October '11

Alice enjoys posing for pictures now. Occasionally she gets out the camera and requests (through her actions since her verbal communication is still limited) to have her picture taken. This time she wanted to take a picture w/ Anna. She continues to love her sister to pieces!

Alice and her friend Lily

Alice's friend Hudson had his 4th birthday party at the Inflatable Park. Alice has been there once before so this time she was more comfortable and seemed to have more fun.

She even decided she could do the biggest slide... climbing way up to the top.

Alice coming down the BIG slide!

Anna has become quite the smiler. Her smiles, giggles, and coos are adorable!

She can really lift her legs up too.

Jameson and I decided to try our own version of the pizza we got from Tony Roma's on our mini-vacation.... thin crust, a little horseradish and havarti cheese (in leu of sauce), steak, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, green onions, and blue cheese.... it was equally delicious!

We make pizza almost weekly, so Alice has learned the process and loves to join in! She also loves to 'taste test' the toppings.... cheese, peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms.... everything except the basil which she discovered doesn't taste good before being baked.

ALICE's 2nd BIRTHDAY

We celebrated Alice's birthday by having both our families up for the weekend. This included Grandpa and Grandma Teeselink, Great-Grandma Granger, Uncle Matt, Grandpa and Grandma Roose, Uncle Austin, and Aunt Jenessa (who didn't have to come far, but thankfully didn't have to work).

Clifford is one of Alice's favorite characters, so my mom made her a Clifford birthday cake. My mom always made beautiful cakes for my birthday so I knew she'd do a terrific job with Alice's!

Alice wasn't sure about blowing out her candles. She does a good job blowing on her food at supper when it is hot. It appears, though, that we have made her afraid of fire by telling her it is 'hot' and making sure she stays away from it, the grill, the oven, etc. Thus, it took quite a bit of convincing to even get her to come up to the cake and blow out her candles. In the end, mom and dad had to help her out.

One of our birthday traditions (which are just starting) is to watch a slide show of fun memories from the past year. Alice really enjoyed watching and we feel so blessed to have such a sweet little girl!

In addition to a fun birthday party, Alice had a lot of fun with family.

Alice playing with Grandma Teeselink at the park.

Alice and Anna getting a horsey ride on Grandma Roose

Alice and Uncle Matt with her new bike.

Working on screen porch.

ANNA's BAPTISM

Anna was baptized the same weekend as Alice's birthday so we had all our family in town plus additional extended family who came up for the day on Sunday. Everyone stayed for fellowship lunch at church and then come over to our house for a brief visit.

Anna also 'rolled over' Sunday night after everyone left. She hasn't done it again since, so apparently it was more of a 'fall over' but we'll count it none the less.

Anna has started holding onto things and putting them in her mouth. She drools and has her hands in her mouth just as much as Alice did so she wears a bib most of the time to prevent her shirt from getting soaked.

Alice has started sorting things by colors... play plates, bowls, and utensils... letters on the fridge... etc. She doesn't know her colors yet, but she can sort them, so it's a start.

Alice continues to love Anna and does everything she can to take care of her. When Alice first wakes up in the morning, she wants to check on Anna. If Anna's fussy/crying she looks for Anna's pacifier ('ba ba') and tries to give it to her. At the beginning she was a bit aggressive, but now she gives it to her very gently. Alice makes sure Anna always has her burp rag and a few toys close by. She also has learned that she should be quiet when Anna is napping and puts her finger up to her mouth to signal quiet. I'm SO thankful that she loves her sister SO much!

Alice and Anna 'playing together' for the first time! :)

I put Anna in the walker so I could finish curling my hair. Alice immediately pulled up her stool and started 'reading' to Anna. This got me so excited for the future... I pray that they girls will be great friends and have tons of fun together.

Note: this was when Anna was first starting to wear a bib for all her slobber so Alice still hadn't figured out why Anna wears a bib when she's not eating and decided she needed one if Anna needed one.

Alice 'reading' to Anna on the floor

Alice loves to talk to Anna when she is in her high chair. This is great as it allows me to prep supper and do dishes while watching and talking to both of them.

If I sit Anna in a chair, Alice will crawl right up and sit next to her. Alice then grins from ear to ear as she is so proud/excited to be sitting by her sister.

We went down to Jameson's family for Peter's Baptism.
Anna and Peter

Alice loves helping me wash dishes. She pulls her stool over from the other side of the counter, climbs up and helps by handing me items to wash. I keep her 'helping' by requesting various items such as "hand me all the spoons". I pray that she is always this eager to help and does so with such a good attitude!

