May 5, 2009

Found it!

Maisie and I were getting ready to play Candyland, and Calvin was drooling up a storm and giving us some super cute smiles and giggles. And because you can't see his shirt, (from Jodi) it says "Bald is Beautiful". Pretty accurate!

May 4, 2009

Hey Buddy! Is that a little smile in there? YES! We didn't get too many once we pulled the camera out, but we were getting some during dinner, while he was swinging.

But some of the greatest smiles are followed by blood curdling shrieks and hollers. Diaper changes. Sheesh. You'd think we were using PINS. And missing!

May 3, 2009

Another flower? Yes. Yes. Another flower. If I could, I would take an aerial shot of our yard, then I could show just how many floral photographic opportunities I have!

May 2, 2009

How is it May already?

Today started off pleasant enough. Then it rained. By the time I got home, the rain clouds had blown away, and there was a slight breeze. Maisie got a kite for her birthday, and she'd been dying to try it out! So she and Greg took it out and launched in the back 40. She kept it up for maybe 10 minutes, then held it out to us and said, "Here. I'm done." Hee! This is a horrible picture, but I couldn't very well lay down in the dirt like I needed to. So here I'm going for the basic idea...

May 1, 2009

A few days late this month....

April 30, 2009

Maisie's interpretation of a starfish. In my bed. Early. Notice that I am no longer in it. It's either barnacle or starfish. When Greg is still in bed too, she is barnacled on my back. When Greg gets out, he pulls her off me and then she starfishes. Either way, I crawl out in search of coffee...

April 29, 2009

Some nakkie time on our bed before getting changed to go to Papa and Gogo's house. We got some really good smiles, but I couldn't catch one on "film".

April 28, 2009

Yikes. Another day of no picture taking, so I'm cheating. :)

Maisie and Calvin and I came home this evening before Greg--he was judging senior projects and I showed some homes in Ephrata today--so Maisie and Calvin got clean and we all wound up in my bed again for books! Now I'm all cozy (alone now) and catching up on my reality TV fix that I still watch on the internet.

Was a long day, started off by the gravel truck being over an hour early-Dad was planning to be here to catch him and tell him where to drive and where to drop the gravel, but the guy was so early, I wound up doing it. In my jammies! Then Mommy forgot about preschool! This was the first time I'd done that! Dad came at 9:30 and saw Maise and said, "No school today?" My jaw about hit the floor, I couldn't believe I forgot!! So I just took her in late, it wasn't a huge deal. We were getting her shoes and coat off and I could hear her teacher saying, "Reese, you are number one, Gabriel number two......and Maisie will be number eight when she gets in here. Maisie, are you coming?" And that was it. Maisie was number eight and I was out the door!

April 27, 2009

This is where Calvin sleeps. Maisie got kicked out of our room at about 3 months. She was a really noisy sleeper! I won't call it snoring, but she was doing something noisy! Calvin snorks and snorfels in his waking hours, but generally he is pretty quiet at night. Also, now that we live in the farm house, the "nursery" is further down the hall than it was in the house in the Gig. I'm a little more reluctant to put him "down the hall"--as in the Gig it was merely "across the hall".

And....well...his room isn't quite finished. There's still that big rectangular space of bare concrete we must deal with!

He's slept through the night several times....although sometimes I have to drag him out of his basinette and feed him--which he is able to pretty much do while in a sleeping state. He does go right back to sleep. So for that, it's easier to have him in the room with us, still.

So...I guess...is he sleeping in our room for MY sake or his...

April 26, 2009

Right before Maisie's birthday party today. I think this is the first family photo we've actually taken since Calvin was born.

Happy Birthday Maisie! Great party!!

April 25, 2009

Maisie's birthday cake for tomorrow's party. I had to make this a small image, because I KNEW it was going to hurt my eyes. It does. I think the polka dot cake in my head is fondant frosting and dots. But fondant takes nasty, so hopefully as silly as mine looks, it will taste GREAT!

April 24, 2009

Both of my babies in green jammies tonight. :) Awwww, sweet!

