Sunny Day at the Beach...in January

So Mom & Dad called to tell me that they were on their way to the beach last Tuesday because it was supposed to be great weather and invited the girls and I along. It was amazing! I can't believe how warm it was, with hardly any wind. I can think of maybe one other time I've been to the Oregon Coast with weather like this - and so odd for it to be in January. The sunset was spectacular.

Since Anya's only other experience with the beach was in California, she was very distressed that we wouldn't let her go in the ocean. She is still talking about "no go ocean, toooooo cold."

Mom and Dad were nice enough to indulge me and hold the girls in various positions while I got some nice pictures of them. The light was gorgeous and so were the girls. Sean and I are going to try to go as a family more often when he can break away from work - from West Salem it seems like the beach is practically next door now! :) ha ha.

 

     

Yeah, yeah, I'll lighten these up in Photoshop eventually, but some people (cough*mom*cough*sean*cough) were complaining that I haven't posted anything for awhile. Happy now?

Lots more new pics on Flickr - click here.

Hey, Pickle Pants!

So as soon as we signed the papers for the house, I headed out to Dallas to pick up our new Siamese kitten. SkippyJon Jones was born November 1, 2008 and is the spitting image of his namesake from the series of books of the same name.

Anya is so excited about him she can hardly contain herself. She throws herself at him while talking in an almost inaudible high pitched voice. We have to watch her carefully so she doesn't overwhelm him. He is already dominating the dogs (if he sits at the top of the stairs, Sorka just runs back to her pen rather than come up), and Belle even allows him to snuggle up with her for an occasional nap.

He adores Willow (I think she smells like milk) and wants to be near her whenever she's awake. He's only 2.6 lbs, when I first put him in the cat basket I almost threw it when I picked it up because I was so used to heaving it up with Macavity in it.

So far he seems to be a really great cat - playful and fun, not timid, but quite happy to be a lap cat while I'm on the computer. Other than being a loudmouth and accidentally turning off my computer once, I think we picked a good one!

Oh I'm SkippyJon Jones
and I bounce on my bed
'cuz I like to eat pickles
that tickle my head!

You can find out more about the books here, they are hilarious.

Our New Home - It's Official

Try not to move the day after Christmas if you can avoid it. And really try to close your loan before moving...

As most of you know, we got a great deal on a house in West Salem and decided to go forward with renting out our Arithmetic house and moving. We were able to get some renters very quickly, and were planning to close by the end of the year, but then our lender started flaking on us. We were able to arrange with the seller to lease until the new house closed because our renters needed to move in on the 29th.

So we made the decision to move the day after Christmas so we didn't lose our renters! Then the loan process kept dragging on...and on...finally we switched lenders and after a few more mishaps caused by the first lender were able to close January 15. Now I can finally finish unpacking, and hang up curtains and pictures!

We've been here almost a month and it very much feels like home. The view of the canyon is gorgeous and we love the sound of the creek running through our backyard. I thought I would miss Arithmetic since that's literally where our babies were born, but it hasn't been as hard as I expected. This house seems like a good fit for us.

What's ironic is that after looking at probably 30+ houses, this is the very first one I looked at and drug Sean to an open house. Back then it was out of our price range, but as prices continued to drop it fell back in!

We'd love to show you around sometime - just excuse the mess while we finish unpacking! Our phone numbers have stayed the same, if want our new address just call or email.

New Designs at WhiteDogBlackDog.com

I've uploaded a few new designs - another version of the always popular "She is Fierce" line, and the cowboy photo of Eli on a mini video camera.

