Stone Family Blog

New shoes

2012-01-26T12:51:00.001-08:00

They're way too big, but she seems to like them.

Nappers

2012-01-16T14:52:00.001-08:00

The force is strong in Katie

2012-01-15T10:58:00.001-08:00

Kiss of Katie

2012-01-13T18:36:00.001-08:00

Her aim needs some work...

Serious face

2012-01-02T10:27:00.001-08:00

San Francisco

2012-01-02T10:26:00.005-08:00

Balloon 2

2012-01-02T10:26:00.003-08:00

Balloon 1

2012-01-02T10:26:00.001-08:00

Marble coaster

2012-01-02T10:24:00.001-08:00

Need more bread

2012-01-02T10:23:00.001-08:00

Flower cat

2012-01-02T10:22:00.001-08:00

Shark pilot

2012-01-02T10:21:00.003-08:00

Chess

2012-01-02T10:21:00.001-08:00

Delicious bow

2012-01-02T10:20:00.001-08:00

Katie unwrapping her first present

2012-01-02T10:19:00.001-08:00

Drew's Christmas play

2012-01-02T10:16:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, he was hidden behind other kids

Tree laden with presents

2012-01-01T18:07:00.001-08:00

Top teeth coming in

2012-01-01T18:06:00.001-08:00

Canoe Drew

2012-01-01T18:04:00.001-08:00

Katie up close

2012-01-01T18:03:00.003-08:00

Drew in action

2012-01-01T18:03:00.001-08:00

At a friend's party

Spoon

2012-01-01T18:02:00.001-08:00

The stockings were hung

2012-01-01T18:01:00.001-08:00

And the cat abides

Sleeper

2011-12-12T22:33:00.001-08:00

Too bad the only place she likes to sleep is on my half of the bed.

Trimming the tree

2011-12-05T19:51:00.001-08:00

I want yours

2011-12-04T08:52:00.001-08:00

Katie throws off her little light saber in favor of Drew's newest acquisition.

Bell!

2011-12-03T17:22:00.003-08:00

Playing with a bell from the Polar Express ride Drew went on yesterday.

Power napping

2011-12-03T17:20:00.001-08:00

It was a long day.

Too cute

2011-12-03T17:18:00.001-08:00

To pose. No more pictures, please!

All done!

2011-12-03T17:11:00.001-08:00

Katie and daddy

2011-12-03T17:08:00.001-08:00

All dressed up before the photo shoot.

Katie being Katie

2011-12-01T22:26:00.001-08:00

Trying out a mustache

2011-11-30T13:49:00.001-08:00

Drew's friend, Jaydon, had a mustache party for his birthday. Among the favors was a mustache cookie. Drew tried it out both ways to see which was a better mustache. We agreed that neither was a particularly good look for him. But it was a tasty cookie!

Kissing

2011-11-30T13:46:00.001-08:00

While in San Diego, Katie was subject to the attentions of both Ogilvie boys for entirely different reasons. While Aiden seems a bit perturbed by her and cried when she's screech in happiness, his big brother couldn't get enough of her and kept asking us to put her down so he could play with her and kiss her. And kiss her. And kiss her.

Is she comfortable?

2011-11-30T13:33:00.001-08:00

Katie was apparently comfortable enough to sleep in this very odd position. Forboding standing up in the crib, I suppose.

I couldn't take it and had to move her to a lying down position after I took the photos. I justified it by saying to myself that she'd sleep longer and better.

I think she missed me.

2011-11-29T10:30:00.001-08:00

She likes bread.

2011-11-27T13:25:00.001-08:00

A lot.

Waiting at the train station

2011-11-26T10:51:00.001-08:00

Train baby!

2011-11-26T09:48:00.001-08:00

If only she didn't fall asleep...I think she'd enjoy the ride.

First Flight

2011-11-25T17:46:00.001-08:00

She was a champ and slept through the 90 minute flight. Whew.

Post dinner chew toy

2011-11-24T18:18:00.001-08:00

Hammock boy

2011-11-24T18:17:00.001-08:00

Dressed up for turkey day!

2011-11-24T12:44:00.001-08:00

Katie's first Thanksgiving.

Kisses from Evan

2011-11-23T16:01:00.001-08:00

He really likes her!

Hammock fun

2011-11-23T15:57:00.001-08:00

Nappers

2011-11-23T10:44:00.001-08:00

George?

