Kate is 1

so yesterday I was video taping kate in her really cute dress that grandma kissell had brought her when she came a few weeks ago

and I asked "kate, how old are you?" and she put up one finger on both hands. its something that we had been trying to teach her for a while. at first I thought i was just a fluke, but then on the way to church she kept doing it! of course, this morning I was walking down the stairs with her and asked "kate, who loves you?" and she held up one finger. in that case she was pointing at me...she is a super genius!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!

kate is now a big 1 year old! here are some of her favorite things:

- splashing in the bathtub

-climbing up the stairs (and seeing if she can crawl over and start climbing before someone catches her)

-pretending to talk on the phone

-sleeping in the very corner of her bed

-talking in her oh so cute jibber jabber

-playing with other kids

-copying everything people do around her (we especially love we she copies daddy's funny laugh)

its hard to believe that one year ago today I was in the hospital with a tiny little stranger! its amazing how much personality she has and how much she has grown in just a year! we are so lucky to have our kate rose!

hand-me-downs!

so today, because of sudden cancelations in my schedule, I had a LONG lunch. a 3 hour lunch to be exact! and when I came home I found a surprise! it was a package from my super cute sister-in-law (who has excellent taste in clothes) full of hand-me-downs!! kate was so excited to see the box! we starting going through all the cute clothes (mommy had to have kate try on the cute shawl) and kate would look inside...

pull something out...

and we would ohh and ahhh over it!! I went to work right away putting everything in her drawers and hanging things up in her closet (and making a HUGE box of too-small-soon-to-be-hand-me-downs!) we are SET!! THANKS HILARY!!!

Happy Birthday (party) Kate!!

we had kate's birthday party a little early because auntie jen was here to join in on the fun! yesterday jen and I spent ALL morning on the cakes and we were really excited about how they turned out!




they were white cake with a yummy strawberry cream filling! yum yum! as you can see, kate LOVED it!

it is definately fun to have kate be (almost) 1! she is such a smiley, happy girl who loves to give kisses (if she's in the right mood!) and can point to her ears and nose (she's SO smart!) today my mom told kate "a year ago, your mommy was miserable!!" its true. I was miserable and ready to see her and then she came and now she's here and she's 1!! I don't know how it happened, but its definately been fun!

my baby eats anything

kate has always been a very good eater. ever since the first day she gobbled up rice cereal, she has amazed us at how wide she could open her mouth.

she has eaten everything: salmon, mushrooms, peppers, asparagus...the list goes on and on! she definately has her favorites, though. she LOVES fruit. her favorites are blueberries and grapes. if she sees you walking to the table with either of them, she opens her mouth really wide and says "HHHHHHH!!!" (thats her excited noise!)

I love her excited noise!

my latest sewing projects

in march when I went to CA to hang out with my friend miriam, we learned how to make a cute tote bag and I was so excited to come home and make one! its a smaller bag and so I've been carrying it as a purse. well, I decided to get creative and make a new diaper bag by making the original tote bag bigger. without really thinking, I doubled the measurements of the small bag and ended up with a bag so big that kate thought it was fun to ride around and swing in.

so I ended up with a beach bag instead of a diaper bag which is really practical because I go to the beach ALL the time here in tucson! the next day I rethought my measurements and ended up with the cutest diaper bag! its perfect and I love it!

blow darts

yesterday we went up reddington pass and took turns riding the dirt bike, shooting a paintball gun at targets, and using ryan's blow dart gun. its the first time ryan has been able to use it since christmas when he got it (thanks michael!) and by the end of the day he was fairly confident he could use it to kill a rabbit in a survival situation!

what a mountain man!

what the crawl?!?

so after 10 long months of being stationary, kate has finally learned to crawl! (Ryan and I are now learning why everyone says it was a nice thing that she was immobile for so long!) she is getting into everything!! but it is no ordinary crawl! we think she feels unstable when she has both feet behind her with both knees on the ground so she has improvised her own...unique...way of crawling!








she crawls with her right knee to the ground and her left leg coming out like a spider. we've given up on teaching her the "real" way and she's getting really fast. she's definately stubborn like her mommy!! she'll do it HER way!

the wonderful world of blogging

so I have finally done it! I've entered the wonderful world of blogging! I have to admit, I have no idea what I'm doing...but I enjoy others so much that I thought it would be selfish to not put one up of my own!