quintessence of snerrskinism

June. No seriously, June. Of 2011.

2012-01-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

We did a fun little visit at home since Jon was doing a rotation in Utah. We enjoyed our time there, especially knowing how little time was left in New York. We visited family, met our new little cousin/nephew Ben, saw our old friends from New York, the Lentz family, and even stained a picnic bench. When we got back to New York Kate had her dance recital, took part in a commercial for the YMCA, and graduated from JoySchool. We picked berries and started packing little bits to move to Utah. It was pretty busy but I got a few pictures along the way. :)

Asher with Aunt Alicia

Kate staining Grandma and Grandpa's picnic table

Visiting the Lentz Family. Asher and Kiplyn playing together!

Melissa, Matt, and Sam got a new addition to their little family this month. Ben was just a little doll for the entire visit. I wish I could say the same for my own kids' behavior....

The Stalsburgs with their new baby, Ben
Grandpa West with Ben
Grandma West with Asher. He loves her!
Ben

Kate playing at her cousin Hudson's house during a family dinner

Asher really has a thing for animals. He seems drawn to them and loves to "talk" to them. If he sees them he starts yelling and makes it quite clear we had better get closer to them. Elephants and dogs do seem to be his favorites.

Asher with the Bay's dog

Kate playing on the trampoline with Hudson and Sam

Grandma and Grandpa Allan, Asher, and a mysterious blanket that may or may not contain Ben.

Back in New York we were busy enough. Kate's dance class from the local YMCA had a spring recital. Kate's class danced to a song called "Mickey, She's Got a Crush on You," so all the girls were dressed like Minnie Mouse. It was very cute. Kate was cutest, of course.

My own little Minnie.
Could she get any cuter?!
Even Minnie is thoughtful at times...
She would give the real Minnie a run for her money.

Kate graduated from her preschool program, JoySchool. It was great fun to watch her with her friends. I had to make the graduation caps which was not a small feat, let me tell you. But I think they turned out okay. The graduation program was very cute. I'm so proud of my smart little girl! I also can't believe I have a kid that old...

Showing off her new creds. And her shoes.

FANCY PANTS!!

Grandma came to help while Jon was in Utah and got to see Kate's dance and graduation. It was great to have her there and such a big help!

One of our favorite things to do in New York is to pick berries. There are so many farms that cater to self-pick. I loved taking Kate and this time around Asher was pretty entertaining with the late strawberries. He ended up just covered in red juice and quite contentedly sat down and picked berry after berry to pop in his mouth. :)

Kate is getting more and more efficient with the picking.

Little Man indulging his sweet side

May. What a beauty she is!

2012-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

May was a good time to be in New York. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time. Kate had quite a few outings with her JoySchool group and Asher liked tagging along with his sister whenever he could.

We went to the zoo with a few of the awesome families of Liverpool.

Kate giving the penguins a little kiss.

Kate and Adella being penguins.
Asher just LOVES being around kids. He loves playing with Kate and her friends.

Kate and Asher riding a tiger. :)

The crew: Allison, Carter, Calvin, Adella, William, and Kate

Kate and Calvin milking the fake cow

Kate and Adella riding a baby elephant

Climbing the hills of the "desert"

Oh, the poses.

Now that is a crowd for the lions.

So Kate decided, one morning, that she was going to turn herself into a tiger. I figured what the heck, it's washable. Thank heavens it was washable. I had no idea how much "art" she was going to decorate herself with.

She loved it so much she kissed herself.

Kate took a sports class at the local YMCA. They tried all kinds of sports. It was awesome to see her with a bunch of boys. She had fun though.

Trying out teeball

We went to a Memorial Picnic the local church had. Kate wasn't so sure why this was a holiday. Her response to my explanation of the holiday was that she didn't know anyone who had died, could she still go to the barbeque? I replied that she could. Then she asked if the barbeque was in a graveyard. I really can't remember my response to that but I'm sure it had some jaw-dropping involved somewhere. Also muffled laughter.

The best big sister in the world, pushing the best little brother in the world.

CHEEKS!

Asher just loving the swings

Eating the lovely picnic. Kate decided it was inedible because it had "black marks" all over it. I explained how the grill worked but she had made up her mind and her nose stayed up in the air. I told her she'd be hungry but that was fine with her...

There is a beautiful park next to Lake Onondaga, about 10 minutes from our Liverpool place. We went there often, weather permitting. I loved photographing the scenery and, of course, the kids. They loved playing by the water, riding bikes, and running around.

Some scenery

There's something about a hot pink bike glove picking a little daisy...

Kate got quite good at her bike. She loved riding the trails.

Crocodile Dundee?

That cute little red hair!

Kate's JoySchool class was so good for her. The only thing was that I had to teach every once in awhile. It was very good for me but probably not as good for the kids... May was nice though because the kids could go outside.

april come she will. and did about five months ago.

2011-09-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

April, I realize, is far earlier than the current month, but it can't be helped I suppose. It was quite a busy month and I had my camera along for much of the ride.

Easter. It was a good holiday. Kate just gets funnier every year. She loved dying the eggs, finding the eggs, rehiding the eggs, and finding them again. Asher loved the bits of candy he was allowed and loved the bits of candy he discovered on the floor even more. He dyed his whole face blue with one or two candies. Impressive.

Mommy with her bunny and her bug.

Me and my boy

Bunny lady. Peace. Or issuing commands, I'm not sure which.

The bug.

Asher finding an Easter egg.

Little man eating his egg. Without peeling it.Daddy with the bunny and bug.Yay, bunny found an egg!Fancy eating her Easter candy.Some of the eggs, our tribute to the U of U and to King Daddy. Kate, Little Man, Queen Mum
Here's just some bits and pieces of the kiddos. Asher is adorable, fatty little cheeks and all. Though I'm a tad biased. And my fancy pants is, well, fancy. :)

Little man, just chillin.

Little man eating his teether.Kate watching tv. No, seriously.One day we had the biggest hailstones I have ever seen. The only way to accurately describe it is by comparing it to a golf ball... Kate went to a couple princess parties at the local YMCA. She had a great time dressing like Princess Aurora, playing with other princesses, and doing princess crafts.
Ah, what can I say? Kate, clearly bored one morning, decided to dance with her umbrella. I only included one picture but the series is quite hilarious. Note she is still in her nightgown. And just for the insatiably curious, the show Psych is on in the background.Bath time is always an adventure, usually quite a wet one. Asher has discovered splashing to a spectacular degree and not one to be taken lightly. Or without towels. Man he's a cute kid. I'd love to include some of the cute pictures of Kate but I think she'd kill me later for making very public pictures of her taking a bath...These are just a series of snapshots that I played with in Photoshop. I love that program. They turned out well I think and I love them.

This is my little starlet. My goodness, she is really a diva. But at least she doesn't mind if I take pictures of her and she even poses often. And when I say pose, I mean POSE. Like she's been observing models, though I don't know where she would have picked that up. Yes, I am scared and nervous for the teenage years...

Kate liked to go to a little playgroup on Friday mornings. One of the moms also taught a little dance class at the beginning and they gave a little performance for us. It was a lot of fun to watch Kate fly around the stage. She loves to dance.

One of Kate's very best friends is named Hope and lived pretty close. She and Hope often asked to play with each other and had such a great time. I loved it too because Hannah, Hope's mom, is a really cool chick and it was great to have her over often.

Hope's brother, Kyle. We love him too. :)Mother's Day was just an absolutely beautiful day. My kids even agreed to pose for a picture with me. Oh Asher. He gets more and more crazy every day. Eating is not a great pleasure but at least he is giving it more of a chance. He definately likes certain foods more than others. I think this one is carrots... His great joy is to THROW his food.

A family that lived near us wanted me to take pictures of them so I took advantage of the occasion and took some pictures of the kids. They are so beautiful! I love the place we went to take them too, very urban.

Kate had an awesome experience with her Joyschool friends. It was hard to feel like I could teach the kids well but it was so much fun to watch them play. The boys are named Calvin and William Mortensen (Kate's favorite boys ever) and Bridget Miller (who Kate just adores).

Kate and Bridget playing ballCalvin and William playing with umbrellasWilliam just chilling, I guessThe cutie girlsBridget looks like she belongs on the cover of a Beatles album.PlaytimeThe lessons this week were about imagination. Kate was pretending to be Little Bo Peep. :D Not bad...Poor Calvin, I had no boy clothes to dress up in, but he took it in stride and played right along in the girl hat. What a sport!

The Lentz family moved to Utah this month and we went to their house to say goodbye. Asher and Kate had a great time. Asher played with Kiplyn and Kate played with the Lentz kids and the Mortensens who also came over.

I'm not sure if Kiplyn is trying to kiss Ash or eat him...Sorry to interupt...

Playing around in the completely empty basement

You didn't hear that!

The greatest dog in the world, Cocoa Lentz.

The little sister I never had, Jamie Lentz

We went to a fair at the YMCA one day in April. It was a lot of fun and Kate got to have her face painted like a butterfly. What a great place the YMCA was for us!

Jon's school, Le Moyne, has done a PA 5k fundraising run each April since we have been there and this time we borrowed a jogging stroller from my awesome friend Summer Potter and took the kids along. I was huffing and puffing but Jon was fine, even pushing the stroller. Ah well, at least I wasn't hugely pregnant this time and Jon got to carry Ash. :)

marching right along...

2011-06-04T15:13:00.001-07:00

So this month I decided to start the blog with some pictures of the kitties. They have been neglected quite a bit of late. Besides, my mom just adores them and hates that they don't live with her anymore. (I feel a disturbance in the eye-roll universe... ;)

Mia, my queen huntress kitty

Daphne, the little lady

Niles. Oh how to describe Niles... Klutz, smart, dumb, nuts, dog, patient, just plain crazy. Niles is one-of-a-kind. It's probably my fault for giving her a boys' name.

Niles
Niles in her superhero chipmunk pose

Kate is part of a wonderful preschool called Joyschool. She goes twice a week for a few hours. It has been so good on her self-esteem, her ability to associate with others, and her sense of just letting go and having fun. Many people try to describe Kate but can't quite put their fingers on what it is about her that makes her so different. I've heard her described as precocious, princess, an adult in a little body, reserved, and sweet. She is, to some extent, all of these things but there is something more that I haven't yet figured out. She's an onion and I am still peeling back layer by layer to this little miracle that came from me. It's like painting some grand work of art and not understanding why it is what it is, what makes it so enchanting. I painted an onion in other words. :D In any case, I'm grateful for the good things preschool has helped bring out in Kate and I'm excited to continue to see the layers peel back and develop in this interesting specimen of beauty I have the honor to watch.

Kate's Joyschool

Coloring a self-portrait at Joyschool

Clearly I am as obsessed with my kids as most mothers are. My blog is pretty much just about them. And the cats when I feel guilty about neglecting them. To be honest it still amazes me that these little marvels came from me. Flawed, slightly off-kilter, impatient me. Can a gal get luckier? I love to watch them grow and am fascinated with their eyes. They are so different from each other. Kate seems to be covering mountains of thought beneath the surface of her beautiful eyes but Asher just radiates light from his. From the day he was born it seemed like he could look right through me. He still can.

