Happy Birthday Cake!

Our tiny baby turned 2 years old on Monday! Unbelievable. It seems like she shouldn't have changed that much from the little munchkin we met in August 2009. And yet...

Michaela had her doctor's appointment yesterday, and now weighs 26 pounds (40th percentile) and is 34 inches tall (60th percentile). She stood on the scale like a big girl to get weighed, and attended the appointment wearing her Minnie Mouse "big girl" panties, because she is doing quite well on her potty training (contrary to what she displayed during the excitement of her birthday party).

She loves to talk, and surprises me with new words every day. The longest string of words put together occurred this week, when she kept saying/singing "Happy Birthday to you." We have moved her into her "big girl bedroom over the past week, and she is sleeping in a twin bed with rails and doing fine now. She is even starting to refer to it as her "own."

I don't know where she's seen someone do that...

With gusto!

Really Papi? Did you have to ask her to show you her bite??

What does this toy do? Anyone?

Greyson coming to assist

Checking out the Mr. Potato Head toys

Daddy helping her ride her new bouncy horse - "Rody"

 We had all sorts of fun family over for a party on Saturday. We barbecued, and ate cake (see above), Michaela opened presents, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Perhaps everyone but poor, tired, little cousin Greyson had a great time.

"Here Greyson, want to see what I have?"

"Try looking at it up close!"

a little vacation

Adam and I had the pleasure of taking a get-away, no-daughter-allowed vacation at the end of July. It was a little weird leaving Michaela with Nana for several nights (we've only been away from her for one night at a time before) but I knew I had to grab the chance before baby #2 comes (for those of you who didn't know... this is the announcement!) and we don't have the opportunity for another 18 months.

So with that as the backdrop, Adam and I packed as little luggage as we could and headed off for Maui. It was the first time to Hawaii for both of us, and we loved it, though we could have done without the sky-high prices of everything. But I guess that's the price of paradise.

We didn't do a whole lot, but it was relaxing and a wonderful change of pace. I think our favorite day was the day we drive the road to Hana. At the end we visited a beach recommended by a local to eat our picnic box lunch, and it was truly spectacular. Enjoy the photos!

The beach where we ate our lunch on the far east side of the island.

A cheeseburger at the original 'Cheeseburger in Paradise'

The view from said cheeseburger stand

 Our hotel was located on Ka'anapali Beach, one of the best touristy beaches in Maui. At the far end was Black Rock(s?). The following photo sequence details Adam conquering the Black Rock like a local. I was just trying not to drop the camera in the ocean, so pardon the blurry details.

After swimming out, he climbs up the lava rock

At the top, conversing with locals and checking on technique

Taking the plunge! (Don't worry, he survived.)

The last morning at our hotel, we received kukui nut leis in farewell.

The Three Musketeers

From the 4th of July... Michaela and her buds...

Cousins!

Last week Adam was out of town for business. All week. It was looming large in my mind when my sister-in-law graciously agreed to undertake the long drive south and spend several days with Michaela and me. This meant lots of mommy talk and lots of fun times for little cousins. After nearly 3 full days with Greyson, Michaela still insisted on calling him "Baby." But she did have a fun time showing him the ropes at the neighborhood park and feeding him cheerios when her mom and aunt weren't looking. I was impressed with her ability to sleep through his screaming fit on the way home from the zoo. It's good preparation for big-sisterhood, I guess.

 

G-man loving his first time in the swings



This is really a decent picture of the two of them. It's practically impossible to get them both smiling (or even looking in the general direction of the camera) at the same time.

 

Tandem sliding

After a long day at the zoo, it was group bath time. Lots of splashes all around.

Go Portland Timbers!!!

 Almost exactly marking the end of tax season was the beginning of another, much more exciting season: Portland's first major league soccer season. We've had season tickets in the past, and we decided to do that again this year, though we had to downgrade our seats just a little bit from what they were before, in the good ol' cheaper days. PGE Park was renovated and given a facelift, and renamed Jeld-Wen Field. Adam and I have booked my mom as a babysitter all season long, and look forward to the games as our date nights. We get to go and have a dinner with just the two of us (I don't have to cut food up into little tiny pieces and blow on them until they're cold!) and then we go and yell at the refs when they make bad calls. It's very cathartic.

The view from our seats, across at the new roof and stands.

The wildly crazy (I'm talking streamers, flags, trumpets, and smoke bombs) Timbers Army sits to our left.

Special Every Days

It's been a while since you've heard from us. Maybe that's because life has been seeming so... everyday. Every day. Many of these ordinary days I forget to document with a camera. And it doesn't help that it feels like summer may never arrive. Granted, we've been getting a few teaser days of sunshine and warmth interspersed amongst the rest. But if you want to feel good about the future, don't check the extended forecast.

