Play us a song, you're the Piano Girl...

I don't know how to rotate a video - sorry!

This was taken while we were at Nana and Pop's house in November. Kaitlyn loved playing the piano - I guess we need to save up and get a piano, because I wish I could play more, too, and when she gets a little bigger we do want her to have lessons.

She never quite made a recognizable tune, but she enjoyed it, nonetheless (as you can see!)

Cat Capers

Kaitlyn loves kitties (or, "kenny"s, as she pronounces it). Nana and Pop's cat, Otis, won't let Kaitlyn get very close, but Grandmama and Papa's cat, Tiger, was much more complacent.

After "meeting" Tiger again, and using "soft hands" to pet her, Kaitlyn was entranced. All weekend long she could be seen trotting after the cat.

Tiger loves to hide under the Christmas tree. She always has. She used to love to drink the water from the base. She's not happy about Mom and Dad's switch to artificial.

Kaitlyn spotted the kitty under the tree and crawled after her more than once - we just happened to be there with the camera this time. She also thought the cat really wanted to have a book read to her. Anytime she got close, and the cat didn't run away, she frantically looked for a book to read to, or give to, the cat.

We're not ready for a cat yet, but Kaitlyn sure likes playing with Tiger!

Lights with Aunt Mandy

While we were in North Carolina (notice a trend with my posts today? I was going to try to post everything at once, but I think this is better), we went to the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood with my dear friend Mandy. Neither of us had been in years, and Keith and (obviously) Kaitlyn had never been.

It's a trail winding through Tanglewood park that you drive through looking at hundreds of light displays, some animated. You listen to Christmas music, and you stop in the middle (at least we stop in the middle!) to peruse a little craft shopping area and have snacks - they have a marshmallow roaster! If you look at the enlarged picture of Mandy and Kaitlyn above, you will notice that Kaitlyn has marshmallow all over her mouth.

Mandy is incredibly skilled with children, and still had a bit of Kaitlyn novelty when we stopped. She managed to roast her marshmallows and eat/feed them - all while holding onto Kaitlyn! Keith with his S'mores kit and I with my marshmallows won't even pretend we could have done that. We would have had to take turns. Really, Mandy could give seminars. She showed me the power of a pinky finger. Amazing.

Calculus Baby

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it can also spawn a slew of questions.

When was this? When we were at my parents house. Specifically, Monday evening before we went to see the lights with Mandy.

What is she reading? Seeing as how she's a genius, clearly she is reading a calculus textbook. I mean, bright babies read calculus textbooks, but only genius babies read them for fun, right? Don't believe me? I've enhanced it a bit. Click on the picture for larger.

Oh, the part you didn't believe was that she was reading it? Well, I can't convince you with a picture, I guess.

Do I have any other similar pictures? Of course I do!

Why she's sitting in a plastic tote? I couldn't begin to fathom what made her decide that would be great, but she climbed in there and really liked it. Why do we waste money on real toys?

Visit to Santa

Kaitlyn has been scared of getting her picture taken before. One time, out of the blue, she decided to be scared of the background at Picture People. Our second summer at Busch Gardens she decided stationary carousel horses for photo ops are just too scary to sit on. She didn't want to sit on the pony the first time she had an opportunity (read: someone other than Mommy and Daddy to pay) for a ride.

Santa Claus was one of those scary things. We weren't that surprised - it's one of the reasons we went to the Santa we did. We didn't wait in line at the mall for 15 seconds with a Santa-picture-machine where we couldn't even take our own picture. Keith's company's credit union (random, I know) has a Santa Breakfast for all of the company. We didn't go last year, don't know anyone that has gone, but thought it sounded like a good way for Kaitlyn to ease into Santa. Before we got there Kaitlyn already new how to say "Santa" and that Santa said "hohoho".

It was a great experience! I was surprised there weren't more people there - I would guess 50, tops, with only about 20 kids. We were served breakfast (fruit trays, pancakes, sausage and bacon - all food Keith eats! no eggs!), and then... Santa came! He walked in with a big bag over his shoulder and sat down at his chair in front of the tree.


Kaitlyn couldn't take her eyes off of Santa when he came in. She was entranced. Several little girls ran straight over to Santa, all prepared with their picture-enriched wish lists. Santa looked over their lists as the photographer (yes, they had a photographer, the man in charge of the camera program at the company) snapped away at pictures.

Kaitlyn's first trip up to Santa didn't go well, even after Mommy sat on Santa's lap for Kaitlyn to sit with her (if I had thought I would be in the picture, I would have worn a little bit of makeup, really). So we retreated to watch Santa from a safe distance.