My little man's peepers
Trying to eat the camera
Hi mom.

My Aunt Loni thinks Asher looks like Winston Churchill. At times he really does. In this one I can almost see him planning war strategies.

Love the red in his hair.

Cheeks.

It's a pretty minute detail but the thing that gets me in this picture is how light his eyes look. If you can see past the cheeks. :)

Asher eating his truck. I personally believe that the guy who came up with the idea for King Kong watched his kid do this one day.

Blowing bubbles, a talent he has picked up this month and seems very proud of.

Kate is a very good sport most of the time with me taking pictures so often and willingly lets me take a few. Sometimes it requires bribery. I just can't help it, she's so funny and so beautiful. And she looks so deceptively innocent in photographs.

My little beauty

Kate's beautiful eyes. There is some debate about what color they actually are. I think they are blue with some green in them. My mom believes they are hazel but I disagree, seeing no brown. Jon thinks they are green with lots of other colors mixed in. Your opinions?

Lounging around

Here's that sweet bit.

This is actually Kate watching the latest snow fall. Such a deep little thinker.

The crazy mash-up of weather this month left snow on the ground some days and sun in the sky on others. One of the sunny days we decided to take advantage of the pseudo-warm temps (I personally can't call anything under 78 degrees warm) and let Kate try out the new bike she got for her birthday. She was very nervous about falling and very excited about trying it out. She did a great job.

Every Friday morning there is a group of moms and their kids who get together to do a little playgroup. At this one they did a little project with crayon wax melting. Kate made a beautiful little "stained-glass" window picture of a rainbow.

At the playgroup they also did a bit of dance time. It was fun to watch Kate incorporate the things she has learned in her dance class at the YMCA and see that she actually is listening.

After yet another snowfall Kate decided she wanted to go out and play in it. I'm typically not a snow person so Jon took her out this time. She had a grand ole time making snow angels, jumping and running around, and throwing snowballs. She was properly worn out when she came back in.

Fancy in her snow gear

Jon and Kate jumping around

On St. Patrick's Day Kate was visited by a leprecaun who left a trail of chocolate gold coins for her to follow which lead to a little pot of chocolate gold. She was very excited, especially since one of her joyschool classmates told her earlier that day that leprecauns do not exist. How do you spell leprecaun?

Kate with her loot

Kate and Asher both have Superman t-shirts. They are so cute in them that when they incidentally wore them both on the same day I had to whip out the camera.

Superman working on his flying position.

My own personal superheroes.

One of the greatest kid things ever is this hooded towel invention. Awesome for head warmth, even awesomer for coolness factor. It's so funny to watch what a little towel/cape transforms a kid into after a bath.

Super little!

Now is it just me or does this have somewhat of a feel of the '70s Superwoman or Charlie's Angels or something...

Ash is usually pretty open about his feelings and his feeling of being in his bouncer too long is definately one he is not quiet about so this is always a surprise. It's happened twice. How does one fall asleep while bouncing themselves?

I was crocheting some baby burp clothes this month for some showers coming up and Kate asked me if she could try. I told her it was a little bit difficult and I'd teach her when she was older. She was so disappointed. I went to the craft store and found these cool little kids' projects. They have pre-punched holes and big blunt needles. Kate got to sew, stuff, and decorate her own heart pillow. She was SO excited. :)

Fancy Pants' heart

Once in awhile on days she's particulary bored we break out her own personal craft box and let her go to town. This time we actually made popcorn and did a number of popcorn-related crafts. It was messy. But she sure looked cute as queen of the popcorn fairies.

I love to see this smile.

So tired. Naptime with daddy.

Cool, baby. Joe Cool.

Handsome little man in his suit

Oh boy, how to explain this one. I got an Easter hat for Kate and she immediately insisted on trying it on. After putting hers on she told me I HAD to get one for Asher. Luckily I had a little summer hat for him and that sufficed. Little man does not have to wear Kate's frilly hat. It simply would not have matched his dress shirt.

This is just priceless because of the look on Kate's face... and yes, they are still in their jammies.

I've started to let Kate pick out her own outfits. This has created quite an interesting array of fashion exploits and in her exploration of mixing patterns she came up with this bad boy. The hair is just the cherry on top.

While I ran into the store for something Jon waited with Ash in the car. When I got back I found that Asher had been given new priviledges...

So this is something we do with the leftover milk that I'm too scared to let her drink but isn't quite chewy yet. You just put a few drops of food coloring in it, then dip a skewer or toothpick in dishsoap. When you put the skewer into the colors they spread around. It's fun to play with until it turns all brown. Kate calls it "milk magic."

le fevrier

2011-05-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Jon always complains that he's never in any pictures with the kids so for Valentines Day I gave him his wish. It's not that I avoid taking pictures of all of them together, it's just that I am often induced to pull out the camera when they are on their own. They are usually the most funny when they are doing whatever antics they manage to get into without parental guidance... Anywho, here's Jon's picture. They all look quite dapper in red.
Pants loves to make pancakes, almost more than she likes to eat them. Almost. She was learning to flip them recently and actually did a pretty good job.

Little man loves his bouncer and tries to make it fly. He just bounces and yells at the top of his lungs. Best baby purchase for the little!

Kate had her 4th birthday in February. She is all about princesses now, especially Sleeping Beauty. She requested a princess cake and I asked what that meant and showed her pictures of various cakes I found online. She finally decided on a Sleeping Beauty cake (go figure) and because we had so many people over I made a castle cake as well. She had a great birthday and had so many good friends come over to celebrate with her. She woke up to find a little play kitchen in the living room and got a big-kid bike later that night and even a princess crown pinata. It was a great party.

Post-party mayhem and Kate's new play kitchen Kate opening gifts from her friends, Olivia (left) and Melanie (right).

Kate trying out her new bike in our 2-foot kitchen.

Kate's Castle Cake. I was totally dyslexic with the "4" candle and had to reflect the picture to make it look right, by the way. It was a long day.

Kate's Sleeping Beauty Cake. Yay for edible gold!

Kate's favorite family ever (and one that she has often threatened to defect to) of course came over to celebrate. Little man just ADORES Jamie.

Asher tried solids for the first time this month. He hated them. Not that I blame him, that cereal is pretty tasteless I think, but he wouldn't eat the fruits or veggies I gave him later either. He's just addicted to mommy's milk I guess. Kate tried to help get him to eat too but he just sucked in his little lips and pursed them closed as tight as possible and if he accidentally opened his mouth wide enough for us to sneak in a bite he just blew it right back at us. Sigh.

I love the look of distaste on his face.

"Mommy thinks I'm awesome". Very cool bib. Very true.

Messy! Look at those little pursed lips.

Again, you can just see every thought written on his face and for some reason it seems to be in a foreign accent of poshness. "You disgust me, you vile bite of cereal. I don't think so."

asher, kate, and ferb.

2011-04-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

So there is a show on Disney Channel called "Phineas and Ferb". In the course of a week I end up watching a respectable amount of kid's shows and definately have my favorites. Now keep in mind, when I say 'favorites' I mean shows that can be on without me having to leave the room because they bother me. For example, I have no complaints about what Dora teaches, but I just HATE the show.
Anyway, one day when we were just sitting around on a Saturday morning eating pancakes, this show "Phineas and Ferb" came on. I didn't really like the animation all that well and (a bit grudgingly) sat down to watch with Kate. As I watched I found myself sort of beginning to enjoy it. It became a favorite of all of us, from the 3-year-old to the 31-year-old.
For Jon's birthday last year Kate got him a Ferb doll. When Asher got big enough to start putting things in his mouth he took quite a liking to the Ferb doll. It had little arms and legs of just the right size to grab and eyes and a nose of the perfect size to suck on. Since then we never leave the house without it.

One of my favorite things is just to play around with my lovelies on the bed after getting dressed in the mornings. Once in awhile I break out the camera and shoot them interacting. I love to watch how my little man adores his big sis. He just stares at her and laughs at her antics.

Kate is such a beautiful girl and so funny. When I take pictures she can't seem to stop striking poses and moves like a model in a shoot. It's nuts. Little man just seems enthralled by the big black thing that shoots little lights at his face all the time.

I have a new little nephew born in January, Darren Lynn Skene. He's quite the cutie! I'm excited to see more of him. Kate asked me when Darren would be her cousin. I said that he was already her cousin. She said, "But he's just a baby, how can he be my cousin? That's nuts!" I'm not sure what qualifies one to be a cousin in her book...

Darren Lynn Skene

Little just chilling in his U of U outfit. He likes this blanket and tries to pick the animals off the print.

Before we left Utah we had a little fake birthday party for Kate. We went to the Olive Garden (Kate's choice, though she just calls it "Olives") with Grandpa, Grandma, Nick, and LaRisse. Nick and LaRisse carried in a big princess bag that contained her present but didn't say anything. She stared at it for about 5 minutes and finally, no longer able to contain herself, asked, "Nick, is that your princess bag?" He burst out laughing and told her it was for her. Her eyes just lit up. After dinner we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for cake and ice cream. She got to wear a fuzzy princess crown and open a few gifts. Nick and LaRisse gave her a little princess camera and she proceeded to take it around with her all night and take pictures of everybody and everything.

The girls. And little man.

One of the funnier parts of the evening was watching Kate open gifts. She would take a deep breath and say, "It's a ...!" With one gift she took her breath, and said, (totally excited, as usual) "It's a ... (pause, confusion) wait, what is it?" I've never seen Nick laugh so hard.

Kate-isms

2011-02-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

So I've been working on the kids' photo/journal books which hasn't left me much time to update the blog, but in reviewing all the notes I've taken over the past few months, I decided there should be a blog with all of the things Kate has said. I was crying because of laughing so hard. Enjoy!

September
* (playing rock band) "I’m a good music-er"
* (singing) "Mom-my smashed my finger-naiiiiilllll" after I hit her finger while playing the drums on rock band after she put her finger on the drum pad.
* Me: "You don’t like my singing?" Kate: "No. but I love you."
* Dad: "Goodnight baby cakes." Kate: "Goodnight daddy cakes."
* Kate: "Asher wasn’t happy in your belly because he couldn’t see me."
* Kate: "What is your doctor's name mommy?" Me: "Dr. Rosser." Kate: "Dr Rhinosser?"
* Asher: "da." Kate: "That means yes in French for babies. We have a French baby."
* Kate: "Daddy woke me from my beauty sleep."
* Kate: "Where are the missionaries going?" Me: "I don’t know sweetie." Kate: “I guess we’ll have to check the missionary map. I think we have one in the basement.”

