Update 2 of 3 for Thursday, March 1

Christmas this year was a quiet affair, as the residents of the Blue House, along with Katie's Grandma enjoyed the day with each other. Katie figured out quickly how the whole thing worked, ripping the paper off to find fantastic gifts inside. Here's our girl working on her stocking with her Grandma:

It was so fun to watch Katie open her presents this year, the absolute delight on her face when she got to the gifts inside was simply priceless. Here's some photos of her favorite new toys:

Two new wonderful necklaces from her Auntie Liz:

A kid-sized bean-bag chair from Santa:

Very fun Pop-ons toys from her Grandma Carol:

Her very own pull-along Elephant friend from her cousin Morgan:

A set of animal-themed musical instruments from her friend Bridget:

Some new big-girl books from Auntie Liz and Grandma:

And a hand-made beautiful set of blocks for sorting and lacing from Auntie Liz's Daddy!

After Christmas we took a little vacation on Lopez Island. It was cold outside, but Miss Katie had a great time:

Here's a few bonus photos. Katie waiting patiently for her turn to be a Guitar Hero, and a photo of Katie and her Papa blowing out candles:

Up next: Katie's 2nd Birthday!

Update 1 of 3 for Wednesday, February 28

Okay, so before I let another month expire, let me beg again for your understanding! I have been terrible about keeping up with the blog. So, without further ado, I will attempt to catch up with three posts today... the first of which is a few photos from mid-December. It's clear that Katie's just another normal kid who loves to play in boxes:

As a special vocabulary lesson for those of you not in touch with a toddler on a regular basis, I present to you - the Katie decoder system:

Bailok ...................... Broccoli

Nessie ..................... Necklace

LaWa ...................... Water*

Moak ...................... Milk

Bank ....................... Blanket

Wa Hans ................ Wash Hands

Stoop ...................... Stool (stepstool)

Polly ....................... Potty

Muckin .................. Monkey

Sai .......................... Outside

Toas ....................... Toast

Deli ......................... Jelly

Nunas ..................... Noodles

T-an ........................ TV on

Dog T-an ................ Dog TV on (Animal Planet channel)

* funny story here... Katie's Grandpa was visiting us, and continued to correct her pronunciation of the word water...so again, and again he tried, and finally over the dinner table he strongly said WA-TER! To which Katie even more firmly shouted LA-WA! Nice to see the genes passed down without much alteration!

Thanks for your continued support. I'm on to the Christmas post!