Christmas in PA

Two days after Christmas, we headed down to Pennsylvania for Christmas with Rick's family. Sunday we arrived at his parent's house in Dauphin where we opened presents and had a big meal with everyone. Nana's favorite gift to Cate was her fairy princess skirt and wand. Cate didn't leave it on very long that day, but she spent part of today spinning around in it!

Below is Great-Nana Davis with her two fave great-grandchildren- Cate and Barrett. This was also our first time meeting Barrett, who was born in August to Chrissy (Rick's sister) and her hubby Nate.

We spent a couple of nights in Phoenixville with Chrissy, Nate, and Barrett (or Baby Bear, as Cate called him). Cate loved Barrett, as he was pretty much just like a doll baby, but he moved and ate and made noise. Below, she's giving him a hug.

Daddy and Cate. Notice Cate's not quite as excited to hold still for a picture.

We also went to Aunt Tish and Uncle Tom's house in West Chester for lunch and presents and more fun. They had lots of neat Christmas things that Cate thoroughly enjoyed checking out while I tried to make sure she didn't break any of them. :) But we had a great visit, and hopefully we can get back to visit again soon- and maybe pet those horses next door. :)

Below, Tish and Tom with Barrett.

Aunt Chris feeding Barrett, and Cate "helping."

Cate got to hold the Baby Bear, which was all fun and games until he tried to take her Nuk (aka pacifier). After that, she tried to drop him like 3rd period French.

Hanging out with Aunt Chrissy, and Cate trying to get her to hand over that baby bottle so Cate could help feed Barrett.
Barrett- the perfect baby. Rick and I left feeling a little jealous and angry that Barrett is so good. Literally, they just set him down or hold him or put him on his play mat or wherever, and he just hangs out. Occasionally he lets out a little cry that lasts for about a nanosecond, and then it's over. So unfair. It reminded us once again how we were cheated out of the nice baby experience. Oh well. I've convinced myself that Cate's outrageously fussy babyhood was just a sign of her genius that will some day make her famous and make us rich. hahaha!! :)

But really, Barrett is a doll, and we can't wait to get back and see him again!!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas morning Cate woke up a little less rashy and in a pretty good mood. Rick picked up Sheila on his way home from work, and she joined all of us for Christmas morning. Above, Cate is checking out her very own digital camera that will, hopefully, be indestructible AND just as cool as Mommy and Daddy's.

Fish from the Christmas stocking. Delicious at 8am! :)

Cate sitting in her new sled (which we will probably be able to try out after our major snow storm we're expecting tomorrow), wearing her new slippers, and holding her vacuum (which is from a housekeeping set from Gramma and Papou. Now, if only her love of cleaning continues through her teenage years....

The crazed look below can only be brought on by one thing. Can you guess?? Dancing, of course! Great-grandma Sprague included a Christmas card with her gift to Cate, and it was one of those music-playing cards. We may be the first to find out how many times those cards work before they die.

And below is Cate dancing to the card. Sorry, we never get sick of watching her dance. Seriously, it never gets old. Well, to us anyways!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve just wasn't the same this year. Rick was working and Cate was sick- she broke out in a crazy, itchy rash all over. No fever, though she had had a really runny nose for the few days prior and we had taken her in to the dr. b/c she kept saying "Ear hurt." She didn't have an ear infection, but her throat was red. Strep test was negative. So the pediatrician figured it was just a viral thing (rash included) and would need to run its course. Anyways, we (Cate and I) didn't go to church, though Mom and Dad went to a later service. I had to settle for reading the Christmas story out of the book of Luke before bed. But it just wasn't the same!

Before Cate went to get ready for bed, Mom found some Christmas songs and videos on You Tube for Cate to listen to. As you might expect, the "peppy" Christmas songs (and the Chipmunk's Christmas) got the highest ratings. Below, she's watching with Mom.

Ok, this video is just for flat-out bragging purposes

Here she is, counting to five on her own. Please give us a moment to puff our chests full of parental pride!

Gymnastics

This past Thursday, Cate finished up her last week of gymnastics. We finally remembered to take the camera, so here are some highlights and videos. You can probably tell that one of her favorite things to do is just run and jump and dive all over the place. But she does work on some skills in between the wild moments!

Above, working on balance on the high beam. Below, walking on the low beam.

Running around.

More running around. There's lots of running. I think the end of class is one of the few times we ever see her yawn!

Video of her running around like a crazy woman.

Practicing on the low balance beam.

The bars- Cate's favorite!

Chrissy and Counting

As I promised, here's a video of Cate saying "Chrissy," for her Aunt Chrissy, of course!!

