Christmas Decorations, puzzles and pins

The day after Thanksgiving "Papa" and "Mama" (Grandpa and Grandma) (Not to be confused with Julie who is "mommy") had the family down to their house for tree setting up and decorating. Sabrina loved climbing the step ladder and ladder placing ornaments on the tree. Playing with them before they were placed on the tree was not an uncommon event. Cousin Arthur encouraged and demonstrated the placement of the ornaments (Angels, birds and musical ornaments are placed near the top with Santas and others near middle. Cloth or unbreakable ones are placed near the bottom so the dog doesn't swipe with her tail and break them.)

The rest of the weekend was full of fun family time playing games with Grandma Joyce and Randy. The favorite activity was looking at a book and making animal noises and putting puzzles together. Sabrina and Randy enjoyed several wrestling matches. Sabrina was skilled in pinning her father and giggling!

Thanksgiving preparation

The party dress!

Making pies with Grandma Joyce!

The barricade.

The cousins!

Naptime!

Sabrina and Randy's mom made pies and rolls in preparation for the Thanksgiving at our house. Joining us for dinner were family members totaling fifteen in number. The four children had fun playing together. After dinner they even decided to build a barricade blocking the entrance into the living room. The substance of this barricade came from all over the house: pillows, blankets, toys, shoes....anything!

After dinner, the turkey did its work and naps were taken by several members of the family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we decided to have photo taken from our favorite oak tree. This oak begs to be climbed and adds beauty to our house via the great out doors!

Year one of Autumn Blaze

Last Spring we planted an Autumn Blaze Maple tree. Even though it is small, the colors were vibrant! What a beautiful Fall!

The Magic word

After dinner eating strawberries the conversation with Sabrina went like this:

Sabrina asking for more "stawberries": "More"

Julie: "What is the magic word?"

Sabrina: "More!"

Julie: "More....."

Sabrina: "More.....peez!"

On a preschool update, we have been notified several times that we have an athletic daughter who is fast. She runs away from adults and won't come when called. However, she is athletic! Maybe they should install a track at school or a treadmill! :-)

Seattle trip

During Joey's game, Sabrina cheered from the playground!

She was in climbing heaven!

Randy and Sabrina pose with Joey after the game.

Last weekend we took a road trip to see family in the Seattle area. Saturday morning we finally had a chance to see our nephew play in a soccer match. His team did well and he even scored a goal. Sabrina was in heaven as she loves seeing her cousins! Not to mention the field has a sweet playground set where she had a chance to climb and play!

Collection

The acorn collection in the abandoned robin's nest.

Pleased with the collection.
A new addition.

Sabrina loves to watch Dinosaur Train on PBS and on the show Dr. Scott encourages kids to get outside and make their own discoveries and collections. Last week, Sabrina did just that. She decided to pick up acorns and store them in a bird nest. This grew into collecting more acorns in the last week and the new favorite item is red maple leaves falling from our tree.

Full moon or eve of Pre-School

Helping in the kitchen on the weekend.

Serving Dad a cake!

All ready for school.

In new school clothes and happy about it!

We had a wonderful weekend together as a family. Sabrina helped in the kitchen and even made pretend cakes and delivered to Randy. Some of the conversations during the weekend were preparing her for her first day in pre-school. This was probably good preparation but the result was that she did not sleep well. At 12:30 AM the household awoke to a crying child banging on the bedroom door. Tired mom just took her to bed to sleep so some sleep could happen before the dreaded alarm clock went off. At 6AM everyone was up. By 6:15 AM we had set off the smoke detector making oatmeal. (something was on the burner...oops! Sorry neighbors) By 7:05, Sabrina was dressed and ready to go. Unfortunately, Mom was not. The end result was a child who colored walls and then took off down the street to Grandparents' house as soon as a door was opened.

By 8:45 we were relieved to get in the car and head to school. The teachers reported she had a great day but started nodding a little bit at the end.

Summer photos- part 2

Randy and Julie went to the first Beaver game and saw a young freshman team.

Coloring in dinosaur coloring book. Sabrina loves dinosaurs right now. And even more, she loves coloring and we are thankful for washable color crayons.

Getting ready for pre-school.

Modeling her favorite new dress!

Happy Daddy is home!

New Addition

The happy girl in her new bed.

Big enough for a frog and a couple of dogs!