April 23, 2009

Wow! I found this pretty tulip in our yard. I was actually going to try to get a picture of the flowering peach--you can see part of it on the right in this picture. It is SO pretty! But I really like this tulip, and I like how this picture turned out better, anyway, so it's the one that gets blogged. I just got close to the flowering peach today while Dad was here--it's been in bloom for a couple of days probably, and is in need of some trimming. Maybe. After it blooms. Maybe I should ask Gramma's opinion. :)

April 22, 2009

Maisie's 4th Birthday! We are celebrating her birthday with friends and family on Sunday, so I'm going to try really hard not to feel guilty about not even snapping a picture of her on the actual DAY of her birth. Sheesh. I had a class today and Maisie hung out at our house with Papa all day--working hard at getting filthy! We didn't get the camera out until it was Calvin's bathtime. Greg got him naked a little before I had the tub ready, but he was pretty relaxed about it...

April 21, 2009

I meant to take this shot while the pampas grass was still visible behind the forsythia, but I hacked it down on Friday. I think it will come back. From front to back, willow stump, forsythia, pine, orchard, sunset. :) Pretty!

April 20, 2009

Maisie. Bathing Beauty.

She had to be dissuaded from putting her bathing suit on at 9 am to run through the sprinklers. We talked her into waiting until after lunch. It was actually warm enough to do this!

FINALLY!






And...I couldn't choose! I wish I'd had my hand on the camera a second earlier, Calvin was smiling, too! This picture is still so cute. I know I'm only supposed to put one picture each day...

But it's MY 365. ;)

April 19, 2009

And Calvin, sacked out the next night! Hey! He wasn't even burrito wrapped!

April 18, 2009

Maisie asleep in my bed. Yup, this still happens occasionally...usually it's in the wee hours that she winds up in there. But this night, Greg was gone with his high school science olympiad team, so she read books with me in bed, then after the last one said, "Let's go to sleep, Momma."

Is that chocolate on her cheek?

April 17, 2009

Mom and I put Calvin into his swing this evening--all we could get were some really serious looks. We were hoping for giggles. Or even a smile. No dice. He saved those for Papa, after we removed him from the swing. Of course by then, the camera was not in use! Maisie was in the shower-rinsing off the 300 layers of dirt and grime from running around outside (barefoot probably) while Papa worked in the shed.

April 16, 2009

I was able to grab this photo while Maisie watered the miniature roses behind me. I only got sprinkled once! :) Today while we were going out to work in the yard, she asked me where all of our flowers came from, and I told her she needs to ask Gramma 'Raine!

April 15, 2009

The view from my front door. Complete with a tractor in the field across the road, doing it's thing! We saw three such tractors today on the way to Mom and Dad's. Busy day in the fields!

April 14, 2009

Calvin and his binky face. He's lying in Greg's chair in the sun room-won't be able to do that for much longer. As soon as he can roll, it's all over!

April 13, 2009

A rarity. A photo I have not cropped, adjusted or fiddled with in any way. I had actually chosen a different photo-same subject, and then came back to this one. I like the blurry bud blossom right behind this one. And this one shows the bloom from the top more than the side or bottom. This is some kind of magnolia tree-I guess I should send Gramma this link so she can correct my flower mistakes! This tree is in our back yard, and is visible from our family room.

April 12, 2009

Happy Easter! Maisie and Christopher awoke to a note from the Easter Bunny, and wonderful Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny ate the carrots they left, and also hid eggs in the yard that they collected after church. What a fun day!

Maisie had a hard time sharing with her younger friend. She thought he needed to ask every time he wanted to play with a toy...

April 11, 2009

Calvin's Baptism. Michael and Nicole, Godparents. Thank you everyone, for such a beautiful day!

April 10, 2009

Very very good day. We signed the papers on our house today! We are considering it a done deal, and we are so relieved!

And our friends Molly and Tim and Bryson and Spencer came up for Calvin's baptism. They arrived around 7, and we showed them around, had dinner and then the kids started to wind down for bed. This picture is Maisie and Spencer sharing Greg's iRiver, watching an episode of Garfield, I believe. Maisie had a blast playing with her Squacklet friends!! (as we found out later, it's easier for her to be the youngest, as opposed to the oldest....)

April 9, 2009

So...pretty pretty clouds after sunset tonight. And it's entirely possible that MAISIE took this picture! I saw this going on through my bedroom window and ran outside to take a few shots--Maisie had scampered out behind me. After I snapped a few, she asked if she could take some. So I handed her the camera, and she did. I was certain I'd be able to tell which was hers when I put them on my computer--but I'm not.

April 8, 2009

Calvin is THREE months old! Where does the time go? Had his 2 month appt last week at nearly 3 weeks late, and he's 10 lbs even. Still quite a little peanut! I think he's going through a growth spurt right now, though, since he wants to eat about every hour and a half!

