A look into our lives

We celebrated the second annual "Thanksmas" party with good friends of ours last weekend - smack-dab in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we had Mexican food so we re-named is "Mas-Gracias". Pretty clever, huh? Here is a picture of Cora and I sharing a delicious sopapilla for dessert. We also had enchiladas, tamales, tortilla soup, homemade tortilla chips and various dips. All of it was actually homemade - and delicious!

Brad, Cora and I went sledding on the Mesa last week because there still hadn't been any snow in town. It was a blustery day and cold, but worth it for the fun of sledding.

Well, with more creatures in the house, there is definitely more cleaning that needs to happen. But there is also more love going around. Take a look:

We got the first snowfall of the season in town this week. It's been snowing almost every day...but also melting in between the storms. We've been getting out as much as we can to play in the snow while it lasts. Cora has really taken to it: this afternoon she looked outside and said "Out-hide(outside)...boots!" and then ran to the closet. A moment later she came back to me wearing her boots and carrying my boots, her hat and a mitten. She plunked my boots down in front of me and started putting on her hat and mitten. It was so amusing to watch her do all this and to realize how much she is really thinking for herself lately. Unfortunately we had to get groceries and couldn't go out to play...maybe tomorrow!

First Haircut

These are not great pictures, but it's all I've got. Cora's hair was getting pretty long in front and hanging in Cora's eyes and tickling her nose. I tried for a long time to keep it pinned back with a barrette or pulled up in a pony tail but it was getting so yucky on the ends it just needed a trim. Here it is all wet and ready to be cut.

I gave her just a little trim in front and a little bit around the back and sides where the ends were ratty. It's growing slowly, but at least what's there now lays a little more nicely and is less snarly!


She has been singing "e-i-e-i-o" (as in "old mac donald") all the time lately. It's so cute. It usually comes out "e-i-e-i-e-e-o". She often actually gets the tune right!
She also aften says "thank-you" (or "beenk-oo") on her own accord without being prompted. We love it, obviously! And she'll respond to herself with "welcome".
She loves to say "big-girl" and loves to drink from a big girl cup, use her spoon or fork like a big girl (although she still likes to use her fingers), and attempt put her own shoes on. After eating or drinking something she'll put it down and say "good" sounding very fulfilled (or "dood").

Her growing vocabulary is so much fun!

Her little imagination is taking hold, too: This morning she found a diaper and tried to put it on one of her dolls; this afternoon in the car she started pretending that a crab was biting her (a book that we read has crabs in it and when we get to the crab part we pretend our hands are crabs gently pinching each other...we haven't read the book for at least a week!) She loves to color and will often tell me that her scribbles are a cat or flowers or a horse. She is such a joyful little girl!

News, but not what you're hoping for

Well, everyone, even strangers in stores, have started asking or telling me that it's time for Baby Number 2. I know. We know. And now you know.

But we also know that all things happen in God's good time. We've been ready for a while but it just hasn't happened yet. So for those of you who are curious, or have been expecting an announcement to come any day, here's the word. We're not pregnant yet, but hoping it will happen soon. We welcome your prayers on our behalf!

I was really caught off guard when a Lowe's employee, who had been oogling about Cora, found out that she was almost two years old and said flat out to Brad and I "Well, it's time for another one! You make cute babies!" It was meant as a compliment but...

Now for the news: the Jetta needs to go. We've decided to sell it and replace it with something more reliable. Or at least something else. It's been a headache for too long and has turned into a full-blown migrane. The only relief is to send it away. Far away. I haven't included any details about our vehicles since the "big summer blowout". It's no fun to talk about these things...and most of it I don't understand. I just know the car has spent more time in the mechanic's garage than in our own. And more of our money is in the mechanic's pocket than in ours. Yuck.

I heard a great quote this weekend from a friend's grandfather: If there are cars in the next life, I know I went to the wrong place.

Let there be no cars in heaven...

The Rest of the Story

Gidget

Gidget is a 5 year old German Shepherd/Blood Hound mix, as best as we can tell. She weighs about 100 lbs but is 100 lbs of love. She is calm, quiet and sweet. She spends most of the day outside, by her choice, and loves to go for walks. She is a wonderful dog and we are so happy to have her!

Tom

Tom or Tom-Tom (aka "Bom-Bom" or "tat" by Cora) is a 6 month old Siamese/Tabby mix, as best as we can tell. He is loving yet mischievous. He is friendly and loves to cuddle and sleep on laps. At other times he darts across the house, bouncing of walls. Literally. He's fairly tolerant of Cora and puts up with just about anything Cora tries to do to him - pick him up and carry him, hold him, feed him, read to him, use him as a pillow. Sometimes he's feisty and lets her know it's not a good time to play. He's a fabulous cat and we're enjoying being cat owners - the first time for both Brad and I!

And now, here's the rest of the story:
After we came to terms with the fact that a puppy had not been a good choice for us, we tossed around the idea of a cat. For a couple months we batted it around and toyed with the thought of being cat owners. Seeing as how neither of has 5 years ago would have even admitted to liking cats very much and neither of us had ever owned a cat in our lives I wasn't so sure about it. I kept saying and thinking: What if just the right dog in the right circumstances happens to come along? Would we be open to that possibility? But the ease of owning a cat has it's appeals, too, so we kept thinking about it. One day in late September, Cora and I even went to visit the cats and kittens at the Humane Society, just in research mode. (We also walked through the dog kennels, hoping just the right one would be there...)

One morning in early October, Cora and I saw Gidget out in the front yard, sniffing around. I knew she belonged to our neighbors since she had gotten out of their yard a few times before. I said to Cora, "Come on, Cora, let's go bring Gidget home." We went outside and I called Gidget to me. She came galloping over, all smiles - or so it seemed. She sidled right up along side me and I pet her and patted her head saying, "Gidget, you're such a sweet girl! If I didn't know where you lived I would try to keep you. But since I know who you belong to I've got to bring you home!" She followed us as we walked to our neighbor's house.

