The Andersen Chronicle

Regarding Orange Juice

2009-11-09T20:40:00.004-05:00

A recent breakfast conversation went like this:
Mona: "Daddy, you can't have too much!"
Eliza: "If he has too much it will be all gone."
Mona: "The Nephites is going to fight you!"

At the Orchard

2009-11-09T20:25:00.004-05:00

Eskimo E.

We went a little crazy at Mom's.

This Is The Place

2009-11-02T10:00:00.005-05:00

Hello beautiful Utah.

Thanks to both Grandmas and Grandpas we spent two fun-filled weeks with some family and friends we miss so much.

When Eliza saw the stewardess handing out napkins with drinks she exclaimed, "They have United States napkins!!!" She observed that we've never had any napkins with the U.S. on them at our house. I explained that Southwest has them made specially for use on their airplanes. These napkins are not sold in stores because people don't buy napkins with Southwest printed on them. "I would buy them," she informed me. Maybe she's right. There's probably a market out there for educational napkins (although not necessarily the Southwest version).

Outdoor Excursion

2009-11-02T09:50:00.012-05:00

Far removed from the Rockies, Eliza's first thought was that a picnic in the mountains is risky; she might fall. After napping during the drive into Mill Creek Canyon, Eliza was very much at home in her surroundings.

Mona was very excited for HOT DOGS and Eliza enjoyed helping Grandpa.Expressive Mona, at dessert time. She's enjoying K-Toos*, perfect for the allergic cookie monster, courtesy of a loving Aunt Sara.

(*They're such a great find, so here are the details. Or maybe you're just plain curious. How do they achieve a light, crispy cookie with a creamy center? Vanilla cookies (also available in chocolate) from Kinnikinnick that are gluten, wheat, dairy, casein, egg, and trans fat free. Ingredients: Icing [Icing Sugar (may Contain 2-3% Corn Starch), Non Hydrogenated Shortening (Palm Fruit and/or Canola), Vanilla, Soy Lecithin, Salt), Sugar, Pea Starch, Potato Starch, Non Hydrogenated Shortening (Palm Fruit and/or Canola), White Rice Flour, Water, Tapioca Starch, Glucose, Pea Protein, Sodium Carboxy Methylcellulose, Salt, Vanilla, Pea Fibre, Guar Gum, Inulin, Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Soy Lecithin.)What would a fire-pit picnic be without smores? Eliza loved them before the first bite, she's no dummy, and I'm pretty sure she had at least two. Of course she knows the rules concerning dessert, so when Grandma pulled out the Oreos a while later and Grandpa handed her one... she raised her hands up in the air and threw Mommy a comical look. What's a girl to do?

"I think that's too much dessert!"
-Eliza
Mmmm. Thanks again Grandma & Grandpa!

Zing Zang Zoom - Ringling Bros.

2009-11-02T09:40:00.013-05:00

The Circus? Amazing, of course. But Mona repeatedly invited Grandpa to join her for a walk outside. So I had to wonder if Mona thought that all elephants lean on the elephant before them while balancing on their hind legs upon tiny platforms.

Thanks Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Sara!

Potato Tomatoes

2009-11-02T09:30:00.004-05:00

Eliza has been keeping tabs on Grandma's garden for months. She repeatedly asks if she can help pick tomatoes. When this unexpected opportunity came, she was delighted.

They enjoyed helping Grandma. Eliza still confuses names. I heard her calling the tomatoes potatoes; and now she's passing the misnomer on to Mona. Mona loves potatoes, but avoids tomatoes. The past couple of weeks I've noticed Mona adamantly refusing any suggestion that she have potatoes, and I was confused until I realized she simply would like them to be referred to as tomatoes.

Riding The Snow Leopard

2009-11-02T09:25:00.007-05:00

When I asked Eliza and Mona what they wanted to do in Utah, one suggestion was "see animals." Grandma and Grandpa, bless their hearts, sure made that wish come true again at good ol' Hogle Zoo.

There were so many baby animals!

That afternoon we reported our day to Daddy, who was still at home. Mommy related a string of details, including Eliza's ride on a zebra and Mona's ride on a snow leopard. He was silent for a moment, "A what?" "Snow leopard," I replied. "Really?" "Really." I did mention at this point that it was a carousel. Maybe because of Swiss Family Robinson a zebra ride is fairly believable.

High in the Autum Sky

2009-11-02T09:20:00.007-05:00

The perfect time for a ride on the Alpine Slide. Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa and a doctor Grandma works with, we had this beautiful view - twice.

In the photo above Eliza was chanting, "Here I am at the slide, with my yellow leaf." Rather than saying "cheese" in every photo, Eliza and Mona think up captions. After much time and dozens of photos with their mouths contorted for many other sounds, Mommy explained the significance of "cheese."I didn't even notice Eliza doing that when I took the photo. She said it wasn't what it looks like... ???

BFF Playdate

2009-11-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

We did some catching up with Jamie & Kate (who's so grown up)!

General Conference

2009-11-02T09:10:00.003-05:00

Tom flew in to Utah and the next day we enjoyed hearing Grandma & Grandpa Andersen relate experiences and share inspiring messages at the Donetsk, Ukraine mission reunion in Orem. As Grandpa spoke, Eliza turned to Grandma and said, "He's a good talker."

Ahhh, General Conference. We attended within the Conference Center on Saturday. This year Eliza played General Conference Bingo. She was quite determined - I had to smile when she said, "Mona, we're trying to listen to Conference," and "I can't hear what the prophet is saying."Grandma took us to Mimi's Saturday evening. Eliza was anxiously calling for macaroni and cheese when the waitress surprised her by bringing it from the direction opposite that which she was expecting. I've missed being part of a girls night during the Priesthood session(8-10PM is probably too late anyway:)).

2009-11-02T09:05:00.003-05:00

We were up Provo Canyon near Aspen Grove long enough to catch as many glimpses as we could of the fall scenery (and get rather cold). Thanks to DJ & Julia, who brought delicious warm sandwiches which they kept heated with a brick.

Eliza with Aunt Annie, who we rarely get to see.

Bridal Veil Falls

Mona bowling with Grandpa at BYU.

Grilled Smores

2009-11-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

Because she loves them.Grandma & Mona Burrito

Small Town Country Fair

2009-11-01T20:41:00.011-05:00

Strawberry and lemon smoothies, pony rides, and plenty of animals to pet. It was an idyllic afternoon for the girls.

Just my size!

"MY DEAR WORMWOOD,"

2009-09-15T17:29:00.030-04:00

boomed a voice.* "JENNYYYY," exploded/warned/threatened Tom, the first to jolt to reality. After a moment I realized that instead of buzzing at 6AM, the alarm had played the beginning of the last CD we listened to, The Screwtape Letters. These first three words of the book not only struck terror in Tom's already pounding heart, but concluded my own rather strange dream that included a round of golf with my maternal Grandfather (???). The reading was loud enough to shock a restful sleeper; thus it's understandable that Tom, already in a state of alarm (he immediately recalled being in the midst of a futile escape), was scared stiff when the stranger in our room bellowed to his nephew.

*Note: I wanted to tell this story from Tom's point of view, but when I requested that he retell his nightmare he said, "Negatory. It's not something I want to remember. The devil shouting 'WORMWOOD' is enough."

SCHOOL

First week: great!
Second week: absent with colds, including coughing with Eliza's every utterance. We did drive Daddy to the bus stop and drop the class snacks off at school.
Third week (today): preceded by prayer that Eliza would be able to attend school. Eliza was much better. En route, on Tuesday at 8:40AM, Mona lost her hastily eaten breakfast. The car smelled of apples and cinnamon. Was she carsick from eating too quickly, too early, and driving for 50 minutes? Did she pick up a virus in nursery Sunday morning? We dropped the snacks off at school and headed home. She has been keeping food down and running around, and talking as usual (not that sickness ever stopped this girl). Maybe it was carsickness?

UPDATE

I had hopes to often record moments here, evidently it is months. As you may infer from the above, Eliza is now in school. We decided after we moved that since we couldn't be a part of the awesome preschool group we were in last year, K4 is a good alternative. (We moved in May.)

Tom's parents came shortly after to help us get settled in and celebrate with us as Tom walked. (I made him walk because he was timing contractions during BYU commencement four years ago.) We went to Tom's swearing-in ceremony in Richmond after he passed the VA Bar (YAY TOM!). Early this summer, we visited close to home with many dear relatives we haven't seen in a long time at a family reunion in D.C., and my parents visited Dave and Kimi before and stayed a bit longer after to be with us in our new place.

On July 4th we went to a patriotic concert in the National Cathedral and saw the spectacular Mall fireworks. We drove to Saratoga Springs in July where Tom took the NY bar (since he only had to take the state portion and is CRAZY about studying - we're not moving to NY), and visited Valley Forge and Philadelphia on the way. During that trip Tom and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Hattie's too - where we sampled the fried chicken made even more famous by victory in a Bobby Flay Throwdown. This summer we've also become addicted to Pottery Barn Outlet, where we've found, significantly discounted, almost everything on our new-home-wishlist.

RECENT QUOTES

8/3/2009
Tom, Eliza and Mona were casually watching "Truth in 24" an Audi car-racing documentary. A German engineer was explaining the function of the engine he designed, and concluded with the statement in a German accent, "you see, it's really very simple." With a pointed finger, Mona rose up in disagreement, "NO! NOT SIMPLE!!!"

8/7/2009
Arkansas Cheese - In the car on the way to Leesburg, Eliza and Mona were eating lunch. Eliza said, "Mommy! Look at my Arkansas cheese!" Mommy stopped at the traffic light and turned around to see a minuscule Arkansas shape bitten out of her slice of provolone.

8/29/2009
Mommy: "Those are some big eyes you have, Mona."
Mona: "My daddy gave me my big eyes. Thank you, Daddy!!!!!" [She ran over and gave Daddy a huge Mona-hug.]

8/29/2009
Mona: "Mommy, I want mango. Mango does body good. Jesus said, 'Eat mango.'"

8/30/2009
Daddy: "Mona, do you ever stop talking?"
Eliza: "No, she's always go talking."

9/2/2009
Mommy: [While teaching Mona to say "God's covenant with Abraham"] "Do you want to say 'with Abraham?'"
Mona: "No, I want to say, 'creation fall in the garden the flood tower of Babel!'"
[Mommy & Liza burst into laughter.]

9/11/2009
Eliza: "I want to go to Kentucky!"
Mona: "No! Kentucky has sakes!!!"
Eliza: "No, Kentucky doesn't have snakes, Nevada has snakes!"
Mona: "Oh."

9/15/2009
Eliza: "Your last name is Andersen, your first name is Mommy, and your middle name is Jen."

Thank You!

2008-11-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

We want you to know that we are thankful for you, our family and friends.

We would have liked to send each of you real ones, but after the sixth turkey Eliza was ready to throw in the glue stick :) Happy Thanksgiving! Love you!

Ahhh to Zzzz

2008-11-16T20:47:00.020-05:00

Just a glimpse at what they are doing:

How does she sing with all that noise?

Eliza, quizzing Ramona.

Finding the melody.

This game began when the girls were VERY excited to have the lunch that Mommy was making (too slowly).

She is absorbed with, captivated by, hooked on, preoccupied with, and really into PINK. Eliza was browsing through a catalog when a play kitchen caught her eye. She informed us that she needed a pink kitchen because it matches her ballerina dress. So we made a refrigerator and a stovetop/oven from a couple boxes, some pink construction paper, and the better part of a roll of packing tape. When she wasn't giggling and squealing with delight, she was pointing out the necessary features of her new appliances: a knob for controlling the stove and oven temperatures, an oven door and shelves and bins for her refrigerator. All pink, of course.

Pinky (as Grandpa calls her), with her refrigerator.

The next day she worked feverishly in her kitchen and was very careful to warn Ramona about the heat of the oven. She didn't waste any time putting in her order for a pink toaster, a pink telephone, and a pink bed. We'll be back with part two of the story...

Lately Mona has been... soo Mona. Yes. Makes me want to squeeze her too.
{Papers and elements from The Night Before by MK Designs and Winter Wonderfull by Cinnamon Designs. Template by Emily Powers.}

Moments Like These

2008-11-03T00:06:00.013-05:00

Time for a new header and way past time for a new post! I've taken a different approach with the header. I always feel the need to update the look to the next season before I post. Maybe this will help me be better about blogging - we can hope! :)

{Credits: Metamorphosis by Emily Powers and Kathryn Wilson at www.wearestorytellers.com}

Today we watched videos we had taken the past couple of years and hadn't been able to view because we needed to convert the file type. [Thanks to Tom and some new software, we have included our first video in the post below. :)] We had so many laughs over the things we had all but completely forgotten... how Mona sounded as she sang and growled just months ago... the joy in Eliza's "whee" as she slid down the slide... I ran across video clips of Eliza when she was Mona's age and found I could barely remember what it was like when she was so little - only 2 years ago! I felt a tug on my heart as I thought about how the moments fade into years and the time has flown before I know it. I'm sure you know how that feels. As I created this header I found this word art. It seemed just right.

