annual tradition of painting pumpkins

katie as dorothy at her halloween party

1st slumber party - with the grateful dead skeleton (uncle sam) in the window. he's dead.

eldorado canyon - her 2nd hike

katie likes bobby

katie loves watching the grateful dead movie. her favorite from the grateful dead is the skeleton and bobby. her favorite songs are "u.s. blues", "fire on the mountain", and "goin down the road feeling bad". katie and her dad can sing and dance all night to the dead.

lately she pretends she is a kitty cat. katie meows more than jonas does. she asks for treats like "boo" and rubs against mom and dad's legs like boo. she doesn't let daddy brush her hair with boo's brush because that is for kitty's only.

since she turned 3, sometimes katie can act a little crazy and emotional. but lately she has been getting better. she still has trouble staying in her room when it's bed time. katie doesn't understand why mom and dad can stay up and watch the doctor shows. lots of times right before bed, katie makes her mom tell her a story, and read a book, and sing a song, take her for a ride in the car, and finally lay next to katie's bed on the ground. this usually doesn't get katie to bed but it makes katie happy.

i think she is making fun of dada here

so this is love...

even a princess needs milk

ready for bed

disney songs

katie loves to play "step in time" from mary poppins with mom. she makes mom play burt and katie is mary. mom loves to play burt and does lots of silly dancing. katie likes to play over and over again. mama also does a good job at playing gaston and katie plays belle when they go to the park. dada says mom should play the beast next time. katie is also great at pretending she is snow white, ariel, cinderella, and sleeping beauty. she acts out lots of parts from the movies and sings all the songs. her favorites are "part of your world", "sing sweet nightingale", "dream is a wish", "whole new world", and "whistle while you work". she can't whistle yet but she tries. right now she is sweeping the front room and singing the song word for word. she's telling the squirrels to put the dirty plates in the tub.

katie's new class started a few weeks ago. miss mandy is still one of the teachers. miss maria is her other teacher. the class has new kids so katie has made some new friends, like piper, ben, and hayden. she is excited because she invited them to her birthday party in a couple weeks. katie is going to be three years old.

katie's shoes

we go outside

drawing with chalk

playing with mama

outside

rocks at house next door

the backward wand

she's been very tired. she likes to lay with her pillow pet and her giraffe. she also likes her paci. mommy and daddy tell her she's a big girl and doesn't need a paci, but katie says she wants it. and don't forget ice water. not juice punch but ice water. katie needs her ice water when she goes to sleep. maybe she drinks it at night. tonight she will watch belle. and the beast. he's okay.

katie has good ideas. she wanted to blow bubbles and her mommy helped her get it ready. katie had fun and wanted to hold the wand backwards. she was very good at catching the bubbles on the wand. tonight katie gets to help her daddy put up a tent in the backyard. she wants to go in it. her daddy wants her to take her sparkly shoes off first. katie wants her sparkly shoes on.

on grandpa's shoulders

shannon brought a easter bunny

time for candy

the easter tree and our kitty cat

stinky eggs

easter eggs

easter

the truth

today katie had school. miss mandy was there. and there were some bugs they brought in. katie saw them and touched them. there were ladybugs maybe. no bumble bees though! and miss brook. she was there.

katie's daddy saw a broken leaf on the floor by the plant. he thought boo kitty tore it. katie told them that she did it. he told her about taking care of our plants. they are kind of like family. then he told her he was happy she told him.

mommy put a dress on katie and they went to the store. katie gets to shop for new tappies. her black tappy shoes are tooo small. maybe she will get a new purple dress. and mom can get a purple dress. and boo can get a purple dress. nooo. boo doesn't wear a dress!

spring vacation

katie loves stickers and can use every sticker on a sheet in just a couple minutes. she likes to stick stickers on people. she stuck a bunch on mom's butt today and she almost went to the store with them on.

today she is going to grandma's house to spend the night. mom and dad are going on a vacation. that is what dad said and mom gave him a look. kinda like grumpa. or sneezy. she likes sneezy. katie will have fun with grandma and grandpa and jake and kristen. she gave dad a hug and kiss before she left to their house. katie will see him later.

