Shoes, Sippy Cup, Sofa, and Echoes

About a week ago Logan and Elise went to the store for some together time while I took a nap. When they got home, Elise was very excited to show me the things she and her daddy had picked out. She has been excited about them all week, but as they are new, it is hard to get pictures of her looking at the camera. She is too busy figuring out the new things. The first thing they got was a pair of Winnie- the-Pooh tennis shoes. They ended up with size 6, since there was a limited selection, and Elise has always had chunky feet. Needless to say, they are huge on her, but she loves them. She struggles walking in them, but she loves to do the velcro straps, put them on, and take them off.

The second thing they got was a straw sippy cup. She still hasn't figured out how to do a normal sippy cup, but she loves using a straw, so this cup is perfect. She is getting very independent and likes being able to use this cup all on her own.

This last weekend we ended up with another new surprise for her. She has become a climber, and likes to get on top of things, sit down, and try to bounce. Luckily she hasn't climbed too high, but the other day she got on a little tupperware container, tipped over, and scraped up her forehead as she was too close to the record player stand. We decided it was time to find something she can safely sit and bounce on, without it being unstable and tipping her over. We found this little toddler sofa at Walmart, and brought it home for her. At first she was not sure what this pink thing was, but after Mommy demonstrated that you sit on it, or you pull it out and lay on it, she was hooked. She is still figuring out how it works, so its hard to get great pictures, but she definitely loves this couch!

She doesn't want to sit on the princess faces, but likes to sit close and pat them on the head. She is a fun girl!

The other funny story is about her split personality. At home she is a loud adventurous girl, who loves to do things on her own, and loves singing, talking on the phone (or anything resembling a phone), dancing, and making lots of noise. Any where other than home, or even at home when other people are around, she becomes incredibly shy, clinging to me desperately, and its impossible to get a peep from her. People at church think she's incredibly well behaved, although if someone gets too close, she starts to get fussy. Little do they know that she's a whirlwind at home. Well, we usually go for Sunday dinner at the Dalton family's house. Yesterday we went for dinner and family home evening, and then they had a baptism service to attend. We decided to wait for them to return, then we could all have dessert together. While the other kids were there, Elise was very quiet, and didn't want to get out from my lap. After the Daltons left, she played quietly with a toy for a few minutes, but then discovered she was no longer among 'strangers'. So she became her wild self. She walked all over the kitchen and living room all by herself, and made lots of noises. She discovered that if she made a loud noise, it echoed around the room. So she would do a screech, and then look around as the sound echoed around. It was very cute to watch her. Lately when she screeches really loud, either in frustration, or in ecstasy, she clenches both fists in front of her. She was doing that as she did her echoing yells on Sunday. What a crazy girl! She soon tired out, and fell asleep before the other kids got home, so we didn't get to see if she would revert back to her shy self. We'll see what happens next Sunday, will she be independent and loud, or shy and clingy?

The Book Vs. the Movie

I recently have completed reading the first three Mary Poppins books by P. L. Travers. They were similar to, but also very different from, the movie version by Walt Disney. I was slightly put off by the way Mary Poppins was obsessed with looking at herself in shop windows, and came off as rude to the children and sort of snotty. I much preferred the movie with Julie Andrews, as her version of Mary Poppins could do all the magical things, and was firm with the children, but was also softer than the book had her appear. Maybe the music helped, and that she smiled sometimes, where smiles in the books were rare. All together, I think it was interesting to find out about their many adventures, but I enjoyed the experience of watching the movie, more than I did that of reading the books. I would also recommend another series, one by Edward Eager, which is seven books, beginning with Half Magic. They were entertaining, and interesting to see all the different ways the magic could work. Fun and simple reading if you have some spare time.

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday. We haven't taken family pictures in a while, so we thought we'd try for one today, but we didn't get one of all three of us. I also have been looking at pictures from last year, and am amazed at how obvious it becomes that Elise is very grown up and has lost a lot of her baby-ish looks and fat rolls. She has so much personality now, and is a lot of fun. So here are some of last year's Easter pictures.....taken when Elise was only 2 months and a couple weeks old.....

And here are some pictures from this year's Easter Sunday....Elise is quickly becoming fascinated with real shoes, and likes to put hers on, or even just play with them when she finds them. This is a great improvement. For a while she cried and was scared if we tried to put the shoes on. What a big girl to be grown up enough for shoes! And she's been practicing walking in them, and is quite good at walking (she's up to 38 steps at least before she falls over, which she is doing less and less) and even turning around (she does the stop, then pivot with one foot while the other stays on the floor...its amazing!).

