Water Paints

This was after we realized the water paints were not washable (who makes non-washable paints for kids anyway??)

Kate's Obession with Noah (and her other cousins)

Kate LOVED spending time with all her cousins in Michigan. Here she is with Noah, who she particularly idolizes.

Here she is with Anna, showing off Anna's nail-painting job.


Kate and her cousin Jessica

With Uncle Mike

Kate and Noah playing My Little Ponies (You can kind of notice in this picture that Kate's front two teeth are grayish colored. She fell a few weeks ago and cut her lip pretty badly. She cried for a while when it happened, but I didn't think too much of it because she tends towards the melodramatic and will cry equally hard over a hang nail...Well, last week, her top two teeth started to turn darker. Paul took her to a pediatric dentist this week, who said there is not anything we can do at this point - they're not infected and they may turn back lighter or they might stay dark until she loses them. I'm not too thrilled about the prospect of her having 2 gray teeth for the next 3-4 years, but at least she didn't knock them out. Paul tells me I need to quit talking about it, because I'm giving her a complex. She keeps going to the mirror and saying "Yup, they keep getting darker...")

Can you tell that Kate is used to the hot, humid DC summers and not the 68 degree Michigan weather?

Trip to Michigan

We spent last week in Michigan at a house in Grand Haven with my parents and brother Tim and his family. We also got to spend some time in Grand Rapids with Paul's family. We all had a great time, especially Kate, who idolizes her cousins. We also got to meet my brother Mike and his wife Danielle's new baby, Lucas.



Papa Marsiglia and Kate

Grandma Marsiglia and Kate

Grandpa and Grandma Gray and Kate

The Marsiglia clan (Mike, Aidan, Tim, Mom, Dad, Danielle, Lucas, Noah, Jill, Jacob, me, Paul and Kate)

The Marsiglia cousins (Lucas, Noah, Jacob, Kate and Aidan)


Kate was less scared of the water and sand this year than last year :)

Third Birthday

Kate turned 3 on Tuesday - she's been looking forward to it for about the last 4 months (talking about it nearly every day), so she was very excited when Tuesday came. Here she is with the umbrella she got from Uncle Mike and Aunt Danielle, which she loves.




Kate "waiting" for her birthday presents to arrive.





Cupcakes at school - our friend makes cakes and cupcakes as a business and made the cupcakes for Kate's birthday. Kate's order: "brown bread and pink and yellow frosting with princess hats"

Some Summer Pictures

On the slide at Pinecrest Park



At the fountain in downtown Silver Spring

At the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens

Tessa, Andrew and Kate getting ready for the Woodmoor neighborhood parade

At the parade





Face-painting at the parade

Almost Three

Kate and Dad at the National Zoo

Moon bounce with the neighborhood kids

Lars and Kate on the moon bounce

Kate (as she told us) "going to work so I can pay my bills."




Kate and her baby "Alulia" - no idea where she came up with that name.

There is no such thing as a chocolate chip cookie that is too big.

Kate on the carousel at Wheaton Regional Park

At the National Zoo on Mother's Day


As Kate nears three years old (!), she continues to amuse us with her strong opinions and (probably unintentionally) funny comments.

For example, I picked her up from school last week and her teacher told me that she had invited all of her class and all the teachers to her house for her birthday party and to listen to "party music." I found this to be both funny and potentially embarrassing considering the fact that she appears to be planning her own party and I guess this means that now we will be hosting a party for her whole preschool class.

When I asked her what she meant by "party music," her reply was, "You know, like the ones on the computer and this one: "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Kate!"

We've had a pretty busy spring so far. Grandma Marsiglia came to visit and Kate was really sad to see her (and all her undivided attention) go. I felt really sad when a few days after she left, Kate wanted to show Grandma something and I told her that we wouldn't be seeing Grandma again for a while. Kate then said "Why not? Can't we see her on Skype?" :)