The Kovacs Twins

Sledding

2011-12-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

It's officially winter here in South Dakota. I know this because a) the butter we leave out on the counter to be "soft" is rock hard in the morning b) my electric blanket is my best friend and c) when the forecast says temperatures will be above 40 degrees, we get really excited about how "nice" it's going to be. We've had two snows worth talking about, so yesterday we went up to hang out with friends in Custer and do some serious sledding. There were a few times we underestimated how fast and far they would go and our friends had to race after the sled to stop it from hitting the barn. After that we strategically placed adults at all risky areas.

So...other than that we are marking off days to Chrismtas, building our Lego advent calendar every night, and I am finished with classes for the semester after I turn in my last 3 assignments today and tomorrow. I am looking forward to a month off and engaging in all things Christmas.

Dear Santa

2011-10-28T07:58:00.001-07:00

Linnaea and Elise decided to write letters to Santa today. Well, they dictated their lists to me and I wrote them down. Here are their lists, word for word. Please note these are not things we actually want them to have. It's just funny to see what they are thinking about.

Linnaea:

"piggy bank

roller skates

toy all black cat whose name is Ariel

Ariel doll with a white and pink dress and pink glass slippers and pink earrings

pink overalls with pink stars

glass thing like Sierra's thing

green computer that's real with a plug to plug it in

pink phone

baby with a cradle and a star nightgown"

Elise:

"another Ariel doll with a green dress

Cinderella doll, big like Ariel

Tiana doll

Briar Rose doll

glass thing like Rhiana

Hello Kitty doll

new bunny with a eye like Linnaea's [explanation: they both have identical bunnies, but Elise's bunny's string eye came unraveled and it hangs out]

Pinkalicious sticker book

purple phone

roller skates

Disney - write Disney on there so Santa knows we went to Disney

purple table

toy Santa

purple Briar Rose doll

purple booster seat

little table for Belle

little princess set like we got at the Toy Story store [explanation: the "Toy Story store" is actually Toys R' Us - we went there to get them Woody and Buzz dolls before we went to see Toy Story 3 two summers ago]

kitty toy one black and one purple

purple computer for us to play with"

Elise Singing

2011-09-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/c6Fpf1T90Zk

Storybook Island

2011-09-10T11:28:00.001-07:00

The girls got princess makeovers.

The Things Kids Say

2011-06-17T17:17:00.001-07:00

Just had to note this funny conversation with Linnaea today. We're teaching her how to ride her bike, so I was walking next to her guiding her when she starts talking about getting bigger:

Linnaea: "When I get bigger, I can ride your bike, Mom."

Me: "Yes, when you get WAY bigger you can ride it."

Linnaea: "When I get stronger I can ride it."

Me: "Yes, you will get strong legs like Daddy's."

Linnaea: "But I'm probably going to get your arms."

Me: "What kind of arms do I have?"

Linnaea: "Your arms are kind of....kind of....sucked in."

I guess that's the nice way of saying I have bony arms.

And Elise was trying to steal black olives off the cutting board as I was cutting, and here was our conversation:

Me: "ELISE! What does Mommy have in her hand?"

Elise: "A sharp knife."

Me: "And what will happen if you put your hand in the way?"

Elise: "I'll get hurt, then you'll need to fix me with Fred."

Me: "Fred? Who's Fred?"

Elise: "No, fred. Like sew and fred." Oh. THREAD. She had just seen me use a needle and thread to sew Linnaea's Cinderella dress that morning.

Good Bye Winter...We Hope!

2011-04-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

We have finally entered spring, at least we think. We have not put away our coats, boots, hats and gloves yet, just in case. I'm certain that as soon as we do it winter will return. In the meantime, we've been getting days in the 60s about every 2-3 days, and even a day or two in the 70s. Always windy, windy, windy. This weekend was like fall - rainy, dreary, and cold. But those nice days give us the strength to persevere!

Elise is doing really well at spelling and reading. She can read all words in the -at word family, most from the -et and -og families, and is very good at sounding other three-letter words out with our help and spelling them, too. She even arranged our magnetic letters to spell D-E-S-M-B-R and told us it was December. We were really impressed! Linnaea is really good at writing the letters but isn't showing as much interest in spelling as Elise is.

I found this picture hiding on my camera. It's the last snow we had back in March. The snow was finally wet enough for a snowman!

