Catherine's Capers: January 2010

Hello and Happy New Year to all of our blog fans!! I have to admit I have been pretty bad at keeping up with Cat's blog this past year!! BUT, that is because I have felt so good and have spent so much less time sick and bored in bed!! I am still feeling great, but am going to try to post at least a few times a month from now on!! I am going to do our first 2010 post soon, but since it has been so long since you have gotten to see Miss Cat's shining face, I am going to do a little recap of the last 7 months! Here is what you missed:

At the end of May, we made the LONG drive to Indiana and Ohio to visit Daddy's family!! Aunt Claire went with us to entertain me!! We had such a great time and did lots of cool stuff!! Here I am with my Aunt Claire and Uncle Nathan at the Indianapolis Zoo!!

I thought King's Island in Ohio was AWESOME, but I was very upset that I was too small to go on a roller coaster!! Maybe next time!!

In Ohio we stayed with Aunt Sue and Uncle Cecil - they spoiled me to death!! Uncle Cecil makes a great playmate and he sneaks me candy!!

Meme and Poppy went with us to a Cincinnati Reds game!! I thought it was awesome, especially the food!!

In June, Mommy had an Alpha Delta Pi reunion at UWF. There were lots of sisters there that Mommy hadn't seen in soooo long and she was soooo excited to show me off!! Here we are at the picnic:

Mommy's ADPi sister Jen has a little girl just my age and we hit it off right away!! There was a stage set up in the grill and Addy and I took it over so we could show off our moves!!

I love when Mommy's ADPi sister Ginny-Beth come to visit us from Utah! She is one of my favs!!

Mommy and Daddy got to go to dinner all by themselves while I stayed with Cookie and Papa!! I think they had fun!!

Later in June, Daddy and Papa took Mommy to see some new doctors at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I spent a whole week with Cookie and we had soooo much fun!! We spent a day at the beach, which including breakfast (an old Carnley family tradition)!!

We spent the night at Baboo's cabin on Coldwater Creek! I loved playing in the water and hanging out by the campfire at night!! And I got to sleep in the big bed with Lauren!!

We swam at both Bab's and Ethel's pools!! I caught a cricket in Ethel's!!

When I got home from my week with Cookie, Mommy and Daddy had a surprise for me - A BIG GIRL BED!! Good thing because I was worn out!! Oh and Mommy met a great new hematologist at Mayo and now sees him every three months!!

June was such a pretty month outside!! I really enjoyed exploring and playing with my family!! Mommy caught this picture of me swinging at Cookie and Papa's house one beautiful afternoon!

July was a busy month. First, we had the 4th of July. Mommy, Daddy, and I watched fireworks and did some sparklers with our good friends The Vaughans!! Aidan and I enjoyed it a lot!! We had our annual party at Aunt Barbara's and Uncle Eric's, but Mommy forgot the camera - oops!!

A few days later Mommy went into surgery to get a Neurostimulator (click here for more info) placed in her spinal cord. This was a long planned surgery to help relieve Mommy of some of her abdominal pain!! She had a great pain management doc, a great surgeon, and a team of people from Medtronics there to ensure everything went well!! It was a tough surgery and recovery, so I spent some time with Cookie and Papa, Daddy, and Baboo. These pics tell all:

August was a great month!! Mommy was healing from her surgery and the Stimulator was helping soooo much, she didn't have to take ANY more pain medicine!! We spent a lot of time hanging out as a family!! Here I am swimming at the beach!!

Wading with Aidan after dinner at Flounders. Soon after this, we both fell in and ended up swimming in pull-ups :)

I started school again in August, too!! This was my first day back and Daddy came from work to walk me in!!

I also started ballet classes at Labelle Performing Arts. Mommy's friend Jeannie owns it and it is a fabulous studio!!

September was a very hard month for our family, so we are just going to share two pictures. Daddy's cousin and friend, Kevin Michael Griffin, passed away on September 22, 2009. He was 23 years old and had a beautiful new wife, very loving parents, a great brother, and lots of family a friends who loved him! Here are some pictures of Kevin when he and Darla visited us in August.

These pictures are on a shelf in my room and I tell Mommy that Kevin is my angel in heaven!!

October was a beautiful month and the weather was perfect for playing outside!! We spent a lot of evenings hanging out in the driveway watching Cat "drive" her cars!!

We took a trip out to the "Corn Maze" in Milton where I rode this super cool cow train!!

Mommy and Daddy took me to Melting Pot for a special treat - FONDUE and dinner with the LeSage/Goldstien clan!!

I loved all of the Halloween preparations, but I did not want anything to do with any "scarey-crows"

On Halloween Day, Cookie planned tons of activities for me and my friend B!! Aren't we cute??

Here I am "Trick-or-Treating in my Wall-E costume that Mommy and Daddy made!!

In November, I got to perform at the Gulf Coast Arts Festival in Pensacola with my ballet class!! We danced to "Little Fishies" and were sooo cute!! I LOVED being on stage!!

I turned 3 this year and my birthday celebration started off with Sunday Lunch at Baboos!! I loved my "special, special cake" aka a cake made without milk or eggs!!!

The next weekend I had a great party at my house!! It was a Hello Kitty Themed ARTY PARTY!! Mommy's friend Ms Leah came and did an art lesson with me and all my friends!! Then we ate cake and played outside on my birthday present!!! Keep scrolling to see it!! Pic courtesy of Tiffany Vaughan Photography

This was my BIG birthday present!! It too Daddy, Mr Dave, and Papa three full days to build!! I LOVE IT!!

On Thanksgiving, we ate at Cookie and Papa's house!! My favorite foods this year were roasted pecans and olives :)

December was such a fun month!! Daddy graduation from the NCO Academy and Mommy and Papa got to go to his graduation party!!

We are soooo proud of him!!

Mommy and I did Christmas activites every single day, I met Santa 3 times, and I decided that I was a reindeer!! Here I am in my Christmas Eve Party Dress!!