Journey for Katie

Here is a photo of Karen's good friend Joan, Katie and Joan's son, Jared. It was taken on the Sunday before Christmas when Jared was home for a few days from his job in the Air Force. Also included is a photo of Katie opening a Christmas gift from Joan and Tom. She loves the Panda.

This year our local community had a Christmas Walk which included a pancake breakfast, parade and a visit from Santa at the fire station. Dad packed Katie up for a visit with some of his old friends at the station. She would have nothing to do with sitting on Santa's lap but she did win a new Disney Princess Bike donated by a local merchant. Here are a few photos from the day!

Katie loves to tumble! As part of our evening routine, Katie gets her pajamas on and then generally she has tumbling time on the family room floor as we all gather together. She is especially happy about back flips over Mommy, crawling all over Dad and standing on her head. Here are a few photos of her enjoying one of her nightly tumbling times!

A few weeks ago we completed our first of three post placement reports for our adoption agency. As part of that report, we needed to submit a new family photo. It was done rather hastily but we thought you might enjoy seeing it anyway! The dog in the photo is Bella, by the way. She is our newest furry addition (came 6 months before Katie) and has turned out to be a wonderfully patient and loving dog.

Here's a picture of Katie and Jonathan taken on November 6 as we were about to head out for a birthday dinner with Uncle Pat, followed by a Boy Scout Court of Honor where Jonathan advanced to the rank of Second Class Scout. Katie loves going out to eat, and we can now add Don Pablo's quesidillas to Ikea's swedish meatballs and LaRosa's meatballs on her list of international favorites! Katie is recovering well from her cleft lip surgery and we are happy to be seeing more and more of her big smile as the days go on.

Hello Everyone. Aren't the kids just adorable in their costumes? We
enjoyed Katie's first Trick or Treat at Emily and Ben's house this
fall. Emily, Jon and Karen took Katie around the neighborhood for
some treat gathering early in the evening before it got dark. Katie
enjoyed getting candy dropped into her pumpkin from a few nearby
neighbors. Of course she doesn't know what candy is, so the whole
process didn't make much sense to her, neither did being dressed up to
look like a pumpkin! Later in the evening, Jim took Jonathan out for
more treat gathering in the neighborhood and Katie discovered her
greatest enjoyment by handing out treats to all the little (and big)
children who came by Emily's. It was a beautiful evening to sit out
on the porch and watch the parade of costumes... a nice first
Halloween fun night for Katie and possibly the last for Jon. Thinking
over it now, from Emily's first to Katie's last, we will have spent 37
consecutive years doing the Halloween evening scramble! How sweet it
is!!