When a crafts table started up even closer to Santa, we edged closer to the jolly man, as children took their time talking to him. Kaitlyn kept her eyes on him. We edged closer. We took a look at the window next to him, the tree behind him, and snuck up on him from behind. No go. Even Daddy sitting on Santa's lap didn't work too well, so we retreated again, this time with a gift bag. That warmed Kaitlyn up to Santa a little.

(When we got our pictures from the photographer, he had found a picture of Kaitlyn looking pleasant on Keith's lap on Santa. He zoomed it in, and it's actually a nice picture of Kaitlyn and Santa! We even have a few extras of this one for the grandparents.)

Before Santa left, Kaitlyn did show him the snowman frame magnet she "made" at the crafts table.

After Santa left, Kaitlyn got to give the first whack to a pinata. Then she sat back to watch with a friend she made at the party. After the children had all beat at the poor pinata and some adults got involved and basically poked it open, Daddy helped Kaitlyn pick up some candy and toys. Kaitlyn was more interested in telling Mommy about the "Mess! Mess!"

Next year maybe Kaitlyn will be more interested in sitting on Santa's lap. Maybe not. It's her call. But I think we'll go back to the Santa Breakfast, because if she does want to talk to Santa, this is the way to do it!

Lewisville Christmas Parade

While visiting North Carolina, Kaitlyn went to her first parade - the Lewisville Christmas Parade!

Doesn't she look thrilled?

The parade is so long (floats, not route) that by the time the first floats reach the end, there are still many that have not yet begun! From where we were it took nearly half an hour for the parade to reach us from the beginning of the route, but there was still candy left for throwing. Since Kaitlyn mostly sat on Mommy or Daddy's shoulders, Daddy or Mommy helped pick up candy "for Kaitlyn", along with some help from Grandmama.

Below, from left to right: Kaitlyn waits for the parade to start from her stroller; Kaitlyn "smiles" from Mommy's shoulders; when you're on Daddy's shoulders you can see really well - suck a thumb and enjoy!

December trip to Old Salem

While visiting Grandmama and Papa in North Carolina, we took an afternoon to walk around Old Salem. Growing up, Mom would take all of us to Old Salem with fair regularity. I've never once taken the paid tours, but have gone to a few school functions there. Since Suzanne had already explained the concept of a Moravian settlement to Keith while we were in Bethlehem, PA, we got to just walk around and enjoy the nice day.

I did get to explain Moravian choirs when we went through God's Acre (that's a Moravian graveyard, not just this specific one), and if you are curious about the choir system... ask a Moravian! I was trying to find a good link, and couldn't find one by Googling. I must not be using good terms.

We made sure to make a few stops that were a tradition for Old Salem trips of my youth - Winkler's Bakery, where we watched them make sugar cake and had to buy one (along with a loaf of bread and some tins of cookies), and the water pump. After Keith and I each had a sip, Kaitlyn got up and learned to pump water, and then lean to get a drink. She had a great time, but not much water!

Click here to view this Photobucket album

Other Christmas Lists

Keith's List
Technically, he has a better list, but I think I lost it. I'll add them when he thinks of them again, or I find it.

• Air Compressor (tire pump, or big enough to hook up and use as power washer; whichever size it is, please let it plug into a DC power source (house plug), not just car source)
• Craftsman plier set - no set in particular (here are a few for ideas)
• Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Multipack
• small TV with AV hookups (like for VCR or Xbox) (but not too small, because he wants to play video games on it)(to take in his work car, but doesn't need to plug into car as he can use an inverter)(yes, that's where he wants to play video games)(a portable DVD player with AV input would work, if it has a not too tiny screen, like this) here are a few, ok one
  

CDs

• Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts
• Brad Paisley - Time Well Wasted

DVDs

• Any of the Conan the Barbarian movies (if cheap)
• Lord of the Rings widescreen extended The Two Towers (II) and Return of the King (III)
• Futurama, Season 3 (or any later seasons, which is really just season 4)

Us Stuff
Because we've been asked for things we both want

• Portable DVD player (for car trips and the like) (preferably dual screen and with AV input, which Keith could use instead of portable TV for work)
  
• Apples to Apples board game
• simple VCR or non-subscription based Digital Video Recorder (DVR) (ie, not TiVo, because we're far too cheap to pay for that every month if we won't even pony up for cable!) an example here really we just want to be able to watch Survivor and Amazing Race together when neither of us is at work, and not have it nearly unwatchable by interference
  

Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!

