Mar 31, 2009

Calvin and Mommy.

Mar 30, 2009

Maisie and Kristin showing off their pigtails!

We are in the Gig for a couple of days, taking care of some things our buyers wanted fixed on the house. We are so ready for the house to belong to someone else!

Maisie is having a blast running around and playing with her cousins--Calvin is having some quality snoozing time on relative laps.

Mar 29, 2009

These are my Squacks. Coming up on 19 years, aren't we girls?

Thanks for the fabulous weekend!!!

This was a tough photo decision tonight. It was either this picture, or the weird tennis shoe tree we saw on the drive home. Greg and I both did a double take, and decided we had to turn around and go check it out. We were still on hwy 97 in OR and there is an old tree right by the road that is completely covered with pairs of shoes. I don't know HOW we missed it on the way down.

Oh, wait. Yes I do. (Good morning, Nicole!)

We took a few pictures, it was just so very odd! I did not sacrifice a pair of shoes to the tree.

Mar 28, 2009

Greg took this one. :)

Katie and her kids have a dance party every night in their kitchen--crank up the party tunes and get your groove on!

Anyone passing our house and hearing the music last night probably would not have expected to see 36 through 40 year olds plus a handful of children doo-wopping on the tile floor in the kitchen.

Maisie seemed a little confused or surprised, having rarely seen me dancing around and singing (ok, lip syncing, I have full blown laryngitis or something--very little voice) into a micro spoon. But she joined right in! And she LOVED dancing with Katie when she wasn't dancing with me. She watched Katie and Emma like a hawk, and demanded to copy whatever fancy move Emma did with Katie. I think Cheryl got video, and although some of it may be terrifying, some footage of the little girls will probably be good. Or at least blackmail worthy!

Not so sure I need to see the BIG GIRLS belting out Dancing Queen into spoons...

Mar 27, 2009

Maisie, Maddie and Camille. A few of our little Squacklet girls.

Beckers4 spent a long weekend down in SunRiver OR with my girlfriends from college--officially known as Squackers. Our children are Squacklets and our husbands are Squackos. Just wanted to clarify that for those of you who might have had question marks in your conversation bubble.

I'm not exactly sure what the girls were doing here, but Maisie and Camille had dragged their sleeping bags out into the living room, procured some extra pillows, and demanded popcorn. Maddie was a late joiner, having been out perfecting some diving moves in the hot tub, I believe. So her sleeping bag actually never made an appearance in the living room (maybe her Mommy was watching more carefully....)but she did join in the popcorn eating and the make believe that was going on there.

So cute. I love watching these friendships forming, and hope that they can be lifelong friends like their Mommies are. These three are all within 5 months in age.

Mar 26, 2009

I'd decided to take a picture of the orchard once a month until harvest so we can really observe the process going on around us. My uncle Dave had very nice things to say about the first of this series, so I hope to catch some more interesting ones--am going to try to take them from the same spot each time I do it. Although the lighting looks so much different in this one, I wonder if I should note the time...

Mar 25, 2009

FISH!

Maisie is such a good swimmer! Greg and I are so impressed, and SO GLAD! (we were both forced to take swimming lessons as children and HATED them) This picture was taken at her last swimming lesson for the session. She swam the length of the pool, AND back! Her teacher was right there beside her, coaching her along. At the far end, the pool is 12 feet deep! Papa and Gogo came to watch, we had told them that she swam the length once already. They treated her to ice cream afterwards!

Mar 24, 2009

Darrick came to visit! Maisie LOVES her (so do I! we hope she can come again). What a blast they had--and how WONDERFUL for me to have a helper here! Maisie and Darrick had a tea party with REAL TEA! and they made cookies and they played soccer, and played on the slide and in the dirt. We had dinner tonight, then had early showers and made popcorn and watched a movie. I love this picture of Maisie cuddling up to Darrick!! She was sooo sad when Darrick left. (Why did my friend have to leave?) She called her by her name, she called her "my friend" and "my cousin." So cute.

Mar 23, 2009

Trying to get Calvin to go to sleep on his own. I was spending this day trying to accomplish some things around the house, and little mister wanted to be ON me. So I caught this photo with eyes at half mast--he slept on his boppi pillow here for just a little while, not quite long enough for me to finish what I needed to, but we're getting there. I'd love for him to fall asleep from drowsy when I put him in the bassinette. It's been done a couple of times, but we're not at 100% success yet. We'll work at it. Momma has to have hands free SOMETIMES!

Mar 22, 2009

Ah-HA! Hobbes! You naughty tiger!

Maisie found Hobbes at her cousins' house this weekend! We have been searching for him for about a month and a half. Ever since we tried to take Calvin's 1 month picture. Maybe Hobbes made himself scarce, since the first time he posed for pictures with Calvin, this happened:


Maybe Calvin scared him off!

