New desktop photos

Hello all! I've heard that some of you are in desperate need for new desktop backgrounds...one with a more updated Katie picture. Well, I hear you...I need some too. Hopefully you can find something nice here.

And I'll have to admit that most of these are from mid-to-late August...seriously, when I saw I haven't any downloaded pictures from September, I thought something was wrong with my computer. Just like I'm sure you called your internet people when your new version of Daily Katie wouldn't come up. (Hint: Don't call your internet guy, call me!")

Katie's been an absolute darling for the last while (what else is new!?). We went to a party a while ago for Ben's cousin Melanie (Happy Sweet 16!) and Katie did very well with all the people. And I don't think that was JUST because there was ice cream cake and a puppy involved.
The hair is getting longer and Katie growing less tolerant of her barrettes...so we experiment with pig tails.
We're also experimenting with cups like the green one in the last photo...I've tried to let her feed herself water, but gave up when realizing how huge a mess the tiniest amount of water makes. "Training wheels" back on then...mom holds the cup for now. (we're drinking milk for our meals in the cups now)

The weather's been cooling off dramatically. It's like right after the Sept long weekend a switch went off and mother nature decided she was too cheap to keep heating up the whole outdoors. We're digging out long sleeve things and trying on hats and thinking about knitting mittens. But still learning just how much to have the furnace on...It's soo cold until I get the nerve to really crank it up!
We're still making it out for walks and to the park a fair bit.

A few weeks ago (ahem*guilty look for not posting*ahem) we had friends Megan and Rob and little D over. Dinner was lovely and we had so much fun altogether. Watched some olympics (D is a big fan).

And the kids sat together on the couch. They are definitely playing more "together" (not quite but more so than they used to)Katie, always a big help with laundry, discovered some fun and a new word..."Panties"...She had So Much Fun saying the word and swinging them around. (please note that we were putting clean laundry away and not the other way around)Katie drinks her water.A few days after we had them over for dinner, Meg and D and Katie and I went for a long walk on a nice day in the river valley. Nice when we can find a park along the way for a break. Katie is back with Papa (I think I did mention this before) and they are very much enjoying their time together.We had dinner at Gram and Papa's a few weeks ago now, and Katie saw Gram's socks and wanted to play our new game (which is putting the socks on her hands and having you take them off again. And A-gain, and A-gain)(Katie is very fond of the word A-Gain!). Something about this struck all of us, including Katie, as hilarious and we were all laughing. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard. Tears running down my face and everything. You kind of had to be there, but we did recreate the sock thing for a picture (you'll see I think, that part of the hilarity is in the "feet as hands" image...for me anyway!):We do laugh a lot with Katie...notice Giraffe who is her absolute BEST friend right now. He goes everywhere with her and has recently started getting tucked into bed under a blanket (whatever shirt is nearby) on the diaper table as Katie says "Night Giraffe" and goes to bed in her crib. Very sweet.
We still do lots of reading...Katie's tolerance for finishing any one book varies with her mood. Sometimes she can sit through a long one, other times it's one page and "No!"...we're done!Pig tails are the cutest!
There are more pictures, of course, but that's enough for one post. Other things...really, Katie is SO SMART...I'm kind of surprised she's not writing the blog posts herself yet.

We've brought out a potty which lives in the bathroom. We've sat her on it once. We're not trying to train her or anything, just getting her used to it's presence and thinking about the idea of poop and pee etc. I'm sure it can't hurt.

Katie has started saying many two-or-so word phrases..."Good Cereal", "Shoe Off". She also, Unprompted, said to Grandpa Ken "Hi Grampa, How doin?". Seriously...I wasn't there, but I heard the tale and I believe it. And this morning, as Dad kissed us goodbye to go off to work, she said "Bye dad, see t'morrow". =)

Everyday gets cuter cuter. Our second baby ultrasound (second baby AND second ultrasound!) went well, heart and spine look good...we'll scan pics later this week I think.

Also, I've discovered a couple of excellent recipes that I feel obligated to share:
Pasta with broccoli feta sauce (so yum and easy)
Pumpkin scones (made 3 times in a week because they are So Good)

So good to be back...see you again soon(er)!