Quinlivin'

Back to Football

2011-09-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

So, we are a little football crazy around here. We're getting our fantasy football teams ready, and gearing up for Sunday afternoon and Monday night football parties. To go with our enthusiasm for the first game of the NFL regular season tonight (featuring my favorite Packers!), I just put up our new welcome sign on our door.

Everyone's team had to be represented, so it features Beavers for all of us, Broncos for Erik, Patriots for Erik and Jaime, Jaguars for Kirk, and Packers for me.

Happy football season!

Ready for Round-Up?

2011-09-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, I looked over to find Trip watching Sesame Street like this:

His pajamas were off after a very messy breakfast, and apparently his hat seemed like a good accessory to his diaper. Priceless!

Football Practice

2011-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Kirk and Erik are coaching middle school football again this year. Our school district is no longer offering football for the middle schoolers like they did last year and in the past, so some people got together and brought Pop Warner football to town. Erik volunteered to be the head coach and Kirk is his assistant/defensive coordinator.

Trip has figured out that they go to practice nearly every day, so if they're gone, he says that they're at football practice. We were out walking one day, and headed over to see the kids in action. Trip had a blast watching them and would have loved to get in the middle of it all. He found a football and tried out his skills on the sidelines.

You can't hear it well if at all in this clip, but he's saying, "Down, set, hike!" before he throws the ball.

If his enthusiasm is a sign of things to come, there will be many more football practices in his future.

All Monkeys!

2011-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Recently, Trip and I were playing a game with his stuffed monkeys (read more about it here) and they all ended up in his crib with him. I said, "Wow! Look at all of these monkeys!" so now, Trip loves to say "all monkeys!" and throw all of his monkeys into his crib. He does not like it when I take them out when it's time to sleep, either, so we've had to leave a few extra monkeys in the crib.

He enjoyed being a monkey that day as well!

A New Endeavor

2011-08-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

As Trip approached his second birthday, we were noticing him growing by leaps and bounds in his vocabulary and understanding of the world. He is curious and soaks everything in. I felt like I needed to step up the learning activities that I was doing with him in order to foster that curiosity and challenge him a bit. After some reading online, I started making him some learning placemats and little games that work on motor skills, introducing a few new books (especially alphabet books), and so forth.

At the beginning of August, I had the idea to start doing a letter of the week. After a couple of weeks of planning and preparation, we started T week. For young children, I think it's best to start with the letters in their name, so we're working our way through T-R-I-P and then we'll do other letters. It's been a great creative outlet for me and fun for Trip since we do lots of special activities each week. Most things only take/last 5-10 minutes or less, so they're easy to fit in, even on busy days.

When I showed my sister-in-law, Tammi what we were doing, she decided to do the same with our nephew Cooper. It's been so much fun to share ideas and hear how much they have enjoyed it too. A week from now, the boys will working on P at the same time, so we're eager to share some experiences over Skype.

As a way to chronicle what we're doing and to share ideas with other families, I have started a blog called Teach Love Grow. My blogging here will suffer a little, but if you'd like to see what we've been up to, just click on the link and see our adventures.

Popsicles!

2011-08-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

Popsicles, or "pakiss" as Trip calls them, have become a daily treat this summer. I found a great popsicle mold during our trip to my parents' house in July (oh, WinCo, how I love you!) and it has served us well. I had purchased other such molds in the past, but always found that they were too big and thus too hard to eat so we didn't use them. These are perfect for Trip and he gets very excited when he can have one. What I like about the whole thing is that I can freeze juice so it's a healthy snack for him.

Friends

2011-08-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

Since we got back from our last trip, we've had lots of opportunities to spend time with friends. Trip was thrilled to have different playmates over three days in a row. He really loves playing with other kids and sure loves hanging out with these three!

More Traveling

2011-08-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

We have done a lot of traveling this summer! Last weekend, Trip and I drove up to my parents' house so that we could go to the Seattle area with them for my cousin's wedding. The two of us had never taken a long drive alone, but with the help of a DVD player, it worked out well.

After we arrived, Trip had SO much fun helping Noni water the plants (and himself). He kept wanting more and more water.

My grandparents joined us on Saturday morning and we made the drive to the wedding. It was a beautiful day and a great wedding. The only damper was that Trip had only napped for about 20 minutes, so he was unhappy during the ceremony and had to be entertained all through the reception. I missed the entire ceremony trying to keep him quiet or at least far enough away from it that he didn't disrupt it too much. Grandpa and Noni were a huge help during the reception and gave me a chance to visit with family. By the end of the night, we were doing everything we could to keep him happy. He enjoyed "dancing" with Noni to the music.

On Monday, we had lots of errands to run. One of our stops was at the mall. Trip LOVED the Arthur ride there and didn't want to leave it even though I never put coins in it to make it go.

He kept hugging Arthur.

Our drive home was a little rougher than the one there, but we made it and were happy to be back home with Daddy.

Splish Splash It's Trip's 2nd Birthday Bash

2011-08-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

We had a little party last Saturday for Trip's birthday. Only a few of the families we invited were able to make it, but we had a great time nonetheless. I decided to do a water theme since the weather is finally warm and Trip loves to play in his kiddie pool. I kept it all pretty simple despite my ideas of going crazy.

One of the highlights was this watermelon shark. I saw a great tutorial for it here a while ago and knew I had to make one. It turned out great and was lots of fun for everyone.

We had fish/fishing cupcakes and candy rock cupcakes.

To finish it off, we had fishy Chex mix, veggies, crackers, spinach dip, and frozen berry kabobs.

I also made banana slush punch, which was a great refreshing treat.

Trip enjoyed the food, and especially liked the other kids sharing their snacks with him. With a face like that, who could resist?

The nice thing about an outdoor party is that the two-year-old cake mess was minimal.

Finger-lickin' good!

The girls continued to feed Trip and pour water on him and each other all afternoon. He soaked up all the attention! His only disappointment was when all the water balloons were gone. He loved popping them!

He had a great time when Connor pushed him around on this broken-down quad we have for parts.

He liked the magnetic fishing game I made and kept saying "I got it!" when he would catch one.

By the end of the party, he was soaked from head to toe, filthy, and had lost a sandal! All signs of a good time!

Shopping Fun

2011-08-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

After our day at the water park, we spent another night at the hotel. The next day we had some shopping to do. When people who live in a tiny town that's 100 miles from anything go to "the big city," there is always a lot of shopping to be done! The highlight of the day was our visit to Scheels, a gigantic outdoor/sports store. There are huge fish tanks at each of the two entrances. Each one is made up of three columns that are connected by archways so that you can walk under them and watch the fish swim over you. One is filled with fresh water fish, such as catfish and trout, and the other with salt water fish, like puffer fish and clown fish. They are quite impressive! Trip loved watching all of the creatures swim around.

There was also a play structure for the kids. Trip was eager to explore it with his friends, but once he got up there, wasn't so pleased. The problem was that he didn't want to make his way to the slide to be able to get down. Fortunately the girls were able to get him out and a few tears later, he was fine. Once we found the baseball section, all his troubles were gone.

After a full day of shopping, we hit the road and headed home.

Here is a cute shot of Trip that Erik took on the way to Reno. He was quite excited to get out of the car after a couple of hours of driving.

Birthday Fun at the Water Park

2011-08-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

All summer, we have been planning to take a trip to Reno to go to the water park with some of our friends. It turned out that Trip's birthday was the day that worked for most people. We packed up on Monday afternoon and made the drive. After a night at the hotel, we got breakfast then stopped at Costco to get lunch fixings. By late morning, we were in the water and having a blast. Trip and Kaiden were the two youngest and were too small for any of the big water slides, so we played in the kiddie pools while the big kids climbed the towers and raced down the big slides.

Trip wasn't too sure about the small slides, so I doubt he would have wanted to go on the big ones anyway.

Kaiden loved this slide!

We also enjoyed floating on the lazy river and the boys had lots of fun playing on the inner-tube on the grass.

Trip especially liked the bouncing.

Once Trip was done swimming and was changed back into his birthday outfit, he discovered some rocks to play with. This activity made him quite happy.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted! Logan was so tired that he fell fast asleep on the cement in the sun.

Bowling

2011-08-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Noni had a new activity for Trip that he absolutely loved: bowling. He would knock the pins down and immediately say, "AGAIN!"

A little later, Grandpa got in on the action and took the game to a new level of fun by falling down with the pins.

Walks and the Playground

2011-07-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Since Noni had to work while we were there, Trip and I walked over to see her several times.

I love that he will often hold my hand now when we walk somewhere. It's so cute and something that he hasn't wanted to do in the past.

After one visit, I showed Trip the playground that is right behind Noni's office. He had a great time climbing on the equipment and going down the slides.

For our next visit, Trip brought along a basketball. He was enjoying the slide, when all of a sudden...

he looked over, and saw...

the basketball hoops!

