Thursday, April 17, 2008

Siennalee's First Hike

Last weekend the weather was perfect for heading up to one of our local mountains for an early day hike. Jason and I packed up a lunch, our gear, and our baby and headed out! It was to be Siennalee's first real hike out with us.


Mary's peak is the highest point in the Coastal mountain range which frames the east side of our beloved Willamette Valley.



The Coastal mountain range is (typically) much more temperate than the Cascade range, which borders us to the west.



Not only was this Siennalee's very first hike, but it was also the maiden voyage of the new Kelty carrier we bought for her (and the other teeny persons who join us down the road).



I was very happy to be out in the gorgeous mountains, smelling the pine needles warming in the sun...



...and again hiking with Jason under the BIG trees!

(We didn't get to do any hiking last year as Jason was serving in Kuwait for most of the year.)



Daddy and Siennalee at one of the trailheads we thought we'd take.



It's a family tradition to get our picture at the trailhead signs of the trails we take... Siennalee, through no fault of her own, couldn't make it past Daddy's head and into the picture.



Ah, there's my pretty girl!



Jason and Siennalee. Snow field in the background. Thaaat's right. Snow.



Remember how I said the Coastal range was usually more temperate? Not this year. We hit snow. And lots of it.



Daddy shows Siennalee some of the marvelous textures found in nature.



He picked her some moss at which she delightedly parroted "Moss!" and held on to for most of the hike.



Yup. Snow.



We tried to make it as far as we could down a trail not snowed in, but alas. SNOW.



So we hit the road. And let Siennalee do some hiking of her own, in her little sparkly pink tennies. (We'll do some proper outfitting of her hiking/camping wardrobe in the coming years.)



C'mon sparkly pink tennies! Don't fail me now!



Oh I LIKE this hiking stuff!



Siennalee kept spying things.



And collecting them. "Would you look at this pine cone? Oh yeah, it's a keeper."



"Hold the phone... there's another one!"



"Care to help me pick up all these pine cones, Daddy?" He declined. He'd found us a spot to eat lunch.



Siennalee was enraptured with the trees and the birds and the bugs and the winds and the pine cones...



"They keep going up and up and up, Daddy!"



Happy mouths full of peanut butter and honey sandwiches.



Siennalee found a friend.



She really likes bugs. And he seemed to like her... til she tried to feed him a cranberry and he fell off...



"What...? We were having such a good time, I thought..."



"Where bug go, Mommie? Daddy?"



No matter. Work to do. Pine cones to be picked up.



This was cute for awhile...



But Daddy must bow to the call of the hike... he wanted to see if another trailhead was accessible.

Alas, it was not. So after a vow to return on a more seasonable day (and less snow, hopefully), we turned back and headed homeward.


Good times in the great outdoors!



And many more good times to come!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Continuing Endeavors...



I thought I'd scrap some fun pictures that my sister-in-law Anne made my brother (her husband) take of us right before we ditched him with their kids and took off on our wild Girls' Night Out. (Note for those concerned: I'd already ditched my own beloved husband back at home with our child. Oh, and our "wild night" out consisted of going to Costco, Borders, and the mall. So, no rumors, please.) Anyway, next time we'll be sure to get the other Ditcher-of-Husband-and-Leaver-of-Children-at-Home Jaymie in on the fun picture taking. See you next month, girls!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Endeavors in Photoshop


Yesterday I got my Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 in the mail! We got it installed today and I spent a bit of my precious free time playing around with it (and some free digital scrapbooking downloads). My endeavor thus far:


Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Here We Go...




Our little baby is growing up. It's slow, but sure. And then sometimes frighteningly quick. She's figuring stuff out and communicating and remembering more and more of the songs we sing.

Did I mention she loves keys? The keys that hang on our little key holder and live between the pantry and garage doors. She's mildly obsessed with these keys.





Besides her new trick to spring said keys from their Mommie-made prison, she's been cruising by some other little mini-milestones:

*Today when I went in to get her up from her nap she informed me in her little high pitched voice, "I poopy."

*Yesterday we were heading upstairs and there was a noise in the kitchen (I was cooking her pasta on the stove) and she paused, looked up at me and said, "Daddy here!" Awww...

*She's now started to ask for "more pease" or "more bite!"

*She'll pull on my hand and say "Mama up!" when she wants me go with her somewhere.

*She's now added the "e" when she sings her "A B C's" - yay! "A B C D E!" (The song will actually continue, "A B C D E E E...")

*She now has a new big girl bowl and eating utensils. She's as proficient at wielding that fork and spoon as any 18 month old I've seen yet! :)

*And, taaadaaaah, she's begun stamping her adorable little size 6 feet when she's practicing throwing her little pre-toddler tantrums. It's so maddeningly cute, I have to bite my lip and look away. I know, I know. The cuteness wears off. Please don't feel the need to email me.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sweet Baaa Box

Siennalee got a package from Nana and Papa! Inside was a wonderful box of adorable books and sing-along CD's sure to be cute and very entertaining. And then there was one more thing. One more thing that was sweet, fluffy, white, and if you squeeze this one more thing just so, it baaa's in a very charming babyish baaa sort of way.





Thanks Nana and Papa!

Morning Milk and Me


Morning hair and morning milk.



Excellent vintage. Would you like some?



Ahhhh, nice creamy bouquet of homogenized goodness...



Why yes, I did sleep a little odd last night...



What? What's funny?



Seriously... why are you laughing?



Oh well. More milk for me!