Happy Valentine's Day!

Daddy took a break from painting to help Katelyn with her Valentine's for her classmates, and they had so much fun, and she did such a good job. Each one was very unique, and she was so focused...

Kate's valentine treats from her friends at school and heart cookies that we took into her class the next day...

There's lots of singing in our house these days, about anything and everything! And on one of our many days of baking, while we were waiting for the snickerdoodles to come out of the oven, Kate decided to play with a plate of cinnamon sugar and sing her heart out!

As for the words, I believe it was "Cinnamon! All over you..." which was quite fitting for the situation!

Yes, it seems Kate might have been cooped up inside a little too long...

(Pardon the shaky middle part - I had to dance a bit myself to get her to keep going)

Kate enjoys my iPod immensely, and figured if she was going to wear it, she might as well go for a run like Mommy!

Cabin Fever!!

We were painting...

We played jewelry...

We baked...

Some hangin' out...

We listened to some tunes...

We baked some more...

And Kate helped a lot around the house, like helping me throw out some trash...in her totally 80's aerobics video outfit!

Keeping busy...

Being stuck in our new home was much less stir-crazy than it might have been in our apartment, and we kept busy with plenty of projects that had been slowly getting done. We've had the TV for the living room for a couple weeks, and finally had the opportunity to really work on mounting it on the wall, and Jess did a great job. Even Kate had a hand in the final product!

Our TV was mounted just in time to turn it on and watch the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics! And FYI, that little media cabinet is not staying there; it's a place-holder until we find something a little more fitting for the room.

Kate must have said "Rocket ship!" about 100 times when we went outside, meaning she wanted to swing, despite the snow, so Jesse trudged through the snow, dumped the snow out of the swing, and let Kate kick the snow out of her way while she swung! And she had a blast!

[Probably the only kid on a swing in our area today...]

Making the most of it...

We figured it'd be helpful to get the first two feet shoveled before another foot fell through the day, but whew, that was quite a feat! Shoveling snow from thigh level and throwing it over your shoulder to a pile that comes to your elbow...it just doesn't feel very productive!

But after all the work, we went outside to enjoy the fluff. Believe it or not, this is a happy face below...

I love this pic of Kate and Jess!

Jess pretending to let Kate walk all by herself...

She was not amused!

Jess giving the slide a try to see if it was surviving the weight of all that snow... too bad he went head first and landed with his face in the snow!

Kate sitting on my car...

Icicles!

When I was little, our favorite thing to do in my neighborhood was build forts and tunnels into the snow in our backyards, and I have been bummed for years that it seems like we'll never get snow like we used to, so that my kids can do those same things (I know, what am I, 75 years old!?!). But anyway, it was nice to get a decent amount that we could really enjoy, having a yard of our own, and so we built a tunnel! I didn't think Kate would be into it, but she dove right in and helped Daddy "sweep" the snow from inside...

Finally Daddy broke through the other side, and we gave it a shot...

Unfortunately, two trips later, our poor little tunnel met its end...right on Jesse's head.

Hope you're staying warm, everyone!

Snowy days in Baltimore...

So we moved into this house in December, and already have had four snow storms allowing us to flex the old shoveling muscles a little more than we bargained for as homeowners! But it's been fun, and actually really pretty to look out over our deck and see all the trees covered in snow. However, as you'll notice, the first two are from a week ago where we got maybe 5 inches over last weekend...

... and then came this weekend. And the sky dropped on us, leaving about 30 inches before all was said and done! I haven't seen snow like this since I was really really little, and even then I'm sure it just seemed like a ton because I was, well, little! So the same deck as in the first pictures is now barely visible, and the below shot is after I shoveled a path around the edge...

Jesse's car in the driveway...

My poor Honda...only visible after Kate swiped at it for awhile!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The first birthday celebrated in our new home was Daddy's. And Katelyn greeted him at the door in her, uh, *birthday* suit - in her defense, she had just used the potty like a big girl, and we just hadn't quite gotten around to getting her pants back on!

Needless to say, it was tough convincing Kate that all this hoopla wasn't actually for her, but she was a good sport, and sang "Happy To You" (one of her favorite songs, and yes, she leaves out the "birthday" part of the song, it's not a typo!) and helped him blow out the candles and eat his giant peanut butter cups! It was a good night!

Ta-Ta Toot-Toot!

And sleeping soundly...

We knew it had to happen sooner or later, but never quite knew how to do it. However, after an entire week of not napping at daycare [whose child was that anyway?!?!] we figured the main factor that differed from home was having that stupid thing in her mouth (the toot-toot is our *word* for pacifier, by the way). So we decided that was it, and she's been great after only a few whiny stints those first couple days.

And are we really going to have to stop rocking her those few fleeting minutes before we lay her down at night too?? That would be sad, because we really like the cuddles, but it seems she's a wee big for this little routine anymore, eh?...