July 20-27

Gretchen goes up stairs quite well now.  She insists on climbing them herself every time we come up from the basement (which is at least twice a day since our chapel is downstairs).  We're still working on going down backwards, rather than leading with the head.  :)

Olivia is tall enough to reach many of the light switches in our house.  She's even tall enough to turn them back off!  She has also figured out that she can push the steps in the bathroom over to the door and stand on them to lock the hook.  You know, just in case Gretchen figures out doorknobs any time soon.  Luckily, she can also unlock the hook, so we haven't had to break the door down.

Sleeping has improved.  You may recall that we moved the girls into the same bedroom.  It was rough for a month or so.  They'd stay up too late talking or yelling or jumping or whining or whatever.  Gretchen was so excited by Olivia's presence that she couldn't sleep, and Olivia was so busy telling Gretchen to go to sleep that she couldn't sleep either.  And then there was the whole light problem.  But that's all better now.  We remove the light bulb every night, and Olivia hasn't even tested the switch for over a week now.  We're going to continue to "break" the light for the time being, just in case.  :)  We also discovered that everything goes more smoothly if Gretchen is asleep (or at least almost asleep) when Olivia comes into the room to go to bed.  We did that successfully for quite some time, but lately Gretchen has been awake and everything has still been fine.  They're used to each other and are able to ignore each other and settle down relatively quickly.  Hooray!

Gretchen has words word-like sounds.  If you live with her (and are her mother, apparently, because Bryan can't always understand her) you can sometimes make out what she's trying to say.  She has a very clear "yeah" and a getting clearer "no."  Other than that, it's kind of a guessing game.  I'm convinced that she says "I want that," "Olivia," "drink," "I'm done," "want down," and "read again."  I've also heard "floor," "chair," "sit," and "book."

Olivia's clock turns green when she's allowed to get out of bed in the morning.  For a while we thought she had grasped the concept, but then it turned out to be a fluke: she just slept later than the clock most mornings.  Then we went through a few months where we asked her what color her clock was when she came out of the room every morning.  Now I think she's really got it, though.  She waits for the clock and then comes out and says, "My clock turned green, I can get up now!"

My garden is a jungle.  I've gotten several good sized zucchini and three dinners worth of green beans.  We got about 5 pea pods before the combined force of the green beans and the zucchini bullied them out of the garden.  :(  I pulled out all the dead pea plants and then harvested the beets (which were also looking sun-starved), so hopefully my green beans will rally and continue producing.  I frequently prune my zucchini plant because it is taking up way more than its fair share of garden space.  Unfortunately, all the sad looking leaves are the ones on the side where there aren't any other plants.  The healthy leaves are muscling their way into green bean territory.  The carrot we pulled up was a little small, but tasty, so we're letting the rest of the carrots sit a little longer.  The peppers are getting big, and Bryan keeps trying to pick the biggest one, and I keep reminding him that the biggest one is on the yellow pepper plant.  :)  I have tons of green tomatoes of varying sizes and two that turned light pink this week.  This garden is worth it just for the increased tomato yield.  :)

We're moving!  We've been looking at houses in Lima and found one that we really like.  The basement is detached, meaning it is under the house but has no indoor stairs.  Indoor stairs wouldn't be too hard to add, but Bryan likes that extra escape that an office in a detached basement would offer when he works from home.  Anyway, we made an offer, they countered, yada yada yada, and we're closing on August 20th!  The sellers then have a month to vacate, so we won't realistically be moving until at least October.

We're camping this week and then going to a wedding over the weekend, so next week's newsy post will be a bit delayed until the following Sunday.  I've got some pictures and videos (and house stuff) that I'll schedule to go up next Sunday, though, so that you won't suffer withdrawal.  :)

Pictures:

Fun Friday - July 25

Previous answer: The Adventures of the Queen - A luxury liner is sunk in an attempt to kill one of its filthy rich passengers.



Last week's word: Bignonia

1.  A type of flower.

2.  The fear or phobia of abnormally large objects.

3.  Woody tropical vines named for Louis the 15th's librarian.

4.  A very fancy and expensive form of bologna that is served in limousines along with caviar.

5.  A begonia and magnolia hybrid plant.



This week's initials: I.B.C.A.

*NOTE* This is another two-week submission period.  Submit answers by August 6, and I'll see you back here on August 8.

July 13-20

Gretchen's status as a one-nap baby didn't last very long.  She's back to two naps most days, but they're at inconvenient times and of awkward lengths.