Anyway, we are glad to have him back, and he will be returning to the monthly photo shoot.

Mar 21, 2009

This is where Calvin spent his day! Smashed up against me in the sling while we worked outside. Actually, he spent the morning on Gogo. It was a pretty nice day, and I wanted to get some outside work done, so we put him in the pouch and did our thing. He slept the whole time. Good baby!

Yes, that is dirt on the sling. Yes, there was dirt on him. A nice warm bath was in order this evening!

--photo compliments of Papa.

Mar 20, 2009

Miss Maisie, fresh from the shower, looking over a book before I started the marathon book reading. I think we read 6? Curious George included. Ugh. Those are not my favorite, and then next time we organize her bookshelf, I'll probably hide them! The one she is looking at is Skip to my Lou, which we have to sing! And it reminds her of her cat. She can recite "Hippos Go Berserk" to me if she wants to, it's hilarious! We didn't read that one for the longest time, but we've had it as long as we've had the other Sandra Boyntons. But once we did, we were hooked! And she pretty much remembers what comes next by looking at the pictures, so fun!

Mar 19, 2009

Another sun. this one is actually on my bedside lamp--you may recognize it from the "nightstand photo". There is a moon on the back that I like just as well, but it is never displayed, as the cord comes out there, too. This lamp and it's partner came from my friend Dondee. I coveted them since I met her in college--she had a "grown up" apartment while I was still living in the dorms, I think! Been a long time to remember those details. Anyway, once we became roommates, after I returned from Ecuador, she still had them, and I still coveted them. Years later, MANY moves later, she decided she was done with them and she sent them to me. I painted them with a new coat of white, found new shades (THEN found RED ones that I wanted even more!) and put them back together. My Dad had to walk me through some of that process--I think I took pictures and emailed them to him, asking what parts went where!

Mar 18, 2009

Miss Maisie before leaving for Papa and Gogo's on Wed. to sign papers on the offer on our house!!!!!

Whoa. Are WE READY FOR THIS!

Maisie doesn't appreciate having her hair washed. Or brushed. Or dried. But she does want "long hair like Momma's". How sweet! (considering I don't even like mine!) So we have to remind her every time she needs it washed or brushed or dried that she has to let us fix her hair, or she has to keep it short and not have long hair like mine. She has found some barrettes that Nana gave her, and she'll ask me to put them in her hair. Although they don't generally stay in for more than a few minutes, and I'll find them around the house in random places. Like on the floor in her brother's room! So she went with Gogo this month to have her hair trimmed...she has a ways to go before it is "long".

Mar 17, 2009

So this has to be my new specialty. Walnut Cake. Considering I still have 2 3/4 garbage cans full of walnuts from last fall....this cake uses a full pound of them, not including any on the top! :) It's pretty good, too. This one I mistakenly made in a bundt pan, which I won't do again-some of it stuck to the top, so I had to put it upside down on the platter. But it still tasted great! I took it to Mops, as it was my group's week for providing snacks.

Mar 16, 2009

And today, we had SMILES! And plenty of them! I first got a few during church, no one saw them but me! Then after we came in from wandering around outside this afternoon, he was laying on Greg's lap, responding to Greg's voice. How cute!

I just have to mention the other excitement of the evening. We all got ready for bed a little early tonight, were planning to have a popcorn and movie night. Greg informed me there is no more popcorn, so we had to resort to microwave. Greg took Calvin back to change his pants and put his jammies on him, and I threw a bag into the micro and put it on for 5 minutes--our micro in the Gig house took SEVEN to complete a bag! Then Greg yelled my name. He was standing over Calvin at the changing table--Calvin had totally decimated his diaper! So I grabbed the whole thing and took it to the laundry room to hose it off. Headed back to the kitchen, and Greg yelled my name again! Calvin had peed all over himself while Greg was debating how to clean up the mess, including his FACE! I started to mop off the baby, and decided he just needed a whole bath. So off we went--all four of us!--to the bathroom. When we emerged, smoke filled the kitchen. YIKES! Greg had the baby, so I ran to the kitchen, yanked out the smoldering bag, and started opening windows. Which doesn't help in the slightest.

Doggone microwave popcorn. Yuck.

Mar 15, 2009

Another night night shot. Without the maggi this time. :)

Mar 13, 2009

Baby baby--ready for night night.

Mar 12, 2009

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We had dinner here for Mom's birthday, I made angel food cake for the first time ever. Maisie helped make the frosting, but she was mostly interested in licking the bowl. I heard the word "lick" about 1,000 times before I actually gave up and handed over the bowl and the spatula! I wanna lick the bowl, Mom. Can I lick the spatula? Can I lick the beaters? MOM, when are you gonna be done so I can LICK THAT? Can I lick THAT? (points to the cake plate, where I had spilled the tiniest droplet of icing) Can I have a little lick right NOW? MOM, when can I lick the bowl???

