Mimi is loving the books

Mimi adores books. If I am holding anything with pages she makes a beeline for it- she adores flipping through, turning the pages, feeling them in her hands. We have a low shelf of board books just for her, along with a stack of magazines for her to rifle through. She's remarkably good at being kind to books, but there have been a few mishaps- we try to keep things we want in one piece OFF the floor.

She also loves her two little rocking chairs. Her favorite stunt was to stand up, holding onto the back of the chair, and violently rock her torso to make the whole thing leap and shake. My near-constant reminders and removals did nothing to dissuade her, but a few choice face-plants changed her mind! It's a good thing the child is a master at falling without getting hurt, because she learns by doing, and is sure to have lots of bumps and spills in this life!

Here are a few shots Wonder Daddy snapped of her in her chair. Good shooting, Daddy!

(Photo Moment: My "someday" wishlist includes a nice DSLR camera, but I do NOT want one until I can learn how to take decent shots with our dependable point and shoot. No good having a Lexus if you can't drive a golf cart. So... see how grainy these shots are? I've been messing with the ISO- I don't like to use a flash, so I try and bump the ISO as high as I can without too much grain and "noise" to capture the kiddos. Flash does a great job of freezing the motion, but it doesn't look near as nice as natural light. So, I continue to fiddle :) I thought these turned out nice in the black and white (to cope with the bright windows behind her.)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Last Saturday the girls and I loaded into the car for a G.A. (That's Grand Adventure, a nice term introduced to us by my Grandma. Basically it means if you set out to do something and plan to enjoy it, no matter what comes....you will! It's a Grand Adventure!)

We were on the road by 8:05, and had a great drive- our first stop of the day was for a fabulous playdate. Considering we threw together 1 sleepy Ernie, 1 mobile Mimi, 1 talkative and energetic Figs (3 y.o.), and 1 "I want to play too!" Halligator (16 mo), 2 large and sweet (and old) greyhounds, and a small flock of inquisitive chickens, it was a wildly successful morning! The girls had a great time, and Mama Papaya was so sweet to host.

Funny thing about Mama Papaya- I grew up going to school with her 2 younger sisters, her mom used to work with my dad, and I found her blog through her youngest sister's Facebook page! I'd never met her until 2 years ago I mentioned something about figs on my blog, and she wrote back to say "Come take my tree!" She's as sweet as a button, smart as a whip, WAY more crunchy than I am (but I'm getting there :), and a fantastic Mama to her sweet little girls. I wish I'd pulled out my camera, but I think all our hands were full ;o)

After our morning with them, we drove across town to attend my Grandpa's 80th birthday party. WOWZERS! Due to a lot of unforseen circumstances, what had been planned as a very large party ended up being my family, my aunt and uncle and cousin, and my grandparents. And a LOT of yummy food :)

Here's Bert, with Uncle David in the background

Grandma and Grandpa, while we sing Happy Birthday

Ernie, directing Uncle Jim on where exactly that ice cream needs to go, thank you very much.

One of my favorite shots of the day- Ernie was outside on the tire swing, but here Mimi and I are with my spunky, tiny, Grandma.

Piano!

It's big. It's loud. It's wide enough to share.

What's not to love?

Looking for Miracles

Today was the first day of our adventure in the Spanish branch! I hope to record some of our experiences and feelings, our gaffs and (eventual) triumphs.

First, know that if we make any progress at all is a testament that there IS a loving Heavenly Father who cares enough about us to help us learn this language! I took 1 year of spanish as a sophomore in high school, 1997-1998. That was a LONG time ago. Two weeks ago, I couldn't even tell you the time of day. Well, perhaps I still couldn't tell you the time of day. But I can read the Book of Mormon. I can read the Bible. I can read the Sunday School lesson manual. If those aren't miracles, then I don't know what is. Yes there are words I don't know, but WOW y'all...I can read! I find myself understanding what is written- not word for word, not painstakingly wracking my brain for every root verb of every conjugation, but I can understand!

Church was wonderful today. We arrived half an hour early to meet with the Branch President, President Martinez. We chatted in his office, Ernie drew him pictures on the white board, and we reiterated how excited we were to be in his branch.

In Sunday school class, I found myself staring at our teacher, willing my brain to wrap around her words. I understood the gist of what was said, but have a long way to go! It's interesting that our ward members are from all over the world...which means all different accents. There is one sweet, older, sister in the ward who I don't know if I'll ever be able to understand- she has a quiet voice, and what sounds like a permament frog in her throat. I wish I could, I'll try and speak with her next week.

I was able to read a few quotations in our Sunday School class- it was nice to use my voice, and not have to think of the words to say! I had to laugh when a sister asked me later how I learned Spanish so well, and again when I found that a young man in the ward assumed I was fluent. Oh yes. I have a fabulous accent, isn't that wonderful? Now I just have to find words to use it with! Seems like my vocal training, and the language training that went along with that, is going to pay off!

Wonder Daddy gave the closing prayer in his men's meeting today- he's not actually certain what language he used. The new ward joke is that he speaks "Portanol." (Portuguese y Espanol. Si?)

