The Curtis Clan - Fall 2004
Autumnal Equinox to Winter Solstice
Merrimac Springs Camping Trip
The fall started with us once again joining several of our neighbors at the Merrimac Springs Campground outside of Saint James, MO for the weekend.
While not as restful as in the past sans children, it was still a good trip. Jane enjoyed several 20-30 minutes kayak float trips and Cate loved hanging out by the campfire in her backpack seat.
We're dreaming of the future where these trips of youthful seasoning will result in happy campers
across the board.
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Big sister Jane looking out after Cate on her first camping trip
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On Saturday afternoon, we made a quick visit to Rolla to have some Alex’s pizza and show the girls the campus.
May they will they be Miners for the class of 2023 and 2025...
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Randy,
Cate and Jane at the UMR Tau Beta Pi bent on CE hill
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Cate at 6 months
The end of September saw Cate hit the 6 months mark, which meant the obligatory trip to the pediatrician for a check-up and vaccines, plus her first round of the flu shot.
She handled it like a pro with minimal crying -- she really is such a laid-back kind of gal!
The vital stats include:
Height: 26 3/4 inches (75+ %-tile)
Weight: 17 pounds, 13 ounces (75 %-tile)
(For reference, Jane was 25 5/8 inches (50 %-tile); and 18 pounds, 4 ounces (90+ %-tile)
It also meant the start of “solid” foods. She started with rice cereal and really seemed to enjoy it.
She now eats food 3 times a day, while still nursing 3 times daily.
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Cate at 6 months eating solid foods
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Cate is gathering no moss, as she has become a rolling stone, moving across the floor. Leaving on the bed even for a moment is a bad idea, though as of yet we’ve had no incidents.
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Bethany and Cate at 6 months
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Block Party - 10 October
It was a beautiful early fall day for our
pot-luck dinner/street party. We had participation from about one third of the 60 houses on Mildred and the 400-700 blocks of Tuxedo.
Representatives of the WG fire and police departments visited and showed off one of the ladder trucks.
It was pleasant meeting the neighbors more than a few houses away, especially as both Randy and Bethany found
they had high school classmates living near by. The old and valued friends we have here was one of the major reasons for adding on to the house last year and not moving elsewhere.
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Bethany and Jane at the Block party
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Late October
Having missed a session, Bethany once again joined the Devil Dogs on the volleyball courts in the Fall.
Nana graciously volunteered to watch the girls every Monday night in our absence
and it has been what might be called a win-win-win-win-win situation, as everyone seemed happy with it.
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Cate, Nana and Jane
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Jane "reading" (i.e. showing) a Clifford book to Cate
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Jane climbing into crib to check on Cate
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One of Jane’s favor pastimes is her sister Cate, although not much the holds attention of a 2 year old for any length of time.
She takes great interest what her sleep status is, informing us of the details (Cate’s awake/asleep).
Frequently the mere act of observing, alters the state of Cate’s sleeping (Heisenberg Uncertain Sibling Principle?).
She’s also fairly attentive of Cate’s wants and will bring her toys and show her books.
Although don’t let the pictures fool you that, Jane is not the perfect older sister.
She’s just as likely to rush across the room and grab a toy from Cate that Jane hasn’t touched in a month, clearly stating that the item is “MINE!”.
Ain't Human Nature grand?
One of the girls other favorite activities is having a “polka party” with Randy carrying them through as many selections of the Best of Frank Yankovitch that his arms can sustain.
Jane has gotten very good at distinguishing the difference of a polka from other
music (not that this skill is in great demand).
Halloween
Here are a couple pictures of the family from Halloween.
The fact that Jane still fit in her costume from last year was the main impetus for this year's rabbit theme for the family.
With some left over bunny ears from past costume parties all that was left was Cate, whose ears came from some inspired sewing from her mother.
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Jane and Cate share a pre-costumed moment
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Cate happily shows off her bunny ears Bethany sewed her
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Randy and the Curtis Hare-m prepare to go Trick-or-Treating
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November
At the neighborhood Block Party, Karen and Dave Henderson offered us their boys play set they had out grown, if we would only remove it. We happily took them up on their offer. With a couple days off for Veteran's Day and the help of some other neighbors and friends (thanks Charlie, John, John and Ben) we moved the fort, swing, slide combination set four backyards. It pretty much takes up our entire lower terrace but the grass didn't really grow that well there anyway. Jane wasted little time playing on it as we reassembled it and then sliding into piles of leaves the next day.
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Randy and Charlie reassembling the with Jane's supervision
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Jane sliding into a pile of leaves in her dinosaur turtle neck (and no dinosaur shirts aren't just for boys)
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We're sure it will give both Jane and Cate hours of pleasure in the coming decade.
However, the first time both of them used it together, ended with Jane getting knocked flat while trying to usurp the swing from Cate.
Like those people on
TV, we were able to digitally document it (see below). Can't say she didn't deserve it.
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Jane getting her comeuppance while attempting to claim Cate's swing. (a better father wouldn't have laughed once he saw that no real harm was done)
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Of course there is always time for snuggling happy babies, which with Cate is the norm.
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Randy and Cate snuggling on the couch
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Curtis Family Holiday Card Photo Shoot - 22 November
Here's a four of the 75+ shots that Aunt Lisa took for our
holiday card.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Weekend was very pleasant. This probably had something to do with not hosting any of the gatherings.
On Thursday, we went to Aunt Rhonda’s for the Curtis gathering. On Friday, it was the Sage family gathering.
Since it doesn’t compete with other family gatherings now that all of the children have mates, it is much more relaxed.
Here are all the cousins/grandchildren lined up for pictures.
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Sage family cousins after dinner
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Early December
Well bad dogging ourselves in the Year-End letter served as just the inspiration we needed to complete (OK start) the tiling job in the kid’s bathroom.
Bethany and the girls went to Camp Gramy’s for a couple of days, so Randy could spread out all the tile gear in the hallway and not cleanup at night (he met up with them at night).
We’re very pleased with the results, though we were 6 white tiles short, instead of having 4 dozen extra as we expected.
Just get more, no problem right? Wrong, the dealer no longer had exactly the same white tiles and there are differences between “white” that even Randy can tell.
So there is a patch of 6 regular Intercermaic Brite IC White instead of the Intercermaic Ultra Brite IC White tiles.
To be honest not even Bethany could tell the difference once they were on the wall (come over and test your self if you feel color cocky…).
We celebrated by letting Cate join Jane in the big girl tub and ever since then, they both get irate if they can’t take bubble baths together.
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The Girls Shower tiled (but before the grout)
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Girls in bathtub together
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