Katie likes Grandparents to visit

Grandma and Grandpa Korom flew out from Cleveland for a very nice visit. The weather was a little cool, but it was bright and sunny. Katie liked playing with Grandma and Granpa, and Mom and Dad tested out the full capacity of the new Mazda5 minivan. Everyone fit comfortably with enough room for some cargo.

Katie really loves playing in the sand. Mom and Dad are fascinated by how long she can just sit in the sand and dig and pour and re-pour and re-dig. Mom took everyone out to Ventura to see the beach and ocean for an afternoon and Katie loved it.

For several days after they left, Katie would wake up and ask, "Where pa pop?" for Grandma and Grandpa.

Sleep Over! -almost

Katie and Petra are very close buddies. They had their first bath together and played quite awhile in the bubble bath. Then if that wasn't cute enough, Katie and Petra wanted to wear matching footie pajamas and then jumped into bed, pulled up the covers, and told their parents, "Night night." And then pretended to go to sleep which after 30 seconds "woke" up laughing. We almost thought they would go to sleep but alas why sleep when you can play. It is a night their parents will not soon forget. We had so much fun and everything they did made us melt.

Holiday Fun Time

Katie had a great Holiday. Mommy and Daddy were home a lot and we went to the park almost every day. Even better - Katie finally got over her cold!! She could finally breathe through her nose at night.

The holidays also gives us lots of time to visit friends and family. We had a great Christmas day in Long Beach. The most chaotic video conference ever with Cleveland, but Katie joined right in and fully embraced the craziness of her family.

Katie got a new kitchen set from Santa and spends many hours cooking for her parents. She wasn't as excited about the kitchen as she was over Mom's new mop from Walmart, but our floors have never been cleaner. Just don't stand anywhere close or you will be clobbered.

Christmas Break

It's been so nice to be together as a family for the past week or so. Tim was off from work, and Anissa is out for 3 weeks. We've played, gone to parks, organized garages, done more laundry than we thought could be created in 6 weeks (not less 1) and enjoyed each other's company.

Kate is a complete joy. She's started to stick out her tongue when she's focused on a task. Such concentration! Her vocabulary continues to grow. She says "hot, outside, yeah, momma, dadda, and up" in regular rotation. Her favorite new word though is "happy". She's said it a few times already. The first time was at the park, it was cold and windy and she was sitting in the sand, shoveling sand into her pail. She just repeated the word over and over -- "hap-py" "hap-py". She knows how to melt our hearts.

And Kate's figured out how to open doors. We thought we had some more time yet since we have round doorknobs in the house. She now opens all of the closets and pantries and tries to help herself to goodies and all of the toys that we've put up and out of the way. We bought doorknob protectors that she's not supposed to be able to open, but it took her under an hour to figure one out. We're hoping it was a fluke.

Tim went back to work on Wednesday, and Kate's Grandma and Grandpa come out to visit us next week. We can't wait to see them.