Daddy's Little Helper

Kate generously donated her toddler bed/crib to Baby Nathan this weekend. She was so excited to get her own big girl bed! Of course she had to help Daddy each step of the way.

We have some great video of Kate helping Daddy, and of Kate's reaction to her new bed. Hopefully, Josh and get the clips up soon!

Blizard of 2010

Welcome to what is quickly becoming the snow capital of the U.S.

Snow keeps coming! Most of you have probably heard about the 2 1/2 - 3 feet of snow that hit our area this past weekend. That was on top of a few inches we got the weekend before and another inch or so early that week. I'm afraid to tell people that Kate recently prayed and asked God to please send more snow so she could make a snow man and snow angels. I think it's safe to say He heard her prayers. Now we are praying that the snow would stop! However, we are in for another storm tomorrow threatening to bring in 12 - 20 more inches of white powder.

This weekend was certainly memorable in many ways! I (Kim) had planned a scrap booking weekend with my sister-in-law Debbie and friend, Holly. We are booked at a local hotel with dozens of other ladies ready for a little getaway. Josh encouraged me to still go despite the threatening weather, and since Holly drove down all the way from New York and our weekend was already paid for (no refunds) we decided to make the best of it and get snowed in at a hotel! Why not? We left for the hotel around 1 p.m. on Friday just as the snow started to fall.

Josh and Kate were home on their own. However, around 7:15 p.m. on Friday, our house lost power. Josh, had he been a single man, home alone, would have braved the elements and stayed home with the best hopes of the electricity coming back on soon. However, being the responsible dad that he is, and hearing the concern in his wife's voice, he packed up little Kate and as many belongings as he could find in the dark and headed over to Paul and Peggy's to weather the storm. The snow was coming down at a rate of 2 inches an hour, so Josh only had a small window of time to make a decision about leaving the house. He and Kate were snowed into Peggy and Paul's until Sunday afternoon. He had hoped to head home on Saturday afternoon, but it was still snowing until about 10:00 p.m. on Saturday. And due to the state wide snow emergency, plows have not made it to most of the local neighborhoods even today. (This is one time I am grateful that we pay exorbitant amounts of money to local HOA for private snow removal!)

On Sunday, my dad and father showed up in a 4-wheel truck to the hotel to dig out Holly's car and pick up Debbie. The local highway had exit ramps closed, cars were flipped, even the main roads were in bad shape. Josh and Kate picked me up in Josh's excellent snow car - once he shoveled his way to some tire tracks and worked is way out of Paul's neighborhood.

We got home to find that my incredible dad and brother, Shaun, had shoveled a path to our door and a small spot to park Josh's car. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! As soon as we got home, Josh to the business of finishing the shoveling. It was hard to get picture with perspective, but take our word for it...there's a lot of snow here!

Josh shoveling out his parking spot in front of our house.

Josh shoveling out a path in the backyard so Shayla could do her business.

The view from our front door - the walkway to the driveway.

Our little snow angel! Thanks for praying for all this snow Kate!

Passing the Time

We stayed inside most the week in order to help solidify potty training. We did venture out to the grocery store on Thursday, but it was a quick 20 minute trip. The idea of taking a newly potty trained child out to run errands terrifies me! I guess I need to face it sooner or later.

Kate is actually doing really well. I think this picture demonstrates well that she has fully grasped the idea of going potty:

One day Kate decided to pull out her violin and play some music. We love when she spontaneously goes to the violin to play. We are still working on technique but her heart is in the right place! Josh has a great video of her "playing" her violin and singing her alphabet. Hopefully we add it on to this post soon. For now, still pictures will have to do!

It looks like we still need to work on the proper playing position. It is also time to rehair her bow...again...

A Sneak Peak at Nathan

What a special treat we all had on Monday night. We were given a 4-D sonogram and actually got to see a little bit of Nathan. We had originally gone the week before but Nathan was in a breech position and his back was toward us, so all we got to see was an ear. The sonogram place invited us back on Monday and to our delight he had turned!! Kate was very excited to see Nathan. But when she finally did, her comment was, "He looks funny, Mom!"

Here Nathan is holding the cord with both hands up by his face.

A little clearer picture of his face. He has some chubby cheeks!

This seemed to be his favorite position - hands and feet by his face all curled up!

This just gets me more excited to meet the little guy in person. Two more months to go!