Holidays - part 1

Better late than never...here are pictures from our Thanksgiving in SC/NC. We visited Rock Hill and Raleigh, and even got to visit friends in Chapel Hill. We also went to Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville, the new kid-centric addition to the Discovery Place Museum in downtown Charlotte...I highly recommend it! Katherine loved it, especially the very extensive water play area. Good thing I always have a change of clothes for her...she was soaked!

I have a bunch of other pictures of Katherine going about our normal daily routine and adding her own crazy, silly flair to it. I'll post those soon too (Hint...her hair has exploded the last month or so...longer and curlier).

This smitten Grandpa can't keep his eyes off of her!

Beautiful Peacock!

Happy Halloween! Katherine went as a peacock and went trick-or-treating to a few houses. She seemed more confused by all of the festivities in the neighborhood, but I think she liked answering our door to see the big kids dressed up.

Catching up....

Wow, it's been a while since I posted some pictures of Katherine. We've been chasing her around the house, so we've been exhausted. Here's an update on the adventures of Katherine (and her parents and pooch):

We went to the WFU Homecoming weekend a few weeks ago and despite the horrible loss to Navy, Katherine had a great time at the game.

Katherine had a great time walking around the campus, too. We got her a WFU bear backpack that she refused to take off, even though it is just as big as her.

We went to the beach for a few days with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Carol in Isle of Palms near Charleston. Katherine was totally fearless in the water, and loved every second of her time on the beach (especially chasing the seagulls).

Finally, our new porch is complete and the weather is beautiful these days...Katherine and I have nightly dance-offs on the porch.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Winston (4 years old! Big man!)

As for John and I, things are fantastic. John is working like crazy on his research, and has 10 projects "in the pipeline"...ranging from papers he just re-submitted to journals, to projects still developing. For tenure, John needs 4 publications in accounting journals...he just needs a few of these projects to stick, and he's got a great shot at tenure. My science writing has taken a turn for the better...I've been asked by two different sites to become a contributor. These folks have seen (and presumably liked) my imaging blog (www.highmagblog.blogspot.com, of course), so they want me to write about some eye-catching images for their sites. It'll be a while before I can call this gig a career with a big "C," but I'm having fun on this road. I miss bench research sometimes, but 99.9% of the time I love the balance I've achieved between being a stay-at-home mom and writing.

BONUS: KATHERINE'S "BUBBLE WRAP STOMP"

I can do it myself!

Katherine has been walking everywhere, bringing toys to Winston, dancing up a storm, and making us laugh all the time. Here are some recent pictures of Katherine....

Katherine "helping" with our deck renovation. We are in the middle of fixing, extending, and screening-in our porch and we went outside to check out the demolition of the busted deck we are replacing. (Note our brand new fence in the background.)

John is playing more tennis these days, and Katherine wants to join in.

Double trouble!

Self-feeding is the only option these days...this girlie is independent (and messy)!

WWWD: What Would Winston Do?

Katherine's birthday

As promised, I'm finally posting pictures and video from Katherine's first birthday. She had such a great time with everyone, and we all had fun watching Katherine soak it all in.

Here is the Picasa web album of pictures:

And, here is the edited movie of Katherine eating her birthday cake:

Birthday girl!

Today marks Katherine's first birthday, and I'm not sure who is most excited. We have had grandparents galore here to visit, as well as a visit with Aunt Mary Mitchell and a virtual visit with Uncle Brian. We had a wonderful party for Katherine, and we have been thinking about how wonderful the last year has been. We are the luckiest parents! I'll be sure to post more pictures of her birthday festivities soon.

She's on the go!

I was finally able to capture a movie of Katherine walking! She's still figuring out the whole balance thing, but her Frankenstein walk is so adorable...and she is clearly proud of herself!

Time to catch up!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. We are now settled into our new home in Georgia, and are slowly exploring Athens. We've had grandparents come to visit... John has also started his position at UGA, working on his research projects until he teaches next spring.

We've also had few dozen contractors to work on the house. That's right...our new 5-year old home has thrown us quite a few surprises in the 4 weeks since we've moved in, and all I want to do is call the landlord. For the first time, we are the owners and are more than acquainted with the Lowe's up the road from us. We are about to begin installation of a huge fence around our 0.8 acre property, have a designer work on the blank canvas that is our backyard, replace our rotting master shower and chimney, clean up a small lake in our crawl space, and transform our sagging, splintering, not up-to-code deck into a lovely screened-in porch. We have had our frustrating moments, from when we first stepped into the house the day of the closing to find that it was totally filthy, to our visits from contractors giving us the bad news about the molding shower that wasn't waterproofed/rotting chimney/etc. But, when the renovations are done, the home and yard will be amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the transformation, and I'll be sure to post pictures.

Katherine has handled the transition well, and absolutely loves the stairs in the house (our house in Tucson had none). She climbs up them, screeching at the top of her lungs, totally thrilled with herself. I'm terrified! AND...on Friday afternoon, she took her first steps by herself! She and I were playing in her room and she walked over to me from a box of diapers I was unloading. We got a repeat performance on Saturday, but so far nothing on camera. She will be walking before I know it, and again...I'm terrified!

Awesome week!

As we gear up to say goodbye to Tucson, we've been packing in as much as possible. We had an amazing visit from Brian, one last visit before we are on the other side of country. We went to the zoo, where Katherine and I fed a beautiful giraffe, and Katherine got to play on real grass (we've told her about this green stuff, but now she believes us). We also hosted a big BBQ at our house...one last opportunity to see all of our friends. Brian was a grill-master-champ, while John and I soaked up as much of our friends as possible.

Winston must have taught her this trick.

The Cheerios flow freely at our house--thankfully, Winston has been a good vacuum.

April happenings

Hey everyone! Here are some pictures and a video from the last few weeks. Katherine is so much fun these days....learning learning learning. Katherine will dance to music (more of a bop, but practice makes perfect), shake her toys, and make kissing sounds back at us. This week she waved goodbye for the first time, which will serve her well as we move away from Tucson next month. That's right, East Coast, we're coming back! It is a very bittersweet time, as we say goodbye to all of the wonderful people we love in Tucson, but get to enjoy being closer to family once again. We'll be moving to Athens, GA, where John (now Dr. John!) will start on the faculty of the accounting department at UGA. Go Dawgs!