...aaand we're back: Wordless Wednesday

After a few weeks off, Wordless Wednesday is back (well, okay, mostly pictures and a few words - being that I work in communications, going totally wordless is quite difficult!!) Here are some pictures from last weekend when Gramma and Papa came up for a visit (Friday was their 34th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated that too!)

Favorite pastime: Sidewalk Chalk!!

Directing the tree-trimming process...

The inspiring and happy lovebirds of 34 years!

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for being a shining example of enduring love to all of us!

Father's Day and Fun with Friends

Happy 2nd Father's Day to Michael!! Seeing him embrace fatherhood has been such a joy - he's a loving, fun, helpful, and free-spirited dad. Katelyn enjoyed not only Father's Day with her favorite guy, but the dynamic duo spent the whole weekend together - what better way to celebrate their bond?

As a gift, Katelyn and I made Michael a photo book that includes just pictures of the two of them. 

It was a blast to look through all the digital pictures I've taken since Katelyn was born and how her relationship with Michael has evolved; from hours of infant snuggle time, to riding on his shoulders, to racing around the park. Katelyn and I also created a masterpiece on our driveway. Michael was very touched and surprised to see our artwork when he arrived home. (It's a good thing he took some pictures of it too, because by 7 am the next day, the rain had cleared our canvas!)

Earlier in the weekend, Michael and Katelyn had a lot on their agenda! They started off with dinner on Friday night with our friends Matt and Shelly and their three boys. Then, this same crew met up at the Hennepin County Fair on Saturday morning. Michael and Matt sent me videos and pictures of what they were up to, so that was fun to see. (By the way, you'll see by the photos that Michael doesn't quite know how to put Katelyn's hair into a ponytail - and I don't blame him - but her bangs are looking undeniably wild!)

Not quite in the "Yes" zone this year, but soon enough I'm sure!

Does this face validate the statement or what?! Ha!

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Minnesota Children's Museum. We're putting our annual membership to good use and it's fun to see how Katelyn has grown through the various areas from infant to now toddler and beyond.

Michael and Katelyn had a wonderful time together and it warms my heart to see their special bond. As much as I missed them, I had an incredibly relaxing and fun weekend with some college girlfriends at the Lake of the Ozarks. We flew to St. Louis on Thursday and then drove a couple hours to the lake where Beth's parents have a condo (with a pool - ahhh...). Three of us live in the Twin Cities and the other two friends flew in from San Francisco and Denver - it was a great time! 

Micki, Missy, Kim, Katie, and Beth

We spent lots of time on the boat, even more time basking in the sun at the pool with cold beverages, and more time yet laughing, catching up, and reminiscing.

Katie, Missy, Beth, Kim, and Micki

Even though we're in different places in our lives, we still always learn from each other. We've come a long way since our Gamma Phi days, but one thing remains true: girlfriends are food for the soul!

Missy, Micki, Katie, Beth, and Kim

I consider myself so fortunate to have amazing friends! The trip renewed our spirits and friendships (and gave us all some lovely tan lines - which is the mark of a fabulous getaway! :)

16 Months Old! (a few days late)

Katelyn turned 16 months old on Friday, June 17. Holy moly! (I'm a little late with this post, but for good reason. Three days after getting home from Honey Creek, I packed up again for a girls weekend at Lake of the Ozarks - more to come on that and Father's Day in an upcoming post.) But for now, let's take a good look at what our 16-month-old is doing these days!

~ Curiosity is the name of the game for Katelyn! She loves snooping around and getting into anything she can. She is also too curious to be contained - when she wants out of the stroller or shopping cart, she definitely lets us know.

~ She's taking one nap on most days. At school, her class takes one long nap after lunch so at home we've been trying to keep her on that schedule too. Some mornings she wakes up especially early (5:00!), and those are definitely two-nap days. She goes to bed between 6 and 7 p.m. and usually sleeps until 6:30 a.m. She is as happy as a clam first thing in the morning, which certainly helps start us off on the right foot each day.

~ Katelyn is learning new phrases all the time. Most recently, she's started saying "thank you (tay-you)" and also "I love you (ah-ove-you)." She also recognizes many words that she doesn't necessarily verbalize, "go to the park," "eat pasta," and "go get the mail" all prompt an excited response from her. While, "change your diaper" and "car seat" are sometimes not as warmly received.

~ Katelyn is still a great eater although we have a hard time getting her to like many meat options. Her favorite foods are pasta, peas, corn, cheese, bananas, berries, and crackers. Far and away her most favorite treats are yogurt or "yo-yo" as she says (either Stoneyfield Yo-Toddler or Chobani Champions Greek yogurt) and Annie's honey grahams (especially when she gets to hold and eat directly out of the one-serving bag.)

