Some mornings she’s a hot mess before she eats. Some mornings she’s nice and calm. Today was a good day so I snapped a pic of her cute outfit. I’ve completely lost track of which grandma got her which outfits…
Category Archives: Gifts
Happy first birthday, Katie!
First outfit of the day…a white onesie (with design that could be covered up by the sticker) from Gramma Jean. I didn’t put her in the matching pants because they clashed with the sticker. 
Here you can see the actual onesie. She started ripping the sticker off after the first 100 photos. This is also where she loves to play—the coat rack. I’m not sure what she’ll do when we finally get hooks attached to the bottom level for their coats!
Post-nap outfit change! This one is from Grauntie Sue! It’s scary because it’s size 18mo and fits pretty well.
Missiles!
Grandma Marsha bought Owen some Captain America missiles so Uncle Rob and daddy took him out to play before dinner. Grandma and Katie came out to watch.
A one-in-a-million photo: Grandma Marsha looking at the camera with her eyes open and nothing blocking her face! And as a bonus, Katie is ALSO looking at the camera with her eyes open!
Lego Carnival!
We took Owen over to Traverse City to one of the museums because they were having a Lego Carnival! When we asked him what he saw, he said “LEGO HEADS!”
A carnival sounds quite a but more exciting than it really was—basically just a few rooms of big pre-constructed Lego buildings and then a play area—but he enjoyed it. The hardest part for him was not being able to touch the minifigs that were with the buildings…especially the one that had fallen over.
But then there was the big Lego tunnel with daddy…
And then he got to the big Lego building area…and his running commentary was about like this: “Awesome. Awesome. This is amazing. Lets get going. Holy mackerel. Wow!”
Yes, I realize that the last picture should be the first picture, but I didn’t feel like redoing the whole collage.
And his final product!!
Then it was off to build cars! We got the base ready for him and then he did the rest. Daddy also built one!
Then it was time to send them down the slide to see if they survived (both did!).
Then he just wanted to play with his cars.
Then it was back to the Lego building tables to rearrange his car pieces.
Then we told him it was almost time to go and asked how many more minutes he wanted to stay. We never know what we’re going to get when we ask him open-ended questions (How many M&Ms do you want? is a typical one) so we all had a big laugh when he said “Five hours.” I don’t think he knows time that well yet but who knows. So we said 15 minutes and set a timer and when it went off, he just asked to run his cars down the ramp one more time so we did:
Then it was off to lunch at North Peak Brewery. Owen decided he wanted to eat outside and us three adults all looked at each other like “Ugh—it’s too warm” but we did it anyway…and it ended up to be REALLY nice as it was mostly overcast and there was a nice breeze! Owen passed the time putting together a new Lego set that Grandma Marsha had bought him for being such a good boy! (I helped him but he did most of it!)
On the way home, we were thinking about stopping for ice cream but thought we could go either way…so we let Owen be the deciding factor.
Tom: Owen, would you like a treat?
Owen: No thanks.
Me: Don’t you want to know what it is?
Owen: Okay.
Me: Ice cream.
Owen: No thanks. Legos were my treat. [Remember, Grandma Marsha bought him the Legos earlier as a treat.]
This isn’t normal for a 4yo, right? To give up ice cream?! He constantly surprises us.
Katie’s New Old Doll
This doll was Gramma Jean’s when she was a little kid…and she’s saved it all these years in case I had a baby girl.
She’s still a little young, so Gramma will hold onto it for a bit longer.
The Monkey Shirt
I remembered to get out the Monkey Shirt in plenty of time with Katie…and Gramma Jean dressed her in it while we were out and about with the boy.
This is a tee that Grauntie Marge made for me when I was little that says “Auntie Marge loves Jenny” on the belly…and it got saved all these years. I forgot about it/had it well put away for Owen, so he didn’t get to wear it until he was a little too big for it.
And Owen, from September 11, 2011 (which, interestingly, I SWORE I blogged about, but it’s nowhere to be found).
Happy Early Birthday, Katie!
Her second first birthday onesie!
Her birthday balloon and bib at the hotel for her party!
Making faces with Papa.
Amazingly, she didn’t dive into the cake.
Singing Happy Birthday and big brother helping blow out the candle! (Yes, it’s a little blurry. I have a FAIL every now and again.)
Also amazingly, she didn’t make much of a mess. Yes, SHE got messy, but she ate the whole piece and none hit the floor!
Her new suit and coverup from Grauntie Rose!
Up and out completely on her own!
She would have dove in had Tom let her.
It was impossible to get all three looking at me at the same time.
She kept trying to drink the water!
She loved playing with Papa’s toes!
Drying off with Grandma Marsha.
Waiting to open presents!
