English and North Pole Visitors!

Lee came to visit! After a comical arrival of errors, Lee landed on our door step on Wednesday evening. Friday was a beautiful day in the city and an important appointment with Santa was scheduled for Saturday. Catherine was decked out in her new duds. The whole thing went just about as well as the visit to the Easter Bunny last spring...afterward she settled for a costume change and a nice walk with her new friend, Lee-chan.

Two ladies...

A jaunt to Berkeley to see our ladies Laura and Bridget gave us a nice spot to warm up in the afternoon sun!


Following the lead of the Moes - a few things that Catherine is chatting about these days:

Tonight she said, "Pizza!" and "Banana" (although it sounded like "mana") She also says:

Mommy's shoes!

Daddy's seat!

Thank you! (Mostly in ASL)

Please

Nice!

Uh-oh!, Oh no!, and Alright!

Ball

Pumpkin

Book

Several animal noises including "arf!" and a monkey sound that comes with gestures.

Jack, Jess, Pete!

Matt

Missy

Elle (although, sometimes it sounds like eel - working on that one!)

The ever popular: Daddy, Mommy, Mimi, Poppa - we're also still working on grandma, rusty, christopher, aidan and daniel!



She also talks ALL the time about things that only she really should tell you about. Or, things that only she CAN tell you about!



Catherine also has some good new tricks: she can walk on the balance beam, swing from the monkey bars, kick a soccer ball and she and her dad check the mail together every day. She also knows the hokey pokey and if she's feeling frisky, will break it down to a little Beyonce!

We've come a long way...

Halloween 2008 was slightly different...

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Catherine loved dressing up as a frog and hanging with her two friendly witches. She did great walking up to the doors and then would sit on the sidewalk to check her inventory.

Saylor

Christopher, Megan and Elle welcomed Saylor Kay Pierson to the family on October 19th. It hasn't been a typical first week of life outside of her mom's belly for little Saylor. Her little heart has needed some extra TLC at the hands of some wonderful medical staff at the Children's Hospital in both Orange County and LA. Saylor's heart is finally able to help her lungs. Prayers, thoughts, good vibes or whatever your gig is are all appreciated as she continues down and long road and to earn the nickname "Rocky".
Updates can be found:
www.saylorkaypierson.com

Locomotive Engineers

Elle and Catherine were pretty much in charge of the MetroLink last night in Irvine. Everyone got home on time and after work, Elle and Catherine relaxed by playing on the pirate ship and sliding down the tongue of a giant whale. WOW! Whatta day.

Wedding in Napa

A great weekend celebrating JD and Lauren Brosnan's wedding in Napa.


Photos by Mrs. Hoversen!

We have been busy! Grandma and Pappa Boland came all the way from North Carolina to stay with us for a short but very fun week at the end of September. We managed to makes stops in San Francisco, Los Gatos, San Ramon and Monterey! Catherine LOVES when she has all 4 of her favs with her to spoil her!

Busy Weekend for the Bean

What a fun-filled and action-packed weekend! On Saturday morning Catherine and Sarah got a green thumb and filled our yard with beautiful fall flowers. Then it was off to the gym, where the Bean couldn't get enough of the slide and the ball pit. On Saturday night we went out for pizza and then on a whim stopped by downtown Walnut Creek to enjoy the Walnut Festival parade. Today we headed to Oakland for the final time this season for a little tailgating fun with the Scheid family before watching the A's complete a sweep of the Indians. Go A's! After all that fun, the little one didn't have much left. She was asleep almost before we got out of the parking lot! All that fun is just exhausting!

A Blurry Monday....

Ahhh, and so we come to one of our final Monday FunDays of the summer. With school rapidly approaching, Cat and I took this last opportunity to share a new adventure together - and it went by in a blur! Mainly that was a result of Catherine not sitting still for a single second on this week's adventure to Studio Grow in Concord, and indoor activity center for kids 0 - 6. When we arrived, Cat headed straight for the baby dolls, grabbed two, and dragged them onto the dance floor with her. After we danced a few songs, it was off to the ball pit, where Catherine waded around and picked up virtually every ball in there, held them up one at a time, and proudly exclaimed, "Ba!" We slowed things down a bit in the reading room, but there were so many choices she had a hard time sticking with just one.... We ended our trip with the Bean's first rides down a slide! She had a great time, laughing all the way down and then immediately turning and trying to climb back up the slide. As you can see, Cat lived it up on this Monday, and the fun flew by in a blur.

It's Monday, so it's FunDay!!!

Another Monday, another FunDay with the Bean! This one started out a bit rough, with vaccinations at 9:00 as part of the little one's check-up. After a 3 hour nap, it was off to Pixieland in Concord, where Catherine got to hang out with the ducks. She kept repeating "duckie!" over and over while we fed them bagels and bread. Afterwards, the Bean took us for a drive in a classic car and then we toured the park in the Pixieland Express. All aboard! A great day and an effective way to get your mind off of teething and achy legs where the nurse stuck you with needles!

A lot of photos from Tahoe but this one is hot off the presses thanks to the Dixons!

Monday FunDay!!

Bean and Dad's latest Monday field trip started out in Berkeley with a "world-famous" fried chicken sandwich from Bakesale Betty, where lunch is served on old ironing boards. Then it was off to Tilden Park, where we took in a view of the entire Bay Area before heading over to the carousel for a ride. Catherine was rather unimpressed with the ride itself, but she had a grand ol' time waving to all of the animals afterwards. Tune in next week for another exciting adventure!!

Field Trip

Ahhhh Oakland..... Where else can you visit a cathedral and hang out with Snow White on the very same day? The Bean and I love our summer field trips!!

One Day with Lots of Action!