I knocked on the door and Adonika, our neighbor, answered the door. "Gidget is such a sweet dog," I told her. She agreed but then told me how upset she was because she just found out they had to move and couldn't take her with and she couldn't find anyone to take her so she had to bring her to the Humane Society! I was heart broken and bumbled something about talking to Brad and just maybe...We'll see.

As we stood there talking, a beautiful little kitten came to the door. "Oh, what a pretty cat. I didn't know you had any cats," I said. Adonika proceeded to tell me she couldn't take them (there was another grey kitten also) with either but the Humane Society had so many cats they weren't taking anymore. I picked up the cat and found out how sweet he was and my heart melted.

That night I told Brad and Gidget and the cat (he didn't have a name at the time) and asked what he thought about getting one or both from our neighbors. We talked for a while and he kept asking me what I really thought. I had no convincing argument to offer. All I could say was "I honestly think it's crazy and it makes no sense. The only thing is that they are both wonderful animals, the circumstances are right and in the worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, they were going to go the Humane Society anyway. We have little to lose." We went and talked to Adonika and played with both Gidget and Tom another time and our hearts were sealed. We brought them home a few days later.

We learned a lot of lessons from the last time around and made very few investments right away, in case things didn't go well. However, after only a couple days, we both knew this was a good thing. Cora in INFATUATED with Tom and he's very tolerant of her antics. Cora likes Gidget but other than wanting to take her for walks or let her in and out of the house (because she's just learned how to open regular door knobs) they don't pay much attention to each other.

Gidget and Tom get along well. Brad and I laugh often watching Tom groom Gidget or curl up in between her legs while she sleeps. He can only cuddle with her for a few seconds before turning and batting her paws and trying to get her to play.

We've been so pleased with both of them. It feels a little silly to say, but it really feels like one of those things we like to call a "God thing". We couldn't have chosen a better match for us and we probably wouldn't have ended up with a dog and a cat under a different circumstance but this...just works! We're so happy!

Obsession or Sympathy?

You decide:

One of the high school students at church broke his leg a while back and has a big cast on it. One day Brad had Cora with him and was bring Josh home from church. Later, when Brad and Cora came home Brad helped Cora tell me what they had done.
"Cora, who did you just see?"
-- "Josh"
"What does Josh have?"
--"Owie" Cora said in a very sad, pathetic voice.
"Where is Josh's owie?"
--"Leg." Her face is all scrunched up in a concerned look and she's breathing short, quick breaths in the urgency of her message. So sad sounding!!

This was about two weeks ago. Almost every day since then, at random times during the day, Cora asks in a panicky sad voice "Josh? Owie? Leg?"

Tonight we went to church to hang out with the high schoolers for a while. We got in the car and I said to Cora "We're going to church to see Daddy!" She responded with "Josh? Owie?" Sigh...

"Yes," I said, "We'll see Josh, too. Do you want to give Josh's owie a kiss and make it all better?"

"Better," she says.

When we saw Josh at church I pointed him out to Cora and asked her if she wanted to give his owie a kiss. Instead, she turned all shy and hid her face in my coat and refused to say hi to any of the students!!!

I can't decide. Is she obsessed, or simply sympathetic?

PS How do you spell "owie?" as in "boo-boo"???

More pictures from Alaska

Here is the last batch of pictures from our Alaska trip.

Pictures from Alaska

Click here to see an album of picture from our Alaska Trip.

Where to begin?

I'll begin with a huge thank you to everyone who made our trip to Alaska possible and wonderful! We had a fabulous week in Anchorage with Kristen, her kids, Greg and Ryan. I loved seeing a piece of their lives in AK and to have a picture in my mind now when I hear about Brad's past experiences living in AK. Someday Brad and I will have to go back together, maybe during the summer months!

My nephew and nieces are amazing! Cora loved playing with her cousins from the moment we got there. They were so loving and kind with her which warmed my heart. It took a little longer for Cora to warm up to her auntie and uncles, but by the end of the week she was tickling Uncle Greg and hugging Auntie Kristen without hesitation.

We were able to do some sightseeing around Anchorage, too. We drove up Turnagain Arm to visit Girdwood; we went downtown Anchorage; I hiked a little bit in Power Line Pass; and we drove north to Palmer and Wasilla and went sledding near Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine. The scenery truly is stunning in Alaska. We were able to see Mt. McKinnely a number of times and it was breathtaking!

We also saw a moose and her calf along the highway just outside of Anchorage on Friday (the day before we left)! The whole week everyone kept telling us that there are moose all over the place but we just hadn't seen any yet. Marge, Brad's mom, was especially skeptical because in all of her many trips to AK she had never seen a moose yet. Greg even took me intentionally to hike in areas where he "always" sees moose...but there were none to be seen that day! I decided they are tourist-shy animals. They may walk main street in downtown Anchorage and enter Doug and Kristen's backyard on a regular basis, and Ryan claims that mooses (plural?) greet him at his front door when he comes home. But they disappear when a camera-wielding tourist comes nearby.

This poor moose seemed to have been separated from her calf by a large fence. She was on the highway side of the fence and when we stopped to take pictures we saw her calf on the other side of the fence. She didn't seem at all distressed, thankfully. Anchorage actually puts these fences up to try to keep the moose off the highways and they make special openings every once in a while for them to pass through safely in case they manage to get on a highway. I guess there really are a lot of moose all over.

I'm thankful for safe travel and to be home again, but I will miss sharing meals with Mom, Kristen and the kids, coloring with Anna and Aleya, and watching Cora "tackle" Josh. I'll miss the nightly tea time with Kristen, conversation and laughter! We're looking forward to seeing you all again in a few months and hopefully we'll be back in AK sometime for one of the kids' birthdays!

