Stagg Clan

24 hours in a day...

2012-02-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've not posted since early November, not for lack of desire mind you, but lack of time. There are only 24 hours in a day and I haven't any of those to spare for FB or blogging right now. This year will be spotty for blogging, so check for updates here and there, but please don't hold your breath (Because I like you and don't want you to expire!).

We are doing well. It's just chaos to have this many little people in this age range. Plus, I can't seem give up my culinary habits... everything is still from scratch, I'm making bread, and cleaning up after myself in the kitchen is exhausting.

After interviewing a few craniofacial teams and their hospitals we have decided on Seattle Children's Hospital and they scheduled the little guy for July 31st. They are an incredible group of medical professionals and we were most impressed with them. Although, the slightest thought of the thing and I feel like I might vomit. It is a small thing in comparison to what a lot of other children and parents endure, but a surgeon is going to take my baby, put him under general anesthesia, carve his mouth up and then sew it back together. It's a bit much for me.

2011-11-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Blogger is really making me angry. It won't let me space between photos and the formatting is beyond screwy... anybody know how to fix this? These are photos of us here and there.

1.) Girls from behind, snitching grapes off the counter at Gammy's house.

2.)MMMMmmm, grapes.

3.) In Gammy's GIANT bathtub.

4.) Papa & Gunnar

5.) Jacob & Gunnar; Jacob belongs to my pal Abril, he was born only four days before my little man and we think they'll be good pals!

6.) What a face, huh?

7.) Big sister Bitty and GW.

around the house...

2011-11-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Being on a pumping schedule makes leaving the house an extraordinary amount of work, as does being the mother of three children in the age range I've got. By the time you pump, clean the pump, make sure everyone is fed, has jackets and hats, Bitty has used the toilet, packed up all your junk (including the pump if I'm going to be gone longer than 2 hrs), LindyJean & Gunnar have clean diapers, three hours have whizzed by and you're about to get in the car when you realize you don't know where your phone, keys, or sunglasses are and somebody messes in their diaper again. Wow! Needless to say we have spending a lot time just hanging out at home.

Halloween

2011-10-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

First & foremost, thanks to Aunt Cheryl for sending the adorable costumes. With the hectic pace of life around these parts as of late, not having to think about what to dress them in and then go out and get it was a great relief.

It seems we are creating a tradition around Halloween of late afternoon trick-or-treating with the Galbraiths, followed by wings, pizza, and handing out candy at their house until the kids start melting down and bedtime can no longer be ignored. It surprises my how much they enjoy giving out candy to trick-or-treaters, it would seem that they derive more satisfaction from that than going out rustling up candy themselves.

Since becoming a parent, I now understand my mother and have come to grips with the fact that she was right 99.9% of the time. Having thought her just plain mean and wickedly firm in her decisions & discipline, I now realize she was just doing what was necessary in her attempt to raise kids that would be functional, independent, & responsible adults. Why does this photo provoke these thoughts... my girls are just like I imagine Staci & I were. One moment they are bickering, screaming like banshees, crying & whining at one another and suddenly they are hugging, squealing, and giggling up a storm that you just can't help but smile at. I imagine my Ma felt just the same as I do, the kids are either completely adorable and terrifically funny or make you want to poke a pencil in your eye awful.

These two photos are one of those "I love my sister" moments that I just happened to have the luck to record for posterity. Charming.

Enlarge this one so you truly experience the photographic nature of three uncooperative little people. Not so charming.

People loved this costume, and even more so when Bitty would march over to the admirer and state "that's my baby brother, Gunnar, and he is a banana, and I AM A MONKEY!!!"

Maggie, as Mario. This is the one moment we got her to wear the moustache.

One of our local churches had a booth set up downtown and was doing face paint. She was thrilled to have it done.

calabaza

2011-10-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the photo overload, but I really did have a hard time paring them down... you'll forgive me as I don't do it often.

Our visit to Ephrata also included a jaunt to the pumpkin patch... courtesy of our ever present and illustrious activities czar, Aunty Staci.

I don't remember what was so exciting... but LindyJean is stoked!

Gourds; entirely useless, yet so autumnal in their aesthetic.

JoMama & Gunnar. He's so sweet, such a nice little baby. He only cries when he's real hungry and has to wait for milk to warm.

Grandad entertaining GW while we ready for pumpkin carving.

There was a thirty second period of possible doubt regarding the cold, gooey innards of her beloved pumpkin before she started smashing, mashing, squishing, and rubbing them everywhere.

Look out, the activities czar is wielding a knife!

LindyJean wouldn't touch the pumpkin (unless it was to pick up chunks of guts here and there to taste test them), but enjoyed being the observer.

What is this expression? I'm not sure, bonus points to the first commentator to make sense of it.

Posing with our masterpieces... enlarge photo to take note of Bitty's rancid, pouty face. She's taken to refusing to have her picture taken as of late.

Gigi & APPLESAUCE.

2011-10-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

Grandma Boufford, also known as Gigi, came for a visit to Washington, amid applesauce production. She met LindyJean and Gunnar for the first time and made an excellent babywatcher, feeder, soother, and toddler herder.

GW and Gigi

Fun with Nana... watch your head, she's likely to catch your noggin round a corner!

Aunty Staci lookin' fine during sauce preparation.

While Aunty Staci's lookin' fine, JoMama's just trying to hold it together... God only knows the last time I showered?!?!?!! But, there will be applesauce dammit!

All the men in our family joke about how the women have some sort 0f Felix Unger like disease that causes complusive cleaning rampages and an unnatural attachment to our vacuums... apparently Bitty and LindyJean have suffered the cruel fate of this genetic trait. They had no chance, the women in Eric's family are just as bad! :)

This what you get when you ask Nana to pose for a photo.

Cheese!

Thanks for the visit Grams, it was very nice to see your face.

Apple pickin'

2011-10-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls, all bundled, ready for an outing in the early morn to go pick apples. We did some remodel work for a local orchardist last year and he has given us free reign to muck about his massive orchards.

JoMama & babes.

Stace... does this look familiar? Somewhere we have a photo of you and I in one of these. I don't need no stinkin' pack'n'play, I've got an apple bin! I had to throw them in here, LindyJean would not stop eating dirt and Bitty was running amuck.

Dad & Babes... trying to get your small children to properly pose for a photo is absolutely impossible. It is rare luck when it happens.

Among friends...

2011-10-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

My pal Dana is a kindred spirit and tons of fun! She has come to visit (from Yakima) a few times to support me, deliver some goodies, and visit. She understands, first hand, this dairy cow business as her second baby was never able to nurse and she pumped exclusively for the first year of Mariel's blessed little life! Plus, Mariel & Gunnar share a birthday, one year apart.

Bitty (aka Cinderella) entertaining the little ones.

LindyJean & Mariel chillin'.

Mariel is very affectionate and super excitable and loves to gives kisses, here she is zoning in for a big smackeroo.

When Johnny comes marching home.

2011-10-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

Cousin Brandon came for a visit and the girls LOVE him. Poor dude, they followed him about like happy little puppydogs. He was even so kind as to take them to the park!

It was a rainy day, so Bitty specifically wore her 'muck muck' boots so she could splash in the puddles.

This is such a fantastic photo of her!

Bran kept them swinging!

UNDERDOG!!!

Brandon is great with kids. Here he is soothing baby Gunnar and forcing him to pose in a football jersey, making sure the little man gets enough testosterone apparently.

Brandon - we are so very glad that you are home, safe & sound. We are incredibly proud of you and wish you the best... live it up and be sure that you live up to your potential. HUGS.

Wedded Bliss

2011-10-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

My ma-in-law had the girls for the weekend so it was just us and the baby. Ta-da! Congratulations to David & Erin... may your marriage be blissful. Please visit Aunty Staci's photography blog for more photos of their day.

We went to our friends' wedding reception and had a lovely evening. They are bicycling enthusiasts and had a lot of real cute bicycle paraphernalia, among them this photo board.

Big Sister

2011-09-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

2011 Balloon Rally

2011-09-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Great Prosser Balloon Rally. It's great. Really! We love this weekend; it is an annual affair hosted by our charming, little town the last full weekend of September. We have also decided to add to the affair and each year I make a HUGE batch of super, dooper delicious Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.

Last year, we were invited to our friend Nancy's house to watch the balloons take off early in the morning. Her house is right on the river and the balloons are so close you could touch them. LindyJean is stoked!

... touching down on the river...

This fella landed his balloon in Nancy's front yard and then proceeded to give all the kids who were in attendance (and willing) a bit of a ride. Adelaide was excited and then completely terrified by the decibel level of the propane blower.

The POW/MIA balloon readying for take off.

Balloons over Yakima River.

Children and Daddy, excitedly awaiting the appearance of the balloons.

Did you know?

2011-09-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Isn't he cute? (For more of these super fabulous newborn photos, please check out Aunty Staci's photography blog) Gunnar is chalking up to be a baby with an interesting temperament. He is generally calm and very snuggly... but when he gets angry, he demonstrates that he has, indeed, inherited the hotheadedness that so many of our family members possess.

Gunnar was born with a cleft soft palate. I had no idea what that was, hence I am going to assume that you are in the same boat and educate everybody. Because, as reality would have it, none of us know what these things are until we are immediately affected.

