Fun with Friends

 I love the fact that my college friends Shelley and Jason are big Colorado fans. Jason, especially, can't lose the sneaking suspicion that he is meant to live here at some point in his life. So that means every year or two, they make their way to Colorado and we get to visit with them.

This time, they were in Buena Vista, Co., for a Young Life leadership retreat at Trail West Lodge. They brought along Josiah, who is seven months old, while their older two kiddos got to hang out at Grandma's for the week. After their retreat was over, they came down to stay with us for a few nights. We had a great time catching up...all except for the time when Xander got tangled up in their laptop cord, got scared, and tried to run away backwards, knocking the computer off of the coffee table and breaking the power cord.

I had fun taking pictures of Josiah.

And Shelley took the rest of the photos...

We spent Friday afternoon at the park...very windy, but fun!

In front of our house. This picture cracks. me. up.

A little more serious this time. Also,  look how big Josiah is at
SEVEN months old (Lorien is 20 mos.)

Lorien's Lexicon

 
Wone = Phone. Sometimes. And sometimes she says it correctly.

Nankababy = Naked baby

Ham burger, Pine apple = she likes to enunciate these compound words into two separate words.

Didder = Xander, our dog.

Wowdy = Rowdy, which Xander often is.

Osos = Upstairs and/or downstairs

Wo-weesh = goldfish crackers

Woier-deuce = Water Juice. We mix them in her cup, so to her, they're one beverage.

Assauce = Apple sauce. Hard not to laugh when this comes up at the dinner table.

Coop = scoot. As in "Coop down the stairs."

Lazy Saturday Morning

Saturday morning was glorious. I slept until 7 (about as late as I can make my body sleep these days).  Lorien slept until 8. And Josh slept until 9! 

Since we like to do "big breakfast" on Saturdays whenever we can, Lorien and I got busy making breakfast when she woke up. Josh was still sleeping when it was done, so we carted it upstairs (on our largest cutting board, since we don't own a breakfast tray), and we all had a picnic on mommy and daddy's bed. 

Reading "Ham and Eggs" while eating ham and eggs. :) 

She likes the donuts best!

The Gark

I had tried to introduce Lorien to Green Eggs and Ham months ago, but she was not interested. However, when Dad read it to her during their visit, she decided that she now likes it. She calls it "Ham and Eggs."

One page—this page—is by far her favorite. 

The other day she was asking, "I see...gark?" It took me a while to figure out what she wanted, but then I realized she wanted to see the "in the dark" page from Green Eggs and Ham. We have to read that page at least three or four times every time we open the book these days. 

Birthday Week

Josh's 32nd and my 34th birthdays happened mostly uneventfully this week. There were lots of other things going on, and neither of us could decide what we wanted for birthday presents, so there wasn't really any unwrapping to do. We did manage to have two nice family dinners: I made rosemary apricot pork roast for Josh on Sunday (his actual birthday), while my parents were still here, and Mom Keffer contributed his favorite red velvet cake. Then, two days after my birthday, we had dinner at Mom and Dad Keffers—sukiyaki and flourless chocolate cake...yummy!

Monday night we'll finish up the birthday celebration with our traditional trip to Red Robin for birthday burgers. For those who have Red Robin in your area: they do free birthday burgers during the month of your birthday if you register your rewards card online. Unbeatable!

A Visit From Gamaw and Capaw

My mom and dad came for a visit and to attend the Focus over Fifty conference. We wondered how Xander would do with guests in the house for five days, since he is rather territorial about having people besides us in "his" house. He isn't mean, but he barks and barks, and he has such a huge voice, so it really annoying after a very short time. 

Well, Dad tamed the beast...

My dad loves to torment, er, play with puppies. He would throw the ball for Xander over, and over and over. So, for the most part, Xander decided it was OK for him to be in the house. He still wasn't sure what he thought of Mom, but he even calmed down a little around her as the week passed. 

Lorien is blessed to have two grandpas who LOVE to read to her. She and Dad read every book she owns at least three times, I think. Since Mom and Dad left, we have heard her ask for, "Campaw. More books?" several times. Apparently, her other favorite part of their visit was playing with Grandma in the back yard, because she also asks for "Gamaw, outside. Fwing?"

Family Photo

We needed a new family picture to send to Josh's Grandma Keffer for her birthday, so we set up the tripod and snapped this one. I think it might be my favorite one of the three of us since last Easter. 

Star Wars, Anyone?

 
Lorien’s been stringing words together into sentences for the past month or so, and we love the Yoda-esque syntax on this one: “All done the milk.”

Also, for several months, she’s been pulling what we call the Jedi mind trick: telling us what she wants us to say in response to her:

“More crackers. OK.”

The OK in that sentence is not her saying OK. It’s her telling us that that’s what we’re supposed to say in return. It's so cute it sometimes works.

The Concept of Two

 
This past week, Lorien has been learning the concept of two. She has known the word two for a while now... and that whenever she heard someone say, “one,” she should follow it with “two.” But now she gets that two is what happens when you have one in each hand.

It all started when I washed my cell phone last week. (Yes, that is another story entirely.) So the other day, I spent a LONG time on the phone with Verizon customer service, trying to get a very old mobile device activated on my number. And Lorien observed: “Two. Phones.”

Also, she is into “bear-bears” these days. None of her bear-bears have names. Just colors. Pink bear-bear. “Geen” bear-bear. Brown bear-bear. So now, when she has two of them in her arms, she’ll say, “Two. Bear-bears.” Super cute.