October
* Me: "Kate, which strawberry shortcake friend are you?" Kate: "I'm not a strawberry shortcake friend, I'm just a princess, a carebear, and a superhero."
* Me: "Kate what do you want to watch?" Kate: "Muffins in space." (muppets in space)
* Kate: "If I marry a man named Beedlecreek then I’ll be Kate Beedlecreek."
* (in the tub with hands behind head) "Ah, this is the life."
* Kate: "Mommy, can I make Greenland in the tub?"
* Daddy: "The shelf is full of crap." Kate: "Mommy, the shelf is made of crap so we have to clean it up."
* Kate:(crying hysterically) "I don’t wanna go upstairs because there’s doors up there." Me: "Doors?" Kate: "The doors are gonna bonk me!"
* "Mommy, can I have a tower of oreos?"

November
* Kate: "I like some Santas, I don’t like other ones though."
* Kate: "Mommy, why do you have to vacuum?" Me: "Because there’s dirt on the floor." Kate: "I don’t see dirt, just black stuff." Me: "Yeah, that’s the dirt." Kate: "That’s not dirt, it’s kitty compost."
* Kate: "I’m a good sneezer."

December
* Kate: "Does this movie have Franken-Einstein?"
* Jon, in response to Kate’s opening a Christmas gift from Janet: “What do you say, sweetie?” Kate: “Hooray!”

February
* Kate: (in awe and surprise after taking her doll's clothes off) "Mommy, Sleeping Beauty has boobs."
* (After counting her $5 birthday money stack) Kate: "We love Ben Franklin, Jesus, and Abraham Lincoln."
* Kate: "Why do I have to get baptized?" Jon: "So we can live with Jesus in heaven." Kate: "Daddy, we aren't in Jesus's world, we're in New York."
* (On a windy day) Kate: “Hurry, we need to get inside before we blow up!”
*Jon: "Your name is Kate Sophia Allan." Kate: "I am NOT Quesadilla Allan!"

'Tis the season! December!

2011-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

December was incredibly busy. We were in New York for a couple of weeks then I took the kids by myself on an airplane to Utah for a month. I highly recommend not taking two young kids on an airplane if possible. They were both quite good but it was a stressful time. I was quite surprised at the kindness of people around us. I was nervous about getting people sighing/eye rolling/requests to move, etc. but people were very generous and the only people that looked me in the eye had kind looks. People would hold Ash while I took my coat off, took Kate to the bathroom, and watch Kate while I changed Asher's diaper in the tiny airplane bathroom. I think Ash got more bored than Kate, oddly enough. Poor Kate had pretty bad ear pressure pain on one of the flights and threw up after the crying and trying to get the pressure to equal out. She's a trooper!

New York is cold. Very cold. So sometimes cabin fever gets to us. One day Kate decided to use her princess stickers - on herself. This was the ensuing situation. Taking them off was a little less fun than putting them on...

In New York we had some fun in the snow and Kate made a little snowman. She called it a "fairy unicorn" snowman. I'm not sure what that entails, but who am I to say otherwise. :D We didn't have traditional gear to decorate the snowman except a carrot which was too large for a nose on such a tiny snowman, and it found a use as a horn. We used candy, of which we always have plentiful supply, for the other bits. Asher didn't exactly play in the snow but as it was cold outside he had to put his snowsuit on to watch his sis. He didn't seem to have too much fun but he was a good sport. I love his red hat.

Kate loves this hat...

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a pose.

The fairy-unicorn snowman.

Little man's red hat

Just a cute happy picture of little in his sailor onesie.

Kate's dance recital was entertaining to say the least. They danced to a nutcracker song and dressed in little soldier costumes. I feel like trying to describe it in words would never do it justice, you just have to be there to see one girl pushing another girl's bum to help her somersault, watching kids just play around while waiting for other kids to do their somersault, etc. Kate was really cute and did a great job.

At Kate's dance recital with the two boys in the class.

Pre-dance play on the stage with a couple of friends in her dance class

Words are not needed.

In Utah we did a lot of fun stuff, mostly things with family. We went bowling, Kate went to her first movie in a theater with her Grandma Janet and daddy, we had a great time with the holiday celebrations, and of course, good food!

We went bowling with Jon's family. It was, to my knowledge, Kate's first time bowling and I couldn't miss the chance to see that... Kate is funny to watch, she chose her ball based on color (pink, of course) and it was hard to convince her to choose a lighter ball... we had the side rails up and the kids used a ball roller. It was fun to watch.

How many people does it take to roll a ball?

My adorable little girl

Waiting for the pins to come up with her cousin Sam

Melissa was nice enough to take me to her pottery place and show me how to do some basics. It's definately something I'm going to have to get into when I get back to Salt Lake. The pottery place, called the Red Kiln, is awesome. I suck at it but it does take practice. Melissa is a great teacher.

At lunch with Essie. Note Asher's fingers - he's making the sign for "I love you" :)

Asher just LOVES his sister!!!

We had a party for the Skene family. It was fun to see everyone again and my favorite is the white elephant exchange. There have never been better white elephant gifts than the Skene family comes up with.

My beautiful kiddos

A moment of peace

Aunt LaRisse and Little Man

Ninj

Grandma, Kate, and Asher

Asher sucking on someone's white elephant - a used 1980s phone.

Lovely little lady

Jon's family had pictures taken at the JS Memorial building with siblings. I took some shots between shots. Keeping the kids in line and happy was a challenge. At one point Hudson ran around the balcony and pushed the elevator down button before anyone could catch him. Eventually they got some great shots.

Little pants

AJ and Alicia

Kate and her daddy

Chillin' with uncle AJ

My little man and his giant cheeks

Look at that smile!

Kate and grandma made a gingerbread house. It turned out great and Kate really did do some great designs and didn't even eat too much candy. Nick and LaRisse came over as much as they could which meant a lot to me. It was wonderful to see them.

Kate's finished gingerbread house

LaRisse and Asher

Grandma and Kate hard at work

Christmas Eve Nathan's family came over. It's always so good to see them and Kate just ADORES her cousins and begged over and over to see them. They had a blast opening their gifts and playing with each other.

Opening their gifts to each other

My great sister-in-laws. Couldn't ask for better!!

Christmas morning was entertaining. Kate walked upstairs and saw her pile of presents (she'd been asking for a JoJo and a Unicorn pillowpet for a month), looked at the JoJo in the package and said, "Hey, that's not what I wanted." We had to explain that she just had to take it out of the package... She liked seeing that Santa ate all the cookies and going to Jon's family for the day.

Santa left Kate a thank-you note for the cookies.

Kate at grandma Janet and grandpa John's house. Sam or Hudson (I can't remember which) kept taking the tags off her presents and she was having fits over it and decided to shield her gifts with her body. :D Little man and grandma

Asher and grandpa

Asher and aunt Alicia

Little man fell asleep in his car seat with his new toy, a little electronic book

After Kate opened her gift daddy asked, "What do you say?" (meaning thank you) and she said, "Hurray!"

November. Sorry, I'm out of clever titles.

2011-01-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

November was a short month. I mean, it was probably the same length as usual except for me. Time is just one big conspiracy, picking its victims however it chooses. Anyhow, it seems I didn't get the camera out very often but here are a few pics. Oddly enough, a lot of them are of Kate sleeping...

This is how divas sleep.I like how Kate's leg is sort of over Mia in this one and Mia doesn't seem to mind being squashed. Also that she's still in her coat. :D

She's just cute to watch in the car.
After playing with the Lentz's jumper, we had to get one for Asher. He just loves it. It's fun to watch him because he just gets so into it.You wouldn't believe the number of comments I get on this picture. "Jabba the Hut with those cheeks", "a little yoda", "may the force be with you, young one."

October

2010-11-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

October was one of the busier months, mostly because everything is busier with two kids. It was also a lot of fun. They are both growing so fast. Kate is now in 4T clothes and had to get a new coat because she's just shooting up. Asher is long but it's mostly torso so he wears six month tops and 0-6 month bottoms. The 6 month bottoms are too long but he needs a bigger waist... :) My little man! Kate is such a good big sister and loves to be with her little brother. She talks to him and wants him to sit by her. My beautiful little kids. I am the luckiest mommy ever to raise these two bright spots in a dark world.

We went to Abbott Farms again this fall for the festival. There was hardly anyone there so it wasn't as much fun as last year but it was nice to pick out a pumpkin and see the animals. Kate also got to go on the big blow-up slide, though she only wanted to go once.

The Pumpkin Patch

Me and pants picking out a pumpkin
She's just a pretty girl, even with too-long sleeves.

The big slide

I can't help but think Jon looks like those pictures in the airplane safety manuals of sliding out on the emergency slide...

A little taller this year!

We got two little farm animals this time, though the little man doesn't look to happy to be a cow.

A friend of mine gave me a bunch of clothes for Asher that she didn't need anymore and among them was this cute little camo outfit. I just love it. He looks adorable and seems to have his sister's photogenic qualities. He loves getting his picture taken because he likes looking at the light from the camera.

My little man

So handsome!

His hair seems unusually blond in this picture, probably just the flash washing him out. His hair is growing back in but I can't figure out what color it is. It has a touch of red in light, it seems blond sometimes and brown other times. I wouldn't call it blond, red, or brown though...

He's such a little charmer. He seems to have some sort of magnetism that just draws people to him.

The number of comments I get about his cheeks is extraordinary. "By the look of those cheeks they aren't starving YOU." "How does he hold his head up with those cheeks?" "Can I pinch those? Those are the cutest baby cheeks I've ever seen!"

One afternoon Kate, Asher, and I went to Abbott Farms to the corn maze with the Lentz family. She had a lot of fun, mostly because she was with her favorite people in New York, it was warm and sunny, and very muddy. Ah well, she broke in her new sneakers properly with a good amount of muck.

Mike collected this wad of "corn hair" from the corn maze and took turns with his siblings playing with it, using it as a wig, tossing it about, etc. Kate thought it was absolutely hilarious. When she got tired of walking, Mike carried her. What a nice guy!

Kate with Jamie and RachelMy kids are just funny. Kate lives up to her nickname - "crazy pants" or just "pants" for short. She's a nut. She says things that just crack me up. Love my little girl!

One day I asked her which Strawberry Shortcake friend she was. She replied "I'm not a Strawberry Shortcake friend, I'm just a care bear, a superhero, and a princess." Well alrighty then. She has princess gear, I made her a care bear shirt earlier, so when I saw this superwoman shirt I couldn't resist. :D

Perhaps the funniest bit of these pictures you can't see because she's just in her underwear - she doesn't like pants - and her poses just make me laugh. She's a little diva.

There's a railroad track by our house that I have admired on many occasions but I never have seemed to have time to go get some pictures there. I decided one day that the leaves wouldn't wait much longer and if I wanted any pics there I'd better get a move on. I took Kate along and she ended up being the focus more than the tracks and leaves. Go figure. :) I think my favorite view of these tracks is in a slight misty fog which happens once in awhile so next time it drops, I'm gonna have to whip out the camera to catch it.

I'm not really sure where this photogenic quality she has came from but she sure can carry off pictures well.The tracks

This little moose we accidentally shoplifted from the grocery store and had to go back and pay for it. It was worth it though, she adores it.

While I was taking pictures, Kate was collecting pretty leaves to send to family back home.

