Wednesday, January 20, 2010

On the Move!

Gretel is on the verge of crawling. Or at least she was last weekend when this video was taken. Today I might argue that she IS crawling, if having to chase her around the house is any indication. It's not perfect but she can sure wiggle/roll/pull herself along at quite a speed when she's motivated. This should keep us on our toes!

The Toy Chest

If you're looking for Gretel, it's pretty safe to say you'll be able to find her near the toy chest. Hours of fun are to be had within, and she takes advantage of them every day! This lust for toys brings back memories of the old ottoman at our Lackaff grandparents' farm, which doubled as a toy chest. Whenever we would come visit, my sisters and I would say a quick hello to our grandparents then run directly to the ottoman and empty it of its contents. The same old familiar friends were always in there. A jack-in-the-box, a clown toy that sat on a round base and thus was impossible to tip over, old coloring books with my sister's names carefully printed in them from years prior, and many other old favorites. I wonder whatever became of those toys and that old green ottoman....







Sunday, January 3, 2010

6 Months Old Means.......

Gretel weighed in at her 6-month doctor appointment at 16lbs 5oz, which is in the 60th percentile. She's 25.5 inches long, the 45th percentile. Nice and average all around and healthy as a hoss!

So what does being 6-months old mean? Why sitting up of course!!



And eating solid foods too! So far squash and peas have been only mildly popular.



And 6-months old also means getting ready to crawl! Here's where Gretel is now. She's trying really hard to move forward but tends to go in circles more than anything else. Those who have seen her say we've got only a few more short weeks of freedom before she's completely mobile. Yikes!

Happy New Year!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from 2009 I didn't post earlier because I was saving them for Christmas presents. Gretel is 4 or 5 months old in most of these.














Christmas Time!

Being in Laurelhurst for Christmas this year has been really fun. Our neighborhood is filled with lights, carolers, school concerts, and even a horse-drawn wagon that takes people out to look at the lights! We took a fair amount of walks to gawk ourselves. Here's the family on the dreaded Peacock Lane, which has become nothing short of a zoo during the holidays. Thankfully we are a good half mile away from this craziness.

DECORATING! We hosted 15 family members and friends for Christmas this year and wanted to have the house looking its best! Casey took much care in staining and installing the trim around our leaded glass window in the dining room. It is a great example of how the rest of our trim will eventually look, which is downright beautiful!

With Gretel's help we hung swags and made paper chains to spruce the place up. A true Decking of the halls!


Alistair stood watch over the Christmas tree after Santa made his visit.


Christmas Eve dinner was a mess of crab, salmon and other wonderful goodies at the Hess house. I stole a few pictures here from Sally Hess's blog since I was such a slacker photographer...


Christmas dinner was at our house, and was complete with Christmas crackers, a Lackaff family tradition dating back to our days in England.

Here are a herd of nerds wearing their crowns! Casey and Kyle got Blazer tickets in their stockings for the game that evening and Casey wore his crown to the Blazer game!

Casey and Gretel, Christmas day.


Momma and Gretel, opening gifts.

Gretel hanging out with great grandparents John and Dorothy, cousin Soleo and Pops.


Gretel playing with her loot the next day including a few great new wood toys, the supercute new doll that Auntie Sally the Younger made for her and the ring toy from great grandparents Jim and Norma. Gretel says "thanks y'all!"

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!