This is what your mouth should look like, if it has formed normally in utero. This is helpful, because you may not even realize that you are looking at a malformed palate without a reminder of what the usual looks like.

First and foremost, there are many, many variations of a cleft. Cleft lips (unilateral or bilateral), cleft soft palate, and cleft hard palate. A child can have an isolated incident of one of the aforementioned or a combination of all three. It is a congenital defect (happens early in utero) and can be hereditary (although no one on either side of our families has one). Fortunately for us, Gunnar's cleft is only of the soft palate, this means he has no facial deformity and that his hard palate is intact.

This photo that I found, depicts Gunnar's cleft type nearly indentically. You can see that the hole to the throat is enlarged, as he is missing the membrane of skin and uvula.

What does this mean for us? His throat, nasal passages, and middle ear are basically all open to one another and he cannot generate any suction. He cannot nurse from the breast or feed normally from a bottle. Also, every time he spits up, it comes out his nose (which is painful and makes him REAL mad). Babies such as he are prone to ear infections, although breastmilk fed ones are much, much less likely to develop them. As I insist that he be fed breastmilk, I am pumping exclusively and then bottle-feeding him. I will never, ever take for granted the ease of simply putting a baby to the breast for feeding. He will have to undergo a corrective surgery at around one year of age.

At first it was hard to accept that our child was not perfect. It was hard to accept the reality of all the work required to feed him. As a control freak, perfectionist, and "type A" personality I do not expect things to be difficult for me. My expectations are always that of "I will accomplish this with ease and fluidity," and when things go otherwise I am vexed and frustrated. However, we are rising to meet the challenge and truly Gunnar is perfectly healthy and normal otherwise and a complete blessing.

Thank you to our NUMEROUS friends, neighbors, and family for being so incredibly supportive. Eric has been truly great. He is a man accustomed to being doted and fawned over and he has really stepped up to the plate - working a full day and then coming home to cook, clean, care for the girls, and handle sleep-deprived, hormonal postpartum, sometimes weepy/other times bitchy wifey. You are a champ, handsome, and I love you.

Cheers to babes!

P.S. I am crazy busy with the pumping story, so I will post intermittently and when I do look for a few a couple days in a row and then it will likely be a while before I get to uploading photos and posting again!

First Bath

2011-09-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

Gunnar got his first bath today! His cord fell off and we decided to give him a dip. As have all my children, he loved it. The girls watched and were highly disappointed that I wouldn't let them scrub him.

P.S. Today is our fifth wedding anniversary. Happy Day to you my love; cheers to many, many more!

hello baby

2011-09-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Gunnar Wayne Stagg

Born 9/11/11 at 7:12 am at home. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and measured up at 21 inches in length.

I started feeling strange at about 4:00 in the afternoon after I had been on some crazy nesting cleaning frenzy. Kristin came over and checked things out and I was dilated to a 4 or 5. She said, you can have the baby tonight if you keep going at the pace your at, or you can lay down and stay in bed and maybe delay this a day or two (I was having issues about having a 9/11 birthday baby). Throughout the evening I continued to have what felt like very heavy Braxton-Hicks. We ate dinner, Eric cleaned the birth tub (it had been delivered that morning!), we put the girls to bed, finished setting up, and then went for a walk. Then we had a nap and I woke up at 4 a.m. with REAL contractions; the kinda stuff that requires you to focus and breathe. By 6:30 a.m. I started to go through transition, however it was much easier than with LindyJean because my water had not yet busted. My body began pushing, so I hopped in the tub. Eric brought both the girls downstairs and they all watched his arrival. My water broke as his head was crowning and one last good push and out the rest of him came along. It was really quite lovely. Eric was my night is shining armor, I was very connected to him this time. You should have seen the emotion and excitement that exuded from him as we realized I had given birth to his son! I know plenty of you think I'm nuts, but I much prefer the surprise.

The 2 subsequent photos may be a bit much for some of you, but before you get your panties in a wad - if you ever watch television or movies, you see people more naked than this regularly, so get over yourself. Also, my ability to share them certainly says a few things about me... any shred of modesty that I had retained post Adelaide & LindyJean has been completely eradicated. While we're at it, let's throw my vanity out the window too. They are immediately postpartum and show that I am not some graceful birther of babies who glows and looks unstrained by the tremendous effort my body has just put forth.

Just out the womb! Cord is still attached, beautiful baby boy. Both Adelaide & LindyJean witnessed their brother's birth.

This photo I love for Bitty's expression. She looks so very pleased. To my surprise, she did decline to cut the cord.

Couldn't believe how big he was. I thought he was a lot smaller than LindyJean.

Bitty & her baby brother. It took us nearly all day to name him, we really liked all of the possibilities and after carefully weighing their meanings, possible implications for personality, and other things, it came down to fate (we literally starting playing games and pulling the names out of a hat (Gunnar nearly always came up the winner)) and Bitty's insistence that he was a Gunnar.

RowdySue says "baybee Nahnuh," which we believe is her attempt at his name.

First nap. He looks identical to LindyJean at birth.

The infallible Aunty Staci & "Lil' Gun."

Attempt numero uno at our first family photo... fail.

Everbody smile... Lindyjean gets an A+, everyone else - pay attention dammit!

Ta-da!!!

We are glad you have come to join us Gunnar, bienvenidos.

Opening weekend.

2011-09-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

We started the weekend at Sophie's first birthday celebration (she is the daughter of a good pal from home) LindyJean really enjoyed toddling about with a bunch of kids right in her age range.

The menfolk after the hunt. Labor day weekend included opening day for dove season, Eric spent the majority of the weekend attached to his shotgun!

Dead birdies.

This one has lost its head entirely... wait, which one are you referring to?

Bitty loves helping Nana with anything horsey. Here she is assisting in the preparation of the horse trailer for an upcoming show.

Aunty Staci - wonder gal - made a cake for Miss Bitty. She wanted a pink & green butterfly and Aunty Staci always delivers the goods. The cake was even green.

RowdySue was stoked too!

Everyone, please admire the handiwork.

Average Stagg Saturday

2011-08-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

The average Stagg weekend begins with a Saturday Farmer's Market run; we indulge in crepes made by our friends Dave & Erin, buy a bit of fruit or vegetable matter, wander about, and lastly stock up on a dozen or so tamales from Lupita for the week. Generally on the way home, we have to stop at the park and swing for a jiffy.

Eric mows the lawn, the girls distract him from that or any other project he had intended to tackle, I am generally cooking something. We have spent A LOT of time at our good friends and neighbor's pool this year. Who doesn't love a pool and particularly in my current state - buoyancy just feels fabulous!

LindyJean has learned very quickly to use a stool, she still can't reach anything, but at least she can see. This photo is also proof of my poor mothering as I forgot to grease the little piggy with sunscreen and she got a tad toasted...

Our favorite vendor, Anna. I always buy something from her, whether I need to or not. She loves my kids (she has witnessed all my pregnancies); giving them peaches or something other fruity treat when we come by and she is a super kind gal.

RowdySue

2011-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

LindyJean was recently coined "RowdySue." My mom gave her the name and it is quite fitting -she is messy, walks like Godzilla, loves to roughhouse, and is generally an adorable little ogre. She makes me giggle incessantly.

RowdySue eats... need I say more?!??!

I walked into the girls' room and this is the state in which I found RowdySue's pajamas... how on earth did she do that?

What was she doing that got them in that twisted mess and it took me much longer than expected to untangle and remove them. What a goofball.

Happy Birthday Bitty Boo!

2011-08-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

We had a small gathering of friends for Adelaide's third birthday. The weather was perfect, the food exceptional, and the company was just peachy! Brian, Lisa, Maggie, and Baby Katie; Todd, Abril, and Amelia; and ourselves were in attendance and the evening was just swell.

The girls and Todd playing hoola hoops and bubbles. (Todd and Abril are expecting baby #2 (a boy!) any minute now.

I don't believe I've posted a shot of Katie just yet. She is now 3 1/2 months old, real cute, and an exceptionally easy going baby. Here she is sleeping in her most favorite spot... Dad's arms.

Bitty Gourmand, demanded a whole hosts of menu items - after we narrowed it down from what could have been a 400 course, 5 day feast she ultimately decided on; Garlic and Tomato studded Focaccia, Greek Salad, Moeke's Cucumbers, Basmati Rice, Steaks with Chimichurri, and a Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Sour Cream Icing. My three year old is a food snob... oops!

Happy Birthday to me! Isn't Aunty Staci's card the cutest?

These blinged out, cowhide flipflops are a gift from Nana. They are three sizes too big, but she still insist on tromping about in them. I'm not sure if it's because they are from Nana or because they are just so darn bitchin'!

The look of sheer joy when she opened the box with the Ukelale was priceless. She has been asking Eric for her own guitar for months and months, never mind that she was also REALLY stoked to be wearing the butterfly wings and tulle skirt that Boss & Aunty Staci sent along. These two gifts were likely her favorite... that is until the box from Kara, Russ, Tyler, & Nathan arrived not too long ago!

Bitty on lead guitar, Maggie on vocals!

Cake. Mmmmmm cake. I have been known to bake the worst cake in the universe, ever, hands down. However, this one was a rousing success and I ate the remainder for breakfast the next day. :)

I don't think that Lisa got a single bite, LindyJean was eating cake like it was her solemn duty to do so.

