Hayride with the Babies

Some of the moms from breastfeeding class got together with the kiddos and Dads to go out for pizza and then on a Hayride. Katie had fun-- so here are some random cuteness pictures!

Katie's the oldest by 6 weeks and then is about 3 months older than most of them... still, she's the teeny one! (in a frog hat!)

another good quote

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
Andrew Tyler (Tytler?) 1787

Whoever said it... I think they may be right and we're all heading right along with it.

From one of our founding fathers.

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." –-Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (1801)


I'm pretty sure he had it right. Not the ideals of "spread the wealth around" we're hearing about these days!

What is a right ???

I saw this article and thought it was worth sharing!
What Is a Right and How Do We Know?

Random Bathtub Baby Cuteness

This kid sure loves the water. I think she'd stay in there all night if we let her!
Bathtime is Daddy's domain, hence the crazy hairstyles, but they have a blast in there!

But seriously, how cute is the kiddo???

My godson

This weekend was also the baptism for my new godson, Sam. He was perfect all through the ceremony-- even though there were 10! kids being baptised that afternoon. He actually SLEPT through most of it. Unbelievable!

Craig got to enjoy some quality sling-baby nap time in church too.

My first cake job!

I had my first wedding cake job!

It was for a friend from grad school's wedding this past weekend. Three tiers, served about 100. The bottom tier was coconut cake with raspberries, the middle was a vanilla pound cake with lemon curd and the top tier was a chocolate cake with mocha cream filling. All frosted in buttercream in a spackle/plaster fashion (what was requested). It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself! I even got some very nice compliments from the reception hall staff and was asked what shop I worked for. No one believed it was my first wedding cake (ok... 2nd)! Here are some pictures of the masterpiece. (the flowers and ribbon were the bride's choice and how cute are those little mice for a science-y couple?!?!?)

As a bonus, Craig and I actually had an adult night out for a change! My mom got to stay with the munchkin and other than some bathtime related poo, they had a blast too.

Craig is soooo going to run with this business idea!

Who'd have ever thought I'd link to PETA... but this is TOOOOO funny!


"The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration."

Craig has been saying I should do this for months. Breast milk ice cream and cheese for Katie.

Nutty.

Mom, Still think they're blue?

Here's a newer photo pf Katie. Her eyes are definitely changing color.

Playing with Photoshop

I've been playing with photoshop, here's what I've done so far-

A Message for Kakie from Craig and Katie

In honor of today's momentous sporting event, I was ordered to share the following happy baby image.
And also to point out that she is NOT happy as a Steeler's fan...


I would like to add though, that she knows where her TRUE loyalty lies....
As a side note, Mom, she's eating "spaghetti" in these photos-- Pastina with tomatoes, cheese, and garlic/italian seasoning. It's a hit.

Bits of news on the Peanut

Katie is still a very inquisitive little girl. She has now started to try and climb out of her crib! My 6 month old?!?! I'll have to get a picture of her little escape artist tricks up here to share. She looks so mischevious.

She continues to LOVE every food we put near her. The biggest hit is the Cauliflower-Tomato Gratin. She screams bloody murder if we don't shovel it in fast enough. She's also eating Barley and Oatmeal cereal (no more rice, that stuff is HORRIBLE tasting), carrots, green beans, yams, acorn and butternut squash, a Pea-Potato-Leek puree (also makes an amazing soup for grownups), applesauce, nectarines, and a little bit of banana.

Coming up this week I think we'll try pears, parsnips, and spinach.

Other than that, she has started creeping, mostly backwards-- but she's getting around. So the baby-proofing has begun, we've barred off the fish tanks and electrical cords and picked up some gates-- all ready to install this weekend!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day 2008!

Just a quick joke...
"What kind o' socks does a pirate wear? - Arrrrgyle!"

Family Pics and 6 Months Old!

We finally got some family photos taken and YAY, they turned out really well. I am posting a few here, but if you click on the link and use my name, you can see many more.

Click here for more pictures
The JC Penneys here converted to digital equipment and we were one of the "learning experiences" so there are lots of odd editing things they did with the pictures, but the photos themselves are just great.

Katie's doing well, we started feeding her "solids" on Friday-- so far rice cereal is ok, green beans are better with a little milk mixed in and avocado is a BIG hit-- the jury is still out on the barley cereal. She is pretty darn cute when she's eating. Very very excited!

My Mom was here to visit on Sunday and helped me make up a bunch of foods for the peanut to try-- we made butternut and acorn squash, yams, carrots, green beans and nectarines-- not as hard as I had figured, but I was very glad for the help! Frozen cubes of food are now stacked to the gills in the freezer just waiting on their turn to be used as a body paint by the munchkin.

YUM. Thanks DadaI can soooo do this myself, just give me that spoon.

This food on a spoon stuff isn't too bad!

Katie is 6 months old! Wow. Aunt Kim came over for dinner last night and helped her celebrate with a new noisy toy (that she is LOVING) and her first taste of avocado!

And just one last photo of random Katie cuteness (this kid is very photogenic... it sure isn't my genes on that one- I always look lousy in photos)

North Carolina Trip

Just a few random pictures from the trip to North Carolina for Craig's Uncle Don's retirement party.

Katie tried out swimming, As you can see, it was a hit! (of course, the lake was warm as bath water)




Katie got to visit with Aunt Maggie (and she wonderfully gave me a break from baby lugging for a few minutes!)
Katie's first birthday party-- well, she was a guest at L.'s party. She was not a huge fan of the hat though...

Little Brother

Little brother and his wife are here for a few days... have new pictures, but will be a bit til I post them... I am busy trying to prevent him from teaching her any more....

In the realm of the creepy...

This guy used to be in my department. Til he flunked out... he was always creepy and very very very weird. Turns out, none of us even knew HOW screwed up he really was. So glad he's long gone
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406584,00.html

Frog Jumping

We took Katie to the Boys Club Frog Jumping contest the first weekend in August. She didn't win, but she was absolutely the cutest thing there!


MMMM.... He looks tasty, can I eat him?

I wish I worked for Google....

Maternity Benefitsup to 18 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
•
Parental Leave (for non-primary caregivers)up to 7 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
•
Take-Out Benefit To help make things easier, new moms and dads are able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during the first 3 months that they are home with their new baby.



PLUS~ Free lunch/dinner, on site child care, and a billion other things....
blah.

Oh well, as things go, my boss is pretty cool too--- but that whole 18 weeks paid leave thing, well, that would have been nice.

PCR song has a friend!

As part of my boss's continuing efforts to keep us a happy bunch of lab rats... he introduced us to this song today!

(but he won't get us the robot darn it!)



IN case you've been longing to hear the PCR song again.-- Click here!