While we're at it, here she is counting to five. Ok, so there was a little prompting, but she does know "2." Anytime she sees two of something, she yells, "TWO!!" Although, just the past few nights, during bath time, she's started putting the shampoo and body wash bottles on the edgeof the tub and counting them to three. It's not always perfect, but she is getting good at it!

We're also making some headway with colors. She's great with yellow. Everything that is yellow gets called yellow. But the other night, she brought us her yellow block and said yellow, so we started asking her to bring us other colors of blocks, and she brought us every color we asked for! I guess she really is learning them.

Oh, and are you wondering why she turned around at the end of each video? It's b/c I promised her if she said what I wanted her to say, I would let her look at the pictures and videos on the camera!! :)

This one's for Aunt Diane...

We recently pulled some of Cate's Christmas books to the front of the shelf, and this Mickey Mouse Christmas book (a present from Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim last year), has quickly become a favorite. I think b/c she's really into mice right now! Tonight, I asked her what the book was about and who gave her the book. Here's what she had to say about that.....

I promise we will continue to work on names of other family members! Cate pretty much has Chrissy down. That will be our next one! Promise!! XO

Mommy & Daddy's first overnighter

On November 24th, Rick and I celebrated our 8th anniversary, and we decided with Cate nearly two years old and Mom and Dad nearby, we were ready to attempt a night away, just the two of us. That's right, in almost the two years since Cate arrived, we have not spent a single night away from her! It was time. So we made reservations for just one night at the Hartstone Inn (www.hartstoneinn.com) in Camden- probably my very favorite harbor town, about an hour north of Bath. We were actually in their "Hideaway House," pictured above (we were the room where the porch and flag are), as opposed to the main inn, which was just a block away. Hartstone came at the recommendation of two of my very good girlfriends from school, who have both stayed there with their hubbies and loved it.
The Hartstone is known for their gourmet food and cooking classes, as the (husband) owner is a trained chef, so dinners at the inn are crazy expensive and full of foods we've never even heard of (like, what the heck is "duck confit?") I'm still not sure what part of the duck that is, or what they've done to the duck, so Rick and I, with our simple tastes, walked down the street (in the light snow!) into the village to one of our favorites- Cappy's Chowder House (www.cappyschowder.com), where, for a mere $30 including tip, we had a fabulous and familiar dinner. :) However, we can't complain about our breakfast at the inn- we had these pears with a blueberry sauce and something else creamy-ish, plus cumin-spiced bacon, and a french toast with a granola crunch covering with sliced bananas and whipped cream, and a peach-berry juice. All very delicious!!!

It was also Christmas by the Sea weekend in Camden, so there was lots going on, and with it snowing on Saturday night, and all the Christmas lights glowing, and the star on top of Mt. Battie shining down over the village and harbor, it just felt like a quintessential New England Christmas. It was really a perfect weekend, and we really appreciated a little time to ourselves!!

As for our little Cate? Apparently she never even asked about us. Oh, and she slept in until 8:30 Sunday morning. Hmmm. I'm not sure if I should be thankful or jealous. :)
The above "tree" of lobster traps and buoys was not in Camden but in Rockland, just south of Camden. Couldn't help but stop and snap a picture of this!

First snow and our Christmas tree

Saturday night while Rick and I were away, we got our first, real, shovel-able snow. While we were traveling home from Camden, Mom, Dad, and Cate went outside to clean up. This year, I think Cate's really going to enjoy the snow. Since Sunday, every time we go outside, Cate pinches a little snow with her bare fingers and says, "Cold."

Cate making snowballs.

When we got home Sunday, we all went out to Hummer's Tree Farm in north Bath and cut down our tree.
As of tonight (Tuesday), it's in the house, it has lights and beads, but it's still not decorated. If we have a snow day tomorrow, that will be the project!

Home improvements

Well, we've officially taken our house off the market for the winter, with hopes of starting fresh in the spring. However, we have recently made a few changes that we now wish we would have made about 6 years ago. Our old kitchen countertop was a lovely white with gold fleck. This past week, we put in this black/brown/green stone-looking countertop that really gives an old kitchen a little "pow!" We're really happy with it!

Our attic room (aka- the in-law suite), also was in desperate need of an update. Some of the paneling needed to be retacked, the carpet needed to be stretched, the trim needed some work, and it all needed a good painting- it's been a flat white since we moved in, and it was kind of scuffed up then! So we had the carpet stretched and retacked, we cleaned it, we fixed the paneling and trim, we painted (the walls are a light blue/gray, and the chimney and closet doors are a shade darker blue/gray), and we put up new curtains and rods. It really looks so much better, and Mom and Dad are pleased that we've fixed it up just in time for them to move back in! :)