Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Lake Weekend

Finally . . . we made it to the lake for a fun-filled weekend!  First night we spent at Rose Lake with one of my BFFs and her family.  Night two was at Upper Cormrant.  Here are some of the weekend high-lights! 

1st Pontoon Ride of the Summer! (Rose Lake)

What does this button do?

Nice puppy!

Playing lullabies before bedtime

Taking Zurich for a morning walk.

Family photo

Morning dip!

Hey, we're twins!

Afternoon nap on Rose Lake.

2nd nap on the boat . . . this time on U.C. Lake.

I'm not so sure about this???

This is the life!

Bubbles!

Playdate at the Zoo!

Pinky and I met some friends at the zoo this morning!

The girls LOVED feeding the horses. 

They even sampled their food!

Did you see that cow?  It was HUGE!

Time to run around and wear off some energy!

Wait for me!

Look what I found!

Pretty in pink!

How cute are these 4? 

Do you see that wagon?  Let's go!

What a fun morning!

Monday, July 18, 2011

18 Months

I can't believe our little honey is a year and a half already. (Do I say that every month?)  She continues to grow and explore the world and her own independence!  She's sweet, friendly, silly, full of energy, and starting to use her imagination.  Oh yes, and very talkative and expressive!

Talking on the phone with daddy.

Size:  27 pounds and growing out of 18 month clothes.  (Hard to believe a year ago she was still in 3-6 month clothes and was a little peanut!)  She's in the 85th %ile for height and weight, which makes her daddy proud!!!

Sleep:  Settled into the routine of only 1 nap and doing great!  Bedtime is a bit later these summer days, which also means she might sleep in on mornings she is home with mommy or on weekends.  She usually spends a good half hour talking to her teddies before she actually falls asleep at night.  Guess she's ready for a little "alone" time. 
Snuggling with daddy and lamby.

Foods:  She's loving summer fruit (grapes and cherries) and treats (ice cream bars, DQ blizzards, and freezie pops).  She's tried pasta a couple more times and it's a bit hit and miss.  But she has enjoyed a couple meals of spaghetti and mac and cheese.  This is very exciting to her pasta-loving parents! 
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!!

Accomplishments:  We said good-bye to the "nukkie"!  As Pinky says:  "Bye-bye, nuk.  All done."  I think it was harder on her mommy than Pinky, but both survived and it's now a thing of the past.  She's constanly picking up speed on her little feet, which is both fun and scary!  And she's got a few more teeth, with a total of 6 (2 top/4 bottom) which makes taking bites so much easier to our little food-lover!  Her dance moves are really coming along as well.  Finally, after 2 days getting "warmed up", Pinky sat herself down in her baby pool, after 2 days of tentative wading. 
Just my size!

Discoveries:  Bella loves to play outside in the grass, dirt and water.  She loves to water flowers, pick flowers, smell flowers, and admire them wherever she goes.  She's also become a very big helper when it comes to picking weeds.  We just have to watch to make sure it's actually a weed. 
Outside helper


Got away with one of the neighbor's daisies!

Travels:  We made two trips to see Grandmas and Grandpas this month.  Father's Day and the 4th of July were celebrated with our families.  Pinky loved the fireworks!  She jumped a little with each boom, but she clapped and "yayed" for almost everyone.  

Learning new tricks from Grandma S.

Check out Grandpa's new toy!


New words:  We've officially quit tyring to keep track of Pinky's words . . . as there's well over 100.  She still says "no", "no, no", and "no, no, no" (all with different inflection).  Oh yeah, "oh no" too.  But she's added some others, such as "yes" which is like music to our ears!  She walks around with her phone and says "hello", "hi, daddy/mommy/grandma/grandpa/cousins".  She loves "flowers" and having "pretties" in her hair (clips).  If you listen to her play, you might hear her say "night-night puppy/baby" or "happy, happy, happy".  And if she has an easy target, she's not afraid to "tickle-tickle".  She's also starting to count . . . pretty sure she doesn't know what it means yet, but she has 3, 5, 9 and 10.

Snuggled in for some fireworks, July 4, 2011.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Boom

Western North Dakota is “booming”!  Although the “boom” has brought wealth to our state, it has also brought a lot of changes to the once quiet little corner of the country.  The traffic is wild; the roads are crumbling and there’s garbage in the ditches; and people are living in campers wherever they are allowed.  The boom maybe creating wealth, but it is creating anything but beauty.
However, the beauty of western North Dakota is still there . . . if you look past the semi-trucks and oil rigs.  Last week we had the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful evening enjoying the beauty of the place we call home. 
View of the lake from Red Mike's club house.


Untouched!

Let's go, daddy!

Look at that! 


