Monkeys!

Yesterday Cate and I went with the Campbells (Adrianne, Stuart and her best bud Hannah) to the San Diego Zoo. It was lots of fun, although if we let them out of their strollers, they forgot that there were animals to look at because the strollers or the bark on the ground or each other were much more interesting...here are the little monkeys at the orangutan exhibit...

Adrianne just emailed this pictures... it is TOO CUTE.


It was so beautiful here yesterday...ironically, it made me miss winter out East. It reminded me of one of those early days in spring when it's been such a long winter and then, all of the sudden, it's so nice outside and it's rejuvenating and you appreciate it sooo much...that's what yesterday felt like, but it wasn't the same because we didn't suffer through winter... call me crazy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is Cate wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! She said it over and over during breakfast this morning - so cute!
Happy Valentine's Day! video link

Here is Cate's debut Internet performance of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" - she is becoming quite the singer!
Twinkle video link

Phys Ed

Cate has found her career... yoga instructor! This morning she brought in these little toy horses, laid them flat on the desk with their legs like this then turned and told us "doggies do yoga... do cobra"... looks like the black horse has better form.

In other phys ed news, cate is doing "gymanstics" (or nastics, as she likes to say). it's basically just a tumbling class for 1-3 year olds. today was our second class. we're hoping that it will help her to be a little more adventurous with physical activity. she can do yoga, but that's about as crazy as she gets... but she loves "nastics" so that's great!

More Video...

Here are more fun video clips! Now my mom doesn't have to watch "Mee-ulk" 40 times a day, we have a bit more variety... :)

No Flags
Here's video of Cate and Dad watching the Patriots (lose)... at one point in the game Nate got frustrated with yet another flag and said "no flags!" and put his head on the table. Cate copied him... it was so funny. We got her to keep doing it, so got a little clip!
No Flags video link

Cate Reading
This shot is really for the Grandmas... just a quiet little clip of Cate reading the other night.
Cate Reading video link

Snoop-Abby
This video is from last summer out in New Hampshire... Abby (Cate's cousin) LOVES rap and, as you can see here, she has got THE MOVES. Every time I watch this I laugh.
Snoop-Abby video link

Down the Hatch
Here's Cate on Cape Cod last summer at A&W... CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!
Down the Hatch video link

Video...

So, when we decided to do away with Cate's original website, I was going to do video on YouTube... but there's a way to link Google video with my blog, so that will be great... once I figure out all the kinks...until then, you can go to the link below to see a cute clip!

Mee-ulk video link

And now a few quick Cate shots to keep the Grandmas happy... First, this is what I get to look at everyday in my rear view mirror. I'm so lucky!

Here's our cutie patootie tonight while I was cooking dinner.

This Week for Dinner...

I really need to post some recent pictures on here! Cate is as fun as ever... funny story. Yesterday she was chewing on a water bottle cap and we asked her to please not to. My friend Emily came over today with her daughter Amelia (who is almost 11 months old). Amelia stuck the cap in her mouth... when Cate saw her do it, she walked over and said "No Mia, Yuck. Yuck Mia. No no" and took the cap away from her and put it somewhere else. As if SHE was the mother and had never thought of chewing on that cap herself... at least she learned something from us, it's not good chewing on the cap! Amelia I'm sure is grateful Cate "saved" her.

I started another blog... the same friend Emily is getting me hooked on this blogging nonsense! Anyway, check it out if you want...

http://weeklydinners.blogspot.com

Promise to do pictures, and even some video, soon!

Little Miss Grown-up

A quick post... Cate is just being so cute right now! She's in her room playing. She's finally thinking it's fun to play in her room rather than take over the entire house, which is much nicer for mom... her music is playing and she is singing along to all the songs... I just can't believe how much of them she knows (she is a star, so to speak, at "Twinkle, Twinkle" nowadays... am going to try to get a video clip to put up here). She's been telling me she's hungry, so I just finished working and went in to tell her we could go eat. She looked at me, with her play dishes in front of her & dolls sitting around her new table, and said "We're eating dinner"... so, I guess my dinner is going to have to wait. She's just growing up too fast on us. Earlier Emily and Amelia stopped by - Cate was doing a good job sharing in the beginning, but near the end of the visit she was tired of it. After I told her to share yet once again, she started to walk out of the room and said "I'll play alone" - emily and I just started cracking up. I know everyone says this about their children, but it truly is amazing to watch them learn and grow so QUICKLY. we love it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

christmas was so fun this year...we had the traditional maynard christmas eve chinese food...opened up our christmas eve PJs... cate was up kind of late and we couldn't get her to go to bed, so we told her that santa couldn't come if she didn't go to bed, so she walked right into her room and up to her crib. we couldn't believe she knew what was going on. she then proceeded to sleep all night and didn't get up until after 8:30! guess she wanted to give santa plenty of time to deliver her gifts. christmas morning was so fun... cate absolutely loved everything she got and could have played for 3 days straight if we let her. santa brought cate her own table and chairs, among other great things. we then went to the matters for christmas dinner out in alpine - they were so nice to share their day with us and we had a lot of fun. christmas really was so much fun with cate this year. I think it can only get better year after year!

here is cate in her christmas dress... she couldn't wait to wear it for the last month! thanks to jeff and martha for the gift certificate that helped purchase this beautiful dress... it took us 2 years to decide to get from hanna andersson, and I think we made the perfect pick!

here we are in our christmas eve pajamas

santa's cookies...

here is cate checking out what santa brought overnight!

cate looks pleased with her stash...

The Magic Kingdom...

The last week sure has been a good one for Cate. First her birthday, then her first trip to Disneyland! We went with the Pitts/Gregerson crew and had a blast. Cate loved everything we did... dumbo, carousel, coloring, autopia, rockets, tiki room, and on and on... she really loved the Christmas parade - it was so sweet watching her watch it. amazing how exciting it was fo her. Here are a couple pics...

Here is cate right when we got inside... she had a LONG day ahead of her at this point... up at 6:15 am, no nap, asleep in the car at 11 pm... but with the exception of a few cries getting off fun rides, she was happy all day and such a good girl. guess that happens when you're in the happiest place on earth... :)

When we went on Autopia, I let Cate steer the car... she was in HEAVEN and did not want to get off. Whenever the car would go out of control she would just laugh uncontrollably.

cute shot from the storybook land ride... she was just so happy!

so, cate loves christmas trees so much... I couldn't wait for her to see the big tree up front all lit up, but I could NOT keep her awake to see it. she was exhausted.

Happy Birthday Cate! (12/17/06)

Here's the birthday girl - can you believe she's already 2?!?! Time sure does fly...

Cate in her birthday outfit...

We took her to McDonald's for her special birthday french fries... she was very pleased.

Here she is TRYING to blow out her candles with her blue's clues cake...

Opening presents was a blast for Cate... she knew just what to do and kept saying, "more presents? more presents?"

Happy Birthday, Cate!