President's Day with Oliver

Yesterday, being President's Day (and a day off from work) Mormor invited Oliver over for a play date -- or more like a hang out date. Having not seen him for a couple of weeks, it was fun to see how much he had grown. I realized, though, that I need to take a class in baby sign language. I didn't have any interpreters around to help so I had to guess most of what he asked for. I do know "please" (which Oliver knows very well), eat, and more (another he does well). But he kept patting his head by his ear and I didn't have a clue what he wanted. I'll learn though, probably about the time that he learns to actually say the words.

He loves his books and decided to sit on Mormor's lap and read a story to her. His favorite is "Baby's First Alphabet Book". When asked where the bear is he flips the pages until he gets to the "B" page and points to the bear. He does the same when asked where the "dog" is -- he finds the dog and points to it.

He had fun discovering all of the toys that I have placed in baskets for him.


And THEN Mormor got out the "old" little people sets that Marmee and all of her sisters played with as kids (yes, I know that technically they are no longer safe but I sat on the floor with him as he played with them -- except for the picture time). He had a lot of fun and we didn't even get all of them cleaned up for him to play with.

Happy Valentine's Day

We hope all have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

If you are curious, like I was, go to the following link and you can read all about how Valentine's Day came to be and why in February. http://www.history.com/content/valentine/history-of-valentine-s-day. It is quite interesting.

Here's an excerpt: Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap"

Firsts!

This morning before church I noticed that I had missed a phone call from Margaret. I tried calling her back and got no answer. Beginning to worry that something might be wrong I tried again and again there was no answer. I tried Jerimy's cell phone and still got no answer. Deciding that if there truly was something wrong Margaret would call me back, Gary and I headed off to church. We had not driven more than a block when my cell rang and it was Margaret. I asked if everything was alright and she said yes. I then asked what she needed and she said that she hadn't called but that Oliver was playing with her phone and must have found the exact "speed dial" button to call his Mormor. Incredible little guy!! I told her that he just wanted to talk to his Mormor. So I can now say that I have officially received my "first" phone call from my grandson, although I didn't answer. How many more times do you suppose Oliver will be calling his Mormor? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . . hope it's lots!

Home Again

Home Again . . . We arrived home from Hawaii Monday at 12:30 pm, tired but safe. It is strange to come home from a warm climate where we were able to wear t-shirts, shorts and sandals to snow on the ground and wearing coats.

We had a great visit with John, Laura and Danya. Danya loves to talk and interract with mom and dad and whoever will listen to her jabber. I can't wait to see her again. Thanks John and Laura for sharing time with us.

Missions Accomplished

When Gary and I left Minnesota we talked about what it was that we would like to do while visiting Laura, John and Danya (after all we had a 6 hour flight from Seattle to Honolulu to talk).  One of the things that we had decided (and Gary did most of it) was that we would help Laura and John by building a fence/gate for their backyard so that if Danya was to go outside unsupervised she would not be able to get to the front of the house.  Several days we would make our mornings adventure time going to see Diamond Head (at least from the bottom); catching the waves on the North Shore where they are the biggest; shopping for little things like coffee and treats for those back home; and going to the beach.  Then in the afternoon, while Danya slept Gary would work on the fence/gate.  Well, he kept saying that he had the fence but not a calf to look at it so Laura brought out a little people calf and proceeded to take a picture so that Gary could say he was like a calf looking at a new gate.  Okay, cheesy, I know but the mission was accomplished and now Danya is safe to be in the backyard and cannot get to the front of the house.