Someone needs to feed that goat!!!

The Cincinnati Zoo does this thing called "the Festival of Lights" which involves several billion christmas lights all over the place plus some animals who can handle the cold.

We strolled all through the zoo, while Katie pointed out "red Christmas"...."purple Christmas" and "green Christmas" at each turn (she seems to think the word 'Christmas' means 'decoration'

We visited Santa's post office (where our friend Dan works) to write a letter to Santa

The attempted visit to Santa himself didn't go very well (even though Santa was played by our friend Robert) but the lights and the animals were a big hit.......Katie especially enjoyed the Nativity Scene, where she made friends with a goat.....

Buddy Walk

One of the Geese (Amy's online mommy group) has a son with Down Syndrome so we got together for an awareness-and-fund-raising walk downtown. A good time was had by all.



the hotdogs after might have been the best part...

Katie-Boo Turned Two!!!

Go-go-go Joseph

Another theatre adventure for Katie this summer - Mommy choreographed the production, and Daddy ended up in the cast, which meant Katie got to go to a lot of rehearsals again......

some days are just sad

Mrs. Spangler would be horrified!

Daddy's friend Chris was often warned by his mother to be very very careful around plastic bags, for fear that he would spontaneously smother him........

Look What's in our new front yard!!!

Why we cut Katie's hair short....

she spends about 30-40% of every day in this position lately......

Concert in the Park

We took Katie to a free performance by AJA - a Steely Dan tribute band that two of our friends are in. The music was fun, and running in the grass might have been even more fun:

a trip to the zoo

Mommy, Katie and Uncle Steve went to the zoo today....

Katie goes for a walk

Walk?? More like a full-out run! :)

This is the first part of Katie's exploration of the neighborhood - Mommy's heart jumps into her throat while Miss K runs towards the street, but she always turns at the sidewalk....

The new 'do

What do you think?

How did THAT happen?

Mommy was washing dishes, including a large chef's knife, while Katie was playing on the floor. Katie made some kind of noise/call/pseudo-word.
Mommy turned to see what Katie was up to.....and didn't realize she was moving the hand that was holding the knife.........



And Katie got an instant visit-to-Grandma.............and Mommy got 6 stitches at the ER.

yay for Uncle Greg and Aunt Michelle!!

What happens when you leave stuff within reach

Stack of construction paper + Miss K napping nearby = opportunity to be "creative"

Portrait of the Artist as a young toddler

the Katie-Care project (it takes a village)

Since Mommy and Daddy both won roles in a production of 1776, Katie got her first taste of "I can't....I have a rehearsal". Fortunately, since Daddy plays Dr. Josiah Bartlett and Mommy plays Abigail Adams and those two characters aren't in any scenes together, we were able to tag-team the Katie-care up until the week before "show week". At that point, there were twenty-seven evenings where Katie-care was needed.

Friends, relatives, and Mommy-group members were recruited, a calendar drawn up, and we managed to remember where we'd left her every day so we could reclaim her after rehearsal.

Unfortunately, she now bursts into tears every time the car stops somewhere other than our home......we're probably not going to do a show at the same time for at least another decade!

Let's get ready to Rumble!

Yes, Katie is a Cincinnati girl, and yes, her Mommy is a die-hard Bengals fan (and the dying has been mighty hard) but her Daddy and Gram and Grandad are all from Pittsburg so we rooted for the Steelers for this year's Super Bowl. We watched the first half of the game and the halftime show at the Waldfogle Homestead and then Miss Katie changed into pajamas so she could fall asleep on the way home. A good time was had by all (even Mommy).

Katie names body parts

So far we're sticking with the easy ones.....

Christmas all year round

We think that maybe, if given the option, Katie would happily live in a perpetually-decorated-for-Christmas world.....