We went for a hike in Custer State Park on the first almost-80 degree day we had since October. It was beautiful! Here we are with our friends, Sierra and Bryce.

And here we are with Mommy.

Here we are on on of our 4 stream crossings. This is NOT the one Linnaea fell in.

Elise's new haircut. I love this picture and really wish it wasn't blurry!

It's Been a Long Time...

2011-03-01T14:17:00.001-08:00

It's been almost two months since I've posted pictures. It's because there haven't been too many exciting things going on here in South Dakota. We go up to Rapid City every 2 or 3 weeks and take the girls to their indoor swim complex. They have a total blast and we can never get them out of the water. They've even started going underwater without any encouragement from Kevin or me. Elise and Linnaea started going to morning preschool on February 1st, and they like it. It's a block and a half away, so I walk them there at 8am and pick them up at 11:30 and we walk home. Almost every morning I have to force them to get dressed to go. They take after Kevin in that they are quite happy playing around the house in the their pajamas. But when I pick them up I have to force them to come home with me, so I know they like being there. Since they are in preschool I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the elementary school. I LOVE it! I've observed/helped in 5th and 3rd grade classes and go to the kindergarten class every Thursday. Kindergarten is a lot more work but I just love being there and getting to know the kids. I am so excited to get my classes done and get started teaching, but I'm expecting it to be another 1 1/2 years plus a semester of student teaching. I am so happy I've made the decision to go back to school for elementary education.

Well, here's a few pictures of us hanging around the house:

We were supposed to be putting stickers on ornaments but thought we'd see how they would look on our own faces.

My first attempt at French braiding Elise's hair. She let me try one more time after this but I have not been able to talk her into letting me practice any more than that.

Working on the puzzle Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Tim gave us for Christmas. We will do all 4 puzzles in about 45 minutes without any help from mom!

This is how Linnaea makes me do her hair sometimes. Two ponytails with two different colored rubber bands and two barrettes to match on each side.

Goofy sister time!

Linnaea is working on one of the Valentine's crafts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Elise paints her Ariel suncatcher, also a Valentine's gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

We made these curly crowns one day when we were bored.

My little girl who loves fancy shoes and dresses. By the way, Elise and Linnaea decided about a month ago that they would switch favorite colors. Elise's favorite color is now purple and Linnaea's is now pink. Elise insists on wearing all of Linnaea's purple clothes and using her purple things. I don't know how long this is going to last.

Linnaea in her ballerina costume and Elmo slippers.

Before I Forget...

2011-01-29T06:06:00.001-08:00

I'm horrible at remembering to record the funny things they say, but it's probably because most things revolve around bodily functions that are inappropriate to write down. But here is a good funny one:

Kevin made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting last night, which was a real event because I can't even remember the last time we had cake or cupcakes. Linnaea got a tiny chocolate mustache from the frosting.

I told her she looked like a French man and said, in a funny French accent, "Oui oui monsieur!"

Elise, ever so concerned with being EXACTLY like Linnaea, asks me very worriedly "Do I look like a wee wee Mommy?"

The only think I could say was "Yes, sweetie, you do."

Christmas Things

2011-01-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to make cookies!

Elise insisted on leaving ALL the carrots we had for the reindeer.

Linnaea takes a picture of me taking a picture of her and her new camera.

Linnaea wrote her name for the first time.

Elise dresses up her new doll and wears her own ballerina outfit to match.

Elise washes dishes in their new kitchen.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2010-12-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Winter has definitely come to stay here in Hot Springs. I calculated that we are getting almost 15 hours of darkness everyday! It's pitch black at 4:30pm and doesn't get light until 7am. It actually hasn't been that cold, although I do have to scrape ice off the windshield almost every morning as we are dashing to day care. Oh yeah, about day care...

...most of you already know this, but for those who don't: I have decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. I have been going back and forth on this matter since I first graduated from UF. I finally decided that it's now or never, and we are in a good place to allow me to do this. My last day at the bank will be December 17, after which I will get to spend the holidays with the girls and Kevin and then give the house a good winter cleaning before classes start January 12. I'll be taking 3 classes to start, which I hope will be a good balance with watching the girls full time again. So wish me luck!

