Photo Shoot: Sisters

I was most pleased with the shots of the sisters.

This one makes me laugh.

I love this little smile.

I like Anna in this one.
And I like something about this one, even though it's dark. Thanks for lending us the camera, Poppa Marion! We had a great time.

Photo Shoot: Katie

I had a much harder time getting good pictures of Katie, which is silly, because she doesn't move!

But we have millions of pictures of Katie anyway- so I'm not too worried.

She is awfully sweet.

Photo Shoot: Anna

We didn't make it in time for Valentine's Day, but we did get our annual February photo shoot done. I kind of like the series of funny faces she made. I have angry, sad, sleepy, and I don't know what emotion this is, but it's a face we see sometimes.

It's still hard to catch a genuine smile, so I was happy to snag this one.

Reading is the big news this year, so we took some with books. Also because once she had a book, she was happy to sit still for me.
All in all, I was pretty pleased.

Katie goes to the doctor

Katie had her first Dr. visit today.

Dr. Koko liked her duckie outfit. And he said she was perfect. Of course. :)

She weighs 9 lbs (my guess exactly!) up 9.7 oz. from her birth weight. And the vomiting--nothing to worry about. She probably just eats too quickly. (Phew!)

A new lullaby

I heard this on Sinfonia the other day and loved it. I don't vouch for the video, just listen.



Arvo Part: Spiegel im Spiegel

Uh-oh

Katie's not a bit interested in the binky.

But she will happily find this thumb.

Which we cannot take away when she's three.

Valentines Day

One of the teachers at school sent us dinner for Valentines Day. Having dinner all done gave me time to make it a little bit fancy. That made me happy.

We used the pink dishes. Anna loved that.
We had special pink Valentines Tea (Sprite and grenadine).
And heart shaped cheesecakes for dessert.
Anna made Katie a valentine.
One of Anna's gifts was her very own fancy pink hankie. She was just as excited about it as I had hoped.
I also made her a couple of barrettes. I love this project. It's so quick and easy. Just cut shapes from felt, slip in a barrette, and hot glue together.
I made these in about 10 minutes, including gathering and putting away supplies from the craft pit.
And Katie got a new hat, made from a left over sweater sleeve.

It was a great day.

25 years in the making

When I was 7, my Mom gave me her sewing box from when she was a girl. She taught me how to do cross-stitch and I made some tea-towels for her and for my Grandma Anna. When I finished the tea towels, she said I could start my first sampler.

Somewhere along the way, I got distracted.

Last year I found it in my sewing box and decided to finish.

The day before Katie came, I did.

I think I'm going to hang it in her room.

Go 'Cats!!!

January 14, 2006. I remember dancing Anna around the kitchen as we listened on the radio.

February 14, 2011. Katie and I were dancing around my bedroom as we listened on the radio.

Go 'Cats! (Thanks to Melanie, Sarah, and Susan for the KSU gear!)

The name game

Sarah posted about the names she and Daniel chose for their kiddos and the meanings and reasons. It was fun to read, so I'm copy-catting.

I'm sure we looked up the name meanings at some point, but I can't really remember what they were. For me, it was just important to choose names that were in the family. I didn't really consider anything else.

Anna Marie

It was pretty easy once we figured out that both Matthew and I had Grandmothers named Anna Marie. Here's my Grandma Anna. Isn't she lovely? I'm working on getting nice pictures of both Annas to hang in her room.

Rita Katherine (Katie)

Katie is named after my Mom

and my Great Grandma Katie, Grandma Anna's mother.

I really really love both of their names, and that I can tell them about the women who came before them and the things they cared about and did.

Katie lesson #3

Lesson #3: How to have a happy Thursday

Katie and Anna know how to have a good day.

Do a little exercise. (What feats of strength-little 4 days old!)

Ask for what you want. (Feed me!)

Play outside with Daddy.

Bake cookies with Mama. (This idea worked brilliantly!) (Use as much red sugar as you want!)And when you're tired...Go to sleep.
Have a great weekend!
(Want more? The Plowman's Folly)

Katie Comes Home

Today I'm going to direct you over to The Plowman's Folly (Matthew's blog) to hear all about how Katie got here. It's a great post. Just click the link!

Katie Comes Home

Katie Lesson #2

This lesson was for Anna.

She learned that holding a sleeping baby

can make you

very

sleepy.

Katie lesson #1

It's fun to learn about a new person.

Lesson 1: Katie likes to be WARM. So if the house is cold, she's not going to sleep. And I'm not not going to be able to sleep in the bed with her, or put blankets in the bassinet with her.

It dawned on tired Mama at 3:00 am that she had a warm and snuggly snowsuit.

Yay for sleep!

Katie's here!

Rita Katherine (Katie) born February 6, 10:40 a.m. 8 lbs, 6.3 oz. 21" long.

It was a great weekend.

Lunch it punch it!

I found this blog a couple of weeks ago (via CRAFT:) and thought it was brilliant. I'm home for lunch most of the time (and especially right now) but thought you worker bees might enjoy.

Lunch it, Punch it!

They have a printable card so you can keep track of taking your lunches, lunch ideas, lunch box recommendations-just lots of lunch-y fun.

Anna's Room, continued.

More of the tour of Anna's room:

I made the canopy from a hula hoop, some free ribbon, $5 of tulle, and some flowers I had stashed away. I used this tutorial.

This Saint Anne de Beaupré picture is from Poppa Marion's aunt, who was a nun with the Adorers of the Blood in Wichita. It was hanging in her room, and when she died, Poppa brought it home from the funeral for baby Anna.

I found this picture at Goodwill. It matches the new picture in Tummy's room.

And here's the sweet girl in her new room. It's a hit! The quilt on the end of the bed is from Grammy Rita-ready to snuggle up and read with.