Ready to Go

Tonight Damie and I went walking (we're going to do that three nights a week now, while Jason is in wind symphony) and while Kayla and I waited for Damie and Ryann to come outside, we played a little game where Kayla was cute and I took pictures with my phone. It was an easy game. I sent this one to Daddy who was in rehearsal. I walked just over two miles; Damie walked to Wal-Mart, making her walk just under 1 3/4 miles, unless she also walked back, which I don't know. In which case she walked quite a bit more. I'm excited about walking in College Place again. I've missed it.

Across the Miles

As I was walking through the administration building for a meeting I glanced out one of the stairwell windows and loved the view. The glass building with the dome on top is Chan Shun Pavilion/Kretschmar Hall (they're supposedly two separate buildings but from inside it's all one), and the roof right outside the window is the top of the Fine Arts Center, home to the music and art departments. CSP/KH house Engineering (CSP) and Math, Physics, Computer Science and Astronomy (KH). It's definitely spring out there! (This view is facing south.)

Finger Food

Kayla has started the process of feeding herself. Last week we determined she could eat Cheerios, so we've been letting her enjoy that every evening. It's fun to watch her; she has pretty good pincer grasp technique, but often the Cheerios get pushed to the inner part of the space between her index finger and thumb and then get all slobbery and soggy and squished into the palm of her hand. Watching her try to extract the Os and put them in her mouth in that fashion is pretty entertaining. She really enjoys feeding herself. And she actually gets almost all of them in her mouth; I've never found more than one Cheerio on the floor and one in her high chair.

Payback

Chloe and Kayla are getting more and more used to each other...well, actually I guess I should say that Kayla is getting more tolerant of Chloe's presence. For some reason Kayla has a very large personal space bubble and Chloe has none, so Kayla is constantly crying when Chloe gets too close. If you recall the pictures of them in their matching winter dresses, Chloe made good on her reputation of being super friendly and unaware of personal boundaries and stuck her fingers in Kayla's eyes, nose and mouth (all at the same time). Kayla of course cried, and the resulting photos were hilarious. Tonight, Kayla attempted to return the favour.

Sabbath Walk

This afternoon Jason wanted to do something outside, so he suggested walking up the hill at Yantis Park. That is quite a walk...especially when you're pushing a stroller up that steep hill. Jason had Raina for the steepest part, so she basically pulled him up. At one point we saw a snake curled up on the path, but when we got up to it, it wasn't quite what you'd call "alive" anymore. Jason kicked it off the path and we continued on our way. It was a small snake (not a rattler), but we couldn't identify it, as it wasn't a simple garter snake, either. Once we got to the top, we stopped to rest where there used to be a covered bench (now there's just a covered slab of cement), and Jason walked down a narrow trail to take a picture of what was at the end of it. What IS at the end of it? Not much. About where that tree is (the yellowish shrub at the bottom of the tennis courts) it drops straight down. Raina was quite concerned that Jason hadn't taken her along. The view from the top is quite lovely, actually, especially in spring. It was windy, but not cold.

Watercress Soup

Tonight we made watercress soup. It was something we hadn't tried before but boy was it delicious! It was easy soup to make; you pretty much just cook some potato and onion for a bit, then add broth and watercress, cook that for a while, blend it up, add a few more watercress leaves for texture and then serve it with a dollop of sour cream (or not, Dad!) in each bowl. Absolutely delicious! We enjoyed it with whole wheat sourdough bread. This is Jason stripping the leaves off the stems of the watercress.

Nom Nom!

Yes indeed...she has found her toes. If only we stayed this flexible...

Tofu & Croquet

If you look closely at this picture, you might see Noel's head. Between the two trees there, he's in the grass, playing croquet by himself. Don't worry, Jason, Aric, Jared and Adam eventually joined him for the "Gentleman's Game" as Jared called it. We were at Jared and Damie's house for a Spring Break BBQ with Jared's homemade tofu burgers. It was relaxing; we sat on blankets and talked and enjoyed our food...Kayla even liked the burgers (I broke off a few small pieces of the tofu and let her eat them).