~ Art activities are her favorite at school, so we try to do some at home too (although, admittedly, I'm not as brave with the paint!). Most recently at school, they made a footprint project for Father's Day. Today when we were playing with sidewalk chalk, Katelyn kept taking her shoes off and "coloring" the bottom of her foot with the chalk! I can only figure this is because of all the "footprint in the paint" projects she's done in her time at school :)

~ Elmo is still a favorite character, but there's another fella who's entered the scene and also stolen Katelyn's heart. The big purple dino named Barney! As with Elmo, she can pick Barney out from a mile away when we're at the store. 

~ Outdoor activities are a lot of fun this summer. We usually go to the park or play on our swing set several times a week, along with some walks, and blowing bubbles. The cottonwood trees have caused lots of floating "bubbles!" so far this summer, according to Katelyn :) Sometimes on our walks (or jogs with Michael), we have our i-Pod playing and let me tell you, this girl likes to dance! She bounces up and down in her seat when a new song comes on.

~ And speaking of songs, she loves to sing (actually, come to think of it, it's more of us singing and more of her chiming in with a word or two here or there!) Apparently, she thinks we're good singers. Makes us feel good :)

(Do you think I'm starting to lose her? Someone has had enough photos!)

~ Lately, Katelyn has been saying "BYE-bye" to anything and anyone in an energetic (aka loud!) voice. These parting words are accompanied by a wave and are usually granted to any and all of the following: her teachers at school, her friends at school, the characters in her books before bed, to Malone before she goes to take her bath, the water as it drains from the tub, and the light switch frame in her bathroom that has froggies on it.

~ We've discovered that Katelyn does not like getting sand on her hands. While she likes to play in it, after every handful she'll make a little wailing sound and come show me or Michael her hands to brush them off. Other than this, she has no problem getting grimy! After we let her splash in some rain puddles once, she's drawn to those like a kid in a candy store!

(... and we're officially done :)

Katelyn Clare, you continue to amaze and inspire us every single day with your beautiful spirit and fun personality! Thank you for all of the LIFE you bring to our lives. We love you!

2nd Annual Trip to Honey Creek Resort

We spent a long weekend with my immediate family at Honey Creek Resort on Rathbun Lake in southeastern Iowa. This was our 2nd annual visit to this great place and it was so fun to see how much Katelyn has changed since last year. Let's just say there was not nearly as much snuggling with or holding her this year and much, much more chasing the active little girl around :) Do you really think I could pass up this opportunity for a comparison photo? Of course not!

June 13, 2010:

June 11, 2011:

We left town on Friday morning and took a pit stop in Ames for about an hour. Katelyn was good traveler, but it sure is more difficult to pull off long road trips since she's no longer an infant (who likes to sleep!) Malone stayed home and was cared for by our neighbor boy - we joked that he probably undoubtedly got more walks and more treats than if we were home with him or if he came along with us.

Contrary to last year, Katelyn got into the water at the indoor water park... and she never looked back! She even accidentally took a quick dunk once and wasn't even fazed by it. I think our little mermaid has swimming lessons in her future :)

Katelyn loved the slide (no surprise there). She went up and down probably 50 times and squealed "side! side" over and over on her way up and right when she hit the water. It was only 6 inches deep, but we had quite the operation going with Michael helping her up to the top of the slide and either my mom or me at the bottom to catch her. 

My brothers and dad played golf while we were at the pool that day, so everyone was ready for a good meat and potatoes dinner that night... and that's exactly what we had. It was a perfect evening for grilling, eating outside, and enjoying the last few hours of sunshine.

With my dad at the grill, we knew we were in for some fabulous ribeye steaks. "You can take the girl out of Iowa, but you can't take the Iowa out of the girl!"

Ever the character, Mitchell rockin his flip-up shades...

Digging into the feast!

We also enjoyed playing games (what's a Ridnour gathering without them?!) and the guys talked about sports and my brothers' infatuation with Phish around a campfire, while my mom and I solved the world's problems within the free-from-ticks-and-mosquitos cabin ;)

Brusha, brusha, brusha!

We took lots of walks... we went down to the beach to watch Michael kayak. 

After awhile, Katelyn wanted to help push the stroller (she loves to push holding onto the lower basket).

Katelyn kept saying "Ry" for Uncle Ryan and she sure found a friend in him! 

Katelyn has an extra special bond with Papa. Every morning, the first thing she said when she woke up was "Papa? Papa?"And she simply lights up when he enters the room! It is so sweet.

Day two at the pool was another fun adventure!

Under the sprinkler with Uncle Ryan - if Kate got water in her eyes, she would rub them and say, "eyes, eyes." (She does the same thing in the tub :)

She had this nice cheering squad making themselves at home in the 6 inch water ;)

Katelyn put on a show especially for Papa...

... and he's arguably one of her biggest fans :)

She kept splashing in the water and then standing upright with her hands in the air like "tah-dah!"

And is anything better than post-swimming snuggles?!

We ate well again on Sunday night after all the swimming - Ryan made ribs! Perfect 10! We came back up to the Cities on Monday. It was a great weekend with family and we're so thankful to have spent some quality time together. With all of us living in different cities, it always results in wonderful memories and lots of laughs when we're all in one place at the same time.