Here is a video of the evening's activities. It's a bit long, quite frankly this post is getting to be rather long winded...

life as me (update)...

2011-08-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

I thought all was well. The family had returned and I had just enjoyed a few days of rest - then I spent 2 full weeks cleaning up puke & other unmentionables while the entire family (including Mom & Dad, when they came to visit and we thought we were in the free & clear) got the nastiest, most rotten (& recurring) cases of the flu. By some miracle of God, I managed to escape the terror of actually being ill myself. Which would have been too much, I may have crawled in a hole and chosen to have died.

HOWEVER, I have washed every bit of clothing & bedding in my home and bleached every hard surface and we are all well again and I hope to make good on my promise to start the blog posts again. Happy Birthday to Miss Bitty today!

In a jam.

2011-08-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

With all of the normal fruitful bounty either being nonexistent (wiped out by fall frost, wind storms, rain, and generally cold, crappy weather conditions) or very delayed, I have done little to no food preservation as of yet. We decided to buy some berries at the local farmer's market and make strawberry freezer jam.

Aren't they pretty? Strawberry freezer jam is easy, best preserves that fresh, ripe strawberry taste, and makes the best ever PB & J sandwiches. Which is all Adelaide ate in the months of June & July for lunch - absolutely, positively could not get her to touch anything else. She would sit in her chair and order up a "peanut butter and jam sandwich, please... don't forget the butter on the jam side and today I'll have (fill in the blank) jam." Staci and I made so much jam last year that she always has at least 3 jars of any of the following to choose from; apple butter, spiced plum, strawberry, grape, raspberry, apricot, blueberry cassis, peach, or pear butter. She only stopped eating them when she discovered Lupita's tamales; we buy a dozen nearly every Saturday at the Farmer's market and they usually last until Wednesday. She has insisted on those for lunch nearly daily since her first bite in the firsts of August.

"SQUISH, Squash, I am squishing berries!" Also, having a hard time getting her to wear anything but a t-shirt and undies as of late...

Jam... stir, stir, stir. We got two batches done and now have 14, 8 oz containers in our freezer. PB & J here we come!

around the house...

2011-07-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

LindyJean loves corn on the cob, avocados, having her photo taken, being in just a onesie, playing in the dirt, and imitating Bitty.

Munching on canteloupe, pre-breakfast snack, LindyJean insisted on sitting in a big girl chair like Bitty. It's funny; she's doing a lot of things earlier than Adelaide because she has Adelaide's example to follow. Additionally, she's real keen on being every bit as capable as Bitty at most things.

A sure sign you got a "walker" on your hands... goodness gracious, this turned into an UGLY bruise.

Just after we've gotten over the 2 week stint of vomiting, diarrhea, and obscene quantities of cranky & whiny sicko behavior - Adelaide wakes up from her nap with these all over her body!!! Are you serious? I have no idea what they were, but our doctor neighbor came over and dosed her with benadryl and said she'll either be fine in 24 hours or you'll need to call the pediatrician. Thank the good Lord she was fine. I could likely not have handled much more illness.

Life as Me...

2011-07-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

A post for JoMama...

No photos, I apologize you're stuck with just my frivolous word smithing. Life has been most fabulous and, simultaneously, completely hellish as of late. Let's start with the shitstorm that arrived after a near full week sojourn provided to me by my most lovely ma-in-law and handsome husband (more on that later).

I managed to delete our entire library of family photos... yep, massive blunder. Thank goodness we pay for Carbonite and I was able to recover them, however it took an entire week for the back up system to download the 40 Gb of 10,980 photos and tied up our computer for SEVEN days. Which made Mr. Stagg even more annoyed by my monumental screwup. It also has caused me to fall seriously behind on my bookkeeping for the business as I did not want to restart the computer to boot to the Windows side of my newly partitioned Macbook (which I had to do b/c Intuit does not seem to think it necessary to make a usable version of Quickbooks for Macs... I hate Intuit.)

I broke my toe. As if it's not hard enough to waddle around hugely pregnant, I've clumsily added the bonus of an unexpectedly painful broken pinkie toe. Awesome! Even if I was not totally knocked up with our soon to be third baby (in four years), there is not much that can be done for it - except that you can visit the chiropractor and she can snap it back where it belongs (which, at the time, hurts so bad you want to punch her in the face, but within 12 hours makes the toe/foot feel MUCH better).

There are a number of small blunders that accompany these big two, that added to the aggravation of the big two, but I am not going to recount them. Not so much as to save you the boredom of reading them, but so that I might not plunge back into the pit of despair over what an idiot I can be at times. I am not sure if I am just realizing what a moron I am or if pregnancy not only makes you temporarily crazy/super-dooper hormonal and whale-like in your proportions, but also just plain stupid?

The good news... as we are nearing the end of this third pregnancy adventure, I was gifted 4 days to myself at home. Eric took Bitty and they went camping for 5 days (I'll get a post up soon, now that I can use the computer again) and Trudi, my ma-in-law, took LindyJean for 4 days. Let me tell you, it was FABULOUS. You get in the groove of mothering your children, pampering your husband, keeping house, and whatever else you add to your schedule and you do not realize that you are NEVER alone. Never left to your own thoughts and devices. Anyone who thinks they have no free time and is childless, has NO idea what they are talking about. I am also convinced that everytime you add a kiddo, you can look back and say to yourself, "What the hell was I doing with all that free time before 'what's his/her face' arrived?"

I had dinner with girlfriends, went to my book club, shopped, cleaned my house (and it stayed that way for days, not minutes), lounged about, read, gardened, caught up on all my bookkeeping chores, worked a day at the winery, cooked, and enjoyed myself immensely. We are very early risers in our household and I even stayed in bed reading one morning until 9 am. I highly recommend an "at home alone vacation" for all mothers. It is like someone hit the reset button and you have a new lease on life. Yay!

However, the return to reality can be a bit rocky. The quantity of laundry, whininess, and general chaos that returned with my loving children & husband was a rude and unexpected ending to a beautiful sojourn from my real life. However, I must say I am very glad to have them back and it's never boring 'round here!

Visit from the cousins.

2011-07-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Trying to get children under the age of three to pose for a photo is near impossible - below is as holding still as we were able to manage. LindyJean is an escape artist and Bitty refused to smile. Notice the older girls smiling, being cooperative, and generally lovely!

Nataley, Alayna, & Bitty are enjoying their after meal treats and one another's company. The girls were here for a week long visit to Eric's parents and got a lot of time with Bitty. She loved it and they thought she was a kick in the pants.

Apparently, at the ages of 7 and 9 the novelty of blowing bubbles still has not worn off... hooray! Who am I kidding, I am thirty and still find them nifty.

We don't see them often and it was a very nice visit. They are good kids; well-mannered and patient with the little ones. Bitty speaks of her cousins, "The little one and the Big one" (not sure why she began calling them that, but the "little one (Nataley)" is not fond of the moniker), very regular and it makes me wish we lived closer and that Staci & Boss would hurry up and procreate so my kids have someone to play with. :)

Cute kids

2011-07-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my family cheesin' it up (a recently learned skill by LindyJean).

Cheese!

She really hams it up when you point the camera at her and then insists on seeing the photo as well.

Bitty just looked so happy eating her tacos... she adores tacos.

... gone fishin'

2011-07-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Eric is a brave man. He took a five day fishing & camping trip to the St. Joe River, Idaho with just himself and Bitty! He was not particularly diligent about documentation, however I am in no place to criticize at this point and there is enough photographic evidence to prove they were there.

Cousin Cambria and Adelaide (Cambria is Eric's cousin Travis' daughter, she is 8 or 9.)

Bitty and Uncle "Randoon" on a trip into the town of Avery one day... checking out the fishes and feeding them.

Because the year has been unnaturally cold and wet, the river was too high and too cold for Aunt Mameka to feel comfortable throwing the girls in it, so she bought them a pool to dink around in.

A lot of time was spent puttering about looking for wildlife apparently. Here was a big 'ol bull moose they spotted. Bitty keeps telling me to "keep my eyes peeled" for deers, coyotes, moose, bear, and a host of other creatures.

Mud puddles are fun!

2011-07-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

The blissful babe whose mother is bothered none whatsoever by a little mud, even the consumption of it here and there!

They had a movie date... it was a gorgeous day and had just spent about 2 hours indoors eating popcorn & watermelon and watching "Despicable Me." It was time for some sunshine. They wanted a little water and I made them a mud puddle.

Adelaide's favorite was the sensation of the mud squishing & squashing between her "toadies."

Jumping, jumping. I did not get anymore photos of just how muddy they got, as I was trying to get LindyJean to stop eating the mud like it was chocolate, however their hair looked like dreadlocks and they were covered!

They required a full backyard hosing/shampooing. This is the dejected "that was freezing and really stunk" photo.

Here we are after I said, "Smile and pretend like we are still having fun!"

Crawfish Boil

2011-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Lisa & Brian (our neighbors) attended a benefit auction for our local hospital (Lisa is an OB/GYN who attends at Prosser Memorial) and bid on & won a package for a crawfish boil at a local winery, Columbia Crest. They invited us to attend and it was a perfect evening - excellent company, ideal weather, & scrumptious food.