Here's a cute memory from this week:

After breakfast Eliza was wandering around and Mommy asked her if she is finished with her plate. Eliza answered yes and took it into the kitchen. Ramona was still eating and said, "Na na!!" She pointed at Eliza's napkin on the table and said again, "NA NA!!" I told Eliza that Ramona wanted her to throw away her napkin. Eliza said, "Oh, sorry!" She picked it up to throw it away and Ramona said, "Thanks!"

We've been busy the past couple of months. Tom finished two of his classes in the first two months of the semester. I have begun to dabble in designing digital scrapbook kits. Eliza has been going to ballet and preschool. Ramona has been trying some new foods! We discovered "The Whole Foods Cookbook," for families with allergies. Mona has tried many of her "firsts" this past week. It was so fun to see her eat bread! I enjoyed serving everyone the same meal. Now if I could just get everyone to eat it. :)

New Dresses

2008-11-01T20:49:00.010-04:00

Eliza and Ramona received some new dresses from Grandma A. Eliza's favorite was the pink one, and they were both so excited they started dancing with them. Ramona dances while holding the dress with her chin. Thanks, Grandma!!

Two Birthdays

2008-07-23T23:41:00.011-04:00

Eliza turned three in April, and Ramona one in May.

For her third birthday, Eliza began the day with pancakes, syrup and strawberries. She was eager to ride her bike, wear her princess dress, and of course, eat cake! Eliza first wore her princess dress. She rode her bike on the balcony - pedaling will come soon... Tom took the girls to the park while Jen finished the cake. Grandma and Grandpa called that afternoon. Eliza had ravioli with Alfredo sauce for dinner. Jen helped her eat each bite at the end so she could eat dessert... her birthday cake! We made the chocolate buttermilk cake. She loved the frosting the most! A busy and happy birthday!

When Eliza sees this page she says "That one's my favorite! Those bugs are getting my birthday!!" The first time she saw the page she said "I want to go to that one! Mom, can you get me that chair? I want to sit on that chair!!"

She looks so grown up... time marches on.

Finding her wings. Within a week of turning eleven months, Ramona began taking steps. She had been walking along the furniture and walls. On April 14th, she put her hands up and stepped - and her face was full of joy. I think she felt free... Tom tried to get her to walk that evening. She took a few steps and cried out with glee - walking was SO fun! She laughed and shook her head, we think it was because she was amazed, and thrilled, to be walking. A day or two later, Eliza took Ramona by the hands and the two of them walked. Ramona giggled and squealed and Eliza laughed and praised her. Almost two weeks later Ramona was trying to walk all the time. Eliza was always yelling out that "Ramona is walking!" and cheering her on. Jen heard someone yell, "YAY!" and looked over to see Ramona walking. Ramona had said, "YAY!" because she was walking - free as a bird.

It's remarkable to me that Ramona is already one. We tried to have portraits taken. One of Eliza's did turn out perfect. None of Ramona's did. She had a hard time being any distance from Mom and Dad at the portrait studio. At one point we had Ramona laughing and smiling. We asked the photographer to hurry and take the photo, but she was standing there trying to decide which photo of them frowning she should delete from the camera so she would have room for more... We took this photo of Ramona at the National Arboretum a couple weeks later.

Tom and I are so thankful for these two!

Welcome Spring!

2008-03-31T00:37:00.012-04:00

Here we are for our monthly update... as the trend currently stands. We also have a new blog look, to replace our Christmas header, and just for spring in D.C.! We are so excited for spring! Earlier this month Jen went into the living/dining room of our apartment one morning and flipped on the light. Eliza said, "Thank you Mommy, for turning on the orange light." She was very sincere in her appreciation, but Jen thought, "She's right! We're ready for spring!"