**if anyone can teach me how to use the international punctuation marks on this keyboard, I'd be grateful!!**

I had one conversation today, so I thought I'd record it- it was pretty horrible *grin*. Noticing there was no pianist in Relief Society, after class I made my way to the woman who conducted the meeting today, stood in front of her...and stared. I had completely forgotten all the carefully conjugated verbs I had been rehearsing in my head most of the meeting. I finally blurted out "Necesitas una persona tocar el piano?.....yo puedo." ("You need a person to play the piano? I can.")

Brilliant, right? She lit up like a Christmas tree- "Si! Si! Gracias! Habla con ella" gesturing to another woman who had been on the stand. I'm going on the assumption that woman is the Relief Society president. Now I have a week to memorize what I'm going to say to HER next Sunday!

Wonder Daddy and I read the Book of Mormon in spanish every night- I read aloud while he listens, and if there's a verb I don't know he reads the verse in English to we can translate together. I also picked up a "Dummy Guide" to Spanish from the library, and my sweet Dad dropped off a Spanish Immersion course he found at Costco (is there anything they DON'T sell?) Ernie is excited for the spanish course- it has games to play!

We're so very excited for this opportunity to make new friends, gain new skills, be a part of the Spanish Branch, and watch what the Lord would make of our lives.

When I grow up...

Joy School starts up in a few weeks, and we had our first Mommy Meeting yesterday to assign duties and lessons, and do other general "let's get ready stuff." My first lesson isn't until October (that's the beauty of having 5 little girls in our group, we only teach once every five weeks) but one of the first lessons is "Joy of the Body."

Someday, I want to be like Mimi. SHE has joy in her body. If you hear a thump, it's Mimi bonking her head into some new surface, to see what it feels like. If you hear a *whoomph* that's Mimi discovering that if he crawls a step or two and then flops onto her belly, it feels cool and all her breath leaves. If you hear slapping, she's patting her face or legs, just to see what it feels like.

She's constantly amazed at what her little body can do, and she's not afraid to push and find her limits.

I want to be like Mimi when I grow up.

Alice in Wonderland

Mimi LOVES to climb. It's kind of compulsive, and occasionally lands her in some sticky situations.

Because I think it's funny

Remember these pictures?

Could you tell the girls apart?

Well, let's look back to Ernie at TEN months.

I love seeing how my beautiful girls are growing into their own little persons.

And I really need to get some quality camera time (NOT video time, have plenty of that!) with Mimi!

They Just Keep Growing!

The girls and I spent the morning at the doctor's office, for their 4-year and 9-month appointments respectively. Yes, we're a LOT late- I forgot that summer-time is prime "sports physicals" time, and it's pretty hard to get an appointment let alone TWO appointments together.

So.

Ernie is growing big and strong!

Weight: 44 pounds (90-95th percentile)

Height: 41 1/2 inches (75-90th percentile)

She is doing great at reading- she reads a few verses of the scriptures with us every night, and is getting really good at saying "And it came to pass." *grin* She can count to 100 (but poor 16 gets left out every time), loves to dance to music, and her favorite foods are apples, carrots, grapes, bananas, bread with butter, "quesadillas with cheese inside," and chocolate ice cream or pudding. She makes up long involved stories, especially about Jonah and how after his mis-hap with the whale he swam to the Promised Land, and met a Nephite...and killed him. The he met another Nephite, and killed that one too. Basically he walks around killing Nephites, and then climbs up on the wall waving his arms around and yelling "Wepent! Wepent! Stop doing bad fings!" (We don't talk about Nephi and Laban any more at bedtime.) She also loves to sing.

Mimi is turning into our bean-pole.

Weight: 19 lbs. 3 oz (25-50the percentile)

Height: 30 inches (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 45.5 cm (75th percentile)

She loves to cuddle, and is cruising the furniture and taking her first steps. She loves to clap, and will get her whole body into it, banging her head to the side with each clap. She likes to imitate what we say to her, and loves splashing in the tub. Her favorite foods are cherries, melon, strawberries, beans, cheese, bread, and any of Mommy's dessert she gets to sample. Basically, the kids likes to eat! She's sleeping through the night, 8-6, and takes 2 or 3 naps still. Hooray for Mimi!

What do you mean, Mommy left?

Pictures courtesy of Wonder Daddy, broken heart strings courtesy of Mimi.

A Study in Portraits

Just a few portraits I snapped at this morning's Pioneer Day Picnic.

We had a great time- thanks for inviting us, Mom and Dad! (And THANKS for toting Baby Mimi around for 2 hours in that fabulous backpack :)

Here's Wonder Daddy, all kitted out- he rode his bike up "roller coaster hill" up to the peak of the mountain! To give you an idea of the steepness of this hill...he arrived home, on bike, 3 minutes after we did. Whoo!

There's that gorgeous Momma of mine!

Beautiful Bert

Remembering These Days

Downloading the latest batch off the camera, I realized something very sweet: if my daughter can get ahold of the camera, she heads straight for me. "Let me take your picture, Mom!"

You know, these are some of the only recent pictures of me there are, since I'm normally the one behind the lens. These pictures are more of Ernie and Mimi, then they are of me. I love having these mementos of these sweet years we have together.

Splish Splash

I'm sharing, Mom!

More, please!