Here is Rob, our host, showing the girls a live crawdad. Mind you, we did lobsters on Memorial Day Wknd, so they were a little cautious at first...

... which quickly turned into full blown crawdad mayhem. They were picking them up and squealing and generally having a fabulous time. Tossing them in the bucket like rocks and grabbing new ones, I can tell you that PETA would not have been pleased.

This is just such a pretty picture of Maggie! Nice camera work Eric.

Feasting... we had boilt crawfish, taters, andouille sausage, & corn accompanied by cajun rice and hush puppies. For dessert, they prepared Bananas Foster!

I have yet to decide whether this photo is gross or funny.

The menagerie of vittles.

And this one definitely falls into the just plain gross category. She has become the MESSIEST eater on God's green Earth. Most days I have to put her in the sink after each meal.

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

The holiday was spent galavanting at Nana & Grandad's...

After 'assisting' (translation; hosing down Nana & occasionally the plants) Nana in the watering of potted plants, Bitty decided that her wet clothes were burdensome and removed them entirely. Then she declared it was time for a "naked 4-wheeler ride," donned her ear protection, and was on her way.

Saturday morning we attended the Soap Lake 4th of July parade. They had bed races and soapbox derby races. It was quite entertaining.

Nana snaps a successful self-portrait!

Post parade, Aunty Staci decided the girls needed a new palate experience and they tried cotton candy. LindyJean hated it, Adelaide was in hog heaven.

Gimpy Grandad & pregnant Jo force everyone to take a break in the shade after wandering aimlessly about the festivities for a while. LindyJean is apparently trying to eat her foot.

Nana's strawberry patch was in full swing and she & Bitty picked a slug of berries for a delicious fresh strawberry pie. Nana's hands turned pink after washing them, Miss Adelaide found this fascinating...

Particularly when Nana showed her your face can turn pink too!

4 wheeler ride!

Adelaide likes tall, handsome men. Cowboy Ben (who fits the bill) has a herd of approximately 100 cattle down the road from Mom & Dad's. They give him a hand every now and then and here they are watering the cows. Adelaide excitement to ride the Ranger down and gawk at Ben's cows was palpable... she had met him the day before and couldn't stop talking about him, his cows, cow-dogs, and horses.

Here is the gang ready to enjoy fireworks. The kids stayed up until 11 pm, a first! I paid for it during the following 3 days. :)

Garden Fun

2011-06-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

This USDA/WSU research station has laid claim that this is the coolest, wettest, nastiest spring/early summer in the Yakima Valley in recorded history (global warming my ass!). As it is finally warming a bit, things have begun to grow, mind you, not like they should, but we'll take it. Here are the girls fooling about in the garden.

CABBAGE!

Her expression just cracks me up! Look a tomato... holy cow.

Atila is getting old, or at least he looks old. I can't remember if he's 6 or 7 this year.

Look at that face. She can be so very charming.

Houston we have a problem...

2011-06-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of posting to do... I tried to do so today and the blogger photo attacher gave me an error in the photo upload screen that said "open iPhoto 5 or later to see photos from your iPhoto library in this list." What?!!?!?! When I get to where I can attached photos, there will be an update. :( Wish me luck.

Zoo

2011-06-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Of course, it was overcast, cold, and rainy on Saturday for our zoo trip. Boo! However, the yucky weather translated to the zoo NOT being crowded... every cloud has its silver lining.

Rob, Brooke, & LindyJean... zoo or bust!

These series of photos crack me up... as I am snapping away, grumpy pants is mumbling something like, "Turn off the damn camera, I am tired of you taking pictures - like our blog followers haven't seen an elephant or a penguin before?"

The obligatory smile after I tell him, "You had better smile or I am going to kick you!"

Genuine smile, hooray!

The girls feeding the birdies.

Everyone had to push the stroller, LindyJean is lucky they didn't turn her over on her head.

Adelaide and I... not sure what we were looking at. Don't you love our rain matted do's?

Bitty & Brooke in a cage of their own.

Father's Day Wknd

2011-06-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Adelaide randomly decided that she MUST be taken to the zoo. Eric thought it would be fun to comply with her request... so we packed up last weekend and headed for Seattle to visit our friends Rob & Alix and their girls, Brooke & McKenna, plus a jaunt through the Woodland Park Zoo!

Bitt all dressed for the occasion. She's been insisting on picking her own apparel as of late.

Bitty was very intrigued by all the waterfalls as we went over Snoqualmie Pass. Eric decided to take a very slight detour and stop at Snoqualmie Falls en route to Seattle and give her a peek of a real waterfall. LindyJean and I posing, she refused to look at the camera!

Snoqualmie Falls, gorgeous, huh?

Sunday, we packed up and headed to the Pike Place Market. LindyJean loves to ride on Dad's shoulders and LOVEs, loves, LOVES, street musicians. I wish I'd had the Flip, you should have seen her enjoying the music & bopping about up there. She was wiggling furiously to the tunes.

These guys (The Millionaire's Club - New Orleans style Jazz) were her favorite. This is what she and Daddy are looking at in the photo above.

Birthday - part 2, Party Time!

2011-06-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm one, all ya'll!

We had about 40 guests... made tons of food and really enjoyed it. Our friends, Erin and David, just bought a commercial crepe maker and she wanted to test it out. They made crepes and I had Dulce De Leche or a Chocolate, Cinnamon, Chili Ganache I made to fill them with.

Eric and the pork butts, oh my they were good!

Cake.

Mmmmmmm, CAKE! Aunty Staci made a white cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting.

LindyJean likes to share.

Here is Caleb (son of my pal Shala, pictured with her beau, Grant) smashing the pinata.

Isn't this great? Sharin' some melon.

Ponchito, Eric, and Bean manning the meat station. Pork Butts and Chorizo.

Here is the image the Stagg Clan leaves you with for the 1st birthday celebration of our darling Miss LindyJean. She is such a happy, sweet kid. Thanks to Aunty Lolo for the birthday outfit, it was just perfect!!!

Birthday - part 1, preparation.

2011-06-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Butterbean!

I love these action shots of Bitty while we prepare for the party... she was so excited she ran around like I gave her kiddy-crack!

Make shift hopscotch!

We had breakfast at the farmer's market, so as not to muss the kitchen. Here we are walking home, with our lovely pink party peonies.

This man is dedicated! Eric started the pork butts at 1:00 am and slept, outside, on his camping cot, along side his BBQ's so that he could man the meat throughout the night. He wanted perfection for our lunchtime soiree and insisted that the pork needed 12 hours on the grill!

The night before we made a ton of Ina Garten's Coconut Cupcakes (which are sinfully delicious) and LindyJean's tiny cake for smashing.

Bitty & Aunty Staci hard at work.

Testing out the hoola hoops!

Lobster

2011-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

Memorial day weekend the local grocer flies in a ton of lobster and we decided to partake... look at that huge thing, he was the biggest and weighed 7 plus lbs!

Note the terrified look on the children's faces? Eric and Brian told them a million times that the lobster would literally remove a finger if they fooled about with it... It was delicious and we had a lovely weekend!

Daddy's little helper.

2011-05-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Eric mows the lawn either Friday evenings or Saturday morning. Here is Bitty, still in PJ's 'helping' - ear protection & all!

He is so very patient with her! She almost always gets to give a hand, which slows down whatever you are trying to do, it's great to see that he's always willing to take the time to teach her and let her help.

You have to start 'em early on chores ya'll!

Quick Visit to Nana

2011-05-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

We ran to Nana's, just me & the girls, on a Sunday evening for a quick overnight trip to drop off plants and pick up a few. Mom & I were diligent about starting flowers and garden plants and had some back and forth for delivery.

It was not real warm, but nice and sunny and the girls played in the sandbox that Nana & Grandad built for Bitty (and subsequent grandchildren, I suppose!).

The ButterBean is, obviously, enjoying herself!

Miss Bitty, wild as usual.

Aren't these dirty little toes just adorable?!?!?! Love 'em.

Surprise Visit

2011-05-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

My best pal from university, Samantha, just returned stateside from a deployment to United Arab Emirates. On her journey back to their home in Georgia from California via Washington (she's from WA and her parents fetched her from California, her husband and daughter met her at her parents in western Washington, and after a visit there, they began the long trek home.) she called me when they were about 45 minutes from my house and asked if they could stop by. I was at the winery (it was a Wednesday) and I immediately headed for home! She has a habit of randomly calling me and showing up places - last time it was May 2010 at my parents house.

Addison really needed a break from sitting in the car, so they stripped her down to her undies and she and Bitty played in the dirt!

Here I am leaning out the window trying to get a decent shot of them... not sure if I was successful. Of course, I got distracted and have no photos of Sam or her husband Adam and myself. Par for the course.

Here's LindyJean! I had some Clementines, which were not very good to eat and I didn't want to throw them away. I juiced them in the Vitamix and LindyJean could not get enough. Although I was sorry later when it gave her the runs.

Playdoh heaven. Bitty cannot get enough and before Addison showed up she spent nearly the entire morning in that exact spot.

MonkeyDooz

2011-05-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

Adelaide has needed a haircut and I haven't wanted to do it myself (and have her look like I did at her age!) or pay for one. Lisa, my neighbor, suggested that we all go to MonkeyDooz together, as Maggie was due for a trim too...

