What We've Been Up to Lately

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile; Kate & I have been doing a lot of fun stuff, but I always seem to forget my camera (and I figure posts aren't as much fun without pictures!) Let's see, some of the stuff we've been doing lately:

• We went to the zoo when my mom was here in early April, while waiting for my mom to get done with her hair appointment. Kate loves the zoo, especially the orangutan house. She was fascinated by how they swung from tree to tree.
• We went to "Storytime with a Twist" at the library, where the storyteller uses puppets in the puppet theater. Kate really liked that one, too... except she got mad that I wouldn't let her crawl up to touch the puppets!
• We've gone to lunch with Meghan and Addy a couple of times; Kate & Addy are so cute together. You can tell they're fascinated by one another, even though they're not "playing" together yet.
• We went down to Chicago for the weekend to visit family, and that was a lot of fun. My aunt Chris made a delicious spring Sunday brunch (even though it had SNOWED the day before; not exactly springlike!), and we got to go to our favorite deep-dish pizza place on Saturday night. My cousin Karen was visiting from Phoenix because she had a wedding to attend in Illinois, so it was really nice to see her, since we rarely do.
  
• Music class has started again, so of course Kate loves that! This week we even went to the coffee shop afterward with the other moms and kids, which we didn't normally do last session because I felt she was too little to play with the other kids. This time, though, she had a great tine! She's old enough to play in the play area with everyone else, and she looked so cute and happy playing with the other kids!

Last night, the three of us went to the "Storytime with Strings" program at the library. The middle school fiddle club accompanied the stories, so it was doubly good for Kate, since she loves books AND music. Afterward, we showed Dan the train table that Kate likes to play with whenever we have some extra time at the library.



Mad because she's in the car!








I love this outfit on her; I know you can't see the leggings really well, but they're this adorable navy with pink and green flowers, and then paired with her pink top and jean jacket, she looks like a little fashionista!

And, as a side note, yesterday (4/21) was the 11th anniversary of the day I met Dan. :) Who knew that going to some party in Roy would lead to all this? (Home, marriage, family). I'm so lucky! And, because I like to do comparison photos, here is a shot of Kate last year on this day. Look how much she's changed!

Kate on the Phone

Kate is fascinated by phones; she loves to hold them to her ear and have a "conversation." It's so funny to watch her!

Kate Walking

I wanted to get a quick video of Kate walking, since they're so cute at this age when they truly are still "toddling." Here she is!

More Milwaukee

On Monday night, my mom, Kate and I went to Karl Ratzch's, which is this great German restaurant downtown. Their sauerbraten and spaetzle is amazing (not quite as good as my dad's, but still very good). Kate was very well-behaved, which is nice (it probably helped that we went right at 5:30, so she wasn't too tired!) and it was fun to hang out just the three of us. I'm so glad my mom gets to see her granddaughter so much, even though she lives in another state.




Silly girl!


Kate "cooking"




Kate being silly




At Karl Ratzch's


Kate & the Mozart Mouse Nana bought for her at the convention


It looks like Mozart Mouse is being used as a phone, which isn't surprising; everything is a phone to Kate these days!




Kate practicing her new skill--walking!







The view from our room


Kate & I working on our respective laptops

My mom's visit

We've been having a great time with my mom here. We went down to Milwaukee on Saturday night, so she should go to her music conference that started on Sunday, and the hotel we were staying in was absolutely gorgeous. It was the Hilton right downtown, and it was stunning. Very opulent and ritzy without being gaudy. The first night there (Saturday) we ate at the Miller Time Pub right in the hotel, and it was pretty good. Overpriced, like all hotel food, but still good.

Then on Sunday, Dan, Kate and I went to Discovery World while my mom was at her conference. We had a blast! There was so much there to see. Kate loved the aquarium; every fish she saw, she was enthralled. We also went to the electronics exhibit (you can guess who loved that the most!), the Les Paul guitar exhibit and this recreation of a 19th century cargo schooner. That was very interesting, although I definitely got claustrophobic when I went down into the crew's quarters; talk about cramped!

Sunday night, we ate at Benihana's, which was delicious as always, but the service was incredibly slow. We were there over two hours! At least it was fun to hang out together and enjoy some good food, but still. Then Dan took the Badger Bus back to Madison so he could go to work the next day, and my mom and I just hung out at the hotel.


At lunch at the hotel restaurant before we headed to Discovery World




Kate enthralled with the aquarium. You can see she's pointing, which is her new favorite thing to do





Cutie pie in her new stroller! Well, it's not "new"; we got it for my baby shower, but this was the first time we could use it, because before this she was too little and needed to stay in her stroller that we could set her car seat in.




Kate & Mama looking at the jelly fish


Learning about levers and screws or something scientific like that

My 29th birthday

We had a lot of fun on my birthday on Sunday. It was very relaxed and low-key; just the way I like it. We went to Red Lobster for lunch, because I was craving seafood, and then for dinner we got takeout from Buffalo Wild Wings (I love their Honey BBQ sauce) and ate those while we watched Monk (one of our favorite shows). I tried to get some pictures of Kate and me; she's so wiggly that it was hard to get a good one! But I think they're cute anyway.
















The beautiful flowers my mom and dad sent me; they're gorgeous! I love the container, too; very French.


The flowers kind of look red up against our red wall, but they're really the most gorgeous pink.


A close-up of the flowers Dan got me. So beautiful!

Kate Walking!

Well, not quite on her own. But, she's doing a good job with her scooter!