Imagination, Sharing, and Patience

"What are you eating, Cora? Are you eating candy?" I heard Brad say in the garage.

Did Brad give Cora candy? Why would he have done that? Our policy has been that as long as we can keep her in the dark about such things, the less we have to patrol her candy/sugar intake. Why would he suddenly introduce her to it?

"Go show Mommy what you have, Cora. Can you share with Mommy?" Brad said. Cora entered the room and walked toward me carrying an old, empty Altoid container. She came over to me, pinched her fingers together pretending to pick up a "candy" and put it in my mouth.

"Mmm, thank you, Cora," I said.

"Dan-coo," she repeated back to me, as she proceeded to fetch another "candy" and put it in her mouth. Satisfied with having shared with Mommy, she sat down next to the cat and offered him a candy, also.

I'm glad her candy comes in sharable portion sizes. I'm glad that even in her imagination, we can practice sharing.

"Turn" is one of Cora's new words, and ideas. Sharing food, when there is plenty to go around, has been a joyful thing for Cora. She seems to enjoy sharing her food and drinks: giving a bite of something she's eating to someone else is fun for her. Sharing toys, on the other hand, is a completely different story. So the idea of "taking turns" is making it's way into Cora's vocabulary.

This morning she was playing with our friend Liam in an infant car seat. Liam had just sat down in it and Cora, in a panicky voice, says "Turn??!!" Translation: Isn't it Cora's turn yet? Can't I have a turn?

Liam, the older and wiser friend, kindly exited the car seat and allowed Cora to have her beloved turn in the car seat. Thank you, Liam.

Perhaps patience is another idea we need to infuse into Cora's concept of taking turns...

Change is in the Air

Fall has officially arrived. The trees seem to have changed color overnight.

Cora objects to everything...even things she actually wants.

Our church is adjusting to being without a senior pastor, but things are going well.

The Jetta is out of commission. Oh, wait, that's not a change from the norm...

We have a dog.

And a cat.

Brad is going hunting and Cora, my mom-in-law and I are going to Alaska!!!

Hold on to your seats, ladies and gentlemen, life is a wild ride!

More firsts

Yesterday Cora said what I would call her first sentence. She's combined words before when imitating us, but they usually aren't very clear. Yesterday Cora and I were playing with a toy and she put it in my hand and said "Mommy, do it" clear as a bell!

Then today at lunch she had two sippy cups for some reason and she pointed at each one and said "one, two" perfectly clear. Brad and I were so shocked and excited! We clapped away and cheered for her. She was so proud of herself - or maybe she just liked the reaction. She kept saying "one, two" and after a while when we stopped clapping she looked at Brad and said "Daddy, clap"! I can't believe how fast her speech is developing lately!

Another thing I forgot to post a while ago is that Cora has started saying her own name! I don't know what I love that she can say her name, but it makes me so excited. She has been saying friends' names (Alex, David, Cadence, Liam) for a few months but when I would ask her "Cora, what's your name?" she would say "Name!" It was really cute how she said it, too. Well, while we were in Michigan she started saying Cora, but it comes out sounding like "Doo-wa". How adorable!

Lately Cora has also been saying "no" on her own accord. It hasn't been in defiance yet - I know that day will come soon. But she'll answer a question sometimes with "no". This morning I asked if she was all done with breakfast. If she is, she usually says "all done". This morning she said "No" and kept eating! I'll try to get a video of her saying no because it's so fuuny. She sticks both her lips out really far and it comes out very nasal sounding!

Potty Awareness

About a year ago, I ran across something that some parents do with their children called "Elimination Communication". Other names for it are "natural infant hygiene" or simply "diaper-free babies". I never dared to go as extreme as what some parents do, but one thing I did adopt from this was putting Cora on the toilet anytime I knew she had a poop coming. Excuse my frankness.

So for the past year Cora has been sitting on the toilet maybe once a day, but sometimes we would go weeks without sitting on the toilet because she often messes in her diaper during a nap.

This summer, after swimming in our pool, I would often take her swimsuit off outside and let her dry off naked in the backyard - one of the joys of privacy fences. If she happened to pee while playing outside I made a big, excited ordeal about the fact that she had just peed. She soon caught on to what pee was and often would exclaim "Pee" after having just gone. Later I started putting her on the toilet before bathtime just to sit while the tub filled up. Again, if she happened to pee in the toilet we celebrated!

The toilet has been a natural part of Cora's day and she has rarely objected to sitting on the toilet. Some say this is half the battle of potty-training.

A few weeks ago, Cora was playing with one of her dolls and pointed between the doll's legs and said "pee". She then ran over to the toilet, sat the doll on the toilet and said, proudly, "Pee!" She then proceeded to wash the doll's hands, which turned into a complete bath for dolly!

The new development is that at least once a day for the last couple weeks Cora will tell me when she has peed in her diaper. Also, I have been putting her on the toilet or potty chair (she gets to choose) about once a day and she almost instantly pees, stands up and proudly shows me. I wasn't planning to start actual, intentional potty training yet, but I'm starting to wonder why I would wait much longer! It's obvious that she knows how to eliminate voluntarily so the next step is teaching her to only eliminate in the toilet...

This is my hesitation: diapers truly seem more freeing to me than having a potty-trained (or a potty-training) child. I know it may sound crazy to some, but diapers are so absorbent that I can go out with Cora, run errands, stop at the park, come home and eat lunch without having to change her diaper - usually. Once we start potty training, I know that freedom will be gone for a while as I'll have to be constantly aware of where the nearest bathroom is - unless I wait till she's much older with a larger, stronger bladder. Does it make sense to wait much longer when she's showing such positive signs right now? Or am I an over-eager mother who should relax until Cora's 2 or 2 1/2? What do you think?

