Happy Valentine's Day

Tuesday has become Makenna's special day with her Gran.  This Tuesday being Valentine's Day they both showed up the the Myers house for a special Valentine's Day party with her friends.  Unfortunately, I forgot the camera although honestly I'm not certain I would have been able to snap any photos while juggling 3 kiddos.  So the following was taken in the evening as Makenna opened her Valentine's loot. 

She's a little tea pot with a new little tea pot from her Gran.

A pause for a tea break before dinner. 

After dinner Makenna found her present from her Grandma & Poppa! 

A cute cute cute summertime outfit that may also work for Hawaii.  Her shirt says "Happy"- which is not only is but proclaims when she is or when someone else is or should be. 

Then she found her loot from Momma & Dada.  A doctor bag full of all the gadgets to heal the wounded & sick.  She got right away to "fixing" Dada, resulting in making some new sore spots.  :)  He was such a great sport.

Inspecting her instruments.  She approves.

I love our little family.
(Makenna sporting Dada's new winter/ski hat making it that much cutier with her silly smile)

Late Morning Walk at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge 2.11.12

Pacing for puddles.

This visit to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge marked another milestone with the ever changing Makenna.  Past trips I have carried her along the path in search of feathered friends & taking in the wooded & watery surroundings.  She has the makings of a hiker in her.  Our girl loves to walk and insisted that she do so unless there was better viewing of the wildlife in Momma's arms.

My little nature baby & I.

Exploring the moss & lichens on the boardwalk.  So much to take in, touch, smell and hopefully not taste.  :) 

A resting place on a cushion of moss.

Scanning the pond for "ducks". 

More than birds our girl loves PUDDLES.  :)

The swan couple of the pond decided to make their way in our direction.

As we discussed the swans- their color, how many there were, their long necks, that they swim- they decided to climb out onto the bank.  One lead the way closer towards us and then took an aggressive stance and started scampering towards us.  I instantly scooped up Makenna and turned by back on the swan while making a hissing sound.  Makenna thought it was funny and began saying "mean Swan" and making the ppsst sound I was making.  This stance and noise detered them enough to retreat back towards the bank. 

Papa's Birthday Party (2.5.11)

Racing cars with Uncle Eric on her new speedy racetrack (as of Christmas) from her Great Uncle Chuck & Great Aunt Renee!  The delight in placing the cars on the platform only grows as she exclaims "Ready, Set, GO!!" hitting the button that releases the cars to the finish line! 

Makenna with her Birthday Papa watching the Super Bowl- TOUCHDOWN!  For Papa's birthday she decided it was time to add birthday to her vocabulary. 

Miss Makenna sure loves her Papa.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAPA!!

Makenna concentrating on the wish as Papa works on extinguishing the candle.

How we all love Makenna's puppy kisses.  :)

Being the assistant present opener.

Papa wasn't the only one with presents.  Uncle Eric & Aunt Shandel gave her an early Valentine's shirt, which she wore on the lovely day.

A Cook in the Making & Breaking in Crystal Mountain



Helping Momma in the kitchen.  She loves to cook pasta and by cook I mean scoop pasta into cups & bowls.  She makes soup, cakes, mac 'n cheese, HOT coffee and pancakes with her noodles.  What an inventive little lady!

Busy emptying the pasta container into her assortment of bowls & cups.

The other Saturday Evan introduced me to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort- his favorite place in the state to ski.  And if you can't tell by the look on my face I was petrified!  Far from an expert skier I have just returned to skiing after taking a 2 year break during the time I was pregnant and nursing Makenna.  And previously I had only skied once since taking a semester of introduction to skiing my Sophomore year of college.  So yes, I am far from an expert at this sport.  And this was a HUGE MOUNTAIN.

At this point I am still shaken by my first encounter with the mountain.  My first run of the day was a blue- an intermediate run- that starts at the very top of the mountain, or what seemed like the top.  I later found out that it wasn't the top.  Coming off the lift I discover there is a small, what I consider small shoot before cliffs on either side.  At this point the wind kicks up and I am not doing anything to propel myself forward, yet I am moving thanks to the wind.  I was certain I was going flying off that cliff.  Thankfully that was not the case.

Taken later in the day after getting more comfortable.  This was taken on the backside of Lucky Shot- the first blue run I took at Crystal.  That beautiful mountain is Mount Rainier.

Looking back on the day after the soreness has worn off I am proud that I pushed through my fear of heights & falling and kept at it, for at the end of the day I had greatly improved and became more confident in my abilities. 

Bits of January

Skiing at White Pass on my 28th birthday.

