Quarterly Roundup

Well, Birch went to bed early and Ron is training juijitsu.  I hardly know what to do with myself.  Since I last updated, Birch has

--learned how to swim and roll over to float in the pool                   (this was no small feat—she cried every time, from the middle of June until September and then for the last 2 weeks she loved it and didn’t want to get out of the pool…)

--flown on an airplane for the first time (to Seattle).  We were fairly impressed with her travel skills.  She was either mostly happy or sleeping. 

--ridden on a train for the first time (SeaTac to downtown Seattle).  She also rode on the back of Ron’s suitcase, which was pretty cute and helped us book it to the train station.

--ridden on a ferry for the first time (to Victoria, Canada).  She expressed a little trepidation about getting on the ferry, but she did much better than most of our fellow passengers, half of whom were throwing up in their barf bags.  The crossing was a little rough on the way over!  

--attended a family reunion and got to meet her Canadian cousins.  She loved palling around with her cousins.  Too bad we can’t see them more often.

--spent some time in Seattle—Pike’s Place Fish Market & the Seattle Aquarium which has a very active octopus that acts like it might climb out of its tank.  It can actually flop the tip of one of its tentacles over the top of the tank.  Here it is saying hi to Birch!

--turned 2!!!!  Whoa, Nelly……  There she goes!  We hired a party weasel (also known as Boudreaux) –Ron was quite concerned that we keep up with the Olsons and their ponies…  I made a cake with what I considered to be an acceptable glycemic index (sweetened with a little maple syrup, sundrops instead of m&ms, and so on—you know how I roll….).

 

--moved into a new house in the middle of August.  We had to do 2 months worth of work on the house, so she had plenty of time to get used to it.  She did say “I want to go old house,” for a while, but I think we’re over that now.  Unfortunately I somehow lost a lot of the pictures I took of the house before we painted inside so you can’t enjoy the mint green, magenta, burgundy, & sky blue walls. 

--said goodbye to Sandy.  We had to put her down.  Birch fed her a pink bone at the vet’s and talked about it for several weeks afterward.  I told her Sandy went home to where the old doggies go.  Sandy sure was a special girl—17, well advanced in dog years.

--Enjoyed a visit from Aunt Karen and another visit from Aunt Becky and the adored cousin Mason!

--gotten a little play gym from her Meme (as well as a full swing set, which we have not yet managed to assemble).

--Picked out her own sheets and pretended to sleep on them!!  Some day……soon…..they’ll see some actual use.  

--Started school in the middle of September—Mother’s Day Out twice a week from 9:30 to 2:30.  She cried a little the first week and didn’t nap much, but by the second week she was adjusting quite well.  Now she gives me a kiss goodbye and runs off to play with her baby dolls.  See ya, Mama!  I am really glad that she likes it so much. 

--Got her face painted at the Dallas Arboretum and played in the pumpkin exhibit.  I didn’t think she would want to get her face painted but after watching a little boy get his forehead painted, she wanted to try it.   The artist asked her what she wanted  and she pointed to her forehead and said “Up here!”  The artist replied, “Well, the closest I have to “Up here!” is princess, so we’ll do that!”

A trip to the Arboretum with her friend Georgia!  Visited a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound with her buddies Vincent and Stewart.

  

 --Visited her Meme and had her two year picture taken!

Well that about sums it up.  Guess I better start working on that Halloween costume.  If you’re lucky I might post Halloween pictures before Christmas!