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From December 2006

Katherine and Hooligan posing in front of the tree.

I was not sure how much a 10 month old would get into her first Christmas. Would she just sit there overwhelmed and not interested or would she get into the excitement of opening presents? Katherine was a blast!

On Christmas Eve we went to Christy’s parents house to open presents and have dinner.

From December 2006

The first gift Katherine opened was a small overstuffed chair with a Pooh bear in it. She went crazy. She climbed up into the chair and started babbling to Pooh. I have never seen her talking to animated.

From December 2006

She also received a lot of books, a dress, some soft blocks and stacking cubes. She was interested in all of them and would help unwrap her gifts. She especially liked taking the tissue paper out of bags.

From December 2006

From December 2006

Christmas morning Christy’s parents came over to our house for breakfast and to open stockings and see what Santa brought. Katherine again had a blast. She received a Dinosaur Roll Around that you put balls into and they go through shoots and stairs making all kinds of noise. She sat on the couch and would take each thing from her stocking and moms stocking and put them behind her. What a fun morning!

Today Nana and Pops took me and Katherine to the Dallas Arboretum. It was a gorgeous day out there. Katherine slept through the entire outing. I really enjoy spending time with my parents and it is so fun to see Katherine interacting with them. They are wonderful grandparents. Thanks Nana and Pops.

Katherine is too cool!

On October 26th my Uncle Kent went home to be with the Lord. He had been fighting a battle with cancer. He was a strong believer, heading to Israel as a missionary with his wife, my Aunt Beverly this month. Our family is comforted in knowing that he is in heaven and that our sadness is for our loss, not his.

Please be praying for my mom, my aunt and my cousins and their family.

 The picture is is Katherine and her Uncle Will who was able to make it to Austin for the funeral. I was the unofficial photographer for the family and have a lot of pictures of the entire ceremony but figured that most of you would not expect to see a casket on our blog so I opted for the lighter photo of the weekend.

Boston Harbor

Actually, the title is from one of the Veggie Tales songs from days long ago. But, we just got back from a trip to Boston in the fall which is why there has been a serious shortage of posts lately.

My parents had a business trip and invited us to go with them. The great thing was we upgraded the room the company got for them so that we had a suite at the Four Seasons. It was a pretty nice place. We told Katherine that she could not get used to that kind of vacation because we do not usually stay in places like that. They provided a crib with cute bedding though it was kind of jail cell looking. They also provided a baby welcome basket with diapers, wipes, travel soaps and lotions and a teddy bear. We did comment though how it is amazing how a really expensive hotel like that seems to nickel and dime you on every little service. You would think that a room that costs over 0 a night (the company paid remember) you would get free internet access. No, it cost a day to use the wireless keyboard and the TV internet. So, no email for us.

From Boston

Our hotel was right across from the Boston Public Garden which is really pretty. We walked around there thre first afternoon and we would cut through from time to time when going other places. I love the weeping willows and the swans on the lake.

From Boston

From Boston

On Friday Sam, Katherine and I walked the freedom trail from the beginning in Boston Common to Quincy Market, though we ventured off on the African American Freedom trail and to look at some cool old neighborhoods as well.

From Boston

Boston is a great city for walking, but not really for walking with a stroller. The sidewalks are mostly cobblestone and since the buildings are all old, many do not have wheelchair ramps. The worst was the subway. Only about a fourth of the stations had elevators. We did not ride the subway often, so when we did, we would put Katherine in the front carrier and carry the stroller which folds up and has a shoulder strap. It was doable for two healthy adults, but what would you do if you really were disabled in this city.

From Boston

Friday night mom and dad had a fancy dinner at Fenway park so we were on our own. We decided to go on a sunset harbor cruise. It was really nice, Katherine’s first boat ride. We were able to see the harbor, the downtown skyline, lots of sailboats and the USS Constitution. Sam loves sailing so he loved it.

From Boston

Saturday mom watched Katherine so that Sam and I could have some date time. We walked around the area by our hotel which has a lot of mansions and shopping. We had a great brunch, explored the Boston Public Library which is like a museum and we saw a few churches.

From Boston

That afternoon Sam and Dad went across to visit Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution or Old Ironsides. Mom, Katherine and I went to the aquarium which was way to crowded and we shopped in Quincy market. That night we went to my mom’s cousins house outside of town for dinner.

Sunday we went to a church service at a church that has a professional orchestra and choir perform a Bach cantata every week. It was pretty. Then we went to MIT to their museum. It was actually a very interesting museum.

From Boston

We had a very fun trip. Katherine did great on the plane, sleeping most of both ways. She is a very flexible baby and was able to nap just about anywhere.

From Boston

Today my brother Will, otherwise known as Baby Boo to me, told me that I have been slacking off on my blogs. I am not sure that is really true. I think I did not post over the weekend when he was home and now that I caught up he is out of town. Anyway, in honor of my brother, I am posting a blog for him.

Here is a picture of my brother Will on the California bear. Will and his wife Jaime live in Sacramento, which is much too far for me, but I have learned to deal with it. We don’t get to see each other as much as we would like but we do talk a lot.

 Baby Wuv, Baby

Christy, Katherine, Karin and Katelyn

Karen and I have been friends since we were born, she is 6 weeks younger than me. Our moms are still best friends. When we were young we would play together all the time. Our favorite thing to do was to play dress up in our mom’s old nightgowns. For some reason we thought they were pretty. We would also make up dances. Each Christmas our families would get together with another family and the kids would do a pageant. The much coveted role in the pageant was the angel that came to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. We liked that role better than Mary because the costume was prettier. We would go eat at the Magic Pan in Northpark and go shopping with our moms until we were older. Sadly, the Magic Pan is no longer there.

Our moms are still best friends and they are so excited because Karen and I both had baby girls this spring. Katherine and Katelyn are 3 months apart. This week we got together with the three generations of girls for the first time at Mi Cocina. We look forward to many more get togethers and the grandmothers look forward to when the girls are old enough to go shopping at Northpark.

My cousin Scooter Skeeters

I am so excited. We just found out that Uncle Will and Aunt Jaime are expecting their first baby February 17th. Mom told Uncle Will that I needed a cousin within a year and they are just barely going to make their deadline. I can’t wait to have a cousin in California to visit. We will have so much fun. They are calling the baby “Scooter” for now like mom and dad called me “Pip”.

Hopefully they will start a blog soon so we can all monitor Scooter’s progress.