He made a beeline for them and the playground was no use to him after that.

Neither Noni nor Mommy were tall enough to help him make any baskets, which was a real disappointment to him. Nonetheless, he wanted to keep trying and went from one hoop to the other.

We kept trying to get him to shoot his ball into the shadow of the hoop. He finally got the idea and enjoyed that activity.

Berries!

2011-07-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

When we visit my parents during the summer, we have to pick berries. Our family has been picking blueberries every summer for as long as I can remember. I have many great memories of hours spent at the blueberry patch with my cousins, aunts, grandmas, mom, and sister. Fortunately this summer was no different in that we got to pick berries. What was different, however is that Trip was able to be part of the experience this time. That meant that we didn't pick as much, weren't there as long, and were more interrupted, but it was fun nonetheless.

Trip enjoyed running around and exploring. He also enjoyed eating lots of blueberries. We couldn't get him to pick them off the bushes, though. He wanted what was on the ground!

This was when we knew it was time to leave- a full-on meltdown. He likes to look at this picture and say, "cry." It cracks me up each time!

The next day, Trip and I went to pick raspberries while Mom was at work. He did fairly well there and again, ate lots of raspberries off of the ground. That field was muddier as well, so he enjoyed playing in the moist dirt. He was a complete mess by the time I was done picking! As we left the farm, the owner said that she guessed we were headed home for a bath and then a nap. She had it exactly right!

The raspberries were delicious and HUGE!

Mom helped me freeze the blueberries whole and then mash and de-seed the raspberries that we also froze to make jam later.

Little Gardener

2011-07-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

We got to spend a few days with Grandpa and Noni last week while Kirk and Erik attended a conference in Eugene. As always, Trip found lots of great things to do. He especially liked playing in the garden and entertained us all the evening that his Great Gran, Great Grandpa Conrad, and Great Grandma Joy came over for dinner.

One of the highlights for him was taking clumps of dirt, dropping them on the ground, and stomping them with his bare feet.

Fishing Videos

2011-07-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

On our way to our fishing adventure, we had to make a couple of stops in town. Trip got some practice in while sitting in his car seat. The only problem was that that pesky ceiling kept getting in the way!

Trip got the casting motion down right away. He now uses his fishing pole in the backyard and "casts" off the deck. He hasn't quite mastered the reeling part though so it's a good thing he doesn't really cast out any line.

Fish Galore!

2011-07-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, our friends invited us to go fishing with them. We packed up our gear, lunch, and some snacks and hit the road. It took us about an hour to get to the lake, but the drive was full of beautiful scenery and wildlife. Trip was asleep so me missed the cows, deer, and antelope, but we were glad that he got some much needed rest.

Just as we pulled in, the man fishing from the dock caught a fish and then showed us the other three he had already caught. We figured that must be a good sign. We found a spot and settled in. Trip had a grand time pretending to cast and catch fish.

Then he discovered that he could wade in the shallow pool that had been formed by the water level being so high.

A few minutes later, he was running through the water and all wet.

The guy fishing from the dock caught his limit of five fish and left so we all moved over to take his spot.

It was a good thing we did, because the fishing was good there. Everyone fishing started to catch. Zoe and Hannah were kind enough to bring their fish to Trip so that he could see them and touch them.

Zoe caught the biggest fish of the day at 19 inches long. It was the first big one and no one could outdo her the rest of the day.

Logan's came close, but was a couple of inches short. He wasn't too keen on holding his fish at first, so Zoe helped him out.

As the fishing went on, Logan played with Trip. These two had a great time together and laughed a lot.

We finally got Trip out of his wet clothes and away from the water for a while, but it wasn't long before he wanted back in. He settled for just his feet, though.

Somehow putting his toes in his mouth seemed like a good idea.

Enjoying a cookie and being silly.

At the end of the day, each fisherman came home with five fish and lots of good memories.

Fourth of July Fun

2011-07-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of spending the afternoon and evening of the Fourth with friends at their parent's house on a nearby lake. The kids had lots of fun playing in the water. I didn't think that Trip would want to get in on the action, but he was thrilled to get in the water. He also enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake.

Another thing Trip loved was the food. There were lots of things to choose from. He especially liked the pasta salads, fruit, olives, and cake. More than anything, though he enjoyed playing with the other kids.

This was the view we enjoyed while we ate cake just before the fireworks.

At dusk, we watched a great fireworks show. Trip was interested in some of it, but really wanted to watch videos on my phone instead. He crashed as soon as we got in the car after such a great afternoon.

Grandpa, Noni, and the New Door

2011-07-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Noni came for a quick visit last weekend. While they were here, Dad and Kirk put in our new sliding glass door in the dining room (there was just a window there before). We have been wanting to make this change ever since we bought our house, and since we got some money back on our taxes, we were able to make it happen! We haven't had direct access to the backyard from the house, which meant that we had to escort the dogs out to the yard many times a day. Now, we can just slide open the door. It's wonderful!

The guys got the old window out and then discovered that the lumber yard had ordered us a door that was one foot wider than what we needed. Since it was a special order, there was no way of getting the smaller door in less than a couple of weeks, so they just decided to do the extra work and put in the bigger door.

Trip loved watching the whole thing and playing with the tools. He enjoyed all the hammering and sawing too.

Before they tore out the wall, there was a hole where some wiring had been. Trip discovered that he could poke a screwdriver through it and proceeded to try out most of Grandpa's screwdrivers in the hole.

Once the wall was torn out, Trip wanted to play outside. We put some water in his water table. He wasn't happy with just playing in the water, though. He wanted to actually be in it. Noni lifted him onto the table, and then he wanted his clothes off so that he could swim.

This distraction was good since Daddy and Grandpa had some heavy lifting to do.

After a few minutes, we decided just to get Trip's little pool out and let him play in that since him sitting in the water table wasn't the safest option.

Once the work was done, there was some time to relax. Trip liked having Grandpa give him Goldfish crackers.

Thanks Grandpa and Noni for all your help!

Trip's First Camping Experience

2011-07-06T21:23:00.001-07:00

The last week has been a flurry of activity and full of lots of fun. On Thursday afternoon, we headed up to Lofton Reservoir, just about 45 minutes from here, to camp with some friends. We got a late start so we had to get our tents set up and a fire built as soon as we arrived. Once all that was done, we enjoyed an evening by the fire and some good grilled food. Trip thought it was lots of fun to play outside with his friends and ate lots of Daddy's steak.

Trip got to bed late, so he went to sleep fairly easily. Kirk and I spent another half and hour or so chatting with the adults, and then turned in ourselves. In that short amount of time, Trip had moved himself in his sleep from the head of our tent to the foot and right in the doorway! He was so asleep, though that I was able to move him with no problem. We got settled and got a few minutes of sleep before the drama started. Trip kept waking up every 15-30 minutes saying, "No! No! No!" and then, "Mama! Mama!" He was also sleeping between us and kicking Kirk in the face, which was not enjoyable for Daddy. All of this was also not fun for Erik whose tent we pitched next to ours without thinking about Trip making noise during the night. I finally held Trip and then put him on the other side of me and snuggled him tight. He slept better after about 3am, but I didn't. He made it to 8am, which we were not expecting, but we were certainly thankful for it!

Friday brought more time to play with the kids and some time by the lake while the dads fished.

Trip (with a muddy face from sampling the local dirt- he is becoming a real connoisseur!) hanging with his buddy Kaiden. (Unfortunately Trip deleted the really cute picture of the two of them!)

Trip wanted Omi to hold him and take him by the water.

Although we got very little sleep, we are still glad that we took Trip camping. We hope to do it again this summer but will probably sleep in our van next time so that we don't bother everyone else as much.

Play Dough!

2011-07-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of rainy days this week and Trip was having some grumpy days, so I decided I needed to try something new with him. I have been meaning to make some play dough and see what he thought of it, so Tuesday I finally went for it. I quickly made a batch and he was interested in figuring out what it was. Everyone happened to come home right as I was kneading it and cooling it down. Kelly and Erik both decided that they wanted to join Trip in playing with the blue dough.

Trip wasn't too sure what to do at first, but he quickly got the hang of it. After a few tastes of this new substance, he realized that it was much better to play with than to eat. (Sorry for the loud background- we were also re-watching the premiere of our brother-in-law Gary's hunting show on the Sportsman Channel!)

He liked using the tools I gave him to make marks in the dough.

He also liked watching Erik and Kelly make different shapes.

He was very excited when Erik made a ball and then cried when Erik smashed it! I think play dough will definitely bring more fun in the future. In case you're looking for a good recipe, I used one from here.

The Warehouse

2011-06-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Trip absolutely LOVES to play in the church warehouse. He doesn't get to do it much because it's so dusty and dirty in there. He enjoyed having the team of kids here last week because he got to play in the warehouse several times. There was even a guy tall enough to lift him up so he could dunk the basketball. The only problem is that he thinks we are all tall enough to do so.

