Cold but action packed week

This week was cold...super cold by the end of it, but full of events. Tuesday, Sabrina and Julie along with Grandpa to the Newport Aquarium. Sabrina kept repeating "fish" and running from fish tank to fish tank. We think her favorite exhibit was the clear tunnel that went into a shark/ large fish exhibit with theability to see sharks/ fish through the floor, sides, and ceilings of the tube. Of course on the way home, snow flakes mixed in with the rain to give the entire trip a sense of adventure.

Wednesday, the cold adventure part of the week started with Sabrina unlocking the front door at Grandma and Grandpa's h

ouse to let Annie, their German Shepherd, out for a run in the snow. Snow must be in her top ten listing of favorite things.

Needless to say, she could not be captured but returned through the front door when she was done with her tour of the neighbor's yard.

By Thursday, the snow really fell and we actually had a chance to build a small snowman complete with fern tie, stick arms, carrot nose and red western hat! Friday, the snowman was still standing but a bit wilted. With temperatures dropping into the teens tonight, he might be with us in some form for a few days.

Elusive Belt Girl

Today we are thankful that Sabrina did not hurt herself when she wiggled out of the safety belts on her backpack. We were returning from a walk and looking at the plants in the front yard, when the backpack suddenly got lighter and the next thing we saw was Sabrina hitting the pavement on the paved walkway. Thankfully, she landed on her side and does not appear injured. Randy noted that she did not hit her head but landed mainly on her side hip. After checking her entire body over, we are sighing a huge relief as the fall was about five feet....

Tigger Dad!

Sabrina loves bouncing like Tigger. Last weekend she spent lots of time bouncing with her dad! What joy!

Grandpa visit

We went down to visit Grandpa today and helped him hang some artwork in his newly finished room. Of course, Sabrina fed Annie goldfish crackers and had to stop by the fridge for a dose of "Farmer Ted" and dancing.

Sabrina-in-a-box

Our daughter loves boxes...plastic or cardboard and any size! The other day she climbed in to a plastic laundry box with her blanket and a book and proceeded to have an excellent time reading!

Two weeks of projects...

The two week vacation Randy had we spent on projects: installing a wood stove, insulating the attic, sanding and refinishing a cutting board (with help from Julie's Dad), removing pink floral wallpaper and painting Sabrina's room blue, and installing energy efficient doors. Now it is time to clean up and rest up for the next round of projects in the future at some time.

House photos

Finally, we have a chance to post some photos of the house...

Snowy weather

With the forecast of snow tonight and freezing cold temperatures, we are thankful the wood stove is installed. Here are some photos from our house of the snow from Thanksgiving week. (can you tell we did not have internet connections for almost two months and then had computer issues for another week?)

Trying to stay warm

The last few weeks have been project orientated. Randy has insulated the attic space, installed a wood stove insert and is finishing the installation of energy efficient doors on the back of our house. The timing for these updates could not be any better as the mercury is dropping quickly and the last week has brought us both snow and ice. This morning was 26 degrees at 7:30AM. So, currently we are warm by the wood stove but a little drafty where the doors are being primed! Tuesday's forecast is for freezing fog and Wednesday's forecast is for snow! Hope we can keep warm!

Christmas Elves

Christmas day Sabrina and her cousin from Eugene were "helping" pass out gifts ...and opening them.

Church bunny

One of Grandma Judy's friends gave Sabrina a white bunny for Christmas. First of all, this bunny could not wear the dress it came in because bunnies don't wear dresses. Any attempt to put the dress back on the bunny were stopped or the dress was simply removed. When Sunday arrived, the new bunny had to go to church and then had to go to the communion up front. Needless to say, bunny is a great hit.

Old and New

We are excited to be finally connected to the internet at our home. This afternoon, I looked for photos on the computer of the family but there are none that are current... However, I found a cute one of Sabrina from this summer when we were still living in Everett. She is already getting ready for Christmas and reading a book about Santa. This was in July! The funny thing is that she really doesn't know what is going on right now but loves to play with the decorations on the tree. Her favorite is a felt Santa that Randy made when he was a boy. Santa cruises around the house with her and is found in various locations.

Connected finally

We moved several months ago and found out that getting everything up to speed takes time. For example, five weeks ago we tried to hook up our internet at the house. Needless to say, since this involved trenching in the yard and dropping lines under a road that required a permit, it took a long time. Today our long wait was over. At 6:30pm we were connected! Yeah!
Now to figure out how to download photos and post and send.