Color Saturday

Powderhorn Ski Resort hosts a yearly "Color Sunday" with entertainment, free rides up the ski lift and other events during the weekend forecasted to be the peak of fall colors on the Grand Mesa. We've never made it on an actual Sunday. Maybe next year. We enjoyed the colors this year, but on Saturday.

The aspens are at their prime right now. I think this is the best I've seen while living in CO. In years past we've either gone too early or too late. This weekend was perfectThe air was quite crisp up there. Down in the valley we're still been simmering around 80 degrees. After a couple of weeks in nice fall weather in Michigan I've had a hard time readjusting to wearing shorts, tank-tops and sunscreen.

Cora understands what it means when we say "smile!" She will usually give us either a cute, sweet smile or a big cheesy smile when we ask her to smile. She doesn't quite like to look at the camera for a picture, but she understands that she gets to see a picture of her self on the screen afterward and she loves to look at the pictures!

Plane trip home

I forgot to mention that the flights home also went well. I'm grateful for that beyond words. I can't imagine dealing with cancelled or missed flights while flying by myself with Cora.

Cora did well on all the flights, although she only slept 20 minutes the whole day and didn't fall asleep until she was home in her crib at 8 pm (which to her body would be 10 pm)!

Before this trip I was envisioning people being impatient and annoyed that I was traveling with a toddler but I found just the opposite to be true. Cora turned on the charm playing peek-a-boo and saying HI to anybody who glanced in her direction. That probably helped ease people's anxiety about having a toddler on the flight. She did give me a little bit of grief on the long flight to Denver, but I didn't get any nasty looks from anyone, thankfully. Her attention span was SO short that day, and thankfully that was also true for her moods. When she got upset it only lasted a minute and she was easily distracted by something else! Another blessing.

Flying, in general, seems to make me more anxious than it did when I was a teenager. Adding a toddler to the mix doesn't help. On the flight out of GR I was seated next to a man going to a Christian Bloggers convention. The take-off was quite rough and I heard myself deep-breathing and telling him that I was nervous and if he could keep talking to me a little bit it would really help! I couldn't believe I had said that to a total stranger, but I guess I figured it was obvious that I was uncomfortable with the bumpy, windy take-off, so why not? He was kind and understanding; I think it was comforting to know I was sitting next to a Christian, too. Soon after take-off the flight smoothed out and a man seated near us offered to switch seats with me since he had an empty seat next to him. It was nice to have the extra seat for the toddler gear - snacks, books, sippy cup, stickers, napkins, etc...

It was a long day, but one in which I felt so blessed through circumstances and people. As much as I love to travel and visit family, I hope it's a long time before I fly again!

Melancholy at Home

Cora and I are back home. It's wonderful to be reunited with Brad and friends here, but I'm feeling rather melancholic. Perhaps it's withdrawal...

I thoroughly enjoyed our time in MI. Cora became very comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa - so much that I think Grandma put Cora to bed for naps and night time almost the whole last week. I enjoyed letting Grandma do that, too.

Cora definitely loved being the big Cousin. She often woke up from naps asking where Baby Leyton was! I'm not sure if she actually wanted to know where he was or just his carseat. She spent more time playing with his carseat buckles than any toy in her whole life, I think! Thanks, Deb, for being so gracious with that...

It blessed me so much to spend time with Mom, Dad and Deb (and Eric, when he was available) and some good friends, Laura, Sarah, Beth, Sue and Deone. Sadly, I never remember to take pictures of me with my friends even though I always bring my camera and intend to.

I'm incredibly frustrated by the slowness of my computer right now so I'm not even attempting to upload any photos. New pictures were added a while ago to the facebook album linked to the first Holland post if you want to see more!

Holland: part 3

What a wonderful week! On Monday, Laura and her son and Cora and I went to Crazy Bounce and had a blast! The kiddos were a little unsure at the beginning but got used to bouncing around and it was a lot of fun!
Another day we had brunch with the ladies on my mom's side of the family. We also attempted to pick Honey Crisp apples at a nearby orchard but had been misinformed and got there too late! So we picked delicious raspberries in the rain, instead.

We've had a couple rainy days and some nice ones. Cora is intrigued with the rain and one day I let her play in it. She got soaked to the core and loved it! She found the drips coming off of the roof and would stick her head under it and get her hair wet, and then turn her face up and try to catch the stream in her mouth!

We also enjoyed an evening at the Holland Aquatic Center playing in the Splash Zone. That was awesome! How I wish GJ would learn some things from Holland! Or maybe I just haven't learned all the good spots in our town yet.

I would never describe Cora as fearful or even timid, but here's how we often start out in a new experience, which we've had a lot of this week. Cora grabs hold of my finger (or Grandma or Grandpa's has been good, too) and walks me around to where she wants to go and what she wants to do. She doesn't leave me or let me go too far for the first 10 minutes or so. She'll let go of me when necessary - to climb stairs, for example. But if I try to go to the sidelines and just watch, she comes and gets me. Maybe Cora thinks I'm timid and she's trying to encourage me to go play!!! :) But after the first 10 minutes or so, she's ready to go off on her own. She's always curious about what other kids are doing and is drawn to them, but she remains quiet even while playing with them, not saying much or making much sound, until the very end or sometimes the whole time. She often has a serious look on her face, which some call a scowl. I know that she is happy and comfortable, but not totally relaxed enough in her new environment to let loose and be goofy, but she's enjoying herself none-the-less. I think she gets this part of her personality from her mama.

Holland: part 2

We have been having a blast in MI! As I've already said Leyton is so sweet. Deb is able to spend a lot of time with us so we're enjoying having both of them around, and Eric when he is able, too.