Pure joy and beauty!

Sunset over Western-ND.  July 3, 2011

Celebrations

To Celebrate:  to mark a special occasion or day by ceremonies or festivities.
Saturday, we were blessed to witness the wedding of one of my favorite neighbors/friends.  It was the most beautiful, “story-book” wedding!   The bride was stunning, and most of all, as happy as any bride could be.  It was such an honor to share in this special day.  Pinky and her cousin wore matching dresses.  They looked darling!  They ate cake, drank punch, and danced the night away.  The highlight was dancing with the bride!

With the Beautiful Bride.

Looking cute in their matching dresses.
Monday was the 4th of July . . . We played kick ball and had a water fight with the kids.  We pigged out on grilled turkey for dinner and strawberry floats for dessert.  We enjoyed a fire with s’mores . . . followed by LOTS of fireworks!  Pinky stayed up til the last spark faded.  She was so cute, clapping with an excited “yay” after each one!

Confetti Poppers

Family Pic - July 4th, 2011
Tuesday was a different kind of celebration . . . the hard kind . . . the celebration of life accompanied by tear-filled good-byes.  We gathered together, our family and friends, to say good-bye to my Gram.   To say she is in a “better place” is probably the biggest understatement ever, as we know God has created a heavenly home for her more beautiful than we can ever imagine.  That doesn’t make the good-byes any easier.  My Gram was a teacher, a cook, a waitress, a quilter, a seamstress, a party planner, a crafter, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a neighbor, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a friend.  She loved life.  She loved her farm.  She loved her community.  She loved her family.  And we loved her. 
Sending Kisses to Heaven.  July 5th, 2011

Sunday, June 12, 2011

17 Months

Another month has flown by!  We've enjoyed watching Pinky's vocabulary grow in leaps and bounds.  Last count she had over 50 words (not counting all of the animal sounds and silly noises she makes).  She loves being outside climbing, exploring, gathering sticks, and visiting the neighbors in every direction.  She has a "grandma" with gardens and beautiful flowers to explore to the north and friends with a sandbox and lots of pinecones to gather to the south.  And pretty much every direction she goes, she's sure to get treats.  HA!  Her favorite is "cooks" (cookies).


C is for cookie . . . that's good enough for me!


Enjoying the neighbor's tulips. 

Sleeping Patterns:  We're cutting out the morning nap and extending bedtime just a bit.  She's ready to head for bed around 8 these days, but if you ask her she'll tell you she's not!!!

Eating habits/New foods:  Bring on anything sweet!  Cookies and candy are referred to as "cook" and she'd prefer and endless supply of either.  She's also enjoying lots of fruits and veggies, although these would be easier to eat if she had more than 3 teeth!!!!  She enjoyed her first treat from the ice cream truck as well.  Gotta love ice cream sandwiches!


Cake.  Please.  Cake. More. Cake.

Discoveries/Accomplishments:  She has successfully greeted every employee and customer in Walmart in a 20 minute visit.  She has a new bike trailer and loves going for rides . . . I guess we need to get her a helmet!  :)  She loves watching airplanes go over the house, which works out well since we are on the "landing path" for most airlines coming into town.  She's into shoes as well!  And likes to make sure we are all wearing them at all times.  She'll bring them to you one at a time, but usually you end up with a pair that matches.  And finally . . . Hair is long enough for a clip . . . however the clips don't last more than a few
minutes before they are carefully extracted by little fingers. 


So many silly faces . . . she's a ham! 
We don't know where she gets it?  HA!


Looking at the baby calves with Grandpa.


Places I went:  A quick trip to the farm in May.  Watertown, SD, for cousin's graduation.  The zoo.  The park.  Daddy's softball games.  And lots of stroller rides and bike rides! 


Oldest and Youngest of Grandma J's great-grandchildren.

Zoo:  Buying feed for the ducks

Zoo: Best Friends

Zoo: Hey, move, I can't see!

Soo: Look over there!

New words:  There are so many words, it's hard to list them all.  Her favorites these days are "hi", "no", "um", and "more".  But she can name many body parts, clothes, animals and toys. 

A recent conversation went something like this:
Mommy:  Are you happy?
Pinky: No
M: Are you sad?
P: No
M: Are you all done?
P: No
M: Do you want more milk?
P: No
M: Do you want more peas?
P: No
M: Do you want a cookie?
P: Cook!

At least we know she's listening I guess! 


Hat.  No.  All Done. Swing.  More.
We're looking forward to a fun and relaxing summer ahead.  We have a couple of trips planned to visit Grandmas and Grandpas and hope to get to the lake once or twice.  We're stocked with sunscreen, mosquito spray, and popsicles so come on over!