The Iowa Hawkeye Party Dance

This is funny! Thanks to Matt for sharing!! I'm ready for some football!

Back From Disney

My favorite little mouse! Katie and I went to Orlando on August 3rd and had such a great time!

While waiting in line, Katie took a lot of self portraits!

Learning the tricks of being a Princess from the ultimate Princess

It was really hot while we were in Florida, but we managed to have a good time! Here we are waiting for our cousins to get off of a ride!

Katie the Adventurer... she wanted to climb the rock wall, and although she couldn't get to the top, she had fun and did really well.

We just spent a very hot week in Florida at Disney World. Katie and I planned our trip last winter and have been looking forward to it ever since. We flew to Orlando on August 3rd and immediately went Disney all the way! We went to the Magic Kingdom and had breakfast with the Princesses. That was a pretty expensive meal, considering Katie was so enthralled with the Princesses that she had about 2 bites of her scrambled eggs and two glasses of chocolate milk.

We were very happy to learn that Aunt Connie and Uncle Dave and most of their family were going to be at Disney World when we were there. We were able to meet up with them at Magic Kingdom, the water park, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. It made our trip even more special!!

Breaking New Ground

So, this week, we broke ground on the new Juvenile Law Courthouse. In sweltering heat, the Governor came to help kick off the groundbreaking ceremony. I of course had to have my picture taken with him - if for no other reason than to bug my Republican family. They expect to have the new Courthouse done either in the Summer of 2011 or Spring of 2012 - depending on who you ask.

Having fun with the Hawkeyes!

We have had another great week! On Thursday we got to go have Pizza with Herky at the Iowa women BB game against Minnesota. We asked our neighbor, Natalie if she would like to come with us and it was great! We enjoyed some pizza and then Herky showed up. For those of you who don't know - Katie is terrified of anything that wears a mask. This was quite a feat for me that I got her to stand by Herky! Probably only happened because Natalie was there..... The girls were also given a gift bag full of Hawkeye goodies..... And of course - Tiger Hawk tattoos...

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for getting Katie her Junior Hawk Club membership!! And for the Hawkeyes for completely dominating the Golden Gophers and bringing home a victory!

Best Friends - just hanging out!

Katie getting ready for school. Was just happy this a.m.

We saw the sun again this morning. Who knew that we'd miss it so much when it was gone?

We've been keeping pretty busy here, although the colder it gets the less and less that Katie and I want to go any where!

Katie has been doing wonderfully at school this term. I couldn't be prouder of how hard she's worked this year in her classroom. She was (un)lucky enough to have her mother as her classes guest speaker on President's day. I got to go and read a book to her class (on the Presidents, of course) and to speak about being a lawyer. Then I went and ate lunch with Katie at school. It was lots of fun for me.

Tonight after school Katie started piano lessons. Her teacher looks like she walked out of 1945. She met us at the door and was wearing high heels and a suit. She was very nice and Katie seemed to really enjoy her lessons. I hope that lasts.

Tomorrow we start Lent, the season where we prepare for the resurrection of Christ. Katie and I have decided to give up candy - which sad to say will be harder for me than Katie. She tried to tell me this a.m. how much she LOVES reading and that maybe she should give up reading for Lent. Arghhh.... I'm gonna have to try and stay one step ahead of that kid at all times. It won't be easy the older I get.

One final funny Katie story.... She's been playing a game on the computer with Penguins competing in karate matches. She told me the other day that she was a green belt. So, I sarcastically tell her that I HAVE a black belt. She asked me if i was serious and I said that I was. Well, the little stinker went to school the next day and told her class that I WAS a black belt. She was very upset with me when I came clean with her and told her that my black belt was not the karate black belt. She told me that I lied to her and that her whole class would be disappointed. Guess that one back fired on me, eh???

That's all for now I guess.

Katie the Adventureous

Katie's school picks a student of the week every week and this week Katie won the award for being Adventureous. She was very proud of herself, but her mother was beyond proud. Katie has never been selected for this honor and I was quite pleased.

I was also very proud of Katie today as she was a Cantor at Mass this morning. She was one of six singers who led the congregation in music at Mass. I don't have any pictures of this as I didn't feel that it was appropriate to take pictures during Mass. But we've gone from shy Katie to Katie singing and standing up in front of her whole school (and the middle school).

Celebrating Gma Kathy's birthday

Katie is a huge fan of the TV show Cake Boss and she decided that we needed to make Gma Kathy the best four layer cake ever! So, here it is... a purple/pink strawberry/funfetti four layered cake. She also insisted on candles!
Gma and Katie with the cake Katie made her

Gma trying to make the numbers look better!!

January has been a busy month for Katie and I. We have both been trying to get back into routines and schedules now that the holidays are over. Mother Nature has really tried to keep things shaken up a bit. Katie has missed quite a few days of school due to weather and will probably be going to school into June again this year.

Last weekend we had a special treat - Gma came to stay with us. We wanted to go see the men and women play BB this year and they played on a Thursday/Saturday against PSU so Gma came. Katie loves it because Gma picks her up from school right after school and she doesn't have to go to day care.

This week we had our first ice storm. We completely had a skating rink on our front driveway. It is almost completely melted now, in part thanks to the foggy weather that we've had. We haven't seen the sun in 10 days!!

Christmas Photos.... (Yes, it's almost Feb)

Gma Sis opening her Christmas presents

Andy with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan

Frankie with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan

Marilyn with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan

Katie with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan

Frankie and Uncle Kent

Kelly, Katie and Parker, who looks like he'd like to get the heck out of there

Great Grandma and Marilyn and Katie

Little card sharks - Frankie, Katie and Andy