If Only We Could Write a Book!

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Forgot some.

This is Mariel's special chair, she climbs all over it (it's a bean bag type) and of course looks at her books in it.

Silly girl.. she clashed pretty bad that night.

Reading again... note different book, same chair. She LOVES to "read".

We're just so proud of her!

Mariel is starting to eat with a spoon, scooping and shoving, and missing her mouth completely!!! HAHAHA

This one's for you Oma... I was on the phone with my grandma while she was eating and this is the proud mess she made of her sweet potatoes and carrots. YUM!

The attempt.

Mariel's sunglasses FINALLY are starting to fit her. She actually kept these on for about 5 minutes as she paraded around the house. She is walking all over the place.. even with binky, blankets, bottles, and toys in hand. She's even mastered drinking out of her sippy cup and walking at the same time!

She LOVES books... magazines... anything that she can flip pages on.

Mariel attempting to put the clothes on Maya and Chase

Success...

My baby girl... she's doing GREAT!

Mariel at just about 13 months...

Mariel hammin it up with the camera at 14 months!

Check out those curls and teeth.. I think she looks a lot like me when I was this age.

Ready for summer... water bottle and shades.. perfect.

More inside pictures of the house

Kitchen... from the dining area

Sink.. duh.

Left view of living area. Our plan is to knock out the two walls and square out the room, put in a sliding door instad of the big window and install a deck off the back. (again... LATER!)

Dining "area". We're going to make it living space.

Our sad, sad, sad, yard...:(

Our very sad front yard. It has a fungus we believe, and so we're attempting to weed it and then grow grass again with some organic fertilizer. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Sad, sad, fence... soon to be replaced this summer!

Backyard... completely consumed with fescue, foxtail, remnants of two Juniper trees, and lots of tumbleweed stumps... pile that with some dead grass and straw, and you've got our lawn (or lack there of...)

Our New House!

THE "NEW" HOUSE !
We did it! We finally got moved into our new house, and are getting situated... SLOWLY!
But it's a fantastic feeling knowing it is ours. We've started doing some "remodel" work, painting, fixing outlets, working on the yard, etc. It's much more rewarding knowing that it benefits us to put this much work into it, rather than a landlord.
Anyway, we'll post more "updates" as time goes on, and you can see the progress. Our plans for this summer are to sod the backyard (I'll post pictures of it, and you'll understand why) attempt to grow grass in the front yard, and do some landscaping. Next will be the remodel of the living room...but that's for next year. :)

Living Room

One side of the kitchen

Friday, April 14, 2006

Mariel's First Steps!

Mariel took her first steps last night, April 13th, and it was all thanks to the new froggie that her cousin Madelyn sent! Thanks Madelyn!!!
Here's the story to go with it...
Mariel's new babysitter, Erin, said that she got Mariel to take a few steps on the 12th. So last night we tried it by having her try and walk to her new toy frog. She LOVES it, and so we dangled it in front of her. She took nearly 7 or 8 good steps! So we got out the camera, and let her take break. Then she did again, only about 4 or 5 steps. She started rubbing her eyes, and it was getting late.

We had her standing by the recliner, and she managed to wander over to the other side of the nightstand, and BOOM! She fell and bonked her forehead against the table. Thank goodness it didn't hit the corner, but she has a nice little bruise on her forehead. Eric handled it better than I did... but we put some frozen veggies wrapped in a towel, on her forehead. She didn't like that very much, and she cried for awhile. Within a few minutes she was more interested in the frozen veggies, than her head. So she's okay, and the bruise went down a little more today. AGH! What a night! Her first steps, and her first bonk on the noggin! This parenting of a toddler is going to be a rough ride I have a feeling.

Speaking of toddler, we've decided that the definition of "toddler" is when a baby reaches the age that they can express "NO" by shaking their head. Which Mariel has mastered wonderfully. She's even clapping her hands when she's happy, it's so awesome! Yesterday, I could have swore she said "yes" when I asked her if she was ready to go home??? It could have been just me. :)