Elise and I put on some bunny ears to give Daddy a special card to remind him we love him and are glad we're a family. Isn't Elise so grown up in just one year? She will be 14 months old tomorrow! Oh, and its been snowing off and on, in between the rain that melts the snow....so we don't have a new 6 or 8 inches! Maybe Spring really is ready to come!

First Day of Spring!!!!

I like snow. I really do. For the most part. I have found that I like the cold beautiful environment we live in....even with the dark winter that seems to last forever! Well, the movie Finding Nemo has been in my head lately because of two parts. The part where the seastar says, "The sun is shining, the tank is clean and we are getting out of here..." then starts screaming that the tank is clean, which is a disappointment. Well, it turns out the sun is sort of shining here, and when it does we get a whole lot more of it. The way I understand it we get about 3 minutes extra sunlight everyday up here. That's pretty neat. The other part from the movie that is running through my head is when Nemo wakes up his dad Marlin shouting, "First day of school! First day of school!" The phrase, with the slight modification of substituting Spring for school was going through my mind all day yesterday. There is just something hopeful and uplifting in thinking we're embarking on a new season, especially one as delightful as Spring. I enjoy all the seasons in their turn, but I'm definitely ready for Spring this year. I'm not quite sure what's made the difference, but I'm really looking forward to seeing our flowers come up (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed they won't get stolen by the neighbor kids again!), as well as all the other wonderful spring and summer activities we're gonna try to be involved in this year. We're gonna try to be adventurous and go for walks, and maybe even camping.....we'll see about that one, but it will definitely be an exciting year.

To remind myself how beautiful this place is, and add motivation for getting outside to enjoy it this spring, I'm posting a couple of the pictures from when I first moved to Juneau in the summer of 2004.

This is Mendenhall Glacier. What a sight! This picture was taken from the start of the Brotherhood Bridge trail.

This picture is of the Mendenhall river which runs down from the Glacier. It was taken from the Brotherhood Bridge trail as we hiked it.


This is the fireweed field that is at the start of the Brotherhood Bridge trail. It seems funny to remember back how cold I was when I first moved here, even though we had a great summer, with less than the normal amount of rain. I was coming from sunny California, and the 70 degree weather felt really cold then. What a difference 3 1/2 years and a pregnancy can make! Now it seems hard to get cooled off enough. I'm looking forward to posting updated photos of these hiking spots, as soon as all the snow has melted. Logan says the forecast is for 6-8" of snow this weekend....we'll see. I still can hear in my head, "First day of Spring! First day of Spring!!!", can you hear it?

Weekend Adventures

Elise discovered the little Larry the Cucumber back pack my mom had given me a few years ago. She loves it! She has been walking around the apartment wearing it for the last week or so. She finds it in the morning and gets one arm in, then needs help to get the other one, but once its on, she's a happy camper. She'll wear it for hours. Sometimes she gets it off, and will try to figure out the zipper, but inevitably wants to put it back on for while she's playing with other toys. It is adorable and just the right size! Its a little funny, because before she didn't like to have things on, like hats or shoes, but she loves having this little back pack on!

This last weekend was an adventure for our family because Elise decided to wake up at 1 am on Saturday night, and we didn't get her back to sleep and layed down until 5am. She was so tired, and screamed for most of that time, and it was definitely a challenge to remain patient for that long, at that time of night, on so little sleep, and keep trying to get her back to sleep. She has always been a challenge with naps and sleeping, although some days are better than others. I put her next to me, and she thought it was play time, so she stretched out and started tickling Logan. So I told her it was sleep time, and tried to snuggle her close. She'd get to sleep, and something would rouse her, and the screaming started again. Then I'd get her to sleep, and go to lay her down, and she'd wake up, see she was back in the crib, and the screaming started again. Our poor neighbors. The walls in our building are very thin, so I'm sure there weren't very happy people around us. But thankfully about 5 am she was sound enough asleep that I could lay her down and get a couple hours before we had to get up for church. Elise woke up and thought it was a great day, even with new snow coming down outside. She got to wear her new Spring/Easter dress and hat. I found a cute pattern and fabric and have spent the last several weeks working on this project. I'm so glad its finally done, and am really pleased with how it came out, even though the hat is on the big side (but that's ok, because it doesn't stay on long!).

We only got a couple pictures after we got home from church because we were ALL ready for nap time. What an adventure! But she sure looked cute in that dress!

