Happy Father's Day

Since Daddy can't be with us on Father's Day this year, we decided to send lots of love and pictures his way to say how much we miss him.

We love you soooo much, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!

Prayer Time

As part of Kate's bedtime ritual, we say our prayers. Part of our prayer time is thanking God for things that happened that day. Kate calls this time "Thank you for" as in "Mommy, pray thank you for now". We usually take turns. I might say, "Thank you, Jesus, for Papa's visit tonight." Kate usually says something like, "Thank you for Shayla." or "Thank you for motorcycles." But tonight, she got pretty creative. Tonight Kate said, "Thank you for Diet Coke." Hmmmm...

I scream, you scream...

Papa is in town visiting for awhile! Kate hasn't seen him since last November. She couldn't wait to go to the airport to pick him up. Every morning she calls to him from her crib, eager to see him and play. It's been wonderful watching them together.

We started Papa Dan's visit with a fun trip to get ice-cream. As you can see, Kate had a blast.

As if Kate didn't eat enough of her own ice-cream, she needed to mooch off of Papa Dan.

A little aside: Kate's been wearing Josh's Boston hat all the time lately.

She loves her Daddy and anything her daddy does or has is exactly what she wants!

Jeremy's Run

Happy Memorial Day to you! I celebrated Memorial Day in a new way this year. I participated in my first 5K. Now granted, I walked it, but I am still proud of the accomplishment and the drive to have a more active, healthy lifestyle.

This has been a year of goals for myself. I have always struggled with my weight, ever since my middle school years. After having Kate my weight was the highest it has even been, and I needed to take matters more seriously, and do it soon. I wanted to be able to enjoy Kate, partake in fun adventures with her and Josh, and get out and enjoy life and the great outdoors more. I wanted to live life -- not watch it fly by.

So, in August of last year, I joined Weight Watchers. It's been a long, slow process, but I've been determined to make changes. Josh and I have been on long walks with Kate, and even spent our anniversary this year hiking a bit. My weight loss journey will take a long time, but for this past year, I've had two goals in mind for myself : a 25 lb. weight loss and a 5K walk. I'm about two pounds away from making my goal of 25 lbs. (Hope to hit that milestone this coming week!) And I got up bright and early this morning to walk Jeremy's Run, a 5K in memory of Jeremy Glass a young man who lost his battle with drug addition - proceeds supporting The Drug-Free Partnership for America. I had hoped to run a 5K, but I wasn't ready yet. Maybe that can be next year's goal. :)

Everyone waiting for the race to officially start.

Kim with Rachel Goldschmidt, my Weight Watcher's "coach". She's the one who encouraged me to do the walk. (Rachel ran the race, but she waited at the finish line to cheer me across!)

Not the best time in the world, but for walking the course, it wasn't a bad time. I finished in under one hour. I actually finished a few seconds before this time, but I had to back track to the clock for a photo. (At least we beat the older lady who is crossing the finish line behind me!)

My good, loyal friend, Kim Stoy, who came out to walk the race with me so I wouldn't have to do my first 5K alone. Thanks, Kim!!
(She hates this photo, but I put it up there for you, Jen!)

Bring on the Picnics

I think we had four invitations to backyard picnics and barbeques for this holiday weekend. We couldn't make it to all of them, but we did go to the Gruber's place on Sunday -- and if you know Brian and Lisa Gruber, you know that they know how to throw a barbeque!

Michael Gruber taking his turn tending to the 9 whole chickens roasting over the fire pit. Fresh corn on the cob was waiting for us on the grill too!

Corn Hole is a game that I had never heard of until meeting this group of friends. However, it is a loved tradition among this crowd. It usually comes down to the Grubers and the Devans. Here Matt and Teah Devan are warming up for the big couple's tournament. Josh and I were out during the first round of the festivities. Personally, I think Kate found the smart way to assure a victory!

While everyone else continued in the Corn Hole tournament, we found other forms of entertainment. Kate loved Molly, this wonderful puppy that was as gentle as can be. She didn't want to leave Molly's side all afternoon.

We had a lot of fun on the swings as well. Kate preferred to ride with Daddy; he went a lot higher in the air than Mommy did!

And of course, Kate found the tractor within seconds of arriving as well as this little motor bike. She was a little to young still to go for a ride, but she loved sitting on it with her daddy.

It was a great afternoon. Thank you Brian and Lisa for opening up your home --again!

Potty Training

Kate has begun the process of potty training. She hates having wet or dirty diapers, and is becoming more and more insistent on me changing her diapers immediately. So the process of potty training has started. This week it has been just sitting on the potty getting used to big toilet. (Last week she got a little scared of it.) The other day, she was confidently sitting on the toilet looking at a book. Suddenly, she stopped, looked up at me, and loudly proclaimed, "Privacy please!"

No joke...she really said it. And I think she meant it too!

It's in the Genes

Some things are intrinsic- they don't need to be taught or even modeled. They are in our genes. They define who we are as individuals. Kate's love of motorcycles is one example. Josh never really told her about motorcycles, never talked about them, or really pointed them out to Kate. But Kate's fascination with bikes grew and grew. Boy was Kate surprised to learn that Daddy actually had a motorcycle hidden in the garage. We pulled it out the other day and let her sit on it. She was a little apprehensive when we revved the engine, but all in all she loved it. Now she asks to go down to the garage at least 5 times a day to see the motorcycle. Sadly (in some ways) the bike has been sold and will be given to its new owner tomorrow. It's an end of an era for Josh...and I'm afraid a heartbreaking discovery awaits Kate the next time she goes into the garage.

Above: Kate on Daddy's BMW

Below: Kate on a friend's bike.

Thanks, Ben, for letting Kate have a turn on the bike!

Another discovery that personally I LOVE about Kate, is that she seems to believe that she is from Boston. Her accent would place her in New England any day! I swear I didn't influence this. But Kate speaks like a true Bostonian. Here a few of her favorite expressions:

Bye, bye! See ya, latah.

Where ah we?

Cah ride?

Now, if I can just get her to say that lunch was "wicked" good...she'll be good as gold!