As you can tell from our header, we visited the cherry blossoms, which were beautiful! It was pretty windy; Ramona was grinding her teeth because she was so cold. Eliza didn't want to look at the camera, she would rather huddle up next to Tom for warmth. We only stayed about a half hour, but we're glad we took at least this peek after seeing them when they were mostly gone last year.

This year spring brought a nice surprise... our first spring break ever! Tom is in school full-time this year and free of school and work during spring break. March 5th we went up to Gettysburg, PA. We were four of the handful of tourists exploring there that day. At the visitor's center we purchased a CD and book guide that we enjoyed very much. It brought to life these events that had passed and we are thankful to have had this experience. It was cold and windy the day were were there, but we did jump out of our car a few times for a better look and some photos. This is the battlefield:

Here's the view of the battlefield from the other side, on Little Round Top.

After we completed the tour we decided to eat a a little place we saw near the cemetery and visitor's center, Tommy's Pizza. With a name like that, it must be good. The pizza was yummy.

That weekend, Jen's cousin Jodi came to D.C. with her family. Ryan had a work conference here and they had a week to spend sight-seeing here again after living here for a year and moving to Alabama last year (we've missed you)!! We had fun seeing how Joshua and Marin have grown and loved meeting sweet baby Jared! We went to the National Zoo with them one day, here they are in the fantastic panda habitat. Jen thinks these walls are too cool.

Eliza had a ball with Joshua and Marin! Here are a few photos of the kids.

That same week we had a couple days with Carlos, Tom's brother-in-law! He had spring break and some business here in D.C., and nieces to see! :) We had fun catching up with him and enjoying his company. He took some time and gave us a fabulous violin lesson too!

We have some Easter pages, but we'll have to do that later.
Thanks for the visit!! HUGS!

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-17T23:10:00.006-05:00

So a little love, even late, never hurt - Happy Valentines Day!! We love you bunches!

This was actually Mona's 9th month - she's 9 months! I did a page summarizing the major things that happened this month. Basically, she has been talking, singing, standing (and falling), she has long hair, and eight teeth!

Ramona hasn't wasted any time putting standing to use - she has made her way into the cupboards, is finding a better view, and is reaching the things Eliza can reach.

Eliza loves being independent and one of her new favorite ways to do this is by dressing herself. A little while ago she squeezed into her sister's dress, yes a two-year-old in a 6-12 month dress! The day I took these photos she put her shirt on (sticking out the back) and did the buttons. She zipped her dress up (backward), and put her shoes on (the wrong feet). Then she came to me and said, "Mommy, Eziza did a wonderful, good job!" She did, and we had to get photos of it.

By the way, Eliza loves to wear dresses. She says she wants to get dressed and she means it. To dress, is to put a dress on.

Milk, Wheat, & Nuts!

2008-01-21T01:06:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks before Christmas we finally made it into the lab to get blood work done for Mona. We found out that she's allergic to milk, wheat, cashews, almonds, and hazelnuts. The allergy scale is 1-6, and she is a 4 for milk and wheat. She's at a 2 for nuts. We're working toward eliminating these foods from Jen's diet. It's proving difficult, but it's worth a try!

Mona loves food. She would love to be eating more table food, as Eliza was at this age, but Mommy is being cautious. She is allowed one table food: Rice Krispies. Here she is, enjoying them.

Ramona has always been very active, a go-getter! She is eight months old and quite comfortable with crawling.

The past couple of weeks she has been really exploring instead of just going around eating everything she could find. She loves "Sojiki," our iRobot vacuum. We hear Eliza yelling "uh oh" and then Mona squealing as the vacuum backs out of the charging dock. Mona is also very interested in the kitchen and the cupboard in particular. She's pulling chips and hot chocolate out, already!

Mona is also very interested in standing. She's always pulling herself up to the couch, to the toy baskets, and to our chairs at the dining room table. If she's not eating her Rice Krispies when we're at the table, she's down under Eliza, tickling feet.

We are really enjoying all Mona has to say! The past couple of weeks she has been so eager to say "Hiiiiiiii!" and wave to everyone! She used to only say it to Daddy ("Hi da, I love you"). A few days ago Eliza said "Hi, Mona!" and Mona said, "Hi da da!"

She also loves to say "I do," "ssss...ttt... (strawberry)," "guh, guh (good girl)," and "ba, ba." We heard "ma, ma" repeated the other day when she was calling to us from her crib.

We can't believe how grown up she is!!!