She wasn't convinced you actually need to finish frosting the cake before licking the EVERYTHING!

Mar 11, 2009

Ahhh...some more suns. :)

Maisie had an awesome swim lesson today, but it's not easy to take pictures there, so I skipped it. I'll just talk about it.

She was first into the water. She stayed in the water nearly the WHOLE time! She didn't have to be coerced into putting her head in the water, she did so willingly! On the way home she said, "One of the kids didn't want to do a head bob." I asked what a head bob is and she told me, "Put my head under the water!" Duh, Mom! She floated on her back. After instruction from her teacher, she did the backstroke! WOW! Good job Maisie!!

Mar 10, 2009

Calvin is two months old! Yep, I'm two days late, but he was in a grouchy mood yesterday when I was ready to take the picture, and even THAT was a day late! And I couldn't get a good one today that didn't have his arm across the sign! Still haven't found Hobbes. The rhino may have to do...

Mar 9, 2009

Snow AGAIN! Yikes! What a weird day. It snowed twice, and the sun came out right afterward both times.

This was taken shortly after the huge snowflakes stopped falling the second time. Dad was working in the playroom, and I caught a glimpse of the wind machine in the orchard--the white middle part of the arms just about disappeared in the clouds behind it, I just thought it looked really cool. If you don't look too carefully you can't tell that I fiddled with this picture. :)

Mar 8, 2009

Calvin is two months old! Here he is with Great Gramma 'Raine. She just got home from California today. Greg and I went to a play with her in Soap Lake (we both independently decided we want to try out for one someday!) and Papa and Gogo babysat for us. Gramma and Greg and I came back for dessert and coffee before we went home, and Calvin got some "Great time". :) Maisie tried to wear out Gogo's new ottoman by sliding over it like a snake.

Mar 7, 2009

"Nice teddy bear,
I love the teddy bear,
Nice teddy bear,
love the teddy bear,
SMASH!"

Peals of laughter were coming from the dining room, Calvin and I came in to see what was going on...those playdough teddy bears again. Getting fmashed. One by one. First the song. Then the fmash. :)

Mar 6, 2009

Ahhhh...spring.

Or in Maisie-speak: fpring.

We went outside today, only lasted about 1/2 hour, since it's still only 37 degrees out. Argh! I'm soooo ready. C'mon, warmer weather! We wandered around the yard for a while, looking at the plants that are coming up, and stepping in mud. Maisie is intrigued by the ag-cats, flying around spraying right now. We kicked the soccer ball around a bit--she's surprisingly good at it! I may be sore tomorrow, I ran about 3/4 of the lenghth of the yard and back, dribbling the soccer ball. More exercise than I've gotten in a year!

Mar 5, 2009

Calvin visits with Great Grandma Dena.

My Grandma lives about 4 miles from us now, and she LOVES to have her great grandkids visit her. So sometimes after we drop Maisie off at pre-school, Calvin and I will stop by and visit with Grandma. Last time we saw her, she mentioned she was out of walnuts, and could she have some of ours? We still have 3 garbage cans nearly full, and are happy to dole them out to whomever can use them! So I filled a bag before we left this morning, and Calvin and I dropped in on her for a little visit. This time, Calvin was awake! Last time he slept the whole time!

Mar 4, 2009

Why is diaper laundry so much less annoying than regular laundry? This happens to be the only picture I took today...interesting that we attended our first water association meeting today. And while I am proud to use cloth diapers because we contribute that much less waste to landfills, I now wonder about how much water I use to wash them...they take a LOT of rinsing to make sure I have all the detergent out. Our association president made a comment about 2/3 of the members not going over the allotted amount of water each month. I'll be interested to know if we fall into that category or not-with the cloth diaper washing, my OCD showering tendencies and the jungle outside that needs to be watered.

I don't know if cloth diapering, gardening and recycling makes me the crunchy green granola hippie I am in my head.

Mar 3, 2009

I seem to catch a lot of pictures of Calvin sleeping...what a sweetie.

Mar 2, 2009

Ahhhh....the end of a beautiful day....or NOT. While I was feeding Calvin this morning, Maisie rediscovered the bottle of glitter that she and Greg had been using last night to work on her chart. She poured piles onto the floor in the sunroom. And the living room. And onto Greg's desk, and his chair.

I vacuumed with my vacuum cleaner and my Mom's. I swept with my broom. When Greg got home, he and Maisie swept with THEIR brooms. And then Greg used the tile cleaner. And there is STILL glitter on my floor.

Maisie spent a good deal of the morning in her room.

Mar 1 2009

Getting ready to watch the Incredibles...

I went to see Oklahoma this afternoon with Mom and Dad, it was good, and so nice to get out and DO something besides study!!