Cute Katelyn Part 2

Okay, so I have worked on my favorites from my mini session with Katelyn!
I will post about 5 on our photography website's blog. Let me know what your favorites are & why! Enjoy!

Cute Katelyn

Last Friday I decided to do a fun mini photo shoot with Katelyn. I need to work on them still, but here's a sneak peek:

Looking Back

Today I was looking at some photos & videos I got last year with my "point-and-shoot" camera. And I was honestly surprised by how very much Katelyn has changed in just ONE YEAR! I knew she had changed a lot, but my memory of her a year ago is a bit different than what the videos had to show. I remembered her talking and interacting with me so much, but watching them I see that her speech wasn't so clear (not as clear as I remember) and she didn't really say that much. It's odd how I remembered it so differently. And it's just amazing to see how much she has changed. She is such a "big girl" now and nothing like a baby. She still had a good bit of "baby" left in her looks and most certainly in her speech and behavior -even the way she walked.

This first video was actually taken exactly one year ago today. It's a very fun (and funny!) one with her playing with Grandpa Pomeroy & Daddy. She is so blessed to have such a fun Daddy & Grandpa to play with her. They are still favorites on her "Fun to Play With" list. :-) This first video doesn't really demonstrate how much she's changed, but it is too fun! not to post (and the fact that it was exactly a year ago makes it top choice for first video!).



This is of Katelyn and her Auntie Melissa ("Aunt-a-Issa") going down a slide. This was taken on March 22, 2008. Katelyn still loves slides and still won't go down them alone. They scare her if she's alone. I am sure that by this time next year (at age 3 and a half) she will be a dare-devil on them.



This next one is a short one of Katelyn saying, "I Love You." This was taken on March 22, 2008. This is one where I was shocked to see how much she's changed in just a year.


This third one was taken of Katelyn collecting eggs for the first time (LAST Easter). You briefly see her grandma & Alex taking her pictures.


This last one is a fun one of her on a swing at the park. Katelyn used to love the swing & to go fast! But now she doesn't seem to care too much for the swings theses days. (She's afraid of going too high on them.)

Katelyn had a blast watching these (and about 10 others) with me today. I could see she sorta gets that that was her, but not really.

Oh...The Things Katelyn Says...

This is an older image of Kately, but I thought it was fitting for this post. :)



I wish I had started this blog and recording the things Katelyn says much sooner. But I guess I shouldn't beat myself up over it. The important thing is I am doing it now, right?

Okay here are two fun ones from this week:

#1 Last night we went to Lowes as a family and the girls and I went all over the store looking at all the fun stuff! (You can make anything seem fun to a 2 year old...) When we went down the lighting aisles Katelyn oohed-and-awed over the pretty lights and fun variety of lights. I took her under the ceiling fans and when we came to a tropical themed one she pointed up at it and said, "Look it's like leaves!" Then she covered her mouth with both hands and gave a hilarious & hardy fake chuckle and then giggly said, "It's like leaves. It's a fan. That's so silly!" And then she went on still exerting a hilarious hardy fake laugh -it was in a deep and cheesy voice -hard to describe.

I was sad Alex wasn't with me when she did it -it was so funny. The moment was great! And it was more than just a funny laugh- the fact that she found humor in it and how she did it was a milestone for sure. I don't know if most 30 month old kids are this way yet or not, but I LOVE IT!!! And if she's advanced I am glad I am getting to enjoy this stuff sooner than most!!! I cannot wait for this with Grace.

#2 While I was nursing Gracie, Katelyn got on the bed with us and asked me to read her a story. I said I couldn't, but would tell her one. So I made up a story about a caterpillar named Lewis and his fried Rico. In the story Lewis becomes a butterfly and eats his way through the cocoon. (I don't know if they actually do that, but this one did!) I told it in a dramatic way, "When Lewis woke up he was in the dark! He couldn't see anything. And he felt different, but couldn't see if he looked different. And he was soooooo hungry -he thought to himself, 'I could eat a cow!' So he ate his way out of his mysterious enclosure..."