Christmas In D.C.

2008-01-21T00:06:00.001-05:00

The past two years we've gone to Utah and Arizona for Christmas and haven't made it to the Christmas sights here.

We enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights and Nativities at the D.C. Temple and going to the special displays at the Botanic Gardens.

A couple of the Nativities:

Tom and Eliza at the Botanic Gardens:

The trains!!

Here are some photos of Eliza inside the gardens:

The Botanic Gardens have a mini version of the mall made from mostly plants! I'll show you a few, in case you've yet to see them. Here's the Jefferson Memorial, made from a GOURD! Jefferson has moss hair!

Here are the girls, in front of the Smithsonian Castle... CHOCOLATE, YUM!!

Tom and Eliza in front of the Supreme Court.

I did manage to scrap one of all of us in front of the Capitol!

On the way out, Daddy was holding both girls. This is too cute!

On December 26th, we visited the Air and Space Museum in Dulles. It was very cool, as D.J. said! Here are Tom and Eliza in front of Daddy's cool, sleek, favorite!

Ramona and Mommy, in front of Jen's vintage favorite. It looks like a cartoon plane!

We also saw the Enola Gay and the Concord. After seeing the planes we went to the IMAX theater and saw a fighter pilot show. We thought it was fantastic!

So we had a few memorable adventures around D.C., had fun with ward members who also stayed here, did some reading, organizing, and relaxing!

December Details

2008-01-20T23:55:00.000-05:00

While Tom was studying for finals, we did get a bit of snow!! Since he was home studying we bundled up, made Daddy take a break, and enjoyed it together. This was Ramona's first snow!

Here she is, enjoying it with Daddy!

Eliza really enjoyed walking around in it... she loved the crunch beneath her feet.

Ramona hit another milestone in December - crawling! She was army crawling around for most of the month, then on Christmas day she crawled on her hands and knees into the kitchen!

That's it! She's mobile at 7.5 months!! :)

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-20T23:24:00.000-05:00

Is it still better, when it's this late, than never? I guess I'll take the risk! :) We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's our card this year:

This is Ramona in her Christmas dress:

We took Ramona and Eliza to the mall to meet Santa (thanks Shane, for all your research!). Eliza wouldn't stay near him long enough for Mom to snap a photo. We did get a few with Ramona, which I believe, she'll treasure. I love the "who is this" look on her face, and the photo where they're looking each other in the eyes.

We stayed in Virginia this year! Although we enjoyed being here, we missed being with friends and family (our first time). I made this page for all you that we were away from this year.

Eliza loves the movie, "The Polar Express," (aka the Train Show). We thought she would like to meet Santa, but as I said, kept her distance from him. She did get close enough for him to give her a sheet of stickers. When she talks about Santa, she says, "Eliza no sit on Santa lap. Mona sit on Santa lap." When anyone asks her what Santa gave her for Christmas, she says "Daddy gave Eliza stroller. Santa give Eliza stickers." I still have to do a page explaining all of this. Here are two pages I did before I realized how Eliza actually understood Santa. :)

I Believe

'Twas The Night

Here's Eliza decorating the tree!

I'll post an update on more recent topics now...

A New Look

2007-12-02T22:06:00.001-05:00

I decided it was time for a new look. Our other header was summery, and I had planned to change it for fall, for Thanksgiving, and/or for Christmas. I decided to use a scrapbook page and alter it for the blog header, so I finally updated it. :)

Although it's cooling off, we seem to still have fall weather here in Virginia. Tom is working on finals now, and we're getting ready for a Christmas here! We should try to find Santa, and maybe even get a picture. For now, we have our Christmas jammies!

I have a random childhood memory of dancing to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" while we decorated our Christmas tree. Until 2002 we always had a real tree. I love going to get a tree, smelling the pine and being together with family. When I scrapped this page, I thought of this song, and was reminded of these things. So, the girls are here, rockin' around and decorating this little tree.

Ramona is seven months old on Friday! She's very active physically and verbally- she's been growling like a lion all day. We've noticed that she combines her rolling with army crawling to get around, and occasionally she gets up on her knees and rocks forward and back like she's revving up to crawl. She scoots backward on her hands and knees, so we're sure by Christmas, her first Christmas, she'll be crawling!

