burtons gone WILD!

In celebration of our 3rd anniversary, Stephen took Kate and me on a safari! Kate loved watching the animals...at one point, she stuck her head out the window and attempted to strike up a conversation with a herd of water buffalo. A wonderful time was had by all!

excuse me, can you give me directions to the nearest starbucks?

hey, look! it's uncle adam!

the hay's a little dry if you ask me

giraffic jam

It's hard to tell, but the giraffes are actually walking between two lanes of moving cars. Below is the shot I took looking directly out of the passenger window as this big guy made his way through. So neat!

HELP!!!!

ride-a-horsie

daddy makes some new friends

kate's turn!

time to cool off

After enjoying the safari, the carousel, and the petting zoo, it was time to cool down. Kate loved all the fountains!

happy daddy day!

Kate and I took a vote and Stephen ranks Number 1 on our Most Favorite Guy list. Here's just a few reasons why:

Nobody makes Kate laugh the way her daddy does

Stephen has more integrity in his pinky than I could ever hope to have

He lives to please God first and us second

He looks really funny when he dances around with a shirt on his head

He understands that, sometimes, we girls just need a good cry

He sees the bright side no matter what

He loves us even when we're acting ever so slightly unloveable

Happy Father's Day, Stephen!Tap, Tap, Tap

our latest addition

Since starting our home business, it has become increasingly necessary to invest in a little home office stuff. Our first purchase...this lovely armoire. (We stained it ourselves, so don't look too closely!). It's pretty basic, but it's still a major improvement over what we had before (our "ghetto" office consisted of three TV trays lined up together). We'd love to hear your comments, but only if they're nice!

where's kate????

I was washing dishes the other day while Kate played. I could hear her giggling and scooting about, but when I looked up, Kate had seemingly disappeared. Hmmm...wherever could she be?

there she is!

look who's movin'!

So this past Friday, Kate and I paid daddy a visit at church. She was playing in the worship center when a friend of ours asked if she was crawling yet. "No," I said, "but she's really close." About that time, I look down and there is our own Miss Kate just a scootin' along...crawling! Just like that little stinker to make a liar out of me! We knew she was getting close, but geez louise! She just took off! Here's a photo montage of her latest achievement...enjoy!

GOING...

GOING...

GONE!

if at first you don't succeed.....

Like I said before, Kate is really working on the whole crawling bit. She's getting closer everyday, but we're still not quite there. It's that pesky left foot that keeps getting caught under her rump that's causing all the problems! Life is just full of challenges.

blog withdrawal

Okay, people. You can stop with the steady stream of blog requests. We're back. Yes, I know we've been MIA for awhile now, but life got a little out-of-control busy there for a few weeks, and the blog took a hit. But, we're up and running once more, and I'd like to give you a little update on Miss Kate.

• Kate will be 8 months old this Sunday
• Her new "tricks" include coughing on cue, waving bye-bye, whispering da-da-da-da, picking up her cereal with two fingers, playing peek-a-boo
• We're working on crawling. Kate does really well getting up on all fours, but she's a bit lost after that.
• Despite all of the pain and frustration of teething, Kate does not yet have a single tooth to show for her efforts.
• She is still the cutest thing I've ever seen and the best part of my day everyday.

So, my apologies on the delay. We'll do better.

potatoes or carrots?

Kate had her first real taste of grown-up food the other day, and just like all good Russells...she prefers the straight-up carbs. That's my girl.

fun in the sun!

Nana and Pops were down last week and we took a few minutes to take in the beach. Kate is still not a huge fan of the waves (notice her scrunched up toes when the waves come in), but she's plenty happy to hang out in Pops arms.

where's kate????

there she is!