Archive for January, 2010

Cali Trip January 2010

Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Up High!  Down Low!  Tina is so funny =)

Up High! Down Low! Tina is so funny =)

We got to spend ten wonderful days in California this January!  It was so much fun!  The first morning we got there, Aidan, Henry and their parents came over for a playdate.  Serenity was sooo happy to get to play outside, as we had left an extremely cold Oklahoma behind.  We had her in just a light jacket, and she was very contented to dig in the dirt, moving it one handful at a time to a wheelbarrow.  Henry, on the other hand, got a sweater and two coats. =)  It’s funny, it felt so warm to us!  Aidan played soccer with Eric.  He is so athletic already, it’s amazing!  He kicks balls and throws really hard!  The kids didn’t really play together as much as play in the same vicinity, but it was wonderful to get to visit.

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Serenity sorted spoons!  It was so cute, Tina had given her a bunch of bowls and spoons, and she put green spoons in the green bowl, blue spoons in the blue bowl.  Then she had a white spoon but no bowl to match so Tina had to find her one.  The honey spoon was her favorite and became a bathtub toy.  The orange bowl didn’t have any spoons in it.  Henry came over and wanted to play spoons, but Serenity objected to sharing.  He was so cute, when she whined about him taking a toy, he gave it to her and started looking for other things to give her.  Such a peacekeeper =)

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On Sunday we visited Vasona park with Ann and John.  We took a nice little walk down to the lake.  Serenity ran around the geese with Vanaema, and dropped leaves off the bridge into the creek.  The happiest moment was definitely when we got to the lake and she discovered she could throw rocks into it.  I think she would have stayed there forever if she could have!  I had the thought that if Aidan had been there we couldn’t have encouraged rock throwing because someone would have gotten a concussion, but Serenity’s throws usually went plop around a foot into the water.  =)  She got into a good rhythm with Farfar, he’d hand her one rock and she’d toss it in one after the other.  Then he tried to trick her by handing her a paci instead of a rock, but she wasn’t fooled!  It went pop right into her mouth and she held out her hand for the next rock, not breaking the rhythm.  =)

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Serenity started asking “Go to park” every morning after her breakfast.  She reveled in the relatively warm weather (although it was a bit chilly for those not coming from winter snowstorms).  She loved Wilson park especially, with its slide mountain and tunnel slide.  She also really enjoyed playing in the sand.  We had softball one day, and Patricia had brought sand toys for the kids to play with.  Serenity loved digging and filling up buckets!  Again, she usually ditched the shovels and moved the sand one handful at a time.  She played more directly with Henry and Aidan this time.  She was really good at sliding, I got to the point that I let her go down by herself, she doesn’t need me to catch her at all or set her up.  I just waited by the stairs as they are concrete and made me a little nervous still when she gets in a hurry.  The steps at Papa’s house are carpeted. =)

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We went to the beach at Santa Cruz with Ann.  Serenity was very patient on the drive!  We didn’t even need SuperWhy, just a couple of books.  When Eric first put her on the sand, she did not like it a bit.  He put her down on wet sand, and it was cold!  We set her up with a towel and some borrowed beach toys, and she transferred sand to her towel quickly.  Then she was good to walk around on the sand.  I lured her a little closer to the water by building alphabet steps.  She followed the abcs down to the wetter sand.  She liked looking at the bubbles, but the water was too cold to really enjoy.  She loved it when Daddy wrote her whole name in the sand.  Then, we asked her what she would like to build. After some discussion, we settled on a turtle.  We built a huge turtle, bigger than Serenity!  She even helped, putting handfuls of sand on the turtle and helping me pat it into place.  She got to ride on the turtle for a few pictures when it was done.  Vanaema and Daddy ran down the beach, and then Serenity and I followed and played with our footprints.  Later, we had lunch on the pier and looked at sea lions.  Serenity ate clam chowder, the first seafood she’s really been a fan of.  She was so good at the restaurant!

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We went to see Avatar!  It was amazing!

Vanaemma read lots of nursery rhymes with Serenity and taught her to say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”  Serenity really liked “Little Jack Horner” and she and Vanaemma spent a lot of time finding different corners to sit in.  She also read Snow, one of Eric and Tina’s favorite children’s books.  John pulled out several Dr. Seuss books for her to try, and she enjoyed Horton Hatches an Egg, even though it is quite a long book!

Tina took us to meet her horses!  It was instant love for Serenity.  Tina gets to ride two horses, Dream and Cassie.  We got Dream out of his pasture first, and Serenity got to pet his nose.  She said “kisses!!!” when he sniffed her hand.  It was so cute.  Then, he ate some grass when Tina went to get Cassie.  Serenity asked to pick some grass, so I put her down.  She plucked a handful, and then stuck it in her mouth and said “yummy!”  =)  It was hilarious!  Then we got to feed and brush the horses a bit.  When Tina put Serenity on Cassie’s back, her whole face lit up!  She got to ride her several times, and loved every minute!  Tina told her to say “giddyup” to make the horse go, and she did.  She still remembers riding the horse, and if you ask her what her horse’s name is, she’ll say Dream!  Serenity loves playing with her Aunt Tina.