A fun game Katie had with some grandparents…
The pool at gramma’s house!
Grandma knows the kids love water, so she got a pool for them! However…it’s a big pool and their ground water is COLD (a few gallons of boiling water didn’t even help much), so it was a very cold and brief play time…but they both loved it!
YACKO: Yet Another Cute Katie Outfit
Hee! I just came up with that acronym. Look for it on future Katie outfit posts (and it’s a new category).
Another Cute Katie Outfit
And then wanting to get to the stairs…
Did somebody say trouble?
That’s his new catchphrase when he puts his superhero cape on.
Also, this is the first he’s put it on since he got it for a birthday present!!
He loves this hat.
He’ll just pull it out and wear it for no reason while he plays.
Here comes Diesel!
He got this out last night and has been playing with it ever since. As you see, Katie got into the middle of things.
Katie kid outfit
You gotta love baby clothes…she’s been steadily outgrowing her 9m stuff…but today she was wearing size 6m shorts and 18m shirt! I believe these were from Grannie Lin.
Our new family portrait!
So back in February, a friend of ours posted about this really cool family portrait he had commissioned by KateWhitmoreArt on Etsy. Everyone RAVED over it and said they would love one…including me. And then a few months later, I finally said YES, I’M DOING IT! But it was going to be a pre-deployment surprise for Tom.
I worked with her for about six weeks before we had a final product—sending ideas, evaluating sketches, changing details, etc.—and I managed to keep it a secret up until the very end, when I needed his input on something (though, honestly, I could have decided on my own—but you know how I am about surprises and the final reveal would only be a day or so away anyway).
And I have to say that for someone who doesn’t get choked up too easily…I think Tom was actually a bit choked up.
In it, you will notice all the small details of our family that I gave her to make it perfect…
- Owen driving his police car.
- Me taking a photo of Owen with my iPhone.
- A replica of our favorite Troy playground/park in the background.
- Tom wearing an MSU shirt.
- Katie wearing pink and grabbing my hair. The artist did the hair-grabbing thing on her own. I did NOT provide that detail.
- Owen is wearing blue.
- All pets are accounted for—and Charlie even has the nose dot.
- Owen’s drink is his actual cup.
- We have USMC Tervis tumblers. (I wasn’t expecting them to have a visible design, but I can tell they are the USMC one that I sent her the sample photo of.)
- Our exact diaper bag is under the table.
It turned out more perfect than I could have imagined. But, it did take a bit to get there. Here’s the first draft, when she was trying a Christmas theme (I told her we loved Christmas):
She sent it with this:
I thought it was a little too ‘out there’, possibly. I thought it would be cute to have you guys in the tree, surrounded by your ornaments and lights! I just felt it might be a little fun—the ornaments would have either icons/colors for your interests, the USMC, Cars, things like that, and something a little more unique than a standard portrait. Something you can’t get a photo of, you know? If you don’t feel this one, though, just let me know and I can take another crack at it!
So, while I did really like her unique take on us INSIDE a Christmas tree (I had told her we LOVED Christmas) I just wasn’t loving it enough…so I gave her the suggestion of a park or the ocean and sent a few more pics, after which she came up with this:
My thoughts were more YAY! but it wasn’t QUITE there yet. She said she didn’t do a slide (as I had suggested) because the spacing/sizing didn’t work out right. So to me it didn’t look like we were really at a park but more just having a picnic—which we haven’t really ever done. And I wasn’t sure about the kite as he’s never flown a kite so that’s just not him. I thought I might be over-thinking it but my online sounding board assured me I wasn’t…and that the artist DEFINITELY wanted clients to be happy. So I asked her to put Owen in his power wheels police car, have me taking a picture with my iPhone, have our actual sippy cup/Tervis tumblers on the table instead of a pitcher of lemonade, and change the picnic basket to the diaper bag (a long story, but it took trying/buying/returning about 15 bags before I settled on that one, so it’s kind of a running joke).
She was fine with all the changes and then sent this, which was IT.
Then came the color version and it was almost perfect. Bonus points if you can see what the last missing detail was.
Highlight this text to see what it was: The white S on Tom’s shirt.
So overall I’m absolutely and completely THRILLED. I’ve already ordered artwork for our walls (I had bought a Groupon ages ago unsure of what I would use it for…and I’m glad I saved it for this) and I’ll just say that I’m sure this will turn into Christmas presents…
Before & After
So we’ve been wanting to get this chair redone every since Tom’s mom handed it down to us in 2003 (when we got our first house)…and we finally did it. The boyfriend of someone in my mom’s group does reupholstery and it wasn’t nearly as expensive as we’d always thought (though it was still a chunk of change). It’s not perfect—if you look close you can see he used white (?!?!?) thread—but it’s not super obvious from a normal viewing distance. We also lucked out on the fabric—upholstery fabric is notoriously pricey, but we got it from a $7.99 store. YAY!
