A Break in the Storm

...a short break from the winter weather on Saturday. Apparently everyone in Lubbock needed to get the kids out of their house because the park was packed with crawlers, toddlers, walkers, runners, and their cabin fevered parents. Unfortunately the Lubbock spring wind moved in today, but I think nicer weather is finally on our horizon. Here are some pictures from the family day out.

Kate giving her guns up on the see-saw.




She's now big enough to go down the slide on her own. Such a little kid now.




Aunt TT kept Kate for us on Saturday night while Amanda and I had a date. Thank you Stephanie! If you can't tell from the picture, Kate and TT adore each other.

Brandy & a Bump-it

....Brandy visiting from California. She has been staying with us all week while working on her dissertation, and Kate has loved having her around. They just kind of get each other. Brandy is flying out tomorrow--if it doesn't snow too much tonight that is--so I am sure Kate will be sad. The good thing is she will be back in Lubbock in May for another visit.

Kate has been doing so many new things lately...the most recent is deciding she can (and must) feed herself. If you try to feed her, she will get mad and refuse to eat until you give her the bowl/plate and spoon/fork. It is messy, but I guess this is a stage we have to go through at some point. She turned 19 months old today. Crazy.

So, yesterday morning she woke up with hair worthy of a bump-it. For those of you who don't know what a bump-it is, it's the little piece of plastic girls from Texas put under their hair to make it puff-up big in the back (see picture of the bump-it below).



bump-it hair without a bump-it

Valentine's with Minnie

(Kate ready to go see Minnie!)

...Disney Live coming to Lubbock for Valentine's weekend. The one cartoon Kate watches is Mickey Mouse Clubhose (Minnie is her favorite), so when we found out they were going to be here live in Lubbock we had to take her to see them. We were a little concerned because Kate does not do well with people dressed up like things--i.e., Santa aka Ho-Ho, Raider Red, etc.--but she had a blast and never got scared. Amanda said Kate danced the entire hour-and-a-half, and she definitely went to bed early and exhausted. Happy Valentine's Day from Kate everybody!



Her first--emphasis on first--pair of mouse ears


Dancing on Mommy

A Participating Observant's Note

"Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand."
— George Orwell

I heard this quote for the first time the other day and thought about the current state of my lovely bride. As you know (or at least should) Amanda is closing in on finishing her dissertation, thereby becoming Dr. Amanda. This post is in no way going to mention dates, or timelines, or any such thing that could be reasonably construed as a jinx. What I do want to say is how unbelievably proud I am of her and her unrelenting determination to finish what she started.

Sometimes Amanda doesn't get as much credit as she deserves because she has always been an achiever. It comes as no shock to any of us that have known and loved Amanda for so long that she is about to become Dr. Amanda, but it should not lessen the achievement because the process has certainly not been easy on her. As a participant observer--in other words, someone who lives with her and the dissertation, wishes he could fix it all for her but can't--I have watched her go through this process with equal parts wonder and sympathy.

So during this annual celebration of love, overpriced flowers, Hallmark, and my personal favorite--chocolate, I want to say something in front of all of our readers to the love of my life and mother of my daughter.

I stand in awe of you. Not because you have lived without struggle, but because you live so graciously in spite of it.

Happy Valentines Day

I Love You!

...Kate learning sign language for "I love you." She can do it pretty well but gets sidetracked by poking herself in the eye. She also puts her arms like chicken wings rather than crossing her chest but it works! Each time she says it to her daddy her first car gets a little nicer. I think she is up to a new Jeep when she turns 16!

A Spot of Orange in a Sea of Red

...one of Kason's Christmas presents. For Christmas Kason got tickets to the OSU vs. Texas Tech basketball game here in Lubbock. We were able to sit on the front row again so we could all see the action from up close. My friend Stephanie from work who oversees all of the spirit squads at Tech made sure the cheerleaders and the pom squad stopped by during and after the game to take pictures with Kate and Kason. We finally found something that made Kason smile in pictures. Thank you Steph!!!




Kason, your Dad will be proud

We Have Had a Special Visitor!

...Kate's cousin Kason coming to visit. My mom brought Kason down for the weekend so that we could all go to the TTU vs. OSU basketball game. It didn't take Kate long (approximately 1.3 seconds) to adore Kason. She has followed him around all day. They have played ball, he has read her books, and they have sat on the couch together. He has been so incredibly sweet to her. That's funny because he has a younger brother and I'm not quite sure they get along that well. It probably helps that he knows he gets to leave Kate here!

Anyways, here are some of the pictures of their play time together. As you can see Kate was not the only one in love with Kason. He and Sophie are tight!



Don't even ask what Sophie is doing here but I know she is happy because she is in Kason's lap.

It's Kaaaaaaate!

...Kate learning her name. It isn't that she learned how to say her name that is post-worthy, although it is a milestone. No, the post-worthiness of this video is the fact that our Kate has one thick Texan accent. Where did she get that???!!! Are people in Texas born with that accent? It appears so. Who knows, maybe it's just that she is learning how to say her "a's," or maybe she is more Texan than we realized. Watch this video (yes, we are actually posting video!!!), and decide for yourself. Oh, sorry, the video is all sideways and we couldn't figure out how to flip it right side up.