A new look...

I have a lot of ground to cover, loads of photos and videos...Bear with me...and I hope you like the new Schlog design....For those of you who were concerned that it wasn't the correct site, you can breathe easy, (you know who you are...........)



Thanks to Shush, Finley pulled herself up to a standing position. Finley was playing in a laundry basket (which I have found she loves to do) as Shush walked by, she got so excited she grabbed the side of the basket and stood right up. Now I seek out positions that allow her to practice this..like a cardboard box or her favorite, crawling up my legs. She is SO close to crawling, rocking back and fourth. But she knows how to roll over, twist her body and get across the room for something she REALLY wants. I'm sure the crawling photos will be here before you know it. She has been eating so well too...its hard to believe that I am buying groceries for 4 people now.

The bjorn says it can hold a kid up to 26 lbs...my back says otherwise.......

Mother of the year award goes to me for allowing my baby to sit in a giant
box/fort playing with plastic packaging.....

Ryanne called this "pup pup drums"

Mimi was here all last week. Ryanne got ALOT of attention, and she also learned that going into someone else's purse for candy is not ok. She knew it too, as she tried to hide it away after getting caught. Luckily, Mimi wasn't mad, rather tickled by the fact that Ryanne sucked on the outside mint package because she couldn't get it open. Turns out she likes a lot of candy. We were on a significantly long road trip coming back from Bellingham for a family graduation party on Sunday. I gave her a lollipop because she was so well behaved all day and, like I said, it was a long drive. Her comment was "I could eat this alllll day". Eric and I had to laugh.

Mimi was able to spend lots of time with Ryanne during bedtime. They did bath time and read lots of books and it allowed me to make dinner at a reasonable hour. While I was cooking, Ryanne told her Mimi that the cooking aromas coming from downstairs "smells like Mommy". Ill take that as a huge compliment. She is already interested in cooking, as most toddlers are, but she gets to make some pretty special things like homemade granola bars and her scrambled eggs and grilled pizza. I continue to try to find things to help her explore with me in the kitchen. I can just hope that she and her sister will share my passion for cooking, or at least create really great food memories.
We also went to the park with Mimi, went out for lunch with my friend Charis in West Seattle but mostly stayed at home to encourage good napping. Low key as usual. Perhaps Mimi can share some of her favorite photos of her trip.

From a coffee shop in West Seattle -hysterical!!

Our Jacobia park. Ryanne calls it "rainbow park" because we see so many
rainbows here.

All kids want to climb up the slide and down the stairs...and of course try it backwards too

Ryanne has been doing a lot of things that make us giggle. Even if she has short sleeves on , she pretends to roll up her sleeves before washing her hands. I think she knows it makes us laugh..Thank You Ryanne for always putting a smile on our faces. This morning I was trying to teach her how to play a game on the computer, and she said "Mommy, you are trying really hard!"...We always say that to her, especially when she gets frustrated with something and wants to quit.

Finley has been saying Dada for weeks and now she says Mama...I just love it. We try and communicate back and fourth with her...sometimes its just too much and all she does is opens and closes her mouth..You're trying really hard Finley!

Ryanne and I had a great day of exploring on Sunday. It was during Daddy and Finley's Sunday naptime. The sun was bright and we headed out to see what the neighborhood had to offer. The "Bob's" or workmen were not there, so we explored the usual building sites and large machinery. But what she really like is BUGS. In particular, we found a bush with a lot of ladybugs. She was talking to ladybug, singing to it, we talked about its ladybug family and let them crawl up and down our arms. She was so excited that she was shaking. I asked if having the bug on her made her nervous, but she just said she was happy and excited.



A tender moment between the girls, besides the first wrestling match, was after both of their naps, still with nap hair, I brought Finley into Ryanne's room. I started stroking Ryanne's hair and Ryanne was stroking Finley's hair. So sweet.

Ryanne's last day of school is this Friday. Her first graduation. She'll go back next year and to a summer camp for a week this summer. Im really glad we stuck it out.




Her teachers think she really excelled in art. She is great with drawing and painting and has a pretty steady hand for a 2.5 yr old. I allowed her to take some photos outside on my phone camera and I was impressed. The same day, we came in and she drew her very first face (aka: cone head). I was blown away.....here are her recent works of art:

She drew this loop and added a stem and told me it was "a pear"

Her Photo Session: