Ugly Sweater Party

Headed to an Ugly Sweater Party at the Naef's- even our bottle of wine had a holiday sweater!

Little Pumpkin at Cat-Griz

We took Ginny to her first Cat-Griz sattelite game in Bremerton at the Cloverleaf. It was a pretty lousy day to be a cats fan, but we had a blast with all the MSU alumni.

Thanks Auntie Meghan for Ginny's MSU outfit!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! You might notice that it's the end of December, which is a strange time to post about Halloween, but we're a little behind at our house....

For Ginny's first Halloween we wanted to make her a really fun costume, so we decided on the Little Mermaid. Ginny loves to splash in the water, and her little hair seems to be growing in red, so it seems like a good fit ;)

We spent a long weekend back in Iowa visiting my grandma, and it was fun to celebrate Halloween at her retirement community. Ginny participated in the costume contest, and won second place! She made lots of new friends, and had a great time at the party!

Visit from Grandpa Marc

Grandpa Marc came for a visit to help take care of Ginny while Todd was back in Virginia for work. He and Ginny spent time together every morning, and then Grandpa Marc worked on remodeling our bathroom in the new house. What a great help!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sad Ginny:

Happy Ginny!

We have so much to be thankful for this year!

Photo Book

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Gone Fishin'

A few weekends ago we spent the afternoon fishing off the pier on Kitsap Lake. Ginny loves to be in the middle of everything we're doing, and she was pretty fascinated with all the fishing gear.

And the look at that monster fish!

She thought that would be pretty cool to put in her mouth..... but sadly, she had to look with her eyes only ;)

Todd, the mighty fish slayer!

Around the house

A few pictures from the last few weeks:

Samson loves to curl up with her favorite dog toy, a little plush tree stump that has three little squeaky squirrels you hide inside it. We love it when she uses it for a pillow.

Ginny's hanging out in the bedroom while I put away laundry. She loves to be propped up so she can see what's going on, but she's not quite stable enough to stay upright for long.

New favorite activity: the jumper!

Looking super cute with her daddy.

And, our little couch potato!

Ginny's first folf disc

Todd is determined to make Ginny a disc golfer, so she is now the proud owner of 3 (yes three!) mini-discs. They've been working on grip and technique in their spare time, and she's already handling the discs like a pro. Or at least she loves to drool on them which will have to be good enough for now.

Boat Building

Todd's been busy working on a building a boat in our garage since last winter. A few weeks ago Brian came over to lend a hand and the guys got the fiberglass epoxied in place.

Starting to look like a real boat! We can't wait to take it out crabbing in the Puget Sound. Todd got some new crab pots for Father's Day this year in anticipation of many upcoming crabbing seasons.

Sunset in the park

An evening walk around the path at Lion's Park was a perfect end to the day. Sunset across the Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains in the background- perfect!

Happy dad, happy baby, happy dog ;)

A whole heap of cute!

We like to play little rhyming games with Ginny, and one she loves is

"Creepy, creepy little mousie,

from the barnyard to the housie (creeping fingers on tummy),

for bread (tickle),

butter (tickle)

and CHEESE (big tickle!)."

In honor of her favorite game, I couldn't pass up this cute little mouse hat for our cool fall walks.

Rub-a-dub-dub fresh from the tub! Ginny LOVES her bath- we give her one almost every night just because she loves it so much. She kicks and kicks and kicks in her little tub and SQUEALS and generally wears herself out with the awesomeness of bath time.

Sometime we plop her down on the couch and just cover her with all her toys. She loves it. So many things to slobber all over! So many textures! So many shapes! It's an orgy of fun :) 

First bites!

We've added a small serving of rice cereal to Ginny's daily diet, and she is LOVING it. When she sees the spoon coming towards her mouth she gets all excited and starts to squirm around- you have to have a quick and steady hand to get the spoon on target in her little mouth.

And then you have to fight for control of the spoon, because Ginny is pretty sure she would like to be in charge. And maybe flail it around a little, spreading cereal far and wide! Especially in her hair! 