On Friday morning with Catherine slumbering in San Ramon, Sarah and Scott hit the road for Los Angeles with plans to take in some fun at Universal Studios and hang out with Aretha Franklin!

Universal Studios was very fun! We hit the new Simpson's ride (twice!), freaked out on the Mummy ride and had our stomachs drop on the Jurassic Park ride. We also ran into some old friends (see below).

Aretha Franklin was absolutely FANTASTIC. She sang everything that we were hoping and more. Her voice was amazing and she was in rare form, cracking jokes, telling stories and even sat down at the piano to just play and chat with the crowd. She also gave props to the celebs in the crowd: Jesse Jackson, Billy D!, Angela Basset and Halle Berry. So you know, that was all very fun b/c the closest we came to a star earlier in the day was running into The Scoob and Shaggy!

Picnic in the Park!

Catherine toured local parks this weekend to test out which grass was the best for walking. The jury is still out! The photos below are all from today's picnic to celebrate Grandma Drain's birthday. The girls had a good time hugging and walking (well...) and eating blueberries! We know the slideshow is large but some of the pics are better a tad bigger...maybe we're biased?!

Catherine's Birthday Party!

Wow..first tenpanyakki and then a party in the park! What's next? Well, a party at the Beach in NC but we'll have more on that in July! We had a great day today celebrating Catherine's 1st birthday with some friends and family. Check out more pictures from the day...

Happy 1st Birthday, Catherine Hannah!

Catherine couldn't decide on our taking her out for a meal or a show. Meal or show? Meal or Show? So, her dad thought that maybe this was the perfect time to introduce the bean to tenpanyakki! There was fire! There was smoke! There were people signing happy birthday and giving her ice cream!

We are so amazed at our little girl and can't believe that she is o-n-e. If you're feeling nostalgic and would like to take a quick trip down memory lane, click here or here or here!

All done? Wave your hands!!

As we near her first birthday, Catherine Hannah is finally starting to pick up some signs! Here she is with "All Done!" and a bit of a wave "Bye!"

Catherine "Crash" Drain

Kids grow up so fast these days.... With Catherine's first birthday rapidly approaching, we can't believe she's already behind the wheel... of a bus!!

Mother's Day started on Saturday afternoon when Scott, Jonas and Pete planned a few hours at the spa for me, Katie and Jess. A surprise for all three of us, we were thankful for our girl time! On Sunday, Scott and Catherine went to Noah's to get my favorite coffee and a tasty blueberry muffin to start my day. Then I learned that they had been shopping at Tiffany! Our nickname for Catherine is "The Bean" and in honor of that, they bought me a Bean necklace. Such a special and sweet surprise! In the afternoon - off to the A's game to celebrate Green & Gold Style followed by a BBQ at the Drains. Enjoy - we did!

P.S. To see more photos of Catherine at her first A's game of the season with her friend Jack, click here.

Post-Bath Bliss

We have some new words! Catherine has been saying "Hi" for about two weeks and toward the end of last week, she added "Bye!" to her vocabulary. She always accompanies these words with a wave but she seems to think that "bye!" is something that is said at any time of day: while reading a book, while bathing, while crawling around on the floor...! She has been saying "Dada" for quite a while and on Monday when Sarah walked in the house she said, "Hi, Mom!" while waving. Finally, just today she dropped her bottle and added, "Uh-oh!" Tonight that was the word of choice, edging "bye!" into second place. Did we say "finally"? We know it's just the beginning of this little chatter bug's vocabulary!

Dinner Time

Sometimes dinner is so good, it's worth rubbing all over your face!!

rocking out with dad

Dance Jams!

Monterey and Easter Trips

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation to Monterey, where Catherine spent some quality time with all of her fish friends. We even took a side trip to the 18th green at Pebble Beach so she could start practicing in anticipation for next year's U.S. Open. On Easter we went to Aunt Joan's house, where "the Bean" got to hang out with her cousin Elle and participate in her first Easter egg hunt. Fun times! -

Taking a Stand

Dad got a gift card, and with that gift card, Dad bought a new video camera. Catherine took the opportunity to show off her standing skills for her new and expanding audience..... This is pretty common for Catherine these days, continually bouncing from one object (or parent) to the next....

Catherine the Quick

With each passing day, the little lady gets a bit more confident in her crawling strides, and she can go longer and longer distances without stopping for a break. Of course, when Mom is at the end of the hallway with a camera, there's an added motivation....

Redevelopment

The first recorded evidence to suggest that Catherine might one day be a talented architect - or at least skilled in the art of demolition!!

Turkey Who?

Today was Catherine's 9 month appointment with Dr. Lam. She was very excited to see her doctor and show her how she can stand and giggle. She weighs 18lbs 13 oz and is 2'5" tall. That is one tall and lean bean!

What was most exciting about the visit was that her friends Tom, Tom, Tom and Tom's two sisters (Tamalia and Tamalia) showed up to make sure Catherine had a ride home. What nice turkeys!

The Tiny Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I found this leprechaun reading about sushi and drinking green milk this morning. She likes to be culturally diverse in her celebrations.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The tradition lives on (see last year's eggs)! This year the French Guy surprised me with eggs in bed. French Guy also looks a heck of a lot better first thing in the morning hence no photo of both of us! Bean is still asleep as I type but I'm sure by the end of the day there will be a photo of her here, too! Hope everyone has a little green today...

Catherine made some new friends!

A rainy day turned into a sunny day at Academy of Science in San Francisco! Catherine loved seeing all of the fish and all of the people (of course)!

Cat the Crawler

The little lady is on the move - no one can stop her now!!

Some January shots with our new camera

Ohh, the life of a baby....pose for photos, pass out from exhaustion. Pose for photos, pass out from exhaustion. It's just so tiring!!