I know, I know... we're totally behind! Time for an update...

More to follow soon!

First Haircut!

Katie's first haircut this past Thursday morning. Her buddy Tandi did the honors, and we shaped up the do a bit! She insisted on wearing the cape while we took care of just one little ducktail and few wisps. She also insisted on photos to document the occasion. One issue, Mom couldn't find the camera so bear with the cellphone shots.

Our Little Gopher Girl!

Kate's starring as a cheerleader...

What a Summer!!!

How is it already September?!? We had a wonderful summer filled with lots of laughter and running around, trying to enjoy this gorgeous season! During the week Kate spent time with Grandma Mary and our dear friend Tandi, and evenings we spent much time walking on Minnehaha Parkway, skipping rocks in the creek or playing in the backyard. This week we start a new routine, Grandma will still be with us two days, but the other days brings a new adventure... Kate starts at an intergenerational daycare. She'll get to share her music class and lunches with the adult daycare. Looking forward to learning lots with all of the new kids.

Kate continues to grow into such an amazing little girl. She keeps us laughing with all her crazy little toddler antics. Lots of walking with her baby stroller and collecting rocks everywhere we go. We're hoping she'll grow up to be a cardiologist... she loves her doctor kit and always wants to listen to your heart (pronounced 'hot').

Music is a big thing for Kate... she's continually dancing and singing... in the car, in the tub. Her favorite song sends her right into her dance groove... check it out!!

June

• A staycation filled with afternoons at Lake Nokomis, ice cream at Grand Ol' Creamery and just enjoying each other


• Mom escaped to Chicago to hang with her friend Lisa while Dad and Kate bonded


• Dad stayed very busy keeping the house projects going... the house is no longer ugly "flesh" tones and Kate can safely play in our brand new fenced-in backyard.A weekend getaway to Madeline Island with Tracy and Scott while Kate hung at Grandma Julie and Grandpa Bob's house with all of her cousins.
  

July

• We joined Auntie Vicki and Uncle Mark up at Eagle's Nest for a few days... lots of fun with the kids!

August

• The State Fair! Lots of fun with Scull, Joe & Andrea, and LOTS of laughs when Kate's red snowcone landed in Mom's lap... yep, white pants.


• The Irish Fair with Grandma Mary, Uncle Dan and Auntie Ann... she even danced on-stage


• The Gophers! Kate saw her first game (well, at least the first half) and they won!

Busy Little Bee

Kate's social calendar has been wild and crazy for the month of April with many many family gatherings and spring-time outtings. We're living vicariously through her as she's on the go during the week as she spends her weekdays with our friend Pat, Aunties Gina, Tandi and Ann, as well as Syd, Tess and her grandparents. All helping us fill in while Jill and Samuel are with family in Indiana.

A couple of trips to the Children's Museum, story hour, Grand Old Creamery and the parks.

Has mastered the art of escaping her high chair, flushing the toilet, and saying "no"!

In Memory

On Wednesday, April 16 our wonderful Auntie Joyce passed away. We were all so blessed to have her in our lives. She was such an incredibly giving, loving, witty and insightful woman. We admired her so much. The grace and dignity in which she dealt with her terrible illness was truly inspiring. We loved her so much.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/joycepiepenburg

Famly Moments

Finally, our first walk to Pumphouse for ice cream tonight... we got home from work and daycare and had a chance to enjoy a family walk to our favorite spot! Kate tried the sorbet (wasn't a fan of the lemon ginger)... but as always munched on puffs. It must be spring... we finally got out of the house!

We said 'good-bye' for now to Jill and Samuel tonight as they head to Indiana for a month... we will definitely miss them.

This week has been filled with many special family moments and opportunities to spend time with Auntie Joyce. We were able to pop in on-and-off and share laughter and tears with the great aunts and grandma as they thoughtfully cared for Auntie Joyce in the hospital. She has moved in with Vicki and Mark tonight and is at peace now that she is out of the hospital and at home... surrounded by family who love her as she continues on her journey. I wish these treasured moments could have occurred under much happier circumstances, but it has been such a gift to have Joyce with us and to spend time with friends and family who truly love her.