Exercise Buddies

Recently I've gotten back into the routine of exercising first thing in the morning. Elise thinks this is a great game. When I'm doing sit ups, she thinks that means its time to lay across my chest. I like to think of that as lifting an extra 23 pounds, and getting some great giggles from my cutie. I also do some leg exercises, where I go into the corner by the stairs and do some leg lifts. Usually Elise likes to crawl around on the floor and play with toys while I go through the 20 minute process of finishing stretches and exercises. Yesterday she decided it was time for a change. I did my stretches, and she layed on my chest for sit ups. As I was sitting on the floor, stretching my legs in preparation for doing leg lifts, she went over to the corner where I usually do leg lifts, stood up, got all balanced....

and started lifting her leg up.....

She lifted each leg one or two times, and it took me a minute to figure out what she was doing. Then she went over to the stairs for a break. She sat down on the bottom step and leaned back against the gate. I clapped for her, and she clapped for herself! She's so great! We had the same experience this morning, so I grabbed the camera and got some pictures. What a fantastic exercise buddy! Its a wonderful motivator to have her so involved and liking this fun 'play time'!

Just One

Funny quick story. Elise and I have snack time in the afternoons. She gets to have some fruit puffs and some dried bits of fruit, and some juice or water. The other day she was having her puffs. She has learned how to take the top off, and loves to do this, but does it in such a way that the puffs fall all over the place. So I hold the container and let her get the lid off. She is also still learning about not taking a whole handful. She reaches into the container and grabs a whole handful and tries to put them all in her mouth at once. I take them out of her hand and make sure she only has one. Well, the other day she was having her puffs. She took off the lid and pulled out a handful. I gave her one from her handful and held up one finger, saying, "Just one". She held up her finger and chewed the puff while I put the lid back on. She took the lid off, and I held up my finger saying, "Just one". She held up her finger, then reached in and grabbed a whole handful. I gave her one from her handful and put the rest back and put the lid on. She took the lid off, we each held up our one finger, and I said, "Just one". She smiled really big, and reached in for a whole handful. She repeated the process again and again until snack time was done. She has learned the signs for several words lately, but obviously we're still working on the meaning of the word one!

I told my Mom that story, and she said, "Elise understands 'just one', but her definition is different. She took just one, but it was just one handful!" I guess I need to be more specific next time! What a fun and smart girl!

Thank You Notes

We finally did it!!! We finally got all our thank you notes from Christmas and birthdays written. We put the pictures in, and stamped the envelopes....now to work on the DVDs. I thought I had taken more pictures, but it turns out we used the video camera a lot at Christmas, so we didn't have some of the pictures we wanted to include as thank yous. It is funny to me that it is already March, and we're just finishing thank you notes from December, but I guess its true that its better late than never, right? We even have a special hand print from Elise on each note. I'm contemplating letting her start coloring on the next batch now, so they'll be ready for next year. Especially because it takes her a long time to color one picture. She gets so distracted by the crayons, trading for new colors, feeling the texture, and trying to sneak them into her mouth when Mommy turns away for a second. What an adventure! So, for all who are wondering if we'll ever get a thank you note to you, they're even closer to actually getting in the mail! And thank you!

Pterodactyl-Octopus Girl

That is Elise's new super hero name. She swoops in from above with a screech like a Pterodactyl and then gets into everything with her hands and feet, which it seems like there are at least 8 of. She has been enjoying knocking over the block stacks I've been making and then flailing all those arms and legs to see how far the blocks go. I got the camera to record this behavior, but the moment I start recording, she became this docile, well behaved book reader, and sat quietly turning the pages. When she saw the great block stack all ready for her, she calmly reached out and tipped it over, then went back to 'reading' her book, all smiles for the camera. It was amazing. no Pterodactyl shrieks, no octopus arms. She didn't even try to get all the things off the shelves or out of the drawers or boxes as she has taken to doing lately. Maybe this is a good thing for Mommy to learn. If you want a calm girl, turn on the camera! Although we do have a good time playing with Pterodactyl-Octopus girl! She discovered that when she's in the bath tub and makes loud noises, (calling to the other Pterodactyls no doubt), it echoes. What an adventure bath time has become! We've taken to having bath time after lunch, so as not to disturb the neighbors so much in the evening when they get home from a long day of work. Imagine, you come in, sit down to a nice relaxing dinner, and next door some little girl shrieks like a primitive animal and it echoes around the bathroom. Not so relaxing. So, we're off to another afternoon bath time adventure, and are so grateful for all the neat floating toys Elise has received, and loves to chew on, while splashing away! And to any who want to spice up their life, you can try to see if Pterodactyls screeches echo in YOUR bathroom! Enjoy!