I just kept thinking Ralph Lauren would be calling for these pictures... the natural posing is just a kick.

Ah, my little pants.

Some of these are pretty cool in black and white but I decided to post them in color because everyone asks about the leaves here.

A few more shots from around the house and such.

Jon LOVES this.

For those of you that think it's all rosy to have a kid, here's a little reminder. Also a demonstration of the little drama queen emerging from this side of the country.

And the reason I still love her even with the newly acquired drama queen phase. She'll always be my funny little girl.

My dapper little man in his Sunday duds.

Kate in one of her favorite pasttimes - puddle jumping.

At the grocery store in her princess dress. She wanted everyone to see how beautiful she was and told me that she could turn everyone into princesses by touching them with her wand. :D

Can't tell you how hard I laughed at this one.

Mommy's new man indeed!

This is his sad face. Actually this is the face he makes seconds before the bottom lip pouts all the way out and he tells me how he really feels.

Kate in her new winter hat. She wore it out of the store.
One of my favorite onesies - "Probably the best baby in the world"

Kate and Ash The kiddos. Yes, he really is that big.

Kate at the doctor for vaccines and checkup.

Frosting cupcakes. I asked her if she wanted to make Halloween cupcakes and she replied yes and picked out pink cake and pink frosting. Very Halloweeny.

I think this is making pancakes, not sure. She loves to stir and she LOVES licking beaters.

There was a small incident one day and Asher ended up with a little scrape on his head but as it was on the head it bled quite a bit so he had to have a bandage. Unfortunately for him all we had were Hello Kitty bandages...

This is Asher and Kiplyn, the Lentz's baby girl. She was born two weeks before him. He's two pounds heavier.

Halloween was sort of uneventful this year. We went to a little ward party/trunk-or-treat which actually worked out better because Kate got to play games and spend most of the time inside. She bobbed for donuts, participated in a costume parade, and pinned the spider on the web. She had a great time as Sleeping Beauty. Little man was just starting to get sick so he wasn't a happy camper. I had to get pics of my little monkey after Halloween.

Monkey man He's just started eating his hands. Really seems to love them.

Geez he's cute.

The footies say "cheeky" "monkey"

My own little Sleeping Beauty. She sure is a princess!

Winning some prizes worthy of her royalty!

September

2010-11-02T18:07:00.001-07:00

September was a tiring but fun month. My little man gets bigger every day and though I thought he had me completely entranced the first week, he just keeps on enchanting me. Kate loves being a big sister and is such a caring little girl. She has started a dance class and likes it (if she hasn't just woken from a nap) though adapting to being around kids and not having a parent holding her hand is hard for her, but she is doing great. Here's a few shots from the month.

Pants in her new ballet garb

Posing...
And yet more posing...

A friend of mine gave me some boy's clothes she was finished with including a little onesie that said "born lucky". I just loved it so I put him in it and took some pictures. He couldn't get cuter. Though I'm sure on next month's update I'll say he's cuter still. He started smiling at the end of the month and is doing it more and more often. No, it's not gas this time, his eyes smile too.

Cute. Just cute.

Smiley

Oh la la!

"I know I'm charming."

Happy little man

So handsome!!

I could hold my little man's hand forever...

Pinkies up. Time for tea?

Everything is so cute when it's this little I guess.

Absolutely LOVE the red in his hair! Granted, it all fell out... not sure what color it's coming in as...

My beautiful little kids. Could a mother get luckier?

Kate loves to hold her little brother. Until he poops. Then she tells me to take him off because "he's stinky".

So mad!

Sleeping Beauty. One day she told me that daddy interrupted her beauty sleep...

Sleeping handsome? He was so tired he fell asleep propped up on the couch.

She got enough beauty sleep apparently. She so funny. Note fudge the bunny also has the fancy duds on...

This is a pic of Kate's dance class at the YMCA. It's called creative movement and has 3-4 year old kids. There are two little boys in it and Kate refuses to hold their hand when they do a chain to skip around the room. I think it's Jon's fault because he keeps telling her she can't be friends with boys until she's 21. She took him seriously. In this picture she's the one with her arms up, about to do a somersault (though if you call it a somersault she'll tell you, "it's called a roll, silly.")

Aunt Melissa, Uncle Matt, and Cousin Sam sent a birthday gift for Asher and included a little something for Kate. She loves her pink bling purse with pet dog included. This picture is in the grocery store.

Aunt Essie sent Asher a birthday gift as well and Kate (though Essie included gifts for her) assumed responsibility in taking care of Asher's new bear...

I love her hair in this picture.

So beautiful, my kids.

The best part of this picture, I have to say, is Kate's face. So funny.

This is Kate and her "best friend" Hope. Hope is in our ward and lives fairly close. She's a little younger than Kate. They love to play princess together. They don't get to play very often but Kate is always asking to see her.

My dad came in to help us out for a week this month. It was wonderful to see him and to have the help. And of course Kate was THRILLED to have grandpa all to herself! I was grateful for all the housework he did... Thanks dad, I don't know many dads who'd do what you did for us!

My dad took Kate to the Carousel

August! Introducing Asher...

2010-09-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Yay, I finally got to August! Not that anyone hasn't seen most of these pictures already but there are probably a few that you may not have glimpsed. Most of August was spent waiting for Asher and then enjoying him.

The delivery: I had been having contractions for a few days irregularly but the 13th I started contracting pretty regularly and the early hours of the 14th I knew it was probably going to happen that day. About 6 AM it was time to head in. When I arrived I was dilated to a 4. Within a few hours I was at a 7, and got an epidural. By about noon I was at a 9. And I stayed at a 9. For about 2 hours. My water sack still hadn't broken and the doctor had to break it for me - he said it was a pretty tough one - and checked again. He proclaimed I was at a 9 3/4 and said within the hour I could start pushing. He said he was surprised because Asher still hadn't "dropped". By this time the epidural was wearing off on one side and they wouldn't give me another boost because I was too close to pushing. Pushing was hard. Duh. For about 2 hours I pushed without showing much progress because his head was wedged. I had to try different positions to unwedge him. The doctor decided that he was too big and they had to turn off the epidural in the hope that I could push better, otherwise I'd have to have a C-section. The pain was not something I'd ever like to experience again and had I a gun, the doctor would have left the earth for turning off the epidural on me. :D Finally his head moved and he came pretty quickly after that. He was born at 5:52 pm. They were afraid he might have inhaled some meconium and suctioned him but didn't get anything out. His scores were low at first though so they took him to the ICU for about four hours. I FINALLY got to see him about 10 that night. My new little man!

Kate loves her new brother!

My little man

Caught him sort of smiling

Love the red in his hairMy favorite picture. I love the way he looks at me, like he's happy to finally see me and knows me well. I feel the same way about him!

My beautiful little girl!

The hospital: Asher was born at St. Joseph's hospital in Syracuse, NY. The delivery room was nice but the post-partum rooms were wonderful. They had just redone the whole unit and the rooms were light and cozy. The only problem was that the plumbing broke. So I couldn't take a shower. For like a day and a half after giving birth. Ick. I was quite tired and recovery was pretty typical for giving birth I guess. His big size bruised my tailbone and sitting or standing was painful. When the doctor came in to check on me the day after Ash was born he looked at him and said, "He's a little overcooked, isn't he," referring to his 8 lb 15 oz size. Yeah, I'd say so. I think my due date was probably a little earlier, to be honest. Anyway he was a good baby in the hospital but I was excited to go home. I hate being awakened by the nurses and being prodded every few hours.

Finally showered, holding my little man

Geez am I lucky.

About 4 hours old

Kate and Jon visiting the new little man.

Pants holding little man.

At home: My mom came for a couple of weeks to help out and to play with Kate. It was immensely helpful and I am so very very grateful she could come. Kate of course loved it and had a really hard time after Grandma left. There was no one at her side whenever she needed someone and that's been a hard adjustment for her, even now. She loves her little brother though and is a very good big sister. She was so excited to help give him a bath.

First bathPants being a good big sister

Little man leaving the hospital - out of order, sorry

Kate loving her new brother

Pants just being pants.Little man's funny faces

Drunken slumber of milk

Trying to stop the crying...

Kate, Grandma, and the newest grandbaby.

My little Ute.

It seems like we sleep an awful lot but not at all...

too cute

Janet and John were in the neighborhood for a little vacation so they stopped by to see us. We went to dinner that night and had a picnic in the park the next afternoon. It was a lot of fun. We rented a bike made for seven people and rode around. Kate liked running in the mist-maker as well.

Kate playing in the mist-makersThe bike made for seven

Grandma and Asher

Pretty little princess

Grandma and Kate being penguins at the zoo

Grandma and Kate at the zoo

July, short and sweet

2010-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Though July seemed busy I guess I didn't take my camera along. Here's a few pics though.

We went berry picking for currants, raspberries, and gooseberries. I've never cooked with currants or gooseberries and I was very curious to try them. Gooseberries are odd little fruits, hairy and grape-sized. They are quite bitter but are pretty good in a fruit crumble with apples. Currants are just beautiful little red, black, and pink fruits and taste wonderful in muffins. The black are a liitle sweeter, I think. I also made a cake that was soooo good. I'll tack on the recipe.

Black currant orange sour cream cake
from Epicurious

Ingredients
1 c. Butter

2 c. Sugar

4 Eggs

2 ¾ c. Flour

1 ½ t. Baking powder

1 t. Cinnamon

½ t. Baking soda

½ t. Salt

¼ t. Cloves

2 c. Fresh black currants
1 c. Slivered almonds

1 T. Orange peel
1 c. Sour cream

Directions
Grease a 9” tube pan. Preheat oven to 325°.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add eggs 1 at a time. Blend together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves. Stir in the currants, almonds and orange peel.
Alternate into the batter the sour cream and the dry mix. Pour batter into pan.
Bake for 1 ½ hours until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out on a rack and set right side up. Punch a lot of holes in top with skewer.
For a glaze heat ¼ c. orange juice and ¼ c. sugar until syrupy. While cake is warm, drizzle orange syrup over the top.

Kate showing off her haul. She wanted to pick the pink currants, go figure.

She just ccouldn't get cuter.

I felt ready to blow at any time. I was just huge and decided to take a picture before I exploded. I gave birth about two weeks after this.

Kate's new favorite outfit, sent as a gift from Sharon, a friend of mine.

June. movin' right along!

2010-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

I don't really have the great skills and deep thoughts that so very many people post in their blogs. I do this just for family and friends who can't see my darling little daughter and now son. i hope it still holds interest in just being an update of their lives.

June was busy and fun. Kate and I went to Utah for a visit and it really hit the spot for what we needed. My hip was killing me but over the two weeks we spent there it got better so it really WAS just what i needed. We had fun seeing everyone again, as always!

Nathan and his family were wonderful enough to come spend a lot of time with Kate and I. We went to the zoo, went swimming, went to Lagoon, and had a sleepover. Kate had a ball with her cousins and I had a ball watching Kate have so much fun.