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We had our Sixth Annual Epic Duels tournament.  We had 24 people, 6 tables again, which is just a perfect number.  Vanaemma and Tina kindly played with the babies while we played our games.  This year, we had semi-finals and finals, so some people played five games!  There were several extremely exciting games for Chewbacca!  Veronica does really well with him!  I’ll let Eric write the rest of the details for Epic Duels =)

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Wedding Idea pics for Nicole

Monday, January 18th, 2010
Here's a table, with a mirror, surrounded by petals and an empty vase waiting for a bouquet to go in it.  Three candles.  We probably wouldn't do the big orchids, or not that many, but I love the mixed petals and we can do a ribbon on the vase! =)

Here's a table, with a mirror, surrounded by petals and an empty vase waiting for a bouquet to go in it. Three candles. We probably wouldn't do the big orchids, or not that many, but I love the mixed petals and we can do a ribbon on the vase! =)

(I’d do different color water, one orange one pink maybe in the pic below)

Here's a different idea, colored water in cylinder vases with floating candles, and then an empty cylinder to add the aisle clusters into.  I think that this is similar to the scale for your aisle arrangements, 4 to 5 roses, maybe one hydrangea, possibly with a green cym.

Here's a different idea, colored water in cylinder vases with floating candles, and then an empty cylinder to add the aisle clusters into. I think that this is similar to the scale for your aisle arrangements, 4 to 5 roses, maybe one hydrangea, possibly with a green cym.

Here are links to different bouquet pictures to help you decide on single larger callas versus small calla bouquets!  Hope this helps, just let me know what you decide.

http://www.fairylicious.co.uk/USERIMAGES/CALLABRIDESMAID%C2%A332.JPG  white mini calla bouquet
http://www.sweetblossomshawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/calla-lily-bouquet.jpg  orange callas
http://www.weddingblooms.net/files/QuickSiteImages/calla_bouquet.jpg  large calla bouquet in presentation style
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theflowerpot.com/images/product/CalBouq-711.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theflowerpot.com/2-47-651-white-lily.aspx&usg=__asaxKir16j2qR9SEd2I9G4Hlxhw=&h=300&w=300&sz=38&hl=en&start=185&um=1&tbnid=fvHhmopDEaIFiM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcalla%2Bbouquets%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D180%26um%3D1 mini calla bouquet
http://hollychappleflowers.typepad.com/.a/6a01127918a34b28a40120a5d4b75a970b-800wi  peach callas… maybe the mango are better.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wholeblossoms.com/img/productos/Calla-Lily-Peach-Flowers-mozart.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wholeblossoms.com/51-wholesale-mini-calla-lilies.html&usg=__FdVURb-u_fVe8o8jlMHYZFtbGZo=&h=387&w=357&sz=63&hl=en&start=52&um=1&tbnid=Cn4tdorgfznT0M:&tbnh=123&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpeach%2Bcalla%2Bbouquets%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1
This is another look at the peach callas..  This whole site will give you a good idea for what flowers usually cost.  =)
http://fashionbride.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/weddings-orange-calla-lilies-bridal-bouquet-lg.jpg  orange callas

The single calla with a little greenery… http://sites.google.com/site/buckeyebride/images-large.jpg
http://www.flowergem4u.co.uk/USERIMAGES/jackie%204(1).jpg single white calla
Three white callas against a red dress… http://pics.boards.weddingbee.com/12647.299975289209_0_ALB.jpg

I love the coral peony in this pic, do you?

I love the coral peony in this pic, do you?

Serenity is 18 Months Old!!!

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

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January 7th 2010!

A new year, a new document =)

Since the last month was extensively documented (each and every day, see December Daily posts!!)  I don’t have a whole lot to add at the moment!  So I’ll just record a few of Serenity’s favorite phrases at the moment.  I hear these pretty much every day!

“HUG!” (Usually said as she leans her little head up against someone, but occasionally she actually uses her arms now!  And she also says this when she squeezes one of her many stuffed animals.  I’m so happy she likes stuffed animals now, for so long she had no interest at all but now she loves them!)

“Sit DOWN on Mama” or “Sit DOWN on Daddy!”  She usually says this when she wants to sit in our lap, and she loves to have us sit on the stairs and then climb all over us.

“Go Get Down”  She says this when she wants out of her high chair.

“Other….(sock, shoe, foot, or some toy)  When I say, here’s a sock, she’ll say “other sock”, and so on.  It’s cute how she understands the concept of other and is so excited by it =)

“Super Letters!”  Her favorite toys and books are all alphabet related right now, and she adores Super Why.  It’s so funny to hear her repeat phrases from the show, like “wonderrific!”  and “super readers!”

“Delicious!”  She says this when we’re playing tea party usually with Tinkerbell =)

“Gotta Go” Daddy really started this one, he would say this while chasing her.  Now she says it when she wants to be chased.

“Climb Upstairs, climbing climbing…” (sounds more like cwimb =)

“Fly fwoosh” (flying her super readers and Tinkerbell with sound effects.)

“Declaration Independence”  She refuses to say the of…

“Go Night Night”  It’s so hard to believe, but she actually ASKS to go to sleep sometimes now!  After her bath, some nights she’s been so sleepy she asks to get in the bed before we even read books.  And most nights now it’s just one or two books instead of twenty minutes of reading.  Considering how challenging it was to get her to sleep most of the first year, this is so crazy I just don’t know what to think about it, except to hope it stays this way a while longer =)

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