what we've been up to lately...

Some days you just need to get outside and take a walk, even when it's cold, so we bundled up and went for a wagon ride.  Of course, Kate's babies had to come along too:)

We went back to Frederick Meijer Gardens with our friends Allison and Haven and had a lot of fun.  I think it's great that new butterflies are always hatching and you get to see different ones when you go at different times.

mesmerized by the waterfall

loving her friend:)

After sleeping for almost 3 hours one Friday afternoon, my mom and I found Kate like this in her crib...

little pretzel baby

And here we are playing peek-a-boo at lunch.  Kate likes to cover up her eyes and then 'surprise' me...she's so funny.

SMILE, it's Saturday

Last weekend was Matt's 'golden weekend', meaning he didn't work Saturday or Sunday.  We wanted to take advantage of our time together, so we filled the weekend right up.  We started out with breakfast at Rainbow Grill Saturday morning.  Matt pretty much fell in love with me there, so we thought it would be fun to go back:)

yay for Saturday morning coffee:)

She's already a multi-tasker!

SMILE

After breakfast, Kate and I met my friend Sarah at a mom sale.  Then we headed home for lunch and a nap.  I went for a run during Kate's nap, and once she woke up, we went to my parent's house because Adam was home! We celebrated my mom's and my birthdays with dinner at Rush Creek Bistro.  Kate was hamming it up the entire time.  She will smile on demand now, but it's the super cheesy, nose scrunched up, eyes close smile...I love it!

SMILE!

butterflies

We have a membership to Frederick Meijer Gardens and their annual butterfly exhibit started last weekend.  My mom and I took Kate on Friday morning and it was so fun! We saw so many beautiful creatures and Kate loved running around.  She even looked at a few butterflies:)

Honda family

The Pridgeons have been a Honda family for quite some time.  For the past few years, we've been driving a 1996 Civic and a 2001 Accord.  This has been a pretty rough winter in Grand Rapids, and Matt's car was starting to suffer a little bit.  The poor thing had almost 220,000 miles on it and could barely make it up the hill on Michigan Street (which is how he gets to the hospital).  It was also a 2-door, so we never took Kate anywhere it it.  But, it got fantastic gas mileage and was a great car for our family for a long time.  That time recently came to an end.

Bye, Bye Civic!

the dealer sure shined her up and made her pretty!

Hello CRV!

So far, we are loving our new car, and we even fight over who gets to drive it:) Getting Kate in and out of her car seat is suddenly easier, and I do feel a little safer in the CRV.  It's handled really well in the snow, too (thanks 4WD!).  The extra space will be really nice as our family grows and especially when we go on trips.  With the Accord and the CRV, we're feeling pretty spoiled in the car department right now.

Oh, and our Civic sold in less than a week! Hopefully it's new owners love it as much as we did.

finger painting!

Last Wednesday we had a big snow/ice storm in GR and our weekly Bible study was cancelled.  Kate and I had an unexpected morning at home, so we busted out her new finger paints for some art fun.

Here are her masterpieces:)

fun with daddy

A few pictures taken during Matt's week of nights...

just sitting in my chair, reading a book:)

she's working on using the spoon all by herself 

yummy (and sticky) yogurt

as you might imagine, she needed a bath after this:)

One of the nice things about working the night shift is that we got to have breakfast with daddy in the morning when he got home and dinner with him before he left again in the evening.  Kate probably actually saw more of Matt than she does when he's working days in the PICU since his days are so long.  We will be glad when this month is over!

starting her young...basketball

Matt worked nights in the PICU last week, and things tend to get a little lonely for me when he's gone evenings and nights, so we tried to fill them up as best we could.  Friday night, Kate and I went to a high school basketball game.  East Grand Rapids (where my best friend Sarah's husband coaches) played at Caledonia and it was only a 15 minute drive from our house.  

I packed lots of activities (books, stickers, stuffed animals) in anticipation of Kate not wanting to sit still.  To my wonderful surprise, she was mesmerized by all of the action on the court and sat on my lap for the first 15 minutes.  15 whole minutes! Any of you that know Kate know that this is pretty incredible:) 

EGR was ahead for the entire first half of the game, so it was extra fun to watch.

By the second half of the game, Kate realized that she could indeed get off my lap and walk on the bleachers, but thankfully she still stayed pretty close and I never had to chase her down.  She yelled at the players every time they ran down the court and clapped whenever the crowd clapped (she cheered for both teams:)).

Unfortunately, EGR ended up losing by 1 point right at the end of the game.  I'd say it was still a success for Kate, though.  She seems to favor soccer a little bit right now, but her grandpa was teaching her to shoot a basketball a few weeks ago, so we'll see where she ends up:)