BEFORE
AFTER
FABRIC CLOSEUP
I didn’t do it!
I was in the kitchen doing something and when I looked in the living room, I saw this:
Owen swears he didn’t do it. Knowing Katie, it’s entirely possible she actually did do it herself…so I had Owen join her.
And a good shot of her cute outfit from (I think) Grandma Marsha!
Owen helped me robotize our family!
I bought these decals for us for Christmas and I’m just now getting around to putting them on the car! Owen helped me pick the arms and legs!
(Oh wow. I just noticed my finger was in the photo. How embarrassing. At least you know I’m human, right?)
Papa’s Bracelet
Owen got this out today and wanted to wear it. I asked if he remembered who made it for him…and of course he remembered.
Morning Fun
I started out taking photos of Katie in this cute outfit…I think the shirt came from Grandma Marsha or Grannie Lin and I think I got the skirt—but they match perfectly. And how cute is the little skirt?!
And then Owen got involved… Well, he just sat there and she LOVES to crawl on him so off she went.
Then back to Miss Katie.
Katie Kid
Another 9m summer outfit that we had to get on at least once before it doesn’t fit (though we have the same thing in a 12m ready to go)! I’m pretty sure Gramma Jean got both of them!
Owen LOVES to get in there with her. Silly kid.
Trying to appease the hungry beast without hauling out the high chair while still being outside and enjoying the weather… Of course, it was also a test to see if she’d leave everything (or most everything) on the plate. Ha. HA. HAHAHA. I think it lasted a minute or two at most. I did not, however, get a picture of the food scattered across the entire blanket!
A great day to be outside!
Wow. Just wow.
Today was one of those rare North Carolina days where the weather is perfect, there’s a nice breeze, there’s no bugs, and it’s perfectly glorious to be outside…so we took full advantage of it!
I got out the kid enclosure our friends loaned us to put Katie on the deck under the umbrella (so I didn’t have to worry about sun) and she didn’t mind it too much.
And then he climbed in with Katie.
Meanwhile I was catching up on some of my big ol’ stack o’ magazines.
And Owen was running around playing with/snapping his Indiana Jones whip (something he’s not allowed to do inside), running around the yard, climbing on his playset, and playing with his army men* that he earned this morning for pooping.
And here you can see him in all his adorable action:
We came inside for a little bit because after her nap, Katie was NOT having it…but when daddy got home, we decided to eat dinner outside!! By then it was a little cooler but still definitely worth staying out to enjoy it.
Ahhh, spring!
* The army men were an unplanned surprise. They were a gift from Grandma Marsha probably two years ago (in a Diego backpack) that we just tucked away until he was old enough to play with them. And I had kinda forgotten about them as they were in Katie’s closet (Owen’s old closet). But today, Owen happened to be in her room with us and the closet doors were open and his inquisitive eyes glommed on to Diego RIGHT away: “What is this?!” Then he opened it and found the army men…which I then immediately used as a potty training bribe!
Ahhhh, siblings.
The photo session started by me wanting to take a picture of Katie in another gifted 9m outfit before she outgrew it…and then it turned in a sibling love/play session.
Both entranced by Sesame Street.
Yes, Sesame Street again.
Owen: I want the spoon.
Katie: No I want the spoon.
Katie: NO, GRRR, I WANT THE SPOON. (That face kills me.)
Katie Kid
Just a shot of Katie in a 9m outfit (a gift from a grandma) that she’ll only be wearing once… It hasn’t been warm enough up until now, and now it’s just about too small.
Katie is 9 months old today!
She’s SUCH a good girl—I took three pictures and all of them were good! This is the first one I took (and the best of the best)! (And the outfit is from Grannie Lin!)
P.S. And a photo bomb by Charlie! Bonus points if you noticed it!
Katie’s Peek-A-Boo Bear
Katie’s Peek-A-Boo Bear
Big girl PJs!
It was quite warm tonight, so we broke out the big girl PJs that Gramma Jean got her… SOOO CUTE!!
Sidenotes:
- Katie’s PJs are a size 12m and fit perfectly!
- Owen’s PJs are a size 6 and fit perfectly!
Papa went shopping!
When Papa and Grannie were here in February, they went shopping—and apparently my dad was adamant about finding something for Owen. This was his choice. I love it!
Summer is here!
Today was one of the first days warm enough to break out a summer outfit…which is good, since she’s about out of 9m sizes already! And she’s SUCH a good baby that she sees the camera and smiles! This was the one and only picture I took!