During the movie night, he played in there for a while and liked hearing his voice echo. He was so excited to be there! In fact, he gets so excited in the video, that he falls down.

The Great Pizza Bake

2011-06-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had a team of students from Colorado here doing service projects and a soccer camp for kids. They helped several people with yard work and maintenance projects, did the demolition at our church for the future youth coffee shop, and got to know a lot of kids around town by providing activities and games for them.

On Thursday, they wanted to have a movie night and get pizza. Since our pizza places here are mediocre at best and way too expensive, we decided to make it ourselves. I made six batches of dough late that morning and set them out to rise.

We gathered eleven cookie sheets and pans to cover in dough and toppings.

Trip and I met up with the team at Safeway and gathered the ingredients we would need. The six girls came home with us and we all got to work. I was extremely thankful that Trip took a nap, even with all the commotion. That sure made the afternoon easier for me!

After cooking the ground beef and chicken and cutting up the olives, mushrooms, pineapple, and Canadian bacon, the girls crowded around the table and got to work spreading out the dough. They added sauce and toppings, and a short time later, we had eleven pizzas ready to bake. I wish I had gotten a picture of all of them at work! I was too busy to even think about it.

We made pepperoni, Hawaiian, meat lover's, chicken alfredo, cheese, and a pizza with soy cheese for a team member who couldn't have dairy.

This was a time when we were very thankful for our second oven that's in the shop. We don't need it often, but there are times when it comes in very handy! We were able to have pizzas baking in our two ovens and send some over to bake in the church's oven. I was going back and forth between the house and the shop trying to make sure each pizza was cooked properly while Kirk shuttled people and pizzas to the church. It was a furry of excitement for a little while, but everything came out perfectly. The 35 or so people who were at the movie night loved the pizza and there were only two pans leftover for the next day's lunch.

It was a great experience and made me thankful for all the cooking skills I learned from my mom. She became an expert at cooking for large groups of people when we lived in Belgium and always wowed everyone with the great meals she made. I'm glad to get to carry on the tradition every once in a while!

Junior Rodeo

2011-06-28T11:59:00.001-07:00

Our county junior rodeo was held a couple of weeks ago. Kirk, Trip, and I walked the couple of blocks over to the fairgrounds to check it out. I enjoyed watching many kids that I know from subbing at the middle and high schools compete in various events.

Trip enjoyed seeing the horses and cattle, but what he enjoyed most was playing in the grandstand and eating snacks, including some M&Ms that Daddy shared with him. He made a mess of himself, but sure liked it (and as usual, wasn't thrilled to have his picture taken)!

He had fought his morning nap, so by the time we left the rodeo, he was wiped out. So much so, in fact, that he fell asleep almost immediately once he got in the stroller! This never happens, so I was talking to him and when there was no response, I moved the shade to see him, and found him sound asleep. He woke up when I took him out of the stroller at home, but fortunately as soon as he was in his crib, he was out again.

Funny Picture Roundup

2011-06-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

In looking through some pictures of the last month, I found several that didn't make it into any posts, but were worth sharing.

Relaxing with some popcorn :)

Digging in! His small bowl was not good enough. He wanted the big one!

Watching his absolute favorite show, Super Why (which I love because it's all about letters, spelling, and reading), with a bat in hand.

Kaiden, the one-boot cowboy taking a nap on our couch.

Trying on Mommy's fleece. (And not wanting to pose for a picture.)

Pretending to take a nap in the laundry basket.

Baseball Games

2011-06-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

The baseball season has recently ended for the kids around here. We were able to attend several games and watch many of Trip's friends play. He enjoyed bringing his bat and ball to the games and playing on the sidelines.

Here he is playing with Connor and Madison...

Later that evening, the kids were throwing rocks in a huge puddle in the parking lot, and Trip fell in. He was wet up to his knees with muddy water, but was having such a great time that he didn't care at all. Needless to say, we had to take off his pants, socks, and shoes before he got in the car and he got a nice bath as soon as we got home.

Swimming Lessons

2011-06-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, our local pool was offering free swimming lessons. Our friend Gabi is one of the lifeguards, so we requested her to teach Trip.

On Monday, we tried sending him in the water alone with Gabi. He did not like that idea, so I got in with him. He didn't really enjoy it much and spent most of the 20 minutes that he lasted in the water calling for Daddy and asking to get out. An outdoor pool at 10am when the weather has only been slightly warm for a couple of days is not really ideal for getting a little one to want to swim.

Tuesday and Wednesday were much better because Gabi's four-year-old brother, Kaiden was there and he had his lessons with us. That helped Trip a lot and made him much happier in the water. He loved throwing the balls they had and "swimming" over to get them. On Tuesday, Kirk tried being the one in the water with Trip, but he wasn't having it, so I swam with him all week. The weather was much colder on Thursday, so we skipped the pool altogether.

Friday was the big success. Trip got in the pool with Gabi right away and was actually excited to be there. He swam with Gabi for at least 20 minutes before asking for me and let me swim with Kaiden.

Kaiden gave Trip a wetsuit that he had outgrown. Trip loves wearing it and it looks super cute on him!

We're looking forward to more time at the pool this summer, especially once the weather warms up some more. We will probably do another session of lessons too to keep working on getting Trip used to being in the water.

Happy Birthday, Kirk!

2011-06-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Kirk's birthday. Although he did have some work to do, he was able to have a fairly relaxed day. His day started early with a 6am men's breakfast at church, which was perfect because it allowed me to put up the banner I made for him.

I didn't have any camo paper, but I did have some fabric, so I decided to make him a fabric banner to last a few years. I had fun sneaking around making it when Kirk wasn't home.

Trip and I ran to the store to purchase things we needed for Kirk's party and found some good strawberries. It has become a tradition that I make Kirk chocolate-covered strawberries or cherries for his birthday. We enjoyed them for an afternoon snack.

Kirk was super excited that his Double Bull hunting blind arrived on his special day. He has been saving Christmas, Father's Day, and birthday money for the last year to get one. (Thank you to everyone who contributed!) He promptly set it up in the side yard to check it out.

We had a nice dinner on Thursday with the fam and some friends who were here for the night on their way to Colorado. On Friday, we had a bigger party with several of the families who have become wonderful friends over the last year. We were thankful for great weather that allowed us to spend the evening outside. That was particularly nice since there were sixteen kids present (and the same number of adults)! Trip had a fantastic time running around with his friends all evening. By the end of the night, he was exhausted!

Foam Letter Fun

2011-06-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have two Ziplock bags of small foam letters in my craft closet. Trip found one of them the other day and wanted to play with the letters. I foresaw a huge mess, but figured it was nothing that couldn't be cleaned up, so I let him open the bag. Of course, the letters were immediately scattered all over the floor. After a quick lesson in not eating the letters, he started pushing them around and looking at them.

He also enjoyed putting them in a bowl,

and dumping them back out.

Mommy had some fun making words,

until some little feet decided to step on them.

Cheese Dip

2011-06-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I decided to put Trip's love of dipping his food to good use by making him a quick and easy cheese sauce to go with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower. My mom used to make cheese sauce for us sometimes, and it always made me love broccoli and cauliflower even more.

Trip thought it was fun to dip his veggies and his fingers into the cheese and he ate very well.

Toolbox Hat

2011-06-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

Trip has recently decided that his small fabric toolbox is a hat/helmet and he wears it as such quite often. While Noni was here, we got a few cute pictures as he admired himself in the mirror.

A couple of days later, I tried to get a picture when he had the strap fastened under his chin. He was obviously not thrilled with the idea! (He wanted to look at pictures on the camera instead of having pictures taken.)

Coffee Shop Fish Tank

2011-06-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Trip and I walked to the main part of town to run some errands. While we were walking, we stopped at our local coffee shop where Kirk was studying. Trip spotted the fish tank right away and spent quite a bit of time watching the fish swim around. He particularly liked the orange fish that kept popping in and out of hiding places.

Feeding Panda

2011-06-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

After breakfast on Thursday, Trip saw leftover rice in the fridge and decided that he needed some. He also thought that Panda should eat some rice too, so we got him all set up at the table and he started offering Panda bites.

Dandelion Fun

2011-06-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Trip and I have been enjoying time outside and in the shop these last few days. We were worried when we had snow the first days of June, but our weather has finally decided to warm up a little (60-70*F), so we're taking advantage of it.

Trip likes exploring things in the shop, playing on the new deck, playing in the dirt (and eating it), throwing a ball, and running around in the grass. On Wednesday, he discovered some dandelions and had great fun with them!

New Baseball Mitt

2011-06-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

We have been hearing "Con-con bay-bay" approximately fifty times a day around here for the last week. Last Sunday, our friend Connor gave Trip a baseball mitt that he has outgrown. I had it in a bag of things I brought home from church, and Trip discovered it after his nap. He was beyond excited! Ever since, he has been saying "Con-con bay-bay" (Connor baseball) non-stop. He gets some "Uh-E-ah bay-bay"s (Uncle Erik baseball) in there too, which is only fitting since Uncle Erik got him interested in baseball in the first place.