Saturday we went to Holland State Park for a bit in the afternoon. The newspaper had said the water temperature was supposed to be 73, and the air was 72. We didn't dare take swimsuits, anyway, and when we got there the park had posted the water temp as 54...quite a difference! We put our toes in but that was it! Cora loved playing in the sand and throwing handfuls of wet sand into the waves. She would actually wait until the wave came all the way up before throwing the sand - I think she liked the splashing effect. She chased a duck, too, and despite her determination the duck got away easily just by swimming away. Cora turned around with a look that said "That's not fair! How'd he do that?"

Click here for a link to more pictures on facebook.

Made it to MI

Leyton is adorable! I was in Auntie-heaven last night, holding and soothing him for a bit. Cora is in cousin-heaven, too. She is very interested in Leyton and curious about all things baby. She's been very gentle around him so far and observant as to how to care for him. We caught Cora trying to rock Leyton's carseat with her foot like she saw Grandpa do! We definitely need to keep an eye on her even more when Leyton is around - she doesn't understand that he wouldn't appreciate a big clunky toddler toy dumped on top of him, even in the good spirit of sharing.

Our flights both went so well yesterday. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words! The flights were on-time, smooth and not too full, so I was able to get an empty seat next to me on both flights and that was very helpful. Cora was pretty entranced on the first flight to Denver looking out the window at trees and trucks and water and clouds. We actually were able to see a herd of either deer or elk on the Mesa, too.

Some things that were helpful for us and will maybe be good ideas for someone else: I waited until the very last minute to board the plane even though they offer early boarding for children; ask a flight attendant (if they don't offer) to switch next to an empty seat; raisins in a box were the best snack to keep her busy for a while; books and the Skymall Magazine kept her interest for quite a while; the window shade, reading lights and seat belt were fascinating toys that I didn't have to bring with me!; I wrapped a couple new toys and books for her to open on the plane and we actually only needed to open one (a magnadoodle - the joy of coloring without the hassle of falling and rolling crayons) so I'll save the rest for the flights home; and I borrowed a mini-dvd player and we watched one Baby Einstein video. It was extra gear to carry on the plane, but it bought me 20 or 30 minutes of Cora sitting contentedly on my lap at the end of the last flight when she was tired and just about frustrated.

Cora didn't sleep a wink on the plane but as soon as she was buckled in the car she fell asleep - even before we were out of the airport parking lot!

Thanks for all your prayers, again, for safe and smooth flights!

Something that was cute: in GJ we watched the truck filling up the plane with gas and talked about it. Well, on the plane we were seated right next to wing and since it's a puddle jumper we could see under the wing and the wheel. So I think because she could see the wheel, Cora kept saying "kuck" (truck). Then we could see the propellers start up and she would say "round, round, round". Then the more I reminded her we were in an airplane she started saying "air-pane" with great enthusiasm!

Coming soon...

Cora and I are leaving soon for Michigan. We will be gone 2.5 weeks and I'm starting to realize how long that is! It dawned on me the other day that Brad will probably be eating mac'n'cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches and Burger King for 2 and a half weeks! That didn't sit well with me so I decided to try to pre-make some real meals for him that he can just throw in the oven or microwave, rather than going through the drive-thru. So as I started planning meals and making a grocery list, I realized how much work it would me to make 2 weeks worth of meals ahead of time...so he will be eating some frozen pizzas, mac'n'cheese and grilled cheese. But at least it won't be every night.

Please pray for a smooth, safe flight for us! I have some special things planned for Cora on the plane, but I know it's going to be a long flight from Denver to GR. She probably won't sleep for two reasons: she generally doesn't sleep if there are people around, and we arrive in GR at the beginning of nap-time. Out of luck, there!

My good friends here have been letting me know, in no uncertain terms, that 2.5 weeks is a really long time to be gone! They sure make me feel loved.

Lastly, please pray for our church. Our pastor just announced that he's accepting a call to a different church. New Life doesn't have any experience in being vacant and searching for a pastor so it will be a growing, stretching experience for the leadership and additional expectations for Brad. The two years in Bellflower without a pastor were really, really hard, so I'm not looking forward to this next stage in our church's life!

San Luis Peak: 14,014 feet

Today Brad and I climbed a mountain! In Colorado there are over 50 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet tall. They have been named "fourteeners". There's also plenty of peaks over 13,000 feet, but they get no attention. Who knows why?

Anyway, Brad has climbed two fourteeners previously, but I never have so we wanted to do one together. We dropped Cora off with Mom and Dad B. in Montrose on Monday and drove to the Stewart Creek trail head. We camped there for the night and got up at 5:30 this morning. After enjoying a few more minutes of warmth in our sleeping bags (it was 42 degrees outside) we packed up camp, ate breakfast and started hiking at 6:20.

It was 6.5 miles from the trail head to the summit. We started around 10,500 ft and summited at 14,014 ft. For the most part, the trail is a slow, steady climb. There were only a few sections that were steep, but nothing even as steep as climbing to the top of the basin at the cabin! So the trip to the top seemed pretty easy and steady. We enjoyed the sights along the trail: a number of beaver ponds, one beaver swimming around (burrr!), purple pine cones, the bubbling brook (Stewart Crk) and tons of wildflowers. We also saw a couple elk from a distance, marmots, pikas, chipmunks, birds, and butterflies. It was a really beautiful trail.

We took two snack breaks on the way up and summited at 10:45 am. We took it easy and really enjoyed the hike up. We spent an hour at the summit, enjoying the amazing view of the Rocky mountains from above. After a sandwich and some gorp we headed back down the trail. It was less fun than going up, since all the excitement of reaching the top was over. We arrived back at the car and headed home around 2:30.

It was amazing being on the top of a mountain and looking around seeing hundreds more mountain peaks in every direction. It's a humbling reminder of how small a part we are of God's creation, and what a gift this beautiful earth is for us. Just getting to the peak was such an exhilarating feeling. I hope to be able to do another fourteener some day!