Wagons loaded and ready to go!

Maggie went first to show Bitty how it's done. Here we are observing "nervous Nelly" getting her hair washed. Notice her face and how she's hanging on to the board for dear life?

Here is the fun chairs they get to sit in. Gloria was the stylist - and knew exactly how to handle the kiddos! Bitty enjoyed herself.

Blowin' it dry. This place is great! It's meant specifically for children and is very reasonably priced too. We loved it and will return when it's time for another cut.

LindyJean taking the Jeep for a spin.

Maggie showing off her do!

Afterward, we treated them to lunch at Red Robin. LindyJean ate everything within reach. It was a lovely morning!

jumping beans

2011-05-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

What we're up to.

2011-05-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Some of the everyday...

Here are the two of them, hanging out, early in the morning. They really have become fond of one another.

I was cleaning up/organizing kids' clothes. Eric was "helping" and decided that this detachable hood would make a nice hat and then he got distracted from our chore by Starlings in the garden. Which he decided to dispose of with his Red Rider BB gun, shot out of the dining room window. What a Cletus.

1st Saturday ride to local Farmer's Market.

As a contractor who suffers from some pretty decent hearing loss, Eric is something of a Nazi about ear protection. He ordered the girls matching pink ear protection. When it arrived, Bitty was stoked. She put them on and refused to remove them for the remainder of the day. At least she now has an excuse for not listening to me, huh? What?

first harvest

2011-05-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

LindyJean after a dirt snack.

We picked our first crop, radishes! Adelaide was a great helper and dug them all out. Lindyjean ate dirt and tried to kill all the onions.

We took them inside, topped them, washed them and put them in the fridge. LindyJean spent the whole time pulling them out of the basket and throwing them about. She is turning into the world's most adorable holy terror. I think it might be time to bust our babyjail...

Case Rd Project

2011-05-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Eric Stagg Construction, as of next month, will be up and running 2 years now. I am quite proud of my husband. It is no small thing to support your family operating your own business, especially with your wife as book keeper/business partner.

He has developed a reputation as a contractor that does excellent work in a timely fashion and is easy to work with. We are getting plenty enough work to keep us busy, real busy! This last fall, he did an exterior remodel (new siding and a wrap around, covered deck) for a local orchardist/viticulturist. Apparently he liked to work, because we are now doing the same for his brother! Only this place will get stuccoed and the deck is a 2nd story monster, it's huge! This project will have great before and after photos.

Existing deck and half removed siding.

No yard, just weeds... because why put one in when some contractor is gonna come stomp all over it soon?

Front of the house.

This week Eric started framing in the new deck. We went to visit, take him lunch, and string some lines. Adelaide loves, loves, loves to go see Daddy at his jobsite.

I just love this photo of them looking at one another.

Busted

2011-04-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our irrigation busted. Leaking under the front porch, pouring out water, threatening to flood the basement busted... on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm. Great timing! The guys at the city were thrilled, I'm sure, when we called them to come over and get the irrigation turned off. However, they were quick to action, super helpful, and we got the flowing water stopped.

From there, handy dandy hubby (aka Eric) got a DitchWitch, some pvc, a few valves, and other supplies I am not familiar with and got to work.

Aren't they a lovely photo?

Notice Bitty in the background - filling her pocket with dirt!

Look! Dirt, dirt, dirty dirt, dirt Mama! She was displeased when I shortly hereafter made her strip, dump out her dirty dirt, washed her down, and made her nap. Apparently, I ruin all the fun stuff.

"Helping" Dad... it takes about 400 years longer to do just about anything when they are helping, but how else do the kiddos learn?

LindyJean discovered the HUGEST worm I've seen in a long time. She leaned over, looked in the trench, and then practically jumped in after something and up she came with this guy. She was content to pass him between her hands and giggle for about 10 minutes, but then...

This is directly after she tore it in two and stuffed one half in her mouth. So very disgusting LindyJean.

Here's a photo of me. I am HUGE already. This is going to be a fat all over, whale of a pregnancy. I shrunk this sweater and was mad, then I realized it served very well as a pregnancy yard work shrug of sorts. Keeps you warm but does not interfere with the belly. Eric asked me if I got it half price, since I only got half a sweater.

You are suppose to pay attention...

2011-04-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

What happens when you should be supervising them and you are diverted for anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes...

Cheap entertainment a la Dad.

Where are we going to put the third one?

This is a later photo of supervised Bitty crawling up the ladder. She did this when I was not looking and then hollers out "Hey Mama look at me! I am tall and you are small, so now I AM THE BOSS!" I about had a heart attack.

Mama, "What are you doing Bitty?" Bitty, "Having cocktails with Daddy, Cheers!"

LindyJean crawls all over the place. I take my eyes off of her and she wiggles behind the chair and finds the missing buttons out of her sister's button collection and tries to eat them...

Crush & Sunshine

2011-04-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

Alex is 8, Bitty adores Alex, Alex dutifully entertains her and abides her puppy dog, tag-along, 5,000 questions with absolute grace. He is my midwife's son. If we have a son ever, I hope he can be as charming, clever, and well-behaved as this young man. Kristin had a family emergency and so I had Alex all day and he was perfectly agreeable. Bitty refused to nap, she laid in bed, doing I don't know what for an hour and a half, until I let her out to pester Alex again.

It was the first real sunny and warm day of the year. LindyJean was most pleased to be set in the grass to watch the rest of us. Notice Atila, the sunbather.

Too cute.

The Eldest

2011-04-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

I do possess the title of "The Eldest." Being the eldest sibling and the eldest grandchild in the Boufford clan (maternal side of the family), I maintain the distinction by being your average type A, run of the mill overachieving, bossy pants, know-it-all firstborn. But, I digress... I have achieved an elderly milestone, THIRTY. Mind you, 30 is good. 30 is old enough for people to begin to take you serious, but no one can call you decrepit or make old jokes yet.

I think I had hoped for some giant bash, replete with lots of fabulous food and possibly excessive drinking. However my husband has thoughtlessly knocked me up again, and so I spent my third birthday in the last four quietly enjoying a nice meal out and sipping water. Thank the Lord Aunty Staci showed up with an amazing cake and my neighbors offered to take us all out to dinner at quaint and delicious local establishment.

It was a lovely evening and I sincerely want to express my gratitude to Eric, Staci, Boss, Brian & Lisa for making it so!

Taking a break from supervising Aunty Staci's assembly of the rainbow cake (which included commentary such as, "you need to do it PROPERLY Staci" to "Ooooo, you missed a spot!!!") in order to make a quick iPhone video.

Bitty & Boss reading "SkippyJon Jones." Which is a really great children's book. We highly reccomend anything SkippyJon, particularly when your daddy or uncle are seriously gringo and hilariously struggle with the Spanish/Spanglish in reading these tales. However, kudos to Boss as he is always ready to read a book or two and we really like that!

Birthday dinner feast at Wine O'Clock, a local winery/restaurant that is quite excellent and child friendly... see below.

Miss LindyJean, modicum of table manners, mowing down an entire piece of pesto, eggplant, and portobello pizza. She ate nearly the entire slice, among other things she devoured.

Aunty Staci and Bitty, with Boss enjoying his aged cheddar, bacon, & pear pizza!

We adjourned from the restaurant to our house for Aunty Staci's delectable and delightful rainbow cake. It was oh-so-yummy.

LindyJean - 10 months

2011-04-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here's how she has been napping as of late. How could that possibly be comfortable? She is a future contortionist. She regularly assumes any number of odd, Gumby positions in an attempt to scoot/crawl.

Here's what happens when you feed the world's sloppiest eater blackberry pancakes for breakfast. I literally had to bathe her to get it all off.

Yes, it's blurry. But demonstrates how she smeared it everywhere? Are there some skin balancing blackberry secrets I don't know of that LindyJean does... is that why it is so carefully applied to her face, neck, and decolletage?

She likes Bitty best, giggles a lot, sleeps like a champ, eats like a piglet, puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and makes me quite happy. Thank you Lord for such an adorable little person. Can't wait to see what He has in store for us with baby number 3.

El Jardin 2011

2011-04-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oh the grandiose plans I'd made for my garden and yard this year... then I got knocked up again. Hmmmppfffffff!

In order to stay sane, well rested, and maintained a garden & yard well-tended I've decided to focus my efforts on my food garden, Eric can take care of the grass, and the flowers will be of little concern (boo!).

Note the lovely blue skies... gardening season has arrived! LindyJean looks real impressed with me.

Eric decided that to optimize sun exposure on each row we should go at a diagonal this year. It looks pretty good to boot.

Here's the whole of it. Chives are thriving!

Ma was kind enough to do a bunch of starts and here is a lug of broccoli, cauliflower, greens, cabbages, brussel sprout, herbs, and tomatoes.

Bitty, ever ready gardener, is "planting grass."

... The rest of the story.

2011-04-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

Finally, Nana has found someone to share her passion (obsession) with! Adelaide needs a sticker that says, "I'd rather be with Nana & Ernie."

Everytime we go up to Ma & Pa's I think my mother must be so very glad to see us go when the time comes because Bitty keeps tabs on her like a deathrow inmate's personally assigned guard. She NEVER lets her out of sight or earshot and incessantly bugs her to go see Ernie, ride Ernie, give Ernie cookies, pet Ernie, clean Ernie's stall, take off Ernie's pajamas... the list is longer still! Either way, somebody - be it Daddy or Nana - is going to have to pony up for a horse for this girl someday soon.