2011-11-23T09:37:00.003-08:00

Washingon, apparently. He lives!

George?

2011-11-23T09:37:00.001-08:00

Washingon, apparently. He lives!

Seals

2011-11-22T19:45:00.001-08:00

Smile!

2011-11-22T19:44:00.001-08:00

Thanks, eel!

Camouflage exhibit

2011-11-22T19:43:00.003-08:00

Drew and Evan

2011-11-22T19:43:00.001-08:00

Aquarium

2011-11-22T19:41:00.003-08:00

I don't know

2011-11-22T19:41:00.001-08:00

Yeah...not sure what Drew is doing here, but they had some ugly moray eels

Whale

2011-11-22T19:39:00.001-08:00

We went to the Scripp's aquarium in San Diego

Katie and Aiden

2011-11-22T19:38:00.001-08:00

On a hike

2011-11-22T19:37:00.001-08:00

We went mountain climbing by the Ogilvie's house

Get out of my way!

2011-11-22T19:32:00.001-08:00

Hotel

2011-11-22T19:31:00.001-08:00

Katie chills out at 11pm in the hotel room

Trophy time

2011-11-22T19:29:00.001-08:00

Drew's hard earned soccer trophy

Tent!

2011-11-22T13:48:00.001-08:00

Katie fell asleep and despite the shade built into the car, she was in the sun. So from the backseat, Drew helped me rigg a tent for her with one of her blankets.

Adventure!

2011-11-22T09:38:00.001-08:00

Evan, Drew and Rich brave the wild parking lot to fight their way to the aquarium.

Champion Sleeper

2011-11-22T09:37:00.001-08:00

He fell asleep almost as soon as we hit the freeway!

Little Miss Fall Asleep

2011-11-22T09:35:00.001-08:00

On the way to the aquarium.

Backseat buddies

2011-11-21T11:56:00.001-08:00

Evan will do just about anything Drew is doing. Today, it's the beach with a tutorial on Transformers en route.

Happy as a clam

2011-11-20T09:34:00.001-08:00

...on an airplane or in the car. He watched movies and shows on the TouchPad on the drive to Santa Clarita and the first 45 minutes this morning. Now it's time for some gaming!

Sleeping beauty

2011-11-20T09:29:00.001-08:00

Sleeping right through scenic LA.

Cheese!

2011-11-20T09:21:00.001-08:00

At Denny's off I-5 at Santa Nella

Devious

2011-11-18T14:21:00.001-08:00

She just looks like trouble, doesn't she?

Oy, and the fireplace, too?!

2011-11-16T18:06:00.001-08:00

Sigh.

Ah, trouble, your name is Katie

2011-11-16T16:49:00.001-08:00

Cup

2011-11-16T12:10:00.001-08:00

Learning to drink out of a cup.

A Pernod car!!!

2011-11-16T08:19:00.001-08:00

Made me think of Alex.

She's up!

2011-11-16T08:18:00.001-08:00

It feels like Katie is learning to do new things every day. She has mastered getting back into a seated position from her belly. It results in this splits-style position, but it works beautifully. And she's so pleased with herself.

More color.

2011-11-14T12:43:00.001-08:00

I love fall.

Getting reaquainted

2011-11-14T12:12:00.001-08:00

Sophie I lost her squeak, so Sophie II was drafted. So far, I don't think she's noticed any difference.

Sleepy baby

2011-11-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

She fell asleep on the way to get her flu booster...and she's still asleep.

It IS Fall!!

2011-11-14T10:16:00.001-08:00

Even in Sacramento.

Delish remote

2011-11-14T07:42:00.001-08:00

It's good we got her her own remote control to put in her mouth.

Standing!!!

2011-11-13T18:56:00.001-08:00

In the bathtub, anyway.

Give..

2011-11-13T18:13:00.001-08:00

...me the phone, Mommy!

High tech Grandma

2011-11-13T10:57:00.001-08:00

As part of her visit, Grandma learned how to use her new Android phone.

Grandma & Katie

2011-11-13T10:54:00.001-08:00

Grandma came to visit the grandkids who happen to live with us. She got in lots of quality kiddo time.

Yummy, delicious...

2011-11-10T10:56:00.001-08:00

...blanket tag. Katie highly recommends them.

Pink day

2011-11-09T11:39:00.001-08:00

Pink overalls on white onesie with white cardigan and pink mary jane socks.