Click here for the Picture People SmileStore from last month's trip

Two years ago a wrinkled little (well, not so little!) baby was born in Richmond, and even though we loved her before that day we could never have imagined how much more we could love her as the months went by.

Happy Birthday to our SweetPea!

Since Keith has to work, we're not celebrating today, but birthday pictures were made yesterday, and it's looking like we might hit her favorite restaurant (CiCi's... she is just two, Pizza and brownies has her everytime) for dinner.

Katherine's Wishlist

Hey, Mom? This one's for you :-) Keith and Kaitlyn wishlists are coming soon.

An installable CD player for my car that also plays MP3 cds
Filet Crochet 10.2 - software program on CD
A stand mixer (WalMart has one for $20)
CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) membership

Books & Magazines
Absolutely Gorgeous Pineapple Afghans
Big Book of Little Doilies
Doilies with a Twist
Subscription to any of the following: Crochet World, US News and World Report, Reader's Digest, Annie's Favorite Crochet, a "marshmallow brain fluff" magazine like People or US,

Hooks
Pretty much any hook from Turn of the Century or Brain's Barn - I guess my favorite yarn sizes would be G, I, and K

Music
Weird Al Yankovic - Straight Outta Lynwood - the newest release from Weird Al, featuring the ear-worm "White and Nerdy"
The Beatles - Love - kind of like a Beatles remix, where they're only remixed with themselves
WOW 2007 - compilation of Christian music

Football.... Yeeeees!

Tonight as the NY Giants play the Jaguars, I realized how much every little thing we do influences Kaitlyn. When the Monday Night Football music started, Kaitlyn whirled around, looked at the TV and exclaimed "Football! Yeeees!"

Kaitlyn sees a great deal of football - Keith loves playing Madden on XBox, and the graphics do look a lot like watching a real game on TV. And she loves watching football with daddy - when the Giants or Penn State makes a particularly wonderful play he exclaims "Yeees!", an exclamation Kaitlyn has gotten very good at mimicking. And she knows what "Touchdown!" means, and shakes her little tushie in a touchdown dance along with daddy, laughing gleefully.

She recognizes and can sing along with the Monday Night Football song - "Ba ba bom bom bom!"

I'm officially outnumbered in the house.

Some other things Kaitlyn has picked up:

1. Examining something she finds neat and saying "oh, NICE!" I'm not sure which of us does this, but she clearly got it somewhere
2. Touching her finger to her nose and saying "sssssss" after putting her stuffed animals to bed, mimicking Keith's finger to lips warning to her to be quieter
3. When the phone rings and Kaitlyn figures out that it's Auntie Kris, she echoes Daddy and Auntie's routine of "Wazzup?", only it sounds more like "hazzaaahhhh"

Our Daughter is a Little "Odd"

Kaitlyn can count!

Well, kind of.

She can predict that five comes after four, seven after six, and nine after eight. She will count along when prompted for most other numbers up to 12.

But recently she's added even more - she's started counting on her own. But she can't get away from those odd numbers! Just this morning she was very seriously, very deliberately taking goldfish one at a time from her bowl and "counting" while placing them on the tray: "Five, seven, nine"

Now to just fill in those even spaces!

A Kaitlyn Slideshow

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

No new pictures here, but a cute little slideshow nonetheless that we thought you would enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Keith!

Today we celebrated Keith's birthday - his 30th birthday!!!

We had a lovely family day with a trip to the Picture People, the purchase of a chest of drawers for Kaitlyn (from Unfinished Furniture World, so a bit of work left to do), house shopping with Kris, and a birthday dinner complete with Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake and presents.

Kaitlyn was more than a little fond of the cake (as is to be expected) and was very excited to give Daddy the present she had made.

Also recieved were cards, gift cards to TGIFridays (Keith's favorite restaurant, and where we would have eaten dinner had his throat felt better), Civ IV (now to get it to work on our computer), the X-Men DVD set, a Penn State jersey and hat, the afghan I made him that he got at the fair, a sweater, a history book, and a big box of clothes (but it's ok, because they were from his mom). Wow!

There's a Hole in the Floor!

We have a contractor working on our foyer. For those of you that have been to the house, you know how hideous and destructive the slate tile the previous owners put into the foyer was.

For those who've never been, trust us - it was bad.

The construction contractor is here this week preparing our foyer for the floor guys next week. On the first day he took out all of the slate, and started the repairs on the joists under the house. There was a hole about the size of a toaster that went straight down to the ground.