Poster child for the local veterinarian

Sabrina is really into brushing her teeth. She loves to take a soft tooth brush and massage her gums which we take as a sign she is teething once again. However, in the spirit of her yogurt sister sharing mode, she tried to brush Annie's teeth, too! Can't you just see her in her her stroller extending her arm out trying to brush Annie's teeth as a poster in a vet clinic encouraging pet owners to properly brush their dog's teeth regularly? The science teacher in me wonders when I can show her a slide of germs under a microscope and have her comprehend what she is seeing.... Meanwhile, I see years of diligence and patrolling the stroller and high chair to keep these germ exchanges to a minimum. Or I can be thankful that this, too, will build her immune system. (Recently, I read how American children are more apt to develop childhood colitis because the environment is sterile....not my child!) :-)

Yogurt Sisters

There have been many changes the last few months, but the cutest changes have come with Sabrina and her bond with her Grandparents' dog, Annie. These two became fast friends while we lived with Grandma and Grandpa while closing on our house. They team up on unsuspecting family members and help each other with their goals of exercise and food. Sabrina has been known to have a dish of yogurt and spoon a bite for herself and then spoon some for Annie. We also noted that Annie was a little reluctant to eat her own dog food.... basically she wasn't hungry enough after cleaning up the floor under a toddler.
In the the subject of exercise, Sabrina has been known to find the leash and drag it around and carry it to another family member and hand it over. This, all to the delight of Annie who dances at her feet. Sabrina might be small, but she stops the huge dog with a wave of the hand and holds her ground. On more than one occasion she has grabbed Annie's collar and herded her around the house. It is hard to tell who is more excited by this bond as they both dance in delight when the other comes for a visit.

Pictures in the camera

These last few weeks have been crazy with putting our condo on the market and packing. Still Sabrina finds ways to entertain us. In the 100 degree weather she found a stocking cap and pulled in onto her head and walked around..even into walls. She also enjoys putting blankets on her head for her Casper routine. We have photos but don't have a way to upload them to the blog at the moment. Randy has the laptop which is our usual computer for blogging and so I have to learn the tricks on the HP.
Meanwhile, we pack to the Wiggles, Raffie and Baby Beethoven. Sabrina entertains with her little dances and giggles. What a crazy but fun time.

Polly the Parrot

Yesterday, I was complementing Randy on how nice the bathroom looked and said, "Looks good". To my surprise, Sabrina parroted "looks good" right after me. Time to really make sure I don't say something I don't want repeated....

Potty humor

Amongst the new fascinations in life, is Sabrina's new found interest in the toilet. She likes to jiggle the handle, watch the water go down and of late use it as a water source to wash her stuff animals. This morning while her dad was "watching" her she managed to get her washcloth out of the bathtub, dip it toilet water and then go back to her bedroom to "wash" her stuffed dog. That is when I entered the room and pieced things together. The bathroom door was shut for about an hour when I reopened it with Sabrina hot on my heals with her frog puppet. And you guessed it, she was heading straight to the toilet to give him a bath. After all frogs do like water! Ugg!

On other news: Sabrina now gives high fives, claps and waves her arms at the sliding glass door when she sees a squirrel on the bird feeder, and puts shirts or blankets over her head for her walking ghost imitation. Her favorite new gesture is to point with her version of "What's this?" This is found to be a great question right at bed time. She has already learned how to play the Stall Game!

The quilt collection

Optical fish quilt that I am working on finishing touches now.

Scrapy play quilt for Sabrina.
Sabrina's dog theme quilt.
Balloon quilt of Sabrina's made with scraps from other quilts made and given away.

Activities this week...

What an active week it has been. Sabrina started walking...then almost running...then climbing! One morning I turned my back for a second and in that time she had climbed to the middle of the coffee table and was standing! So, we have been working on keeping her feet on the floor. Even the care givers at the gym commented on how she climbs on chairs and tables if they don't watch her closely!

In the mornings, her new thing is to point at things and say "what's this" or something close to that. She wants to know what everything is called. Her favorites are paintings and photos on the wall. These have cats, fish and dogs in them that she loves to see. She also enjoys pointing out the window at the bird feeder where the birds and squirrels are very active. The live animals bring much amusement!