The Rest of August

We had a great rest of the month! On the 24th Jill and I went to see the toddler play "The Green Sheep" at the Children's Theatre. She LOVED it. It's based on the book "Where is the Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox. What a fun day, I am so glad we got to go and see it.

outside the theatre

sitting in the big chair

the wave sheep

the moon sheep

playing with the instruments after the show

petting the green sheep

Then we had a rainy day trip to the zoo where the Siamangs were hooting like crazy, and Jill and I got to watch and listen to them for a VERY long time. It was amazing. She is still telling us about how the Daddy monkey was taking to the Mama monkey, and how they sang a song together. Adorable.

my monkey with a monkey

On the 27th Jill and Steve went to his friend's house to visit his 3 cats and new kitten since Jill is OBSESSED with cats. My allergies and Henny's um...let's call it aversion to them have prevented us from getting one. She had a great time there.





Steve celebrated his birthday on the 28th, and we really did it up! He and I went out to dinner on the 26th, then on the 27th we had cupcakes. On his birthday we went out to lunch and had ice cream sundaes, and then on the 29th he and I got to go and see Inception. What a great (and calorie laden!) birthday it was!

opening Daddy's present

making cupcakes "to Daddy"

Happy Birthday Steve!

I took her to the Children's Museum on the 30th and she loved it so much we bought a membership and went back again that same week. SO much fun! If only it didn't cost $9 to park EACH TIME!

making cookies

eating tacos

painting

in the fountain with Daddy

Finally, here are some random pictures and videos from this month. Enjoy!

sitting on the potty for a gummi bear (she's developed a fear of the potty lately)

reading The Sneetches

really Mama, ANOTHER picture?

Back to the Beach

We went back to the beach last week, and though it was fun, it didn't top our first time. Jill did not sleep very well. She must have had a bad dream because she woke up at 4:30am and cried about being stuck in a hole. For the rest of the trip she referred to the portable crib we borrowed as "da hole" or "da cave"and cried whenever she woke up in it. She requested Daddy to sleep with her both nights after waking, so Henny and I were left in the other bed. No one got much sleep, but it was nice to get away and we all loved being home in our own beds that much more when we got back!

We stopped at a school on the way there, and this was the only swing for little kids.

We also stopped at Lake Quinault on the way there so we could stretch our legs and soak up some sunshine before we drove to the cloudy beach.

Henny loved swimming in the lake.

Jill loved rolling on the grass.

Finally at "da beach!"

Our fearless girl running into the ocean. She would draw lines in the sand and tell Steve, "You stay dere, Daddy. I go in wadah now byyyyy myyyyy SELF!"

So beautiful, even when it's cloudy.

In her element. Seriously, this girl LOVES the beach!

We made some sand castles, though Jill is more of a destroyer than a creator.

When she woke up from her nap she said, "I go yay wif my Daddy and my Heenny now!" So she did.

More time "in da wadah."

She enjoyed flying our kite, but was upset that we insisted on holding the string with her. She wanted to do it, "byyyy myyyyy SELF!"

Our gecko kite was very cute.

One of our favorite parts of the trip is getting ice cream from the store.

A man stopped us and asked if he could take our picture, and we told him yes as long as he took some with our camera too! Notice Jill clutching "Deeming-o" in her hand.

Our August

It's been a great, and busy month around here!

We've watched a lot of Sesame Street,

posed at the zoo,

petted goats,

looked at bunnies,

played Toy Story Memory,

been cute for the camera,

done some swinging,

discovered that leaning forward is fun too,

and worn our favorite "boo-i-ful" dress two days in a row. (Thanks Aunt Lynn!)

Here are some silly videos too...Jannica be sure to show Owen the last one here; it's his and Jill's favorite song! I got a little tired of singing it, so thanks to iTunes it's now at our fingertips any time.

Because She's So Cute I Feel the Need to Squeeze Her...

The Rest of July

Well, since Jill's 2 year old doctor appointment on July 13th, we've had some fun, but we also were lying low because Jill got a nasty cold and then shared it with me. We're just now getting back to our regularly scheduled activities this week. She visited the dentist the day after her doctor appointment, but due to a lack of nap she DID NOT enjoy it. Too bad. No pictures were taken. It was kind of embarrassing because the dentist is a personal friend, but oh well. We'll try again some other time.

We had our weekly pizza night:





Then she played with her purse: "Door yocked, Mama! Need my TEYS in my PEWSE!"


Her hands down favorite thing we did was to visit these two girls. We met them at the park, then went to their house for pizza and fun. This was 2 weeks ago, and she has NOT stopped talking about it since. Everyday she wants to go to their house and repeat everything she did there. It's so funny to me because she has ZERO interest in children her own age, but these 2 older girls are her bestest friends! It's because she thinks she's 12. I just know it. This was a day for the books because JILL SLID SUCCESSFULLY DOWN THE SLIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! Normally she puts her feet out and stops herself or nearly launches herself off of the thing. People think we're overly protective because we hover, but the girl STANDS while going down the slide because she stops so violently. Now she's got it down. YAY!!




The following weekend we went to Fort Steilacoom Park for a dog fundraiser and Jill did some swinging on the best playground I've ever seen. Our little swinger was most interested in just swinging, though she did do some exploring too. It was so funny because she insisted that I swing next to her, and then push her. "You swing, Mom. Now you push me, Mom!" Over and over and over.


Then the next day we went down to Burfoot County Park for Dee and Pop's birthday party. We had a lot of fun there and did tons more swinging. The girl is addicted to the swings!





Jill LOVED this table centerpiece and the stick that she called her "wand."


Next we hung out at home, did some puzzles, and just played.

And finally, we had a little get together at our house with friends, and Jill made cupcakes for everyone!



Here are videos from our last month.
In this one Jill describes in great detail her doctor appointment from two days before.

An early morning conversation:

Getting tickled by Daddy:

Singing: