The last party...for now.

We wrapped up the graduation party circuit this weekend by celebrating with Emily on Saturday. Here is a picture of all of the graduates and their parents. The sun finally came out so we were able to enjoy some time outside. I've noticed that Katie is a little shy when we first meet people but we are getting better as we become party regulars. Once she gets warmed up, we are in a performance phase. By we, I mean me and Chad. Poor Katie is always asked to jump, sing or say something that we think is funny. Not sure if this is cruel but we can't help ourselves. We're proud parents and she happily complies. Here is Chad and his mad badminton skills. Below is Katie and her Godfather Steve. And before I forget...this is my cousin Sean and his wife Jill. I know he'll be a little irked when he sees this like he was when I asked him if I could take this picture. Hi Sean! Thanks for reading my blog! Now we have our sights set on some upcoming beach weekends. I hope the sun decides to join us! First stop is Maine over July 4th weekend....

Me and My Shadow

Katie discovered her shadow. Hard to tell in this photo but it's so funny to watch her stand in the corner and wave her hands around.

Father's Day Weekend

Chad still hasn't been able to use the chiminea (outdoor chimney/tall fireplace thingy) Katie and I got him for his Birthday/Father's Day but we are holding out that we'll be able to later this week. It's been raining for 3 weeks so our patience is running thin. But the sun finally broke through for a little while on Saturday so Chad mowed the well-water lawn and Katie wanted to help. Abby followed closely hoping she could catch the bubbles coming out of Katie's mower. Later in the day, our friends Heather and Greg came over to hang out with us. Chase, Kyle and Katie got to play. The only time it was quiet was when we ate dessert. On Sunday, we were able to see my Uncle Brian, Aunt Dee and cousin Adele who were visiting from Florida. Last time I saw them was at my wedding so it was nice to introduce them to Katie. And we saw the Kerrigan-side again! This weekend was grad party #2 where we celebrated my cousin Kaitlin's graduation from high school (Holy Name) and her brother Nick's graduation from college (Villanova). Hooray!

Party time!

We are on the party circuit! We celebrated Helen's graduation on Saturday and then celebrated my cousin-in-law's 40th birthday later that night. Sunday was Chad's 38th birthday so his family came over to visit. We also had Katie's Nana (Chad's mom) visiting for the past few days to help us out by babysitting Katie. With all of these parties, Katie has been able to see some of her cousins. Jillian is my cousin Pam's daughter. She and Katie bonded over the purple buggy at Helen's party. Ella is my niece and she came over to celebrate Uncle Chad's birthday. Here are the two monkeys on our deck before dinner. In other news, Katie graduated from swim class and is now "Little Nemo Kathleen". She got "the dunk" at the last class. They are not big on dunking the kids unless they are one year or under but the parents had the option of having the older kids go under and Katie took the plung! Literally.

2,3,4,6,7,8,7,8,7,8,7,8,11,13....

Katie is learning her numbers and trying to master her letters too. Counting usually goes like this: 2,3,4,6,7,8,7,8,7,8,7,8,11,13.... Not exactly in order but we are working on it. She doing really well with learning new words and is starting to regularly speak in sentences. We're having pizza tonight so we heard "Pizza's Done!" many times. We noticed this week she has begun to mimic us. We really have watch what we say now!

On Our Own

Katie and I were on our own this weekend. Chad spent the weekend down the cape with some UMass friends. We had a bunch of activities planned so the last couple days flew by and we are all really tired on this Sunday evening. Right now, I'm the only one awake. Chad, Katie and Abby are all sleeping (7:10 p.m.). I'm going to have to wake up Chad for dinner! I went to see Chicago on Friday, another great show at the Hanover Theater. Auntie Helen came over to hang out with Katie... or should I call her Kathleen, which is her response now for "What's your name?" They must be reinforcing that at daycare since I've never heard "Kafleen" as her response. Usually, it's Katie. I like it though. It's what I say when people ask me what her name is. Huh, maybe she is getting it from me? On Saturday, we went to swimming lessons and then to Helen's graduation. It was a beautiful day for the ceremony. Congrats Helen! We are so proud of you! Katie and I took the rest of the day off after that.

We went to visit our friends, The Quinns, this morning. We thought having both dads at the Cape was a good excuse to get together. We got to tour their new house and hang out.

Katie took a 10 minute nap on the way home which is always killer for us when she snoozes so close to nap time. It was enough to give her a second wind which translated into a no nap day. I tried and she spent the better part of an hour singing in her crib. Once I realize that Katie wasn't going down, I decided to throw in the towel. She was thrilled! More time for bubbles and being outside.

Thank you, it's my turn

Katie has been trying to change her own diaper and dress herself each morning. We've had to start the process of getting ready in the morning earlier to accommodate it. It usually starts with her saying "my turn" (pronounced "m'tune") and goes downhill for there. She can't do it herself yet but she does NOT want help. She makes that clear. On the flip side, she has become very polite. There are a ton on unsolicited thank yous (thank quo) getting thrown out there. No complaints on that front.

Blue Dog

One of our weekend chores was to give Abby a bath. She is bolting a coat of fur and it is EVERYWHERE. Chad decided to give her a bath to get some of the loose fur off of her. Katie was his assistant.

Abby was still wet when we joined our neighbors in the front yard. They brought over some sidewalk chalk for Katie. Abby wanted to play so she came over and laid down on one of the drawings.

Giving her a bath was a waste of time.