Cute Things that Anya Says and Does #6

• When we were grocery shopping the other day, the bag boy pushed the cart and helped me unload the groceries. As he was walking away, Anya said "he's very nice!"
• She loves the shopping carts that are shaped like cars and have steering wheels. She steers and hums the Imperial March while we drive. Loudly. Sometimes people look at me funny.
• All meals are still "munch"
• This morning I shooed Skippyjon off the table and she said "Mama, you be gentle. Be gentle with Skippy." Of course a little later she attempted to pick him up and throw him off the stair railing, so we're not sure what she thinks gentle means.
• She loves to play "Xbox 'troller" with Daddy. She also recognizes the Xbox commericals and squeals "xbox 360!" Her favorite is "soccers."
• When Willow cries, she pats her on the back and says "dat's okay baby. Don't cry Willow."
• She plays the recorder to Barney's theme song. She says she's playing "musicks"
• She can sing her ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me.
• She says "ooooo" instead of you. "Ooooo sing it too, Mama?"
• Grandpa is still pretty much her favorite person. The other day when just Nana came over, she looked up and said sadly "Grandpa's not here." However, she's usually very excited about Nana too.
• Daddy is very pleased that she says "meatballs?" very hopefully when getting up from her afternoon nap most days.
• She is starting to assert her own preferences. She has two polka dot Elmo dresses that she requests frequently.
• When we shut Skippyjon into the laundry room, she says "he go lillerbox. Bounce in big boy bed". The Skippyjon in the books bounces on his big boy bed when sent to his room, so we think she thinks he's the real Skippyjon Jones...
• She tries to blame stinky diapers on Willow. "Anya, do you have a stinky diaper?" "No, dat's Willow."
• She has a little desk in mama's office (thanks, Uncle Matt!) and she will pick up a toy and announce that she's going to "work in my office".
• TV is "FeeVee"
• She is posessive of her toys - if Willow has something of hers, she says "No baby, dat's Anya's." But then she'll hand her something else and say "that ooooo toy"
• Pronouns are still a bit confusing. She and Daddy play steamroller, where he rolls around on the floor and rolls over her - she runs screaming to me and says "save you! save you!". She also says "my" instead of "I" often. "My want dat?"
• She will look around the room and say "What's goin' on?"

Not So Cute Things:

• She has to wear full zippered jammies at nap time, because otherwise she'll take off everything including her diaper. Poop everywhere.
• She has learned "no"
• When she wants something she asks once and then immediately turns on the water works if it's not in her hand in the next instant.

White Christmas 2008

How sweet - Willow's first Christmas was a w hite Christmas! Since we didn't know when we were moving, we hastily put up a tree the weekend before Christmas, and went ahead and hosted Christmas Eve at our place with Sean's mom's family. Christmas Day we had his dad's family over and then headed over to my parent's place to celebrate with them and Natalie and the boys.

Then Christmas night we headed home to take down the decorations and get things ready for the movers to start packing the next day! More on our move in another post.

Christmas morning was very fun this year - Anya is really starting to get in to the whole present concept.

Willow's new stocking - she got lots of fun little rattles and such.

This is the first year that Anya could unpack her own stocking.

Her plush Darth Vader was a big hit. She yelled Darth Vader! in a really high pitched voice when she opened it.

Willow's big gift was a rocking tiger...

But the wrapping paper seemed to be her favorite.

 

Anya also got a box of playsilks made by mama, and a Leapster 2.

Cute Things that Anya Says and Does #5

• Slipped yesterday morning in the bathroom and exclaimed "Holy Crap!" Oops. Bad mommy.
• Last Saturday they made turkeys out of construction paper and a popsicle stick at Sunday School. She said gobble, gobble, gobble all the way home, and said "more turkey?" the next morning as soon as she got up.
• She loves to dance to Barney songs. Dancing involves running in a big circle in the living room.
• Truthfulness is hit and miss. When asked if she had a stinky diaper (which she obviously did), she paused to think, "hmmmm, don't think so."
• This morning, I took her up with me to try to listen in on a phone call that Sean was making to our lender. Anya started being too noisy so I had to take her back downstairs, and she was very upset about this. She found her play cell phone, flipped it open, said "hello" and then started some babbling with a tone like she was tattling. I asked her if she was talking on the phone like Daddy and she ignored me and held up her finger like we do when she interrupts us on the phone.

November Photos

Anya has started pointing to the camera and saying "Anya? Pitcher? Camra?"

She wants to pose, and asks me to take pictures while she colors, plays with her toys, or fake laughs. However, she really needs to work on her reaction when I tell her to smile. I have a whole sequence of very odd faces that are apparently what she thinks I mean by asking her to do that. I finally found that telling her to laugh results in a fake laugh that looks like a smile on film.

But then other times I catch her at just the right moment and get a shot that is so perfectly "Anya" she takes my breath away. I'm still working on photoshopping some more cute ones that I'll make public a little later.