Here's a link to more pictures on Facebook.

August is flying by

This summer has been going so fast, and it seems to just keep speeding up!

We had some rain at the beginning of the month. What a treat! We enjoyed having some moisture and cooler temperatures. It didn't stop us from playing outside, though! Cora actually seemed to love the rain and says "Raay-ee" for rain.
Cora got to try her hand at finger painting. She's got talent, let me tell you! :) It was messy, but worth it. Cora absolutely loved it. I think she was more excited about dipping her fingers in the tubs of finger paint rather than putting the finger paint on the paper. But it was fun, anyway.




Brad, Cora and I took a hike last weekend in the Colorado National Monumen called "Liberty Cap". Cool trail, good distance, beautiful views.
Here is a link to more hiking photos.

We also went camping with our friends, the Stephens, up above the Monument near a reservoir - the west's version of a lake. It was a phenomenal camping location: elevation of 9000 feet which means a nice, cool temperature; lush and green with trees for shade; near water for fishing; almost no bugs; free; only 30 miles from home! Also, we saw a few deer from our campsite, heard coyotes howling at night and an elk bugle. On the drive home we saw a herd of about 50 elk about 200 yards from the road. Cora worked really hard at saying "deer" and "elk".

We saw the deer just before dinner. I took a glance at them but was busy getting the food ready...and seeing deer in Colorado is only a little more exciting than seeing squirrels in Michigan. So I kept preparing food while Brad and David took Cora closer to see the deer. She was ecstatic and came toddling back to me, urgently calling for me. She came to me with a look on her face that said "Mom,you HAVE To see this!" She started saying "doooo, dooo" (deer, deer), grabbed my hand and started pulling me back to see the deer. Her enthusiasm made seeing those deer a memorable experience!

If you're a facebook friend of mine, look for the video of the elk herd on my profile. Here is a link to more camping pictures.

Welcome, Leyton!

Leyton James Gritter is our new nephew! He was born last week to my sister and her husband. He's healthy and we praise God for him. I'm so eager to meet him in a few weeks, Lord willing!

If you were a fly on the wall

If you were a fly on the wall in our home this summer, you would often hear a conversation like this:

Cora: "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?"

Me: "Cora, do you want to see Daddy?"

Cora: "Daddy."

Me: "I'm sorry, honey. Daddy's at work right now."

Cora: "Ch-ch?" ("Church?")

Me: "That's right, Daddy's working at church."

I was so amazed the first time she made that connection!

Camping in Ridgway, CO

Last week we had the blessing of camping at Ridgway State Park. This was our first time out camping together this year! Our previous plans were thwarted by the vehicles needing to be fixed so we were thankful to be able to get away this time.

Brad and I both give Ridgway State Park two thumbs up! We stayed in Elk Ridge, Loop D. This part of the campground is up a little higher than Dakota Terraces and has some nice pinyon pines that offer a little bit of shade from the hot afternoon sun. The sites are spacious and fairly private. There are nice playgrounds located in different areas of the park, a number of short (less than a mile) hiking trails, a great bike path, and beautiful views! We took advantage of all these amenities, except the bike path. We are definitely taking the bikes and trailer next time we camp here. There is also the wonderful Ridgway Reservoir which offers plenty of space for water activities. We went out on the kayak a little bit and spent most of Wednesday relaxing and playing on the beach. We saw lots of water skiers, a wind surfer, sailboats and wave runners out having fun on the water, too.

We also took a day and went hiking above Ouray, just below Red Mountain pass on the "Million Dollar Highway". The place where the trail head was supposed to begin had a "no trespassing" sign. So we tried to figure out another way to connect with the trail. It seemed hopeful, but we didn't reach our aspired destination, the railroad old turntables. However, we had a nice hike and saw amazing vistas of the mountains around us. After hiking we spent some time in the Ouray Hot Springs - another great place to admire the creation. God sure did something special when he made the San Juans!
So if you're looking for a family-friendly vacation spot with lots of variety in available activities that includes both mountains and water, Ridgway State Park is the place to go!

Birthday #28

Thank you to my wonderful friends (Amanda, Val, Marian and Cheri) who surprised me on the morning of my birthday by taking me out for coffee. I'm so thankful to have such good friends and to have been able to spend some of my birthday with them!

Thank you to my wonderful husband, Brad, who surprised me with a night away from home at a B&B in Paonia, CO. A family from church watched Cora for the night and it was wonderful to have time with just Brad!

And thanks to all my friends and family who live at a distance and sent their birthday blessings, too!

This was the best birthday I've had in a number of years, so thanks to everyone for making it special!

Help, advice, ideas please

I'm frustrated by my video creating options. Here's our situation:

1. Our digital camera takes videos and they look decent (although not great) when we view them on the computer but they don't upload to the Internet well at all. I can't upload them to blogger directly so I end up using Youtube and they don't look as nice on youtube as before they are uploaded. Should I try a different website? Or is the problem the quality of video that our camera takes?

2. We also have a mini-dvd video camera. It does not have a usb port to connect it directly to a computer. Our computer's dvd drive is broken so we can't view dvd's on the computer. Since I can't figure out how to edit and, most importantly, share movies that we take on this device we don't use it very often, which seems like a shame and a waste. Anyone have advice here? Do we fix the DVD drive on the computer? Will it be able to view mini-dvds? Do we sell this camera and purchase one that connects with a USB cable? (I've seen the Flip Video cameras which seem quite affordable and simple BUT...how do I know what kind of quality videos I'll be getting with different devices?)

3. I don't know how to edit videos very well...Any advice here?

Maybe I should take these questions to Best Buy. But hopefully someone who's not trying to sell my anything will answer my questions here first, so I can go into Best Buy a little more prepared. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

All by myself!