Recent weather and fun times

Recently we've had some interesting weather. The snow comes down, sticks and stays around for a few days, along with some ice. Then it warms up and rains, so the snow melts away, and I start to think Spring is coming, we're gonna be able to go play at the park soon.....then it starts snowing again. Yesterday the snow had all melted away. Then last night as we were going to bed, Logan looked outside and saw there were several inches of snow, and more was coming down. It's beautiful, but I am getting more and more ready for Spring to be here. Luckily we're up to several more hours of sunlight every day, so things are looking up!

I've also found another new project. I know the list of my projects is already quite long, but I found a really fun crochet pattern involving making daisy napkin rings. I've been trying to work on it while Elise naps since its a nice quiet activity. She woke up yesterday and I just had a few short rows to complete, so I thought I'd do them really fast while she looked at a book next to me. Didn't really work that way. Have you ever seen the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp"? There is a scene where the woman named Darling is having a nice relaxing moment crocheting baby booties, and Lady the dog comes in for play time. She keeps grabbing the yarn ball and scurrying away. That was Elise. Not only did she want to pull the yarn, she wanted to pull the piece I was crocheting, and the crochet hook and anything else she could get her hands on. I ended up putting it away incomplete, and we had a great time reading a book and then having lunch. It is amazing how challenging finishing simple projects has become, but it is a great adventure, and I feel exhilarated when I actually finish something!

Tag about Us

Here is a tag from a companion, which I decided to use the best questions from several recent tags I've seen....

What is your husband’s name? His real name is David Logan, but his parents never call him David. His father's first name is David.

How long have you been married? 3 years in May

How long did you date? We dated for about 1 month before we got engaged. We’d known each other for a month before we started dating.

How old is he? 27 this coming June

How old are you? 30 last December

Who eats more sweets? I think we both eat a lot of ice cream!

Who is taller? Logan is definitely taller, and when we first got together and took some pictures he thought he should stoop down to be more on my level. We decided that wasn’t a good idea.

Who can sing better? I will admit to liking to sing lots but he has a nice voice even though he’s self conscious about it.

Who is smarter? We’re pretty well matched when you take us together. I may have the book knowledge, but if I read to him, or explain it he totally understood all my school stuff. Plus he’s way smart with numbers and just hearing things, while I have to read things to understand them.

Who does the laundry? I do the laundry…although Elise really likes to help!

Who does the dishes? During the day I do the dishes, but at night Logan helps with getting things cleaned up.

His guilty pleasure? Snack food at the shop. If there’s munchies around, they call to him.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Logan does. I sleep on the side with the crib.

Who mows the lawn? Lawn? We haven’t got one, but if we had one Logan probably would do it.

Who pays the bills? Logan pays the bills and is very good managing money, but we get to make decisions together.

Who drives when you are together? Logan drives. I’m not as confident in the snow, and I like to be able to be next to Elise to make sure she’s got what she needs on those quick trips around town.

Besides you, who is his best friend? I think JP Dalton, his boss and buddy, and of course his parents.

Who cooks dinner? Logan is a great cook! Often he will do dinner while I feed Elise. Although I do some of the special stuff like breads.

Who is more stubborn? I am, hands down!!! He’s very patient.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Logan is always quick to make everything right, and makes sure we’re on the same page, while I feel like I need time to get over frustrations first.

Who said “I love you” first? Logan did, catching me completely off guard!!! He was an instigator!

Who kissed who first? Logan did.

Who asked who out first? He asked me out sort of, although in the beginning we were just friends. He decided he wanted to have a more meaningful relationship after a few weeks of being great friends.

Who proposed? Logan, with Benders, great scenery, and great timing.

Who has more siblings? I do, 1 brother and 6 sisters.

Who wears the pants in the family? Well we both wear pants, we both are strong willed, sometimes I wear a skirt. But Logan is the head of our family, we decide together and make it work!

What is your favorite thing about him? My favorite thing about him is how he treats other people. He is able to understand people and their situations. He is always willing to help out even on the long hard days of work, and is so good with Elise. He has so much patience, and really loves being able to help others. I love it when he comes home and feels good being here with us. He is so great with Elise, who loves ‘blowing’ kisses and waiting for Daddy at the window. I love seeing him with her, and the love you can see in her face as it lights up with a huge smile when he walks in the door after work!

Now if you haven't been tagged to answer these questions yet, feel free to have a go at it!