Christmas Fun!

It was great to see all of our family in Pennsylvania. Thank you for helping to make our holiday special! Here are a few pictures from our journey. Katelyn loved all of the gifts but her most favorite thing is still----M&M's. She works both Grandpa and Pap to get the candy. All she has to do is ask and they both go running to find some for her. We learned our lesson about candy, sugar, cookies, and chocolate though....over a week of daily sweets are too much for a 1 1/2 year olds digestive system. After a few days of de-tox, Katelyn is feeling better and back to her normal self. :)

Thank you all again for everything!

Hoping you all had a great 2010 and an even better 2011.

Santa came!

Santa came early to our house this year because of traveling to see family and friend's on Christmas day. Katelyn woke up Sunday morning to presents under the tree. She didn't know what to think at first but when she saw the "big present" she figured it out pretty quick. She just kept repeating "big present" and "santa come". We left her play for a little while with her kitchen and then continued on with the rest of the opening. She tore into present after present saying "-nother present". She definitely liked the toys much better than the clothes because even at 19 months old she said "I don't want this" threw the clothes over her sholder and followed up with "nother present". (Oh my....are we in trouble!)

Santa was so good to all of us!

Here comes santa claus!

It is hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner already. Katelyn is ready for Santa this year...well kind of! She loves talking about Santa. She loves saying "ho! ho! ho! Merry Christmas!" She kisses all the Santa's on display around our house. But when it comes to the real deal Santa...she loves him from a far. I will say that this Santa visit did not contain any tears though. When she first saw Santa she started yelling "Hi Santa!" and "Santa's here!". She walked up to him, stared at him, but wouldn't climb in his lap. The only

words she managed to get out were "m&m's" and "thank you".

I guess that isn't too bad because when we saw "Santa Cow" at Chick-fil-a she wouldn't say anything to him. We thought for sure she would go for Santa Cow considering she loves Santa and loves Cows....guess we were wrong.

Trick or Treat!

Katelyn has been ready to go trick or treating for about 3 weeks now. She has been practicing what to say and perfecting her thank you. She wore her Halloween costume starting at about 7:00 this morning. We were all ready. House #1--she fussed for me to carry her and said nothing! As soon as the door closed she said Trick or treat and more. Then ran down teh driveway and headed towards House #2 saying "trick or treat" the whole way. House #2--stood by herself but still wouldn't say "trick or treat". She did say Thank you however. House #3---said Trick or Treat, thank you, and even followed the man inside (THANK YOU DADA! CLYDE!) I think next year we are going are in for an all night trick or treat event!! She was sad to get out of her costume but exhausted after running around the neighborhood street.

Pumpkin Painting

Since Katelyn is a little too young for using a knife we decided to paint our pumpkins this year. This is her first paint brush experience...and I think she is a pro already! I must say that she didn't use the brush the whole time though. She often reverted back to her "old ways" of using her hands. She did so well on teh first pumpkin that when she asked for another pumpkin

we gladly gave it to her. She didn't make TOO much of a mess other than on her hands, clothing/paint shirt, and face. :)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch earlier in October. Sorry for the delay in getting the pics up. :)

It was a great time. Check out Katelyn's boots. She loves them and had to wear them. She was tripping all over the place because she wasn't used to lifting her feet high and her toes kept catching on the pumpkin vines. It was very funny. The pumpkin patch also had a petting zoo. As much as Katelyn loves animals the only ones she would get close to were the chickens. All of the others she admired from afar.

I thought we were ALL supposed to dress up

Thurmont is holding its annual "Colorfest" this weekend. As usually, we made a trip downtown to checkout all the crafters and eat fattening food. Grandma Veronie, Grandma Zutell, Aunt Adrienne, Mom-Mom, and I spent a long day walking around the town. I got kind of tired and Daddy came to pick me up early but I still had a great time. Before we went, Aunt Adrienne gave me a great gift....a Chewbacca costume! I thought that we were all dressing up to go to the Colorfest but no one else had a cool costume and MomMOm wouldn't let me wear it outside of the house. I don't get it?!?!In any event, Daddy loves. I think I look cool. and Mom Mom isn't too sure about it yet. Give her time....I will convince her to love it too! Anyway, Thank you Aunt Adrienne!!!

Katelyn and Clyde

Katelyn has figured out the word and meaning behind "sit". Not only does she tell Clyde to sit but she also demands her lovely parents to sit. And of course we both do on command! It usually involves sitting with her to color or play at her table. Katelyn also is calling for Clyde, giving him treats, pulling him by the collar, and taking him for a walk. It is obvious that she loves her dog! She even wants him to sit in the bathtub with her. We tried to get him to go in the tub because what could be easier than doing 2 baths at once but he wasn't a willing participant.

What happened in the past month?

