More of Kate's party

I have more time to post today, so I thought I'd get some more photos up of Kate's birthday party.


My mom bought these roses (and made the delicious pinwheel cookies), which were a beautiful addition to the table




My mom gave her this sleeper that said, "Bearly Sleeping"; how true that is when it comes to Kate!




My mom (who else?) gave her this coat for next year; I can't wait to see her in it!


Rori was such a good help when it came to opening gifts, since I was busy corralling Kate


A UW cheerleading outfit from the Hines; so cute!


With a new hairbow from Rori


Dan & I gave her this learning purse; she always loves taking stuff out of my purse and putting it back in, so I thought this would be the perfect gift for her.


Little Rori and Kate love each other so much!


A close-up of the cake




My aunt Chris, Tracy, Mom & Grandma


Playing with her snug bugs that Kirsti gave her


Rori had a blast playing with the piano, too!


She loves this piano so much!

Kate's Birthday Party

We had a fantastic time at Kate's birthday party. It was an owl theme that said "Look Whoo's Turning 1". The guests were: my mom, Tracy, Kirsti, Rori, Dan Hines, Kirsti's boyfriend Colin, Katrina, her boyfriend Nick, Chris, Grandma and Roberta. Kate was such a trooper; even though she didn't take an afternoon nap because of her excitement, she wasn't too fussy at all.

For refreshments, we had pizza from Pizza Pit, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, pinwheel cookies, citrus punch, and ice cream cake. I thought Kate would be all happy with her cake, since she really only has fruit, veggies and starches as solid foods, so something sweet would be a treat, but she just threw the cake on the floor! Ok, then!

I'll post more later; I just wanted to get some photos up quickly, but more will follow!




The crepe paper ceiling that Dan created




Katrina and Kate




Screw this cake stuff; I'm throwing it off on the floor!


My ice cream cake that I made; it was angel food cake layered with vanilla and strawberry ice cream, with a whipped cream frosting


Silly girl! Tracy gave her this crown


Trying to eat her cup


Four generations






Her little outfit had a cupcake with one candle on it; how cute!


Kate and Nana, with the piano Nana gave her








The theme

Kate Dancing

Here's a brief video of Kate dancing today; she loves pop music and gets so excited and starts dancing whenever she hears it. Of course, go figure that when I want to video her, she only does it a bit. Oh well. Ignore my voice in the background; I hate how I sound when I'm recorded! As a side note, today was my due date with her; who knew she'd be born just one day later?

Completed New Year's Resolution #2!

I am so excited; with Dan's paycheck yesterday, we completed our second New Year's Resolution, which was to pay off my small student loan (I only have two). Woohoo! We are so excited; when we started doing Dave Ramsey's plan in August 2007, we had 115,000 (yes, you read that right) in debt. Granted, 65,000 was in student loans, which is better debt than others, although no debt is good, per se, but we had 27,000 in credit card debt (luckily 0%, but still) and 23,000 in car payments. We are now down to about 55,000 in student loans, and that is our only debt (which is still a lot, but compared to what we started with....) We paid off the credit cards six days (yes, days) before Kate was born in February 2010, and then we paid off our car with Dan's January 15th, 2011 paycheck, which means we now have no consumer debt, and we're down to just student loans (and as of yesterday, one less student loan!) I'm so thrilled that we can check off two of our New Year's Resolutions already, and it's only mid-February!

In Kate news, we had a blast at music class yesterday. She loves to "dance," which for her means sitting on the floor and shaking her butt and back. It's so cute; now she's added her hands, too; she'll put her hands up and kind of wobble back and forth (in a controlled manner). It's so cute; all the moms think she's just adorable (she's the youngest one in her class, so everyone loves having a "baby" in there).

Now we've just been cleaning like mad in preparation for my mom's visit tomorrow, and Kate's first birthday party on Saturday. Can't wait!

Kate's first Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day got off to a wonderful start. We were invited to a Valentine's Day party at the home of one of the girls Kate takes music class with, and since their house is in Deerfield, we stopped at my grandparents' first and brought them some pastries from Panera as a little V-Day treat. We hung out there for a little over an hour, which was fun.

Then we headed to the party. It was so cute; she had a bunch of Valentine's Day crafts and cookies to make/decorate (I of course had to help Kate!), and the kids seemed to have a great time. Kate always is so happy around other kids; I'm so glad I don't have to put her in daycare, but yet she still has lots of opportunities to play with other children.

Here are some shots from the party:


Before Dan left for work and we left for Deerfield this morning


A half-cry because I told her she couldn't play with something breakable








Playing kitchen with Meghan, the "hostess" of the party


Playing kitchen with 2.5 year old Taras.


They played together very nicely, except there was a slight altercation, because, as you may remember, Kate does not take too kindly to things being in the oven, and Taras was very insistent that this "cake" needed to bake. It was a tense couple of seconds, but luckily I was able to distract Kate quite easily.




All the kids with the Valentine's they made. From L-R: Kate (obviously!), Sarah (the music teacher's daughter), Taras, Meghan, Keanan and Klaire. The first four kids are in music class together; the last two are neighbors.


So hard to get a good picture with everyone looking at the camera!


Kate and her Valentine that "she" (i.e., I) made.


More interested in Valentine's than the camera...