Jump! Jump!

Kate's jumpin' with excitement on her new Johnny Jump Up! I have heard rumors that these exciting toys have been recalled (if that's true it must be a result of user-error), but apparently if you live in a small mountain town you can find it in the local variety store! Thank you, Lucy - Kate loves it!

Kate's Sleepin' at the Table!!

Here we were bragging about our homemade baby food, at look what kind of response we get...

Truth be told, here's the story. Kate always takes a really good nap in the afternoon. She is pretty much borderline on if she needs one in the morning or not - somedays yes and somedays no. So, yesterday she started getting fussy and it was only about 20 minutes before her normal mealtime of 10:00 AM, so Jeff went ahead and got the meal ready-to-go and started the whole process. Well, apparently she was more tired than hungry - he said she actually feel asleep with the spoon in her mouth!! And we thought she was so excited to be eating solids... ;)

Adventures in Pureeing

Well - I hate to admit it, but one of my most prominent and current hobbies is making baby food. We started out with Bananas, Avocado and Sweet Potatoes (this picture shows some "glops" of avocado and sweet potatoes just before entry into the freezer):

With Kate getting past the 6 month mark, we've delved into much more variety now! She LOVES apple sauce, she's tried pears and peaches and is in heaven! I've never seen a baby eat with so much gusto! This weekend I blended up both peas and green beans for her. I was really doubting the idea of her liking peas at all (neither Jeff or I are fans), but lo and behold - she's a HUGE fan of the peas!!  We'll try green beans later this week and I'm guessing she'll get along really well with those as well.  It seems that her all-time favorite is still sweet potatoes, and it sure shows on her pretty little face!

Happy 40th Anniversary!!

To my wonderful parents, Happy 40th Anniversary! 

My lovely parents, Joe & Karen, aka Jose & Mom, aka Papa Joe & Nana K, recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary - how about that, huh?!? I couldn't have grown up with a better example of two people who truly love, respect and care for each other and they drive each other nuts for only a small percentage of the time! Not only that, but they're fun too! They are always doing fun things including extensive travel (ie a trip to Afghanistan about two years ago - yes, some people do call them crazy!). So, what did they do to celebrate their 40th, you ask, - they went to the Galapagos Islands!! Who does that???? Apparently my folks do. Not only were they celebrating their 40th anniversary, but it was the first vacation since my dad's full retirement. Apparently he spent the entire trip reciting the line "I'm a recovering lawyer" when anyone asked him what he "does"!!!!! Here are the only two pictures I've seen from the trip - pretty cute!!

6 Months!!

Here we are - 6 months after the day Kate made her grand appearance. Boy, has she come a long way since that time. In this time she's gone from sleeping for 3 hours at a time to doing 12 hours a night(thank goodness), more than doubled her size (evidenced by her pediatrician calling her "roley poley"), and her little personality is sure making its debut - sense of humor and everything. She laughs more than she cries and we smile with her more than we console her. She marked her 6 months with the new ability to sit up without our support, which is exciting to see her become a bit more independent. Look how far she's come!

Kate's Very First "Ladies Luncheon"

Last week Kate went to her very first "Ladies Luncheon" - dressed to the hilt!! She and I met up with some of my colleagues for lunch and one of them brought her 8 month old. Kate and Alli had fun looking at each other and being held by some of the other ladies. It was fun and she sure got plenty of attention for being so cute!

It's The End of a Lambeau Era

May all cheeseheads unite in our grief and sorrow to see Mr. Brett Favre make the decision to end his career with the Packers. To say that there is a depression amongst Packer-lovers everywhere is an understatement. I'm not going to list off all of Favre's stats, records, amazing accomplishments, etc - those are being broad-casted across most airwaves and frequencies to a point at which we should all know them by heart.

I was reading the USA Today this morning and it mentioned that most high-schoolers in Wisconsin know of no other quarterback. Quite honestly, I haven't seen another quarterback start for the Packers since I was a sophomore in high school (god, that was a long time ago). I really have no recollection of any other quarterback at good ol' Lambeau Field. His energy and excitement for the game will surely be missed throughout Green Bay and Wisconsin.

It is clear that the Packers, Favre and Wisconsin were a menageatois made in heaven and it will be some time before Wisconsinites everywhere feel anywhere close to "normal" again. I do know that many of you think that the Wisconsin "normal" is not the same "normal" that the rest of the country identifies with, and you're probably right, but believe me - I'm proud to be a part of that group.

I did have the pleasure to grieve a bit with a fellow cheesehead this week and I did hear grumblings of a small Wisconsin town in which a funeral home is planning to partner up with a local bar to host a memorial service for our dear "Favre who art in heaven".

Kate was even upset to hear the news. Here are some before and after the news pictures:












Rest in peace, my friend, you will be missed.

Oh, and Brett - in case you're reading this, I haven't forgotten when you and I met at the Milwaukee Country Club in the summer of '97 and if you'd still like to "hang out later" just let me know!

The Madness is Almost Upon Us!

It's that time of year and if you want to get into the March Madness bracket pool that Jeff and I always participate in you're more than welcome! Mark Wetherell sent the password and links below and I told him I'd do a blog post on it in case anyone would like to join it. If you'd like to join you'll want to sign up with http://sportsline.com/ and then come back to this email, click the links and go from there. The brackets are all filled in online, etc.

It's a winner takes all pool with a $10 entry. Mark is the coordinator of it, so please send him your $10 by 3/19/2008!! This should be ample time!! He plans to remove your bracket if he doesn't have your cash by the stated deadline. His contact info is below.

Mark Wetherell
7495 E. Quincy Ave #305
Denver, CO 80237

The pool's link is:
http://tdm.mayhem.sportsline.com/e

Our Group password is: ncaa64

Good Luck!

Welcome To The World, Landon Jay Berchem!

Our new friend, Landon Berchem, made his grand entrance into this world on Monday, February 25th and he is so lucky to have chosen our good friends to be his parents, Jesse and Amy Berchem! Congratulations to all three of you! We stopped by to see him today and he's a cute little munchkin! I know it sounds cliche, but I don't remember Kate being that little!!!