Yummy fun times :)

A Day at the Park

We just rediscovered Lions Park in Bremerton this summer; we'd visited the park a few times when we first moved here five years ago, and the park was pretty run down and seedy back then. Earlier this summer, Todd wanted to try out some new places to fish and since Lion's Park is right on the water, Todd suggested we take a picnic lunch there one afternoon. We are so glad we gave it another try! The park has been totally redone, and has beautiful stretchs of green grass, and a great little paved path that loops the park. Every time we're there the crews seem to be making improvements- last month they put in a series of rock statues of a pod of whales surfacing. They are made for kids to climb all over them, and they are beautiful and understated and perfect for a waterfront park.

On a sunny afternoon this week we took advantage of our free time in the middle of the day- after I get home from my half-day, and before Todd heads in for his swing shift- and soaked up the sun at Lion's Park.

We set up camp in the grass and Ginny practiced her rolling over skills. She's turning into a total pro :)

Of course, her favorite game is to fly with dad. Everybody knows that dad's are the most fun....

And Todd even got some time to fish- you can just barely see him on the left. Sadly, he didn't even get a nibble. The view of the Olympic Mountains across the Puget Sound is one of the reasons we love this park. 

Planking. So easy a baby can do it.

Just to show how hip she is, Ginny would like you to see her planking skills.

And that's all there is to say about that.

Around the House

Our new favorite game of all time: taking all of the spoons and utensils out of the jar and throwing them on the floor! We can play this game for HOURS and it never seems to get old. That's okay with mom and dad- it gives them time to do dishes and cook dinner, so it's a win-win :)

Uncle John came for a visit for a few days in August. He was driving from Alaska to Connecticut and we got to sneak in a few days with him along the way. We took him for an evening walk down to the marina, and spent some time around the house cooking and playing games. Ginny loved hanging out with Uncle John!

Tummy time fun with the boppy! Now that her head and neck are stronger, she likes playing on her tummy much better than before. It used to be that tummy time was where she went to cry, so we didn't really do it too much. I'm glad we're past that stage.

And evidence that Todd and I are up for "Parents of the Year" award:

Can't wait till this one hits college. Oh dear.



A visit from Granny Annie

My mom came down for a long weekend visit over Labor Day weekend. Ginny was very excited to see her grandma and get spoiled all weekend long.

Spending some time reading together.

And taking walks in the yard...

And three generations together!

Trip to Montana

 During our trip to Montana for Jessica and Travis's wedding, we took some extra time to along the way to see visit some friends. Kelly and I worked together at the coffee stand on campus at MSU, and our babies were born just a month apart. We stopped in Belgrade for a visit and got to meet Sage and catch up with Kelly and Adrian. Cute babes! I mean Ginny and Sage, of course :)

Next, we headed to Todd's grandparents place in Paradise Valley. Probably one of my favorite places in the world to spend time. We take walks to the river, eat great meals fresh from the (HUGE!!!) garden, sleep in, and enjoy happy hour every night on the deck. Truly relaxing.

And Ginny got to meet her namesake, her great-grandma!

Bill & Ginny & Ginny in front of Strawberry Mountain.

Then it was on to Billings for all the wedding festivities. We snuck in an opportunity for a family picture at the rehearsal BBQ at Jessica's parent's house. It was a fun and rowdy night with all the Periuses and Friedmans cutting loose a little- getting warmed up for the big day :)

We took home one tired baby.

Another family picture- I'm dressed in my bridesmaid's dress and ready to go. Todd and Ginny got ready at the last possible minute to preserve their clothes from the inevitable spit-up as long as possible.

Ginny looked so cute in her little poofy dress- and she did great all night. She danced with the Bride during the dollar dance and got passed around all the family at the reception- everybody loves a baby!

 

Jessica picked really elegant colors for the wedding- navy and silver, with pops of pink in the flowers and details. She had stargazer lilies for her bouquet and it was a beautiful and bright. Ginny and I painted our toenails to match :) Painting an infants toenails required quick-drying polish, tiny paint brushes and lots of nail polish remover. In the end, it was pretty adorable.

Sunday was a day spend on the road, but we fit in a stop in Deer Lodge to meet my college friend Brook for a visit. We met in the dorms when we lived a few doors apart in South Hedges, and have a decade long friendship. It's always nice to get some time together.