Today he took up the flooring to get at the joists the slate had damaged. By the time he had to leave this afternoon, the hole was about half of the foyer! A good bit was covered by a sheet of plywood, but there is still an uncomfortably large amount of open space.

Kaitlyn finds the whole process fascinating. She is in stages excited, scared, and nosy. Sometimes the sound of a circular saw sends her running for our arms; other times she is emboldened to peek around the couch, or try to run for a closer look.

Pictures of Kaitlyn and the foyer to come!

Mommy's Little Helper

When I crochet a doily, it still needs to be "blocked". I wet it, pin it out to the desired shape, spray with a little bit of starch, and let dry. This process involves a lot of quilting pins!

Kaitlyn wanted to help. I was very apprehensive about her being around a box of pins, and decided I would block later, when she was in bed. But she showed me she knew how to delicately pluck pins one at a time by their round heads and stick them into the board. At first the pins were lopsided and all over the place (and very easy for me to grab to use myself), but she quickly learned to stick the pins in the body of the doily - usually right next to my own!

Keith caught her in the act, helping me pin out a doily for Nana.

A Fair to Remember

Today we hit the Virginia State Fair, and we had a blast! The first picture also shows what we did first - my Nimble Fingers (speed crochet) contest. As last year, I came in first. How exciting! Or you could say, as Keith likes to joke, I came in 3rd from last. Unlike last year, there were only three contestants. I still got the big ribbon, though, so I'm a little happy.

We checked out the other items (but I have to admit, I cheated and had already looked online), and here were the results: Granny Square Afghan (that I couldn't mention before, as it was an early birthday surprise for Keith), 3rd place; Home Accessories (doily), 3rd place; Misc. Crochet (stuffed lion), 2nd place; and, most surprising to me, Beaded Jewelry (crocheted bracelet), 1st place!

After strolling through the arts and crafts exhibits (and noting that whoever teaches woodshop at ?? (forgot the name - d'oh!) Middle School is really an amazing teacher - seriously, if you go to the VA State Fair, make sure you check out Jr. Arts & Crafts), we sauntered over to the exhibition halls. Kaitlyn left bedecked in a plethora of stickers, shilling everything from the state police to ballot amendment votes, and toting a red CVS balloon. She didn't care! They were stickers ("stickies!") and a balloon ("b'oon"). She also got her picture taken as a snowman, watched the sand-sculptor, and grooved to the sight and sound of the square dance demonstration.

We made it outside just in time for the racing pig show. The announcer patter didn't impress her, but the pigs sure did!

When that was done it was time for lunch! Kaitlyn enjoyed the picnic feel of raisins and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from home. Of course at home she uses a fork ("fok!"), so getting to bite in proved a little overwhelming. Keith was disappointed to find a real lacking in fried candy bars (we checked the whole fairgrounds), but settled on a bag of fried Oreos.

Then we hit the animal exhibits - especially The Big Red Barn. Kaitlyn was entranced by all of the animals. She got distracted by the dogs needing foster homes right inside of the door, but soon recovered to check out the pigs, the goats, the cows... One of the great things about the fair is all of the baby animals. Chicks being born, ducklings swimming, and friendly cows. Kaitlyn was a little shy to touch the calf, until it got so interested in her it poked its head out and nuzzled her hand. She was just getting into petting its soft nose when the mother gave out a soft "moooooo!". Kaitlyn started, backed up, and was a bit more shy for the rest of the barn - especially around the cows.

It was getting late (for a little girl that was up early and had no nap), so we made a few more stops by the Antiques Mall (including the entrancing model train shop, where the conductor whistled the train at Kaitlyn until she was going "Woo! Woo!") and headed out. We stopped by Gino's, a north-side pizza/Italian place we enjoyed when we lived up that way, and hit the road for home. Kaitlyn didn't make it home awake.

As you can see, she got her second wind once home and dressed for bed, but she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the sheets.

All in all, a great day for the Dohl family!

Three Truths and a Lie

This past Sunday in Sunday School we played a group game of "Three Truths and a Lie" (it tied in to what we were talking about, promise!). For those of you not familiar with this, it's when you come up with four statements about yourself, one of which is a lie. The catch is, you want to make people pick your "truths" as the lie. It's a great icebreaker game, which is great because we don't know the people in our Sunday School class as well as we would like, really.

I've played this game many a time before, so I have to say it wasn't too hard to pick a few statements. Here are our lists - can you spot the lie? (Anyone reading this blog should have no problem!)