So this year we decided to go chop down our own Christmas tree, and we went and got a permit from the Forest Service and took a ride over to the Black Hills National Forest north of Custer. Despite the 19 degree temperatures, Kevin picked out the beauty of a tree below. My feet were freezing, but the girls didn't complain one bit. But I think the most fun they had was playing with a bit of rope that we were going to tie the tree to the roof with.

Here is our tree!

Linnaea puts the tree topper on.

Elise puts an ornament on.

Getting the tree chopped down and home was the easy part. A photo with the two of them smiling and looking the same direction was a challenge.

Our local Santa at the phone company. Again the challenge of getting them to look the same direction...

...maybe if we cut and splice the two photos we'll get a perfect one.

Halloween! Halloween! Trick or Treat! Our costumes can't be beat!

2010-11-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a while to post Halloween pics because we forgot to get pictures of the girls in costume! I staged Halloween this afternoon and finally got some. But first...

We set up our bunk beds! We are only allowed to sleep on the top for nap. For night time we sleep on the trundle, until we turn 4.

Decorating for Halloween--Linnaea puts up bat and jack-o-lantern window stickers.

Elise decorates with ghosts and stars.

Making pumpkin pancakes Halloween morning. Elise claimed dibs on the "one with the boot" (the one I messed up in the top right).

Elise as a dragon and Linnaea as a giraffe.

Elise has dragon wings.

The side view.

Hiking Rankin Ridge.

Linnaea took this picture of Elise. Isn't it great?

Hiking, Bubbles, and Other Fall Fun

2010-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Top Ten October Things:

10. Getting robes, slippers, and warm PJs to get ready for the winter.

9. Having weather warm enough to still play outside, and we haven't even turned our heater on yet!

8. Wearing tights and dresses. Elise refuses to wear jeans (Christmas shoppers, take note!).

7. We have gotten really good at riding our tricycles! We can't go uphill yet, but our driveway has a nice, long downslope that we can race down (and crash into the back of the Subaru).

6. Trying out new hairdos. If I can talk Linnaea into a pony tail, she usually insists on 3 or 5.

5. Getting ready for Halloween. Stay tuned for those photos.

4. Hiking with friends.

3. Going to the fire department (aka "fire apartment") for their open house and getting a ride around town on the fire truck, including lights and siren!

2. Getting big girl beds! Grandma and Grandpa got the girls a beautiful set of bunk beds with trundle. We haven't set the top bunk up yet (due to us getting shorted on a set of bolts for it) but will get it up very soon. However, the girls will have to wait until their 4th birthday to sleep on the top. We've tried explaining it to them but are not sure they'll be happy about it when they see the top bunk up there.

And the best thing about October:

1. Going to the Dairy Queen for chocolate ice cream. The conversation went like this:
Mom: "Let's go to Dairy Queen for a special treat!"
Elise: "Dairy Queen is in the movie Cars!"
Mom: "No, that's Lightning McQueen."
Linnaea: "I'm not scared of lightning."

Reminds me of one of those commercials for Bing, about search overload. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

They're really into headbands this month.

Linnaea's new robe and slippers. Unfortunately, the slippers have disappeared already.

I think this was a 3 pony tail day.

Wearing tights and dresses, Elise's favorite outfit.

Cooking oatmeal in our flannel nightgowns.

Hiking around Sylvan lake. It was pretty chilly but nice outside. And there were no other people there.

A rare family photo.

Elise explores a crevasse.

And Linnaea explores it, too.

Linnaea herself up for this photo, then said "Mom, take a picture!"

Bubbles!

She's gonna getcha!

Both girls making bubbles.

Linnaea on the downslope.

Elise races to catch up.

A Novel

2010-09-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Firstly, we are finally settled in Hot Springs! Kevin loves working for the Park Service. He likes this area way more than I do. I still have not fallen in love with South Dakota. I miss Colorado very much. The Black Hills area where we are isn't that bad, except that our new town of Hot Springs is sort of a depressed town. Speaking of our new town, in August we moved from Custer to Hot Springs. Hot Springs is larger and slightly less touristy, and a large part of the population of the town is disabled and retired veterans, as there is a State Vets home and a V.A. Hospital (the biggest employer in the area). Our new house is super tiny but has a rent to match, so that is the reason we moved here. We've just had to get really creative with our space. For instance, our bedroom is in the basement, which was quite nice when we were hitting 100+ degrees at the end of August. However, the place is still a disorganized mess since we have not had time to keep up with the mess the girls leave behind. Which brings me to my next point...

