Our Little Star

Cate loves music and she likes to sing. We got video of her tonight performing her rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

A Photo Shoot at the Park

Cate and I went to the park last Saturday. I struck a deal with her (yes, with my 2-year-old daughter) that she could swing, if I could take her picture. I think I got a good one! I hope everyone likes this because you may see it again --- perhaps on notecards, Christmas cards or gifts for you :)

Cate with the camera

Cate has finally figured out the mystery of the camera. It's practically impossible to get a good picture of her because she recognizes the camera immediately when it comes out. For her birthday weekend, she commandeered the camera and took pictures. She walked around saying "cheese" and "smile" to everyone, while holding the camera. It was very cute (even if it make getting her photo difficult).

When she ran out of people to photograph, she started taking pictures of objects. She would say "cheese table" or "cheese book."

Birthday Update

As usual, I haven't had much time to update anyone on what has been going on with us. The biggest news is Cate's birthday. We had a great birthday weekened with her (August 18 and 19). Our girl now has more books that just about anyone I know. We practically have our own library. She loves to read her books, so it's perfect for her.

Cute Dress

I took some photos of Cate this weekend in her cute pink dress. She does well posing for the camera.

The Horn on the Bus

Cate has learned the "Wheels on the Bus" song at day care. She is particularly animated when beeping the horn on the bus. She can't seem to do the beeping without moving around in a circle.

Marathon Pictures

I don't think I'll win any fashionista awards with my look during our run. These are pictures taken as we were running and one of Stephen at the finish line area.

The weather in San Diego in June is pretty good for running. It's usually overcast in the morning, with the sun coming out late morning or early afternoon. That's what happened for the marathon. The sun came out late morning (probably around mile 13 or 14 for us) and it got pretty warm after that. I think it was in the low 80s. The sunscreen we put on early in the morning was long gone by the time we finished, so we both got a little sunburned.

We finished!

We did it. We finished a marathon. It took a long time, but we made it to the finish line. Here is a picture of us with our medals. Yes, they give you a medal no matter how long it takes you to get to the end. As long as you aren't picked up by the bus for stragglers, you get a finisher's medal.

I think I speak for both of us when I tell you we are glad we did it, but we probably won't do it again.

Jumping

Cate is learning how to jump. She can get both feet off the ground now, but in this video, she was still practicing.

Cate's Bubble Dance

Cate likes to sing and dance. Here is a short clip of her Bubble Dance.

A new slideshow

It has been quite a while since I've had time to work on my photos of Cate. I spent some time recently downloading and editing photos from the last three months.

Cool Slideshows

My little cook

Cate helped with cooking dinner on Sunday evening. I'm not sure who had more fun -- Cate or Mom.

Cate Loves Music

Cate likes to sing and dance. We often hear her singing and clapping in bed in the morning before we go in to get her. The other day, she was singing during dinner. PopPop (Grandpa Martino) encouraged her by singing one of her favorites, Bingo. If you listen at the end, she asks for it again by saying "name-o."

A quick Easter pic

Cate was adorable in her Easter dress. She wore white gloves (and a white hat not in this picture)! Even though the gloves were far too big, she insisted on wearing them. It really is fun to have dresses, tights and all the fun that goes with a little girl.

Easter preparations

Easter is just a few days away and I am really bummed about the turn the weather has taken. It's pretty chilly outside at 8:30 this morning --- around 35 degrees. The weather forecast calls for a high of 53 on Easter Sunday. That's not exactly prime egg hunting weather. Regardless, I've got plastic eggs all ready to go for Cate. We've got a complete outfit too (dress, shoes, hat) courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Martino. I'm sure she will be the best dressed little girl for miles and I'll be busy with the camera.

In case you haven't heard, Kansas passed legislation authorizing expanded gambling in the state. After counties vote to approve it, there may be new destination casinos as well as slot machines at three existing racetracks. Since Stephen's job involves regulating the racetracks, he is a very busy guy at the moment. His job duties will continue to increase over the coming months. Luckily, the Legislature has gone home for a short break, so we are both taking advantage of a little break in the action. They'll back at the end of April to wrap up budget issues. We both have more budget issues before the Legislature, so we'll be busy again for a couple of weeks at the end of April and beginning of May.

We are still training for our marathon in June. We've got about 8 weeks left to train. For about 5 more weeks, we'll keep adding distance to our runs. After that, we'll start to decrease our distance so our bodies are rested for the marathon. It seems hard to believe that we only have about 5 more long runs before we go to San Diego. I think we are both doing well, but I would be happier if warmer weather would return. I was really enjoying the spring/summer temperatures.

Cate is obsessed with blowing bubbles when we get home in the evening. As you can see from the picture, we have to help her with the difference between blowing bubbles and chewing on the bubble wand.

Are we coming or going?

It's been quite a while since I posted anything on our blog. I know it's a lame excuse, but we are meeting ourselves coming and going because we are so busy. A quick recap of our activities lately....

-The 2007 Legislature is still in session and we have both been busy with our work duties related to that. My agency had one rather large issue that languished in conference committee for about two weeks. After many negotiations, the legislation passed, the Governor signed it and we are now implementing new law at work. Stephen is working on legislation related to expanded gaming in Kansas. As executive director of the Racing and Gaming Commission, he supplies a lot of information to legislators and others on this issue. In case you haven't caught any Kansas news lately, expanding gaming is a big issue this year. Last week, the House passed a bill to add destination casinos and slot machines at three dog racing tracks. Even as a write this, the bill is in the Kansas Senate and the Democrats are filibustering on a motion to concur with the bill passed by the House. It's interesting to me, but it's also wearing us both out. Last Friday evening, Stephen was at the Capitol until about 3am. Tonight, I'm sure he will be very late as well.

-Cate is growing and changing each day. We are trying to spend as much time as we can with her. She's so much fun! I've added a couple of pictures here with this post. Her latest interest is ponytails. Several girls at her day care have ponytails and she asked for one too. One of the teachers at day care put her hair in a ponytail one day and now she asks for one just about every day. She doesn't have a lot of hair, so it can be a little tricky to get it to stay in. She's also shown some interest in potty training. We bought a potty chair for her and put it in her bathroom a few weeks back. We don't push it, but we let her sit on it whenever she feels like it. She likes to read books (as you can see from the photo) and sit on the potty chair.

-We are making good progress on our marathon training and fund-raising. We've run 10 miles a few times and we each had a long run of 12 miles. We are running a couple of days during the week -- as much as we can work it in. We have been very lucky to find a class at Washburn that is training for a marathon. They are generous to let us run with the when we can make it. It's nice to have that group available and the instructor has given me some very helpful training tips too. Our fund-raising is going well. We've received many generous donations. We feel so good about every dollar we raise because we know it goes to a great cause. We are working together with other Team in Training participants on a BBQ tomorrow night. We've got a whole bunch of neat things donated for a silent auction. Some local companies donated turkey and pork for the BBQ -- some competition bbq guys locally smoked it for us. There's going to be a band as well. I think it will be a nice event and I hope we can raise a lot of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I think that covers the high points for us lately. Stephen and I will have our fifth wedding anniversary next Friday. We've been together for more than seven years. It's hard to believe.

Enjoying the weather

Cate loves to go outside and blow bubbles. I took this photo this evening while we were outside playing and blowing bubbles.

Reading on "The Chair"

First Haircut

At 5:15 p.m. today, Cate had her first haircut. She did a great job (plus she looked really cute in her red cape). Bear was also part of our first haircut. Bear goes pretty much everywhere with us these days. He didn't get a haircut, but I think he will get a bath this weekend. That is one dirty bear.

It's all about Daddy!

Cate is like a little parrot - she repeats just about everything we say. She is learning new words every day. This week, her best achievement is "Daddy." She has said "Da" for quite some time, but she just started saying "Daddy" this week. She puts emphasis on the second part so it sounds like "DaDEE" and we think it is very cute. I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing her say Mama or Daddy.

We've had a hectic week. Cate has been sick and we kept her home for two days. I don't have any new pictures or video this week because it's all I can do to stay ahead at work and home.

We are doing pretty well with our marathon training. We've made most of our scheduled runs and we are both improving in our time. Neither of us has any goal in mind for completing our marathon in a certain time frame, but it is nice to see the progress each week as we get faster and more fit. Luckily, the weather has improved recently so we've been able to run outside. We got a little snow this morning so I had to run on the treadmill, but it looks like we'll be back up in the 40s by tomorrow. I've always been a big wimp about running the cold, but it's actually growing on me. I've learned how to layer my clothes so I'm not cold. I definitely prefer running outside in the cold to running inside on the treadmill.