Eliza's sentences are getting more complex, and she loves to say EVERYTHING we say. She's our shadow, both physically and verbally. :) Eliza loves our little photo shoots. She was thrilled to be in matching jammies with Ramona and loves to see the pictures after we've taken them. This will be Eliza's third Christmas!

Well, that's enough for today. We'll be back soon! :)

So Much To Be Grateful For!

2007-11-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm late! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for you, our family and friends.

We went to the home of Sam, Raelynn and Kate in our ward. It was fun to be with them and several other families. Everyone worked so hard to make it wonderful. Thanks to all of you!

Skype is amazing; we got to visit with family that way. We had Mona and Eliza playing and crawling around in front of the laptop on the floor. Oh, and it's official - Mona can sit independently now! Once she's up she has no problem staying there.

This photo is a little old, but here the girls are with a little turkey. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Tom, Jen, Eliza and Ramona

The Decline of Fall

2007-11-18T21:07:00.000-05:00

Now that fall is almost over I had better post those photos that I meant to do a few weeks ago. Ramona is rolling across the room and sitting up almost completely on her own. Here's a page about her learning to sit. When I scrapped this page she was still falling every time I sat her up. Now she's sitting on her own for a while and when she falls it's usually intentional, to be able to reach or roll to something.

We love the fall in Virginia; it's just starting to get cold here now. We went to the Fall Festival at Cox Farms last month with other law students' families and ever since then Eliza asks if she can go to the farm to see the cows. As soon as it was in sight Eliza was squealing and giggling with excitement. She loved being with the other kids, fearlessly sliding down slides and climbing up hills to get to them. She played in the hay and with the goats. Mona cried during the entire hay ride, but Eliza loved it. We had apples (Eliza's first whole apple) and cider. Of course, we took photos! We had so much fun there, it will have to be a new tradition. (It was in the mid 80's that day!)

This one is a two-page layout, click on it for a better view. "I Heart Fall."

We'll be back soon with a post for Thanksgiving! :)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T14:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween! Our little girls are sick, so we're staying home today. We've been trying on costumes all month, but haven't gone anywhere. :) Eliza doesn't eat candy anyway. Yesterday when we came home from the park the ladies at the front desk shared their Halloween donuts with Eliza. That made her Halloween!! In her prayer at lunch she was grateful for dessert AND for chocolate (donuts).

Here are some Halloween pages! "Miss Mona Can Moooo Can You?" ;)

Here are a few from Halloweens past! My brother Dave in 1983, really enjoying his candy. Mom wrote on the back of many of our photos. The quote in the bubble was written by Mom.

I LOVED that my mom made the most wonderful costumes in the world for us. As I think about how much I loved them, I get ambitious to make them for Eliza and Mona. Then I find costumes on clearance and decide not to. Maybe when I get better at sewing it won't be so much more "expensive" to make them!

Here we are, the Halloween of 1988. I was Cinderella, Dave was an executioner, Sara was a ballerina, and Teri was making her famous "scary witch" face. Sweet memories...

This is for Dave and Sara, It's not exactly a Halloween page, but I dressed them up, so I thought I'd add it into this post. I love this photo where they're "Just Clowning Around."

Happy Halloween!

How Long Has That Been There?

2007-10-28T23:48:00.000-04:00

About a week ago we were conversing with our friend, Lauren, regarding the teething stage. Her six-month-old girl was getting her first tooth. When asked about Ramona, I replied that she hadn't begun teething. Later, as Ramona was crying, Lauren spotted Mona's tooth!

Please excuse the poor photography, some of you may know how difficult it is to capture a baby's tooth. I slightly enhanced the tooth for you. :) The happy, proud owner, our little Mona. She's 5.5 months old now!

Thanks for sharing this special moment with us! Tee hee hee!

Our Cowgirls

2007-10-28T22:35:00.001-04:00

Halloween is here and I thought I'd better post these photos. We have many costumes because I'm always buying them on clearance, so you may see others. These are their "official" costumes, because matching is too, too cute, right? Special thanks to Aunt Sara for making these possible!!

Here's our little sheriff, Ramona. I love how she held onto her vest.

I've finished a couple scrapbook pages too (they're clickable for a better view). Here's our cowgirl with her rockin' steed.

This one is my personal favorite, the sweet sisters.

Thanks for having a peek!

Miss You Aunt Sara!

