I'm three years old!

As the birthday anniversary approached, we talked with the girls about the celebration. We asked, “How old will you be on your birthday?” And they would respond, “I’ll be three years old! After I grow a bit.” They have also begun to learn how to indicate the first few numbers using their fingers. Another time I mentioned that their birthday was coming soon and that we were planning a party. I asked if they wanted a cake. Carolyn responded, “Yes! And I can have candles and I can blow!” Of course, they both got to blow candles, although in the end Carolyn actually did most of the blowing.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow out all the candles!

And here’s a picture of the whole cake, just because I was so pleased with my handiwork.

The balloons are cupcakes!

The girls spent some time playing with their cousins.

Story time

It was an extra special treat that Great-Grandma Siemens was able to join us for the party. Also, since the party happened to be on Mother’s Day, we had three generations of moms to celebrate with.

So grateful that Great-Grandma Siemens could join us to celebrate!

It was a beautiful spring day, so we enjoyed some playtime outside as well.

What visit to Nana & Papa's would be complete without a ride in the wheelbarrow?

And now for Elizabeth's turn...

A favorite gift was the new wading pool. The little old inflatable pool they used last summer was only about three inches deep and was so small that I don’t think they could both fit in it now, so it was definitely time for something bigger. They were totally shivering when we got them out! They very much wanted to keep splashing, but we promised they could play again another day.

SPLASH!

Thanks for celebrating with us!

We spent Christmas here in Livermore and celebrated with a couple different sessions of opening presents. The girls were old enough this year to really get into the fun of tearing open the wrapping paper, so that was fun. And they understand at least a little bit about celebrating baby Jesus’ birthday. On Christmas Eve when tucking the girls into bed, the last thing Carolyn said before we shut the door was “Happy Birthday Jesus.” The next day when asked “What’s special about Christmas?” Elizabeth responded, ”Give… presents… Jesus.”

Carolyn & Elizabeth in their Christmas dresses

Carolyn

Elizabeth (being slightly dramatic)

Merry Christmas!

Tearing into the loot!

After Christmas, we were very blessed once again to spend some time visiting with good friends at their cabin in Dorrington. We’ve joined them for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s almost every year for the last… Well, a long time. I was sorta looking forward to using our 4 wheel drive Pilot in the snow again, but as of December the winter had been ridiculously warm and dry. There was no snow! None. At all. So I never had to shovel the deck, but I have to say that it was actually rather disappointing. And although the girls didn’t get to do any sledding or make snow angels, we did have a couple nice walks around the neighborhood.

Dry streets!

"Little Drummer Boy" was a favorite Christmas carol

What a smile!

As much as we love the mountains, we also love vacationing at the beach. My grandma has a nice little cottage just a block from the beach in Cayucos, and somehow we had just never managed to get out there since the girls were born. And we’ve really missed it! So in February we finally made a point of taking them to see the ocean for the first time, and we all had a blast. We made it a nice long trip and stayed for a good five days, so there was plenty of time to walk on the beach with the girls, play in the sand, play in the water, do a bit of geocaching…

Biggest sandbox they've ever seen!

She had a blast flinging shovels full of sand into the air and letting it rain down all over her head. We didn't find it quite as exciting.

Look! I'm digging!

Cautiously approaching the waves...

Elizabeth & Mommy get their feet wet

Just strollin' down the Moonstone boardwalk, enjoying a breezy afternoon...

Easter was a lot of fun this year for some of the same reasons as Christmas — namely, the girls are old enough now that they “get it” and are able to participate a little bit more. Janet helped them dye their first easter eggs (which they enjoyed), they got to wear their pretty Easter dresses, and of course they got to do an Easter Egg Hunt. However, I must say that they were greatly distracted from finding all the Easter Eggs once they realized after the first few eggs that they had jelly beans and M&Ms inside. Next year I expect that such a discovery won’t distract them at all, and will merely cause them to redouble their efforts to find them all as quickly as possible.

Spring has arrived!

Something tells me she'd love one of those giant excercise balls

Look, a tiny flower!

Finally, here's a genuine Easter photo!

Carolyn's turn on the swing

Elizabeth's turn on the swing

Wait, who's turn is it now?

Another fun thing we’ve done in the last few months is take the girls to the Oakland Zoo. Janet got a Season Family Pass, and we’ve used it three times already. The girls have enjoyed seeing the various animals, and it has been fun engaging them in coversations about the things they have seen and done there. But alas, I don’t really have any good pictures of the girls at the zoo, so I’ll have to try to remedy that at some point.

Still, one thing about the zoo is that they have a small section of the park with a few different kiddie carnival rides, like a miniature train (which they love), a small roller coaster (which they’re brave enough to go on even though it makes them a little nervous), and a few little rides that just go around in circles. They were interested in the roller coaster because it was so noisy, and they actually went on it with us and they didn’t totally freak out (although Carolyn seemed a bit uncertain about it while the ride was in progress). Since they seemed to enjoy the ride attractions at the zoo, Janet also got a one day pass for a little kiddie amusement park in Concord called Pixieland. They’ve got the same little roller coaster, a miniature train, carousel, cars that drive around on a little track, airplanes, spinning teacups, etc. It was nice to be able to take them on those rides as many times as they wanted. Well, almost as many times as they wanted.

Gallopin' gals

Flyin' Aces

And here are just a few more miscellaneous pictures to close out the post:

We turned the fan on them and told them we were taking glamour shots.

Groovy tie dye!

We have also enjoyed a few visits to Uncle Mark and Auntie Annmarie's trampoline.

For the last year or so they have always really enjoyed watching out the front window on Friday mornings when the garbage truck comes by. It’s big and noisy and has a giant claw that reaches out to pick up the trash can and then dump it into the back of the truck. They seem to look forward to it all week long! But a few weeks ago they were out walking down the sidewalk with my Mom on Friday morning, and apparently when the big noisy garbage truck came by THAT close, it scared them a bit and they cried all the way home. Since then, they’ve definitely been a bit more skittish about loud noises… So last week, the girls and I were out raking up the leaves on our front lawn. They were having a wonderful time jumping on the piles of leaves and kicking them around… But then a big noisy truck drove by, and for some reason it spooked Elizabeth — so she ran over to me whining and crying, “Daddy hug! Daddy hug!” She was standing right next to my leg, and I had my hands full with the rake, so I just said “It’s OK Sweetie, you can hug my leg!”  That didn’t seem to be good enough. “Daddy hug!  Daddy hug!” she repeated. By this point, the truck was already disappearing down the street. “Just hug my leg, honey!” And then, still in her pathetic little whiny voice, “No, hug tummy!  HUG TUMMY!” I suppose I was a tiny bit reluctant at first because I don’t want them to get all clingy, but how could I refuse that? They both got tummy hugs, and I have to admit those are my favorite kind too. Another fun thing has been that at bedtime lately, as Janet and I each hold one of the girls before we sing Rock-a-bye Baby and tuck them in, they almost always ask “Family hug?” And then, “More family hug?” Yeah, it might just be a ploy to prolong the going to bed process, but how can you say no to that?

This morning I overheard each of the girls apparently talking to the little toy she was playing with, saying “Jesus loves me.” And they seem to be at least somewhat aware of the approach of Christmas, because when they saw a decorative picture of wrapped presents, they both said things like “Open presents?”  I replied, “Yes, soon it will be Christmas time and you can open up some presents. Do you remember doing that last year?” And it was Carolyn who said, “Nana and Papa’s house!” I’m not sure if she really remembers that from a year ago, or if Janet has recently talked with them about what’s in store. In any case, I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun this year!

Now, here are some pictures!

Story Time with Nana

Helping Mommy make pancakes

Helping EAT the pancakes!

Story Time with Daddy

Watching Caillou (a freakishly bald 4 year old) on the TV

We’ve been glad for the many days of fine weather this Fall. If it’s sunny and warm enough, the girls and I often head out to Dublin to visit with Janet during her lunch break. Usually we just drive to a local park and let the girls run around for a while, and everyone has a good time. The next three pictures are from one such visit.

Elizabeth climbs atop her throne

Carolyn's proud to be sitting on the BIG chair!

Swinging and smiling

The girls recently had an opportunity to try on their Christmas dresses!

We're very, very blessed!

Running!

"Cleaning" the sand off the play structure platform

Happy girl!

Pretty in pink

Four hands are better than two!

In addition to diligently “cleaning” the sand off of the play structure platforms, they also had a great time picking up handfuls of small dried leaves that had collected inside the sand area, and then tossing them out onto the sidewalk.

Bye bye, leaves!

They stuck with this for a while, and actually cleared out a surprising number of leaves.

Carolyn winding up for the pitch...

Hey Elizabeth, there's something on your shoulder...

Happy Halloween from Winnie the Pooh & Tigger Too!

Pounce!

Do you have a smackerel of honey?

Here's some honey!

Bouncin's what Tiggers do best!

We also made a trip to Joan’s Farm & Pumpkin Patch again this year. The girls love being outside anyway, and they certainly had fun running around and exploring. And yes, they pretty much ran everywhere. After all, why would anyone walk when running is an option?

Do you have any idea how hard it was to get BOTH of them to sit still at the same time and look anywhere near the camera?

Fun family outing

It's heavy, but she's strong.

Lift with your legs!

Of course, there was more than just pumpkins to explore.  Like sticks,

Stick!

and rocks,

How many rocks can I balance on top?

and leaves,

TWO leaves!

and animals,

What's this?

and dirt!

It's okay if you brush it off.

And the pumpkins were fun too.

Carolyn & the Pumpkins

Elizabeth & the Pumpkins

A little help from Mommy

After a fun-filled day it was time to head home.

All in all a fun trip. Special thanks to Nana and Papa for joining us. Two active little girls, four adults, two still cameras and one video camera. Yep, that’s what it took to capture some of the moments to share with you.

Grandpa - September 2008

I mostly grew up in the Western United States. But Grandpa and Grandma were in Wichita, so of course that meant visits with them were somewhat rare. But they made extra efforts to spend time with me. I remember my parents driving us to Wichita one summer. Then they returned home while Karen and I stayed at our grandparents for a few weeks before Grandpa & Grandma drove us home. (And I remember my aunt rode in the middle of the backseat between us the whole way to California! She must really like us to have indulged us all that way.)

I remember Wright Family reunions in various parts of the country – Grandpa and Grandma always had their popup trailer. One year the Wright reunion was in California. Grandma & Grandpa came out early, picked up Karen and me and took us to the reunion. Then Mom and Dad came up for the weekend and we went home with them.

Despite the distance between us, Grandpa and Grandma made it a point to be at some of the most significant events of my life – high school graduation, college graduation, and my wedding.

Grandma & Grandpa - September 2008

Grandpa had a hemorrhagic stroke in June, just weeks after his wife of 66 years passed away. When he was recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital, he was very weak so instead of going home he was transferred to a nursing home. We all hoped for some time that he would regain sufficient strength and mobility to be able to return to his home – but that was not the case. I think he missed Grandma and without her much of his incentive to recover was gone. He passed away in September at the age of 90.

The last time I saw Grandpa was in November when I took a trip to Wichita over Thanksgiving. It was a hard trip. I travelled alone and was away from my girls overnight for the first time. At the time Grandma was living in the nursing home suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer’s while Grandpa was still at home. I think part of me knew it would probably be the last time I saw my grandparents even though I desperately wanted to plan another trip that would allow my girls to meet their GGma and GGpa.

I miss Grandpa and both of my Grandmas. But more important than that, I know that they are without pain and suffering now. So my sadness is only for myself, not for them. They have been restored. And I like to think that they can look down from heaven and listen to little girl giggles and laughs any time they want.

Mom & I with Grandpa & Grandma - November 2010

]]> http://flinksnorph.com/2011/10/grandpa-wright/feed/ 1 http://flinksnorph.com/2011/09/thank-you-god/ http://flinksnorph.com/2011/09/thank-you-god/#comments Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:40:27 +0000 Janet http://flinksnorph.com/?p=2130 At breakfast time recently, I held hands with the girls so we could pray. At the end they said “amen” with me. Then they said “pray, pray, pray.” I asked if they wanted to pray and told them they could say “thank you God.” This is not an uncommon exchange and it usually ends either [...]]]> At breakfast time recently, I held hands with the girls so we could pray. At the end they said “amen” with me. Then they said “pray, pray, pray.” I asked if they wanted to pray and told them they could say “thank you God.” This is not an uncommon exchange and it usually ends either there or after I say another short prayer. But this day was different. This day Elizabeth repeated, “thank you, God.” These days the girls repeat everything they hear, however I think Elizabeth does have some rudimentary concept of thank you — she does say it at appropriate times at any rate. God is a much harder concept. There is much for her to learn still, but this was a great step in the right direction.

And now moving on to some of my favorite August pictures…

At the "car" wash

Just... need... to move it... here.

Hi!

Mmm... strawberries.

Does she have a great smile, or what?

Enjoying her new "shoes"

On their way to becoming bookworms