Kate's six-month photos

They went really well. Here's a couple off shots of her in her sailor outfit (minus the hat) when we got home.


That photo shoot was draining!



On Sunday, August 29, we all went to Gray Rock Mansion to celebrate my grandpa's 88th birthday. It was a lot of fun; it's right on Green Lake, so we have a beautiful view, and the food was excellent.




L-R: Katrina, Chris, Grandma, Grandpa, Tracy, Rori, Uncle Mike (in back), Dan Hines, Dan, Kate and me. As a side note, this photo makes me look ultra-huge, but I swear I'm not; I was just leaning in at a weird angle, and the dress draped weird.


Today, I got some shots of Kate on her tummy. I love her expressions!


What a smiler!




Love her blonde fuzz!

Kate loves sweet potatoes!

She enjoys her rice cereal and oatmeal, and will tolerate bananas fairly well, but she absolutely loves sweet potatoes! She was getting so excited when I was feeding her yesterday that I decided to video it; go figure, then she didn't act as excited, although she definitely still liked them!

The Renaissance Faire

On August 15, we took the girls (Kirsti, Rori and Kate) to the Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, which is about an hour and 40 minutes away from Madison. Kate did *fairly* well in the car; I'd say she only screamed for 10 minutes on the way there, and a half hour on the way back. (It seemed like much longer when we were forced to listen to it, however!) Poor thing just doesn't like the car... Anyway, the Ren Faire was so much fun. We saw a bunch of shows and parades, and Kirsti and I had so much fun looking at all the dresses in the shops and imagining that we had enough money to buy some!


Queen Elizabeth


Rori and Kate. Kate wore her pink "Princess tutu" dress that she got from my cousin Abby.


The entrance


Rori on one of her rides; I think it was Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine or something like that




Rori gets her face painted here every year; it's become kind of a tradition. I love this photo of her and think she looks so cute!


She also has gone on a pony ride almost every year (if not every year) that we've been coming here. I can't remember this pony's name, but we did see Hank, the pony she rode for several years.

Our Trip to the Dells

We had a fantastic time in the Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness on the Lake, like we always do, and it was so fun and relaxing. Kate (and the rest of us!) had a great time swimming, and at night, we grilled out and watched movies. I can't wait to go back next year!


Kate and great-Grandma Juanita. She is so enthralled by all the bright jewelry that Grandma wears.


I'm ready to go swimming, Mom; let's get this show on the road!


I can't believe that it's been 7 years since I first put Rori in these infant swings (we've been coming to the Wilderness since 2003), and now I have a little girl of my own!


I love this picture of the two of us


Three generations in our (unintentionally) color-coordinating outfits (Kate's outfit has purple on it, too, but you can't see it in this shot)


Dan and Kirsti building their sand castle; it's become a tradition. Ever since Dan met Kirsti when she was five, they've loved to build sandcastles together. It's so funny to look at old pictures of them, when Kirsti was 6 and Dan was 19, and see how much things have changed now that they're 15 and 28!


Sitting on the beaver; we took a picture of Rori sitting on this every year, so we wanted to continue the tradition with Kate.


I LOVE this shot of her. How on earth did I get such a beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed child?


Nana and Kate


A view from the pontoon boat tour we took, which was complimentary to all Wilderness guests.


Another shot of an old mill


L-R: Rori, Dan, me, Kirsti, my mom, and Dan Hines after the pontoon boat ride. Tracy stayed behind because she has motion sickness issues, so she didn't want to go out on the water. That actually worked well because Dan didn't want Kate to go on the boat because of safety concerns, so Kate was able to stay with her. (Although the whole pontoon boat ride, we probably never went more than five miles an hour, so I kept teasing Dan, "Yes, this is SO dangerous for our infant. It's good she stayed behind!")


In our screened-in porch that overlooks Lake Delton


Kate's wearing the pink tutu swimsuit that Tracy and family gave her


Such a gorgeous view!


In the lobby. Kate looks like, "What is this thing next to me? I thought you said you were scared of bears, Mom!"


Kate and Rori in their matching cover-ups. It was really hot, so Kate was mad we weren't in the water.

Such a roller!

Kate loves to roll now. It's so funny to see how proud she is of herself when she starts at one end of the living room and manages to roll herself to the other end. If she gets stuck under a table, though, watch out! She gets so mad.



A perfect example of her getting mad if she gets stuck


Smiler! (And the reason she's in just a diaper is because we just got done having her morning snack of bananas, and even with a bib, she still gets food all over her! So I took off her outfit to throw it in the laundry and came back to find her under the coffee table).

Kate's Dr. Appt

We had Kate's six-month checkup today. The little chunk is up to 16 pounds, 6 ounces (which is the 55th percentile) and 27 inches (which is the 88th percentile!) Holy smokes; she certainly didn't get that height thing from me! Luckily (for Kate!) we didn't do her shots today, since she's still getting over her cold (although she is almost better).

The doctor said that she could feel one of Kate's teeth coming through; I can't believe my little peanut is getting a tooth! I think it'll be up any day now.

Yesterday, Kate and I went swimming in our pool for about an hour; she still loves to splash around. She's gotten the kicking thing down pretty well, too; I can't believe how much she loves water. I actually signed us up for a parent/child swimming class that's one night a week for a half hour, and it lasts seven weeks. I think she will LOVE that! It starts mid-September, so we should be getting our confirmation that we got in soon.

What a sweetheart!

When I was back in Utah in June, my good friend Angie & I got together, and she gave me this adorable outfit for Kate. It's a six-month size, so I was so excited that Kate can now wear it! She looks absolutely darling, and I was so glad that she actually seemed to like the headband, since I know a lot of babies don't). I absolutely love this outfit on her; I know she's going to be wearing it a lot!




The dress actually came with matching bloomers, but I accidentally spilled Dr. Pepper on them (sorry, Kate), but luckily, she had some bottoms from another dress (the one she wore to our baby shower), and the pink matched perfectly. Whew!






Happy girl!

Almost Crawling!

Here's a video of Kate attempting to crawl. I was trying to get her to roll, since she does that really well, but she just kept shaking her head and trying to crawl instead. She's so independent! She is wearing an outfit from my mom that says "Grandma's Lovebug"--very appropriate, since Kate has two grandmothers who are just crazy about her!

Six months old!

I can't believe Kate turned six months old on Wednesday, August 18. Where has time gone? Here are some shots of her on that day, wearing an adorable outfit from my mom (of course!). Poor little thing was actually a bit sick with a cold and cough though; we ended up taking her to urgent care that night, although they said she just had a common cold.



I love these new pillows I got from Target. They work so well in our living room.


Cutie! She looks so excited.


Plotting something...