Presidential Primary

Hello friends!!

With the presidential primary election almost upon us, I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't share my opinions about Ron Paul. We are strongly supporting him. He's the only candidate who is a true constitutionalist and looks to that sacred document for every political decision he makes. I suggest reading about the issues on his website: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ and you can also see him in an interview with John Stossel. It's about 40 minutes, I think. http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3978940&page=1

I won't overwhelm you with information (you can check out the links on the right side of the blog for more info--the YouTube clips are great), and want you to know that I will OF COURSE respect your personal decision as to who you feel will best lead our country.

He isn't a front runner....YET! He is rapidly gaining support across the country as Americans wake up to the freedoms we've lost over the last century. We have hope that if we can get his message out to enough citizens, that *maybe* he can still win the GOP nomination.

We hope you'll check him out! If you like what you see--please spread the word!

Happy New Year!!

Love,

Jenn and Andrew

A New Camera!

Yay! For Christmas, we got a family present--a new digital camera! Andrew can, of course, use it for his photography, and I can use it to take much better pictures of Kate! I'll have to figure out how to use it, of course...We were just using auto (before Andrew read the manual) and the flash is so intense that it REALLY freaked/irritated Kate. Poor kid. The first two pictures were taken with the manual settings, so it didn't bother her!

The first two pictures were taken at Andrew's dad's house. His dad has an amazing talent--he can play the piano by ear. He's hoping Kate has the same gift. We'll see!

Merry Christmas!!

Sunday Clothes

I just love these smiles!

I'm sure I have stuff to say, but my mind is drawing a blank! And since I actually have a second to blog--I'll just quickly post a couple pictures from last Sunday. I thought Kate looked so cute in this little outfit I got her at Old Navy. Old Navy was having like a 50% off sale--so it was pretty darn cheap. I got her cute little shoes, too--but of course, they didn't stay on her for long!

Ohhh...now THAT is sweet!!

I was raised by the champion gift-wrapping mother of all time. She would always (and still does) go to great lengths to make our gifts wrapped in the most beautiful way imaginable: shimmering paper, glistening bows/ribbons, classy tags--you name it. Getting her gorgeous packages has been one of my favorite things about Christmas--it always made me feel so special. Since getting married, I have tried to carry on the tradition (even though I am no where near as good at it as my mom). Andrew, though, has never quite understood what the big deal was about the wrapping paper itself. You just take it off and throw it away, right? But to me, it is a large part of the gift! It sits glowing under the tree for days before opening. Last year, when my mom stayed with us after I had Kate, she had made the house so beautiful with Christmas decorations, treats, and presents--that Andrew really started to get a taste for it all.

Anyway, Andrew has always been just finishing with finals right before Christmas--ever since we got married. He had taken this semester off, though, in case we sold our house and had to move. So he actually had time yesterday to spend the day shopping for me! He came home and then I went out to run some errands of my own.

When I came home, there were four beautifully wrapped presents scattered in the hallway outside of our basement apartment. Andrew was upstairs trying to find tags to put on them. As I went into our apartment, I saw on the computer screen a paused video that was labeled "How to Wrap a Gift." I almost started crying. It is really one of the sweetest things Andrew could have done for me. He did a fantastic job! He's the best!

Kate's B-day Clothes

I wanted to show my mom how Kate looked in the cute oufit she got for her. The last picture is Kate's new frowny face. When she disapproves of something or if she wants something she can't have, this is the look she'll give you. Sometimes she just makes this face to be funny, I think--because a second later she will be happy as ever. It makes us laugh, though, whenever she makes it.

A Look Back at Kate's First Year

Tuckered Out

I just got done posting all her birthday stuff, when I went to see what she was up to. She was passed out cold on the floor. She is so cute!

Birthday Video

Here's another version of Kate's pig noise. There are four other people making pig noises, which is a little strange. But hers is cute--so watch for it!

Kate's FIRST Birthday!!

Kate got a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk for her first birthday treat.

She only had a few sips of the milk and after a few bites of cookie, she started tossing it overboard. We have never given her sweets (a few tiny bites of pie has been the most she's had), so I guess she hasn't developed her sweet tooth yet. I hope she never does!

Kate got a cute shirt and jeans from Grandma Marge and Papa Nick, a baby doll from Great Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth, and blocks, a book, and a movie from us. She was so excited about every present that it was hard to get her attention to open the next one. She didn't like having the clothes held up to her--but she liked them all the same. :)

I tried to think of something fun for her to do during the day, but couldn't think of anything--December is a hard time of year to have a birthday. We ended up just running some errands as a family--which is fun by itself. She especially loved being at the movie store--pulling out all the candy from the stands, and ripping DVDs off the shelves as she walked up and down the aisles. I guess we really do have a toddler on our hands now!

I can't believe how fast this last year went! So much happened! I love my family!

Moving In

So it's harder than I realized--moving from a house back to an apartment. We have a LOT of STUFF. Poor Kate--I had no idea where her pants were. By the way, she looks exactly like Andrew in this picture. Weird.

Walking!

Kate's really been walking well for a couple weeks now, but I haven't been able to post anything because everything's been so CRAZY. Things are finally settling down, though there are still boxes everywhere. We can at least walk around a little bit.

In this video, I also got Kate on tape doing her piggy imitation. It's the only animal she ever tries to do. We think it is so funny.