Idahoan Adventures

Kate and I are in Idaho, awating the birth of Baby R #4.  Oh, and generally hanging out with with the rest of the family.  In the first, you can see they boys watching "Cars" while Kate plays with the pile of toys.  She loves rolling on top of the pile, though that seems like it would be quite uncomfortable!
Not the best posed picture, but it does capture the moment!
Ahhhh, finally caught some smiles on camera.

Cute Onsies

Over the weekend, I did a bit of 'wardrobe' rotation for Kate. All of her clothes fit in one drawer right now (as long as I don't have to close it). This is the drawer of Clothes Kate Wears. Down below it is the drawer of Clothes That Kate Will Grow Into. So on Sunday I pulled clothes out of the top drawer that don't fit any more, and culled the bottom drawer for clothes that she would now fit into.

I probably should have done this two weeks ago. But my life is filled with a lot of "I should haves" right now, so there's no guilt here. For example, right now I should be grading the tests I gave to my Algebra 1 students on Tuesday. But I'd rather be doing other things. No guilt, I tell you, no guilt.

I know this is a side note, but it's quite liberating to just embrace the things I actually am able to do, and letting go of the rest. Like tonight - I made super yummy Cream of Potato soup. Well worth the time.

Anyways, back to Kate. She wore two very cute onsies this week. And I tried my best to get her to smile for the pictures. We came close with the 2nd one!

New Toys

We took a road trip to Tukwila yesterday, and Kate came away with a couple of new toys for the borrowing. She LOVES the Johnny-Jump-Up and has fun with the new lights and noises of the Leap Frog table. The legs come off, so it could be a floor toy or a table, for when she can stand up. For now, this hybrid version seems to keep her the most entertained.

Election Day 2008

Last night was a big one for our household. We've been following Barack Obama since we saw him speak in Seattle 3 years ago. And while he was pretty amazing back then, the primary and general election process has really strengthened his message. Needless to say, we were very stoked that he was elected last night.

We colored in electoral maps as different states were declared for each candidate. "Tim Russert Memorial White-Boards" were used to calculate the chances a given candidate would win a state based on exit polls.

Kate wore her Baaaa-Rock Obama onsie.

Doug was glued to the lap-top and the TV, giving us updates on vote counts and percentages of precints reporting.

And when 8pm PST rolled around, and the West Coast states were called for Obama, clinching the title "President-elect", there was much cheering. There were tears, from being so moved by the hugeness of the moment. It was great to be able to share the moment with Terry, Anne, Anton, Claire, and Mary.

5-month Self-Portrait

Has it really been 5 months already?