He is quite taken with anything sports-related and baseball is definitely a big part of that right now. As you could see in the video, he hasn't figured out how to wear the mitt on his hand (and doesn't want us to help him), but he loves putting balls in it and knows what it's supposed to do.

Shooting Hoops with Grandpa

2011-06-06T11:02:00.001-07:00

These last few weeks have been good to me in the work department as I have had the chance to sub nine days in the last three weeks, but in the midst of it, I have not done such a great job of blogging.

A couple of weekends ago, Grandpa and Noni came to visit us. As always, Trip enjoyed the extra attention and had lots of fun playing with his grandparents. Here he is shooting hoops upside down with Grandpa.

Trip also enjoyed playing with the play dishes, food and tools that Noni found for him. He and Noni had fun pretending to drink tea and pretending to fix walls. Dad and Kirk built a small deck outside our dining room window in preparation for changing the window to a sliding glass door in a few weeks. Trip loved standing at the window and watching them work. He had his little tools ready to help.

Shop Piano

2011-05-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Trip loves to go out to our shop and will ask to do it quite often. Now that the weather is a little warmer, we're able to say yes sometimes. One of the things that he loves about the shop is the music corner. He likes to look at the guitars (since he isn't allowed to touch them yet), give the drum a couple of pats, and "play" the keyboard.

I'm still not sure what he was seeing in this next video. Something that reminded him of Grandpa or Bapa? Popcorn? Pasta? Don't know! I love how animated he is with his playing, though!

Mr. Mischief

2011-05-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Trip was wearing his Mr. Mischief shirt and living up to it. Fortunately his mischief was cute this time. For example, he found his empty laundry basket and decided that it would be a good hat/helmet. He was quite pleased with himself and walked up and down the hall this way.

After the basket adventure, Mr. Mischief had a snack of popcorn and dumped the bowl on the floor. His doggies were quite pleased; his mommy, not so much. :)

Snacks With Bear

2011-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I think that at least half of the pictures that I post are of Trip at the table. There are probably a couple of reasons for that. For one, he loves to eat and usually has several snacks on top of three meals each day. The table is also a good place to get pictures because he is slightly more still than at other times. On top of that, he often does quite funny/silly/cute things while eating.

A good example of that funny/silly/cuteness was a snack the other day. Trip decided that his bear should join him for snack. He went over to the toy basket, grabbed the bear, and brought it to the table.

Bear got hugs

and bites of Trip's snack.

I'm glad to see that little bit of sharing! Good job, Buddy!

Dee! Dee! Dee!

2011-04-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

"Dee" or dip is one of Trip's new favorite words and he usually says it in threes while he's making a dipping motion with his hand. He loves to dip things when he eats. It all started with waffles. Instead of putting jam or syrup on his waffles, I put some in a bowl and let him dip. Recently, it's been a common request. Fortunately, he's happy with dips like apple or pear butter, freezer jam, or applesauce.

The only problem is that the whole thing tends to end in quite a mess because he decides to start dipping his fingers instead of just the waffle, bread, or cracker.

But really, who could complain about a mess with such a sweet face and such a happy boy?!

Easter

2011-04-28T10:32:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday was of course a busy one at our house. Kirk was in charge of the music for the community sunrise service, so he was up and going by 5 am. We then had breakfast and service at our church.

Once we got home, I got Trip to sleep and then put the turkey in the oven while everyone took a nap. I tried to nap too, but Trip decided I shouldn't. We played and I let him watch his new Sesame Street DVD from Uncle G, Aunt T, and Cooper in hopes of keeping him quiet for a while.

A couple of hours later once the turkey and sides were ready, everyone got up and we ate. Then, Trip got to explore his Easter basket.

He loved the cow that Bapa and Granny sent him.

I didn't hide any eggs since he hadn't been interested in finding them the day before. He was taking them out of the bucket and throwing them on the floor. This one had a car in it, so it popped right open.

He thought that was a cool trick so he tried to do it with another egg. Unfortunately, it held stickers, and didn't pop open.

He had fun looking at his new book from Cooper.

Then it was on to the treats from Bapa and Granny. He loves this squeezable applesauce and wanted to eat both packages. They were very kind to us and sent some healthy snacks like dried fruit and fruit leather. (Thank you!) Trip was thrilled with all of it!

It took him a while to figure out how to push the button on this toy, but now he loves it.

Eating some candy with silly Uncle Erik.

We also got to spend some time on Skype with Bapa, Granny, Cooper, Uncle G, and Aunt T. Cooper and Trip enjoyed seeing each other and showing each other their gifts.

Thanksgiving in April

2011-04-27T21:19:00.001-07:00

This has been a day of reflection and thanksgiving for me. It was one year ago today that we took Trip to the ER and found out that he had an intussusception that would require surgery to fix. (You can read about it here and then here.)

That was one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced. Sending him into the unknown of surgery and then so many days of waiting to see how he would recover was incredibly scary. We are so blessed that he made it through the whole ordeal with just a small scar to show for it.

We are also thankful to all of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, came to the hospital, made us meals, allowed me to take time off of work, sent cards and gifts, and so much more. Your love and support got us through those difficult days and weeks. We may never understand why this happened, but it certainly has made us even more thankful for our precious little boy and allows us to truly empathize with other parents who are going similar situations.

We sure have reason for much thanksgiving!

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Our church hosted an Easter egg hunt at the park today. We had over a hundred people show up, and very few of them were from the church. We were excited to have such a great turnout and to get to do sometime nice for our community. We had purchased just over a thousand plastic eggs and filled them with candy. We also had twelve golden eggs that contained $80 between them. Needless to say, the kids who found those eggs were thrilled!

This section was for the little kids. We had enough eggs that many of the were just scattered on the grass.

Trip had gotten his fill of picking up and opening eggs while we were hiding them, so he didn't care about the actual hunt at all. I put three eggs in his bucket and he just poured them out,

and put the bucket on his head. He's been quite sure that it's a hat for a couple of weeks now.

He just watched the action with his bucket on his head.

Then the bucket was history and it was time to play on the equipment with the other kids.

His favorite is the slide. He climbed up and slid down more times than I can count.

Happy Easter!

Popcorn!

2011-04-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

We have been eating popcorn (or "pa-pa" as Trip calls it) just about daily for the last month or so. Ever since we were in Missouri for Thanksgiving and Tammi showed me how easy it is to make popcorn on the stove top, I have hardly made any in the microwave. I just put a little oil and a couple of kernels in a pot, turn up the heat, and once the tester kernels pop, I add more, and turn it down a little while it cooks. Trip loves to listen to the popping. A dusting of garlic salt at the end makes it perfect. As soon as it's ready, he wants a bowl of it (and it has to be a big bowl like the adults get, not one of his little bowls).

By the way, you can now ask Trip to smile, and he will! That's how I got this nice one. It usually comes with lots of squinting too!

And how do little boys eat popcorn? With a spoon, of course! He requests one every time!

Signs of Spring

2011-04-21T09:34:00.001-07:00

It seems that slowly but surely, spring is finally arriving here in Lakeview. These beautiful flowers popped up in our backyard a few days ago. Since this is our first spring in our house, it's fun to see what plants are coming up.

Our many trees are staring to bud.

These deer have been visiting us on a regular basis. Trip loves to watch them and the dogs love to bark at them.

Last night, we got a blanket of snow that looked fantastic in the morning sun.

We're hoping for some dry and mild spring weather this weekend since our church is hosting an Easter egg hunt!

Sports Buddies

2011-04-09T09:22:00.001-07:00

Trip has been crazy about Uncle Erik ever since he moved in with us last July. Uh-E or E-Uh, as Trip calls him, knows an incredible amount of facts and information about many sports, but especially football, basketball, and baseball. He always tells Trip that Daddy will teach him all about hunting, and he'll teach him all about sports. They practice throwing a ball almost every day. When Erik comes in the house, Trip usually runs to get a ball, hoping that they can play.

Looking at pictures

Deciding whether to watch baseball or hockey

Learning

Chips

2011-04-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

First, I have to say, can you believe this face? Trip actually posing for a picture? Wow! He liked the light/flash on Kirk's phone and kept asking for more pictures. Yesterday evening, he decided that he should grab the almost empty bag of tortilla chips from the table. Knowing that there were very few chips left, I let him have it. He marched right into the living room and sat down to eat.

Once he had gotten the couple big chips out, this was next.

Fortunately, once the dogs were done with the floor, there were only a few crumbs left. A little vacuuming was definitely worth the fun that we had!

Silly, Silly, Silly

2011-04-06T21:45:00.001-07:00

Trip keeps us laughing on a daily basis with his silliness. Here are a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks.

