Christmas at the White House

OK, speaking of overdue photos, on December 10 I was invited by my friend Emily Yee to go with her to see the White House East Wing decorated for Christmas. Thankfully my church provided babysitting for the very hours that I'd need to leave Katie behind -- which I saw as God's indication that I should go!

Every year the WH decorations are themed, and this year's theme was the National Park Service. That's why you'll see a lighthouse, photos of presidents in parks, deer decorations, a seashell-themed mantle, and a painting of a California mountain range (which Emily could name but I can't remember right now). Other photos below include a montage of Christmas cards from different U.S. presidents, and a White House made out of gingerbread (I tried to hint that they could give it to me when they were done with it instead of throwing it out, but I didn't get very far with that...).

Katie's baptism, Dec. 30, 2007

Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Well, I'm ridiculously behind on this blog, and the more busy I got, the more fun photos I wanted to share with everyone. So please bear with me and we'll get them all up eventually, even if they're not in chronological order.

The big post-Christmas event for us was Katie's baptism yesterday, followed by lunch back at our place afterwards. She was baptized at the 9:30 service by our senior pastor and overall she was a doll -- as the pastor walked her down the aisle, she gave him funny looks, ate her dress, sucked her thumb, and even waved at the congregation.



Then she got back to the front of the church, where I noticed snot starting to appear -- and soon she had a good glob of it coming out of her nose. I knew from my own experience what Katie does with a snotty nose, and waited for it to happen... Yep, she took her little snotty nose and wiped it across the pastor's shoulder. Well done, Katie. Then as the pastor sprinkled her with water, she fussed a little until she came back to Mommy. But now she's a child of the covenant, and for that she got a big party afterwards. In fact, she partied so hard yesterday that she broke a new sleeping record last night -- nearly 9 hours straight! HOORAY!!!!

I hope to get many more photos from the baptism, but here are the ones I've received so far from John's parents. Here's us with John's parents before the baptism (the beautiful baptism dress and shoes were gifts from them):

And here's Katie at the party, celebrating with her Uncle Jamie and Santa Winnie the Pooh.

Fun and Festive Katie

Katie got to show off her new Christmas outfit at my Bible study Christmas luncheon today. Her Grandma Roberts picked it out for her Great-Grandma to give to her. Katie's so cute and cuddly in it -- I can't stop loving on her! Neither could the women in the Bible study. :-)

This is Emily, who watches Katie every Thursday afternoon while I'm in Bible study with her mom and the other ladies.


This is Karen, one of the ladies in the Bible study.

When Katie got tired at the party, I set her in her carseat with a bottle propped up on her arms. Like a champ, Katie fell asleep quickly so Mommy could eat lunch.

Now Katie is home and playing in her exersaucer. But I still don't want to take her out of this cute outfit -- and she seems to enjoy it as well!

The Unhappy Snow Angel

Katie wasn't really into being a snow angel. The snowflakes kept hitting her in the face and she couldn't understand why Mommy put her down on the ground. Next year, I guess....

Katie's First Snow

Well, we may not have been able to go to the movies as planned today, but what better excuse than Katie's first snow?

Happy 1/2 birthday, Katie!

Katie turned 6 months old this week! Here's a photo of her after we visited the Christmas tree farm (and before the Christmas tree fell off the roof of our car onto a busy interstate on the way home). At the tree farm, John and I were freezing our pieces off and she absolutely loved being outside in the chill. Now that we're inside and warm, I think she's still trying to figure out why there's a tree in our living room. Nonetheless, she enjoys petting it.

Katie updates for the week: She now has two teeth and can roll over each direction. If you put her down on her back, she will scoot around on her back across the floor until she reaches an obstacle. Ah, mobility has begun!


The other big milestone this week is that Katie began eating solid foods. I guess eating isn't the right word. I'm convinced that more rice cereal ends up on me and on her than in her tummy. At first I was fairly patient because I knew she didn't mean to push it out of her mouth with her tongue. After all, she just didn't know how to eat yet. Now that she has the audacity to actually spit it at me (making that motorcycle noise with her lips), I'm less sure that the issue is only mouth control. :-) Well, we'll be moving her to more exciting foods soon. I'd be pretty bored with cold rice mush too, but my attempt to feed her hummus a few days ago resulted in a big baby tummyache (I'm a bad mommy!!).


Sorry I haven't posted in a bit -- Between sending out Christmas cards and a really cool new client, I've had very little time to myself. That's why I'm posting this 2 hours after Katie went to bed. Speaking of which... good night!

Wow, he's even older than Daddy!

Katie met Santa yesterday. It was kinda a fluke -- we were Christmas shopping at the mall and I realized that there was almost no line to see Santa. So of course I couldn't miss the photo op. Katie couldn't stop staring at Santa's face and beard. I'm sure she had NO idea what was going on.







I actually haven't even decided if I'm going to do the Santa tradition with Katie -- why should Santa get the credit for giving her gifts if he hasn't actually done anything for her? And I don't just mean that John & I should get the credit. I want Katie to know that the Giver of all good gifts is the Lord Jesus. And with that line of thinking, Santa seems like an idol to me. I don't know. Check in with me in 3 years and see if I'm still holding to that line of thinking. :-)


Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get a cheap but professional photo sitting, please let me know. Katie's baptism dress is gorgeous (thanks to my mother-in-law!) and I want to get some nice photos of her in it.