Chatty Kathy

LindyJean continues to be more and more vocal... when AddyLouHoo went down for her nap today, Butterbean talked like this for nearly 45 minutes!!!

montana

My cousin Brandon joined the Army National Guard of Missoula. On Monday, 9.20.10, they shipped him off to a fort in the south for some intensive training before a 10 month deployment to Iraq. We (Eric, Bitty, LindyJean, Nana, & I) headed to Montana to see him off and attend his armory BBQ.

Brandon has always been awkward and unsure of himself. That all seems to be gone. I think that the military is a good fit for him and he said he is considering making a career of it. I would be so proud! He's the only member of my generation of family that is serving our country. Quite honestly, he could have loafed around and done whatever - considering his privileged background - and instead he chose to be a part of something very sacred. Hats off to you dude!

We loaded up at 6:30 pm on Thursday night. It is a 5.5 hour drive and we thought it best to attempt it while the little people were sleeping. Due to the excitement over our "adventure to Montana," Bitty took her time in getting to sleep.

You would look like this too, if you were standing in front of the truffle case at Posh Chocolat, trying to select one of the many available delights!

We wandered about town on Friday. The running joke about Montana is, of course, "What time is it when the sheep are stuck in the fence... it's mountin' time." However, Missoula has an element of posh, fancy-pants-edness to it. You should have seen the clothing boutiques, furniture shops, and restaurants.

Cousin Brandon (hooaaahhhh) and Carolyn. We stayed at Caroline's house. She is a longtime friend of Eric's and she hosted all of us.

Here we are at the armory BBQ. They had expected about 400 folks and attendance was more like 700! Needless to say, it was a zoo and really hard to get any photos taken. Also, the weather was HIDEOUS and we HAD to be inside.

Bitty is trying to coax Carolyn's horse, Chelly, and Jack the Mule to come and see her.

Only in Montana... would the local dairy have a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) cow for advertising the beer that they also sell. :)

Where am I and what is going on?

Trying to get organized to take a photo...

As organized as we're gonna get!

Comparisons

When LindyJean was first born, she really looked just like Adelaide. Now she is beginning to look like herself but still bears a striking resemblance to her sister. Below are two photos; one is Bitty, the other the ButterBean and their profiles are nearly identical. I went through Bitty's baby photos and they really look a lot alike.

LindyJean.

Adelaide. I managed to snap nearly the same photo of them with my Pa.

She loves to smile and coo. Staci took these two photos!

Just the highlights

I spent Tuesday 8.31.10 to Monday 9.6.10 at Ma & Pa's for the Canning Marathon, which I've decided not to post about, reference the link above to Staci's blog for details. Aside from slaving endlessly over a hot stove, we did work in a touch of fun too!

What is going on here? Not sure, I was in the house tending to LindyJean. However, I LOVE the expressions on their faces.

Bitty is "fixing" Nana's hair. Good luck with that. Doesn't Nana look absolutely thrilled at the prospect of her new hairdresser? Let's give her some scissors.

I don't think I have any pictures of Eric recently with that AR-15 in his hands. His new love. Notice how Bitty is trying to hand him a shotgun shell? Start 'em early, ya'll!

Wooooohoooo look at me, I'm holding the ButterBean! Good job, Grandad. He thinks she has a startling likeness to the Michelen man.

My best pal from university, Sam, happened to be passing close by and so they took a detour and stopped and visited for a while. She is to be deployed to the U.A.E. on November 5. She is an officer in the AirForce. Her daughter is three, her name is Addison, and she is a ball of fire. Adam, her husband was there too, but did make the photo op.

After our camping trip, Adelaide has developed a deep interest in tents. THANK YOU, Trisha and BabyRu, for lending us this beauty. She slept (at both naptime & bedtime) in this tent for 5 days. At times, she required that I "move camp" and take the tent to a new spot. I cannot imagine what this child will be when she grows up... certainly, nobody's lackey - the kid has a mind of her own.

Ern-diggity-dog.

Adelaide has a horsey obsession, fed by Nana - of course! Ernie, possibly the BEST horse ever, has finally arrived home after a year of training and he is kid-tested and approved. She rode Stan-a-ley too, but he is much more skittish and oddly frightened by children, so Nana gets nervous when Bitty is on him.

The close up... sweet boots, Thanks Nana!

In case you didn't know, Bitty is a bada**.

She adores the horses & Nana...

St Joe River Trip

For Eric's 40th birthday, instead of a party, he opted for a 5 day camping trip with his family on the St. Joe River in St. Marie's, Idaho. It was a blast and we really enjoyed the get away.

Uncle Randy, Cousin Travis (Randy & Mameka's son), Forrest (Travis' son), Bob, Eric, Bitty, Aunt Mameka (Trudi's sister), Cambria (Travis' daughter), Trudi & LindyJean, and me!

We loaded up at 5 am on Wednesday morning for the 4 hour drive. Once your child is potty-trained road trips become so much longer... it took us 5.5 hrs to get there!

Eric's best pal, Rob, and his wife and two daughters also came! McKenna is 18 months and crazy. She is afraid of nothing and totally dangerous. You LITERALLY cannot take your eyes off of her for more than 5 seconds or she is jumping off of stairs, throwing herself in the river, running away, or other escapist acts that are VERY scary while camping.

I told Bitty she could hold the marshmallows and I would carry the chocolate and grahams. The minute I gave them to her, she motored off as fast as she possibly could screaming "Mallows, mallows, malllllllooooooooows!"

Bitty, Cambria, Brooke (Rob's oldest daughter, she is four), and LindyJean.

Eric shooting the AR-15 and Travis spotting.

Bitty "driving" the ATV.

Eric fishin'. He was throwing back the fishes and Bitty would get real angry every time he did. She would holler, "That's my fishy, what you do that for Daddy!???!?!?"

After arriving, went swimming and Adelaide ran about the camp totally naked drinking her "cocktail." I couldn't get her to put any clothes on. What a kid.

She speaks! Well, sort of.

I have been rather diligent in my use of the Flip! video recorder. Below is an entirely too long clip of LindyJean cooing up a storm for Adelaide and I.

Disclaimer & Commentary:

1. I was unable to edit it (as I liked all of it), so it's length may be excessive, however everyone who has kids has this often misplaced idea that their children must be the most darling and terrifically clever in universe. I may be stricken with this delusion.

2. I find Bitty's commentary pretty amusing... notice how LindyJean, ButterBean, flinches when Adelaide gets near her. Bitty loves to "love" her, but she's something of an ogre.

3. You will hear me speaking in that horrific, sing-songy, baby talk. I cannot help it, LindyJean responds to it every time and I cannot resist the overwhelming urge to make her face scrunch up with that lovely smile or hear her "talk" to me. She is the sweetest baby.

Ballerinas

I signed Bitty up for Ballet class. We went with Maggie & Lisa. It was completely chaotic. Try getting five 2-3 year olds to follow directions in unison. Miss Nicole (the instructor) has more patience than one can imagine! Thanks to Aunty Lori & Aunty Cheryl for the outfits.

Adelaide looks so girlish, as in not a hint of baby left. It is completely cliche to even mention - but, I can't believe how fast they grow up!

Dance Maggie, dance!

You have no idea how hard it was to photograph them! Also, having your camera in the wrong mode and all of your pictures taken in that mode being insanely blurring is not helpful.

Maggie trying to show Bitty how it's done.

Too cute.

LindyJean attended ballet one evening, too!

I couldn't stop laughing at the way she runs!