Day THREE

I love this picture of Marielle not only because she has a way cute smile, but because it reminds me of a story my mom and dad used to tell about me. Apparently when I was a little girl I loved to dance, but I had to be holding the couch arm rest covers. I'd whip those covers off and swirl them around as I danced around the house. Mom and Dad love to tell me how stubborn I was : no covers, no dancing.

So you'll notice in these pictures Marielle has two dish towels and it made me think my couch covers. She was waving them up and down and having quite a good time (who knew dish towels could be entertaining!)

She's a Climber!

Click to Play

Day TWO -- We Miss You DAD!

Five thirty was a sad time for me since Ryan didn't get to come home and liven up the house. Marielle took a late nap around 6 and although I should have wakened her so she would go to bed on time, I just needed the break! We had a fun day though, here are some pictures from our time at the mall.

Ryan's Business Trip -- DAY ONE

Ryan left this morning for a business trip out to Wyoming to do oil well stuff. I am never sure exactly what he does when he goes on his trips (he does try to explain) but I know this time he will be wearing coveralls the entire time. The coveralls are great, he'll look just like a mechanic -- they even have an embroidered patch with "Ryan" on the front. To ease his homesickness I promised I would post pictures and even a video or two on the blog for him to look at each night in the hotel data center. So watch for daily posts until Thurs when he returns!

One phone is just not enough!

Love the smile!

She's actually smiling because she sees the camera and wants to play with it...

Close UP!

For the untrained eye, she is stuffing an outlet protector into her mouth. Baby-proofing your house doesn't work when your baby can remove the safety mechanisms and put them in her mouth.

Walking....ALMOST!

Click to Play

We inherited this toy from our friends the Hyers and Marielle wasn't so sure about it at first, but today she took off!  Proud mom and dad just had to share.  Enjoy!

Becoming Like Ryan

So I've always heard how I would become more like my spouse the longer I am married to him and I found out this week, it's true. You see I found myself picking raisins out of my cereal. I realized I was doing this because a few weeks ago when I bought the cereal Ryan commented that he didn't like raisins. After eating a few bowls with the raisins I thought to myself, I don't even like these raisins, all they do is just stick to my teeth. So my previous raisin neutrality turned into distinct dislike, so much that I would take the time to actually pick out the raisins and all this because of my husband! Along this same vein, I realized that I hardly drink soda anymore because Ryan doesn't like soda. (He absolutely refuses to drink any carbonation, not just word of wisdom "iffy" sodas.) When I asked Ryan in what ways he is becoming like me, he says, "I got my ears pierced." Ha, ha. I'm sure I'll found his Mary Karleeisms soon.

Dad and Marielle!

Pictures from Mary Karlee's Birthday

Movies We Love to Hate

So I've been trying to get Mary Karlee to watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with me for a while now. It's not my favorite movie or anything, but I remember it being a good one & I even had the Robin Hood action figures once upon a time. Well, Mary Karlee was resisting my efforts. I thought it was because she dated a loser who also liked Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (it was his favorite movie), but it turns out she had deeper reasons to avoid this movie: her brothers once tied her up and took turns shooting an apple off her head (j/k, she just doesn't like all the bows & arrows).



I couldn't understand really...until last night, when Mary Karlee came up with an analogy for me -

Robin Hood : Mary Karlee :: Princess Diaries : me

For those of you that still have anxiety dreams about the analogies on the SAT, that means she likes Robin Hood as little as I like Princess Diaries (which I think is a pretty terrible movie). And when Mary Karlee asked me to watch it with her, I was a terrible sport - laughing at all the wrong parts and making annoying comments. In short I ruined the movie for her. At least when I finally got my wife to watch Robin Hood, all she did was fall asleep.