I have gone back to work full time as a teller for Wells Fargo. I won't spend a lot of time telling you about my feelings for the job since this is a public blog. The biggest complaint I have is that I am out of the house for over 45 hours a week. My days are long and exhausting, and I really miss being a stay at home mom. We're usually up by 6:15am and home by 5:30pm. After dinner, cleanup, and bedtime, I finally get a chance to sit down at 8pm. Kevin works 10 hour days so gets Fridays off with the girls, which means they are in day care only 4 days a week. They really love it but the day care situation here is pretty horrible. It's cheap, and I truly believe you pay for what you get, meaning little outside time, lots of crummy food and more TV time than I like. But they love going and love their friends there.

Finally some photos:

Wearing Mommy's shoes.

This photo is so typical: Elise trying to steal Linnaea's treats.

On a hike at Wind Cave National Park.

At our very first theatre movie, Toy Story 3. We loved it! The popcorn and fruit punch was the best. Getting there in time to sit in the second row was a pain in the neck, literally.

Sitting at the parade in Custer.

Daddy and the girls waiting for some candy. The competition was fierce as kids tried to scramble for the the candy thrown from the floats. Daddy had to help fend off the other kids so we could get some.

Making silly faces.

Chilling at our new home. We finally got to set up our hammock again after almost 2 years.

The waterfall in downtown Hot Springs.

At Fall River. It's fed by a hot spring (hence the town name Hot Springs) and the water was really warm even though it was cold that day (Labor Day).

Some more naturally hot water. Apparently this is one of 180 hot springs in the area.

Recent Funny Sayings

2010-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Both girls have a terrible habit of reaching onto the cutting board to sample whatever I am slicing, especially cheese. Today Linnaea reached up and I said,"Linnaea, please don't reach on the cutting board or I will slice your finger!" And she said,"Then I'll have to get a new finger?"

Yesterday I was holding Elise and told her I loved her so much. She said,"No, you can only love one kid." I asked her,"Which kid is that?" And she said,"Linnaea."

Yesterday I was washing dishes and I heard Linnaea say,"How 'bout I stand on it and you push it?" I could only imagine what they were attempting to do, but I didn't hear any crashes or screams so disaster was narrowly avoided.

Yesterday we were reading an Olivia book where Olivia pretends she is the tattooed lady at the circus freak show. So after I explained what the writing all over her body was, we flipped the page and Olivia was tiptoeing somewhere and leaving footprints. Elise said,"Look, Linnaea! Olivia's leaving tattoos on the floor!"

Today Elise was counting the dalmations in her 101 Dalmations book. After she passed 10 it was,"Eleven, twelve, firteen, firteen, firteen, and eleventeen."

Today we were driving through Wind Cave National Park and looking at all the prairie dogs. Linnaea said,"I want so many prairie dogs to fill up my present for my birthday. Then I can say 'Look how many prairie dogs I have!'"

Also driving through Wind Cave, we were going towards a hike that goes up to an old fire tower. Approaching the parking area I pointed out the tower and Elise said,"Is that where the princess is?" I told her,"I don't know, we'll have to see" unwittingly motivating her to race to the top of the mountain. She was the first one there.

2010-07-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Lately, Elise and Linnaea have been playing really well together. After breakfast they will go and find something different to play with and have interesting conversations with each other. This particular morning the coolest thing they could find was our laundry baskets, so they brought out their pink pillows and "warm white blankets" to make cribs for themselves. They will usually do this for a few hours until I drag them out of the house to the park, library, or lake. Or I can just get a little bit of cleaning in.

Partners in crime.

The story of my life. Two girls, two different directions.

Buffalo herd at Wind Cave National Park. Apparently this is the most genetically pure herd remaining, and if any of the adjacent Custer State Park herd get into Wind Cave, they are not so kindly removed. Custer State Park does a fall roundup and thins the herds for the winter, selling the extra buffalo for meat.

We bought a kite ages ago and have been saving it for when our friends, Jonathan and Lisa, came to visit. They came this past weekend and we finally brought it out. The girls loved it, except for the fact that the wind was blowing the kite towards the sun, so it was too bright to actually see the kite.

Elise holds the kite string. She actually dropped it once and Kevin had to chase it. He had to run after it and reach down about 7 times before he finally got it. If only I would have had my video camera.

