for Grandpa

here's the pictures i was supposed to post for you...

thanks for the fun new outfits!

Pictures, pictures, pictures & current events!

Ok, so SORRY it has taken me sooooo long to update. here are the highlights since the last post: teeth, teeth, teeth. she has been teething for the better part of the last 2 and 1/2 months, no kidding. i think she still only had two in January, our current count is seven and i think a couple more are on the way. crawling-finally, woohoo! she finally got around to this in February. Daddy was the catalyst. he sat down across from her one morning and started playing with her favorite bucket of blocks and she just had to get over there toot-sweet to get in on the action. she hasn't stopped since. Birthday, the big "1" another WOOHOO. Miss B asked "where has CAKE been all my life??? it was a quiet event with just the three of us (and her best buddy the cat) but she had a stellar time, especially after we convinced her after 20 minutes to dig in to her cake- yes, that is a miniature four layer "German" chocolate cake. like father, like daughter. (ps, interesting tidbit, this cake is not actually of German origin.) ~ saying "Dada"- who offered to buy her a pony for doing so :) ~ saying "Mama" who then considered buying her whatever other pet she may want...you just never expect how that is going to melt you. ~ pink eye-big bummer, but it is over ~ and she is also now pulling herself up standing to a standing position ~ i am sure there is more but this is everything i could think of at the moment. i tried to include enough pictures to secure forgiveness for the length of time between blogging. enjoy them.

Miss B often sleeps like this, we call it "the beach", can't you just imagine the palm tree overhead and her ipod in place?

mommy's big girl

one of the last bottle pictures- hooray for turning 1!

buddies

apparently ready to go back to the states...

our excited crawler

"g" is for giggle

sweetness

new teeth

Daddy's home!

not sure what this look was for

but i recognize these...

Daddy's going to have a hard time saying "no" to this look...

trying to grab the camera

boxes are great fun around here!

got it!

Daddy's girl

big girl pig tails

the day we practiced wearing our birthday hats & the only day she kept one on!

the big day!

she was really happy to have the fork, the cake was too sticky for her liking, so to speak...

back away from the cake...

she loved eating cake with balloon in hand

party girl!

super sweet close-ups

The talented Mr. M...

I have been wanting to brag on my husband's most recent endeavors for a while now, so here's the latest. Most of you know what a skilled craftsman Mr. M is, he's very handy to have around if you need to build a fire...or a house. He's also your go-to guy if you need help surviving in or navigating through pretty much any environment, oh, and he's now a certified lifeguard. With that said, he has been busy this last year working on some new skills many of you may not know about including knife making, prolific spoon carving (he has also turned out one SWEET Swedish-style drinking cup out of wood) and most recently basket weaving! Yes, basket weaving. I was amazed that his first one- crafted today, was complete in about an hour. It was amazing to see a pile of dry grasses be transformed into a basket by my husband's own hands in such a short time. Is there anything he can't make? So here are some pix of his creations (and yes, the very small spoons are baby spoons, he started carving them when we found out i was pregnant :) Our little girl has the coolest Daddy! What fun she will have learning all his trades. At the bottom are some pictures of her "working" on spoons with Daddy.

Mr. M's most recent knife & a sampling of spoons

look at the excellent carving detail on the top spoon!

the latest knife, and yes, he makes the leather sheaths as well

first basket, interior

exterior

basket, spoon and Swedish drinking cup

very cool!

turning over a"roughed out" spoon

Daddy's little helper, you would think he just gave her candy

the bite test...

by far, the best Quality Assurance officer ever!

also part of the oversight committee

more QA

feedback is a crucial part to QA~always hard at work!