Memorial Day Weekend

We had a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend down in Eugene, visiting our families and enjoying being outdoors in the sunshine. It's taken me a while to get back to blogland because even though we were gone for a short time, the unpacking (and laundry) stacked up quickly. What's up with that?! Are we dirtier on vacation or is Jason using the sneaky unpacking method of dumping the contents of an entire suitcase into the laundry basket?
It was a weekend of firsts for Madeleine: first long car ride, first time meeting her grandparents and great-grandma, first time in the wading pool, first time eating bananas, rice cereal and pears. She did a great job in the car on the way down and Isabelle helped a lot, handing her toys to keep her occupied. She also did pretty well meeting all the new people who love her so much. Like Isabelle, she needs a little warm-up time to observe her new surroundings and then she is very agreeable to being passed around.

Madeleine with Grandma Janet (Jason's mom)

With Grandpa Wayne (Jason's dad)
Isabelle playing with bubbles at Grandma Janet's house.
With Grandma Barbara (my mom)
With Papa Bob (my dad)

The girls with my mom and grandmother.

Here's Isabelle trying to teach grandma and great-grandma how to play Chutes and Ladders. This was a harder task than she first imagined as a certain someones synapses weren't firing correctly. Study up Mom, you'll be expected to play proficiently the next time we visit. :)

Ahh, a moment of reflective silence.

Isabelle careening around on her tricycle.

Fun with Great-Grandma

Pool time

"I'm not so sure about this Dada."

"Okay, that's enough, let me out now."

Isabelle loved the pool though - especially splashing her Daddy!

Relaxing in a warm towel is way more Madeleine's style. Sunbathing isn't too bad either.

Madeleine being charming.

What a fantastic weekend!

By the way, if you happen to stalk my blog, go ahead and do it openly by officially following my blog. You know I'm stalking your blogs too and I'm not ashamed to admit it! :0)

Baby Food Bonanza

Madeleine is ready for solid food! Great news! Now, what to feed her? How about homemade baby food? We all went to Central Market to shop for produce and get Madeleine started on her career in gastronomy.

I found a great website, wholesomebabyfood.com that gives recipes for all different types of baby foods. It also sites nutritional information and gives a timeline for what age to try different foods.

Isabelle loves to help!

Just a few of the things we're going to try.

Steaming acorn squash.

Pureeing and getting ready to freeze some yummy-yums.

These KidCo containers have worked out really well for portion control and are super simple to use.

Frozen butternut squash...

...all individually packaged and ready for consumption.

So far I've made acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, peas and sweet potatoes. Over the next couple days I'm going to work on getting green beans, pears and peaches ready to go.

And now, for Madeleine's first solid food experience, I present for your viewing pleasure: Avocados

I'll let you be the judge, but I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm. This is the response I wanted: "Sacrebleu Mama! What a delectable delight you've put before me! My life is forever changed with this one bite of luscious glop. Merci Mama! (kiss, kiss)"

And this is the response I got...

Sunny Days

We finally had several days of solid sun here in Washington! We woke up Friday morning to beautiful, clear-blue skies and headed out right away to enjoy the great weather. Our weekend was jam-packed with fun things to do and we had a great time. Alas, it's now Monday evening and the rain is back. I'm hoping for sun again soon.

Isabelle and Madeleine hanging out in my room. Isabelle has decided since Madeleine's mouth is always open when she smiles that hers should be too. First stop on our weekend adventure: picnic in the park with Aunt Darla.

Uncle Eric even came to play for a bit! Isabelle talked about how much fun she had with him all the way home. He looks like a barrel of laughs doesn't he? Just kidding Eric! I'm sure Darla coerced you into taking this picture. :)

Saturday after ballet we had lunch at our new favorite organic restaurant Grilla Bites in the little town of Snohomish. Great salad bar, sandwiches and juice bar - and all-natural!

After lunch we went to one of my student's t-ball games. Madeleine

thought it was great to be outside and T.J., you were an awesome player! We loved seeing you play! Then it was out to Flower World to pick out some new plants for our front yard. We were only getting a few things but this 15-acre nursery is also a fantastic field trip for kiddos. There are tons of fountains, bridges, trails, wildlife, etc. to keep an almost 4-year-old happy.

On Sunday it was time to get those flowers in planter boxes and in the ground. I love seeing pretty flowers around our yard but I will confess I do not have a green thumb. In fact, as I was going up and down the rows at Flower World on Saturday I could feel the plants cowering and begging not to be chosen by me. I'm a set it and forget it type of girl when it comes to caring for vegetation. I like to think I'm helping plants move up the evolutionary chain by choosing not to water them but thus far my flowers have ignored Darwin and have shown no interest in "survival of the fittest".

My flowers, lined up for execution.

Maybe Isabelle will have the magic touch.

I give these flowers a week.

Ah, but behold the miracle of modern technology! Jason installed a mini sprinkler system for my hanging baskets. Now they're on a timer and will be watered twice a day on this drip line. I'm sure there are probably other things flowers enjoy (fertilizer perhaps) but I'd say they need to meet me halfway on this one. At least they won't be thirsty.

Parlor Tricks

Madeleine has been working hard at spending more time on her tummy, sitting up and rolling over. She just turned six months old so I think we're doing pretty well since she hadn't experienced any of those things until a month and a half ago. She is so proud of herself!

Adding to the challenge of rolling over and sitting independently is Madeleine's bid to be the next Michelin baby. Gotta embrace the rolls!

To warm up Isabelle and Madeleine jumped into our new ball pit courtesy of my friend Erica.

And now for the main event...Madeleine can sit up all by herself! (She is a bit wobbly still so that's why you see Jason's arm in the background.)

She can even stay on her tummy and play for long periods of time, something she did not initially enjoy.

As soon as I turned the video camera on Madeleine was no longer motivated to do her trick so you'll see her get a little assist. I promise that she can do it all by herself though!