The Hills are Alive

I loved how the mountains looked this morning. The nice thing about it being Spring Break is that Jason doesn't have to be at work so early since the library doesn't open until 9:00. So he is able to come with me to drop Kayla off at the sitter's in the morning. It's nice to have the company...and now I can take pictures like this while he drives! Granted, it's not the best picture, but along this road you don't get many breaks in buildings to take shots of the hills.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

That pizza there is ours. It's the Margharita Pizza from the Olive Market restaurant (formerly Merchants Deli) in Walla Walla. We intended to go to Sweet Basil Pizzeria for Jason's birthday, but they are, apparently, randomly closed on Mondays. So we opted for the Olive instead. We hadn't been there yet since the switch-over from Merchants, so we chanced it. It's quite an improvement, surprisingly. Merchants was a nice atmosphere, but it was a bit dark and needed some updating. While the new owner kept a lot of the enjoyable atmosphere, he classed it up a bit and brightened the interior with new paint and better lighting. We sat upstairs where you can look down into the kitchen as they prepare food, and this chef was making a fruit, cheese and bread platter. It looked beautiful when he was done, with the apples all fanned out and the cheese placed "just so." We enjoyed watching them in the kitchen while we ate. (The food was delicious, by the way.)

Copy Dogs

I wanted to get a picture of all the dogs together, but when they were close to each other they moved around too much for me to get a decent picture. So this is what I ended up with. I thought it was funny that they were all curled up and sleeping, but none of them in the same place. From front to back is Chip (Jason's parents' dog), Raina (our dog), Jake (the white one; Whitney & Rolie's dog) and Kenai (Whitney & Rolie's dog). We used to think Kenai was huge until they got Jake and he grew up. They got him as a puppy, and thought he'd be about the same size as Kenai. WRONG! He's a full head taller and much longer, though he's not as bulky. For a bit of perspective:

That's Raina in the middle. Kenai, though large, is still smaller than Jake. Jake is a Blue Heeler-Malamute mix; Kenai is a German Shepherd-Huskey. Raina is a Black Lab-Spaniel mix.

Peruvian Table?

Today after church Kayla slept for a couple of hours, so I got the chance to make the Sabbath table look beautiful. Jason's mom chose the tablecloth and found matching napkins; I thought it looked like something from Peru (having never been there, though, I can't speak with much authority).

Like Papa, Like Kayla

Today after work we headed to Jason's parents' house for the weekend. It's Jason's birthday on Monday and to celebrate he wanted to go see his family. So they made him his requested dessert (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting) and we enjoyed it with some soy ice cream after dinner. This afternoon, however, Kayla got a lesson from Papa Jack on how to use wrenches. I think she needed one a little more her size...

Signs of the Times

I love this tree on the Walla Walla U. campus. I'm not sure what it is, but it's in front of the Fine Arts Center and it really lit up with the sun shining on it this afternoon. Spring is certainly here!

Mommy's Playtime

Tonight my mom sent me a couple of the pictures I'd taken with her (really nice!) Canon camera while she and Dad were visiting last weekend. They turned out pretty good...and it made me want a nicer camera. I remind myself of my dad..."I need to get a bigger pump!"

Yves Rocher

Today I had a very unique experience. Some of you may recall that I (used to) keep a Walla Walla Valley Daily Photo blog. I've been terrible at keeping up with it since returning to work (work+baby+marriage+everything else I get myself into=no time for multiple blogs), but back when I was doing a fairly good job of it I met Cieldequimper: The woman who posted daily photos from her home town of Versailles, France. After commenting on each other's photos nearly daily, we began emailing and exchanged stories. She had friends in the Walla Walla area whom she visited often. She was planning to come in the spring of 2010 to see them again, and if she did, she said she'd like to meet me. Well, today was that day, and we met at Starbucks in Walla Walla. The sweetheart brought me a lovely gift wrapped in pretty red paper (as seen above). She said she wanted to bring me something quite French and had settled on this. The sticker said "Yves Rocher."

Yves Rocher is a cosmetics company that is, indeed, quite French. Yves Rocher himself died in December, and 20,000 people turned out for his burial. Inside the package Ciel brought me was some great bath stuff that I am excited to use. Next time I go to Paris I'll bring her a little something from the Pacific Northwest. Thanks, Ciel!

Yet Another Funny Face

I have no idea why Kayla always manages to give me the greatest looks right as I snap the shutter on the camera, but it's given me some fabulously hilarious pictures. Here she's helping Daddy park the car (okay, so they were already parked). She seems to be daring me to tell her she's too young to drive...

A Swingin' Good Time

I have no idea why Jason's face is contorted like that, but it makes me laugh. He got the privilege of taking Kayla on her first swing ride, and she loved it! Merrie Beth and Jake took turns with Chloe, but I was too short to get on the swings. Okay, that's not really true; MB is shorter than I am and she got on. I guess I was too busy taking pictures and recording video. Chloe didn't seem to care about the swing, but Kayla giggled and squealed. We'll definitely have to do this again...we'd walked from Jake and MB's house down to Rogers School to get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine. It was fun! Then we walked back and ate dinner, which was delicious.