To Colorado and Back in Three Days

2011-04-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Another title for this post could be "Three Funerals and a Long Drive". The last week has been a full one for us. Kirk officiated two funerals in three days here in town and just before the second one, we got the news that a friend of ours in Grand Junction had passed away. Steve had valiantly battled cancer for five years and is now no longer in pain, which gives us a reason to rejoice. Our housemates were close to him as well, so we all decided to pack up and drive to Colorado on Wednesday night so that we could attend the memorial service on Friday. We drove through the night, which was great for Trip who slept for many of the 13+ hours. Having several drivers helped the adults as well, but we were all tired when we arrived late Thursday morning. It was straight to visiting friends, though because we were determined to make the most of every minute there.

On Thursday afternoon, Trip and I went to the park with our friends Kristen, Elijah, Elisabeth, and Samuel. We enjoyed watching the ducks and Trip kept asking for a bath so that he could swim with them!

The weather was beautiful as were the views. It was nice to see the wonderful views of the Bookcliffs, Grand Mesa, and Colorado National Monument again. I miss them.

It was a little challenging for us moms to chat since we were all chasing our respective sons around, but we got a few moments together.

This is the best picture I got of the three boys together. It was fun to see them interact now that they are all older, walking, and starting to talk.

Trip absolutely LOVED the playground. With the winter weather here, he hasn't had many opportunities to play on a playground since he's been mobile enough to do so. He crawled in and out of the tunnels over and over.

He was also quite fascinated with the wood chips.

Being cute

On Friday morning, Trip and I were able to visit my old school. Everyone was thrilled to see Trip and see how big he's gotten. He was being pretty shy, but warmed up eventually and had fun playing with the other teachers' kids.

It was so wonderful to see everyone, but especially Patricia (left), who was my partner teacher for five years and Andrea (right), who I mentored during her first two years of teaching and who took over for me in second grade when I left. [Sorry for the blurry picture- it was taken by one of the kids. :) ]

On Friday afternoon, we joined hundreds of other people (probably close to a thousand) at Steve's memorial service. It was truly a celebration of a life well-lived and was very moving. He impacted many lives in his years on Earth, and especially in the last five or six years as he became a dedicated follower of Christ and a pastor. We saw many friends there and enjoyed catching up with them.

After dinner with more friends on Friday night, we got a few hours of sleep, and headed home at 4:30 on Saturday morning. Trip did quite well during the long drive. He slept some, played with toys, watched videos on my phone, ate lots of snacks, and only had a few times of unhappiness and frustration.

Most of our drive was in the vast nothingness of Utah and Nevada. There were some great views.

We stopped several times and Trip was of course eager to get out and stretch. He liked this sign at one of the gas stations we visited.

He was very happy, as we all were, when we finally got home and spent the next couple of hours running around the house and playing with his toys.

A Quick Visit with Grandpa and Noni

2011-03-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Trip and I got to enjoy an unexpected couple of days with my parents last week while Kirk went to visit a friend in Tacoma. Unfortunately Dad and Mom both had to work while we were there, but we made the most of the evenings and lunches together. Trip also had a cold and cough, but he was in a fairly good mood nonetheless.

One of the first orders of business was a haircut! Since we hadn't seen Noni for over three months, Trip's hair had a lot of time to grow out. He enjoyed playing in the sink and talking to himself in the mirror during the trim.

He enjoyed the animal finger puppets that Noni had found when we went to IKEA in December.

Something that Trip loves to do at Grandpa and Noni's house is to use their Dustbuster. He was not thrilled, however, to have his picture taken!

One evening Grandpa let Trip listen to some classical music in his headphones.

He was fascinated with the whole listening to music and headphones thing.

He liked it very much and settled in for a while (with a potholder for good measure).

Trip also loved Grandpa and Noni's cat, Lucy. She was not so fond of him, so he didn't ever really get to interact with her much. He sure liked saying her name and looking for her outside and in the laundry room, though. Since we've been home, he's started calling other cats that he sees Lucy.

St. Patty's Day

2011-03-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

[Sorry to our faithful fans for the delay in getting these pictures posted! :) ]

We had lots of fun on St. Patrick's Day! Unfortunately, I only got pictures at lunch, though.

More kisses!

We had two crock pots full of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic cooking all day, which turned out fantastic. I also made Irish soda bread and Guinness brown bread. We invited several friends to enjoy our delicious meal with us. Trip was thrilled because he had friends to play with him all evening.

Here are Trip and K playing. Trip loves to be in his crib and play peekaboo with someone outside the crib. He is also crazy about throwing a ball.

Would You Like a Kiss?

2011-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Trip had lots of fun eating some yogurt yesterday (and I was even able to get some pictures!).

He had it all over his face and hands...

and then started offering kisses!

What a sweet boy!

Stair Love

2011-03-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Trip loves stairs. We don't have any at home, but have one small flight of them at the church. They lead up to the nursery, so we use them often and Trip always wants to climb them whether we really need to go upstairs or not. He is a pro at climbing up the stairs, but going back down is another story. He was wanting to just step right down like everyone else does. This was obviously not a good idea, so I'm teaching him to sit on the steps and scoot his way down. He likes this method and looks forward to the "boom" each time he drops his little bottom to the next step. Here he is practicing his skills with some friends.

It's Becoming Quite Difficult...

2011-03-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

... to get a picture of Trip these days! He loves to look at pictures and videos of himself on our camera and phones, so whenever he sees one of these devices, he thinks he should be looking at pictures instead of being photographed. Here is an example of the routine:

Trip is being funny, eating with a wooden spoon and taking a bite of three crackers at a time, so I grab the camera.

I'm able to get one shot and then it begins (although you can tell that it was already staring in the first picture). It starts with upset noises, pointing, and motioning.

Then comes the crying...

and the screaming. Yikes!

So if the blog posts and pictures are a little more scarce for a while, that's why. Let's hope this stage passes quickly!

A Few Days Away

2011-03-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

We got to spend a couple of days away this week, which was a nice change of pace. We attended a pastors' retreat in Klamath Falls at the Running Y resort. It was a great time of connecting with friends, meeting new people, and was very encouraging. Kirk also passed his final panel for his Foursquare pastor's license. He did very well and is glad to have all that extra studying behind him.

We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few. This was the living area of the suite where we stayed. There was also a bathroom and a bedroom, of course.

The one picture I took of Trip- he had been sitting and playing in the closet, but had to get up as soon as he saw me getting ready to photograph him.

The second night we got snow and woke up to these beautiful views from the balcony.

Cheers!

2011-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Trip decided to start touching his sippy cups to our glasses. We started saying cheers, and now he wants to do it all the time. He will often hold up his up and say his version of cheers, expecting us to hold up our glasses and touch his cup. Once one person has done it, he goes to the next person in the room and does the same thing.

Breakfast with Blankie

2011-03-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, Trip decided that one of his blankies should join him for breakfast. He wanted to snuggle it while he ate. It was pretty cute!

And then it fell on Habe who was waiting for Trip to share some of his waffle with him.

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2011-03-02T15:03:00.001-08:00

We have been celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday today. Trip loves watching "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" on PBS Kids in the mornings. He never sits down to watch an entire episode (he usually gets busy playing and running around after a few minutes), but pays attention when the "Go, go, go on an adventure" song that they sing comes on. He stands in the living room and says "Go, go, go!" Sometimes he will even point at the TV and say "Go, go, go!" or "hat", meaning that we should watch his favorite show.

For lunch, we enjoyed some green eggs. We were given some farm-fresh eggs the other day and one of them was green- perfect for today!

Really, though, I put the eggs and some spinach in the blender and then made scrambled eggs with the mixture. They look gross, but tasted great.

Trip thought they were pretty good.

We've tried to read a few Dr. Seuss books as well, but Trip hasn't made it through a whole one yet. Maybe next year!

Cuteness Abounds

2011-02-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Kirk has discovered the key to filming Trip- his iPhone 4. It has a camera in the front that allows you to film yourself and see yourself on the screen at the same time. Trip was so excited to see himself that he talked on and on and made lots of funny faces.

More proof that he loves the word "no"...

And one of his favorite pastimes, animal sounds...

No!

2011-02-26T08:31:00.000-08:00

"No" has definitely become one of Trip's favorite words. He has a book called "Where Is Spot?" that has helped him learn that word. The mother dog is looking all over the house for her puppy. Each time she opens a closet, the piano, a box, etc. another animal is inside and says "No!" Spot is not here. I have been trying to capture Trip reading this book for some time now, and was finally able to get footage of Kelly reading it to him. Sorry that it's so dark, but if Trip sees me filming him, it's all over.

Sick and Snow

2011-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

We spent the beginning of last week like this...

Trip was sick and spent several days with a fever. After being quite sick three times since the new year and acting like he had an ear infection this time, we finally had to take him to the doctor and get him some antibiotics. He is so much better now and is finally back to his old happy self.

