Erica’s Moderately Entertaining Blog

Well, my reasons for not updating my blog are many.  Here are a few: 1. Our wireless internet has been absolutely ridiculous over the last couple of months.  It has worked about 2% of the time (that’s actually not an exaggeration), and so I can’t use the laptop to update my blog.  2. The wordpress site does not work well on our desktop and will randomly delete entire posts, so I don’t like to use that computer for updating my blog.  3. I don’t like to type out blog posts on my phone.  4. I’ve been busy with renewing some certifications for work.  5. I’ve been much more busy chasing after a very busy toddler.  That being said, I thoroughly enjoy reading the blogs of others and so will honestly try to update more frequently.  I’m sure my two readers will be pleased.  : )

This isn’t going to be a long post because it’s already almost 10:30 and my alarm is going off at 4:45 and I’d like to get a little more studying in tonight.  Here are a few pictures and an extremely brief recap of the last couple of months.

Easter!  It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Kate’s first Easter, and I can’t believe how much she’s changed.  When I look at last year’s picture next to this year’s, it boggles my mind. 

We got to go on vacation with our wonderful friends, the Blenkers, which was a very welcome retreat from everyday happenings.  I really didn’t take many pictures, but did take a couple from a run that Candice and I took one morning.  The weather was gorgeous and as we were running toward the lake, we both felt compelled to stop and revel in God’s glorious creation.  I truly felt awestruck at the beauty and both Candice and I said out loud , “Good morning, God!!  Thank you for creating such beauty!” This picture does not do that morning justice, but you’ll get a glimpse of what I’m talking about.

Kate continues to grow and change at an astonishing pace. She is so sweet and is my good little buddy and helper while Chris is at work.  She loves to do anything that I’m doing and keeps me very much on my toes.  It seems like she changes overnight and I still can’t believe some of the “big girl” things she can do now.

That’s all for this post, but please feel free to check back earlier than three months from now… hopefully I will maintain this blogging motivation and there will be new posts much  more frequently.

My baby’s growing up.  She climbs up on chairs all by herself.  She drinks out of a big girl cup.  Her little pants had grass stained knees this evening.  *sigh*  When did this happen?!

Is it just me, or does Kate look like she’s about 7 in this picture??

Kate’s hair has been growing a ton lately, and so I decided to go get some fun headbands to help hold back her bangs (I’m not ready to take the plunge and get her a hair cut yet).  She doesn’t keep them on unless I distract her immediately after putting them on.  So it goes something like this:

I slip the headband onto Kate’s head.  Kate’s hands immediately fly up to her hair and start pulling.   I start saying things like “Hey!  Woohoo!  Hey!” and start tickling her wildly.  If this is effective, Kate will finish giggling and then walk away having totally forgotten that something is on her head.  I wonder how  much longer I’ll be able to pull that trick.  : )  Anyway, here are a couple more pictures of her crazy headband hair.

Finally, here’s a picture that’s from Christmas that I just think is soooo cute.  Kate absolutely adores Astro!  Unfortunately, the feeling is not mutual.  : )

So, you know how when you have a lot of laundry that piles up, and then you get it all done and you just kind of want to admire the empty hamper for awhile?  That’s where I was today.  I had just put my last load into the washer, and returned the hamper to our room.  I actually did open up the hamper just to admire the emptiness.  Then I went and ate a bowl of ice cream to celebrate (bowl 1 of 3 for the day… fyi) and dropped a big glob of chocolate sauce smack dab in the middle of my white shirt.  Arrrrgh!!!!  My perfectly empty hamper moment was over!  Then I realized that I had a brown cardigan on and that the chocolate sauce matched.  So I wore it like that all day. 

Because I know people don’t read this blog just for my musings, I’ll add some cute pictures, just to maintain readership.  🙂

I know, I know!  It’s been a while since I’ve updated.  Sorry!  : )

We tried to make Kate’s actual birthday a pretty fun day for her since she’d already had her party.  We started by taking her out for pancakes in the morning and let her open one more present,

 took her to a park in the afternoon to swing,

and got her an ice cream cone after dinner (actually, my mom and dad got her the ice cream… thanks!).

Hopefully it was a good day for her… it was a very fun day for Chris and me!  We sure love our little girl. 

Kate is walking around sooo quickly!  I think it could be considered running when she really gets going.  She got two new pair of boots yesterday and was busy trying them on today.  I didn’t get any pictures of her cute snow boots, but here she is modeling her everyday boots:

Sorry this video is sideways.  I’m sure there’s a way to flip it, but I have neither the time nor the patience to figure it out.  So turn your head to the side and enjoy!

Well, my baby’s turning one tomorrow.  Absolutely unbelievable.  I mean, it is seriously inconceivable to me that in one year we have gone from this

to this

to this

to this

Kate has been the most wonderful little addition to our family.  She is sweet, smart, funny and busy, busy, busy.  Not a day goes by that Chris and I don’t thank God for her.  So, happy birthday darling Kate.  You are dearly, dearly loved by so many people!

I’ll post more pictures later, but I wanted to post a couple of videos from Kate’s party on Saturday (she got her party early – lucky girl!).  We had such a great time and are so thankful for such a sweet little girl.  We absolutely cannot imagine life without her and feel so blessed to have her in our lives… what a sweetie!

Thanks to Beth for being in charge of the camera during the party… you’re great!

Oh, and how sweet is it that Kate shared her cake with me?!  : )

Exactly six weeks ago I missed out on doing the half marathon I’d been training for with friends.  I was quite upset about this since my goal had been to run another one before Kate turned one (which is in a week and a half).  On Thursday my friend Candice and I decided that we would run one today.  So, we had a couple of days to prepare.  : )  Both of us have to continued to run a little in the last six weeks, but not much.  Candice ran seven miles once.  I ran six miles once.  We’ve run four miles together a few times.  You get the picture.  BUT, we did great!  We both ran our best times yet, we were able to talk the entire time (except between miles 10.5 and 11.5… that was a tough one), and most importantly, we finished!!! 

CUTE COUSINS! *sidenote* Kate's not still using a pacifier, but she likes to chew on one when she's teething. Okay, that's all. 🙂

This last picture is not related to Halloween, but it’s awfully sweet.  : )

And, big news, Kate started walking!!  She looks like such a big girl and seems pretty pleased with herself.  I took a video of her doing it, but she fell at the end and bonked her head so I feel bad posting it.  I’ll get another one where she doesn’t get injured at the end and post that.  : )