It's very fun that she's starting to get into the whole concept of posing. Every day she does something new (and on occasion incredibly annoying). Just before her nap today, she looked up at me and sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" - every word, and even was sort of getting the tune!

Willow is starting to enjoy the jumperoo, and is making all sorts of cute baby noises! And some not so cute baby screams as she checks out her range. She will let loose with a blood-curdling shriek all while looking totally happy and angelic.

She is also taking to solids with a vengeance this month. It's a little scary to feed her - she tries to grab things out of my hands, and leans forward into a bite and snaps her mouth closed over it. This piranha style of eating is totally foreign to us but honestly, it's a pretty big relief!

There's going to be so much talking in our house before we know it - right now, Anya is supposed to be napping and all I hear from her room is a constant stream of babbling. I have no idea where she gets it from.

Click here to see the rest of the photos.

I'm really not kidding, this is the house...

Okay, so the house on Treemont that we were going to fix up had some much bigger problems than were apparent. The inspection was not good, so we had to take a pass on it.

We've decided that we should probably be looking at something as new as possible since we are the farthest thing from handy there is.

I looked at a house way back when we first started looking at houses, and had liked this one. The price has come down recently, so we put in an offer today! We are still hoping to sell our house quickly and have dropped the price down to $349,999. We would also be open to a rental situation, so as before, if you know anyone looking to buy or rent a great house please send them our way!

It's in West Salem, so not ideal, but it has room to expand a whole new lower level someday, a big yard with a creek at the bottom and is brand new with a lovely interior. This pic is old, there's a yard in the front now. Click here to see more.

I know, I know, you'll believe me when we actually move in, right? :)

Cute Things that Anya Says and Does #4

• Can count to 10 (first did it 10/26/08), working on up to 20 but it's kind of hit and miss
• Says "Hi morning, Willow" when she first sees her each day
• Puts on the Darth Vader mask, breaths like him, then pulls it off and says "that funny!"
• If Willow is crying, she will pat her on the back and say "Don't cry baby, don't cry Willow."
• When the dogs whine or bark, she says "enough!" in the same tone of voice I do.
• The other morning, she was singing the ABC's when I went to get her up (sort of). She has no concept of pitch so far.
• She really likes taking the Element places...when we walk outside she repeats "Take orange car?" over and over.
• Her favorite book is "SkippyJon Jones and the Big Bones". She likes all the books in the series, but that one is her favorite. She has it memorized and can tell you what's on each page with no prompting. I particularly like how she says "Hey Pickle Pants" "Holy Cabeza!" "Los Chimichangos" and "rrrrrrufff".
• If I tell her that a cat is Siamese, she says "Skippy Jones?"

Very Useful Blogger Tool

For those of you who are using Blogger for your blog as I do (Jake, Nat, Nicole I know for starters), I'm sure you've noticed how incredibly annoying it is to add pictures since it always puts them at the top. I googled for a solution on this, and found that Windows Live contains Windows Live Writer which makes posting and editing about a million times more simple - pictures go where your cursor is! It also lets you manage multiple blogs through one interface, it grabs your template so you see exactly what it's going to look like as you type and more.

Go to http://get.live.com/ to download. When you go to install, there will be a screen that lets you choose which programs to install - I would uncheck everything but Live Writer unless you really want some of the other stuff. Then you just jump through a couple of hoops to hook up your Blogger account and viola!

Happy blogging!

A Long Time Ago...

... for a Halloween far, far away...

Anya was Chewbacca, Willow was Princess Leia, Daddy was Darth Vader and Mommy was a Jedi. The double stroller was the Millenium Falcon.

Anya caught on to the trick or treating concept very quickly and was picking out her own candy from the bowl by the 3rd house. As soon as we would leave a house, she would say "more trick or treat? more trick or treat?"

Our good friend Lisa came along with her 10 month old daughter Allison (who was the cutest little pea pod ever).

Mom & Dad manned the fort with Aunt Patti & Uncle Bill while we went out trick-or-treating.

I was very impressed that most people knew that Anya was Chewbacca! Yay for the cultural impact of Star Wars!

Click here for all the Halloween photos!