Snowy Day

We enjoyed the morning watching the snow fall. We couldn't play in it until later in the evening since napping schedules didn't jive.
We made the best of our day, though! We made guesses as to what thing made little tracks in the snow by our back door. We waited to see if the friend would come visit while we played, but no such luck . . . we're guessing it was a bird . . .

Here are a few other photos from our snow-viewing adventure:

The view from the front window in Vanessa's room:

Of course we enjoyed reading stories while we waited for the day to pass . . . and since daylight would not allow for us to build a snowperson, Vanessa hung her snow people on the door . . .

And we're sure like many kids who were stuck indoors today, Vanessa enjoyed some of her time texting and checking her messages . . .

Finally . . . we venture outdoors . . .

This lasted only a few minutes since Vanessa continued to topple over the side of the sled every time her daddy turned . . .

She quickly "melted" down and we had to head indoors for a snack and milk. Here's Vanessa after shedding a few layers -- another 80s look! Cute!

Hannah's Big Birthday Party

Vanessa’s cousin Hannah recently turned 4, three days after her big brother Ben turned 15. Lucky for their mother, the two had different ideas for celebrating their birthdays – Ben wanted a low-key celebration and time with a few friends and Hannah wanted a Dora-themed, all-out party. We were fortunate to attend Hannah’s birthday celebration today, and her mother Diane and father Thom definitely put in maximum effort!

Everything began much like Dora’s adventures do – getting somewhere with the help of Map. Diane gathered all the young kids to sing Map’s song and read over and discuss the directions for getting to Hannah’s birthday party.

The adventure began with the kids needing to find flowers to place back in a garden. We’re guessing Swiper swiped them all and hid them in various places. (Vanessa found three flowers and did a wonderful job returning them to the garden.)

Next they had to climb a tall mountain, which happened to be stairs, and feed Lisa the Lizard (© Thom and Diane), Isa the Iguana’s cousin. (Vanessa also really enjoyed helping with that – she fed Lisa several insects.)

Then the kids had to find their way thru a tunnel where at the end they found Swiper, who needed help reattaching his tail, so the kids played a game of Pin the Tail on Swiper. (Vanessa loved crawling through the tunnel until she neared the end and saw a bunch of little faces in waiting – she seemed a little intimidated and decided to back all the way out.)

After giving everyone a chance to pin the tail on Swiper, the kids made it to Hannah’s party! (Vanessa liked putting on the blindfold but cared less about pinning the tail to anything – she just wanted to walk around blindfolded, like she often does at home . . . crazy girl . . .)

Hannah’s a sweetheart with a very strong personality. And that’s great since she has to keep up (and put up) with three older brothers, which her Aunt Vicky can relate to! She also has a very soft and sweet side to her. She’s a doll. Hannah shares a lot of her things with Vanessa – toys, clothes, etc. And it seems she also shares some hilariously funny character traits . . . the result from me counting down for a picture – they smiled real big, squinted and said cheese simultaneously:

(I'm sure Hannah's mother would appreciate it if I point out that the orange tint around Hannah's mouth is from eating cheesy poofs.)

A Barrier Trounced

Rarely is the TV on for watching various shows during the day. (It’s almost always on a music channel so we have background music to play and dance to.) However, today was an exception -- we’ve had the TV on NBC most of the day to witness history in the making. Although back in November on Election Day we struggled voting for either of the main candidates, today we realize an incredible historical event is taking place, and it’s awesome that it happens to be Vanessa’s first inauguration of her lifetime. How amazing it is to reflect on how far our nation has come in the last 150 years . . .

I can do zippers!

Last Thursday morning Vanessa was showing many signs of being tired. When asked if she would like to take a nap she exclaimed “Yes!” After being upstairs, for what seemed to be an hour, chit-chatting, I figured Vanessa would be getting hungry and it would be better to bring her back downstairs to snack and play before trying to nap again.

When I opened Vanessa’s bedroom door I was amazed to find her standing facing me while wearing only a diaper, grinning ear to ear and holding up her sleeper! She was incredibly proud of the work she had done. Of course I can’t always have a camera on hand (although I’ve seriously considered attaching one to me) so I told Vanessa I would be right back. I ventured back downstairs in search of the camera. Vanessa was very patient. Here are a couple photos from when I returned. By this point, Vanessa seemed to have forgotten her achievement and was just hoping to interact. It was still cute and the pictures will help me to remember the initial moment of amazement.

Note: You may be wondering what all the little white squares are that are around Vanessa's crib railing . . . tacky, I know . . . Well we put rubber foam bumpers around the railings when Vanessa first began standing in the crib -- she sometimes bumped her noggin. It also helped with her chewing the wood. She eventually decided to pull the bumpers off, leaving the double-sided tape behind. I need to spend a couple hours taking the tape back off . . . ho hum . . .

Meanwhile, Vanessa uses the tape to master the word sticky. She’ll often stand up after napping and point out that there are sticky things all over her crib, even though they’re not so sticky anymore. :)

Ben

Our oldest nephew turned fifteen on January 3rd. I’ve recently made mention of how awesome he is, so I’ll spare him of more compliments. :) It’s hard to believe that almost sixteen years have passed since being told I would be an aunt for the first time. My oldest brother, Thom, and sister-in-law Diane made up some corny joke to present the announcement – something to do with the insect ant. If I were better at storing away memories then, instead of being distracted by adolescent interests and adventures, I would’ve written it down somewhere. Perhaps they remember the joke . . .

It took me a few moments to realize what they were telling me, but once I got it, I was so overwhelmed with excitement! I remember meeting him for the first time . . . I had been “dating” Adam for a few months and was wearing his big clumsy class ring on my index finger, which got in the way when holding a tiny head (but I made do since by no means could I remove the ring of the guy I adored so much!) Ben was a cutie, so tiny and very pleasant. My father, Ben’s grandfather, and I passed him back and forth. Ben’s grandfather was extremely happy to have a grandchild.

Even as an infant, Ben seemed to be a kind and gentle spirit. (Oops . . . I said I’d spare him of more compliments . . . ahem . . . that was an observation . . .)

Happy 15 years, Ben! Hope you’re reading lots and lots about safe driving!

Can you find the class ring?

Lazy Saturday

Mommy and Daddy seemed to be feeling the laziness . . . Vanessa seemed to want to venture out . . .

Little Helper

Vanessa loves to help. In fact, she's helping me post these pictures of her helping Daddy hang shelves. Hanging things on a wall is typically something we'd save for when Vanessa is napping, but this wall is shared by Vanessa's crib.

I think Vanessa grew tired of being put on the floor, so she went into the other room where she decided to pull down and rehang winter window clings. She's a busy girl. Our patio door windows are great for looking out when it's too cold to go outside. We watch squirrels and birds and sometimes a cat that often visits.

Hair!

Vanessa finally has enough hair to create a mohawk wave and rat tail mullet. You gotta love the eighties’ hairdos! Um . . . not really . . . although they do look cute on Vanessa. :)

Lately she’s been working hard at growing lots of teeth and hair. She loves to brush her teeth, even with her hair brush (we’re working on learning the difference), and point out the teeth of others.

A Clean Start to 2009

(And no, we don't save bathing for just once a year. And certainly if we did, I wouldn't wait for the coldest month, although these pictures were taken a couple months ago.)

I recently realized it's been a long while since I posted fun bath time pictures. We'll lose the opportunity much too soon, so enjoy the pictures as much as Vanessa loves playing in the bathtub -- bookoos!

We're excited for the beginning of a new year! We pray it's a good one!