Massacre

2011-11-09T08:35:00.001-08:00

Katie's toys suffered defenestration via the cutouts on her seat. None survived.

The famous taco pizza

2011-11-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

Yum...she thinks?

2011-11-08T16:58:00.001-08:00

Well, so far Katie likes yogurt. I picked up some peach yogurt and she's...well she's eating it.

Walkabout

2011-11-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Katie and I went to pick something up and it turned out to be very close to the new pedestrian bridge across I-80, so we decided to go for a walk. It was quite nice, if a bit loud from the traffic.

It also goes by the canal/water ditch that seems to run water to the few remaining agricultural areas in Natomas/West Sacramento. Here's us, posing to show we were there! (Okay, we were on the smaller bridge that goes over the ditch to get to the pedestrian overpass. Technically.)

Some familiar road signs/views.

All in all, a nice overpass. I like the one in Berkeley better, though. It's wider and has some nice local artistic accents that this one lacks. Just because it's an overpass doesn't mean it can't be interesting.

This year's soccer photo

2011-11-04T11:51:00.001-07:00

And the rest of the team, minus Ethan and Abhiram.

Happy water baby

2011-11-03T18:14:00.001-07:00

Drew's Living History Museum

2011-11-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Drew's big assignment in the first trimester was to do a 3-5 minute oral presentation on an important historical figure. He ended up with Benjamin Franklin. It's not clear how he came to be Benjamin Franklin. (He wanted to be Barak Obama.)

After all the kids were done with their presentations in the class, they opened it up for a few classes to come visit and see the historical figures. I went for one of the sessions. I walked around and tapped a few kids on their shoulder to "activate" the person, who would then do their presentation for me.

Here's Drew under his Benjamin Franklin booth. His props were entirely in the binder. Rich was determined that he have a different presentation than other kids in his class. Sure enough, between the binder and his presentation's organization, Drew did very well. Throughout the day, he was activated 16 times! He was exhausted by the end of the day.

All of the rest of the kids made poster and many got dressed up. (I felt a little bad that Drew wasn't dressed up, but come on, Benjamin Franklin?)

This is Amelia Erhart, who I thought was one of the most well dressed up figures. Another was Mother Theresa, complete with white robes edged in blue and with a baby doll, wrapped up in a shawl.

The little girl in the armor was a famous Indian female soldier who fought for her province's freedom from the colonial British. She rattled off a crazy volume of very long names and lost me about a minute into her presentation. She was very soft spoken.

To the right is Drew's friend Kennedy, who was Martin Luther King Jr. She had a very good, very factual presentation.

Awesome surprise!

2011-11-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

While we were dining this afternoon (not evening since it's Thursday and we normally eat pretty early on Thursdays for a variety of reasons), the doorbell rang. Rich answered it and lo and behold, my cousin, who was sitting at the table, enjoying her salad, got all excited. So did I, when I saw it was from Williams-Sonoma! (And I didn't remember ordering anything.)

Then I saw this little label and squealed a bit. Okay, maybe a lot.

And here is what was inside. A ginormous caramel apple!!! It's hard to see how big it is.

So here it is in reference to my hand. It's probably almost four inches tall.

It is a Fuji apple, dipped in caramel, then topped with dark chocolate and rolled in toasted almonds. It was absolutely the most delicious caramel apple I've ever had.

Most caramel apples are made with Granny Smith apples, which has never made any sense to me. The Fuji is crisp and just sweet enough that the caramel isn't a complete contrast. The whole thing just worked for me. I cut up half of the apple and my cousin and I each had a piece. And I had another. And Drew ate loose chocolate and nuts. And Rich refrained from making too much fun of us.

An awesome end to an odd day.

Katie makes her play

2011-10-31T11:08:00.001-07:00

Only to have the cat deftly avoid being touched.

Crib encounters

2011-10-31T11:07:00.001-07:00

Of the feline variety.

You have to cut the head off

2011-10-30T08:57:00.001-07:00

Shooting doesn't work.

Zombie

2011-10-30T08:56:00.001-07:00

The crew

2011-10-29T11:33:00.001-07:00

After a hard fought loss

Baby in training

2011-10-28T16:39:00.001-07:00

Drew is teaching Katie the intricacies of Bey Blades.

Mommy wins again!

2011-10-28T15:22:00.001-07:00