GPaG's Visit

Ada got a good dose of Husker logowear when Grandpa Terry flew into town for Thanksgiving.  Here are a few shots from the visit!

So cute, it's worth posting again.

One of the "floats" at the light parade.

The Prepster! We called her Muffy all day in her green and pink ensemble.

That's an ATV under there!

Ready for the streets with her hoodie and cellie.

Walking Lucy.

"On the paper, not in your mouth." You can see she already decorated her face.

Ada's First Thanksgiving

I whizzed a few of our dishes through the food processor for Ada. A little mashed potato, some peas -- which she loved, and some apples for dessert.

But of course, what first Thanksgiving would be complete without the shot of her wielding a turkey leg?

Her own thighs have gotten so large that in order to get her out of the Bumbo, it takes two people -- similar to the Winnie the Pooh story where he gets stuck in the hole. (We have the play tray that goes on it, but we've never been able to use it because her legs obstruct it.)

I think it is time to get a high chair... one with large leg openings!

Other Little Red

Going to have to rethink my Thanksgiving menu now! Thank you Krouse group for my new mixer. I feel like a real grown up now with my very own Kitchen-Aid mixer!

(Red color not affiliated with the Nebraska Huskers or their fans)

Little Red

Grandpa Terry is here! You can tell by Ada's new sweatshirt...

Beep beep!

We brought home a walker for Ada to try out. She so badly wanted to be vertical, so we thought she'd like it. When we plunked her in it, though, her feet were a good three inches shy of touching the floor.

That was only a week ago.

All of a sudden on Tuesday she was able to touch a foot to the floor. Did she seriously grow that fast? Can't be. She must have figured out how to shift her weight. That or the sling in it stretched under her quickly becoming considerable mass.

She's really enjoying pushing herself around, though she can only go backwards and often this results in joy but also frustration as she zips under her own power away from the thing she was trying to get to.

She's getting really good at it! For the last two days she's only been using her left foot. This morning she was able to push off using her right. The day she can touch both at once is going to be an exciting one. She figured out how to get both feet down at the same time, as you can now see in the video.

The wood floors haven't been great for the dogs, but they are going to be excellent for Ada to zip around on and as long as no one leaves the front door open, the main floor space is a safe room for her to do it in. Fortunately, we don't have a lot of tippy stuff on tables or anything since dog proofing at this stage is fairly similar to baby proofing.

Go, Ada, Go!

Beautiful or Useful?

My dad had never seen an episode of Hoarders before, so while he was visiting, we Netflixed up season 1 and watched the first episode. Horrified and disturbed by the episode's particular hoarders -- piles of spoiled food in one house, piles of stuff in the other -- we both agreed we'd probably have to attack our respective homes immediately.

I'm not a hoarder. But I have stuff. Some days it feels like I have a lot of stuff. When we moved from Tucson to Phoenix, I methodically went through all of our belongings and discarded or donated a lot of said stuff.

The move from Phoenix to Prescott was not so organized since there was a newborn to deal with.

After the episode of hoarders though, I've recommitted myself to going through every little nook and cranny and removing the excess.

William Morris, a British craftsman and wordsmith, said:

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

So that's the standard.

It is too easy to accumulate things. The fear of wastefulness so frequently has us tossing old rubber bands into a drawer only to find them disintegrated months later unused and it is so wrongheaded. What really should be the goal is to use up what we have, never bring anything in that isn't inspiring or extremely useful, and not attach too much emotion to objects.


That being said, I'm not a person who enjoys stark spaces. I love things. I love layers of things. But I also like organization. So part of my attack on the house is to take the detritus I deem beautiful but messy (photos, little decorative boxes, Ada's most special newborn clothes) and figure out ways to house them that don't feel like they are taking up more than their share of space.


Once I get it all together, we'll probably move again.


Today a huge garbage bag of my clothes, a smaller garbage bag of Ada's old clothes (she's getting so big!), and boxes of extra kitchen crap went off to Goodwill.


What will this week bring?!

Snow Day!

This morning I woke up and the light outside seemed a bit ghostly. The rocks were reflecting the odd light and it turns out it is because it snowed! There was a thin blanket on Saturday -- just a whisper of snow. But this morning, the rocks and trees are boasting a much more substantial blanket--not Nebraska substantial, of course. It has been 8 years since I have seen snow in person!