We also spent last week getting about a foot of snow. This is the view I enjoyed Wednesday from the Spanish classroom at the high school.

With all of this snow, some amazing icicles have formed all over town. We got some impressive ones outside of Trip's window.

The weather has stayed very cold this week and the snow is still around, but the roads are now clear, which we definitely appreciate.

Meal Planning

2011-02-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

I think that meal planning is a challenge that most families face. With seven to eight people to feed on a daily basis and several people doing the shopping, I have really had to improve my meal planning skills. For a long time, Kirk and I would mean to make a plan for what we would eat each week, but didn't usually get it done. Now that we've had three to four housemates and I do most of the cooking, I have to have a plan.

I've been making myself a one-page calendar of three to four weeks at a time that I can keep on the fridge. It allows me to look forward at what's coming up and remember what I've made recently. I usually only plan a week or less at a time, but try to have something in mind at least a day or two in advance. Being on a budget, I also try to take into account what is on sale at Safeway each week.

To help myself in the inspiration department (which I think is one of the biggest challenges in planning ahead), I have a list of meals that we enjoy and a list of recipes I want to try. The last couple of days I have also been going through my cookbooks. Like many people, I have a couple of binders of recipes that I've cut out of magazines, found online, been given by friends, or just jotted down. Unfortunately I haven't done such a great job recently (okay, in the last couple years, really) of actually getting the clippings, scraps of paper, and recipe cards IN the binders. I decided it was time to look through what I already had and get rid of anything that I've had forever and have never made, or probably won't ever make. Next, I re-organized everything and added the many recipes that had accumulated outside the binders.

Much better!

I also decided to make a couple of quick-reference pages with the recipes that I make the most often and post them on the inside of some kitchen cabinets. That way, when I want to make waffles, cookies, brownies, pizza dough, Aunt Lois' cheese crackers, or Grandma Joy's chocolate-cherry cake, all I have to do is open up the cabinet. With very little counter space, it helps not to have to open a cookbook every time.

I still have a lot to learn, but this has been a good journey for me. As Trip gets older, life is only going to get more hectic, and family meals will be even more important, so meal planning is a good habit to develop now.

Family Fun Weekend

2011-02-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, we had some very special visitors. My cousin David, his wife Andrea, and their four kids drove from Portland to spend a couple of days with us. Trip loved having cousins to play with and we were blessed with cool but sunny weather.

On Friday, we went for a walk, watched a movie, played with Trip's toys inside, and let the kids rest.

Joshua, James, and Trip enjoyed playing outside and had lots of fun with the broken-down mower in our side yard.

On Saturday, Kirk took our guests coyote hunting while Trip took a nap and I got ready for dinner. We had pizza that evening. The boys each got a section of crust to fill with the toppings of their choice. They thought it was really fun to make their own pizza and ate almost all of it.

They were very proud of their creations!

They really liked Erik too and found a good perch to watch some hunting.

Trip enjoyed Anna as well as the boys. He brought her toys several times and like to watch her.

Trip and Michael had fun together. Michael gave Trip lots of hugs. (Sorry for the poor picture quality- these two were on the move non-stop!)

Michael wanted me to take a picture of him by himself. :)

Thanks, Culvers for making the long drive to see us. We loved having you here and look forward to our next visit!

Sitting Tall

2011-02-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

Trip has decided that he should sit in the dining room chairs. He can climb up on them, which is sort of scary. A couple of days ago he didn't want to sit in his seat to eat lunch, but rather in a big chair. He was quite proud of himself.

At the same time, we have also had the Bumbo out lately when other little ones are here, and Trip sits in it quite often.

Tunnel Fun

2011-02-09T20:11:00.001-08:00

Trip's friend Cayden spent the day with us on Tuesday. The boys had fun together and it was a good opportunity for Trip to work on sharing his toys. We got the tunnel out, played peekaboo, and Trip enjoyed crawling through it.

Action shot! I love the expression on Cayden's face. It's so typical of him.

Dancing Boy

2011-02-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago, we were watching some westerns. True Grit had just finished and El Dorado was starting. Trip was very taken with the intro music and started to dance. He then put two fingers up and was giving us the peace sign. It was hilarious and as you will see from the video, I was laughing too hard to get a steady shot. Of course, we missed filming the best dancing, but you get the idea.

Super Bowl!

2011-02-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

I was very excited about the Super Bowl this year since the Packers were playing. Last time they made it to the championship, we were still in Belgium and had to get up in the middle of the night to watch it (which adds some extra excitement as well). We had a small crowd this year, which was a change for us. It was nice for me though, because I actually got to sit down and watch the game.

Trip enjoyed playing with my Cheesehead. He kept saying "Cheese!"

He had fun playing peekaboo with it.

Trip enjoyed the food as well. We had jalapeno popper dip, cheesy corn bites, spinach dip and veggies, chicken strips and wings, fries, Rice Krispie treats, and cookies.

Best of all, the Packers won!

Is Trip Supposed to Have That?

2011-02-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

I make pizza almost every Sunday after church. Trip usually has some when he gets up from his nap, but last Sunday he didn't want any. A little while later, I was working on something and heard, "Is Trip supposed to have that?" I looked into the living room to find that Trip had somehow reached a whole piece of pizza from the table and walked into the living room to eat it. He was quite pleased with himself and got right to devouring it. He even made it through about three quarters of it before sharing with the very eager dogs. His face, hands, and fleece were a mess, but he managed to keep the carpet clean.

Staying Warm

2011-02-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

The dogs have been doing their best to stay warm this winter. They love to snuggle with anything soft and especially love that the heater is next to their pillow. The green pillow used to be Habe's, but since the heater has been next to it, Jale has claimed it as well.

A Barrel of Monkeys Really Is a Lot of Fun!

2011-01-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

Wait, I thought this was about monkeys?

Oh, right, running them over is fun too!

Eighteen Months Old

2011-01-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

I'm amazed that it was six months ago that we were celebrating Trip's first birthday. It's incredible how much development takes place in such a short amount of time. We have loved each stage that Trip has gone through, and 18 months is no different. He is social, active, and communicating more each day.

I wanted to get some pictures of Trip with his monkey, but most of them looked like this...

because of this...

and this...

Then, I had a good idea... videos on my phone!

Almost...

There we go! And that's the best we got!

By his first birthday, Trip was just learning to crawl. Six months later, he is running everywhere and generally picks himself right up when he occasionally falls down.
He is getting better each day at feeding himself with utensils. He still uses his fingers a lot to pick things up, but really enjoys using a spoon or fork too. He has also realized that bowls and plates don't have to get dumped on the floor. That one was a struggle for a while, but I can now give him a bowl of food and be fairly confident that it will stay on his tray. The other thing he loves to do is share his food with the dogs. He sits there like a little prince and they wait eagerly for their portion of his meal or snack. I love having their help keeping food off the floor, but we're working on not feeding them on purpose.
We have been dealing with some nasty incisors as of late. All but one of them have at least broken the skin, which is great. Trip's front eight and four molars have been in for a while, so he will soon have a full mouth of teeth. I know there are still more molars to come, but it's a relief when each set is complete.
Trip has always been a good napper, and has been sleeping through the night for quite a while. He goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes usually wakes up between 6:30 and 8:00. Sometimes I can get him to go back to sleep when he wakes up early, but not always. He still takes two naps most days, which none of us complain about. :) He has started to wave at me when I put him down and head for the door. It's so cute!
One of the biggest changes lately is that he is trying to talk and learning new words all the time. He still uses a few of the signs that we taught him (mainly please, thank you, all done, and milk). He says Dada, Mama, hi, bye bye (buh-bye or mum-bye), no, cookie (cooh-key), uh oh, tasty (ta-ty), ball, shoe (shu), go, car (cah), church (ch-ch), and a few others. Kelly told him that all she wanted for Christmas was for him to say her name. Well, a couple of days ago, he finally did. Now he says "Keh-yee" whenever he sees her. We've tried to get him to say Jaime, Jordan, Erik, Jonathan, and others but he just says "Keh-yee." Another name he says is Noni. Whenever he sees my phone, he says "Nono!" and sometimes gets very upset if we don't call her.
He loves to make animal sounds. He knows what dogs, cats, fish, monkeys, elephants, cows, ducks, beavers, pigs, horses, and sheep say. When he wants Goldfish crackers, he makes fish faces, which is really funny. When we were at Grandpa and Noni's house at Christmas, he kept pointing to the door of the pantry/laundry room and making fish faces. At first we didn't understand why. Finally, we realized that there were some packages of Goldfish on the shelves and he had spotted them. Another thing he can spot anywhere is a dog. Living in such a rural community, people have dogs in the back of their trucks all the time. We were in line at the post office yesterday and Trip started barking. I looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a dog in the back of a truck. He spots them in the store parking lot constantly as well.
Although he has become a big mama's boy and likes me to be nearby, he also loves to play with other kids and adults too. When kids come over, he gets so excited and has a blast entertaining everyone. He doesn't like the days when I work, especially if he sees me leave. He and Kirk dropped me off at the high school yesterday and he apparently cried "Mama! Mama!" all the way home. Last week, Kirk found him standing next to my side of the bed crying for me. As much as I hate to leave him, I'm thankful that it's usually only a couple of days a week and I'm glad that it gives him a chance to play with friends and develop some independence.
He still loves to look at books and play with his toys. He is learning how to throw a ball and usually tries to say "Ready, set, go!" (which ends up being two random sounds and then "Go!") before he makes the throw. I'm sad that football season is coming to an end because Trip loves to watch football. Even seeing commercials or pictures in books, magazines, or on the internet that have to do with football gets him excited.
Our son is crazy about anything electronic. Remote controls, X-Box controllers, phones, computers, he wants it all. He is especially crazy about my phone. He absolutely loves watching the videos of himself that I have on there, hence how I was able to distract him to get a picture.

