Thanksgiving/Anniversary Walk-Nov 22, 2012

We drove to Sisters on Thanksgiving and found some snow to take a walk in.  Farmer had a blast, and AnnCarter loved watching him :-)  It was exactly what I was hoping for that day.  I love taking walks in the woods with my family--especially in snow (we're going to miss that, but we're gaining some sweet new venues too).

Trying to crawl or at least move in any way :-)

AnnCarter is on the brink of crawling, though sometimes we think she might master walking before crawling. Both, I'm thinking are still weeks away, but you never know.  All mile stones she seems to just suddenly get out of the blue.  She wants so badly to be able to move though! I'm ready for her to (though I may regret saying that later--I know she will be constantly on the move :-) On her stomach she kicks her legs and moves her arms in a desparate attempt to get somewhere.  She does the same thing if you're holding her and she see someone or something she wants. 

And let me tell you too, this girl is social! She came to the doctors office with me yesterday and was the hit of the waiting room.  She'd just stare a person until they made eye contact with her, and then she'd just smile and laugh and squeal.  She loved it!  And so did the other people. Later in the day, I took her to the ranch office for some more interaction.  She loves the people we work with and knows she'll get to have lots of attention and fun trips outside when we go, not to mention Ellen giving her treats of all kinds (including a chocolate chip cookie the other day :-)

Ready for a Walk in the Cold

A yummy grilled cheese sandwich!

This video is really long--sorry about that.  But we thought it was really cute (probably b/c we're her parents).  She reached for the last grilled cheese sandwich on the table and proceeded to try to eat it. And offered it to the camera.  She seemed to really enjoy it.

A few pictures-8 months

 

Playing with her keyboard--she's a good typer.

 

Petting Farmer.  She likes dogs and animals (horses are really the only other ones she's been around a bit).

AC Clapping on her own

We realized the other night that if you ask AnnCarter to clap, she knows what you're asking her to do and will start clapping without being shown.  I was amazed!  She is definitely picking up on language.  She's also started to wave a bit this week--I will try to catch that on video soon.  She doesn't do it all the time, but she's connecting more and more when you're supposed to do it and will often start waving if someone new enters the room.  She is growing fast!

Installed!!

I installed the desk last night! I'm still pretty dang blown away that everything worked and came out right. The Lord provides! Praise the Lord!

 

And the table tops. These pictures really don't do that western maple justice. I hope to be able to get better pictures when I install it wednesday night.

 

And the table tops. These pictures really don't do that western maple justice. I hope to be able to get better pictures when I install it wednesday night.

 

Here are the cabinets. They are upstairs in the house along with the table tops so that I can keep them in a stable climate.

 

 

Here are the cabinets. They are upstairs in the house along with the table tops so that I can keep them in a stable climate.

Post final coat-Hutch

So, none of the following pictures are going to be any good because, this just in, i can't control my flash. Everytime I tried to get a picture of any of this stuff, I either had too much flash or not enough and thus got a shaky picture. Lame. Especially when I took several photography classes at McCallie and Covenant....I blame the lacquer fumes.

These are pictures of the hutch after the final coat. I haven't put the shelves in any of the bays and the far right side still has pegs in the adjustable shelving holes from when I was lacquering.

coat 2

Finish Coat 1

Desk/Hutch pre-finish

More Clapping

Clapping is AnnCarter's newest "trick" :-) She just started really doing it yesterday. I've seen her clap a bit before, but now she's actually doing it purposefully and imitating it almost anytime someone else does it.  It's really cute.  Marshall was in awe of it as he watched yesterday.  As new parents, each new thing she suddenly learns--all on her own it seems--is fascinating :-)

Clapping

Bedtime w/ Farmer

New Dress made by Bitsy

 

Bitsy, we love this dress!!!  It's so cute.  I'll get some better pictures of her in it, but it fits very well and is a great fall/winter dress.  I just happen to have the perfect tights and sweater to go with it. We received many compliments on it :-)

desk new 001

Trying this one again

Just Lounging

Carter 7 months 005

Some Videos

I tried AnnCarter in some of her new winter clothes that I purchased recently with a gift card--she has plenty of room to grow!  (and the sweater is a 3-6 mo size :-) She enjoys playing with her remote (the one we no longer need for our tv, therefore one she can chew on as much as she wants).

First Little Camping Trip

Eating her first graham cracker--she loved it and did well with it. As you can see in the picture below, it was all over her face :-)

Playing in the dirt :-)

 

We ending up staying the night on the camping trip--camping up at Elk Lake.  It was such a warm evening and AnnCarter was doing so well, I decided to go for it.  She did great!  She slept really well, which I was thankful for, only waking up once and going back to sleep quite easily.  It was a fun little adventure.  This baby LOVES to be outside.

7 months old tomorrow!

 

This little girl is so cute!  And getting so big!!! The other day I was holding her and it suddenly felt like I was holding a two year old or something compared to a little petite baby.  She's still small but her personality is growing and she's acting older every day.  I think this week was one of those transitional weeks for her.  All of a sudden 7:30 is her new bedtime (most nights).  Before, she would usually not be ready for bed until some time between 8 and 9.  But a few nights this week if we did not have her on her way to bed around 7:30 she would get incredibly cranky--crying then laughing then crying and obviously very frustrated.  I thought it was kind of cute--I just liked how she was learning to communicate how she felt in a new way.  Marshall thought I was crazy :-) 

She's eating solids well, learning to drink from a sippy cup (we're just skipping the bottle altogether at this point), and she's mimicking us more and more in hand gestures, etc.  I've been stocking up on some winter clothes for her--I've had a few gift cards I've used to get her some more pants and shoes, since I cannot keep her in onsies like I did most of last winter.  We've had a few somewhat cooler days and a few nights have gotten down to the freezing mark, so the weather's getting ready to change here.  I loved the little outfit she has on above--mostly hand-me-downs from a friend in the area.  I thought she looked like she was ready to go climbing or somthing ;-)

We were going to go on our first little camping trip tonight, but AnnCarter woke up with her first little cold today.  Thankfully it's not a bad one--she was still very energetic, but I did not want her to have to sleep in the cold air tonight.  Last night she woke up about every other hour and stirred just a bit.  I thought it would not be very kind to the others we would be with (nor fun for me to have to get up with her so much in that setting), and I want to make sure she gets some good rest, so we're going to join our friends for a while at their campsite and then drive home to sleep. Maybe next time...

Wildfire and balloons

 

A wildfire broke out just below the North Sister late last week.  Here are a few pictures of the beginnings of it that Marshall took from the Butte behind our house.  Thankfully there are not any homes or anything in danger, though the fire is somewhat close to Sisters, so that town is having to keep a close watch and there's been a healthy advisory put out about the air quality in that town.  Occassionally it'll smell like a campfire in Bend if the wind blows in our direction, but for the most part it's stayed pretty clear.  We watched planes fly over our house a bunch taking the stuff they drop on fires the first day it broke out (since we live so close to the airport), and now they say it'll take till the first fall rains for the fire to be completely out.  It's been nothing but clear skies so far, but September is when rain seems to begin to be possible again around here--we've had a lot of it on past horse pack trips we've done with the ranch in the mountains this time of year. 

Carter was also given a balloon last week.  She fell asleep with it on the way home :-)