sweet moments

Three lovely things today:
Had a LONG chat with an old friend - Sue, SO good to hear your voice. I loved your words about the next stage being fun too: walking with them holding your hand.
Got to see an old friend today, but not for long enough (= Carrie - SO great to see you - next time we'll include the men and Gracie!
Listening and watching Grandpa play with Layla. He hardly ever knows who she is, but he plays with her anyways. He thinks she is a boy all the time and constantly asks me if she is my baby.

We have a marriage getaway weekend that starts on Sunday. We knew it was on the calendar but didn't realize it was THIS weekend. It should be lovely...staying out at the Glen. All part of the 11.5% admin fee we pay to the company! Bless them for giving back.

The weather is fabulous - cool breezes, in the 30s and 40s in the early am but warming up nicely throughout the day.

Hiking

 

 

 

 

Out for a bit of a hike. The wind was cold cold cold, but we enjoyed it anyway. The hat is one that Tom wore as a kid. His mom made a matching sweater - very hip and happening nowadays!

This hike is about 10 mins from our house - we are SO enjoying the outdoors here. Today the temps were in the 30s!! What a shocker for us. I asked mom if this is how it is going to be from here on out and she said "colder". I've obviously forgotten about it. At least I've finally gotten some shoes besides my sandals from home!

Well, I'm trying to think of anything else interesting going on...
guess not much (= Layla continues to make us laugh. She is still pushing everything she can but not walking. She dances so readily to any music she hears. You can tell she is understanding SO many words! She still only says "da birds" and "da da" regularly.... she babbles like crazy all the time though. She is no longer taking three naps a day (= I have no idea any more. Our days are too crazy and unpredictable and will continue to be until mid-November. We're just going with the flow (=

Okay. Sorry to go on about Layla so much. She is a major part of life for me these days!

More from Georgia

 

 

 

 

These two posts are really a scavenger hunt: match the photo with the text.

Well I'm not sure if these are uploading okay, but the text for these photos is in the post below. Sorry about that! The first photo in the post below is in the patio area of Tom's mom's home. It was SO lovely out there - the weather was a treat and the garden was lovely. Lj was OBSESSED with crawling up and down that one step.

Trip to Georgia!

 

 

 

 

Hello All!
Here are some lovely pics of our recent trip to Georgia. I feel like I've hardly had time to take pictures let alone load them up and blog anything.
The first few photos are with Tom's mom and grandmother. It was a great time to see them and Tina had kept old toys and clothes from Jill and Tom for us to have. She's sent their old books as well and I love all that family history stuff! She was quite a seamstress and knitter and has the cutest dresses and sweaters etc.

The photo of lj on the leather chair with the remote is her sitting in her Grandaddy's chair. He was gone in Australia (sorry to have missed you Jon!!) but we thought we'd take some photos of Layla making herself at home in his absence (= We wrote him a little note and that is the first time I've ever put a pen in her hand. I was suprised she actually wanted to draw a little.

The other folks are old old friends of Tom's - one from 4th grade and one from highschool days. They've stayed in touch and we really enjoyed our time with them. They were the ones who actually drove us to the airport way way back when we moved to the ME!

Good Friends

 

 

 

We had some friends from our language school stop by tonight. It was SOOO fun to see them and their little ones. It was a kick to watch lj loving on both girls and wanting to give hugs. She's only just learned how to give hugs this week and she's figured out how to give them to real-live people and kids now!

Layla discovers the fridge

 

 

 

How cute is this!? Layla LOVES it when the fridge door is opened (=

When 90 years seems like nothing

I've been composing this is my mind for sometime, and still don't have it even close to complete but here goes.
There are many ways that caring for a 91 year old Grandpa are similar to caring for a one year old daughter (=
-you have to repeat yourself alot
-hugs work really well
-talking louder usually helps
-they both wear diapers (=
-they do pretty well at doing what they're told when you're nice about it
-they both sleep alot! (Layla still does THREE naps a day!! I've tried moving her to two, but I just don't think it suits her)
-they don't eat very much at all
-they'll always eat ice-cream
-they don't really understand the TV but they'll watch it anyway
-they both like to push the walker

I'll add more as I think of them. My Grandfather needs full-time care these days and we have someone who comes in for a few hours everyday. Otherwise, it is remarkably easy to look after them together (= They enjoy each other and keep each other company. It has been a gift to have the time here with mom and dad and Grandpa.

Anyway - that's all from here.

I takes all kinds......

I drove my dad to the airport in Denver today. The drive from Colrodo Springs to Denver has always been a beautiful one. Today I just couldn't believe it when I saw Buffalo, cows and horses all roaming around a few hundred yards from the highway. This place sure hasn't changed much in some ways.

I have also noticed that back home we only really see "upper middle class" western folks around town. Here there are all sorts of people of every shape and size (= Lots of men with skinny jeans, longish hair, boots, tatoos et. I don't think I really noticed all that so much before! Two long days at the DMV is a real re-introduction to your state (=

I had something else to say about what I've noticed here and I can't remember. grr.

still LOVING the weather. We take Layla out for a walk every day if not two times (=

Let's try this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ItEdEgdOGg


Hey all, I'm trying to see if I can link you to the You Tube videos. I realize this is WAY more than you are probably intersted in, but here you go (=
Also, all our You Tube stuff should be at the bottom of our page here.

Even MORE birthday fun

Well folks, I did this all in the wrong order! There are about four posts here about Lj's birthday. Enjoy!

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a couple of books and she was very interested in them as usual... She loves to open and close them.

Tom picked this out at the Babys R Us here in town. What a shocker it was to go into that store! This one converts to a pushing tricycle and then you can take the handle off and it is a normal tricycle. It is our first really baby toy I think we've purchased (=

More piano fun

Yum yum!