Christmas 2007

Well, another Christmas come and gone. Although, Ian gets his PS3 tomorrow! Anyway, I may be the only one who cares about that, so off we go...

Katherine loves the tree. If she ever notices that it's unplugged she points to it and asks "On?" so we will turn on the lights. Then she pinches a light and says "Hot!".


As seems to have become tradition, we get dishcloths from at least one set of parents (these are welcome, by the way). Katherine has her own idea for them, however.


As is triumphantly on display here, we had spaghetti for dinner on Monday night...and it went over well.


I like these shots of my girls playing piano together. Katherine's free-form jazz piano is coming along nicely, I assure you.


As is tradition for the last workday before Christmas, the kids come to work, too. Katherine seemed to enjoy experiencing how Daddy spends much of his days while she's having fun with Dodi. (Dad's note: The novelty wears off quick, kid.)


OK, so Christmas is now here in this little storyline. Here's Katherine with one of her favorite new toys...her Doodle Pro. She loves to draw and color, although has yet to absolve herself of the temptation to nibble on her crayons, etc.


Here's a couple of shots of Katherine and her new bowling game. Apparently we have some work to do with the technical aspects of the game, but that never stopped her from having fun with it!


She likes to wear sunglasses, this particular pair taken from a book designed as "Grandma's Purse".


It was obvious long before Santa came around that Katherine needed her own little baby to mother. Her new addition seems to enjoy all of the same things Katherine enjoys herself; here reading a book.


Milo has clearly had enough of the commotion...


Also obvious to Santa (besides that he TOTALLY freaks out Katherine) is that she needs a drawing/coloring station. Rest assured she will be churning out countless priceless works from this very location for a long time to come...


One last shot of Katherine dancing up a storm after Christmas dinner. Singing and dancing are among her favorite things as well...the singing is not as prevalent right now, but is progressing all of the time.

We certainly had a merry Christmas and enjoyed spending it with our (almost) adoptive family here in Ottawa. We did however, miss our friends and family "back home" terribly...something only emphasized by the holiday season.

FYI: What a difference a year makes, eh?

Snow Day

So this Sunday we had more snow in one day than I think Laura and I have experienced since arriving here in Ottawa in 2001.

Ready to go out and play?


Here's the before shot on our way out to play (and shovel)...good times.


Taking a break from our work.

December, so far...

December, so far, has not been a lot of fun in some ways. Katherine seems to be the only one that, until the last few days at least, has not been sick pretty much since the beginning of the month.

Anyway, while we're behind on getting life organized for the holidays around here, we have been working on a few things around here, including smiling for the camera. I think I have pretty much got it down, and Katherine is doing well, too.

We were going to use this year's picture with Santa to show off a little, but unfortunately our plan was not to be as Katherine was not-so-much fond of the big red stranger that knows her name this year...as clearly indicated by the shrieks of terror that Bayshore mall now knows all too well!

Here's the results of Plan B, once we got home.


...long ways from a year ago, huh?



She now loves smiling for the camera, laughing out loud every time the flash goes off.







We're spending the holidays at home here in Ottawa; looking forward to playing in all of the snow generally enjoying our time together.

We'll be thinking of family and friends "back home" out West, and enjoying those in closer proximity.

...and you can be assured there will be plenty more pictures...

November Update

Sorry it has been so long...no real storyline here, just a few of the pics snapped over the last few weeks...

My girls...


Cute beadhead...

...and whatever this is...


This last one cracks me up every time I see it...I can't imagine what was going through her head and I feel very lucky just to have caught it on camera.

Things are definitely busy lately and the Christmas season is not even here yet...unless you ask Laura. Katherine is gonna love tearing into her gifts and hopefully not eat too much wrapping paper. We're looking forward to some parties over the next few weeks, enjoying trying to help Katherine figure out this whole Christmas thing, and 11 days off for the price of 4!

Halloween # 2

16 months and things are beginning to happen for the second time...like Halloween.

But first, a bonus shot. Laura had finished piping Cool Whip onto a key lime pie she made for some friends coming over for dinner last Sunday night and we couldn't resist the opportunity...

