June 2009

I have only been off for a week but it feels like we have crammed in a month's worth of activities. We go to the shadiest parks and the mall playgrounds. Liza had her first carousel ride. She is walking now and taking those Frankenstein-like steps. She is quite proud of herself. We got to watch Isabel's dance practice today. She is excited about her first recital on Saturday. Isabel and I use the pool while Liza is asleep and I am ready for bed long before she even thinks about sleep. Isabel was happy to go shopping today and spend Grandma Bear's birthday money. She insisted on finding something special and decided on Thumbelina dolls. She can't wait for her party on Sunday.

June 2009

summer 2009

I got a call yesterday mornng (Schaf)from North Dakota informing me it was snowing there!! Ryan had to confirm this on google. So for all you North Dakotans suffering up there in the snow and cold, my main concerns are too much sun and too many margaritas. I have forgotten all about parkas and snow shovels. All this is only a plane ride away.

May

Going to see Seinfeld....one of my birthday presents



Isabel having an indoor picnic




Liza secretly playing with Isabel's toys



Isabel packed a bag already for grandpa's house this summer



Quote of the week by Isabel in all of her four-year-old fury: THAT'S IT!!!! I'm going to Disney World.

Memorial Weekend

Our pool is officially open for business. Almas came for her annual weekend. Liza discovered the joys of wearing her birthday suit in the pool. Both of the girls really enjoyed the long weekend and as a bonus they were both asleep last night by 7:45.

May

We have been making good use of the backyard these days. It has been so humid my eyebrows are curling. It finally rained last night so we have a break from the heat today. Isabel is busy planning her princess tea party birthday and looking forward to the end of school. Just 3 more weeks!!

Before



Before



after



After

We finished this project a long time ago. I've just been lazy with the photos plus its harder than I would have thought to take pictures of a bathroom. This one is the guest bathroom upstairs. Ryan is becoming a pro at this stuff.

Summer has Begun

Even though the official start of summer is a couple of months away, we decided to kick things off early down here. We heated up the pool and had a BBQ for Ryan's birthday. Ryan's gift....Guitar Hero. We may be the last people on Earth to have acquired it but we are making up for lost time. I have new found respect for guitar players. I miss 1/2 the notes and I'm sober. We are not gifted in musical ability. The only instrument I have ever played is the recorder back in grade 4. I did a mean Hot Cross Buns. And Isabel thinks the guitar is a violin. But fun is had by all.

Happy Easter

carrots and milk for the bunny





So the Easter Bunny went to bed really early last night. Good thing Ryan thought to lure him to our house with a plate of carrots and some milk this morning. Ryan spotted him hopping down our driveway shortly after putting out the treats. Isabel found her basket in the dryer. Poor bunny is out there hopping around in the rain now.

Speaking of the Easter Bunny, I once had a patient at the Osawatamie State Hospital who thought he was the Easter Bunny. He signed all of his paperwork E. Bunny. It wasn't him that we spotted in our driveway, thank goodness.

Liza's First Birthday

Cake!




My present from Gramma Bear




My favorite activity



All tuckered out

Fargo Flood

Here is a link to a good youtube video showing pictures of the Fargo flood. For many of my friends this will bring back memories of Grand Forks in '97.
click here

All About Liza

The first picture of me being 1




A little light reading


All About Liza on her Birthday

Favorite Toy: mom's car keys

Fovorite Game: putting things in/taking things out

Favorite Food: pancakes or waffles

I could win a trophy for: Most Bald Baby

I am famous in my family for: pooping in the bathtub

Favorite Activity: eating

Favorite place to go: down the slide at the park

Cutest Feature: the gap between my two front teeth

Our latest Project

Ryan doesn't know what to do with himself between the end of football season and the start of pool season so he does home repairs. The 1st thing we said we would do when we 1st looked at this house was replace the flourescent light box in the kitchen. Well 4 years later it is finally done.

Isabel's observations on Ryan's project:

Isabel: Mom, dad got mad 'cuz he broke that thing. He said bad words. I'm glad its quiet now.

So am I so no more projects this year.

Here are some recent pictures so Grandma Bear can see how much the girls have grown. We have a meeting about kindergarten next week. It won't be long before Isabel starts big school. Liza is 1 next week. She is a very independent baby. She figured out how to open the door of her classroom at daycare so they had to put a new lock on. She would just go out cruising the halls.

Squirrel Emergency!!

So Killer, pictured above lounging on the decorative throw pillows, caught a mammal and was eating it in the back yard last night. Ryan wasn't sure if it was a baby mouse or what so he did some google research. Turns out we had a nest of baby squirrels fall out of one of the palm trees. Due to Hurricane Ike there are lots of displaced wildlife animals now and so we came across a wildlife rehab site that gave phone numbers. Ryan called and said we had a nest fall down and the lady actually said, "Oh this is an emergency!!" So we packed the squirrels in a box and rushed them to the lady's house. She has incubators in her laundry room and added our squirrels to the four she is already caring for. They will be released back into nature in about 8 weeks. Hopefully no one runs them over. Thanks to Ryan there are 2 more squirrels in Texas tonight. Who knew squirrel rehab even existed.

Bad Hair Day

Isabel has been asking to get her hair cut for a while now. So I take her to the shop for one of those cute short in the back, longer in the front cuts. The lady cut off quite a bit more than we expected and Isabel actually fell on the floor and insisted her hair be put back on. A trip to the toy store and the assurance that her hair is growing all the time restored her mood. We also pointed out that Liza is bald and happy. I didn't think her first traumatic hair cut would be at age 4.

Finally

The jolly green bathroom has been updated. We spent 2 weekends working on it. I did the painting and Ryan did the plumbing, lighting, and all the little touch-ups like adding a chair rail. I am no longer embarrassed to have guests use the bathroom. Maybe I'll even start offering them drinks now.

We are still in the process of re-modeling one of our other bathrooms so you know what we will be doing this weekend.

A Day Off

Liza had a fever yesterday so I took a much needed day off to stay home with her. She still wakes up happy as a clam. Today is her lucky day because she has free reign over Isabel's toys, at least until school is out.

Some funny stories from work:

My co-teacher was trying to explain the meaning of the word "literal" to her kids. Her kids hear us describe our students with autism as being very literal. So my co-worker is trying all kinds of ways to explain and finally says its when something is black and white. Her 1st grade daughter says, "oh I get it mom. Its like my friend Hannah. She's both black and white. She's brown so she's literal."

I have a student who is obseessed with fashion. He was sharing his observations on skinny jeans, mainly that more girls than boys wear them. His hypothesis: Boys don't wear them as much because they are tight and might hurt your cuticles.

Ha Ha