The Hogle Zoo. Kate loves her maps! Grandma with the grandkids

Totally engrossed We had a dinner for Melissa's birthday at the Stalsbergs' house. Kate and her cousins Hudson and Sam had a great time in the paddling pool. Kate really didn't jump in like the boys did - she's pretty timid about stuff and asks for a lot of help - but she had fun watching them splash around so much. Then Grant gave them a ride in the wheelbarrow.

In the paddling pool

In the wheelbarrow

My family decided to have a little cookout at Moss Ledge one night. It was a beautiful evening and we had a good time playing games and eating our tinfoil dinners. Kate and Ainsley both fell and were not happy campers but they cheered up with s'mores.

Eating dinner and playing Mob Wars

Meghan enjoying s'mores

Ainsley enjoying s'mores

Kim. Nathan decided to take some pictures from random angles.

Brian and MaryAnne stoking the fire

Kate and Ainsley not allowing Grandpa to take a nap

Kate burning s'mores

We went to Lagoon with Nathan's family one day. It was really the first time Kate went that she could (and would) go on the kids rides. Last year she wouldn't get on any ride without me but this year she went on a whole bunch of rides with Grant, Meghan and Ainsley since I was quite pregnant and looked ready to blow.

Flying Ace Helicopter pilots

Grandma, Kate, and Ainsley

Ninj and G, homey style

Riding the train

One of the best rides at Lagoon - Rattlesnake Rapids. There is a section where one or two people in the raft get drenched but you don't know who until you get there. Brian shielded MaryAnne but Nathan got the brunt of the onslaught, I think.

Gliding like a whale (in and out of hotels - it's a song...)

On the dragonfly

Great job, coast guard

On the speedway

I'm still trying to figure out who this character is G and Kate are riding in... a mix between a penguin, a duck, and a bee?

On the Log Flume

Cute pic of LaRisse on the Log Flume!

Shades and their coolness teacher on the Log Flume

Another go at Rattlesnake Rapids. I don't know who got it bad that time, maybe LaRisse.

Kate and I went to the Gateway one day because it was a beautiful afternoon and Kate wanted to run through the fountains. She enjoyed it for about 10 minutes, then absolutely refused to do anything further because she was scared of the jets of water and probably of all the other kids too.

My crazy pants!

may. i'm hurrying...

2010-08-26T14:51:00.001-07:00

Though everyone is clamoring for pictures of Asher, I have to do the blog stuff in order or I'll never go back and do earlier months and we did some really neat stuff so Asher's pics will come after I get this stuff done.

In May we went down to Philadelphia with my parents to see my brother Brian graduate from medical school, the smarty pants. I've never been to Philadelphia before though two of my brothers and sister-in-law lived there for many years so it was neat to see it. And Kate is becoming quite well-traveled though she may not remember anything later. We saw a lot of neat stuff in Philly. I'll explain as I go.
First, Brian's graduation. As far as graduations go, it was quite a good one. There was a man that gave quite an interesting speech on health care and where it's heading. Though Kate was bored I really found it interesting. I was pretty cranky - being quite large with pregnancy, the heat was not happy, and my hip was killing me - and not the best company but it was neat to see my little brother celebrate such a huge achievement.

Neath and crazy pants

Brian and my parents

We went to the most beautiful place on earth, located near Philly, called Longwood Gardens. If I had my own private Eden to create, it'd look something like this place. The most beautiful gardens of all kinds - forest-inspired, lakes, Italian cultured, herb, native plants, incredible architecture, greenhouses of exotics, children's gardens, and the greatest gift shop ever. I could get lost in there and happily never find my way out.

Kate and Jon rolling down a hillGrandma and Kate in front of one of my favorite gardens
Me and pants in front of a painted mural in the childrens' garden

The children's garden had a neat fountain like a dragon's mouth with little paintbrushes and a black tile wall. The kids could "paint" on the walls with the water. It was pretty neat.

There were gardens outside for kids too with little adirondack chairs, fountains to play in, and neat little mazes just for kids.

The coolest part, in my opinion, of the garden. This is a beautiful bell tower with a waterfall and a pond at the bottom. Just stunning, the pictures could never do it justice.

Kate loves maps...

Two lovely ladies...

We went around various sites of Philadelphia under the guide of Ninj and the parents. Though it's one of the highest crime rates in the world, the city of brotherly love has some cool stuff, like the LOVE sign.

Jon and Kate

Me and Brian

Love this statue of Ben. Kate was terrified of the statue at first and never really would touch it. She really loved Ben Franklin and talked about him through the whole trip. "Where's Ben Franklin's house? Are we going to see Ben Franklin?"

Kate and I chatting with Ben

Grandpa and Kate

Ninj having words with Ben

So Kate had my camera and shot some pictures. She does that a lot, but I thought it was just interesting to see what Kate was seeing...

How Kate see's mommy

How Kate sees Philly...

Kate being showered with attention

The Liberty Bell

Brian and Kate looking at the Liberty Bell

Meeting Ben Franklin. Kate wouldn't smile and Ben said she was just being authentic for the time. People never smiled in pictures.

We went to the Philadelphia zoo on our way out of town. It was a huge zoo and took most of the day. Kate got pretty cranky at the end of the day but she had a great day. They had little stations around the zoo to collect cards and she loved collecting all of the zoo cards.

Kate really wanted her picture taken with this polar bear. It was the only picture she asked to be taken of her. On the trolley back to the car. Just a funny picture.

The Philly zoo had a petting zoo and Kate groomed their goats.

Kate adores carousels!

Kate and daddy taking a ride on a swan boat

Kate and I with one hunk of a statue.

These are Galapagos turtles. Having studied biology for a long time I've heard all about these turtles and it was pretty thrilling to see them. They're huge. HUGE. It was neat to see the animals that led to such a big scientific theory.

Back in Liverpool we went to a picnic with the Lentzs and some other friends of theirs. It was a beautiful area and we took a little walk with Jamie and her friend. Kate loved the little bridge.

Jamie and Cayleigh

Pants

We went to the zoo again. I have to say it was pretty miserable for me - very pregnant, very hot and humid and very sticky. But nothing could keep Kate and I off the tiger, not even a huge belly.

Tiger riding

April part 2. I'm so proud.

2010-06-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

So this half of April includes Watkins Glen Gorge, a beautiful hike about an hour and a half away from Syracuse. The hike is actually only about 1.5 miles but it took forever since Kate walked the whole way and I waddled the whole way. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day. There are tons of waterfalls all the way up the path. There are a lot of stairs and despite the shortness of the hike we were puffing when we got to the top. The light made the water beautiful and I also took massive quantities of time taking pictures. To get to the hike we traveled through a bunch of vineyards (beautiful) and the town of Watkins Glen (quaint). My favorite was a vineyard called "Pompous Jackass" with a picture of a donkey. Tell me how you really feel. :) If you can, I recommend clicking on the pictures to view them larger. It's worth it.

Light on the water

Although you can kind of tell the height, not even a picture can give the impression that being there in person does. It's quite deep and narrow.
Pants waiting for her very slow mother.

One of the prettier falls

I just love how the water carves these beautiful lines in the rock over so much time.

There were a few little caves as well along the path.

Mommy and Kate

I include this one because you can tell the vastness of the view. Note the tiny people in the center.

Crazy pants with her tiger binoculars.

Kate with her daddy

There were a lot of bridges as well.

Nathan had a birthday celebration while we were in Utah. Kate is always excited to see her cousins and I'm always excited to see my Provo-ite family. :)

Nathan's flaming cake

The kids "helping" take the candles out (and testing the cake)

Handsome Grant

LaRisse and the girls in their beautiful Easter dresses

The Lentz family had a whole bunch of local families to their house for a huge egg hunt. Kate had a wonderful time (as always when she's with the Lentz fam) and did pretty well with the egg hunt. Her hair is getting very long in these pictures. It's right before I cut it. She's a beauty with any style. :)

On the hunt

Kate's haul

april part 1.

2010-05-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm not as far behind as I thought I was, mostly because I didn't take any pictures in March. I'm doing April in two parts because I have a lot for this month and we went on a hike to a beautiful place called Watkins Glen Gorge that I will be posting lots of pictures, so rather than make the longest post in history, I decided to break it up a bit.

Kate and I went to Utah for a week just to visit everyone. We had a little picnic with Jon's family and Kate had fun with her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandpa, and grandma.

Little Sam, always happy. :)

Hudson on his leash. This just cracks me up. :)
Aunt Melissa playing croquet with Kate.

We had a little egg hunt with her other cousins as well. Kim and Nathan's kids came, Leslie and Ryan's little girl, Josh and Summer's little girls, Loni's kids, Lisa's kids, and Nickie's kids came. It was fun to see everyone again and to see the excitement in finding the eggs and prizes. Kate helped us hide the eggs for the little kids before everyone came and she did them a favor by showing them where the eggs were...

Reese, Ainsley, Meghan and Kim. Love the pretty dresses!

Kate checking out her jelly shoes. They were quite popular.

Getting instructions before the hunt began...

Easter morning was fun for us. Kate is old enough now to search for eggs and understand more what it's all about. She searched for her basket which contained a magnifying glass and she used the magnifying glass to search for eggs. :) Her painted eggs were outside (the weather was beautiful) and the plastic eggs were inside. She found every last one and hid them herself after she found them all.

Braving the bushes for that blue egg.

Looking for eggs inside. Go Sherlock, go!

Dismantling her basket.

This month I got my ultrasound to tell us the gender of the baby and to make sure everything was healthy. It's a boy!

I had a few requests for belly pictures and therefore took these. People promptly told me they were FAR bigger than that, don't worry. Then I have to remind them that this is only at five months. I'm substantially larger now and still have a couple of months to go... poor belly skin.

Jon's school had a fund-raiser 5k for their PA program. The day was HORRIBLY cold. The wind was so bitter and being right by the lake was just nightmarish. But the runners did a great job and Kate and I had fun staring at the lake. We also won a bunch of prizes in the raffle.

A view taken by the lake while we waited for the runners.

This picture is just for you, Melissa. Melissa requested to see more pictures of Jon and I but as I'm always on the other end of the camera, this will have to do. Jon finished in good time.

I still can't resist taking loads of pictures of my beautiful little girl!!

These pictures are out of order. Anyway, this is in Utah. Kate liked watering the flowers in her "pink twirly dress". I like watching that grin. :)

I paid a visit to my friend Lisa who was due within a couple weeks of this picture. She looks as lovely as ever and gave birth to a very healthy little girl named Saige.

february. flyin by!

2010-05-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

As always I'm posting about three months behind. Oh well. Kate celebrated her 3rd birthday in the company of a family that lives near us, the Lentzs. She loves them so it was fun for her to be with them. She had a tinkerbell cake and lots of presents sent from grandparents back home in Utah plus what she got from us.