One, two, three...takeoff!

Mountain goat number 70, on the side of the road on the way to Mount Rushmore.

Linnaea is ready for exploring "Mount Mushmore."

Can you guess who got to carry these items once these two little girls were tired of doing it?

Heading up to the monument. That's me in green and Kevin in the black jacket.

Elise and Linnaea look at the "presents."

Our favorite thing to do (that drives Mommy crazy) is painting with watercolors.

Shhhh...this is going to be a masterpiece.

Summer is here...sort of.

2010-06-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

We had a great birthday! We got lots of clothes and books, and Mommy made us strawberry cupcakes from scratch. We thought they were really neat! We have been spending a lot of time at the lakes of Custer State Park. There are 5 to swim at, and, although they are still cold, it doesn't stop us from splashing around and playing in the sand. We've been going to Mommy & Me every Tuesday morning, which has been moved to the park for the summer. Thursday a few of us get together at one of the lakes. Here are some recent photos:

Just being two silly girls in tutus and rain boots.

Coloring our birthday cards from Aunt Liz and Uncle David.

Daddy explains to Linnaea why it's not fair for her to have 3 trains while Elise only has 1.

Playing with our new Thomas the Train track from Mommy and Daddy.

One of our new outfits from Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Tim.

Another new outfit from Carolyn and Tim.

Linnaea helps Daddy put together his new Lego set.

Linnaea rides the Elmo ride at Walmart after her haircut.

New jammies from Grandma Kitty.

Elise enjoys the sun at Legion Lake.

Elise and her watering can.

Bug glasses at the eye doctor.

After the eye doctor we went to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City.

Linnaea sits on the...stegosaurus?

On a hike at Willow Creak. Linnaea got a butterfly to sit on her sleeve. Thanks for the sweatshirts Aunt Liz!

Custer State Park

2010-05-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Custer State Park for their Open House weekend. Entrance into the park was free and they had a ton of free activities scheduled throughout the day. First we went on a pony ride, which was a big hit for both of the girls. Linnaea's pony was named S'mores, but I don't remember Elise's. Hers was more of a horse anyway. Next we went to a Fire Truck demo and got to play with the fire hose. That was also a lot of fun. Then we drove to Sylvan Lake, the northern tip of the park, and Linnaea fell asleep on the way. Elise and Kevin went to the Amazing Reptile Show (which was actually only 3 snakes, so the girls dubbed it "the snake show") while I stayed in the car with Linnaea. I ended up waking her up so she wouldn't miss touching a snake. Then we walked around the lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. There were a lot of people fishing and the girls were REALLY interested in it, so that may be an endeavor we take on this summer.

Linnaea on S'mores.

S'mores stops to take a bite of some grass.

Elise on her horse.

Elise on her horse again.

Elise and Linnaea at the end of the ride.

Linnaea gets ready to put out some fires.

Elise is ready for some water works.

The fire man shows them the hose.

Elise gets to make a big squirt.

They got to shoot the water at a bottle, knocking it off a tree stump.

They got Smokey the Bear bandanas for a prize.

Linnaea holds the face of an Albino Python.

Elise touches the python.

Sylvan Lake.

Elise walks around Sylvan Lake.

Countdown to Age 3!

2010-05-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Elise sets her animals up to "watch TV" which was actually our wood stove. Do you think she's ready for the summer? We're still waiting for it to hit 70 here.

The seats were logs for the wood stove.

Linnaea "cleans" the bathroom floor.

This happens EVERY SINGLE TIME they get to color with markers.

Linnaea models Kevin's old Budweiser iguana hat. This hat was destroyed pretty quickly. Big surprise there.

They have both been into doing headstands lately.

Elise was sick one day so spent a few hours on the couch. This picture proves that Taffy has FINALLY accepted them into the house. It only took 3 years.

Another funny hat we found while packing up all of our stuff.

Linnaea models the latest in fashionable headwear: a raccoon hat, complete with eyes, nose and ears.

Live long and prosper. Just kidding. One of the girls hurt their hand and needed a bandaid, so the other needed one to match.

Going to Mommy & Me.

The crown we made at Mommy & Me. Linnaea had so much fun being queen for a day.

Homemade popsicles. Recipe: 1 quart vanilla ice cream plus one can thawed orange juice concentrate.

Elise sports her new tennies, an early birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa.

