Sad News

We have some sad news to share, on September 6th Kate's great grandaddy, Vicente Hurtarte, passed away. A visitation was held here in North Carolina and his funeral and burial were held in Guatemala City. He is missed, but we are thankful that he was able to see his first two great granddaughters. We love you.

Scarlett's Dedication

We atteneded Scarlett's baby dediction a few weeks ago-she is such a little princess. Here are all the girls with Great Grannie and then me with the guest of honor. Kate loves Scarlett. As you can see above, I had to hold her back from grabbing her sleeping cousin.

Happy Birthday Nonni!

Kate's Great Grandma Mary celebrated her 80th birthday September 16th. We flew to New York over the weekend to celebrate and attend a lovely party in her honor. Even though Nonni was the focus of the party, I think Kate was the belle of the ball! Everyone looked lovely and Kate was especially enamored with her fancy bracelet. She thought that banging her wrist on the table was the most fascinating thing ever! Kate finally went to sleep about 10 pm after entertaining everyone with her smiles. We hope you had a wonderful birthday Nonni! We were glad to celebrate with you.

First Flight

New York here I come!

Kate was great on her first airplane trip. Bill Cowher was on the plane to New York and Kate kept looking at him and smiling as he stood behind us in line to board (we were not one of those couples that say, "can you hold our baby and let us take a picture?"). It will be a good story to tell her one day. Kate also loved to look out the window as we were landing.

Football is Here!

We are very excited that football season is here. Even though none of our college teams are very exciting to watch right now, we have fun on Sundays watching the Panthers and the Giants. Thanks to Kate's friend Dillon, Kate even has the appropriate clothes for a football watching afternoon. Go Giants!

The Digital Age

As teachers, Jeff and I often discuss how technology has completely changed kids and the way we go about teaching them. In some ways it seems to make the job harder and other ways it makes the job easier. Kate is already enamored wih the computer. Anytime our laptops are out she wants to type and stare at the screen. It's the best way to get her to play on her tummy! I just have to be careful that my email is not up. I can't imagine what technology will be like when she's a teenager. I hope Jeff and I can keep up. An update on daycare-Kate is doing great! She loves her teachers and is ready to play as soon as we get there. Thanks to all of you who have encouraged us with sweet notes and calls and have prayed for an easy transition. God has given our family a lot of peace.

First Day of School (Sort of)

Kate had her first day at day care on Friday. Here she is getting ready for the big day. She handled it much better than her mom and dad. Of course, everyone loved her. We only worked half the day, so we picked Kate up and went out to lunch to celebrate. Hopefully next week will go just as well.

Wyche Boys

After we left Topsail we headed south to visit friends of ours and their three boys. We had a great time visiting with this special family. It was the first time Kate met our godson and his brothers. Here is our godson with his aunt.

Beach Baby in Action

Kate was so brave. She had a great time playing with Mom and Dad in the water. The weather was wonderful all week.

Bikini Baby

Here is Kate showing off her bikini!
Kate enjoyed spending time with her cousin, she smiled and laughed and cooed every time she saw Scarlett. Isn't Scarlett cute!
Kate has her Hawaiian dress on-it is really from Hawaii-hopefully we'll take her there one day.

Kate is 6 Months Old

We're back from our two week vacation to New York, Topsail Island, and Ocean Isle. We had a wonderful time visiting with famiy and friends. We are blessed to have so many people to love and to love us. Kate was the best traveler! We celebrated Jeff's 30th birthday during our trip and Kate managed to stick her hand in both of Jeff's cakes!



Kate is 6 months old today. She weighs 14 pounds and 5 ounces and is almost 26 inches long. She did great at her doctor's visit today-she's going to have two teeth pretty soon! We are loving every moment of being her parents. Here are a few pictures from New York, I'll put beach pictures up as soon as I can.

Here we are at Aunt Gina's beautiful home and visiting with Uncle Barry, Aunt Adele, and cousin Heather below.


Thankfully, Kate's Nana and Mimi (great grandmother Mary) kept Kate for us so Jeff and I could go into New York City for a couple of days. Here we are at a Mets game.

Visits and Visitors

Sorry for the slow updates-we've been busy with visitors and visiting others. Uncle David came to visit and brought Kate some cool new Nike onsies. Thanks Uncle Dave! Then we visited a few friends from Jeff's hometown, including Kate's new friend Evie. Here are a few pictures from our travels. Over the next few weeks we are on the road again with a visit to New York and then to Topsail Island with my (Maria's) side of the family. We'll update when we can!

Butterflies

We took a trip to the the Life and Science Museum in Durham with some friends of ours and their son Jack. We mainly went to see the Butterfly House. Both kids seemed to notice the butterflies and tried to grab them. The butterflies were saved by the quick hands of their parents. It was a fun outing for everyone-complete with a trip for ice cream at Goodberry's.



One decided to rest on Jack's head!

Ocean Adventures

The Costa family left Friday to spend a few day's in Emerald Isle on the coast of North Carolina. Nana and Uncle David joined us on Sunday. We stayed on the the sound side in a beautiful house owned by friends of ours. We are so grateful to them for letting us use it. We had good weather-not too hot. Kate enjoyed all of her ocean adventures and has finally gotten used to being in cool water. Here is our little star-relaxing in the sunshine!

Here we are at the beach-Kate was not at all scared of the sounds and sights. I think she liked the feel of sand between her toes!


Here is Kate "boating". Jeff and I had so much fun playing in the water with her.