Christmas in Virginia

Christmas, this year, was spent in Virginia Beach with Gene’s parents and his sister, Leigh. Flying was more of a challenge now that Kate’s on the move, but she managed to take a nap on each of our four total flights…thank goodness! And when we say "Kate's on the move", boy do we mean it. She may be an *army crawler* but she sure knows how to move quickly! The McCallister grandparents have a cat, Precious, who learned firsthand how fast a little army crawler can move. Precious is 17 years old, slow-moving, and near blind and OMG did Kate LOVE that cat. She coo'd and cheered everytime the cat was in sight....and then she'd make her move ... scurrying over to the cat and usually head butting it while saying "ahhhhhh eeeeeee aaaaaahhhh". It was cute, and Precious was kind enough to put up with it.

Although it was a fun trip, and we were totally spoiled with home cooking, seafood, sweets, and lots of love, we are content not to travel for a while. The darn planes are too small (and having Kate on our laps certainly doesn’t help matters), and Kate is too squirmy. We're happy to be on the homefront. And what's next? Ahhh, Kate's ONE YEAR birthday is already approaching quite quickly!

Kate Meets Saint Nick

Kate actually did pretty well meeting Santa for the first time. However, Santa had a buddy - a giant teddy bear - who really stole Kate's heart. You can see from the pics below who Kate liked better!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Kate just started crawling (army-crawling) about 2 weeks ago. She's really learning how to scooch pretty quickly now!

How Big is Kate

Kate is Movin and Shakin

What is this, a blog posted the actual day a video was taken. OMG!!

Teasing Kate

Ready for Santa...

Ain't she cute with her mini santa hat?? :)

Slinky

Thanksgiving in Austin with Carolyn's Fam

Riding Tigger

Jaunt to Boulder...

Here are some pics from our trip up to Boulder to see C's cousin Lynda. She was kind enough to keep Shadow for us while we traveled to TX.

Kate loves swinging... and watching doggies!

10 months old! Once we blog, we can't stop!

Well, if you're just finally getting the chance to look at the blog, shame on you! Look at all you've been missing over these past 2 months! Hee hee, actually I've been doing a plethora of postings in the past 24 hours.

Ahhh, our lil baby is looking more like a little girl .. and here I go again, but where the heck does the time go?? In case you're wondering, Kate is not crawling. She can do 360's on her tush and on her belly; she can reach WAY out in front of herself to grab a toy and then push herself right back up to sitting position; she'll be up on her hands & knees ...just to entertain us...but then the head goes down & she's back on her belly. Not interested in crawling just yet, which I guess is good for us! :)

As you can witness below, Kate can dance and she can clap. We love getting her to do these things - especially when she thinks she wants to be upset - and, instead, she's suddenly clapping or movin' to the beat because mom or dad started singing or playing one of her musical toys. This is very entertaining. Cry...boogy...waaaaaa...clap & smile...sad face...dance...etc! Good stuff!

She's got 2 teeth on the bottom, and almost 4 teeth on top! She's gotten exceptionally good at waving - especially at herself (in the mirror), at the dog, and at inanimate objects.

All bundled up for an afternoon walk with dad and the doggie!

Yep, I'm good just hanging out like this

Kate Can Dance

Kate Discovers the Wonders of Balloons

All Cuted Up!

Bradley Babies are Growing!

Here are some pics with my friends from Mom & Dad's Bradley birthing class. We're all just so darn cute, right? :)

We're friends, right Kate? Definitely, Connor!

Whoo Hooo!!!


Noah and Kate on Halloween --- loving the leaves!

1st Halloween

I was lucky enough to have visitors this weekend – Grandparents (Mom’s side) and Mantie & Duncle! What fun! Oh and guess what -- this is the weekend I learned how to DANCE :)

Everybody else dressed up as a gardener, and I was their lil ladybug :)

My friend, Brinlie, across the street was also a ladybug.

Dad's trying to hike at Garden of the Gods and trick me into falling asleep in this carrier.

Papa’s got this “football hold” thing down!

Yay! I was dedicated to LORD this weekend too!

Buena Vista “Get-Away” Trip

Last weekend, we went on a family trip to Buena Vista. The weather has been gorgeous this fall ... as you'll see below!

Kate: I thought the best part of this trip was the Harvest Festival -- hayride, the pumpkin patch (where mom and dad let me pick out a pumpkin), the John Deer tractor, the hay maze and… THE HORSEES!!

1st Hot Spring – Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

Water is SO MUCH FUN! I totally passed out afterwards!