Keith's List

1. I am a Penn State graduate
2. Everyone in my family's name begin's with a "K"
3. I enjoy trying new and exotic foods
4. (I'll have to come back with the fourth thing; I really can't remember it)

Katherine's List

1. I am award-winning speed crocheter
2. I am an only child
3. I was a member of the Boy Scouts of America
4. I have a daughter named Kaitlyn

Leave a comment with your three truths and a lie!

Dutch Gap Bike Trip

Yesterday, after church and a short nap for the littlest one, the Dohls set out for a bike outing at Dutch Gap. We have biked there before, and really enjoy the trail (or what we've traveled on it!).

The trail is eight miles - four out and four back. Last time we only made it to the halfway mark (but we went about 6-7 miles total, since we took a lot of side trails). This time we stuck to the main trail and almost made it to the end.

Kaitlyn was excited as soon as she saw the bikes in the car, and the "hat"s (as she calls the helmets). She loves riding behind daddy, but her legs are getting so long that if she sticks them out she hits his feet!

When we were on an open stretch and could, we would ride side by side. The first time we did this Kaitlyn figured out that I was riding, too.

"Mommy! Hi, Mommy! Mommy bike!" she exclaimed, pointing at me. Then she poked Keith in the back and told me "Daddy bike."

She patted her seat and said "Baby bike."

Kaitlyn probably had the best time of the three of us, since she didn't have a sore bottom after biking!

She Wonders How She Got So Lucky

I wish we had a camera at our side all day, so that we could share some of the truly priceless Kaitlyn expressions today, but even a picture would scarce do justice!

After a day with Mommy AND Daddy home all day, and then getting Chicken Parmesan and pasta (and rolls!) for dinner (Kaitlyn's favorite "adult food"), she really hit the jackpot.

Daddy suggested we go out for ice cream.

Two nights in a row Kaitlyn got ice cream, and she thinks Friendly's has better ice cream than Baskin Robins. Daddy had a five (5!!) scoop peanut butter cup sundae, Auntie Kris had a three scoop peanut butter cup sundae, and Mommy had one scoop of coffee ice cream with hot fudge. Who's ice cream did Kaitlyn like the best? Mommy's.

She clapped. She "oohed". She bounced in her seat. She stuck her spoon out and exclaimed "Cake! Cake!" (we really tried to convince her it was ice cream). She covered her face in "Mommy Cake!"

Two nights in a row. She really wonders how she got so lucky.

In other news, BB got a bath. Now Kaitlyn's neck smells like fabric softener from wear she hugs BB in her sleep.

Strike!

Tonight Kaitlyn and I went to visit Auntie Kris' bowling league. Kaitlyn was very excited to see Auntie (who claims that she bowled better with Kaitlyn there).

Kaitlyn was entranced by the bowling! After Auntie's first frame when she returned to the table Kaitlyn clapped for her and announced "I bowl". Throughout the evening she kept trying to convince us that "I bowl. I bowl."

After bowling, Auntie hopped Kaitlyn up on sugar with a taste of Baskin Robbin's "Making Cookies" ice cream. As you can well imagine, Kaitlyn quite enjoyed herself!

Flashback Friday: Biltmore Estate Trip

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Asheville, NC this summer. We stayed at the Mill House Lodge in Flat Rock, right outside of Asheville. They had a small lake with paddleboats and canoes, and our apartment opened right next to the spillway (at the "mill" part of the Mill House) with a lovely private deck.

Our second full day there we went to the Biltmore Estate. Grandmama and Papa had been before, but it was a first trip for the rest of us. Before we set out (not as early as the picture would have you believe) Uncle David treated Kaitlyn to part of his toast - her first breakfast of the day.

You can't take pictures inside the actual house, so we have lots of pictures from outside.


Kaitlyn enjoyed the house more than would be expected. After a bathroom break with Grandmama, the pair wandered through the house and Kaitlyn made sure that she got held up to the windows of half-doors. She wanted to see what was going on! Naturally inquisative, or really, really nosy. You decide.

After the house tour, we all enjoyed a cool treat - huge ice cream cones! Even Kaitlyn got to try some, and when Uncle Stephen let her actually lick his cone (instead of a little spoon tip here and there) she made her move, grabbed the cone, and stuck her whole face in! Vacations are made for being a little spoiled; especially when your grandparents and uncles are there.

The day ended with a tour of the winery (and tastings for those of age and so willing) and a lovely dinner at an Asheville Italian restaurant. What a great trip!