Monday, July 27, 2015

Just Cause...

This girl seriously melts my heart daily.  She's just so cheerful and full of life, which she tells me all about in a language only she can understand.  


When Papa went to be with Jesus, mom saved one of his favorite dress shirts.  This week I finally felt ready to cut into it to make something special to hug when we miss him.  My first thought was a bear, but I love how this special bunny turned out. 


Smelling mama's favorite summer flower: pinks (aka dianthus). 



just cause... 


Thursday, July 23, 2015

Summer Traditions: Blackberry Picking! Pt 1

Every summer a much-anticipated event occurs: the picking of the first sun-ripened, warm off the vine, oh-so-sweet blackberries!  This year Lucy was old enough to get in on the fun.  Daddy showed her how to find ripe ones one she was hooked.  Like daddy, like daughter.






 

Unlike her daddy, though, she does not like for her hands to be messy or sticky. Sadly we didn't have any wipes with us and she scowled at her hands most of the way home.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

19 months

Our spunky little girl is 19 months old today!  It's amazing to look back at pictures of her one year ago and think how much she's changed and grown.  She has so many words and ideas.  She's beginning to combine words and ideas into simple phrases.  Just the other day she was signing something new and I couldn't understand, so she pointed to her ear.  I asked if she'd heard it and she said "yes", then I realized she was signing "train" that she'd heard at the park that day.  So big! 



Lucy has 12 teeth and no signs of getting her canines any time soon.  She's extremely ticklish, especially just beneath her neck, and she loves to be tickled and chased.  She's a daredevil with NO fear of heights, loves milk, and her dada!  When she's ready for bed she gathers her blanket, giraffes, and baby and walks, sometimes runs, to her crib.  

Her favorite word is an emphatic "no", even when she means "yes".  She is contrary just for the sake of testing us -- and it's sometimes very frustrating, but other times it's hard not to just laugh at her.  We're working on it! ;) 

At 19 months, 1 week Lucy dropped her morning nap.  She'd begun to stretch her afternoon nap to later and later in the day (around 4pm, then we'd wake her at 5 so she'd go down again at 7).  One day as I was watching her for signs that she was ready to nap, I realized it was 11:15 and she hadn't acted tired yet.  I fed her lunch and put her to bed, and that was that. We haven't looked back! 

I had to add both of these videos -- sorry they're kind of long and unedited -- because they just capture who she is at 19 months. I want to capture her little personality as she changes so much day by day. 



Saturday, July 11, 2015

GF's 99th


No explanation needed here: the old man turned 99, and that merits a shindig!  Here are just a very few of my favorite shots of the day: 


Caleb relaxing -- all alone, of course

My man and my baby

Brrrr!! It was cool and overcast, but that didn't stop these fishes from swimming!

All the Canadians! 

Auntie SAM and Uncle Paul reminiscing over old photographs

This little fairy sprite (Amelia) LOVES her Auntie Peggie

Sweet Kinley and her daddy

Grammy for the win!  I think she was the only adult to brave the pool -- such a hero to the littles! 

Attempting a cousins with our babies pictures -- this was as good as it got!
Katie and Lucy with Nickole and Sapphire

He was overwhelmed by the attention when we sang him Happy Birthday
All the "Lornes" -- and Gwenna 
Uncle Paul and Tori
Little sister and big brother: some things never change! 

This kid! 

Uncle Wade and two of his ladies

So much family love! 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Camping the Key Peninsula 2015

We went camping!  It was great! Before you ask how Lucy did, let me assure you: she did great -- at home with Nana!  We wanted to get away together one more time this summer, and it turned out that Lucy was recovering from a pretty icky virus, so she and Nana stayed at the condo and snuggled and slept and swam, and generally had a great time.  

Isaac and I went to Penrose Point out on the Key Peninsula, south of Gig Harbor.  It was hot, but quiet and beautiful!  

Our accommodations

Our campground was filled with so many cool trees! 

We were able to talk, laugh, play lots of games, dream, and just generally enjoy one another without interruption.
Kicking my butt at Farkle! 
And losing spectacularly at Golf! 



We bought a crabbing license, borrowed some gear, and improvised the rest, and did some crabbing!  Sadly, we weren't able to toss the trap deep enough, so we didn't catch any legal crabs.  We did catch dozens of juveniles, though, about 4 inches side to side.  It was really fun and we really look forward to crabbing some more before our license runs out (especially now that we know what all we actually need).
He's a stud!  
Improvising a bait hook.










Almost big enough to eat!
I did the meal planning and Isaac did the cooking.  I got to sit back, relax, sip hot coffee or soda depending on the time of day, and watch this handsome guy cook up a storm! 


We did lots of walking along the beaches, some kayaking, and wading.  We found so many cool creatures: the most anemones ever, the most sand dollars ever, etc.  It was epic!  Seriously, it was like levels of a video game.  Isaac even named them all... I wish we'd gotten pictures of all of them. 







Hey mom, remember the time you made us all search for two identically sized sand dollars so you could make earrings? Well, I found you some!  Unfortunately, they didn't survive the trip home or you'd be getting some new jewelry soon! ;) 


Pretty sure we were the only ones to enjoy this log before the rangers came and stole it away. 



Poor little guy only had half his limbs. He's a fighter, though! 
Huge jellyfish