Monday, June 29, 2009

Dresses and Ice Cream

My mom requested a picture of both girls in their wedding dresses. In OUR confusion at the wedding a few days ago we failed to ask anyone to take our family picture and/or take a picture of the two girls all dressed up. Considering how much we like pictures of Michaela and Danielle, this request was one that both Christine and I were looking forward to.
So ... we went to Olbrich Gardens one abnormally hot humid afternoon this past week with one goal in mind, a picture of the two girls in their dresses.

Danielle has just begun to crawl on her hands and knees. Hopes for her to sit still, stand, or pose for a picture are almost always fulfilled. Michaela had something else in mind. With the hot weather Michaela had no intention of changing into her flower girl dress, posing, or even smiling for a snapshot. Asking her to change attire was met with screaming and emphatic expressions fitting of a two year old.

We took the dress with hoping that she would change into it later. After walking briefly outdoors Michaela threw a short fit wanting to return inside. Christine took the girls inside and came back outside with Michaela in her dress. I was completely shocked! How did that happen? Christine informed me that Michaela had unsuccessfully searched for the model trains (which were here in the winter) and afterwards was easily bribed into wearing her dress. A promise of ice cream on the way home was all it took.

We quickly took some pictures, trying not to test Michaela's short fuse. Her sunglasses seemed to help the situation. After pictures Michaela informed us that she wanted purple grape ice cream and Mommy, Daddy, and Danielle could share green ice cream. A stop at DQ for a grape and lemon-lime freeze and everyone returned home happy.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

I often have music playing on the computer while editing pictures. Bobby McFerrin's song was playing in the background and I thought it was perfect for the two pictures I was working on right at that moment...so I pass along quite possibly my lone thought for the day.


I don't remember what Michaela was actually looking when Christine snapped these two pictures at Henry Vilas Zoo a couple of weeks ago, but whatever it was it got Michaela's full attention.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Congratulations Derek & Kali

This past weekend we were back in central Minnesota for my cousin Derek's wedding. It was a wonderful celebration and gorgeous wedding, with many people deserving a thanks for all their work in putting it together (especially Tom & Linda for hosting all the festivities).

Congratulations to Derek and Kali, they make a wonderful couple and we wish them all of God's blessings.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Pleasant Surprise: Black-necked Stilts

Today's afternoon sunshine proved to luring for me after yesterday's rain and I was home shortly after 4 to go for a walk with Christine and the girls. We grabbed our camera gear ready and headed out for a short walk before planning on a shopping trip to Walmart. We decided on Nine Springs in hopes of finding a butterfly or dragonfly. Dane county parks burned off the praire grass and it has come back beautifully green, however we struck out on butterflies and dragonflies.

We were not quite ready to go shopping at Walmart after our short 20 minute walk so we headed across the street to the boardwalk. We often walk around the water treatment ponds and Michaela informed us we were going the wrong way. After a bit of convincing she was okay going down the boardwalk instead of the bike trail leading to the ponds, and she practiced her balance by walking on the edge board.

At the end of the boardwalk I showed Michaela where we normally walked and asked her to count all the gulls. Because we were not planning on birding I did not bring binoculars with, but habits are hard to break so I looked through the camera lens in order to identify what was on the island besides the Ring-billed Gulls, Great Egret, and Caspian Tern. I soon dismissed the goal of having Michaela count the gulls, as to my pleasant surprise I saw a Black-necked Stilt. Such a cool looking shorebird and a brand new bird for us!!

Shortly thereafter I spotted a second one and we quickly decided to walk the ponds in order to get a better look at them....besides we can always go shopping tomorrow. The above picture is heavily cropped with poor lighting, but at least you can see what we were looking at tonight. The stilts were a very pleasant surprise.I think you can tell by my smile that I enjoyed this much better than shopping.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Building memories

We went to the doctor on Wednesday for Danielle's belated 9 month checkup. Apparently slow verbal development runs in the family, as Danielle is not saying 'ma' or 'da' yet or mimicing our sounds. Danielle seems to be fine with physical development, working those fingers efficiently to eat often. She has also started to army crawl, pulling herself up, and taking steps with assistance.

Coming out of the doctor's office Michaela ran to the window, pointed at a car in the parking lot and told us 'Gramma'. The car highly resembled Dan & Linda's tan car. Michaela has started to point out anything that reminds her of family.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Clearer Words

Michaela has begun to enunciate and speak more clearly. It has been over a year since we first heard 'chickadee', 'lion', 'duck', and 'bird'. We are happy that she is trying to say full words once again.

Kudos to Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Steve for making an impression.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Accepted Offer on a House

We spent the last two days in Marshfield house shopping. Long story short we made an offer yesterday around 5pm and on the drive home to Madison we found out the offer was accepted.

Some pictures for '707 Weber Street' can be found below.

A Realator's Listing

Home.com Listing