Cora learned how to swim "on her own" today! We have a suit with floatation chambers but we only use it sometimes because in the past it would put her flat on her face in the water or flat on her back and she couldn't seem to maneuver herself very well in it. Today I thought I'd try it again since she's been getting so brave in the water and tries really hard to swim. Another thing we encourage her to do in the pool is to move along the side of the pool by herself using her hands. I was trying to get her to move along the wall/side to the ladder and she started doing it with just one hand on the side, rather than both. Then all of a sudden she let go with both hands and started swimming! She was ecstatic and just kept swimming and swimming. Brad came home from work just a little while later and got to see her swimming and take a video of it, too. We could see that she was so excited about this new discovery - it was all she wanted to do! She seemed to be so proud of herself and her new ability! We are so proud of her too!

She also learned two new words today while swimming: splash ("spash") and down ("don"). Every time I witness her learning something new - a new word, a new discovery, a new ability - I feel like I'm witnessing a little miracle! It's so amazing how God has made us!

Little Helper

The dishwasher was full and clean...again. Time to empty it so the dirty dishes could go in. I started putting some bowls and dishes in the cupboard and pondered what else I had to do before heading to small group later this evening.

After a few minutes the little "pat, pat, pat" of Cora's feet registered in my consciousness and I tuned in to what she was doing. I turned to see her walking away from the silverware drawer back to the dishwasher.

The drawer was opened only about 2 inches and there were a fork and spoon haphazardly placed in the drawer!

Cora has helped me a few times in the past unloading the dishwasher but I was so surprised to see that she had, on her own initiative, started to help me AND had remembered which drawer the silverware goes! Her little mind is amazing.

Now, I could leave the story here and let you imagine that she proceeded to put all the silverware away in the drawer like a little trained robot. That wasn't exactly how the rest of the story goes...but let's just pretend it was that hassle-free!

18 months and growing

Cora is 18 months old! She is a little sponge, soaking up everything around her. Here are some details about Cora:
She tries so hard to mimic new words that she hears, sometimes getting close, often sounding like adorable gibberish!

She is into climbing ladders on things: ladders, couches, chairs, etc.

She hasn't quite figured out how to run yet, but it just may not be in her nature to want to. She never was a fast crawler, never seemed in a hurry and that hasn't changed now.

She is still a good eater and will eat almost anything we put in front of her, and a lot of it! She even ate chips and (medium) salsa with Brad and I the other day...not much but a few bites. The only thing she seems to really dislike is plain meat. If the meat is part of something else, like a casserole, she'll eat it all up.

She still really enjoys going for walks in the stroller and has come to like going for bike rides in the trailer.

She LOVES babies! Any picture of a baby excites her and she loves to nurture her baby doll. She feeds her, tries to clothe her, pats her back, and pushes her in the toy stroller around the house.

She can point to her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, hair/head, feet and belly button.
She's becoming a very brave swimmer, blowing bubbles with her mouth in the water and attempting to swim on her own. It definitely keeps us on our toes.

I think she's finally down to one nap a day, but it's still a little bit of a stretch for her to make it from waking up in the morning to nap time, and from nap time to bedtime, but two naps usually never happens so hopefully she'll adjust quickly to the new schedule.

I just wrote a bunch of other stuff on a recent post so I'll quit here. She sure is a joy! And what a blessing she is to Brad and me. Thank you, Lord, for our precious little girl!

6 Years and a vacation at home

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary! I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband. He's an amazing man, father, husband and my best friend. Even during the bumpy times he is always patient and loving, never willing to give up. I love you, Brad!

We celebrated by having a calm and relaxing day. In fact the whole weekend has been calm and relaxing! We had planned a camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, a Rockies baseball game, an AVP tournament in Boulder, and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for this weekend. Sadly, both of our vehicles got sick and we canceled/postponed our trip. The Jetta has been in the shop for almost a month now. They were having a hard time locating the problem and when they did, the one mechanic who could fix it was on vacation and had a backup of other vehicles to work on. Can't wait to see that bill! The Jeep has not been running well either and Brad decided it should get checked out before driving it across the mountains and it turns out there is some problem that I don't understand but was serious enough that we had to leave it with them in the shop.

We had a few vehicles offered to us so we could still go on our trip - thank you to these generous people! - but we decided not to force the issue and take it as a God-thing. Since we had just gone to the cabin I was a little overwhelmed with the unpacking, repacking and meal planning for another trip; plus, all the driving with Cora gets a little daunting so to go drive another 4+ hours made me tired just thinking about it. Since everyone knew Brad was going on vacation it has been very easy to stay home and relax without work tempting him or interrupting our time. It has been a wonderful weekend! We've enjoyed playing games (Ticket to Ride is our newest addition), swimming, riding bikes, and simply being together as a family. I think this type of vacation is exactly what we needed right now! God knew it...we didn't. I guess it took both vehicles going to the mechanics to get our attention and make us slow down! (Please pray that they do get fixed quickly and for minimal fees.)

We'll hopefully still get our camping trip in later this summer. We won't be able to see the AVP tourney unfortunately, but I think everything else will still be available.

Cabin Time

Brad got back from his SERVE trip with the high school students and was able to take a few days to recoup so we went to the cabin to get away. When we got there Cora almost immediately walked over to the woodburning stove, stopped about 2 feet in front of it and said "hot". When she is saying something is hot she puts her hand out in front of her, but not touching what she's referring to. Then she walked into the kitchen, approached the oven/stove and did the same thing! We were so surprised that she remembered this from being there a month ago.

One day we went to the Great Sandunes and played in the Medano Creek. It's hardly what most people think of when you hear "creek". It was fun to get a little wet and play with mud.