Auntie Joyce

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers... After reviewing her recent and past treatments and outcomes, Joyce has decided to rely on palliative care for the rest of her treatment. Any further poking and prodding seemed pointless and she prefers to bask in the love surrounding her and accept the comfort measures available. She is very tired, and the weekend has been very difficult for her. For the present time she is at Abbott and it is undecided where she will be going from here. It's been quite a journey -- your love and support has meant to much to all of us.

http://www.firstgiving.com/joycepiepenburg


To honor Joyce our family will be walking in the MOCA walk in September - thank you for supporting us!

Happy Easter!

Kate enjoyed her second Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Plaetz's house in Lucan this year with all her cousins! Check out the pix of the Easter egg hunt in Grandma's family room because of the snow (yes, inches of snow on Easter!!!). She rallied despite getting her M/D's nasty cold, plus a couple new teeth that weekend. The Easter Bunny knew just what she wanted... she went to town on the marshmallow bunnies and the jelly belly beans!
















babykatelori.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8QbNGjFy4aMi6

Hanging with Auntie Ann

Happy Birthday Auntie Ann! Kate spent the morning with the birthday girl at Gertens to see the baby animals at the petting zoo and then they were the ladies who lunch!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

After being cooped up together with colds/flu this past week, we needed to get out for a bit (as we coughed, blew noses and shared our germs with everyone). Kate celebrated her irish heritage this weekend by checking out her first St. Patty's parade in St. Paul and then off to Landmark Center to listen to celtic music and watch the irish step dancers. She was even "recruited" by a dance teacher when she watched Kate dancing to the music. This weekend also brought a nice dinner at the Mich's, a slumber party with Uncle Joe/Auntie Lorna and Amelia and brunch with Tracy!

Auntie Joyce moved to Auntie Vicki's house last Sunday... we miss her around here! I know that Kate and I enjoyed crawling in bed with her in the mornings, and Kate misses the songs and the smiles we shared over the past couple of weeks. She had become very used to having a captive audience who cheered on every cute move she made. We had lots of thoughtful visitors over the past couple of weeks... Auntie Jayne joined us to help care for Joyce, along with Great Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Hugo, Gina and the Bieringer girls, Vicki, Uncle Joel and Aunt Julie, Grandpa Bob and Uncle Joe.

Thank you to Grandma Julie who came up to help care for Joyce and watch Kate when Mom joined Dad in LA and Vegas for a long weekend during his biz trips on the west coast. First trip away together since Miss Kate was born. Gave us a chance to check out the sites (Spamalot, restaurants, Peppermill), hang with our friend/best man Joe, visit with our friends Mindy and Paul Totaro (meeting Miss Madison!) and most exciting... renewed our vows at the Little White Chapel on the strip! Since my coffee pot broke this week, I thought this would be a perfect excuse to register again! I don't think Kate even missed us... each time we called it sounded like she was having a party with grandma and the great aunties! Also thank you to Uncle Dan, Auntie Ann and Grandma Mary who helped fill in while Jill was gone that week as well!c

Happy Birthday Grandma Julie... we look forward to celebrating with you next weekend!

New roommate

Our new roommate has moved in. Auntie Joyce will be staying with us over the next few days while she's preparing for her upcoming round of chemo. --

Last night when she got home from Uncle David's birthday party, Kate wandered through the house doing "Patty Cake" until she finally tracked Joyce down in her room so they could play it together. I wish Joyce was able to be here under different circumstanced, but nonetheless we've already enjoyed many smiles, quiet times just sitting and some uplifting talks... it's a gift to have her here. --

Daddy took this shot of Kate a couple of weeks ago at our first trip to McDonald's playland! Not bad for a camera phone!