the sleeping krueger

watching patrick swazie on donnie darko and i can't believe he's dead. but he is and that is that. i'll be dead soon. or too. i'll be camping soon too. well, as soon as the cold is gone. the winter is so long. i try and spent a lot of time on the elliptical, but then i end up spending too much time in the fridge. holidays don't help. there is always some great and delicious candy or treat that each holiday has, and that i'm just hooked on. this makes it hard. my will power is just zero on some days.

i was with katie last week while kim was in vegas. we had a good time except that she was pretty sick the whole time. we didn't get to do much except watch jungle book and lay around on the couch. she kept in good spirits though. now donnie is about to burn down jim cunningham's house. can't wait!

been working a lot lately. going in on weekends and so on. hopefully i can retire with my company. i seriously doubt i can last that long with one job. who is able to do that these days? did i mention how excited i am to go climbing and hiking and camping this year. i really can't wait to go with katie. i hope that all works out. i know she'd love it. i also know...actually, i don't know what i was going to say. started talking to tom.

it's been so cold. and cold. some snow. and cold. i can't wait until spring/summer, but i also can't wait until kim and i can buy a condo in cali as a nice winter home. kids might have to be out of the house by then. well, i guess we might have to have kids first. then they can leave the house. yeah we have katie, but katie needs a brother. or sister. now donnie found out that the chinese girl is in love with him.

and tom is sleeping on the couch. i'd like to fall asleep here, but i won't. it's a long drive home. and it's 11;42. i think about eating too much. counting calories is what i need to start doing. figuring out what certain items equal. tom can't stay awake longer than 5 minutes. he's not used to staying up this late. me, i'm always up til at least 3 on weekend nights. well, i should probably be a nice guy and take off so he can go up to his loving wife and sleep. here comes a drive.

donnie is wearing a skeleton costume and kisses his girlfriend. and this time he is not rejected.

the nothing

climbing is well over. ended back in october i suppose. i really can't wait until the snow goes bye-bye. just yesterday i made a list of the thirteen (or so) 14ers i'd like to climb next year. why thirteen? well i did thirteen this year. and that sounds about right to me and the mrs. although i'm getting out of shape again. i've been hittin' our new elliptical machine lately, but slacking in other areas.

man, i'm watching inglorious basterds. this is brutal. the violence i mean. also i can't type because so much of it is in french and german so i have to keep looking up, or try and type and read the subtitles.

okay so i wrote all of that days ago. i certainly don't have this blogging thing in me like i used to. inglorious basterds was decent, but isn't a tarantino classic in my mind. what i did like was avatar, along with everyone else in the world. saw it on 3d imax. well, the wannabe imax at the promenade, but 3d nonetheless. now i'm just watching john locke come out of the woods and pull a knife out of someone. we bought lost season 5 to get us all primed for feb when the last season starts. i read obama moved his state of the union so it won't conflict with the season premier. anyway, such things are trivial.

christmas was nice. katie had a good time. met up with my bro and his fam today to exchange gifts. lots of good stuff. lots of good going around. we picked up an elliptical

machine and i've been trying hard to spend time on it to get ready and climb mountains this summer. it's pretty rough though when folks are bringing over delicious marshmallow rice-crispy caramel gobs of heaven. i should be on it now but i'm vegging and watching lost.

i haven't been diggin' this winter. the cold has been bad. some days unbearable. this past week the driver side window got stuck halfway down. it took two days to fix. it's hard to describe how bad the drive to work was.

katie really likes her little pre-school class. she was having withdrawals during the winter break. i've noticed some good results here and there from her being in the class. and i know she really enjoys being there with her teachers and friends. this year will be fun because we plan to take her on her first camping trip. i feel she's just going to fall in love. and probably have a rough time falling asleep. well, goodnight.

fun-filled day at the north pole (colo springs)

on the train

dad and katie flying high