Almost Homophones

Homophones are those words that sound the same but mean different things. We had a couple funny things happen on Saturday that were 'almost homophone' stories.


Elise is picking up many words with sign language that she can communicate with Logan and I. She is also understanding lots of spoken words, and although she doesn't really speak back to us, she is responding. On Saturday morning we were getting ready to have a snack. I pulled out a jar of pears and asked her, "Would you like to have some pears for snack?". She immediately folded her arms. It took me a second to realize why she was doing that, and it was because she thought I had said prayer instead of pear. We pray before we eat meals to give thanks and ask a blessing on the food. She knows the word prayer, so when we say it she folds her arms and gets ready for the prayer. It was very cute when I realized the words were so similar and easy to mix up.
The other time happened later that day. We went grocery shopping at Costco and Walmart. Elise loves to play games as she rides in the cart, so we had fun giggly times. After we were finished and back in the car driving home, I asked her if she had a fun time in the store. She promptly put her hands together in her version of the sign for story. Again it took me a minute to figure out what was happening, but then I realized she thought I said story when I had said store. It was very cute! She loves stories, and we read them during each meal. She is easily bored during meal time, but when we read stories, she is relaxed, and loves looking at the pictures. It is a lot easier to feed her when she is distracted and not bored. It is also a lot easier to read books together when she isn't turning the pages rapidly and sometimes tearing them. Her favorites are the Eric Carle books, and Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. So, when she gets in her high chair she starts signing 'story', and we read books as she eats. It is a lot of fun. It was amazing to me that she picked up so quickly on the word store in such a different context. She is always amazing me with all the things she has picked up on!

Giggly Story Time

A wonderful box arrived from Logan's sister Emilie today. It had cute updated pictures of Amelia, and was full of birthday and Easter gifts for Elise. We took pictures of Elise opening some fabulous outfits, and a couple books and a puzzle. When we got to the 'Blue hat, Green hat' book, she was enthralled. We read the book, which has animals wearing different pieces of clothing, starting with hats. Several animals are shown wearing different colored hats, then there is a turkey, who manages to put the hat in a weird place. Then they try on shirts, and the turkey puts the shirt on his feet. He also puts the pants on his head, the socks on his hands, and the shoe on his head. When it gets to the turkey the word 'OOPS' is printed. We read the book, and Elise recognized that something was funky about how the turkey was wearing his clothes. She started giggling hysterically every time we got to the turkey. We couldn't resist getting a video, so here she is, laughing and doing a Pterodactyl screech in excitement as we read the book over, and over! She loves it! Thank you Emilie, Chris, and Amelia!!!!

Conference Weekend

This weekend was the General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twice a year the President of the Church and as well as the other leaders, including the First Presidency, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak in meetings that are broadcast all over the world. They shared their faith in God and Jesus Christ, and also shared experiences of how faith has helped them in their lives. My family has the tradition that we each got/had to tell what our favorite talk was from Conference, and why. Here is my report:
I really enjoyed Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk from Saturday morning, where he spoke about how salvation is an individual matter, and even though you want your family to choose the right things, you are ultimately responsible for you, so you have to let others make their own choices.
Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk on Sunday afternoon felt like it was specifically for me. He talked about young mothers, and how it is easy to feel overwhelmed with all that you think you need to be doing. He gave some good suggestions about how to handle stresses in our lives, for mothers, and for their families and the church as well. I thought it was so appropriate especially for me since we've been having some difficulty lately. Many people know that we've been struggling with Elise's sleep habits since she was born. (She's now 14 and 1/2 months old.) I take care of Elise at night. Logan has to work long hours everyday, and I stay home with Elise, so it has always seemed more reasonable for me to be up at night with her, and for him to get the sleep, especially since he's using machinery and driving for work. Well, with all the sleep deprivation experimenting for the last year or so, I'm exhausted. I am finding it harder and harder to cope with the lack of sleep as the days go on, and the sleep is never caught up. Well, this last weekend, Logan decided it was time to give me a 'vacation'. I should clarify that he has gotten up at night occasionally with her when I needed a brief respite. He has also offered to take her many more times than I've taken him up on. It just usually ends up with me deciding his sleep is more important than mine with work. Well, Saturday night, he offered again to take her for the whole night, and I finally gave in and let him. He took Elise for the whole night and let me sleep. I was a little bit worried that he wouldn't wake up with her, since he usually sleeps like a log, but he did wonderfully! I still woke up every few hours, because its now habit for me to check on her, and be up with her, but I got to go right back to sleep, and was reassured that Logan was taking care of everything. It was SO WONDERFUL to get that much sleep, at least 8 hours in one night! I felt very refreshed, and he felt confident that it was a good experience for everyone. He even agreed that we can do this more often, especially on the weekends when he can take naps during the day. So, in Elder Ballard's talk he reiterated that mothers need to refuel or they don't have enough to fill up their children's tanks. That is so true! I just need to relax, and be willing to let Logan take charge, even though I feel like I should be doing lots of those things. So, Logan is wonderful, Elise is fantastic, and I feel rested! Hooray for Conference weekend!
What was your favorite talk?

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?