Once again, I apologize for not posting updates in such a long time. I was enjoying my time home with Katelyn and John was working. That is our only excuses! But over the past month a lot of changes happened.....Katelyn got her first car! She is still working on the driving thing but it won't be long before she's backing down the driveway. We were reassured that Katelyn LOVES animals during our trip to the Catoctin Zoo. She loved the deer, monkeys, wolves, and petting zoo the best. She was waving and saying "hi" to every animal we saw. Katelyn and John also went to the library to see another guest speaker. This time it was "Olivia". Katelyn doesn't really know Olivia but she still liked seeing a big pig! We are hoping that if she sees enough big creatures in costumes that Santa won't be so scary this year!!

Ocean City

Our family vacation this year was to Ocean City, MD. We managed to pick the hottest week of the year so far. But what better place to be when it is crazy hot than the beach. Katelyn seemed to enjoy the beach but not nearly as much as she liked the swimming pool. Katelyn thought that it was snack time as soon as she saw the beach towels come out. A lot of her time in the sand was spent with goldfish or dried fruit. She loved collecting seashells even though there were very few to find. If you come over she will probably bumbard you with her seashell collection over and over again. (it's small so don't worry) She didn't really like the ocean water. Katelyn couldn't get enough of swimming in the pool with Dad. She smiled, giggled, and splashed. Anyone want to join us on vacation next year?

Celebrity in Thurmont

Can you believe that famous people other than the president visit Thurmont? Last week our guest visitor was ELMO! He came to the library and we headed out there to catch a glimpse. Luckily we got there early because there were a lot of kids that couldn't wait to see him. Katelyn didn't cry or scream or run away like she did with Santa. (There is hope that this Christmas will go better when she sees the jolly man!) Katelyn waved to Elmo and even gave him High Fives. She sat on his lap for about 5 seconds and that was enough fuzzy red hair for her.

Dear Uncle Linwood,

I am sorry that you couldn't join the rest of your family on their east coast travels. We missed you! Don't worry the girls were in good hands while they were here. Jordyn was a little sick for part of the time. (Actually I think she shared the sick germs with me because I'm not feeling so great!) But we all had lots of fun anyway. We read stories together. We played together. My cousins taught me a lot. The best part of the trip was when India woke me up from my nap though. She came in and climbed in my crib and told me how much she loved my toys. She said that my stuffed animal is a bigger winner than any she has at home. Mommy took pictures because she loved that "little devil" so much! India wanted us to show it to you!
Love, Katelyn

Visitors from Colorado...

We had some great company over the past few days. We saw some family that we haven't seen in awhile. We love you Great Grandma Zutell, Aunt Sara, India, and Jordyn! Aunt Sara, India, and Jordyn helped all of us. We have some great memories and many great laughs (just ask India what happens when you have to go potty at the park??????) While Aunt Sara and the girls stayed with us....we colored! we played! we wore our favorite hats! we went to the park! we played in the yard! we read books! we read books! we read books! What a great time!!!! (unfortunately all of the girls were a little under the weather throughout all the days but nothing that some fun and love couldn't take care of! Hope everyone is feeling better soon!)

Time to go SWIMMING!

Today wasn't as hot as some of the days we had earlier this year but it was still a good day to get in the pool for a relaxing swim. Katelyn's pool wasn't full for her first swimming experience but it was plenty of water for her. She was so excited to put on a bathing suit and go swimming. She even WANTED to wear her hat. (Usually the hat lasts for about 2.2 seconds before she pulls it off) Not this time however she carried it around and then when we took it off her in the pool she wanted it back on. Cute!

There will be many more pool days at the Veronie house. Hopefully we can even get to a "big pool" for a swim. Mom unfortunately didn't get her signed up for swimming lessons this year! We are all disappointed about that but there is always another session waiting for us.

FINALLY!

FINALLY A NEW POST FROM THE VERONIE'S!!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting new Katelyn updates. We have no reason for not posting other than we just didn't! SORRY!!! We need to do a better job of keeping the blog updated. Maybe since it is now summer vacation for Kathy and Katelyn we will do that.

Katelyn is now walking and running all over the house. She has many bumps and bruises because she thinks she is invincible and won't get hurt. Just the other night she fell into the TV stand and cut her forehead. There is still a cut there but she doesn't seem to mind it anymore.

Katelyn has also discovered the joy of the trashcan. EVERYTHING gets thrown away. She threw away a girl's headband and movie at daycare earlier this week. She threw away tissues, a block, and a toy hat today at our house. I love the idea of her helping out around the house but apparently we need to teach her rules for cleaning up.

Here are pictures from her 1 year old photo shoot. ENJOY!

Katelyn is 1!

Oh, how the time has flown by over the past year! We can't believe Katelyn has turned 1 already! (Actually we need to apologize for the delay in posting her birthday pics...we were having technical difficulties. SORRY!) Katelyn had a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who was helping her celebrate her first year of life. She loved seeing everyone even though she didn't let too many of you all talk to her or hold her. As you can see, she loves her momma! She didn't really touch her cake at all so we don't have any pictures of that. :( We tried to give her some cake again but she still isn't too into it. Aunt Adrienne and Uncle Adam saw the best of her cake eating days I guess.

Katelyn has been playing with all of her toys and waiting for it to be warmer so she can wear all her new clothes. THANK YOU ALL! Actually, right now she is a little under the weather because the little cutie has strep throat. :(