My New Favourite Photo

Today at church. Taken with my BlackBerry.

32 Years

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. They are here visiting for the weekend, so I got them some flowers and chocolate in honour of their many happy years together. These are the flowers I got them. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! Here's to 32 more years!

Upside-down and Backwards

Not really sure why she's decided this is the best way to suck on her fingers, but it's pretty cute anyway.

Day's End

I took this today on the way home. It was taken with my BlackBerry and through the window of the car, so it's not the best quality, but the sunset was beautiful enough that it almost doesn't matter. The foreground is a vineyard.

Falling and Folding

Today you get a video instead of a picture. Hooray for something different!

Spring

You can tell the seasons are changing - the ducks are back in the park. I love the white one...I think there were two in the whole flock. This was taken at Lion's Park in College Place.

She Takes After Her Grandmother

When my mom saw this picture she said, "A girl after my own heart!" Other than that, nothing really needs to be said.

Chillin'

This afternoon Jason and I were invited over to our friends' house. Damie is an excellent cook, so we NEVER pass up an opportunity to enjoy her food. And we were not disappointed. Delicious pasta with homemade tomato sauce and a salad with what was most likely a homemade vinaigrette dressing was the fare. While we ate, we had fun watching the little girls hang out on the floor. Here's Damie and Jared's daughter, Ryann, relaxing in the swing.

Independent

Getting ready for her bath tonight...she loves bath time and was so excited about the water. I snapped this photo with Jason's phone (our camera memory card is full...oops!). I also took one with her diaper off, but somehow it didn't get saved to the phone. Sad face!

March of the Nerds

These...are nerds. Happy, smart and entertaining nerds, but nerds all the same. They are engineers. Today was the beginning of the university's March U-Days, a weekend event where high school seniors from across the country are invited to come explore Walla Walla U to see if this is where they'd like to get their higher education. I was helping with the admissions table at the departmental fair and happened to be next to the School of Engineering display. I gotta admit...nerds have cool toys. In addition to a robot, they also had a body heat sensor, which is what they're playing with in this photo. The gentleman in the middle is a professor; the other two are students.

Heeellllp Meeeee!!!

Today was pretty much hell. It wasn't anyone's fault, it just worked out that way. As I was walking out the door this morning, my sitter called and said she was sick and couldn't watch Kayla. It being last-minute, I had no options but to take her to work with me. At first I figured this was a good thing; it would save us some money and also some milk, since we wouldn't be using bottles and I could pump during the day, too. To spare you the details, it was a really bad day during which I felt like screaming and napping, alternatively. It is nearly impossible to get ANYTHING done with a baby around, and she was sick to boot, so she didn't want to play by herself; she wanted Mommy to hold her. So with two flailing hands and arms in front of me, I attempted to type with one hand and get emails sent, stories written and tasks completed. Needless to say I will NOT be doing that again. I've definitely learned the benefits to have a babysitter. The fun part of the day came when Daddy came to eat lunch with us. He held Kayla and played with her so Mommy could have a break. It was lovely. And at that point during the day, I was able to laugh and enjoy my daughter. Here she is reaching for the camera after Daddy put her hood up. She was trying to get it off her head and it was hilarious, but I couldn't get that part on camera.

Moonlight, Moonbright

Or something like that. Tonight the moon was full (or nearly) and it looked so beautiful out the kitchen window that I had to attempt to photograph it. Unfortunately it never works for me to get a picture of the moon (my camera just isn't made for that), so this is the best I could do. I was hoping to get a bit of the trees there, too...the moon through the tree branches. But no. Oh well. Just trust me: There are trees there in the foreground. Really.

Slobber and Goobers

My baby girl is teething. Today she drooled enough to make California forget their drought warnings for a summer, sneezed enough to make a world record, dripped enough snot down her face to gross out even the most iron-stomached second grade boy and did a lot of crying and sleeping. Of course, she did a lot of talking, laughing and smiling, too. It was kind of a bipolar day in that respect. The poor thing has a tooth just ACHING to come to the surface and I'm daring it to NOT come in tonight. This poor little girl has been through enough over the last 3 months, and today she got it bad, including a fever (100.0) and ear-tugging. So hopefully tomorrow's picture will be of a newly emerged tooth. (Ya hear that, baby tooth? Get your act together.)