You've heard of a herd of cows and perhaps even a gaggle of geese, but have you heard of a storm of girls?  That's what Bryan calls Olivia and Gretchen when they both come running at the same time.  I wonder what he'll use when we have boys?

We went to the zoo on Saturday.  Being a conscientious mother, I brought the camera with us to document Gretchen's first trip to the zoo.  Being a little too related to my own mother, I left said camera in the car.  I also left my phone in the car.  Oh well.  I can still give you a recap.  :)

Unlike our last visit to the zoo, this one was cool and rainy.  We started in the Asian section and both girls were impressed with the elephants and monkeys.  In the reptile house, the water monitor was very active and kept coming up to the glass to lick it, presumably to determine if any of the children on the other side would be particularly tasty.  Olivia did not like the bats, but was especially excited to see some tigers later in the exhibit.  Gretchen's favorite part of Asia was the Pheasant Aviary, where she managed to spot a large, brightly colored bird all by herself.

After Asia we ate lunch and then decided to check out North America and Africa.  For the geographically challenged, Columbus Zoo reminds us that these two continents are right next to each other.  :-P  We sped through the moose and bears, although we did take some time to view Gretchen's new favorite exhibit: the fish in the polar bears' lake.  Of all the animals we saw this trip, the moose and brown bears were the most active.  We hypothesized that it is because they feel the most at home in a central Ohio zoo.  :)

On our last zoo trip, we noticed that Africa was entirely encompassed by the Congo.  The zoo has since expanded, and now has an Africa section (in addition to retaining the original Congo).  There was a large savanna where we saw giraffes, zebras, one ostrich, and a variety of other birds.  It was feeding time for the giraffes, so we got a close up view of a giraffe (and its exceptionally long tongue), although we did not get in line to feed it.  Fun fact: Giraffe tongues are 18-20 inches long and a dark bluish-purple color.  After Africa, Bryan introduced the girls to Dippin' Dots before we set off in search of the exit.  Two tired little girls (and one tired Bryan) napped all the way home.  :)

Pictures and Videos:

Fun Friday - July 18

Previous answer: January 9, 1975 - A man yodeled for five hours and three minutes, breaking all previous yodeling records.

*The answer about John Fenton becoming a teenager was technically also correct (I knew I shouldn't have picked that date!), so I gave a point to people who answered with that.  As Jillian pointed out, though, when appealing to a broader audience, such a family-specific answer is probably not what we're going for.  :)



Last week's movie: The Adventures of the Queen

1. A luxury liner is sunk in an attempt to kill one of its filthy rich passengers.

2. A queen journeys to the Amazon and faces many dangers and adventures while looking for her lost son.

3. The passenger ship, Queen Mary, sets out on a routine passage between New York and South Hampton only to discover they have been led off course.  What adventures will await the passengers at their accidental destination?  Starring Don Knotts.

4. A documentary that follows John Barlow, a biologist, as he explores the queen bee, her life, death, and place in the hive.



We're back to definitions!

This week's word: Bignonia

July 6-13

Lots of Olivia updates this week:

Olivia has learned the word "naked."  Not only has she learned it, but she thinks it's hilarious.  Anyone who does not meet Olivia's standards of dress is identified as being naked.  Loudly.

I've mentioned the Monkey Silly Song before, where Larry from the Veggie Tales teaches us how to tell the difference between a monkey and an ape (a monkey has a tail, an ape does not).  Olivia enjoys singing this song, and we've used it to properly identify one of her small plastic animals as an ape.  After we finished discussing it one day, though, she picked up a plastic sheep and said, "The sheep doesn't have a tail.  It's an ape!"

In the car, we sometimes sing There's a Hole in the Bucket.  Olivia was trying to sing this and got all the words and melody right except for one small problem: she got caught in a loop.  "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket..."  I finally rescued her from her loop and told her to "fix it, dear Henry," to which she responded with a quizzical, "fix it?!"

We are gaining an understanding of time over here.  Olivia always wants to know what time it is (and always insists that the time is one-two).  I showed her where the clock is in the car, so she reads the numbers off even though she doesn't know what they mean.  She does have a vague understanding of order of events, though, and correctly uses words like "first," "next," and "later."  She's also been trying to explain when things happen, and this is where the confusion shows.  "Last night" means "earlier than now" and "tomorrow" means "much later."  When Bryan comes home for lunch each day, he often gets a recitation of all the things (like breakfast) that we did "last night."

