What we've been up to lately...

Some random pictures and stories from the last week or so...

The weather this past weekend was surprisingly nice for January. So we decided to venture outside and go to the Fly-In at the John C. Tune Airport in Nashville. It's an event where pilots from around the area fly their planes to the airport, visit with each other and talk about airplanes over lunch. Clearly, we weren't there for the socialization aspect (since we have no plane), but the public is welcome to attend the event, walk around the tarmac and check out the planes. Kaitlyn really likes airplanes and helicopters---she gets that from Jeff---so we knew she would enjoy exploring. The Channel 5 helicopter is housed at this airport. Too bad there were no breaking stories that required aerial coverage. It would have been fun to watch it take off.

As Kaitlyn was walking around all the planes, she kept saying, "Wow!" Just that one word over and over. Guess she was pretty excited to get up close and personal with one of her favorite things. She also loved watching the planes take off and land. Perhaps we have a budding pilot on our hands.

In other news, we had an eventful week last week with birthday celebrations (mine and Jeff's) and a visit from Mimi. Kaitlyn enjoyed getting all kinds of attention from Mimi for a few days. Continuing her dress-up phase, she decided that she wanted all of her bows in her hair at the same time, and Mimi happily obliged. She walked around like this for quite some time.

Many times a day, I hear Kaitlyn call out, "Tashi! Tashi!" It's her word for our dog, Kasha. Kaitlyn loves Kasha so much and would play with her all day if Kasha would let her. Fortunately, Kasha is a very patient dog and puts up with Kaitlyn chasing her, hugging her, and trying to sit on her. The picture below shows a typical interaction. Kaitlyn's trying for the 20th time to sit next to Kasha and lean on her, and Kasha is wishing she could just go back to sleep. I'm looking forward to warmer weather so that I can release both of them into the back yard and let them run to their heart's content!

One day last week I was in the bedroom, and I noticed that it had gotten very quiet in the rest of the house. Those of you with toddlers know that this is never a good thing. So I went to investigate. Apparently, I had accidentally left the laundry room door open (where Kasha's kennel is). Kaitlyn spied her opportunity and made a beeline for Kasha's bed. She climbed in, shut the door, and proceeded to lay down...and roll around...on Kasha's hair-covered pillow. My immediate thought was to drag her out and take her straight to the bathtub. But I figured the damage was already done, so I decided to just let her play for a bit while I took some pictures. Needless to say, I haven't left the door open again!

Other fun times with Kaitlyn...

Playing doctor: she diligently checked the heartbeats of all of her stuffed animals.

Snack Time: for some reason, we've gotten into the habit of having afternoon snacks while sitting on the floor in the kitchen. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to get up from this position, but for now it's a sweet time that we share each day. She climbs all over me and is generally pretty loving and cuddly during this time.

Play Time with Daddy: one of the highlights of her day is when Jeff comes home in the evening. That's when the real fun begins--tickling sessions, shoulder rides, and other physical feats that only daddies can do.