things to remember

okay, I just found a little piece of paper with funny things cate has said scribbled on it (in both my handwriting and nate's). I'm just going to type them up real quick so I don't lose them. these really are for me more than anything. if you're a grandma or grandpa, you will probably like them too. a lot of them are things I just want to remember that I know I will not one day. I sure wish our brains worked better...

- cate loves "mickey mouse clubhouse" on disney. the main song says "hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog." cate always says, "hot dog, hot dog, hot jiggity joe." and I honestly think she has no idea that she's singing it differently. love it.
- I may have already written this on here, but in case not...cate wants a boy. no, not a brother, no not a dad. her own boy. nate is my boy, we've been told. she also recently started talking about getting married. where is she getting this stuff?!?!
- she heard a justin timberlake song recently (early summer, I think) and said, "Oh! Good songs!" I just think that's funny.
- a little exchange b/t nate and cate. nate: "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog." cate: "why are you singing that?" nate: "Because it's stuck in my head." cate: "maybe we should go to the doctor and get that out!"
- on cate being respectful of her elders... "daddy, you have an old man belly. it looks like you're going to have a baby soon." in nate's defense, he does not look like he's going to have a baby soon. cate now tells him all the time that he has an old man belly, I think mostly because she gets such a good reaction out of us. kids.
- there is a little boy at church a few years older than cate that she is in love with. one sunday she spotted him in church and kept talking about him all through the service. "mommy, jeron's looking at me!" and the like. one day she told me these exact words: "I love Jeron. Jeron's the best. I just love him." scary.

I am SO LAME...I need to post!!!

Okay, I know I'm totally lame for not posting ANYTHING for AGES. I have a zillion pictures to share and I've started getting them ready. Until then...

Tonight we went to a BBQ with everyone from Nate's lab. Markus (our friend and Nate's boss) was feeding Cate and Peter (Markus' son) watermelon. They looked like little birds...crazy frantic little birds who obviously have not learned the term "personal space." It was really funny and Markus was a good sport. So, Cate points at a huge piece of watermelon in the bowl and says, "Markus, I want that piece." Markus says, "Cate that one is REALLY big." To which Cate replies, "I have a big mouth."

silliness in europe...

here's a bunch more silliness from europe (see below). plato & anna is still my favorite, but the thinkers are pretty good. we promise we'll post more about our trip (with non-silly pictures), but we're just having too much fun to sit at our computer right now! here's a quick report - berlin was awesome. pretty quiet, people SO SO nice, yummy wursts everywhere we turned, the hotel was great and in a super neighborhood, we saw TONS of stuff. loved it.

paris is AMAZING. we got here after 10 pm the night we arrived, but we couldn't resist a stroll along the seine (it actually doesn't get dark here until around 11!!). we're just a few steps from the river and the louvre. it was a magical walk that night. paris is just too beautiful at night. it's ridiculous how much we've done in the last few days, but it's been awesome! we ate at the oldest restaurant in paris for our anniversary on sunday. a memorable 9th anniversary to be sure! we're going to the eiffel tower tonight and versailles tomorrow. oh my, so much to report on! needless to say we're having a blast, have too many pictures to share, and feel like this week is passing too quickly.

more soon! au revoir!

Anna & Jim

We've tried to convince Anna that The Doors aren't that great, but she just won't listen. She insisted on visiting Jim at Père Lachaise and wouldn't leave without a picture.

Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hell's Door

Nate & Anna took a visit to the gates of hell, but they couldn't get in. Phew.

Good Girl, Jane.

The Thinkers

Great Minds

Anna Louisa Maynard, great mind of modernity. Plato, great mind of antiquity.

Sorry we haven't posted more from the trip - we have so many pictures and stories to share. We should have Internet in our actual room in Paris, so it will be a lot easier. We hop on the plane in a few hours. Auf Wiedersehen...and Bonjour!

Guten Tag!

Nate, Anna and I arrived in Berlin yesterday! Woo-hoo! Here’s a quick report. The flight from San Francisco to JFK went well. Both girls were awesome. No crying from either of them. Cate was super excited about her new polka dot suitcase and she even dragged it around everywhere. So cute.



Here's Anna on her very first plane ride!


We spent a day in NJ, and then left Cate in the able care of her grandparents and boarded the red eye for Berlin. We think Germans are nicer than Americans to families with babies on planes. Seriously, everyone was so friendly, passengers & flight attendants alike. They are also much quieter than Americans. We were in two German airports yesterday and they were both silent as the dead. I’m not exaggerating. We felt like we had to whisper. It was quieter than church, by a long shot. Anyway, we were able to check into our hotel early and then forced ourselves to stay awake all day. I’ve never felt like a worse parent in my life. Anna was SO tired yesterday but we kept dragging her around town. We just couldn’t stay in our room or we would have fallen asleep. We just felt sooooo bad for her. Oh, yeah, bad parenting move #2 - we took a taxi without a carseat. In fact, one cabby wouldn’t drive us, but another agreed to. So despite the fact he was the stinkiest cabby in europe, we’re still grateful to him. Anyway, we all went to bed last night at 5 pm Berlin time and slept well over 12 hours, with several Anna feedings mixed in there. We’re feeling much better today and ready to actually enjoy our time in Berlin.

Yesterday we went to register Nate for his conference. I could not keep my eyes open on the subway ride. It was really funny. Nate kept telling me to do things, like count, etc…I couldn’t stay awake! Anyway, we didn’t get much fun stuff done yesterday because we were so wasted. Hopefully we’ll have more fun things to report soon! I’m also going to be posting on the food blog while we’re traveling, so check in there as well. Sending our love across the many miles!! ☺

Oh - here's Anna NOT sleeping in the little bed on the plane to Germany. She did really well, though, and actually DID sleep part of the way. Good girl.

happy 4th from the girls!

Happy 4th of July everyone! We had a great day in Menlo Park...we joined the town parade (everyone decorates their strollers, bikes, etc.) down the main drag in town and finished up at a big park with GIANT bouncy houses, games, live band. Cate had a blast.

I don't know that I've really mentioned it before, but I LOVE Menlo Park. It's a pretty small town around here...and definitely has a small town feel. Every time I go out for a walk, people are so friendly. We couldn't believe the turnout for the parade today. So fun. Come visit if you can!