I am not quite sure why I got this screwball face, but she is wildly excited about and completely in love with Mr. Ernie.

Coors Banquet Beer... could there possibly exist something more refreshing? No way, just ask Ernie!

Giddy up Nana!

Aunty Staci's iPhone

2011-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Ephrata last weekend for some family fun and Staci has an iPhone. She was happy to record any number of activities. (I did, in fact, snap some photos myself. I will post them when I get around to loading them from camera to computer!)

Bitty in hog heaven with her chocolate-dipped, vanilla ice cream cone. I think she left DK's high. We had really great burgers, home fries, and coleslaw at home and then decided to head to the local burger joint for an after dinner treat.

Photostrip, ready made by the iPhone. Pretty nifty!

LindyJean is funny. At least we think so...

i couldn't make this sh** up...

2011-03-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Adelaide came down with another ear infection on Friday afternoon and this morning I woke up to this with LindyJean (today is Sunday, 3/13/11).

She is having a reaction to the Amoxicillin they have her on for her ear infection & bronchiolitis. Nice, real nice. It's all over her chest, legs, bum, back, and even her girly parts. Apparently, 5-10% of kids get this and it goes away usually without issue... in two weeks. She looks like she is horrifically diseased and how am I supposed to leave the house with a baby in that condition? Please let it end and soon.

Family

2011-03-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

As the Mama, I am completely entitled to, not only believe, but publicly state that my baby is the cutest baby on Earth. Isn't she? I had to buy some bibs that she cannot remove because her favorite game is to rip off a bib, giggle, and throw it on the floor. As she cannot eat without smearing food absolutely everywhere, a bib is essential. Bumkins makes the BEST bibs EVER.

Just as Adelaide was, Miss LindyJean loves the doggy's water bowl. She doesn't crawl, but she does scoot herself anywhere she wants to go. Eric put her in the box so she couldn't wreak any havoc while I was sorting out dinner.

As you well know, we have been ill and quarantined in the Stagg household. The other night we finished dinner and I told Bitty to run around with her Dad and entertain herself while I cleaned up. She told Eric, "Let's snuggle and take a rest." Here they are while I tirelessly slave in the kitchen... barefoot and pregnant ya'll!!!

giggles

2011-03-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

... More sisterly fun...

Legos & Art

2011-03-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Bitty LOVES her Legos. She is getting quite a collection and as they are all Duplo Legos, so they are LindyJean safe (seeing as she puts absolutely everything in her mouth - in fact, I had to do baby heimlich on her and then she threw up a big ol' chunk of leaf she at when I set her in the yard the other day). We play Legos a lot and they are a good toy to teach little people to clean up after themselves as they are easy to pick up and throw in the box.

Look I'm hugging her mom... and she likes it!

Budding Lego fanatic.

Bitty also adores "art, coloring, & stickers." However, we must be very careful because "Goat Baby," aka LindyJean loves nothing more than a nice piece of paper to eat. She literally will scoot herself across the room if she sees a piece of paper so that she can shred it and eat it.

"She's stealing my crayons & papers!!!!"

I decided some cheddar would be a welcome distraction, it worked!

Splish, splash

2011-03-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Bathtime fun...

Oh mama...

2011-03-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

Seriously, yuck. I hope you can make it through my complaining...

Adelaide was up last night puking (which means I was up all night), then she had the runs today and didn't make it to the toilet. Nasty cough accompanies these other fabulous symptoms, the "i've been smokin' two packs a day for 15 years" kinda cough.

LindyJean, for two nights running, has been feeling awful and tonight ran a fever of 104.4. Accompanied by zero other symptoms. I have NO idea what is wrong with her. None. Which is unsettling for a know-it-all.

Now Eric is claiming he is coming down with something. He suffers from whiniest, most pathetic sick husband syndrome. FUN!!!

And all this just after getting over multiple bouts of pinkeye for me and the girls and the nastiest upper respiratory/sinus infection I have ever battled. Have I mentioned that life is entirely too busy for us to be plagued by all this grody sickness? In all seriousness, who has time for this garbage? Is anyone else experiencing the ill-health this winter?

I am ready, ready, READY for spring. The time has arrived for sunshine, garden planting, long walks without 40 layers of clothing, and the general good cheer that seems to coexist with Spring and Summer.

P.S. Aunty Staci - I need some photo motivation. I don't believe that I've snapped a shot of anything for even a week. In fact, I don't think I know where my camera is right now. You or Jonda must post something inspirational immediately. And what happened to "Tell all Tuesday" this week? I was terribly bummed when it didn't show up.

Good News, went to see the midwife and we figured that I am 11 weeks pregnant. I got through the first 1/4 of this pregnancy without hardly knowing it. Great! No morning sickness this go round either. Official due date seems to be something like September 28. If we go with the trend, we'll have a baby somewhere between October 2-4. Another home birth it is!

Since I've not ben taking pictures, here's a photo to commemorate all my whining - Adelaide, December 2008.

becoming playmates

2011-02-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

Adelaide & LindyJean have become quite fond of one another and have begun to play. Their interaction is just too cute. LindyJean LOVES Bitty and spends a lot of time giggling at her.

The Butterbean was going for a ride in the cart and Bitty was wearing her "helmut."

I asked Bitty to smile and this was what I got.

The subsequent attempt at a grin. We are in the stage where you ask her to smile for the camera and you get the most screwball face. LindyJean managed a half smile alright though!

You better believe it.

2011-02-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

...Because every post is better with a picture (as Jonda and Stace like to say), here is Bitty and Maggie playing dress up. It has become Adelaide's new obsession.

I have been painfully slow to blog. Life has been a little rough... between being very busy and everyone in the house sick and then reinfecting one another, things have been hectic. I have the worst cold/flu ever and now I have the pinkeye. Good Lord!

Seeing as my mother-in-law posted this on Facebook immediately after I told her, I must tell you now before you find out otherwise... we are expecting another baby in the fall. Eric is very, very excited and I am still a little trepidatious. Nevermind, that I'll have three children three and under, the thought of another pregnancy so soon has me overwhelmed. I haven't even weaned LindyJean yet! Either way, it is a blessing and a gift and I'll get used to the idea soon enough. When I called Mom to tell her she said "Why are you doing this to yourself!!?!" I almost died laughing! Staci was about as shocked as I and couldn't stop giggling. Trudi just stuttered and muttered in disbelief for about 3 minutes before I convinced her I wasn't joking.

Wish us luck.

Goodies

2011-02-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

Aunty Cheryl (aka Santa Claus aka the ridiculously awesome spoiler of children) sent a box of Valentine's goodies. It had Winnie the Pooh window decals, story books, themed & colored champagne flutes, stickers, chocolates, teddy bears, & a package of pink and purple sprinkles.

Bitty's been begging to make sugar cookies and decorate them with her sprinkles. I broke down yesterday and did it. (I have been avoiding dessert b/c I've plumped up and it's not pretty!)

Thanks so much to Cheryl for ALWAYS thinking of us and sending the fabulous & regular care packages. Quite honestly, Bitty thinks she is some sort of benevolent, gift-mailing fairy!

Rituals, routines, & schedules

2011-01-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Children love them; routines, rituals, & schedules! Anyone who wants to argue, I am solidly convinced, is either an idiot or simply ignorant. Part of our Friday routine...

Every Friday is storytime for the 2 & under age group at our local public library. Adelaide loves the library and finds storytime very amusing. It's also a good time for mamas to visit, so this Mama is happy oblige Bitty's insistent requests that we attend. Also, we get new books for the week as I can only handle reading the same thing for so long.

Emily & Johanna sent us some cute headbands and hats and Bitty insisted on wearing hers to storytime. She thought it would "... look just lovely, Fancy Nancy would like it Mama!"

Kolleen here is our storytime hostess and she loves to do it and the kids are ardent admirers. She tells a mean story, sings really silly songs, and even starts the session with bubbles.

LindyJean, Bitty, Violet, and Holly (Holly is my good friend and walking companion). Bitty is obviously jazzed 'bout her iridescent floating friends.

LindyJean is always absorbed in the storytime rituals and behaves herself quite nicely when we go.

The throne.

2011-01-21T06:38:00.000-08:00

This may be slightly crass, but the photo is something I find very amusing. LindyJean uses the throne.

One evening, before bath time I set her on the toilet. As she can sit up and she's not so small she'll fall in, I thought if I poured a little warm water on her she would relieve herself there and not in the bath. Subsequently, she pooped and has every time I've done it. Bizarre.

Adelaide gives her much encouragement and it has become obvious, even at the tender age of 7 months, that Bitty's approval is very much sought after.

I apologize to our loyal followers for my lack of updates. Staci called me the other day and asked me (as we usually talk on the phone everyday, at least once), "What are you doing lately - your blogging stinks and I haven't talked to you much." She may have threatened blog purgatory and possibly excommunication if I didn't get it together and post something soon. Of course, my lame excuses are that we are super, dooper busy and I can't ever remember to snap photos. There's been plenty of social occasions presented for excellent photo opportunities... however, I haven't managed to remove the camera from my bag. Either way, I intend to do better, we'll see!