We carved out first pumpkin as a family this year.

Scooping out the seeds and pulp and sorting the seeds so we could roast them. (The roasted seeds turned out very tasty!)

Alice showing off our pumpkin

Lit up, which Alice really liked.

Alice successfully blew out the candle before bed, so she learned something from her birthday candles. Maybe next year she'll be able to blow those out.

Alice learns more words everyday. Recently she started telling me what she wants for breakfast after I ask...
Me- "Alice, what do you want for breakfast today?"
Alice- "Lo Los" (cheerios) or "Oree" (Raisin bran)
She is also becoming increasingly more interested in what things are called. She points to things and says "tadt" meaning, what's that called? After I tell her she usually tried to say the word, some words sound very close and others barely resemble the actual words, but I love that she is trying and it is so much fun to see her learning to communicate what she observes and what she wants.

Fall Mini-Vacation

We took mini-vacation to northeast Iowa to view fall colors. We certainly got to see a lot of God's beautiful vacation and enjoyed getting away as a family. We left Thursday late afternoon and headed to Dubuque, going off road thru Graf and up Potter's Hill (which Jameson had biked up on RAGBRAI last summer). It was amazing how far you could see and the trees and countryside was BEAUTIFUL!

After checking in to a hotel, we had supper at Tony Roma's. The flatbread pizza appetizer was very tasty!

Jameson and Anna at the resturant

After supper we took Alice for a swim in the hotel pool. She had a great time, despite that she was freezing because she doesn't move enough in the water to keep herself warm.

Alice got to sleep in her own queen bed, which she was delighted about!

Both girls slept well and woke up early and ready to go. After a tasty breakfast at the hotel, we headed north along Great River Road.
We saw a lot of beautiful trees over looking the Mississippi!

We stopped at a park in Guttenburg, IA to play / strech and feed Anna.

Watching the barge go through the lock in Guttenburg.

Alice enjoyed reading a lot of books. Hopefully in upcoming years she'll appreciate the beautiful colors of the leaves more.

We went to Pikes Peak state park and took a short hike/walk to Bridal Veil Falls.
Jameson and Alice

Me and Anna

Family photo at Pikes Peak overlooking the Mississippi :)

Beautiful Trees

Our mini-vacation ended by coming home and going to a UNI Volleyball game

Sept. '11

Alice's first day with full pigtails.

Alice has been having a lot of fun swimming in her pool in the backyard. She loves laying on her tummy and kicking her feet and blowing bubbles.

Alice has finally decided that getting her picture taken is fun and now makes BIG Cheesy smiles for the camera.

Jameson and I got to go to the Iowa State vs. Iowa game in Ames. His friend won tickets and gave them to us since he already had season tickets. Our wonderful friend Gayle, along with her two girls, graciously agreed to watch Alice and Anna for the day since both Grandmas were busy. This was my first time away from Anna for more than an hour. It was a close and exciting game from the beginning to the end. After 3 overtimes, Iowa State won 44-40. It was a great game to be at!

Labor Day Weekend we spent the weekend at Jameson's families. We've been staying with his parents the last couple times as Jameson's brother Austin has graciously moved to the downstairs bedroom when we come so that we can have both bedrooms upstairs during our visit. This works out great, allowing Alice to have her own bedroom which helps her, and thus us, sleep much better.

Alice and Anna with Grandma Roose

Jameson and his dad did some fishing and caught several large fish.

Alice had fun playing with her cousins, especially Timothy. He's older so there's not competition for toys between them and he does a great job of helping watch out for her. She can now say Timothy ('T T'), Arie, and Lydia and has mentioned them at least once, usually multiple times, everyday since this visit. When I ask her who we should pray for Timothy is frequently one of the first people she mentions.

Alice playing with Timothy.

Anna showing Grandma Roose her delightful smiles

Anna and Great-Grandma Roose

Alice geared up to cheer on the Cyclones. (Cheesing, but not quite as much.)

Daddy having quality time w/ his little girls.

Alice & Anna 'riding horse' on the chair arms.

We went down to Jameson's family again at the end of September to meet our newest nephew, Peter, the weekend after he was born.

Anna & Peter (2 months apart)

Jameson and Peter

We went to a nearby farm with grandma, grandpa, Aunt Joy, and the cousins to buy some pumpkins for fall decor.

Alice & Pumpkin

Saturday night we had a hot dog roast at the farm.

Alice 'helping' Grandma Roose & Uncle Austin w/ dishes.