Soon after I was done telling the story (actually, Katelyn stopped me so she could tell her version of it) she said the funniest thing. She told her version of the story to Gracie and her version included, "Caterpillars are scary in the dark and they turn into cows and when cows get hungry they become butterflies." I explained that Lewis wasn't scared in the dark -just not sure what was going on and that cows don't turn into butterflies. I tried to explain that I was saying that Lewis was so hungry he could eat a cow, but Katelyn insisted that cows do turn into butterflies and soon she was going on and on about cows and butterflies and there was no stopping her. :)

Easter 2009

Here are some pictures from Easter. It was a fun family event. Katelyn dyed eggs for the first time with Mommy, Grandma & Aunt Adreal while Daddy took pictures. The next morning we went out to breakfast with the whole Solorzano Family (Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Melissa, Uncle Johny, Aunt Adreal, Cousin Andrew & of course Mommy, Daddy & Katelyn & Gracie). We went to IHOP and Katelyn shared off of everyone's plate and Gracie slept the whole time (a wonderful treat for us -we rarely get to eat a meal without bouncing her on our knees). Later we went to Easter Mass at Grandma & Grandpa's church.

Katelyn fell asleep at the end of the Mass, but when she woke up she was ready to see what the Easter Bunny brought and to hunt for eggs!!! Grandma made a wonderful Easter basket for both girls and the Easter Bunny (AKA Mommy) gave her an Elmo Easter Basket with Cinderella bubbles, a teddy-bear dressed like a bunny (you can see it in some of the pictures), a seek-and-find book and a "Belle" magnetic doll. We have video of Katelyn looking for her eggs -I'll have to upload it at another time.

Enjoy the pictures!!! And "THANKS!" to Grandma for getting Katelyn & Grace their first matching Easter dresses! They looked adorable!







Katelyn is so expressive -this next image is "Classic Katelyn."


Katelyn & Adreal (I think Adreal was more excited than Katie! I think she's just excited that her son will be doing this with her next year!!!)


Katelyn with her cousin, Andrew (he's still mastering his sitting-up skills!).


Gracie wasn't too happy about posing for some pictures... But I love this image!


After some feeding Gracie was in a better mood, but quite sleepy.





Katelyn decided to play "Peek-a-Boo" while we tried to take pictures of Gracie. Katelyn went with us on a family photo shoot the day before and saw me playing "Peek-a-Boo" with the kids, so I think this was her attempt at helping make Gracie smile. :) They turned out quite sweet.


You can see that Katelyn's yelling, "Peek-a-BOOOOOO!" in this one. :)

My Heart

I planned to do an Easter post next, but I haven't had a chance to work on the photos from Easter, so it'll be a while yet... And I just had to share the following:

Thankfully, our "hearts" aren't really the same physical hearts that beat in our chests. I say this because my "heart" has been doubling in size a lot lately. If my "heart" was in my chest I would not be able to fit through a door for the size it would render me.

My ever-enlarging heart has to do with so many wonderful factors, but mostly because of the daily blessings of my daughters. Katelyn has such a wonderful and big heart -especially for a 2 year old!!! And Grace is already so social and sweet -holding her is like heaven in my arms.

This is just a quick little example from yesterday: Katelyn and I were on the couch watching the Disney movie, Cinderella. She got on my lap and cuddled up with me. I kissed her cheek and she turned around and put her hand on my cheek and tenderly looked right at me and said, "I love you too Mommy. I love you really much." I am SUNK!!! This love boat's goin' down!

And Gracie is just an amazing smiler. Katelyn had a wonderful smile and she smiled a lot, but Gracie is the biggest smiler I have ever seen. Even when she's upset and in need of something or hurting (like when she has a rash) she stops crying and flashes warm smiles at me as I care & interact with her. My real heart skips a beat sometimes when I have the joy of receiving one of her many gorgeous smiles!

I just feel so blessed and God's love is ever-present in my heart. I just had to share.

Alex's Birthday!

For Alex's 31st birthday we went to the Sequoia National Park. John & Adreal (and their 6 months-old son, Andrew) joined us for the celebration! (For those of you who don't know, John is Alex's older brother & his wife is Adreal).

We had no idea it was going to be extremely cold (it was 37 degrees according to the temperature reading in the car) and there was tons of snow and slick icy areas all over. Gracie didn't care for the cold and so we kept her inside the car and/or John & Adreal's RV. Andrew did pretty well as long as he had his pacifier and plenty of warm clothing on, but Gracie pretty much just screamed when we took her out. :)

Here are a few pictures of the day. I will add more later.