Arrival in South Dakota

2010-05-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

So last week we packed up and moved from Colorado to South Dakota. That sentence sounds a lot simpler than the actual process, so let's back up a bit. The house in which we had been living in Walden had been for sale since a year before we moved into it. Our intention had always been to move into a rental that wasn't for sale as soon as we found one, but we didn't find anything suitable until this past April, more than a year and a half after we had moved to Walden. Kevin had applied for the South Dakota job but had been informed that he was ranked 18th on the list of applicants, so we were pretty sure he had no chance. We then made the decision to move to a new rental in Walden, fearing that our old house would sell this winter. We informed our landlords we were moving, they said they were going to work on the house and weren't going to rent it out this summer, and then Kevin got offered the job at Wind Cave. We took a trip up here to check it out and couldn't find ANYTHING available to rent that would accept a dog. So we called our old landlords and asked if we could stay in our house for another month, but lo and behold, they had rented the place out starting May 1. So we packed up and moved all of our stuff 3 blocks within Walden, then found a rental up in Custer and made plans to move here last week. Kevin and I loaded most of our stuff into the moving truck last Wednesday, skillfully arranging our boxes and furniture in the most perfect places in the moving truck because, as you may guess, we are now moving experts. Thursday morning we awoke to a drizzle, which turned to a steady rain, which turned to snow, and snowed heavily all morning while we carefully loaded the last of our possessions. For your information, when snow collects on the metal floor of a moving truck, it's really hard to stand steadily, let alone walk with various heavy items and boxes. Almost as soon as we crossed the state line into Wyoming the snow stopped, and we had dry roads all the way to Custer.

Now, if I didn't make this clear earlier, we had rented this house sight unseen. We had to rely on the description from the landlord, who made the place sound quite grand: carport, washer dryer hookups, fenced in yard, located at the end of a dead end road that backed up to the National Forest. Well, all this stuff was true but kind of in the worst way possible. The carport looks hand made, the washer hookup is in the kitchen, the dryer hookup is on the porch that smells of cat pee and has the only 3-prong plug for our microwave (which now resides on top of the dryer), the fenced in yard is basically just a fence around the septic tank, the living room is so narrow that sitting on the couch looking at our large TV screen makes you feel like you are sitting in the front row at a movie theatre, the hall closet reeks of the worst cigarette smoke ever, and the girls' room has carpet that looks like it's from 1981, complete with pictures of girls riding horses. The part about it backing up the National Forest is definitely the coolest part of the deal. Plus the road is nice and quiet since we're on a dead end. But we do have a cat problem, with at least 5 cats residing next door with our unsocial neighbors, and Taffy is terrified of all of them. If one of them comes and sits on our doorstep after she's gone out, she will not come near the door to come back in and will wait patiently far away in the front yard. Also, it has been so darn cold since we got here, snowing off and on ALL DAY the day we were unloading the truck, raining all day Monday and Tuesday, and snowing all day today.

On the plus side, Kevin is excited about his job. This is his 3rd day and he has great feelings about what he's doing. He gets to go to Badlands National Park next week for herbicide training.

The girls are really happy, except that they always ask to walk places and we are a few miles out of town, which is just too far to walk anywhere. Once the weather clears up we'll attempt to bike into town. The really great news is that we immediately found a Mommy & Me group and went yesterday. A lot of the moms have husbands who work for Wind Cave or the Forest Service. They meet every Tuesday, which gives us something to look forward to. I am already pretty bored without my day care job, but once the weather gets better we plan on doing lots of outdoor things.

I will post some pictures later, after we find the cable that connects the camera to the computer, whichever box it is in.

From the mouths of babes

2010-04-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Linnaea-isms:

lellow = yellow
ogange = orange
Lamaly = Laramie (WY)
riggaly = regular (as in "I want a riggaly bun" meaning "I want a bun with nothing inside of it.")
resagna = lasagna
ba ba ba ba wool so high = up above the world so high (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Elise-isms:
Nannaea = Linnaea
hmell = smell (as in "I want to hmell your mouf" after we brush our teeth.)
fwing = swing
gull = girl
wif a come cob pi wif a butt on nose = with a corn cob pipe and a button nose (Frosty the Snowman)