February's Social Butterfly

• Dinner at Karen's house with the design girls... the ages span from Oliver (our token male) at 2 months to Joy who is 92 years old. She enjoyed hanging with Lisa's new baby Oliver and making herself at home at Karen's new digs (especially loved the tubby in her master bath).
• Checked out the KidsFest over President's Day at Como Zoo with Syd, Tess, Uncle Steve and Auntie Ann.
• Lots of birthdays to celebrate... happy birthday Uncles David & Dan, Sydney, and Auntie Vicki
• Our spring music class has begun .
• Brunch with Mom & Dad in Uptown
• Lots of family time... visiting Auntie Joyce at Auntie Vicki's house, dinner with Auntie Julie when she popped into town, spending a day with Amelia while Uncle Joe and Auntie Lorna were at a retreat, and Syd's birthday breakfast and party.
• Dinner with Auntie Ann last weekend while Mom & Dad checked out "Juno" and a sleepover this past weekend while M/D got to escape up North for a night-out with friends - congrats Gary and Leah! Kate got to checkout the Children's Museum.

Inspiration...

• Our dear Auntie Joyce who is so bravely fighting ovarian cancer... my sister has such of way of putting thoughts into words.
• Evie's story - a family I came in contact through my work at Children's HeartLink... a reminder life is so precious.

Do we have a newborn again?!?

I don't know if Kate couldn't sleep because she knew she had shots today or what... we were up 3 x in the middle of the night. Finally getting over the flu but she was still really restless last night. I buckled and brought into our bed at 4:30am. (Do not try our parenting methods at home... yes, we have impressive sleep training techniques in our household.)

While Mom & Dad laid half asleep, from the dark middle of the bed, we hear in her little voice "hi"... repeated over and over. And when the "hi's" wouldn't wake us, she started to pinch my nose.

Christmas Pictures...

Christmas pictures... thanks to organized Auntie Gina. Check out Kate's Shutterfly Collection.

The Dreaded Flu

Poor little munchkin has had the flu the past two days... seems to be bouncing back, and hasn't lost her cookies since Thursday morning. Yes, a little chaos the morning of Mommy's big work event when I stepped out of the shower to have Kate lose her breakfast all over my clothes... to which she exclaimed"oh-oh" and motioned to me to clean it up (the humor of the whole scene did make it a little easier to handle). Grandma Mary saved the day when she arrived at noon to help us out!

Helloooo

More photos (including Christmas) to follow shortly! Yes, I know it's almost February...

Kate's latest...

The Phone - she loves all phones and pretends that almost anything can be a phone (remote controls, calculators, etc). She walks around with it on her shoulder saying "helloooo" and "yah" while she plays with other toys. I guess she's got multi-tasking down at 15 months!

Our Little Rockstar

Kate had a busy weekend... she spent Friday night with Uncle Dan while Mom and Dad were out and about checking out a magazine launch party and a band at the Uptown Bar

Saturday she was a trooper as we hung at Best Buy... dancing in the aisles and taking over the Magnolia showroom, making it her own dance party while Dad dreamed.

After Sunday brunch at Turtle Bread, she made her first trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for ROCK THE CRADLE! She had a blast in the baby disco and pointed out lots of portraits of babies and dogs as we moved through the galleries. Had a very nice dinner with her cousins Syd and Tess, and Uncle Steve tonight while Auntie Gigi worked.

Continued special prayers go out to Auntie Joyce, who is back at Abbott Northwestern with complications with her chemo

Kate's latest...
"JUMP" - even better than Van Halen. She grins, yells 'jump', and does a little squat and bounces off the ground. There was even air-time tonight!

"SPIN" - one of her mean dance moves, she has learned how to spin in circles and make herself dizzy!

Feeding her babies - she likes to feed a bottle to all her dolls, from Ashley Barbara (her cabbage patch baby) to the Little People baby and Baby Jesus from her nativity set.

