Uncle Brian and Aunt Heather visit

One of the highlights this year has been an awesome visit with Uncle Brian and Aunt Heather. We didn't get to see them over Christmas, so I was beyond excited to see them. Brian and Katherine became best buds...she would clutch onto Brian like there was no tomorrow. When I dropped Brian and Heather off at the airport, Katherine screamed loudly enough for eeeevvveryone at the airport to hear. And she kept screaming...after they went inside, they could still hear her. Katherine, I felt the same way...I miss them already!

Legos!

Botanical Garden of Georgia

Clutching onto Uncle Brian and her stick

All dolled up for a night on the town in downtown Athens

Sharing some apples with Aunt Heather

Brian, Katherine, and Erin learnin' accounting from Dr. Campbell in his classroom (yup, Erin is still a brown-noser)

Lovely ladies in front of the UGA arches

Ish ish

My last post was about....Thanksgiving. Whoooops!

This winter, we actually got quite a bit of snow here in Athens. One storm was bad enough to cancel school for the entire week. There was over an inch of ice sitting on top of several inches of snow, and I felt bad for (laughing at) Winston. He would go outside and skate on top of the ice...not sure how to get around the yard.

John is busy busy teaching this semester, and he's had a great time with it. His students are great, which always makes it fun. Katherine has been busy running around, dancing, growing crazy curly hair, drumming, and attempting to talk. She says only a few words (although inconsistently), but she is sure able to communicate with plenty of points and "Ish ish," which seems to be her catch phrase. And, that catch phrase has caught on...Brian greets me on the phone these days with an "Ish ish."

Enough ish, ish....time for some pictures, in order of increasing curls (okay, it's chronological).

playing piano at Grandma Johnnie's house

First time playing in the snow...not a fan!

What kid doesn't like stickers?!

Katherine was suffering through her first ear infection in this picture, but she still perched on her chair like a little lady.

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: