Sunday, August 31, 2014

Walking -- August 25


The last time I mentioned it, I think Vivi was still taking a few tentative steps, but not really walking to get places.  Well, now she is getting places!  She often giggles as she goes.





Reading with Vivi -- August 25


Andrew and Vivian were reading the Gettysburg Address, out of a book of poetry, Poems to Learn by Heart compiled by Caroline Kennedy.  Great Grammy sent it for the girls last year.  All of a sudden, Vivian is really interested in sitting down and reading books with us, which has been a lot of fun.  We've been able to read to both girls at once more, and Vivi will just sit and listen and look at pictures for a long time now.  


Turtle Rock Trail Again -- August 25








Vivi waving from the big backpack carrier.


We match!

Little girls in the morning -- August 25



Picnic -- August 23


Vivian is forward facing!  We could have her rear facing for what feels like forever (Hazel could still be faced forward, when it comes down to it), but we were really happy to be able to legally face her forward like the rest of us.  She has a new seat that is just like Hazel's, except with flowers, and her other seat is in the truck now.  She seems to like it!  She claps and giggles at the rest of the family, it's so nice to really be able to interact with her while we're on the go.



We were planning a camping trip for this weekend, but it was going to be cold (around freezing) and rainy, and we thought we probably shouldn't ask the little girls to tough that out.  We went out for a picnic instead, and had hotdogs over a fire.  The Go-Pod came out of retirement to help keep Vivian from getting hurt in the fire or toddling off, and everyone stayed warm enough.



Finger Paints -- August 22


Vivi and I got out the finger paints to keep us busy in the afternoon.  She hadn't finger painted before, and she spent a long time smearing it around and looking thoughtful.  She has also been working on a really sweet toothy smile that isn't quite captured here, but it was the best picture I managed to get.


Evening Out -- August 21


Andrew and I had an evening to have supper by ourselves, and we opted to go climb the rocks at Vedauwoo.  It was a beautiful evening.  We brought sandwiches and chips along for a little picnic way up on the rocks. We hadn't been up there in at least 3 years, and it was kind of like going home to be up there again.  It's a bit of a climb, too dangerous with little ones, but it's totally worth it!


Bedtime -- August 21


Hazel has been playing "bedtime" on the living room furniture lately, and she incorporates the little details like turning out the lights and singing songs. 


Friday, August 29, 2014

Backyard Aquatics -- August 18





I tried the sprinkler, attempting a little backyard splash-pad, and Vivi checked it out cautiously.  Hazel would have nothing to do with it, and kept asking me to turn off the water.


She did play a little basketball.


First Egg! -- August 18


We got our first egg!  We are getting at least one, sometimes two eggs each day now.  They are pretty small, but so are our chickens.  They keep scratching all of the bedding out of their nest boxes, so we're trying out a few ideas to keep the floor of the boxes padded so we don't get broken eggs.  I check several times a day, and it's always exciting when there is an egg to bring in!

Riding the Bicycle Ride to Octopus Park! -- August 17

We sometimes will ride our bicycles to Optimist Park, which is on the other side of downtown and the railroad from where we live.  It's a few miles, and it's a nice bike ride through a part of town with more trees.  We get to go over the walking bridge to cross the railroad tracks, which is where these pictures were taken:



When we all go together, Hazel rides with Andrew and Vivi rides with me.  When I go by myself, we can put Hazel's seat on my bike and I take them both!  No pictures of that yet.


This was the very end of Vivi's crawling-as-transportation, now she will teeter on both feet by herself.  It happened almost overnight just following this trip to the park.



Hazel calls this park "Octopus Park" and she will request to "ride the bicycle ride" and "go to Octopus Park please."  








Turtle Rock Trail -- August 13







Pink Cupcake Magic -- August 13


One of Hazel's latest favorites from the library is Pink Cupcake Magic.  She picked it out herself, and we have renewed it a few times.  The story is about a girl, Zoe, who likes cupcakes and princesses. She makes a wish to be a real princess one day when she makes a batch of pink cupcakes,and she becomes a real princess for one day.  Her brother Ralph also likes cupcakes, and the day Zoe is a real princess, he eats all of the cupcakes.  At the end, she makes green cupcakes with eyes like frogs, and Ralph and all of his cupcake-eating friends turn into frogs--but only for a day.  The book has a cupcake recipe in the back, and Hazel really wanted to make her own cupcakes, so we did.



Her favorite part was putting the sprinkles on when they were all finished!