We’ve had a very nice, low-key weekend. Valentine’s Day is kind of a non-event for Dave and me. Nothing against people who like it, we’re just too lazy. We typically leave the big romantic night for our anniversary.

We did, however, take Catie to the neighborhood Valentine’s Day party on Saturday morning. I think it’s safe to say she was not into it at all.

She basically freaked at all of the noise and people, plus we were in a strange place (our local community center, which we had never visited before). I’m not sure exactly why she was so scared, but she spent the entire party clinging to either me or Dave.

(I really love that picture of the two of them, even though Catie was in between crying jags at the time.)

So yeah, not such a great idea on our part. Maybe next year, she’ll deal with it better. Once we got home, though, she was back to her normal self, and we had a lot of fun.

With the weather being so nice lately, both yesterday and today, Catie and I have gone out for walks on our greenway. Today, we were having so much fun that I thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to our neighborhood playground. It’s maybe a 10 or 15-minute walk at a normal, adult pace. With a two year-old who wants to stop and check out all kinds of neat stuff along the way? It’s more like a 45-minute walk. Yeesh.

By the time we got to the playground, I realized that I had forgotten to bring any sort of supplies with me (sippy cup, extra diaper, whatever). Plus it was getting cold, and there was a big gray rain cloud heading straight for us. I wasn’t sure if we’d make the walk back at Catie’s pace, so I whipped out my cell phone (the one thing I had remembered to bring with me) and called Dave. Good husband that he is, he came to the playground and fetched us. Still, when you add up the time of our walk, plus the time we spent at the playground – oh, and then we played some more with the neighborhood kids when we got home – Catie and I were outside for almost two hours. I’m hoping this means she’ll be good and tired and not fight me too much at bedtime tonight.

Oh, one last picture that I have to share. Last week it was abnormally warm, and I had to break out some springtime clothes for Catie. I picked out this one outfit that my sister gave her for her birthday (and Catie totally understands that my sister gave it to her, because all day long, she’d occasionally point at her own shirt, and say, “Tracy!!” Such a smart girl). It’s completely adorable.

Cute new outfit + ponytail + genuine laugh + actually looking at the camera for a change = this might be one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of her.