The Big Announcement

2010-04-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

We are moving...again! Kevin was offered a PERMANENT job as a botany technician at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. We drove up there last weekend to check it out before we accepted the position. We would like to live in the town of Hot Springs, which is the closest town to the park. It's a pretty little town with about 4200 people in it. It has 2 grocery stores, a movie theatre, a VA Hospital, a medical center, several banks, 2 libraries, a water park, 3 schools (elementary, middle, and high), and some fast food options. Wind Cave is adjacent to the Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park, and less than an hour from Mount Rushmore. There is a Rails to Trails trail called the Mickelson Trail running all through the area which I can't wait to ride and run on. We looked all day Saturday for a place to rent but couldn't find anything that would accept a pet. We would like to move up there for Kevin to start work on May 10, but we need to find a place to live first. There are tons of homes for sale that are all reasonably priced, but we want to take our time to find a good home this time, so we'd like to rent for a few months before we commit to a purchase. The closest major town is Rapid City, which, unfortunately, is VERY expensive to fly in and out of. The next major towns are Casper or Cheyenne, Wyoming. I am really going to miss Walden. It's not a perfect town but the mountains surrounding it are absolutely gorgeous. I've met some good friends here as well. I will NOT miss the cold! The high temperatures in Hot Springs average 88 in the summer and 38 in the winter. I guess that's about all for now. We'll keep you posted about when we find a place to live!

Elise and Linnaea at the visitor center. Kevin will work right out of the park headquarters.

There are herds of buffalo roaming wild in the park.

More buffalo.

Linnaea sneezes in front of the opening of Wind Cave. The natural opening is quite small. The park runs tours into the caves everyday. There is a bigger opening for the tours.

Elise at the cave opening.

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T14:41:00.001-07:00

We've had more snow in the past 4 days than we have had in the past 4 months. We were all prepared to go to our town's Easter Egg Hunt and wade through the snow to find eggs when we learned they had moved it to the high school gym. And I wouldn't really call it a "hunt" as much as I would call it a "scramble," as they just lay out eggs all over the gym floor and the kids run for them. Luckily the hunt was divided into age groups and it was fun to watch all the different ages race to get eggs. Elise even won a prize of a stuffed bunny and is very proud of it.

Elise with the basket Grandma and Grandpa sent.

Elise's 3 eggs. She has never really cared for hard boiled eggs until this week. I guess coloring them really makes a difference.

Linnaea watches over her 3 eggs.

Linnaea scrambles for some eggs...

...and Elise takes her time.

Elise examines her loot.

Linnaea got up the courage to sit with the Easter Bunny.

She says "Listen, Bunny, we need to talk."

Elise and her prize bunny.

The girls strain their arms hoisting up their baskets.

Welcome to Spring

2010-03-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

Our winters are usually cold and windy. Last winter I always said that if it weren't for the wind, the winter would be great. And this year we have been SO lucky that it has been TOO COLD to be windy. Apparently when it's below 10 degrees consistently it's too cold for the wind. Ask a scientist how this works because I don't know why, I just know that it is. This winter really has been great as far as us being able to go outside all the time. Even though it may be 15 degrees, it really hasn't felt that cold. Until now. Now that it's getting into the 30's the wind is back. With a vengeance. So when it's 32 or 36 degrees, the wind makes it feel colder than when it was 4 degrees. Plus now the ice and snow are melting and there are mud and water puddles everywhere. So now we are REALLY looking forward to summer. Enough complaining. Here is what we've been up to.

Elise's bedhead. She's really going to hate me for this picture one day. She likes to sleep mostly on the left side of her head and apparently she likes to rub her head around a lot.

Just a cute photo of Linnaea.

We went bowling yesterday. Elise was really excited about her shoes.

Linnaea bowls with dad. She actually got the hang of it fast and was able to bowl all by herself.

Linnaea was most excited about the ball return machine.

Elise bowls with dad.

This is a picture Linnaea took. She is actually getting really good at taking pictures.

Another one she took of Kevin.

This one Linnaea took of me. See how good she is?

Messing Around

2010-03-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today I was reminded that we have lots of cool effects in Photobooth on our Mac laptop. So we decided to mess around and take some funny shots.

Before...

...and after...

2010-03-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

We spend all day every day in our "jammies with the feet." And we got a super special Valentine treat from Grandma and Grandpa---lip lollipops!

We get a little bit confused about the seasons here in Walden. Mittens and wool socks are a must...but don't forget the bathing suit!