Ducks & Auburn

2011-01-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Last night, our neighbor (who is a former U of O quarterback) hosted a party at our local brewery so we could all gather (40 people or so) to watch the Oregon/Auburn championship game. Needless to say, the whole Lusk family are freaks for the Ducks. The entire brewery was decked out in yellow and green, they gave out door prizes, costumes, and beer. It was a hoot. While the Ducks may have lost, it was an incredible football game to watch and Mr. Stagg enjoyed himself immensely.

As a graduate of Oregon State, Eric is a Beavers fan and so he and Kevin constantly go back and forth over the Ducks and Beavs. Kevin did not find Eric's apparel to be Duck enough, so he hooked him up with something very festive indeed.

6 months and counting...

2011-01-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

The baby has reached the six month mark. Aunty Staci, whose talents are beyond me, snapped a couple photos of Miss LindyJean, Butterbean, in honor of the occasion. Most of them are black and white as the light was not fabulous and photographer Staci demands perfection. Unbeknownst to me - black and white hides lighting imperfections with grace and ease.

A word about LindyJean Cornelia Stagg. She is roly-poly, cuddly, loves to shriek and squeal, giggles at Bitty's antics, has little patience (when she wants something, she wants it immediately), adores her older sister, digs commotion, and is a keen observer of her surroundings. She is very much attached to Mama (& Mama to her). She loves Daddy's silly faces & odd noises. She is a blessing and a beauty. We love her.

Christmas

2010-12-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

This hat is a present from Aunty Staci & Boss. It has been difficult to remove it from her presence since she got it in her hot little hands.

Can you see LindyJean's two teeth?

Mom went to New Orleans with Aunty Cheryl and we all received a number of trinkets, Eric's booty included this hat and a VooDoo trinket. Bitty said to me, "That's the creepiest thing I ever saw, in my whole life!"

My very best Vanna White impression.

Bitty got Playdoh in her stocking, a MAJOR hit.

Eric requested some insulated overalls and his request was fulfilled.

This cradle was a gift for Bitty, for her babies and dolls. One of Mom's coworker's father handmade it and mom sewed a mattress, pillow, and quilt. Dad thought it was big enough for a real baby, we had to prove him wrong...

Boss & Butterbean, just chillin'!

Susie, a super gracious lady that works with Mom & Staci (her dad made the cradle), gifted Bitty this adorable chef's hat and apron. There was a bowl, spoons, pot holders, and a matching Mama apron too!

Blueberry Schmorgy

2010-12-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

LindyJean is a messy eater. I steamed blueberries and then mashed them with my homemade barley meal and she really loved them.

Gross! Our neighbor, Lisa, was over (who is a doctor) and thought I should take her to the ER for a joke on the staff and tell them she had some sort of hideous rash.

Nothing mask those baby blues! I accidentally let it dry and had to soak her in the bathtub before I could get it off.

chocolate crinkles

2010-12-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

Staci, master planner & ingenious suzie homemaker, decided that we should, well in advance of the holiday, split up the monumental task of baking Gramma Hunter's Christmas Cookie Stash. Let me tell you, there is a reason these cookies are made but once a year. I was assigned Candy Canes, Spun Guli, and...

Chocolate Crinkles; Staci was appalled that of the 15 different types of cookies made by our sweet little Granny, none of them had so much as a lick of chocolate. An onerous omission that is possibly unforgiveable! We fixed it, Staci demanded Chocolate Crinkles, which are not only very tasty, but quite pretty.

The dough, balls for powder sugar coating, and chocolate balls coated!

The result after a mere 10 minutes of oven time...

One must taste the goods and I say, scrumptious! This is what you look like with two small children, two tons of chores to accomplish, and no shower - Eric is so lucky, huh?

Time out for a rashy tush. What a smiley little toot!

Adelaide grabbed my glasses and hollers "Right on, Dude!"

Kerstfeest

2010-12-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

Gammy & Papa graciously hosted a lovely Stagg Christmas gathering at their home this past weekend. We enjoyed a delicious schmorgy of a meal and opened presents. It was a quite an evening!

Merry Christmas! Isn't she adorable? Thank you kindly to Aunty Cheryl & Cousin Monica for the shopping spree that resulted in the most lovely Christmas dresses, jackets, and shoes for the holidays. There is not a picture of Adelaide, she absolutely REFUSED to have her photo taken. (She will cooperate for Christmas, round 2 at Nana & Grandad's.)

Truschka & LindyJean looking so very festive.

After consuming three lamb chops - chewing the bone clean - and an unimaginable quantity of green beans & carrots, Adelaide went hog wild for the whip cream laden beaters.

Truschka made Grismeal. A traditional Dutch treat that her mother, Mooka, used to make. It's is some sort of custardy/puddingish dessert topped with berries and whipped cream. It is SOOOOOOO delicious. Notice Adelaide supervising and conducting quality control.

Here's Eric opening his presents... you are not truly prepared for life without a knife!

Holiday Preparation

2010-12-20T06:46:00.001-08:00

I really like this photo of the two of them, they look so very happy.

It's a marshmallow world in the winter...

The day after we got the tree, Bitty awoke early and insisted that we put lights on the tree. Here we are at 5:30 am in our PJ's.

As we've yet to collect ornaments for our tree, we had craft night in order to have some decoration. We made salt dough ornaments and popcorn & cranberry garland with Maggie, Brian, & Lisa. Notice Adelaide's face - she was eating cranberries!

The menfolk placing our garland on the tree.

December 23, 2009

2010-12-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

Other Thanksgiving Activities

2010-12-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Staci took a lot of great photos of our 5 day sojourn in Ephrata for the holiday, I got a few. Here are some of the other things we dabbled in, most of which were indoor activities as it was FREEZING cold.

Adelaide adores Nana. Ma has to be exhausted when we leave, Bitty follows her about like a determined puppy dog, constantly hollering, "Nana, Naaaaanaaaaa, TERRI, TERRI, Terri!" Insisting on 'assisting' in each and every one of Nana's tasks.

LindyJean during one of our crafting sessions. I made fabric flowers and Ma created the most adorable pillow for LindyJean. Who can sit up and balance herself for 2-3 minutes if you prop her up.

Hot buttered rum and a sewing machine!

Ta-da! New pillow. It wasn't quite finished here, I'll post a picture of it nested in LindyJean's crib. It is so very pretty. Thanks Ma.

multi-tasking

2010-11-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

The girls rarely sleep at the same time during the day, so I have to be a diligent multi-tasker to get household chores done. This is how you get a large basket of freshly laundered diapers and a baby upstairs simultaneously.

Winter Wonderland

2010-11-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! This is Otis, our snowman. Bitty and I made him after a tremendous snowfall.

She insisted that he have buttons and a carrot nose. The snow was super dry and so we had to make a mini-man, as it really did not want to stick together.

Yeah for Otis!

What the hell Otis? You froze my hand!

This is 6:15 this morning, before it was even light. She and Daddy headed out to inspect the snow. This is really the first time that she has seen snow with the ability to comprehend what it is. She was terrifically excited and subsequently terribly angry when I made her come inside. She howled like a wildcat.

Bitty is attempting to protect Otis from Atila, who was assaulting our snowman nonstop - trying to perform rhinoplasty as Otis' nose was made of one of Atila's most favorite treats.

Adelaide's first snow angel.

Yelling "SNOWMAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!" at the top of our lungs. All in all, we went outside 3 times today to play in the snow. The temperature did not rise above 26 and seems that old man winter has made his official appearance.

Look alike

2010-11-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

I love babies. I think I could have lots and lots. However, it requires a willing spouse and I think he might have had enough already. Anywho... here are comparison shots of Bitty and Miss LindyJean. They very much look like sisters.

Bananas & Toes

2010-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

We started LindyJean on solids on Sunday (11.7.10). I decided to try smooshed banana first. I really didn't want to give her any foods yet(for purely selfish reasons - it's more work than breastfeeding and it's the first step towards weaning), but Eric insisted and I relented.

She doesn't seem to like or dislike it and only eats about a tablespoon at a time, before she begins spitting it out.

Tomorrow we are going to start rice cereal, which by the way is REALLY easy to make homemade, so don't buy it! Subsequently, I want to try avocado.

It takes fierce concentration to use a spoon!

LindyJean loves to be NAKED. In fact, one of the only times she regularly fusses is when you are attempting to dress her. She's all smiles when the clothes are coming off, though. After bathtime I have been cranking the heat and letting her hangout naked on the changing table for 5-10 minutes. She peed on me today.

She has also discovered that the ten little piggies stuck on that foot attached to her leg, belong to her! She really likes to gnaw on them. Very cute... when you're not a walker and there's nothing nasty on your feet.

Everyday

2010-11-11T06:25:00.000-08:00

Everyday... as in normal, day to day, everyday activities.

Aunty Staci came for a day visit - to play and take family pictures. Wait until you see 'em.

Galbraith Clan came for dinner. I made the mossssst delicious shepherd's pie - Lamb & Round Steak filling topped with Horseradish Cheddar Potato/Parsnip mashers. After we did "Science Experiment" dessert. We put a giant Marshmallow in a Foodsaver jar and vacuumed it. It got huge. Here is the before photo.

