Friday, January 30, 2009

"I'm Two!!!"


She turned 2 last Saturday. We celebrated with a huge Abby Cadabby balloon with Daddy before he went back to Alaska a couple weeks ago. She really loved making Abby's wand go "Poof":

Then on Saturday, the 24th, she and I celebrated with a LOT more balloons!:


When she woke up that morning I sang the happy birthday song to her, then asked if she wanted to call daddy so he could sing. She replied in the affirmative. So we started dialing. As the phone rang, I asked what Daddy was going to sing to her, and she said, "Shoulders, Head, Toes". She wanted to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", and then she wanted to sing the Daddy song too (I'm so glad when Daddy comes home). We've been having a great time lately as her vocabulary grows leaps and bounds everyday. She's saying a lot of the words for songs and stories instead of just signing them. She even learned a new word for the day: Stop Sign. Grandma Parker sent her a little people set that was the people in the neighborhood, which included a stop sign. I labeled it for her once, and for the rest of the day she said, "More stop sign". As we drove through town, she pointed out each stop sign we saw, and repeatedly requested that we find more. She was visibly disappointed when we parked in front of the house and were done finding stop signs, but has enjoyed playing with her small one, and finds enjoyment each time we drive in the car finding the real ones!

On Sunday, the 25th, we had a small family get together for the eating of the cake. She did really well, and has latched onto a couple words for the occasion. Words like birthday and party. She keeps saying them whenever she sees her card from Grandma Parker. What a grown up girl she is getting to be!!!


Blowing out her candles, she needed a bit of help:

And she loves Abby Cadabby (the newest member of the Sesame Street cast), so I made a special cake for her. I'm so glad it came out recognizable:


Altogether, we missed having Daddy here, but are so glad our girl is healthy, happy, and learning things so quickly! She is a wonderful helper with all the household activities, and even at the grocery store. We sure love our girl!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Christmas Moment Highlights

We had a great time with Logan. We really love him, and thoroughly enjoyed spending four weeks with him in Oregon, before he went back to Alaska for work. Here are just a couple of our favorite pictures, we'll try to work on getting this blog more updated again soon...
For now, here are my favorite gifts, under the tree...:



Elise is such a cutie in her Christmas dress Grandma Parker made for her. She has lots more hair now, and is very excited to "do her hair", and loves putting bows in the sides. The bows don't stay for long, but she is getting great about posing for the camera for a quick picture before she takes them out. She is turning two soon, and is talking up a storm. What a great girl! I love hanging out reading stories and pretending to cook and clean with her.




I love spending time with Logan. It is wonderful to have him with us, and to see him bonding so strongly with Elise. Logan and I even got some date time, for which we were thankful for the wonderful grandparents who watched Elise for us. What a great guy Logan is! And his parents are wonderful too!


Elise loves spending time with Logan as well. She keeps talking about going to the beach with Daddy. She keeps talking about and asking about Daddy all the time. She is very attached to him, and he is a wonderful Daddy for her. We love you Logan, and miss you dreadfully!!!!!!




For the next year, we hope it is filled with lots of time together as a family, and even getting to visit the extended family as well. We're keeping our fingers crossed that our situation can be worked out by this summer. We'll try to keep everyone a bit more posted than we've been able to in the recent weeks. For now, we hope your holidays were wonderful, and we hope to be seeing a visit from Logan coming up soon....


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Christmas Card from a Distance

Merry Christmas!!!


We hope the season is merry and bright for all of you this year!
We are really looking forward to celebrating together as a family in a matter of days....
we love Logan!!!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Small Hiatus

We are back in North Bend, Oregon, staying with Logan's family for the next few months. While we are enjoying getting to know them better, they unfortunately don't live in an area with great cell phone reception, or wireless internet/satellite coverage. This means that we have to drive into town to get on the internet. Elise and I have done this almost everyday to talk with Logan, however, the rest of our internet usage has been almost completely halted. We only rarely get to check emails, and don't really get to check blogs at all, as we use the internet while sitting in a parked car....We thought about trying the library, but I think Elise needs more adult supervision in the library, and I wouln't be using the time for internet activities like reading/writing emails, or updating our blog. So, we'll be keeping a more tried and true method of family history preservation, a good old fashioned journal. I'll try to record posts as I would have made them, and then maybe around Christmas time we'll get more of a chance to update this blog and put the fabulous pictures we've been getting of our growing girl. So, sorry, we've enjoyed keeping in touch, and will look forward to the day when we can be more technologically advanced again. Until then, we hope everyone stays healthy and happy, and can keep in touch another way!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Underwood Look-alike Meter

I thought this was kind of fun when I saw a similar one on a friend's blog. Everyone comments on how much Elise looks like Logan!


Packing Helper

We spent many days in September packing up our apartment. Elise tried to be very helpful by putting things in the boxes, taking them out, and rearranging them. We wrapped the fragile stuff in bubble wrap and put them in boxes. One evening I found Elise wrapping up her books in some garbage sacks. She was wrapping them up and putting them in boxes like we had done with the fragile stuff. She is a great helper!


Last Pictures With Daddy


We took these great family pictures the night before Elise and I flew to Oregon. We sure miss Logan!!! WE LOVE YOU LOGAN!!!! Loads and loads!!!