We have Hobbes back, but will have to add the picture tomorrow. I know I know. It's a 365, and I'm supposed to take the picture for the day ACTUALLY ON that day. But we're already in our jammies here, and Calvin is winding down for the night. It will be a better picture tomorrow. :)

April 7, 2009

The first pretties to come in from my yard! We spent a lot of today outside pruning and watering. Maisie ran around and got filthy again--twice. And Calvin spent the day in the Baby Bjorn.

April 6, 2009

Ahhhh....now THIS is what I've been waiting for! I was folding laundry on the bed, and had put Calvin down on a pillow with his bink, and Maisie climbed up beside him with books--which she wanted me to read to them. I suggested she read to him instead, which she did! Calvin loved it, he smiled at her several times, it was so cute!!

April 5, 2009

Ahhh....a two-fer. Actually, three, I guess. There is a little star hanging out there on the moon. :) This is actually a candle holder, from my sister-in-law. It sits in one of the nooks on my fireplace. I don't think I'd dare light a candle while it's in there, though, seems a little too close to the brick.

It was a busy day, didn't have much time to whip out the camera!

I went to an appointment with Mom today, Maisie stayed here with Greg and wore herself out in the yard again. Actually, I think Greg wore himself out, too. He's asleep with her! I took Calvin with me to minimize time spent away from him. We met Mom and Dad in the office parking lot, then Calvin went with Papa to their house. He did great! Hardly cried or slept, drank his bottle like a champ. Papa wore him out, too, because he crashed in the car before we even made it to Martin Road!

Everyone is asleep here except me....goodnight!

April 4, 2009

Calvin shows off his cute fluffy heinie! This is one of my favorite diapers--love the stripes!

We actually worked outside all day, and what I should have posted here today is a picture of Maisie. But we didn't get a good one. She was FILTHY. At first, just dusty. Then she and Greg thought it would be a good idea to add water to the mix. So she filled and refilled her Home Depot bucket with water, and poured it into our nice dusty driveway in the backyard. Then she rolled up her pants, took off her shoes, and danced in it! When we were playing in the yard later, she looked up at me and asked, "What's on my face, Momma?" MUD! Lots of it.

I planted some of my garden today...this is a completely different ballgame. My garden in the Gig was miniscule. Literally, my garden there could have probably been covered up by parking my new minivan on it! Now I have a parking lot! When Greg wandered over after I planted a row and asked what I'd planted, I told him "Radishes" and he about fell over. Claims he's never eaten an entire row of radishes in his LIFE! :) It's time, Baby, it's time! Maisie helped me with the purple radishes and with the carrots. But...mostly she just loves running around in the freshly tilled dirt. She did VERY well to not step on the part that was already planted, though.

Greg mowed our lawn! Beautiful!

April 3, 2009

We busted out the Baby Bjorn. I didn't want to use it. I'm afraid I might get attached to it! It belongs to Kelly, and she is going to need it back before I'm ready to give it up!! I've been using the sling I got from Charika, but it hurts my back. I'm actually not totally in love with this one, either, though...Calvin has spent MANY hours in these two contraptions already. YAY spring! We were taking a break here. Ok, I was taking a break. Every minute Calvin is IN there is a break for him. He just sleeps.

Apr 2, 2009

Signs of spring.

I actually have some beautiful flowers in my garden already. Unfortunately, the poor things keep getting SNOWED ON! Really, this is getting ridiculous! I want REAL spring, please!

Greg rototilled my garden space this afternoon--wearing a parka. My Mom has baby veggie plants growing under a light in their basement--I get to grow some of them in my space! This will be the biggest garden I'll ever get to grow--hopefully I have good luck with it. I looked for strawberry plants today and couldn't find any. I'm anxious to do my planting, but kind of glad I didn't get a chance to yet, since the weather just isn't cooperating.

April 1, 2009

My sweet sleeping burrito baby. He's actually not wrapped as tightly here as he sometimes is...I wrapped him before I fed him, and after a little jostling around he gets loosened up a bit. Greg can wrap him up REALLY tightly! You can almost hold him horizontally by his legs! Some of our family and friends think we might be wrapping him up too tightly or too frequently-but honestly, if he's got a dry diaper on, he's been fed and burped, and is sleepy...he cries because he WANTS to be wrapped up! He's comfy in there, I promise!

We used this miracle blanket on Maisie, too. She slept like a burrito even after she outgrew the blanket. We just wrapped her up in it with her legs sticking out!

So I put him in his bassinette, and he's still asleep. Here's to hoping....

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!