Blue Monster Face

Yesterday, we took a trip to the Portland Children's Museum. The kids had a lot of fun, although it was very crowded because of a no school day for Portland schools. Danny really enjoyed painting his face like a monster. This is the boy that won't let anyone else paint his face, but had fun doing it himself! Don't you love the results?

Blogiversary

Blogiversary, Blogirthday, whatever you want to call it... I had it! One year ago (from the 10th of April) I started this little thing. It still is a pretty little thing, but I really enjoy writing about our life adventures! I know people read it, and some even enjoy it (especially those grandparents!).

I celebrated the blogiversary by traveling with the kids across the country to see my parents in Hood River, OR. That process isn't exactly fun, but it was successful... we made it! Danny was great, and other than Annelise not sleeping much on the planes, she was fine, too. We are finally adjusting to the time zone, and both kids slept in until 6am this morning, which is a HUGE victory!

Warm Day

Some people told me it would happen when we first moved out here, but boy, is the weather unpredictable! Last week and early this week we had some exceptionally warm days (in the upper 70's, clear and beautiful) Now it is in the low 40's/ high 30's during the day (we even had snow flurries yesterday and are supposed to have more tonight!). It truly changes day to day! On one of our warm days, Randy pulled some fun things out of the shed. Annelise loves the little red car (it sure reminds me how much I miss our friends from Verano!), and Danny was happy to be on his bike. I never could get Annelise looking at me with her eyes open, but here are some cute pictures!

"Look At My Tongue!"

Annelise is starting to broaden her sound repertoire. She has started doing raspberries, and continues to try to copy our sounds. She is constantly watching the way we move our mouths. Today at the plane museum Annelise was experimenting with her tongue. I got some pretty funny shots!

Aviation Museum

This afternoon we made a short visit to the College Park Aviation Museum. We are members, so we end up going every couple of weeks, and it is one of Danny's favorite places to go! Now that Annelise is getting bigger, she is starting to enjoy the displays and activities more and more. Look here to see pictures from the first time we visited the museum.

Packed and Ready!

Today during Danny's rest time (my attempt at getting 25 minutes of relative quiet during Annelise's afternoon nap), Danny was busy (and quiet) in his bedroom. I was doing my usual relaxing activity (reading) and Danny came to my room to tell me that he had packed for our trip to Oregon. I smiled and commented that he must be pretty excited to go (we are leaving on Tuesday), and then I asked him if I could see. And out he comes with his little suitcase (this is the one he wheels onto the plane with all of his "keeping busy" activities!). I couldn't help but snap some pictures. As you can see, he did very well, except for the full, large box of Kleenex!

In case you can't see everything, here goes:

A large box of Kleenex
Five books
Coloring book
Box of crayons
UCI anteater stuffed animal
Lightning McQueen car
Matchbox truck
Winnie the Pooh Kaleidoscope
5 Lego's (what can you build with only 5?)
Sippy cup with water
Mink (mini blanket)

1 Year-Old

Annelise had her one year check-up earlier this week. She weighed in at 22 pounds, which is only 1/2 pound more than at 10 months, and she was 30 1/2 inches, which is only 1/2 inch more than last time. I don't usually trust those length measurements, but I guess she hasn't grown a whole lot in the last two months! She had some shots and a TB test. The craziest thing about this appointment was that the doctor asked if I had set up a little potty for her. I just laughed... I mean Danny just potty-trained in November. The doctor said, "Well, girls usually are earlier than boys." Not that early... I mean what is he thinking?

Annelise loves to walk while holding our hands. In fact, if Randy or I are sitting down, she will crawl over, grab our hand, stand up and pull us. Oddly enough, though, Annelise just won't take those steps on her own! She also loves some of her new birthday toys. Her favorites are definitely the zebra and the shopping cart (thanks Gramma and Meema and Papa!). Good thing we have a basement for all of these moving toys!

Nationals Baseball

Last Saturday we went to a baseball game at RFK stadium. The Nationals were playing the Baltimore Orioles, so they call it "Battle of the Beltway." This just cracks me up because the Beltway is a highway. When we lived in the SF Bay Area and the A's and Giants played it was called "The Battle of the Bay"... much cooler than a rivalry of the road!

Anyway, we went with some friends that live almost a mile from the stadium, so we all walked over together. The father is an avid baseball fan, so he and Randy always have good talks. Their daughter is in Danny's class, and the two are quite good friends. Taking two 3-year-olds and a 1-year-old to a baseball game is an interesting experience. Probably the best thing we did was go really early so that Danny and D could watch the batting practice and warm-up. We went right down to the field for that. When it was game time, though, we headed up to the nosebleed section. It was breezy for Miss A, but everyone else handled the temperature pretty well.

The highlights were definitely the presidents and the zoo animals. Make sure you check out those two links. The presidents actually race... which we didn't get to see because the kids couldn't last longer than the 6th inning. My goal next time is to stay long enough to see the presidents race. You know how most stadiums have dot races or helmet races on the big screen? Well at RFK they actually put these four presidents out on the field to race. I can't wait to see that! I mean talk about funny to have presidents as a baseball mascot! We did get to see the presidents do the chicken dance, though and that was pretty fun. Now the zoo animals usually entertain at minor league games. The kids loved them because they dance and go through all these goofy antics. They aren't a regular feature of the games, but they were fun. As far as the actual game went, we did get to see some home runs, but all by the Orioles, so the Nationals didn't have too great of a game. But we sure had fun!

By the way, this was Annelise's first baseball game. Danny went to his first game when he was two weeks old, but it took us a while to get Miss A to a game. I think last spring and summer were pretty busy!

You Know You are a Parent When...

Randy relayed a funny teaching story to me today. He was teaching his Contemporary American Lit class, in which they are studying poetry right now. He was reading a portion of a poem that listed foods, including sesame seeds. While he was reading the poem aloud, instead of saying sesame seed he said Sesame Street. His students were laughing, but he didn't know what he had done. When they told him, he thought it was pretty amusing. Danny thinks it is hysterical.