Julie Lentz with Kate

Kate getting ready to blow out her candles. Tinkerbell is actually a candle but Kate flipped when I tried to "light tinkerbell on fire." So I got three little candles to blow out instead.
Kate was so thrilled with her gifts and it was almost as fun for her to recieve packages through the mail as to get them by hand. Grandma Skene gave her this little piggy bank. She spends most of the time putting the money in, taking it out, and putting it back in again. :)

In deciding to finally put the Christmas decor away we decided we needed a better storage box. Kate decided to make us of it before it began to get filled and took her little game laptop for a hideaway session.

This one requires some explanation. Jon had a lap desk on which to put his laptop. The cushiony part on the bottom was filled with little white balls of stuffing. There was a small hole in the cushion and while mommy fell asleep Kate decided to enlarge the hole. The result was a snowstorm within our living room. sigh. i've been finding those for all the months following.

January. Very short and quite sweet.

2010-05-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Just a couple little pictures from January. Kate grows so fast and is so smart. It never ceases to amaze me how fast she picks up on things and - even more startling - the things she picks up on. She has an amazing eye for tiny details. She is becoming so very very stubborn and independent in many areas.

Kate's reading glasses

My little model

december. at least i'm almost in the right year.

2010-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

December was a busy month! We went to Utah for a month and celebrated with our families. It was an exciting season for me this year because it's so fun to watch Kate finally understand well the concept of Santa, being good for Santa, and really get into the excitement of gift-giving and family fun. It's almost better than being a kid myself. It was wonderful to be around family again. I missed my cats but besides being a little matted and angry, they were in good shape when we returned.

This is Kate in her cute kitty outfit. It was from some friends of mine who saw it and thought of her. It fits her perfectly. She's little wild woman. :)

Christmas Morning. The pictures are a little out of order but I'm far too lazy to go back and download them all in the right order. So here's Christmas in reverse. We went to Jon's mom in the morning and his dad in the afternoon. Kate had fun seeing her cousins.

Kate was in charge of a gift for Hudson and gave him a little fire engine. Included was a personal demonstration from Kate. :D

My beautiful little girl

Jon teaching Kate to play ping pong.

My parent's house Christmas Morning. I love their house, it's so beautiful.

Christmas Eve was spent with my family. It was so good to see Nathan and Kim's family. Kate LOVES playing with her cousins. They opened gifts from each other and we ate a good dinner.

Kim and Ainsley

Pants opening her gift

Kate checking out her new tiger binoculars with LaRisse.

Grandpa being a grandpa

Maggie and Ninj watching the entertainment

The rest of the month was spent much as usual, watching Kate progress and grow. I got some news - I found I was pregnant. Kate had fun in the snow and was still working on potty-training.

Kate watching DVDs on the potty. Whatever it takes to get her on it!

Kate helping Grandpa shovel snow. She helpfully shoveled it off the grass onto the garden. Eventually Kate decided somehow that it would be easier to vacuum up the snow with her toy vacuum.

Typical mom, I can't get enough of seeing my beautiful little girl. She just looks like she belongs in some remote Alaskan village or something. :)

I took three tests to make sure I was pregnant. Technically I shouldn't have been able to know but somehow I knew before I took the tests. I guess I was just symptomatic REALLY early.

plugging away! here's november.

2010-03-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

The beginning of November we were still in Utah and had a dinner with Janet and John, and the rest of Jon's family. We got some great Halloween shots. Kate loves being around her family.

A new cup-holder for Matt...

Tinkerbell, Scottish style.

Wait Hudson!! I think this is hilarious, Hudson just CANNOT sit still for a few seconds... Plus Sam in the background apparently in complete protest. Heh heh. :)

Reasonably well-sat picture I guess. Hudson is still in revolt...

Grandma and Grandpa with the little fairy-child.

I just have a huge thing for our Scottish heritage and Kate looks so cute in everything.

Crazy pants getting a little fun in before the snow flies...

My friend Lisa. Can't visit Utah and not visit darling Lis!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in New York. Brian drove up from Philly and my mom and dad flew in from Utah. It was so much fun to have everyone there. Dinner was a little stressful but it's so rewarding to see everyone enjoying it.

October

2010-03-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

October was a fun month. There always seems to be a lot to do with Halloween plus we got to go back to Utah for a week. Here's some stuff we did in Liverpool and Salt Lake.

Abbott Farms is a farm quite close to our home that has a fall festival thing around halloween that was fun for Kate especially. They also make their own fudge from products from the farm - their own cream, raspberries, butter, maple, etc. It's some of the best I've ever tasted. The farm had a hay ride, pumpkin patch, corn maze, animals, a little pond, a big bouncy slide, a ball house, and various farm things like watching cider being made from the apple orchards.

The bouncy slide

Kate picking out her pumpkin
She's just very pretty. I'm a tad biased, I suppose. :)

We didn't go through much of the corn maze because it was getting close to naptime and Kate was getting cranky. This thing is a root from the corn stalks they pulled to make the maze. It took us forever to go through a few feet because Kate had to step on all these roots. She called them spiders.

Cutest pig on the farm.

Animals with hats?

She's eight feet tall in personality.

We went to the Syracuse Zoo when it started to get cold. The leaves were turning and there was hardly anybody there but the weather doesn't stop Kate from doing what she wants. :)

Heh heh heh. That's my little vampire penguin.

We went to Utah at the end of the month to spend Halloween with the Utah fam. We had lots of fun there. We trick-or-treated, went to the zoo, went to the Garden After Dark with Nathan's family, and had fun seeing everyone again.

Kate back in her favorite place - the carousel at the Hogle zoo.

Melissa and Kate helping cousin Hudson down the hill.

Jen and Hudson

Alicia and Hudson

It seemed like we had a lot to do in Utah - lots of friends and family to visit especially - but it was nice just to chill out sometimes.

So cute!

This one is actually in New York. Kate walks around without pants most of the time in an effort to improve potty training. She formed an attachment to the honey bottle shaped like a bear.

With Aunt LaRisse

Garden After Dark is a neat thing Red Butte Gardens does every year at Halloween. Some years are better than others and this year was really good. Nathan's family came up to go with us. Kate was SOO excited to see her cousins! They did a walk through the gardens, make potions, made broomsticks, painted pumpkins, saw fortune tellers, saw a real owl, heard a story-teller, and did some face painting.

Little Red Riding Hood, a fighter jet pilot, and Little Bo PeepMaking potions. They provided little glass vials to wear around the neck and gave them lavendar, calendula petals, pine needles, juniper berries, and rose hips to combine into "potions" in their little vials.

Kate on her homemade broom. It's an especially long one but she seemed to ride it like a real pro.

The four cutest kids ever.

Trick-or-treating was fun though sort of short-lived due to the small attention span and easily worn out little body of my two-year-old. But she had a blast and made quite a haul.

My little tinkerbell Grandpa and Kate hitting the houses

September... short and sweet.

2010-01-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

Though nothing of extreme importance or excitement seemed to happen in September the calmness of everyday humor and routine is what we needed. So these pictures are a random assortment of everyday and a couple visits to the Syracuse zoo.

Quite the ensemble my crazy pants put together. Note the chocolate around the mouth, the bright red slippers, the pink sunhat, toy dog, and cat toy. The cat toy she actually was using as a trumpet...

Playing glow-in-the-dark frisbee in the front yard.
UFO?

Chocolate dream cake. Made it like four times in two weeks. HEAVENLY...

The Syracuse zoo is called Rosamond Gifford Zoo. It is a small zoo but pretty nice and they seem to be trying to improve parts of it. There are a couple of really cool exhibits there - the penguin habitat is really neat, and the lions are right up close and personal. I'm pretty possessive of my Hogle zoo but I feel lucky to have a zoo so close here. Plus we get in for free with our Hogle membership because they are sister zoos.

Crazy pants at the zoo

Kate watching the elephant. The elephant habitat is a little odd - there is a small area painted like an Indian temple or something, then there are two or three other elephants in a plain grass enclosure further down the zoo. I think that's the next big project.

At the goat/sheep barn.

There's a fake bladder under this cow that sprays the "milk" (it's actually just water) into buckets. Kate freaked out a little at the "milk" on her hands and wanted to wash them immediately.

The lion enclosure is quite small but the three lions in there (a brother and his two sisters) are right up close and personal. Around halloween there was a little kid dressed as a pumpkin and the lions just prowled back and forth following the pumpkin. :) After they eat they roar for a few minutes and the ground shakes. It's intense.

The penguin habitat is neat. There are several areas that are covered with windows so you can watch them dive and swim. They are fast!

Kate wasn't too thrilled about riding the fake tiger. The tiger enclosure is just a vast area of grass, weeds, and trees but the viewing area is above so you can actually see the tiger a lot of the time. It prowls along a path by the fence.

Excuses, excuses. And August.

2010-01-11T14:40:00.001-08:00

So I realize it's been quite awhile since I've updated. I had a couple large projects - due date Christmas - that required huge numbers of manhours. Then we went to Utah for a month so I'm just now getting to the task of updating again. It is nice, however, to see nice sunny pictures when there's so much snow outside. :)

Our Last Visit to the Zoo

We decided to take one final visit to the zoo before moving to New York. It was a typical zoo visit, fun and nice to be outside, but boy did Kate have a hard time leaving. Kate's reaction to the news we were leaving...

The Move

We made the long journey to New York via airplane. My dad, Stewart, Alicia, and Jon left a few days before us and drove all the goods out there so it was mostly set-up by the time my mom, Kate, and I got there. It was nice. Kate loved her new room and was so relieved to have her bed back. She was quite upset to see it leave in the big yellow truck. We lined her walls with animal pictures and got all her toys in her room and she wanted to play in there first thing. She even decorated her elephant.

Kate discovered the rest of the house and it's possibilities little by little. She found the chocolate stash at my desk in almost no time.

My new perch

We met a great family in Syracuse called the Lentzs. I actually know their sister-in-law in Salt Lake so they were aware of our coming and welcomed us with more than open arms. They had a little party at their house and invited us over. Kate adores every one of them. She got to play with the kids, play in the pool, ride a horse, and create general mayhem with the others.

Julie Lentz and Kate

Jamie Lentz and her dad Eric

Jamie taking Kate for a horse ride. Kate was so eager to ride a horse, I was completely flabbergasted. Go crazy pants!!

Her second ride, this time dry.

I gave it a shot, not the best horse-woman but it was a lot of fun! I think the horse must have had some Scottish blood - stubborn thing.

Our trip to Niagara

We decided to take what little time we had before Jon started school and visit a couple of local sites. We made a journey two and a half hours north to Niagara Falls one day. We lucked out - it had been really rainy there most of the week and was horrible the next day but the day we went was a beautiful perfect day. We stayed until sunset and saw the beautiful effects of light with the spray. We visited the aquarium there, went on the Maid of the Mist boat, put on the Yellow paunchos for the walk under/in the falls, and saw a movie about people who went over the falls and lived. It was a pleasant day and Kate had a ball.

Sunset at the top of the falls

Canada

The trip below and in the falls. INTENSE.

Getting geared up for our trip in the falls. They gave us little sandals with nice traction and didn't make them in Kate's size but she absolutely insisted so she ended up with large kids sandals flapping around. She didn't mind a bit. She loved her new shoes.