Here is the after - and this picture is not accurately depicting the size difference. I thought Adelaide would deafen us with her excited squeals.

Babushka.

Adelaide is REALLY into cooking. She is constantly raiding my drawers & cupboards for supplies & "gredients." Here she is making LindyJean a cake, "a banana, rosemary, black pepper cake Mama, it's delicious and 'tritious." Ha.

Under construction

2010-11-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Bitty & Daddy go together like peanut butter & jelly. It is such a blessing that he has been provided with a burgeoning business that is so very close to home. He's home for lunch every day and if he missed breakfast, Adelaide often insists we make something and walk it down to him. This morning, he was laying tongue & groove cedar decking over a trap door (photos of that later) and we brought him a toasted breakfast sandwich. Adelaide was overjoyed to be with him.

Watching them brings me true joy.

Trick or Treat

2010-11-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Spokane Street, which the Galbraith household is on, is the most popular trick or treating street in town. So much, in fact, that our neighbors Steve & Cherylanne donated this monstrosity to their doorstep. Here are the menfolk hammin' it up at my request.

Our Trick or Treaters.

Maggie & Bitty are yelling "TRICK OR TREAT." We took them out for a half hour at 5:00, up one side and down the other of Spokane Street. We then returned to Brian & Lisa's for pizza, beer, the World Series, and handing out candy. The girls really enjoyed doling out the goodies. There were about 200 trick or treaters. It was a constant stream of kidlets.

They were very mindful of street safety; looking both ways and holding hands. Isn't this photo adorable?

Of course, as the wielder of the photographic device, while wearing LindyJean in the moby... there is nary a single photo of me nor the baby. Boohoo.

Waffles, Syrah, Bathing, & God Bless America!

2010-10-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some random photos of the last two weeks of my girls...

Eric decided one morning (at 4 a.m., mind you) that he wanted waffles and we were going to load up and go buy a waffle iron. We did and Bitty played sous-chef. She loves stirring.

The expression subsequent to Mama requesting a smile via "Cheese." She looks scary.

Before we were done, she had batter dripping down the counters and cupboards and all over her jammas.

They have begun bathing together to make our lives easier and Bitty loves it and LindyJean is beginning to find Adelaide very entertaining.

Tummytime!

Here we are singing God Bless America and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I am going to get this on the Flip and send it to Brandon, because it's patriotic and so very funny.

It's harvest/crush in the Yakima Valley and I took the girls to the winery because Bitty wanted to see them smooosh the grapes. Carlos gave her a bunch and she was estatic. I mistakenly allowed her to eat them in the car on the ride home. Her shirt, the carseat, and her face were a mess.

She was eating Syrah, which is the most deeply colored wine grape.

Here she is telling me how they sort the grapes and how important it is that they get out all the yuckies (leaves, sticks and other foreign materials that get in the bins) before they make the wine.

Pork Butt

2010-10-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Eric has decided that one weekend day will be devoted to the BBQ-ing of a large chunk of animal flesh. Slow-fired roasted and eventually accompanied by a schmorgy sides, we will dine like royalty celebrating some festive occasion. I made a mole, fresh salsa, homemade refried beans, and tortillas. The Pork Butt was 10.9.10

Not sure if this look on his face is because of his BBQ glory or the beer... likely a combination.

It was seriously delicious.

What a goofball.

I have been woefully negligent in capturing our lives as of late. The following weekend was our neighbor Brian's 40th - which involved a rotissiered leg of lamb, a bunch us gathering at his house (including a fellow visiting from Georgia (the country), who taught us how to toast in Georgian and we drank from goat horns that he brought), Maggie & Bitty watching baseball and hollering God Bless America at the top of their lungs...

I've canned apple butter - 28 pints to be exact. We've been harvesting and dismantling the garden as a hard frost is imminent. I returned to part time work at the winery in the first week of October (the wine club is a mess, they've hired a new manager, and somehow I landed the job of training her and I've been there a lot - girls in tow). Eric has been working like mad and the girls are, as ever, a lot of hard work. Those are my not good enough, but trying very hard to be, excuses for the lack of documentation.

Being busy is good, it beats boredom. And you know what they say... idle hands are the devil's handiwork!

dozens & dozens of dahlias

2010-10-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

The fella who cultivates the pumpkins, also has hundreds of the most beautiful dahlias in every color, size, and petal shape you can imagine. They were absolutely gorgeous.

The girls and I.

This photo is just plain funny.

Bitty picked a huge dahlia and decided it would make a lovely hat.

Ta-da!

pupkin batch

2010-10-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

10.6.10

While in Ephrata for the applesauce canning schmorgy, Aunty Staci - the most fabulous of Aunties - took us to a local pumpkin & decorative gourd patch. Bitty convinced herself that it is a 'pupkin batch' and any attempt to sway her otherwise is utterly fruitless. It was loads of fun and we got enough pumpkins for us and our friends and neighbors.

Pre-pumpkin festivities.

Every time we found a teeny-tiny pumpkin or gourd, Bitty would holler "It's a baby one, just the right size for my baby LindyJean!!!"

She's a big 'un...

"Your baby is lovely, when was she born?" "Born? We found her under a pumpkin vine!"

Zoom in on this one... I don't remember the exact conversation, but look at our expressions and that is a knife in my hand.

A is for Autumn, Apples, Adelaide...

2010-10-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

A while back, Staci posted our saucemaking activities. It began here in Prosser in a Golden Delicious orchard. Eric's current project is a remodel for a fellow that has a HUGEmongous orchard and vineyard. We spent a couple of evenings with girls gleaning a variety of apples; Goldens, Fujis, Newtowns, & Galas. It was really pretty & quite fun!

Miss LindyJean attempting to abscond our sauce. She uses her hands pretty well these days.

"Smoky and the Bandaid"

2010-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

10.3.10

Eric loves, loves, loves Smoky and the Bandit. One evening we were dining and listening to Jerry Reed, who sings the theme song - Eastbound and Down. Adelaide commented to Daddy that this was the song from "Smoky and the Bandaid" and that they should watch it together... "Daddy, I'll 'nuggle you and we watch it together, ok?"

I told her, you have to eat all your dinner and you are going to have to get ready for bed, then we'll watch some of it, not all, and you'll go to bed without complaint when Daddy says it's time to turn it off. By golly, she listened. Even LindyJean got to watch.

By the way. The movie is completely inappropriate for 2 year olds and we won't be viewing it as a family until they are MUCH older. Made for a cute photo though.

Sittin' Pretty

2010-10-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

yakivegas

2010-10-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Friday 10.1.10

Could they be cuter? I think not. Salome & Bitty taking a break from squealing and wreaking havoc to munch on some string cheese. I went to visit Dana, who lives is YakiVegas - "Palm Springs of Washington" (there is a sign just outside of Yakima that actually says that) - to visit and meet her new baby, Mariel, born 9.11.10.

Incidentally, I got no photos of her b/c everytime I thought to or had the camera out, either I was nursing LindyJean or Mariel was on the breast herself! They call her "Stickers" and she is the tiniest, cutest thing you ever saw. She could use your prayers... she has a heart condition and down syndrome and it looks like they'll be spending some time at Seattle Children's Hospital trying to figure out exactly what is going on with her heart.

They both love babies... little ogres.

Salome's baby is not as interactive as Bitty's yet and Salome seemed to enjoy LindyJean's responsiveness. Stickers is still in the newborn stage - translating for a toddler as a squeaky, boobyfiend, who steals all of Mama's attention. :)

Happy Camper.

Bitty & Salome colored, played hide & seek, chased bubbles, danced, sang, ate snacks, played with noodle balls & puzzles and generally had a fabulous time. Good company. Thanks for hosting us Dana!

89 & still kickin'

2010-10-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

9.27.10 - 9.30.10

Yeah for Gramma! She's a rockstar ya'll.

Gramma Hunter came for a Washington visit from August 10 to September 30. We passed her around from my house to Dad's, to Uncle Russ, to Uncle Tim and back. She helped us can and while at my house she did the dishes every night, cleaned house, shucked the ton of corn that Boss sent our way (THANKS BOSS!), and did the pile of ironing that was beginning to resemble Mt Rainier! If I have that much gusto at that age (hell, if I'm alive at that age), I'll be thrilled.

LindyJean does a lot of tummy time and seems to like it. Doesn't hurt that big sister gets down there to set a good example, as well as provide chitterchatter and unending encouragement.

These last three images are because I absolutely adore her face. I cannot get enough of this little droolbug. She is turning into a very social baby. She loves to converse, has begun to be able to manipulate her hands, and takes real notice of her surroundings.

Prosser Balloon Rally

2010-10-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on posting and will try to catch up...

September 24-26, 2010 - The Great Prosser Balloon Rally.

You have to get out of the house by 6:30 a.m. to catch the launch and watch a cloudless, gleaming blue sky ceremoniously fill with brightly colored balloons. Bitty was enthralled.

This is from Sunday morning, when Kate, Bryan, & Mitch came to visit. They are inflating the balloon.

Here's Eric and Bitty, down on the river watching the green/yellow balloon touch down on the river.

I can't believe I got this to show up. Look at that perfect spider web! Cool.

If you enlarge this photo and look at the house on the right... that's Eric's current project. They live right on the river and invited us to come and watch the balloons on Saturday morning from their place.