You gotta like that...don't tell me you're not jealous.

So here's a couple of shots from this morning of Katherine the fairy...or ballerina...dad's still not quite sure. Ballerina's don't have wings, right?




On the drive home today, she proved no match for the warm SUV, warm jacket, warm toque, and Piglet borrowed from her friend K.


Just for a little perspective, the first is a year ago and the second was today...




Unfortunately, Katherine's so-far invincible immune system seems to have finally encountered a formidable foe...it's gonna be a long night of coughs and a tired little girl, so I'm off to bed.

Video Update

Here's the video promised...enjoy.

Trying to keep up...

As I've said in recent posts, Katherine's growing up way too fast...she's tons of fun, though, and hardly ever seems to run out of energy to run around and stuff.

She's ready for hockey season! Too bad the Canucks games don't start until 3-4 hours after her bedtime. I guess I will have to save some on the DVR and we can watch them together later.


She's got a new chair that she likes very much. She picks it up (complete with grunts of exertion) and puts in the corner where she can take short breaks and still not miss anything.


In this one I think we were watching Norah Jones on Austin City Limits and she was clapping along with the music.


I just like this shot, even though there seems to be four of us...Sleeping Beauty(?), Katherine, Grover (present from daddy that she's taken to recently), and me.


Milo has also taken to her chair recently...pretty cozy.


My girls.


Katherine has become interactive with the camera, as you can see...again with the Oreo...




Smile!


When I get some time over the next day or two I will put together some clips we have of her trying to jump and pushing one of her toys around...good stuff...really...

Stuff

We finally broke down and got Katherine's hair cut...it makes her look way too old. Apparently she thinks so, too...enough to justify sharing mom's hair band thingy...


My name is Katherine and I like Oreo cookies...


...as you can see...


We took Katherine to an apple orchard last weekend to check things out, buy some apple crisp, and pick a few for ourselves...Katherine liked running on the dirt road, the puppy that was around, and the tractor.


We're clinging to the last remnants of summer here in Ottawa, but Fall brings out the changing leaves pretty quick, so at least it's scenic.

Don't call us on Wednesday night...Laura will be out and I will be parked on the couch, beer in hand, watching the Sens embarrass the Leafs in their season-opener.

Here's to another 8 months of late nights watching Canucks games from 3 time zones away. Go Nucks!

A lot happens (changes) in a month...

Sorry that it has been a while, but things have been busy, as you will soon see...there's lots of pics here and relatively few words, which makes me either really efficient or really lazy...

Not too long ago it was summer. Apparently it was a little toasty for Katherine in the back seat, although she slept great! The hair clearly makes this picture, but the groggy look on her face comes a close second.



Canada Day was spent at the O'Connor's, where Katherine found at least one new friend.



I just like the look on her face in this one...



This might be the first time she's been seen here in a dress...way too cute. You may also note that she's on her feet...definitely on the run these days.



This is copyrighted...just in case. Perhaps the earliest of her works on record. You saw it here first.



Peek-a-boo! (She's actually setting herself up for a somersault.)



Execution of somersault...



My girls.



Again with the cuteness...



Grandma and Grandpa were out for a few weeks of good summer humidity..not so much what they normally get on the west coast...



Roadtrip to Schroon Lake, NY (in the Adirondacks) for my cousin's wedding. Sadly, this picture was taken after we had been on the road for all of (maybe) 45 minutes.



Dinner (dessert, really) at camp just outside Schroon Lake the night before the wedding



At the wedding reception...



Our neighbour's little girl grew out of her pool and gave it to Katherine. Katherine loves the water.













She's becoming increasingly independent, wanting to do stuff for herself...like feeding. One day last week, I gave her a bowl of yogurt with some fruit in it, a spoon, and sat back with the camera. It wasn't long until....









By the end, it was in her hair, all over her face, I can't remember how many times I had to rinse out the washcloth...I was laughing the whole time. She, obviously, thought it was good times.

So there's a small sample of the everyday fun around here.

Go Canucks Go!