You are a pretty cool guy, Trip, and your daddy and I are so thankful to have you as our son!

Trip Soup

2011-01-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Kelly and I heard Trip making some frustrated noises in the dining room. We both looked over to see him stuck in our largest pot. Being the wonderful mom and aunt that we are, we had to get some pictures before we rescued him.

As we were laughing and taking pictures, he realized that this might be fun and that he wasn't really stuck.

He then proceeded to get out all by himself.

Lookin' Good!

2011-01-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Shadow Lunch

2011-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

We often get to play with shadows at lunch time. I love watching Trip's shadow as he eats.

Trying to pick up yogurt off his spoon :)

Uh oh! There's the camera...

Let me see it!

Raclette

2011-01-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

During our time in Albany, we enjoyed one of our favorite meals, raclette. Raclette is a delicious (although stinky) cheese from Switzerland that is melted and served over potatoes. Sausages and other meats accompany the cheese. Little pickles and pickled onions are served as well to cut the richness of the meal and aid in digestion. This is a meal that we can only really have at Dad and Mom's house because they have the raclette machine and are close enough to Trader Joe's to get the cheese, so we are always excited when we get the opportunity to have it.

The raclette and sausages, ready to be heated up

First, you place a piece of cheese in your little frying pan.

Next, you place it in the raclette machine under a heating element that melts the cheese. The same heating element grills the meat on the top.

Once your cheese is bubbly and slightly browned, it's ready to pull out and eat.

You use a mini wooden spatula to scrape the cheese out onto the potatoes and/or meat.

Time to enjoy!

Thanks to Rachel for her help demonstrating the process! I'm already looking forward to next time!

December Photo Roundup

2011-01-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from December that didn't fit in any other posts, but were still worth sharing.

One evening as we were all watching TV (maybe even A Charlie Brown Christmas), Trip decided to come cuddle with me on the floor. He was being super cute so Kelly snapped a picture of us.

Trip likes to find books in his toy basket or on the shelves in his room and bring them to someone (usually me) so that we will read to him.

We braved the cold one day to play outside for a while. Trip really doesn't mind the cold and had lots of fun. In the end, though, between his puffy coat and multiple layers of clothing, it was hard for him to stand back up when he fell down and he ended up going head first into some mud. There were a few tears at first, but once we came inside and showed off his muddy face and hands to Daddy, he was fine.

A spatula is a normal eating utensil, right?

I made the mistake of giving Trip a bowl of cereal (with no milk, of course!), which he ate nicely for a while and then dumped on the couch. The dogs were happy to take care of what fell on the floor, but I definitely had to vacuum as well.

Once the mess was cleaned up, he discovered that Holly makes a comfortable chair.

Presents!

2011-01-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

I realized that Kirk had a couple of videos on his phone of Trip with some of his Christmas gifts.

He had fun opening the package from Grandpa and Granny that had some great gifts covered in packing peanuts. No big surprise, the packing peanuts became the stars of the show. Now that all of the wrapping paper, boxes, and packing peanuts are gone, Trip is loving all of the wonderful gifts that he got.

Thanks to Noni's shopping help on the day after Thanksgiving, our gift to Trip was this four wheeler. He has figured out how to make it go, but not for very long. Once the weather is nicer, he'll be able to ride it outside where there is more room. Here he was trying it out for the first time and keeping us all laughing.

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2011-01-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures of Trip exploring the Christmas tree...

Taking a break to watch some football with Moosey.

A little "touchdown" for good measure

Love that sweet smile!

Christmas in Lakeview

2011-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas season here in Lakeview. About a week before Christmas, it snowed and stayed cold enough that we had a white Christmas. We then got more snow shortly after Christmas.

Kirk did a great job putting lights on the house. We also had lots of leftover limbs from our Christmas tree, which he tied to the porch railing. It all looked wonderfully festive!

Bad picture, but you get the idea. I have always dreamt of having a window large enough so that the Christmas tree would be visible from the street. I got my wish this year. (Sorry for the weird underlining in this post- Blogger is being strange.)

We got to go up in the national forest near our house to cut down a Christmas tree. The snow was over a foot deep, which made it quite a workout to carry Trip around.

We didn't find a great tree the first time around, so Kirk and Erik went back up the mountain later and ended up finding us a real beauty.

Trip did a great job not bothering the tree. After a few times of being told no, he got the message and left the ornaments alone. He would at times hover around them and almost touch them, but knew he shouldn't.

With six of us living here, we had a nice collection of gifts under the tree.

This was our advent calendar. I have been collecting baby socks for a while now in hopes of doing this project. I didn't put any gifts or candy in the socks this year, but hope to do so in the future. Instead, we had a monkey to tell which day it was.

Trip enjoyed moving the monkey to the next sock each day.

We had the cards we received hanging down the hall, and more pictures hanging on the fridge.

On the 23rd, I made a batch of Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls (yes, all of that is just one batch!). Tammi introduced us to them at Thanksgiving, and we loved them, so I had to make some for us to enjoy and there were lots to share too.

On Christmas Eve, Kirk fried a turkey and we celebrated with Jaime and Kelly. After our dinner, we attended the community Christmas service, and came home to open presents. I realized that I didn't get any pictures of Trip opening his presents, mostly because we were on Skype with Gram, he was tired, and was only interesting in one thing at a time.

On Christmas morning, we ate cinnamon rolls, opened stockings, and then got on the road to visit my family in Albany.

Using a Spoon

2010-12-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

Trip has been experimenting with feeding himself with a utensil for a couple of months now. For a while, we weren't doing it very consistently, but he's now at the point where we're giving him a spoon or fork much more often. He tends to make a huge mess, but is improving his ability to actually get the food in his mouth. He's getting pretty good at using a spoon to eat yogurt and tries to pick up other things as well. He loves to play with spatulas and has tried to pick up his food with them a time or two. That's pretty funny to watch.

Digging in

Taking a bite

Happy, proud, and a huge mess!

Yesterday he was being quite talkative while he fed himself some yogurt. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving Day in Missouri, but didn't get many pictures! We spent much of the day cooking and preparing for our feast. Kirk brined the turkey and then baked it in a bag. Tammi and I made rolls, mashed potatoes, a cheese ball, and a relish tray. Erin and Nana made stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry relish, gravy, pumpkin pie, cobbler, and date bars. Needless to say, there was plenty of delicious food for us to enjoy.

I put the bread dough in the microwave to keep it out of the way while it rose, and found it like this when I came back to it a couple of hours later. Oops!

We got freezing rain in the morning, making the trees icy and absolutely beautiful.

The boys had stadium seating for Baby Einstein while we worked on the meal.

Tammi and I made some flower arrangements to decorate the table. Unfortunately we were so busy enjoying our feast that we didn't think to take a picture of all of us around the table.

The day ended with a stunning sunset, which was not done justice by this photo.

After dinner, Tammi and I poured over the huge stack of ads and decided where to shop the next morning. We left at 3:15am, met up with a couple of friends, and headed to Springfield where we shopped at Target, Old Navy, and Bass Pro Shops (with a stop at Panera for coffee and bagels mixed in there for good measure).

Who's That Boy in the Mirror?

2010-11-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Trip loves to look at and talk to himself in the mirror. We have a full-length mirror leaning against the wall in our bedroom that he likes to visit and he has discovered the mirror in Uncle Gary and Aunt Tammi's bathroom this week. This evening I was finally able to get some good pictures of his mirror antics.

This is a face that he started making a couple of weeks ago and he has been doing it constantly when he is surprised, interested, full of wonder, being silly, or just being cute.

Some deep introspection or a pep talk. "Come on Trip, you can do it! Win this one for the boys!"

I love the wave!

Halloween Fun

2010-11-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Since I'm just now posting about Halloween after Thanksgiving, I obviously have some catching up to do, but I figure that it's better late than never.