2007-10-12T15:19:00.000-04:00

It was never my intention to post only once a month... :). We've been having fun with Sara here! She just returned form the Tucson, AZ mission in August. She visited Dave and Kimi in Chicago, IL and then came to D.C. for two weeks!! We loved learning a little Spanish from her, hearing about her mission, and making food with her. Eliza LOVES having a special buddy and Ramona loved being carried everywhere in the baby bjorn by her auntie. Eliza loves to see the pictures we took with Aunt Sara. Here are some pages of our fun:

The National Archives
Sara and Eliza (2.5 years)

Forever Buddies

The National Arboretum
The Bonsai and Penjing Museum
Sara and Ramona (5 months)

Sara also made possible a few Halloween photo shoots. I'll post those pages later. Thanks for all the fun Sara!

Rockin' and Rollin'

2007-09-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Another milestone for Ramona. She's just over four months and has begun rolling over and scooting and rotating on her back, all while blowing bubbles. Here's the page I did of her today. She's four months and "Full of Wonder."

Journaling: Ramona will be four months in two days (in the photo). She is happily exploring her surroundings by observation. Lately she’s begun to grab hold of things- the container Mommy is using to rinse her at bath time, the faucet of running water, the hymn book the sister next to us in church is holding. She loves to hear songs, especially when her big sister sings them. She is beginning to roll over... soon there will be even more of the world within her reach.

A Child Willing To Submit

2007-09-07T17:40:00.000-04:00

We have been taught by Eliza's sweet willingness. Lately we ask her to do something and she will respond with "Okay, I want to ____." Whether it's cleaning, drinking water instead of juice, sometimes even taking a nap - she'll usually do it willingly.

Eliza loves singing. I know she's awake in the morning when I hear "SunBEAM," the ABC's, or "mommies going shhh, shhhh, shhh." One of her favorites is "The Wheels On The Bus." She has been asking for the "fish fish fish" verse for the past month. I wondered if maybe a silly nursery leader taught them a fishtailing bus verse. Yesterday I remembered that the wipers on the bus go "swish swish swish." That's her "fish!"

Ramona loves singing and dancing. She'll put her arms up and twist in her bouncer while she kicks. "Pat A Cake" brings a smile to her face at almost any time. She bursts out laughing when she goes "up and down" as a person on the bus. Eliza loves to sing to Mona to cheer her up.

At about four months old now, Ramona's hair is getting long and Daddy sometimes says it looks like a helmet. Soon we'll be able to put elastics and clips in... we did a little experimenting today. Ramona's first pigtails:

Toddler Talk

2007-08-30T14:23:00.000-04:00

I like to record Eliza's latest sayings... lately in addition to taking notes on what Eliza says, I have to do a little research.

Recently I was cutting a cantaloupe and Eliza ran into the room and said "xi gua! I like xi gua! I'm excited (hee hee)." One of the Mandarin DVDs Tom got for Eliza has fruits and vegetables on it. Sure enough, xi gua is watermelon. Last week Eliza ran from the kitchen asking for a banana in Mandarin (I still need to look that one up). Then yesterday Eliza was counting on her fingers... "one, two, four, eight... yi, er, san, wu, shi."

Tom and Eliza are starting to communicate in Mandarin. I guess I'd better work on it too!

Newbie In The Blogosphere...

2007-08-23T20:38:00.000-04:00

Here's our little weblog, The Chronicle. Jen loves reading blogs and would like to share our story too so... here we go!

Our latest little adventure was in Georgetown. The day was overcast and cool. It was so nice to be outside without having to worry about Ramona's eczema flaring up from the heat. Before it started raining we saw most of the campus. Eliza loved the fish in this pool of water. Isn't she looking grown up?

A week ago we went down to Mount Vernon. We got there and realized that we'd forgotten the Bjorn and Jen's season pass. Instead of touring Washington's estate again (which we love) we ended up walking the trail along the Potomac. It was beautiful, but STEAMING HOT! We'll admit we're pretty wimpy. Eliza loves being outside, but she was so hot that she said she wanted to "go home, sit on the couch, and watch a show." Although, she would love a show anytime! Even Tom, a seasoned desert dweller, was ready to go. So after walking a short distance we snapped a few pictures and headed home. Check out Mona's huge smile! She's THREE months old!

Well, that's it for our first post. See you next time!