On the Maid of the Mist boat

Look at the enormous spray the horseshoe falls make!

Another shot of the falls

On the bridge at the top of the falls

I asked someone to take our picture in front of the falls. Well, I assumed they would include the falls in the picture...

At the aquarium

One stylin' chick

On the boat

Onondaga Lake

There is a lake very close to where we live called Onondaga Lake. It's a nice little area where lots of people fish and go out on boats during the summer. There's no real beach to speak of - it seems to be mostly petrified bird poop and small bivalve shells - but you can get right up next to the lake and the gulls are only too happy to see if you've brought any food items with you. There is a pretty neat playground next to the lake that we visit often when the weather is good. It's quite large and Kate loves to go. After playing at the park she likes to go down to the lake and throw rocks in the water.

Birds on the driftwoood

I love the beautiful geese here. Lots of Canadian geese.

A neat little cove

At the playground

Gull and goose

Palmyra

We took a Sunday afternoon to go to Palmyra which is about an hour and a half away. It was so hot and muggy I didn't really much enjoy the trip but it was neat to see things. The Sacred Grove was nice and cool though and the walk through there was pleasant.

Kate taking her own picture.

A stop in the forest

Just a pretty area

The farm

Kate walking through the wood

July!

2009-11-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

July was a fun and hard month. We were moving to New York shortly so it was busy - packing, saying goodbyes, packing. Also packing. Did I mention packing? It wasn't too bad since most of our stuff was still in storage but the rest was mingled with my parents' stuff throughout the house. We went camping right before we moved too.

We had dinner at John and Janet's house for our last goodbyes to them before we left. It was fun to watch Kate be so affectionate with her family. She misses them!

Goodbyes: Alicia

Jen
Grandma

Grandpa

She's my beautiful little girl!

Eating her greens! (I'm thrilled to have a daughter who likes veggies!!!)

Hudson the chick magnet

Kate's view of Alicia

Mommy and Kate

We've gone camping each summer with Nathan's family for the past few years. It's always fun to do things outdoors with kids because of the sheer excitement of possibility they seem to exude. The only part I could do without is sleeping in a bag with my daughter. She is a talker and a kicker. Besides that it was really fun to hike and cook, play games and chat with everyone. Nick and LaRissé were able to come up at night and eat dinner with us. LaRissé taught us a new song about brushing teeth and had the kids jigging for awhile. Viva tinfoil dinners!

On a hike with daddy's hat

Kate helping out by sweeping up the dirt.

The hike

The view from the trail

Ains in good hands

Kate looking over a bridge

Grandma and Ainsley (love Ainsley's sunglasses)

One of my favorite flowers - the thistle

At one with nature. :)

Climbing trees

So pretty!

Another view from the hike

Climbing trees like monkeys!

Bird watching?

I miss my mountains!

Tin foil s'mores. Mmmmm!

Hiking to the waterfall by our campsite

I'm still trying to figure out what Grant was thinking on this one...

private?

2009-10-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

there always seems to be a question of making blogs private. i do worry about who is reading and with what intent. i don't actually mind people i don't know reading the blog, so long as i am pseudo-aware of who they might be, i.e. friend of a friend, facebooker, etc and where they got the blog address. I have a map that tracks locations of visitors and sometimes i can tell who it is, sometimes i can't. there are a couple of places that i don't know anyone who lives there (as far as i can recall at least) that visit frequently and it does sort of worry me. i would like to keep the blog open and to do this i'd like a few comments from people who read and where they are reading from. anyone from denver? oregon? florida? just for my peace of mind. salt lake city or nearby, don't worry about it, there are many people from around there that read the quintessence blog. thanks!

Yellowstone

2009-10-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a day trip up to Yellowstone since we were so close but we couldn't afford more time than that. It's a shame; there's so much to see up there. It would really take weeks to see everything you'd want. Still I'm glad we went. I'm excited to see more of it in the future. It was neat to see Old Faithful again and to watch the stunning scenery pass us by as we drove. I kept waking Kate up to see elk or deer, poor thing. She was so tired. :) We drove straight back down to Salt Lake from Yellowstone and didn't actually get home until close to midnight. Kate made it almost the whole way. The last hour she'd had it and went pretty crazy but to have lasted that long was better than I could ever expect. My little angel. She had fun at the geyser. She liked running through the geyser mist even though it was "stinky". :D

This one looks like two kidneys. Just thought it was funny.

A beautiful view near Old Faithful.
She's so cute!I wish I could describe the beautiful colors. Even the camera couldn't catch them all.
A "smiley face" made of the heat-tolerant bacteria. What a nice welcome.

More cool looking growths.

More cool geyser formations. This one is dried up, leaving some wicked rock formation behind.

This one looked like eyes to me.

Kate seemed to be testing just how close she could get to the edge. Yeesh.

Heart Springs, named so for the shape. I love this one!

Old Faithful erupting.

The funny thing was that though Old Faithful was erupting, I couldn't seem to take my camera away from my beautiful daughter!

Nursing on her juice straw. She looks sort of Mobster or something.

Aren't we darling.

These are some elk we stopped to watch eating for awhile. Their fur wasn't looking to hot because they were molting or something. Still they are beautiful creatures!

While we were watching the elk, Kate took up her favorite pasttime, picking up rocks. Sometimes she keeps them, sometimes she throws them. Today she threw. :)

Driving along we stopped due to an unexpected visitor walking around slowly across the road. A sign of how tourists have impacted the wildlife. It was so fun to watch it so closely though. It was beautiful.

I just like the contrast of wildlife and automation in the same picture.

Though it is neat to see wildlife up close, I'd never get as close as that guy!

I created the next two shots putting lots of pictures together to form a panorama. I love how the finished product turned out!

Kate driving an Audi at age 2. Sigh.

We stopped by a waterfall on our way home. It was pretty, but to be honest, the camera again just doesn't give the impressions that being there gives.

We stopped again on our way home to see a herd of buffalo. Boy are they ugly and incredibly impressive. I'd NEVER want to be on the wrong end of one of these!

Fur falling off...

My favorite part of the journey was a gorgeous lake we passed by. We stopped to enjoy just a nice break in a beautiful place. There was something so peaceful and beautiful about it. Seeing those gorgeous mountains by that gorgeous lake. Watching my daughter throw rocks in. :)

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip.

Jackson Hole

2009-10-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

We went to Jackson Hole with John, Janet, Matt, Melissa, Sam, Grant, Jen, Hudson, Alicia and AJ. We had a great time and Kate was so good for the long drive. The weather was not very cooperative however and rained most of the time we were there. We went hiking one day and were blessed with some good weather. The other days we spent our time in town shopping and looking around. I haven't been able to find the cool old-fashioned saloon pictures we had done but I'm sure they're in a box i just haven't been through yet. That's so sad I haven't been through all the boxes yet. I'll post them when I locate them. We also spent a lot of time just hanging out in the very cool house and playing games.

Kate wearing mommy's gloves against the chilly weather.

Jon celebrated his birthday with his favorite - Marie Callendar's blueberry cream pie brought by Matt and Melissa. Kate didn't mind.

We did some extra work for Alicia that used large envelopes. They had stickers on them with which Alicia promptly decorated Kate.

This is the boat ride to the hike. It was COLD!!!

Getting ready to pack the kiddo up the hill...

On the boat again. I'm just envious of John's gear.

Shhhh! I'm not sure why we're being quiet...

That is one tough chick!

At the boat dock.

It was BEAUTIFUL. Note the tiny little people on the bottom left :)

At Hidden Falls

Matt and Sam, Grant and Hudson

Alicia shooting the scene

I just like the contrast, shapes, and pseudo-creepy beauty of this shot.

Changing Sam's diaper. Nicest changing table ever.

Jenny Lake

Tight-roping?

Kate befriending the locals

John and Janet

There was a nice place to just sit and enjoy the view of Jenny Lake so we did so for quite awhile.

Matt, Melissa, and Sam

The Tetons

The Tetons have a very jagged shape. It was sort of neat to see that something as basic as "a mountain" doesn't necessarily invoke the images we know.

We passed this lone tree in the middle of a grassy plain on the way to the hike and I pulled the car over (much to the chagrin of the inhabitants) to shoot it. I LOVE this tree, the way it bends with the weight of years of wind, how it sits by itself, the sloping mountain in the background.

The tree again. My obsession.

This is another shot taken after I pulled the car over (again) mostly because I was overwhelmed that those impressive mountains I had been awed by earlier where dwarfed by the magnificence of the light and clouds.

I just thought it was funny that Kate ran outside in her diaper to see what was going on. That's my kid. :)

Hudson. I think this might be paper he's playing with but I can't remember.

We were staying at a nice place in Grand Teton Village and there were some horses coralled at the bottom of the village. They were beautiful horses and I'd never seen any like them before. They were HUGE horses. I wish I knew what kind they were. Kate wanted badly to see them but was scared to death to go close.

Jen and Hudson. Hudson appears to be hungry. And surprised.

Kate loves her Grandma!

I never did get a good picture with Kate by the huge fake buffalo. She was TERRIFIED of it, even though I showed her it wouldn't move and she could pet it. Ah well. Maybe next time. Kate is funny about her headbands. If she is happy she likes wearing them but the minute she gets stressed or scared or impatient, off comes the headband. This buffalo is in downtown Jackson Hole.

No comment is worthy of this picture.

June. And it's a long one.

2009-10-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

So June actually took me a good deal longer to get ready to post, simply due to the volume of pictures. We went on a trip to Jackson Hole with Jon's family and afterwards headed to Yellowstone for a day. Had a great time, but as you can imagine, I took way too many pictures so going through them takes awhile. Ah well. So three major events of June: AJ's graduation, yellowstone/jackson, and the zoo. I'll post Jackson/Yellowstone separately.

The Zoo then. Each month seems to have a plethora of zoo visits and, cameraholic that I am, I cannot leave behind a moment unshot. :D Kate loves the zoo (actually I do too) and as it is so close it seems a shame not to go often. Kate's cousins came with her this month too.

Grant and Meghan by the tiger habitat

This is kind of funny. My camera was low on battery but I didn't notice until after this shot. Kim is trying to get her kids arranged and everyone looking at me for a smile but my camera died right after this one. So you'll just have to imagine the smiles.Grant's favorite thing on earth - maps.

Train ticket!On the train

Zoo visit #2 This is also funny. The bears have this big plastic black tube in their habitat. One of the bears put it on their head and started playing with the other bear who wanted the big black tube. At one point both bears had their heads in the tube. I couldn't stop giggling. I felt like a 6-year-old. It was great.

AJ's graduation from Brighton: I cannot believe that people with hearts/souls/brains would make anyone where this dreadful BRIGHT orange for one of the most important moments of life. Now I really don't have anything against orange, but this was a wicked shade of orange. Mixing it with blue doesn't help. It's like they're trying to say, "see look at how pretty blue is, then look at this horrible horrible orange in comparison." Obviously I was concentrating on what I should have been. Really, congrats AJ, that's a big achievement. The ceremony was, ahem, unique. It was at the E center and the students had a little beach ball going around and they seemed jubilant but not disrespectful but in the middle of the program the principal got up and told them off for being so. I didn't get it. Anyway, here's a few pics from that event.