And one Gretchen note: She says woof.  Kind of.  If you can catch Gretchen at the right moment, she will answer "what does a dog say?" with "fffff."  My mom taught her this trick while we were in Florida and is quite proud of the fact that she still does it.  :)

Pictures:

Fun Friday - July 11

Previous answer: Susanna Bokoyni - A Hungarian dwarf who was the oldest in history, living to 105.



Last week's date: January 9, 1975

1.  Pong was created.

2.  A man yodeled for five hours and three minutes, breaking all previous yodeling records.

3.  John Fenton became a teenager.

4.  A plane holding three famous singers crashed.



This week's category is movies.  Give me a short synopsis to for the movie title that I provide.

This week's movie: The Adventures of the Queen

June 29-July 6

Sorry that this post is a little late.  Last week was spent in the dripping wet humidity of Florida as we visited my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Because everyone knows that the best time of year to visit Florida is early July.  You know, to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of the midwest.

Mom, Dad, Joe, Jillian, and James came to our house Friday night.  Then we all woke up bright and early on Saturday morning -- or does 5 AM count as dark and early? -- to make the 15 hour drive to Florida.  Impressively, our total travel time, including stops for gas and meals, was just under 17 hours.  The girls did remarkably well, although they napped so much that bedtime was a bit of ordeal once we arrived.  :/

Weather aside, it was quite a nice trip.  Mom, Dad, the girls, and I took a daily walk down to the playground each morning before the slides got too hot.  This served the double purpose of getting noisy little girls out of the house while older people slept draped on every available surface.  Olivia used Opa as her personal assistant and he helped her clamber over every structure at the park.  After many days of hemming and hawing on the part of Olivia, Oma finally tossed her down the tallest tube slide on the playground, which cured Olivia's need to climb up and then not go down.  After that, Olivia stuck to the slides she was willing to brave.  We usually headed back to eat breakfast by 8:30, so those light-sleeping teenagers that weren't up by the time breakfast was over were just out of luck where rest was concerned.

We took one day to go to the beach because, as Bryan pointed out, "you can't go to Florida and not visit the beach!"  I beg to differ; the pool at Uncle Paul and Aunt Char's house provided all the benefits of the beach (water) and only half the disadvantages (heat, but not sand).  We picked a good day to go, though, because the normally placid bay looked more like a wave pool while we were there.  A stiff breeze kept the bugs and heat at bay, and Gretchen and I sat in the shallows to get splashed by waves while Olivia ventured further into the ocean with the big kids, marveling at her sudden ability to reach the bottom of something so big.  Then Bryan helped Olivia build a sand castle while Gretchen sat on a towel and contentedly tried to fill Rachelle's flip flop with sand, one handful at a time.

My cousins and siblings were very helpful in entertaining the girls.  They read stories, blew bubbles, drew with chalk, and went exploring.  Olivia convinced several people to draw chalk pictures for her, and Gretchen took to standing by the door with the chalk container, stretching as high as she could to reach the knob until whoever happened to be walking by took pity on her and took her outside for a few minutes.  Jillian says that Gretchen spent more time coloring her own legs than the sidewalk, but at least she did it outside.  :)

Ricky introduced us to a game that he (or maybe his friends?) invented, and the whole 13-25 crowd played voccus (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) nightly.  Bryan and I joined them once or twice, as did some of the aunts and uncles (and James, whenever he could convince mom that it was a good idea).  It was pretty fun when I did play, although our games were cut short by automatic street light timers, and I'm not hardcore enough to play in the dark.  :)  More exciting was the series of soccer games that we played Friday afternoon (yes, in the heat of the day).  Somehow playing pick-up soccer with the cousins in 90 degree weather with 94% humidity (I checked; at least there was a breeze that day!) seems more authentic than playing intramural college soccer in late October in Michigan.

Olivia didn't pick up any new talents during this week, although she did discover a favorite hat that had a fish sticking out of it.  Pictures of that below.  Gretchen, on the other hand, decided that this was the perfect week to improve herself in leaps and bounds.  She began walking regularly, and now only crawls when she needs to get somewhere exceptionally quickly.  She also perfected getting off furniture without dying, so she now at least attempts to swing her legs around so that she's not plunging off couches headfirst.  In a final development, Gretchen made great strides toward eliminating her morning nap.  Some days she still took a short morning nap, but many days she found it unnecessary and was able to maintain a good mood until after lunch time.

Dad flew back Saturday morning, so the rest of us took a more leisurely trip north, spending two days in the car to avoid the 17 hour marathon.  Once again, the girls handled things well, although I could have done without the last two hours.  Still, two rough hours out of 34 in the car isn't bad at all.

Pictures: