Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

From the Little Olive...


Friday, December 30, 2011

Everybody Clap Your Hands...



Clap, clap, clap.

This kid is just itchin' to be a sports fan.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Little Olive's First Christmas!



Shake ah hands. Shake ah hands, now.

Livvy Loves to Laugh

Check it out...



She likes it when mommy barks like a puppy.

It is pretty funny.

Haha.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

We "Elfed Ourselves"

Click here to see us elfing around.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Pittsburgh Pirates Caravan

The Pittsburgh Pirate Caravan came to Charleston! Every year players, coaches and announcers travel throughout PA, WV and OH to visit fans, sign autographs and take pictures.

This evening we got the chance to meet my wife's favorite player at the Charleston YMCA... Michael "Fort" McKenry.

My wife was excited. The Little Olive was skeptical, but curious.

Notice how she peaked around her mother's shoulder to steal a glance.





Other members of the caravan included Kent Tekulve, Bob Walk and Alex Presley.

Happy Holidays from WVU!



Thanks for sending this, Uncle M. and Grandmom!


Good Stuff.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

It's Been 6 Months...

... since The Little Olive entered the world.





She's as happy as ever.


Merry Christmas!

Sittin' Up!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Little Olive's First Trip to the Greenbrier!

Yesterday we made a family trip to the Greenbrier where we visited with my wife's longtime friends M&A!


The Little Olive was ready to roll, once again. This time she was wearing her Christmas hat!



She enjoys riding in the car. She gets to nap, play and look out the window. Most of all I think she enjoys Mommy sitting beside her.


There it is! The Greenbrier... lookin' pretty as usual. They had their holiday decorations up and ready to reveal. There was a Christmas parade in White Sulpher Springs that ends when everyone gathers at the Greenbrier and they perform a tree lighting ceremony.



We didn't stay for the festivities. The Little Olive has a bed time, ya know? ;)


Here's Baby O... one of the Little Olive's first friends! They really checked each other out.



It was interesting watching them interact. The Little Olive cried while Baby O. was smilin' and having a good time. Sounds like a perfect couple! Haha. No dating until you're 35, Little Olive.


After pictures we had lunch at The Forum. Hi there, M&A!



The Little Cat family had lobster pizza while M&A stayed on the traditional route and got a pepperoni pie. Good choice, M&A.


Next up, Santa Claus!!!!



The Little Olive was having none of it. Check out her face. She'd been on his lap no more than 5 seconds and, just as suspected, she hated him. It was a solid first attempt to see the jolly old man.

We would have had video of the event if the Little Olive's daddy knew how to operate the damn camera properly. Seriously, I'm shooting myself in the foot right now.


Despite my inability to operate technical equipment, we made it home safely. Mrs. Little Cat hung our stocking by the chimney with care...



... while I read the Little Olive a book about a magical snowman.



It was a great day! Thanks for the fun, M&A. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again.

The Little Cat Family Christmas Tree

Well, folks... here it is. The 2011 version of the Little Cat Family Christmas Tree.





Tell me. Is it real?


The Little Olive thinks it's real! She gets super excited when you take her to the tree. She jumps all around and reaches out to touch the branches and ornaments.





She loves it!


How about The Cats???





Yup... they love it, too. Just another place to sleep!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving (A Little Late Editition)!!!

Friday morning we hopped in the car, went over the river and through the woods... to Grandmom's house!


The Little Olive was stoked!





Check out little Livvy and Grandmom having a stare-down on the couch. Very cute picture. :)





The Little Olive finally got to meet Aunt Luci!





After watching half of the Pitt game with the family we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest. It was hard to sleep, however, WVU beat Pitt 21-20 after a great second half comeback.


Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the Whiskey Path to see Danny, Mel, Little G and the twins!


Here's a picture of Danny and Little G...





Yeah... I think Danny is growing a Santa Claus beard.


After we visited with them, we made a quick trip to the place you wanna be.... the Boston Beanery! I had a club slammich with fries and ranch. Mrs. Little Cat had the chicken salad. That ranch dressing is the best!


Then we gave The Little Olive a special treat. We took her on the WVU Heritage tour.


First we stopped at The Kappa House where Mrs. Little Cat lived while in undergrad at WVU.







Then a trip to Woodburn Hall... where we each had numerous classes.





And then to Martin Hall where we both received our undergrad degrees...





From the WVU Heritage Tour to Grandpa's house where we hung out and The Little Olive got her very own reclining chair!


Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa F.!





We packed up the car and headed south. It was a long day for the Little Olive.





From the looks of the above picture, the Little Olive had a great time in Morgantown. She got to meet a bunch of new people and had a good time hanging out with everyone else as usual.


Thanks for everyone's hospitality and good times. We'll see you again close to Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving (Right on Time Edition)!!

Things are always changing, so, this year we ended up at home on Thanksgiving day. It wasn't what was planned, but he had an enjoyable time anyway!


The Little Olive was certainly ready for a day filled with football, food and fun!


Check out her bib!


Please disregard the fact that the bib is made up of Virginia Tech colors. In no way does this reflect our college football affiliation.