On Halloween, Kirk and some friends played this song at church. It's definitely a favorite of ours.

Kelly and I made these milk jug pumpkins to adorn our porch during the month of October.

We had an evening of fun at church, including carnival games, snacks, and candy. Kelly and I had lots of fun decorating these cupcakes for the cupcake walk.

I didn't get any great pictures of Trip in his monkey costume, but you get the idea.

Eating Olives

2010-11-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Trip LOVES to eat olives. One day Kirk put olives on Trip's fingers and he has wanted to eat them that way ever since. As soon as he sees some, he will stick out his finger and protest loudly if he doesn't get one (which is what he was doing at the beginning of the video). He also has his own version of the sign language please and uses it frantically when he wants something.

Important Phone Call

2010-10-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

We discovered this morning that Trip knows just what to do with a phone, complete with pacing and everything. Hum, I wonder where he learned that? Enjoy!

Guest post by Noni

2010-10-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm Aimee's mom and Trip's Noni, and I get to be a guest blogger! Aimee's dad and Trip's grandpa has been hunting in the area this week, and we've been enjoying the time to interact with Trip (and his family, of course!) One of the things I've done the last couple times we've come visit is to give Trip a haircut, just a bit at a time. We want to keep it looking natural AND he doesn't have much patience for it, either! We decided to try during his bath this time, with mixed success. Aimee found a second comb for him to hold...

...and he eventually ended up with both of them!

All was well by the end, and he was happy to snuggle into his hooded towel!

Trip loves playing outside, as any regular reader of this blog knows!

He has been enjoying the leaves and how they crunch under his feet.

I discovered that Trip loves to help sweep leaves from the driveway, so we've been working a little bit every day on the project!

We eventually ended up in the yard, still with the broom!

As always, we need to read books, and Trip's job is to turn the pages!

What a joy Trip is to all of us!

Leaves!

2010-10-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

With five huge trees on our property, we have no shortage of leaves on the ground right now. Yesterday a couple of Trip's friends were over and we raked up a pile of leaves for the boys to enjoy...

Trip was also showing off his walking skills. He's not walking all the time yet, but is definitely choosing walking over crawling most of the time.

Movin' to the Music

2010-10-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Both Beth and Tammi have posted several cute videos of their boys as of late, which has inspired me to pull the videos of Trip off of my phone and share them with you.

Trip got this tractor for his birthday. He has figured out how to push the button and make it play music and make sounds, and loves to do it over and over again. Each time he hears the music, he starts to dance.

Trip absolutely LOVES being outside. One of his favorite things to do while out there is to ride or push his truck.

Sunset Walk

2010-10-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

This summer, I have tried to be good about getting out for a walk several times a week. Trip loves to ride in his stroller and we have enjoyed exploring different routes around town. The other evening, we were out for a spectacular sunset, which always makes a walk more exciting. I was rushing to each next place to get pictures when the sun was just right. I love watching the colors of the sky change and get more intense, only to disappear moments later.

This silo is one of my favorite things in town. It's falling apart but looks so cool when the sun hits it at different times of day.

Cuteness

2010-10-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have misplaced the cord to the camera and have been unable to transfer photos, thus limiting my blogging lately. I have however, caught some cute things on my phone, so I can share those.

Here are Trip and Kelly looking cute at the middle school football game last week. Trip wasn't too sure about wearing a hat.

Trip has taken to sitting in his toy basket. He likes to get in there and read books, which we all love.

This time he was watching Sports Center with Uncle Erik too.

Grandmama's Fried Chicken

2010-09-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Kirk credits much of his love of cooking to his Gramdmama and Great Grandmama and has countless wonderful memories of times spent in their kitchens and at their tables. Each time Grandmama comes to visit, she makes one of Kirk's favorites, her famous fried chicken. On Friday, she spent hours cooking for us. The result was about 45 pieces of perfectly fried chicken. I have helped her make it several times now and know the recipe/method, but I don't think it would be the same if I made it myself!

The fam ready to eat! This was the first time that Erik, Kelly, and Jaime had feasted on Grandmama's cooking. Jaime said that she has now ruined chicken for him because nothing else will compare to hers. :)

At first, Trip wasn't quite sure what to do with his chicken leg,

but it didn't take him long to figure it out!

He is now a big fan, just like his daddy and the rest of the family.

Here he is complimenting Great Gram on her cooking. (Notice that Jale is eagerly waiting for anything that he might drop!)

Of course the benefit of making such a great feast is that there were plenty of leftovers, although they didn't last more than 24 hours!

Playing with the Grams

2010-09-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Gram and Great Gram have been here this week. We picked them up at the airport in Reno on Monday. After spending the night at a hotel and doing some shopping, we headed home. Trip has loved having all the extra attention and has had lots of fun with them.

Reading books with Gram

Reading to Great Gram

Daddy got Trip this tent and tunnel in Reno. He has had a blast crawling in the tent and through the tunnel.

He even got Great Gram to join him!

Trip has been showing Gram how he uses tools. He was scooting around outside in his walker and "working" on the Suburban, the greenhouse, and anything else he could find.

This afternoon, Gram painted a scarecrow face on the pumpkin we got for Trip the last time we were in Klamath Falls. It turned out super cute and he keeps smiling at it.

And trying to eat it too, apparently.

Sweet moment

Trip had a good time entertaining his grams while he took a bath.

Cuddling with Great Gram before bed time,

and making us all laugh!

Lookin' Good!

2010-09-25T12:02:00.001-07:00

At lunch one day, Trip decided that he should use his messy hands to style his hair. The result was quite impressive!

By the way, his bib says, "This is what handsome looks like!"

Pears, Pears, and More Pears

2010-09-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

We received a big box of pears two weeks ago. They were on their way out and needed to be used right away, so I got to peeling, coring, and cutting.

We decided that I should make pear butter. After consulting a new favorite web site (Food in Jars) for a recipe, I got the pears cooking.

As I was working, Trip was busy too. He discovered the papers that the pears had been wrapped in and thought they were a great toy.

The next day, we had jars and jars of pear butter.

Hi Monkey!

2010-09-24T23:19:00.001-07:00

The other day I had Trip's shirt draped over the arm of the chair in his room while I was getting him dressed. He spotted it, crawled right over there, and spent quite some time talking to the monkey. It was so cute that I had to capture it.

First Football Game

2010-09-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we took Trip to his first football game, which was also the high school's first home game of the season. Thanks to some hand-me-downs from our friends, he even had a blue and gold football outfit to wear. He enjoyed watching the players and spectators. Since we won 37-0, he had fun clapping with everyone and using his second-favorite sign, touchdown (both arms straight up in the air). (By the way, can you guess what his favorite sign is?)

After the game, we filled the church's warehouse with 75 students for 5th Quarter. They enjoyed nachos, games, music, and just a fun, safe place to hang out.

5th Quarter was something that the churches did when Kirk played football and thanks to Erik (our friend and housemate who has moved here to be our volunteer youth pastor), it lives on. In such a small town, there is nothing for the kids to do, so having an event to attend was a big deal to them. We're looking forward to the next home game in a week and hoping for another great turnout.

Little Feet

2010-09-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Kirk snapped this picture a few mornings ago while Trip was sleeping and I couldn't resist sharing it. He sometimes likes to sleep with his legs folded up under him, which seems very uncomfortable to us but works just fine for him.

IN-N-OUT

2010-09-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

When we took Tammi and Cooper back to the airport in Reno, we discovered that there is an IN-N-OUT Burger there. Kirk loves the place and I had only heard the stories of how great it is, so we had to eat lunch there.

The two first-timers

Trip mostly ate his dried veggies, but enjoyed a few fries as well.

Freshly-cut and delicious fries

First Steps!

2010-09-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening, Trip was standing next to the couch as he often does. All of a sudden, he turned, let go, and took two steps on his own. It was quite unexpected as he hasn't shown too much interest in walking so far and would rather crawl than try to walk around holding our hands. Kirk and I looked at each other in surprise and applauded his effort. I was glad Trip decided to keep this momentous occasion for a time when we were both in the living room and got to enjoy it together.

Each day since has brought a few more steps, one and two at a time. He still has a long way to go and we are really not in any hurry for him to walk, but it's still fun to see.

More Cousin Time

2010-09-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few last pictures from Cooper and Trip's time together...

On Saturday we all went to the Polar Bear for ice cream.

The boys enjoyed plain cones.

Mommy and Trip after he made half of my ice cream fall in my lap!

Before we took their pictures, the boys discovered a box of Cheese Nips in the living room. They quickly helped themselves to a snack.

Cooper was kind to share with Trip.

Tammi and Cooper, thank you for coming to visit us (and thanks to Gary for making it happen!). We had such a wonderful time and loved seeing the boys enjoy each other so much! We can't wait for the next time we get to be together.