So here's what we've been up to lately. Michaela is a big 22-month-old now, and words are pouring out of her left and right. She learns and says new words every day. She also gets increasingly frustrated when we don't understand what she's saying (how do 'cracker', 'towel', 'Tyler' and 'tired' all sound the same???). For some reason I also don't understand, she is insisting on calling the dog 'Tigra' which is the cat's name. She calls the cat by the correct name, as well, so things can get a little confusing. Michaela also loves to play outside. These photos were taken on a Sunday afternoon adventure at a neighborhood park. It's funny how checking out and evaluating new playgrounds has become a family hobby.

She loves to swing high!

Cresting the top of a (small) play structure

Michaela also loves to color and play with her dolls (diapering, feeding, rocking, and putting them to sleep). The picture below is from Easter when she got to sit down and color with Papi. The trouble with coloring with Michaela is that she likes to draw on your picture, which can be devastating for a perfect colorer like myself.

The week preceding Easter was spent working on building a deck in our backyard. After backbreaking labor by many people - two of Michaela's grandpas, her Daddy, her Uncle Dave, with supervision by Aunt Abbey and myself - the deck is done! We're very pleased with our results and have already had a couple of BBQ's outside on the deck. Ahhh...

Lastly, my wonderful husband put a lot of work into what was supposedly "my" project - our raised beds for our vegetable garden. They are beautiful and now they are growing little green produces, which I don't know yet when I am supposed to harvest because this is my first attempt at a garden. But I'm very excited, nonetheless.

Potato plants. I didn't know what potato plants would look like. What a city girl!

What you can't see in the center are little carrot sprouts; on the right, bell and jalapeno peppers.

Tomatoes and crazy wild snap peas. I'm so excited to eat them! (Not pictured: lettuce)

20 Months!

We celebrated Michaela's 20-month-a-versary yesterday with a fun visit with friends. The photos may not reflect it because it was nearly impossible to get any two of the three children - ages 14 months, 20 months, and 28 months, in the same place at the same time. So like any self-respecting parent, I focused on taking photos of my own kid. Anyway, we had a very fun time playing with Lily and Isaiah (and Sarah and Kalina). We went to a park and took in as much vitamin D as we could - swinging on a big kid swing (and kneeing Isaiah in the head when he got too close - sorry!) going down the tandem slide with Lily, and generally running around in the bark chips. Good times.



Kalina helping Lily try the monkey bars



Isaiah is not so keen on trying the monkey bars and tries to jump down



Michaela checking out the curvy slide compared to the straight slide

After all that exercise we needed some food, so we walked to lunch at Wendy's - possibly Michaela's first lunch at a fast food restaurant, at least that I remember. While my daughter loved to eat the french fries, dipped in both ketchup and ranch, she refused to eat the pieces I had broken up for her into bite size, and only ate the whole ones. After a whopping two chicken nuggets and a mandarin orange brought from home, she was full. Oh, except for the bites of frosty I grudgingly shared. Add to that a walk back to Kalina's house in the sunshine, and it was a delightful celebration day. Thanks friends!

Ode to Joy

Some days in this rainy, rainy spring it has been challenging for me to look on the bright side (I mean, really, I could barely even see, it was so dark outside). So one day recently when we had a sunny afternoon for a walk I wanted to document the signs of spring that I could see. They bring joy to my heart and I wanted to post them so that, in case we don't get another sunny day this spring, I can look back on them and enjoy the beauty, and persistent hopefulness - these plants know spring is coming- of God's creation.

These are actually my flowers, newly planted last fall in our front yard.

Baby blueberry plant, one of eight, planted along our front fence. We may have fruit in like 5 years.

Learning to take time and smell the flowers (with our nose, not our fingers)

adventures at home and abroad

Michaela and I have been spending a lot of time at home lately, considering the weather and Adam's super busy work schedule. Michaela recently has been enjoying the aprons Grammy made her. She prefers wearing them both at once. And she also demands that I wear my apron the same time she has hers on. Unfortunately, I do not look as cute as she does.

On the one sunny day we had on "spring break" week - which really means nothing to us at this point - Michaela and I went to the Sherwood wildlife refuge and went for a walk. She probably walked 3/4 of a mile all under her own power (and at a very slow speed for me!) As much fun as the walk was, and looking at the birds and playing in the gravel, the most fun by far was weaving in and out of the bicycle rack at the head of the trail. Who knew we didn't even need to leave the parking lot?!

safety first?

Grab the camera, take a photo, all the while saying, "Michaela, I don't think that's too safe."