She had a blast all day long. She sat in her bouncy seat, her jumpy chair and even watched football with me while reading her favorite crunchy noise book.


She got hungry, however. Time to eat!!!





Hey, if you can't be in Morgantown with the rest of the family, wear a shirt that says "Morgantown." :)





I slaved all day over this turkey. Ok, not really... it's a rotisserie chicken from Kroger I purchased the night before. Popped that sucked in the oven 30 minutes before we served it and it was ready to go.


We also had cornbread stuffing straight outta the box, mashed potatoes courtesy of our good friend Betty Crocker. The Pillsbury Dough Boy brought some crescent rolls and the Jolly Green Giant left us a can of corn.


Oh yeah... and Mrs. Little Cat made some spinach stuff.


Our Thanksgiving at home was a success!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving... a little early!

Thanksgiving came a little early at the Little Cat household. Saturday afternoon Grandpa and and Grandma M. came from Morgantown to hang out with the Little Olive and have Thanksgiving dinner.

And they brought a toy for the Little Olive. She thoroughly enjoyed it. It sings and dances.



Thanks for the present!


Then we ate dinner as the Little Olive joined us.



We had a special treat for little Livvy... strained apples. It was her first taste of anything other than formula and rice cereal.


Wondering how that went? Check it out...



Pretty much how you expected, eh?


Here's a still photo from the experience.



Yeah... she was a hoot! She seemed to like it, though. :)


Livvy had a good time with Grandpa and Grandma M. after her apple dinner.





After all the fun was over they left to go back to Morgantown. Grandpa got a pat on the head and said bye bye.





See you next time, Grandpa!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Little Olive's Highchair




It's finally time to break it out. She's almost ready to eat solid foods, so we figured we'd give the highchair a try.


Looks like a perfect fit for a smiling baby!


Thanks, Grandmom!

Guess Who was 5 Months Old Last Week???



Yep! You guessed right. It was the Little Olive!


She has a bit of a cheek rash in this picture. We believe she's teething because she always has her hands in her mouth. When she has her hands in her mouth she gets slobber all over her face and gets the little rash.


We got it all taken care of, though. No more rash.

More Visitors!

This time they were from Georgia!






Thanks for the piggy bank Aunt C. and Uncle B.!


It was great to see you both.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Little Olive and Marty McSorley the Monkey



This is a present from Great, Great Uncle M and Great, Great Aunt N. The Little Olive absolutely loves it.

Look at the way she stares at the fellow.

Very, very cute.

Thanks for the present!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Little Olive's First Halloween!

And she dressed up as a football!!!



Seriously... would you expect anything less?



We didn't take her trick-or-treating. She stayed at home with Mom and Dad and gave out candy to all the kids.

And yes, she tried to eat it. I'd say there's a 90% chance she wanted to eat the wrapper, not the candy. :)



Mommy was excited!

They eventually left me to give away candy to all the scary ghouls and goblins. The Little Olive needed her bath and bottle so she could go to sleep on time.



I almost forgot... here are our scary pumpkins!

Ooooohhh.... scary. ;)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Look who came to visit...



There were lotsa smiles this time!



And video games... Hey... whatever the kid likes, right?



There was lots of reading...




Lots of playing...



And lots of sleeping babies! :)



After much debate, a Pies and Pints pizza was ordered. Yes. That's the Margherita Pie. ;)



Uncle Dusty and Scott stopped by before their costume party and watched WVU beat Rutgers 38-28 with us. It was a swell time.



And the next day the Little Olive got to meet her great, great Aunt N. and Uncle M.!

So much fun!

My Heisman Pose



Complete with football!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Little Olive Laughs Again



She gets cuter every single day.

Itsy Bitsy Spider



Hehe. Hehehe. Hehehe.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

It's Pumpkin Time!

Last Sunday Mrs. Little Cat and I took the Little Olive to buy her first Halloween pumpkin. We figured Charleston's Capitol Market would be a great place for the region's finest pumpkins.


We were right...





The Little Olive loved the pumpkin patch.


Check out her pumpkin hat. :)


Mommy liked it, too...





It was a fun day at Capitol Market. We purchased some local beer, a nice bottle of wine and some tasty cheese from The Wine and Cheese Shop. We split the best roast beef sandwich in Charleston from Johnnies Meat Market. And, of course, we bought a pumpkin... it was a big sucker, too. ;)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Little Olive is a Maestro!



Every morning the Little Olive plays the foot piano while watching her Mom get ready for work... then she gets sleepy.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Morgantown in Motion



I saw this video posted on Twitter this morning.


It's just... awesome...


EDIT: Here's another from the same guy...





The man does good work.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers



Friday evening my wife, my good friend Jeffrey and I saw Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers perform at the Clay Center in Charleston.

We had 4th row seats and it was ridiculous.

This clip is Bruuuuuuce performing my favorite tune of his... "Mandolin Rain."

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bouncy Seat Time



It's the bouncy seat thingy-ma-bob!


Tonight was her first attempt at it, but it certainly seems like she enjoyed it.


She was very vocal.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Look Who Turned 4 Months Old Yesterday...



The Little Olive.

:)