Shoveling It In

Sometimes David can be a very picky eater. Other times he will shovel it in... literally!

More Fun in the Snow

We went out to play in the snow again this afternoon (since it will probably all be gone next week). This time we brought Analeigh out to play too. Analeigh loved being outside, but waited before she explored the cold. David, however, jumped right in.


Analeigh ended up loving to crawl up the mountains of snow drift.

Warning: this first video shows that we aren't perfect parents. If you would prefer to remain under the mistaken impression that we actually are perfect, feel free to skip to the second video.



In this video, Analeigh shows that she can not only climb up snow drifts, but she can also scoot herself back down.



Finally, with the sun coming out to melt the snow, it also made the snow great for packing - and thereby great for building snowmen. So Ben and David built their own (it fell over about an hour later, but it was still fun to make).


As a side note, this article from our local news station, KSN, says Barton County (in which Great Bend lies) had 17 inches of snow.

We also nabbed this video from our local news station, showing that Great Bend received 15 inches (as shown on the screen from the 0:18 second mark to the 0:46 second mark). You can see the original KSN video here.

Good Morning Sunshine!

The blizzard from yesterday continued throughout the night. When we opened the door this morning, this is what we found:


The snow drifts are up to David's chest. He is really excited about going out again this afternoon (presumably to eat more snow).

Spring is in the Air

Ben went to work today, as he always does - except there was snow on the ground. Yes, snow. Around 2:00 p.m., he was told to go home, since the office was shutting down because of the blizzard conditions (and not the delicious kind). Being from Michigan, Ben stuck around until about 3:00 p.m., just to prove a point - Michiganders can drive in any weather!

Then, once at home, Ben and David bundled up to play in the snow:



Much of the time was spent with David pointing to the snow and telling his daddy, "snow ball." At which point Ben would make a snow ball, put it in David's hands, and David would gently set it on the ground.

David would also spin around in circles and fall into the snow. He would then eat the snow while saying, "This is good, this is good."



David did not want to come inside and was rather put out by Ben's proposal to do so. Alas, Ben felt he had to, since David's skin was turning rather red from exposure.


Alas, David soon realized that snow had been tracked inside, which apparently is just as delicious as the snow outside. We tried to capture him saying, "this is good, this is good," but all we got was him nodding that it was indeed tasty!



Note: For all of you germaphobes out there, we did eventually pick up the leftover snow and disposed of it in the kitchen sink.

Taste of Home... and Other Troubles

Liz went with a few other sisters from Church to the Taste of Home Cooking Show at the Celebration Centre in Lyons, KS. Liz had a wonderful time with her friends, as noted in the following picture:



after the show was when the troubles began: our friend Dedra's car got a flat tire in the parking lot (although she was reportedly in denial at first). Thankfully, everyone pulled together as a team: Dedra called for help, Angie placed the jack under the car, and Liz took pictures for Dedra to eventually use on her own blog. Finally Angie's husband, Ben, came to the rescue and took care of the dirty work.

Through the Looking Glass

We do not own Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. Not in movie form, or even in this really fancy book form. Yet, somehow, Analeigh got the idea of looking at her reflection really close. Nevertheless, we have no reason to believe that she was transported to any alternate universe.

Ben's Birthday

Ben is slowly getting older - but as long as there is cake, he's okay with the aging process! Liz made him a delicious chocolate cake, with Reese's peanut butter cups. Ben also got to increase his collection of LEGO characters for use in future stop-motion animation movies. He got a Star Wars Clone Trooper pack and a City Minifigure pack.

Interestingly enough, David seemed to be more interested in the LEGOs, rather than the cake.

They Don't Call it the "Dust Bowl" for Nothing

Kansas is, as you may already know, a part of the "Dust Bowl." For the first year of living here, we hadn't really had a serious dry spell. Today, however, there was a lot of wind. On tonight's KSN weather report, Dave Freeman informed us of one area that experienced wind gusts of 79 mph. Considering hurricane wind speeds start was 74 mph, it was a mighty windy day, with a lot of dirt flying through town.

Liz tried to capture it in a photo, but the picture doesn't do reality justice. However, if you look at the house in the distance, you can still kind of tell how hazy the dust made everything.

Walking

It seems David has noticed our attempts to help Analeigh learn to walk. Therefore, this afternoon, David stood on daddy's shoes, had daddy hold his hands, and proceeded to direct his daddy to walk around the house.

