put the track in her mouth.  For money's sake I hope she does like trains.  We could get 2-for-1 if she plays with them  half as much as Luke does!

I got a call at work around lunch that Luke had a high temperature.  There is a confirmed case of strep at the center so I decided it was a good idea to have him checked out.  I got there in time to get him in the fast track clinic at the pediatrician (or so I thought). Normally the close from 1-2 for lunch.  We rolled in about 20 minutes till 1 only to find out they recently changed their lunch hour.  So, we went home for a little bit then back again.  We were in and out in less than 30 minutes.  The strep test was negative. The doc said his chest, ears, and throat were all clear.  She said he probably has a virus causing the temperature.  When we got home he took an extra long nap.  It was time to go get Katherine so Mom left work to watch him so I could run and get her. I hated to drag her in and out of the doctor's office and I am glad I did not have her with me since we made two trips.

He seems to be feeling better tonight. We have several plans for the weekend so we will just have to wait and see how he does.

Wedding Preview

Jon and Kristen's wedding is approaching fast.  We are having a suit made for Luke since we were not able to find one we liked.  I stopped by the seamstress to look at the jacket this afternoon and thought the shorts looked really short.  I brought them home for Luke to try on.  They were perfect - luckily he has short legs!  Paula had also picked up the shirt to go with it so he tried it all on. He was so excited!  He called Bill and Paula to tell them that he looked good.  It was so cute!  He says he is going to be the "Ring Bear" in the wedding.  I hope he is just excited when the actual day gets here.

After the fashion show he and Paul put a shelf together for Katherine's room.  He loves helping Daddy do anything.  He screwed the screws in and tapped some of the nails in with his little hammer.  It is fun to see them doing things together. 

Nine Month Well Visit

I picked the kids up from school in time to take Katherine for her 9-month well visit.  Luke was still napping when I got there and I hated that he had to get up.  The teachers made up for it by giving him some pretzels to take for the road. There was actually no where to sit in the well-child waiting room.  Luke improvised and sat on the scale while I stood up.  Luckily, Katherine stayed in the carrier.  After I weighed and measured Luke about three times they called us back.

I answered the usual developmental questions.  I could say yes to everything except pulling up on her own.  K tries to pull up but can not quite make it all the way to standing yet.  Dr. Patterson was very pleased with her and thought she was doing great.  It was good that I did not have any real concerns since Luke pretty much stole the show!  He chatted Dr. Patterson to death, she read him a book, talked about Thomas and all the other trains and examined Katherine all at the same time.  (Note to self...leave Luke at school for Katherine's 12-month visit)

We talked about continuing to try new foods with Katherine, slowly moving more towards solids rather than milk and so forth.  We also talked about K's ears.  They look great!  We are going to continue with the Allegra daily which has seemed to drastically improve her runny nose, etc.  The only shot she had to have was the second flu.  Every time we were in there lately they had not wanted to give it to her because she had been sick.

Katherine by the numbers:

Height: 27"
Weight: 20# 7 oz
Head Circumference: 17 1/2"

She has actually started to fall behind Luke's pace.  At 9 months Luke was 28 1/2" long and 21# 14 oz.  It appears that both kids are going to be on the shorter side.  Only time will tell though...

What's for Supper and Mother's Day Recap

Katherine often wears the remnants of her supper meal...

Mother's Day was very low-key around here.  We went to church then to Subway.  The kids each made me something at school and in church.  This was my first Mother's Day present from Katherine.  Her teachers made cute bottle cap magnets with her picture in them for me.  Luke made  me a pretty bottle with colored crystals in it.  I also got a new blue tooth which I have been needing for quite a while. 

We decided late in the day to go to Gallatin for supper. Bill and Paula had been out of town for the weekend and we were at the beach last weekend so we were due a visit.  We let the men (Bill, Paul and Luke) do the cooking while the girls sat on the patio and talked.  It was nice.  We grilled hamburgers.  Luke had fun running around playing as usual. 

Look at Me Swing

We finally got Katherine's swing put up.  She loves it!  She loves to swing next to Luke. She laughs and giggles.  Luke wants us to swing them both higher and higher. He thinks it is so fun that Katherine can swing with him now.

Like Brother, Like Sister

So, the date on the pictures give it away.  But we took these pictures of Katherine and I remembered we had very similar pictures of Luke.  The only difference is Luke was about 6 months when his were taken and Katherine is 9 months.  There is no question that they are brother and sister!

Wow! Look at Me!

Andrew and Mandi's new camera captured some crazy shots of Andrew and Luke on the beach.  Andrew would throw Luke in the air and I would snap away.  These are some pretty amazing shots if you ask me!  Luke loved it!

Photo Shoot

Family photo

We tried to get a good shot of all of us

Katherine loves Aunt Mandi!

Paul and I rarely get a picture of just us

Well, it is back to the daily grind.  None of us wanted to return to school or work, but it had to be done.  It was very hard to get up and get going this morning.  The last night at the beach we did a little photo shoot. Andrew and Mandi recently purchased a really nice camera so we used it.  In one of the pictures above  you can actually see the grains of sand Mandi was wiping off of Katherine's feet!  Pretty amazing!  The blog really does not the quality of the photos justice.

Road Trip Home

Luke was almost buried under all the stuff

Always a happy girl when eating

Why is it the trip home is never as exciting as the trip to your vacation destination?  For one, none of us wanted to come home and dreaded the drive.  We all got up and had breakfast at the condo together.  I was really afraid that Luke would pitch a fit when it was time to leave.  He had a few melt-downs on our trip.  I think most of them were because we were out of our routine and he was not sleeping and napping like normal.  Much to my surprise he got right in the car but wanted Uncle Andrew to "strappy" him in.  We were on the road by 9 or so.  Both kids fell asleep fairly quickly. 

We stopped for lunch/gas and stretching in Montgomery.  I realized Katherine had a major blow out when I got her out of the car seat.  It literally took me and Mom twenty minutes to get her cleaned up.  It is not fun trying to change a horrible diaper on a changing station in a small restroom of a busy Southern restaurant right as churches were letting out!  Once we got her cleaned up and seated I realized we did not have her any food in the diaper bag and it was buried in a bag somewhere in the car.  Paul was able to find some puffs so that is what she lunched on while the rest of us had real food.  She did not seem to mind though.  She just smiled and kept eating.  She also kept turning completely around in the high chair.  Still not sure how she was doing that.

When we got back on the road we let Luke watch a movie.  He picked Curious George. That is the first movie he had watched the whole time we were gone.  I try not to let him watch things in the car because I do not want him to get used to it and demand it be on any time we are in the car.  We made another stop at the Tennessee rest center and then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home.  Mom did her fair share of entertaining both kids with books, stories and toys!  Paul and I both said we were not in any hurry to take a trip with just the 4 of us.  It would be too much work!  It was nice having an extra set of hands in the car. 

We got home around 5:30 and set to work getting things unpacked and ready for the week.  Sometimes I feel as though we need a vacation to recuperate from our vacation!  But, my mind is already wandering to our next scheduled trip which is not until the fall....