Our new household addition this weekend has been a new bed for Sabrina. She loves it! Unfortunately she thinks it is a trampoline and jumps on it. At nap time and at night she chooses to sleep on the floor.

Friends visit- Summer 2011

Amy Miller, a friend from childhood visits from Alaska.

Sigi and James visit from Medford.

Here are some photos of visits from good friends this summer. The Barrons came up from Medford and Amy visited from Alaska. What fun to catch up with some kindred spirits!

Photos from the summer part 1

Trying to get a bite of popcycle

Jumping for hours on the Wycoff's trampoline and loving it!

A hot summer day where only a flower in the hair was comfortable.

At the water park in Corvallis.

Brr! That is cold but fun!

Dressed for church.

We have been so busy this summer with various projects that we have not found time to post. So in summary, we have spent several weekends with family where Sabrina learned she LOVES jumping on the trampoline, running through water fountains in her swimsuit, and visiting friends.

Easy come, Easy go

The black spot in the tree is the swarm of honey bees.

The front yard with the tree with the honey bees (dark spot).

Sunday after mowing the lawn and saving Sabrina from her escape into the rhodies, we discovered a swarm of honey bees in a tree in our front yard. Not knowing for sure what type of bee they were, we had a neighbor who is an entomologist identify the swarm. He noted they would be gone soon. Sure enough their visit was for less than 24 hours!

Gray Hair

Usually during Sabrina's nap time is when the lawn in mowed and other household tasks are completed. Today while mowing the lawn, I noted that I was being watched by Sabrina. We had enlarged her windows but have not had a chance to enlarge the curtains so she can see out underneath the old curtains. Not only that but with the assistance of her rocking chair she can pull herself up to the window. This would normally not be a huge thing, but she managed to remove the screen from the window and was leaning out of the window when I just "happened" to walk in her room during her nap. Usually, I walk in to make sure she is still in her clothing and pull-ups. However, this time I was greeted by her naked bum in the air with her body on the window sill and her head hanging out over the shrubs.... moments like this make me gray faster and wonder if she will survive to three.

Vacation to Charleston

At Poogin's Porch in Charleston for lunch.

On a bouncing bench on the porch of Edmonston-Alston house. This house is the house where General Beauregard watched the bombing of Fr. Sumter at the start of the Civil War. The story is that there actually was a party on this porch and on some of the other porches of East Battery of the wealthy southern families. In the house was a sign document of families who backed the secession from the Union.


Near the beginning of May, we used our vacation time and airline credits to fly to Charleston and see friends and places we hadn't seen in over a year. For both of us, the highlight of the trip was spending time with friends from Daniel Island and catching up on the year's news. Apart from those visits, it was nice to take in the slower pace of a vacation and walk on our old favorite walking paths and stroll around downtown Charleston and take in the homes and imagine the history that had formed in the city. If bricks could talk....The Catholic church that just last year (2010) had its steeple put on top. The Civil War set it back and other finacial times from completing its building.

One new adventure we had was taking an eco tour to the Barrier Islands north of Island of Palms. This morning adventure was guided by a former school teacher who brought varying levels of explanations of the plant and animal life in the region. We docked for about an hour at the Atlantic side of an island which was literally eroding into the ocean. The old forest is slowly washing to sea and then the new part of the island is being deposited on the west side. On our stroll down the beach we saw tiny shelled animals (maybe small clams?) at the bases of the standing trees. Unfortunately, on this island our camera fell into the sand and then jammed up so we have limited picturesof our trip from that point on.The photo taken by timer right before the camera fell into the sand.

Photos from Father's Day

Reading about band-aides at Grandpa's house

Walking with Dad to brunch.

Lunch with Dad on Saturday!

Breakfast and snuggle time with Dad first thing in the morning.

Sabrina loved having time with Randy Father's Day! Actually, she loves every weekend he is home and snuggles with him for breakfast, lunch and any time in between. Walking down the street is much more fun holding onto Daddy's hand.

Random Easter photo with Yogurt Sister

If any alliance could be productive it the one between Sabrina and Annie. On Easter, Sabrina would find the jelly beans and then feed them to Annie. If Annie needs out, Sabrina grabs her leash and hands to an adult or she just opens the door to let Annie out for exercise. Food is also "accidentally" dropped and then Annie the clean up crew goes to work. Best of friends....a girl and her grandpa's dog.