We also hiked to the top of the basin one day. I can't believe that it is only a 3.5 mile hike, round trip. It's so steep that it feels so much longer. We climbed from 9,500 feet to 11,500 feet in 1.75 miles. Actually, the hiking up wasn't the hard part. It was coming down that made my hips, knees and ankles ache horribly. Cora wasn't so happy about being in the backpack that long but overall she did OK. Last week was a little tough anyway...we think she's teething and she was cranky all last week. She seems to be doing better this week, so far.

Here's a link to more pictures loaded on Facebook.

A side note, Cora is "talking" so much! Her newest words are "baby", "poop", "cat", "orse" (horse), "wee" (either a slide or a swing), "hot" (for hot and hat), "na-nee" (goodnight), "tra-ter" (tractor), "choo-choo" (or more accurately "ch-ch" - for train), and "guk" (i have no idea why, but it seems to mean water or drink...).

She's also become fascinated with aircraft and always hears when one is flying overhead. She stops what she's doing, points in the air and says in a very high voice "ta-ta". I think the fascination started a month ago when I spent the night with Mom B. in Montrose while Brad and Dad B. went to get the Jetta from the cabin...Long story. Anyway, while we were there two airplanes and one helicopter flew really low right over their house and we could hear and see them very plainly (ha! no pun intended). Since then, Cora points out any aircraft she can hear even if she can't see it!

Cora is so animated and interactive; it's so much fun! She loves to give high-fives, blow kisses, wave and say "hi" or "bye", play peek-a-boo (but she cheats and looks through her fingers!). She is very active while reading books now, pointing at pictures of things she recognizes which are usually birds, cats, dogs, horses, babies, juice, tractors, ball. It's so amazing watching her grow!

Has it been two weeks already?

I guess we've been a little bit busy lately. Having a puppy around can really suck all your "free time" away with out you realizing it. Well, no worries anymore. Sadly, we decided that Zeke would be better off with a different family and that we would be better off with out a puppy for now. There were a lot of elements that brought us to that final decision and it was a very tough one for me. We had only had Zeke for about 5 or 6 weeks but I had gotten quite attached to him. I really felt like he was learning quickly and that each week got better and easier for me. The light at the end of the tunnel was continually getting brighter. I was enjoying training him and seeing him learning good behavior. He's going to be such a good dog when he's all grown up and I'm sad I won't be able to see him.

The simplest way to explain our decision is that we rebounded too quickly after Jack died and even though we thought we were ready to accept and love a new dog in the same way as Jack, we weren't. So Zeke is hopefully happily settled in with a new family and finding his new home more entertaining than ours! The family that took him has three school-aged children who understand how to play with a dog better than a 1 and a half year old. Best wishes, Zeke!

Gas and Cash

Gas prices are out of control. Anyone agree?
I'm curious what gas prices are around the country. Leave a comment with your location and average gas prices.

Grand Junction, CO $3.95

June Bug

Happy June! May was a such a busy month, but a fun one. Here's a recap of somethings that happened in May:
1. Trip to Mesquite, NV with the ARYP.
2. New sod laid in the backyard, the finishing of our Extreme Backyard Makeover.
3. Mothers' Day and Zeke's arrival to our family.
4. Piano Recital
5. Rafting trip with the high schoolers down the Colorado River.
6. High School girls' night at church
7. Cora's first circus
8. Memorial Day at the cabin with brad's parents and aunt and uncle.
9. A return trip to the cabin for Brad and dad to retrieve the temporarily broken Jetta, and Cora and I stayed with Mom in Montrose.
10. The opening of our pool! Yes, it's already been plenty warm to go swimming and the water is already at 75 degrees or higher.
11. JUCO! JUnior COllege World Series takes place every year in GJ and we went to a couple games this year. Even Cora went to a game - she loved watching the people in the stands more than anything.

I may be forgetting something, but that's the majority of it. It was a wonderful month in many ways. Here is a link to my Facebook album with updated pictures some of these things.


Memorial Day weekend through the end of the month was especially busy. Friday evening we had a girls' night at church for the high school girls and upcoming freshmen. It was a super fun night and everything went without a hitch. I only slept from about 3 am till 7:15, got home at 9, showered and flew over to the circus! It was a frigid morning - well, 55 degrees feels frigid after a week of 80 degrees! But as they say, the show must go on! It was Cora's first circus and she really got into it. She loved watching the animals the most and seemed quite enthralled with the other events for the first hour and a half. During the break they had a petting zoo that she enjoyed and after that she just wanted to walk around the stadium. We were pretty impressed how long she sat and paid attention to the show. The elephants stole the show for me. They did handstands! For real! It was amazing, I LOVED it! (I didn't get a picture because I was so stunned by it!)

After church on Sunday we drove out to the cabin. We haven't been there much at all this year and it was really good to spend some time relaxing with Mom and Dad and Uncle Harv and Aunt Millie. It was nice for me, too, to have so many people around willing to help with Cora and Zeke! Cora is at a very fun age for playing outdoors and she loved playing on Grandpa's tractors, pushing all the "buttons" and "pulling" levers and making tractor noises with grandma. She also got a kick out of throwing sticks and rocks in the stream near the cabin.

We drove home with Mom and Dad because the car seemed to be getting sick and we didn't want to kill it on the drive home. So Friday Brad and dad returned to get it and Mom and I hung out in Montrose. We went for a walk at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to see one of the dams overflowing. That was pretty spectacular. But even more exciting was that while we were walking a big yellow butterfly landed on Cora's sun hat! OF COURSE, I had decided that I didn't have to take my camera EVERYWHERE so I didn't have it along. Boy, do I regret that...not that I would have gotten the camera out fast enough for a picture, but it was so cool to see her expression at the butterfly on her hat!

One last little note: Cora is really starting to imitate our words and sounds. She tries to say "church" (ch-ch) and when I made the mistake of giving her a taste of my hot chocolate - which she wanted to drink all of - she tried to say "chocolate" (goclate). Mom and I could NOT believe it! We have so much fun with her!