Taking a very important call from Aunt Mindy
Uncle Kodiak and Norah, racing
Grammie Peggy chases Mr. E. He's fast - I don't know how we'll keep up as he grow.
Dannelle and Neil, swinging Josie Pie.
Aunt Katie is multi-tasking - swinging with Emerson and talking on the phone. And I thought I had skills...
Dannelle and Josie joined Katie and I - I LOVE having my sisters-in-law living so close now! Not only is it a never-ending delight to have my nieces near me, I've really enjoyed spending more time with Katie and Dannelle. Lucky me!
Emerson and Josie, fighting over my purse. I thought Josie was so excited to see me - she ran right over as soon as she saw me. It turned out she just wanted my purse and keys. :-)
Dannelle and Josie
I must say, this looks better in the photo than in real life. :-) That said, she did a great job! She learned about different kinds of brush strokes and color mixing (she's been testing me on that ever since - red and blue make what? and so on), water colors and crayons (or whatever the art equivalent is). Pretty cool!
So excited to tell me all about it
Norah really likes to dress up and is very interested in earrings. The shop had magnetic ones, so we compromised and got those for her. Now I am worried about her swallowing them and perforating her organs, but that's just the over-protective mother in me. :-) We had a good long talk about never putting them in our mouths because they could poke holes in her body. So now she's telling people that her earrings are dangerous and can make your belly button bleed. I hope I don't totally warp her before she is four...
So - as you can see from the faces - there was a lot of hesitation about the carousel! We were happiest on the bench, so enjoyed the ride around on that a few times. They warmed up after the initial shock!
Um, hi. Could these kids be any cuter????
N, E and the G'rents in their backyard
Watching Strider fetch his dummies from the pond
Emerson was in heaven - dogs outnumbered humans 2-1. :-) I think he may have literally said "dog" at least a hundred times.
Norah was considering jumping in this puddle...sneaky...
Strider, the wonder-lab
Jones barely got his feet wet, but it was all we could do to keep Emerson out of the water. Norah kept herself attached to Grandpa.
After our hike we headed over to Grandpa and Gramma's house to hang out for a while. Emerson and I took the opportunity to sneak off to the OSU bookstore for souveniers - or investment pieces, as I like to think of it. We are investing in N&E's future attendance there. Emerson is sporting his first Beavers cap (most unhappy that I was taking his pic) and yes, I did recieve a few comments regarding the terrible green that he was sporting in Beaver-land. Lots of things have gone to the OS, from OSU. Is it just me? When I see that I think Operating System, not Oregon State. Nonetheless, we proudy wear our orange.
Grandpa's backyard is so neat - he has built several beautiful Japanese-inspired features, in addition to gorgeous landscaping. We'd like to have him move in with us as our permanent groundskeeper. :-)
Sitting on the Propstra Square rock - know who its named after?? Answer at the end of the post - or do some research at the link here. :-)http://www.columbian.com/history/profiles/Georgepropstra.cfm
Emerson thought this curb was his very own balance beam. He climbed up then very carefully walked his way down it, periodically stopping to clap for his progress. His personality is beginning to pop out!
Aunt Katie and Josie. Josie was full of spunk and fun today as well. She gets bonus points for spotting me when we first arrived, then running as fast as she could to have me pick her up. She kept climbing across our picnic blankets to sit in my lap - at one point she backed up and sat on Norah's sandwich during the process. She also seems to understand everything we say, so we'll really need to watch ourselves. She and Emerson are only a few months apart in age. As the older woman, Josie keeps E on his toes. Actually, she usually shoves him over when he's in her way. That's a girl I can identify with.
Swings are always a favorite for the Skogen clan - I think we could spend our entire time there. However, I enjoy exhausting the kids by running them all over the toys, so have to boot them off the swings.
The biggest slide EVER with Hadley and Norah. Everyone took turns - Uncle Neil carried Josie and Emerson up and slid them down like torpedos - no worries, Katie and I were at the bottom to catch them. :-)
Going on an adventure around the block
Aunt Katie found a rainbow
Cute as ever, Miss Hadley Bug. She is my cuddly little neice as well - always wants to hang out with me. I wish the rest of the world liked me as much as my sweet neices do!
Hadley and Norah are both three, although Hadley will be turning four in a few weeks. Norah loves having a cousin her age - and we love having her live so close by!
Not to drop names or anything, but here is Uncle Neil and his very good friend Ike.
When is this baby coming? Aunt Dannelle is starting to look pregnant - any guess on when little Don (yeah, I'm naming him after me) will arrive?
Crazy Grammie (at least carzy by the time the night was over) held a V-day sleepover for all the girls. They had quite the good time! Misty is in town, and between the two of them they kept things slightly sane.
Yummy breakfast
Craft time! Aunt Lynne taught us to make these cute paper bag picture books - Grammie adapted the idea for the girls. It was a fun souvenier to take home from the big day. Dannelle always makes fun of me for scrapbooking (she hates it, but she's from Utah, birthplace of scrapbooking...seems like she should LOVE it), yet here she is having a jolly time with Josie. Thanks, Grammie!