The PomPom game (as it has become known as) during its test play.  I have fallen in love with this site pinterest.com where I got this idea for an activity for the kids. 

It seems my Christmas present has fallen into the hands of our daughter.  She loves "helping" and when Momma/Dada vacuum Makenna wants to as well.

It's just her cute size!

Saturday walk around Capital Lake.  Makenna is quite the walker and now spends most of our walks by our side.

We found the Capital!!  During the month of December Grandma & Poppa took Makenna to the Capital to see the HUGE Christmas tree.  Ever since then she keeps a look out for the building.  During drives we hear her exclaim "Capital" from the back seat" as we pass by it during trips in town.

Occasionally we still take photos of just us.  :)

Not only did we look for ducks on our walk, but we found some favorites on the trail.  ROCKS.

She was quite proud that she was able to scoop up rocks into her hands with her mittens on. 

Snowmageddon 2012 (1.14-1.18)

And they called it SNOWMAGEDDON.  Washington does get snow, mostly in the mountains and in Eastern Washington and the seasonal dusting in the lowlands near the water.  So the 15/16 inches we received- a majority of which fell in one night- was quite a shock to the area, especially the trees.  It all began on my birthday, Saturday, January 14th.  We started seeing snow in the mountains and returned home to a dusting.  Sunday brought more snow, but not considerable amounts. 

Monday, Martin Luther King Day, we played in the snow at the local elementary school yard.  Wayne LOVED it.  He was definitely in his element.

This was taken Monday.  Makenna spends most meals watching the birds at our neighbors feeder.  With the snow the activity increased and so did the length of time it took to get her to eat!

Tuesday both Evan & I were back to work with the knowledge that Wednesday the BIG storm would be coming and likely to keep us snowed in.

This is what we woke up to on Wednesday morning.  Lots & lots of snow!  A total of 16 inches or there abouts.

Not wanting to be cooped up I threw on my snowshoes and Makenna was placed in the Ergo pack and off we trudged through the neighborhood.

Again Wayne more than anyone loved these snow filled days.  He made "snow puppies" in the street- as seen above.  This has been the only time and only exception to the leash rule we have with him in the neighborhood.  And he took full advantage of the freedom, running to his hearts delight.

Our house & cars buried.  A winter wonderland.

After a good snowshoe we pulled out the camping sleeping pad that worked as a great substitute for a "magic carpet" for Makenna.  We are adding not only a snow shovel to our must have list for next winter, but also a sled. 

The photos stop here after our snowshoeing adventure although the adventures of Snowmageddon didn't stop.  On Thursday morning at 8:30 AM we lost power.  We had enough warm water to get showers.  We all ate a cold breakfast and then started putting on layers as the day progressed.  By 4:30pm the temperature inside the house was a frigid 56 degrees.  We made the decision to camp out at Evan's brother & fiancee's apartment.  At this point, both my mom's place was out of power & so were Evan's parents who happened to be out of town for the week.  Also all of the local hotels were booked solid.  This evening was full of adventures.  First was dinner.  We opted to go to eat since we all were getting stir crazy.  That was a dining experience since all of Olympia had the same idea.  We ended up at Outback Steakhouse, which was operating with only 25% of their staff.  Considering the circumstances they did a wonderful job AND Makenna was a trooper since she knew she was having mac 'n cheese and had to wait patiently for that much desired meal.  After filling our bellies we returned to the apartment for memorable night.  This was the first time we've all (Makenna, Evan & I) slept together on the air mattress.   And a very long time since we've had Makenna sleep with us.  We discovered our child is a bed tornado!  Evan was fortunate enough to sleep through her antics but I awoke to recount it all to him in the morning.  At one point I woke to find her sprawled out over Evan's legs.  Then her head was by our knees and her feet in my arm pits.  Her head at one point was under our pillows.  In the middle of the night there was even an impromptu dance party with HopHop & Ziggy the giraffe.  She at some point spooned me and I was hit repeatedly in various places.  Now I understand why her bed looks like a disaster zone in the morning.  It has all become clear.  Thankful for the generous hospitality of Eric & Shandel we were warm and in good company.  The following day (Friday) we were able to get a hotel room.  Makenna spent the night there in the bathroom in a pack & play allowing us to all get a good nights rest.  I know who puts their child in the bathroom? This woman.  :)  Thankfully power returned early Saturday morning.  The temperature in our house read 46 degrees.  We were fortunate.  Many homes were without power 5 days or more.  Our lowland trees- mostly decorative species just did not handle the weight of the snow & freezing well.  We survived our Snowmageddon 2012.  It was a storm to remember.  One for the books.  One that we will be telling Makenna about for years to come.