Analeigh at 12 Months

Analeigh is now 12 months old and is growing by leaps and bounds. These pictures of her standing up (with support) are living proof of her growth (they're pretty cute too).

We had her photos taken at Casa de la Draper. We were very pleased with the service and the lack of a sitting fee. They also did touch ups for free. We'll definitely be using them again. In the meantime, enjoy!

Ah... Sweet Refined Sugar!

Analeigh got her first unlimited taste of refined sugar in the form of a princess birthday cake. Liz did an excellent job of cutting and decorating to make it look like a crown.


Just as we did for David's first birthday, we attempted to capture the precise moment of the sugar-rush on video. Unfortunately, the camera's battery ran out of juice after less than two minutes of video.

Nevertheless, we were able to capture a few fun moments. One particularly cute moment in the video was when David seemed to realize we might actually be serious about not giving him any cake if he didn't finish his Ham & Lentil soup. So you get to hear and see him loudly showing his love for his soup so that we would be sure to give him some cake like his sister got for eating her soup.



In the end, Analeigh did smash a good chunk of cake. Liz was able to recharge the battery for about 5 minutes so that we could take this one last photo to show the wreckage of the cake. Later, Analeigh started rubbing her eyes with her frosting-covered hands. This caused her some mild discomfort, which caused her to rub them more vigorously. We then had to wash her off and end the fun.


Happy Birthday Analeigh!

Analeigh is One!

We woke Analeigh up early in the morning so she could open her presents before Ben would have to leave for work. Possibly because of the interruption to her beauty rest, Analeigh wasn't very interested in pulling the wrapping paper off her presents. However, with help from David, she got to see the treasure that awaited her.

Inside her presents Analeigh found a doll...



She also found new shoes and a cuddly horse doll (from her grandparents) which she took around with her for the better part of the day...



And finally, Analeigh also got an activity cube with lots of fun things to play with. And, lest you think David was forgotten, his grandparents gave him a firetruck and a bulldozer (miniature versions, of course, as we do not have the financial resources to pay for insurance on the real things).



However, it seems that the item that drew David and Analeigh together most was the activity cube. The moment below was so adorable, Liz felt compelled to tweak it on our computer so as to make it look like a cartoon painting. So she did. Enjoy!

Story Time

David loves to be read to before going to sleep each night. Lately, he has been insistent that the book his Daddy reads to him be Curious George. More specifically: A Treasury of Curious George (thanks to his Uncle Steven and Aunt Janet). David loves pointing out pictures in the book, such as dump trucks, buses, pumpkins, squirrels, birthday cakes, books, lions, etc.

Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street?

Today we were given a large box and a garbage bag of children's clothing from a super nice sister in our ward. Included in this box was a Big Bird outfit. David wanted to try it on, he just didn't really want to be pictured in it. Analeigh thought it looked fun - which is good, since we hope we can use it for her for Halloween, since it won't fit David by the time October rolls around. However, Amazon.com suggests that Big Bird "makes a great Easter costume." Perhaps Amazon.com hasn't been to a church on Easter Sunday lately to see that people tend to dress in somewhat nicer clothing.

It's Raining!

We've had quite a dry spell lately. It doesn't seem like we had much precipitation in December. January ended up being the third driest January on record for the state of Kansas. Then February wasn't that much better. So, since we have not seen rain in awhile, the short spell of rain today was welcome. David enjoyed standing outside our door, holding his hand out for the rainwater to fall off the roof. It was cute - until he started standing under the water to take a shower. Then we had to drag him back inside.

Happy 21st!

Liz turned 21 today... again! For her birthday, she made a delicious pie, with a graham cracker crust, a layer of strawberry jam, a layered concoction of whipped cream and cream cheese, topped with a layer of lemon pudding.



Lastly, for her present, she got a new metal storage shelf to arrange all of her scrapbooking items (as opposed to the old shelf, seen here). Since the shelf is obviously not full, Ben is wary that there may be more scrapbooking materials purchased in the near future in order to fill the empty space.

Father-Son Time

For Valentines Day, David received the gift of Play-Doh - the gift that keeps on giving (as you will sometimes find it in the carpet long after you've thrown the main canister out). Regardless, with careful supervision, Ben and Liz will play with the Play-Doh with David, which makes him very happy.