Baby Hudson

The Big Moment

The Fam

quintessence of what?

2009-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

So I've been asked many many times (sometimes not so nicely) what on earth does quintessence of snerrskinism mean. I usually just dodge the question because it is one of those things that is a cumulation of many emotions, thoughts, realizations associated with one event and its aftermath.

Here is the event. My maiden name is Skene and I have a friend named Melinda Snarr. Actually that's her maiden name but it is central to our story. We had a group for a school dance in high school and we were meeting a couple other couples at Applebee's (I think it was applebees, not sure though). We asked the hostess if our party was there yet and she said, "Are you snerr'n'skin?" We keeled over with supressed laughter. Anyway it became an inside joke and when I went on a study abroad to Cambridge, England, I didn't have email. Mindy decided to sign up for me because she was afraid (rightly) that i'd never sign up myself. With lack of ideas for username, or maybe just a moment of boldness, she used snerrskin as my username, adding quite tactfully that I could change it to whatever I wanted so long as I kept an email address with which to communicate while I was away. I just thought it was so funny that she signed me up and that she used that name that I couldn't in all good conscience change it.

So the reflections that have followed that event at the restaurant are many and most of them not at all deep, but it has often impressed me that people hear what they want, repeat things how they have altered them in their heads, and thus their version of reality imposing upon other people. So life is really just a lot of different realities clashing, bumping, melding, and imposing themselves on other realities. Reality, therefore, is not so simple as saying the word "reality" and expecting it to fit everyone. Reality is what you see, how you process it, how you impose your reality on other people, how they impose theirs upon you, and how you thus process and alter your own. Just a big cycle of illusion.

In twenty words or less: reality is subjective to personal perception therefore life is a quick succession of random perspectives/illusions strung together. was that less than twenty words?

May!

2009-10-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yay for May! I love May because of the weather mostly. More outside opportunities. My favorite time of year is that two weeks between spring and summer - not too hot yet but the chill of spring is gone. And all the pretty flowers start blooming.

At the zoo: It's so nice to have the zoo within a stone's throw, as they say. We got a season pass so we can enter at about 4:30 and just stroll around until 6:30 at closing. Everyone is leaving from the day-trips there so it's way less crowded. Plus the animals seem more active in that last hour and a half.

Kate watching the bears eat their watermelons

Crazy pants on the carousel
On "Kanga"

One Sunday evening after dinner at the Skene's we went on a little walk in the Bonneville Glen - it's right by my parents house - with Nathan's and Nick's families. It was just a lovely evening. Grant had a great time taking pictures with my camera too. Meghan, Ainsley, and Kate just liked looking at the plants and little bugs.

Some pretty benches in the glen

The glen entrance/exit

G and I

The walkers

Scoping out the local flora and fauna

My Birthday was nice. The weather was beautiful. I actually had two birthday celebrations, one the day of and one the weekend after with Nathan's family. Two cakes. :D

The girls painting some wooden crafts

Could she get any cuter!

The first birthday celebration. Kate just seems to like birthdays a lot.

Mommy blowing out candles with Kate

So very proud of herself!

Meghan is quite a wonderful little ballerina and we went down to Provo to see her ballet. It was so good! Meghan is a natural talent and it was so fun to watch her dance gracefully. It sort of seems like her personality is just that type - graceful, elegant, and fun. :)

The prima ballerina and her fam

We went to dinner at Janet and John's house one Sunday and the weather was beautiful! We got to go outside and play at the little playground by their house.

Alicia on the twisty slide

Hudson having a ball on the swing

Heh heh

Kate and her auntie

Man, she's cute.

Dinnertime is always an adventure with a two-year-old. Well, I guess everything is an adventure with a two-year-old.

Dinnertime for the rich and famous

We got Kate a little tricycle to ride around the driveway and daddy was teaching her how to ride but she gets really frustrated with the pedal thing. She'll get eventually and I think she understands what she has to do, she just doesn't want to push the pedals.

Learning to cycle

Brian's birthday was actually in April but since he wasn't in Salt Lake we celebrated it when he came in May. Afterwards we had a game night with Kim, Nathan, Jon, Brian, Nick, and LaRisse. The picture is showing the game "Settlers of Catan".

Ninj blowing out his candles on Nigella-style strawberry shortcake

April. Seriously, April. Of 2009.

2009-09-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, ladies and gents, here's april. I am actually feeling really quite proud of myself for having gotten this far before next year. Keep checking back because May, June, July and August will all be posted a few days after each other.

We went to the zoo several times in April. It's always fun to go with Jen's fam and Melissa's fam. I don't think Hudson and Sam care too much about the animals yet but it's so nice to get out and do something.

At the zoo

Handsome Hudson. :) Stellar Sam at the zoo

Mommy and Kate in front of the giraffes

Hudson't favorite part of the zoo, I think. On the carousel.

Jen, Grant, and Hudson at the elephant enclosure

Melissa and Kate

Feeding time at the zoo! :)

Now that is one cool chick.

I KNOW this is Kate's favorite part of the zoo.

Look at Hudson's grin!!

The first and only time I could ever get Kate to ride on the trunk of the big fake elephant. She was totally fine until the elephant made noise and blew water out of the holes in the spout.

There are always bits and pieces of each day that I wish I could catch in memory - camera, brain, video, whatever - and sometimes I get lucky enough that my little angel/devil child does whatever she's doing long enough for me to grab the camera. Man she's funny.

In her little white tutu which, up to this point, she had violently refused to try. All of a sudden one day she brought it out and asked for help putting it on. Over her ballerina pajamas. Heh.

We often go to dinner at Allans, Vise/Wests, and various Skene households and feel quite blessed to have family who admit to knowing us. At a dinner at the Allan house we decided to undress all the kids to see how they measured up to each other. Sam and Hudson, though five months apart, seemed very close in size. Sam is one big dude! Kate, however, refused to participate and simply mocked the non-walkers for not being able to run away. The boys, I have no doubt, will one day find revenge.

The Mocking

Could they possibly be that close to the same measurements? Yes. Oh yes.

So my parents went on a little trip and while they were gone, we decided it would be the ideal time to paint their bedroom. They already had all the supplies and we figured that was the best deal ever - painting a bedroom for 3 years of rent. When it comes right down to it though, painting a bedroom with a 2-year-old under foot seems to be about right for three years of rent.

Kate "helping". She actually did a pretty good job, for as far as she could reach...

This little detail roller was the perfect size for my little picasso.

In April Kate and I became activists. On behalf of the One foundation, we visited with the reps for Orrin Hatch to discuss continued support for debt relief of third-world countries in spite of economic difficulties. Naresh Kumar, present-day Ghandi, even brought a little One shirt just Kate's size. It was great. It felt good to get out and do something good.

This picture of the One committee of Salt Lake was posted on the official One website.

Easter is always fun, mostly for me it has been fun in the past because it meant warmer weather, but having a kid makes it a very different experience. Like all holidays, I sort of begin living it again through the eyes of my child. It's actually better than having holidays as a kid because I get to play Easter bunny/Santa and I get to be the kid, through Kate. Dying Easter eggs was fun. Kate had a ball trying to get the egg to stay on her little wire scoop thing. Most of the time she dropped it rather hard into the dye and several were cracked. :D

My little artist

Nick and LaRisse came to help decorate eggs

Savoring the goods

CRAZY PANTS!

We went to Nick and LaRisse's condo because there was a family of baby ducks in the pond by their backdoor. It was fun to watch their mommy take care of them. Kate couldn't seem to get enough of tossing bread chunks to them. One of the other ducks in the pond got a little aggressive and scared her a bit.

The Duck Family

Throwing bread

Playing Catch-up!

2009-09-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say. Life is still as busy as life always is. Also I'm a slacker. So here's March, April, May, June, July, August, and part of September. :)

March first then.

The Zoo

We went to the zoo with a very pregnant Melissa, Jen, and Hudson. It was a little chilly when the wind came up but pretty warm for March!

Samuel Stalsberg

Melissa and Matt had their little baby boy, Samuel Ray in March. He was a big baby but very healthy and the whole family was very content. :)

Grant liked the gloves at the hospital. He tried to become a rooster with one.

Reading

I was in the kitchen one night and when I went to find Kate she was in the living room on the couch with books piled around her. So cute!

Being Lazy

Just a nice afternoon, chilling with my offspring.

Cabin Fever

We just needed to get out! Granted it was very chilly but it was nice to get out of the house after a long winter!

LaRisse's Birthday

Just a very cute picture of LaRisse and her nieces and nephew.

Kite Flying

We went to fly our huge new kite at Sugarhouse park. It was windy but not windy enough to get that sucker off the ground. Kate sure had fun though.

Baking!

Kate got a neat little apron for her birthday and we decided to make cookies. Boy did she have fun! Flour everywhere!

Cheerleading

My crazy-pants in her new little UofU cheerleader outfit. She sure was cute!

February

2009-03-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

This month we made Valentines cards with Grant, Meghan, and Ainsley. They had fun. For awhile. You know, I'm not sure my own attention span ever passed that age...

Kate has always liked swimming. We went swimming at the indoor pool at the gym and a water aerobics class was going on. The instructor got on her handset and said she was the youngest ever in her class. :)

What a sweetie!!!

Splashing

Here comes the shark!

Kate likes swimming in her bathtub as well. I just like molding her hair with shampoo when she lets me.

Wild and crazy hair!!!

Kate's birthday was this month and we had a ball celebrating it. Lots of people from both families came to have dinner and cake with us. Kate loved her gifts. She got new toys and books, clothes and videos. I think most of all she liked the attention of all her family. At least until the pink elephant came in the door. She test-rode the elephant at Pottery Barns Kids when we were playing at Trolley Square. It was so funny to see her reaction. She started yelling in excitement. I've never seen anything like it. She was great with her cake - which took awhile to make, a safari in frosting - everyone sang and at the moment they finished, she blew out her candles. We all looked at each other in surprise, no one has ever taught her that...

Opening gifts

The pink elephant

Blowing bubbles

Blowing out candles

January

2009-03-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

It always seems the month after Christmas is somewhat dull. This year held up to that norm well. We just sort of made it through the days and tried to get back to normalcy. Honestly I HATE taking down the Christmas tree, not because of the mess or work but because the house seems so empty without those extra twinkly lights and i am so light dependant. On that note I wasn't super thrilled about the news that we will be moving to the gloomiest city in the US, syracuse NY at the end of the summer for Jon to go to PA school. It's for the best though. i'll just have to buy a few extra lamps and lots of plants. maybe a greenhouse. :)

Pictures for this month are scarce, I was photoed out over Christmas I guess. Kate and I made Valentines cookies. She loves mixing and decorating them.

ma petite artiste

what a sweetie!