"AHHH-CHOO" - the cute fake sneeze followed by a grin

New Year's Resolution...

Living up to one of our resolutions... 2008 will bring more blog updates. This one is much easier to do from the couch, compared to "working out at the club".

We had a really great weekend! House was finally de-Christmased and we snuck in a couple movies, brunch, Guitar Hero gig with Joe, and dinner... wild weekend for us at our house! Even got in a round of bowling with the Wii at Auntie Gigi and Uncle Steve's. Kate spent QT with Uncle Dan and our dear neighbor Pat while mom and dad went out. She also bonded with her cousins this morning... all four girls together, pretty crazy and sweet to watch.

Kate's latest... she heads directly for whatever she's not supposed to get into, turns to us and announces "no-no-no" as she grabs it!

2007 What a Year!

Christmas 2007

Well, we’re easing into this whole blog/letter/card thing… eventually we may even get both out BEFORE Christmas. The new year’s resolution is to update our blog more often (I guess quarterly isn’t enough?!?) too!

A quick update…

Mike & Beth
Life has been good to us this past year. U.S. Bank and Children’s HeartLink continue to keep both of us busy with some exciting travel and fundraisers to help the kids. Striving to find a little balance with parenthood, work, fun stuff, family and everything else. Sleep deprivation is beginning to subside (except for a few recent episodes) and we’ve survived ear infections, big project rollouts, and growing events. But on to a more important and interesting subject…

Kate
Just yesterday she was a sweet little infant, how do we have a 14 month old already?!? So many firsts… teeth, talking, airplane ride, rolling, crawling, moving into her own room… the list goes on and on! Walking (and even some running) came about in December. Her smile lights up our days and nights, especially with those big blue eyes. Baby music class has brought out her “talents”… she has inherited her dad’s vocals and mom’s moves (for better or worse on both accounts). The house is filled with her music, animal sounds, a few words, jibber-jabber and lots of giggles. We are very fortunate that three days a week Kate hangs with her buddy Samuel and his dear mom, Jill up the street, and enjoys her own digs each Monday and Friday with her doting Grandma Mary. Kate keeps very busy with all her exploring and playing with her cousins and doting aunts and uncles. Kate loves a good game of "Patty Cake" and loves to run circles around the couch chasing mom and dad.

Family
Spring brought the birth of another girl to the Plaetz family, our niece and godchild, Amelia Helen. We also were able to see many of the Coyne clan when we gathered to say goodbye to dear Aunt Mary Coyne who passed away – her quiet kindness is missed by all. We’ve also spent more time with Auntie Joyce who is bravely and gracefully battling cancer… we’re all learning so much from her strength. It has brought more opportunities to see mom and our family as everyone gathers during her journey.

On-the-go (constantly!)
When we became parents, we both dreamed of the first Griswald roadtrip… in May it all came true!!! We packed up the car with Kate and nearly everything we own to head across the country to New England. It kicked off in Cleveland at the Princess Diana exhibit, then we were off to Cooperstown, Baseball Hall of Fame, upstate New York, Boston, Niagara Falls, Toronto, CN Tower, Milwaukee, and Miller Brewery. Just a few weeks later, I was back in Boston to help pack up the Bieringers to move back to MN- Wild Sisters in their non-stop, 24+ hour roadtrip across the country (why not learn how to pull a UHaul trailer with your sister’s car). Summer brought a Brookings reunion with college pals, Twins games, picnics, barbecues and outings with friends, and many parkway walks! Mike and buddies spent many an autumn Saturday at Gopher football… we’re hoping the new stadium will bring more wins and a father-daughter tradition! Finally wrapped up our two year battle with our woodwork and are plugging away piece by piece at the rest of the house… oh the love/hate relationship with old houses!

Looking forward to many more adventures in 2008… wishing you the same!!!

Love Beth, Mike and Kate