Now, if they only wanted to keep their mittens on while we're OUTSIDE...

The haircut Elise gave herself. Well, at least it's in the back!

We got excited about the summer and decided to pull out our tanks tops and shorts. Don't worry, we balance it out with fleece mittens and a hat.

Kevin and I got to go snowshoeing again today. We started up at Cameron Pass, which is about 10.200 ft elevation, and walked uphill. So the mountain behind us should be about 12,000 ft we guess.

The trail gave us about a 270 degree view of Crags.

And the weather was obviously gorgeous. It felt about 80 degrees due to the direct sun and radiant heat but I think it was only about 30 or so.

Christmas Part One

2010-02-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Yep, these posts are all out of order, but at least I'm getting all the photos on here. So we were in Florida for 3 weeks. 3 COLD weeks. I was so disappointed that I couldn't wear flip flops and tank tops the whole time! But the girls didn't complain. In fact, they did really, really well on the flights both ways. We had lots of snacks and some movies on the computer which got us there and back quite happily. That's not to say I wasn't completely stressed out traveling alone with two 2 1/2 year olds. And we did get to leave Walden for most of what was the second coldest December in the county's history, so I really shouldn't complain.

Settled on the plane for the flight to Tampa. We got to the Denver airport 2 hours and 15 minutes before our flight was to depart, and it took us all of 15 minutes to check in AND get through security, so we had LOTS of time to kill. Luckily, the airport has a bunch of those moving sidewalks which kept the girls entertained for the whole 2 hours. They became experts at getting on and off all by themselves.

Pickin' oranges at Great-grandma's house before going to McDonald's. McDonald's is quite a treat for Elise and Linnaea since the closest one to us is an hour away.

Swingin' at the park.

Elise rides the...um...beaver? Squirrel? Otter?

One of the few days we could wear shorts!

Linnaea decorates the Christmas tree.

Giving Aunt "Calolyn" (Carolyn) a hair do.

Decorating our gingerbread house. I was amazed that most of the candy made it onto the house and not in their little mouths!

Ta da! Man, it looks like a couple of two year olds made it. Oh, wait, it WAS a couple of two year olds! (Notice the chimney stuck flat onto the roof.)

The Kovacs Clan. Top left: Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Liz, Tim, Carolyn, and Jason. Bottom left: Kevin, Linnaea, Great-grandma, Amy, Elise, and Jennifer.

The Kovacs/Blood Clan. Top left: Lisa, Johnny, Carolyn, Tim, Uncle Doug, Kevin, Linnaea, and Grandma. Bottom left: Aunt Kathy, Becky, Naomi, Amy, Elise, and Grandpa.

Grandma reads to the girls.

Elise and Linnaea get cookies and milk ready for Santa.

The Christmas tree and all the loot.

Busch Gardens December 2009

2010-02-11T08:41:00.001-08:00

Sigh. Here we are in the middle of winter again. I am definitely suffering from a February funk. It's not the cold that's bothering me as much as the fact that we have to wait four whole months to see any friends or family that will be visiting us. Elise and Linnaea are not bothered by the winter at all. They absolutely love going to the child center, and I have to admit it keeps me quite busy, too. But lately I've been reminiscing about our nice Florida vacation, so I thought I'd put up some photos that I had sorted through. I have already posted most of these on Facebook because I was getting errors when I tried to get them on the blog back in December.

So while we were there we got to go on a trip to Busch Gardens and it was so much fun. The girls loved riding on the train around the park and going on the skyride over all the animals. They also have this area designed specifically for little kids with an airbounce, treehouse, mini carousel, and other mini rides. They do have a few splash parks, but it was so cold when we were there! We were quite disappointed in the weather, but highly recommend Busch Gardens for any families with young children. Of course, they also have the monster roller coasters for adults. Thanks to grandma and grandpa's babysitting service, Kevin and I were able to go a day by ourselves. We went on all the scary ones, most notably the Sheikra. Wow, talk about a thrill ride. It's the one that takes you up like 10 stories then dangles you over the edge of the drop for about 5 seconds before you plummet straight down. That was the last time I'll go on that one! On this trip I decided that I am not a roller coaster person any more. Which is fine by me. We were very fortunate that the park was nearly empty the day we went, so Kevin got to go on the coasters over and over again while I sat and watched the entertainment.

Linnaea admires the alligator's mouth. She's got an obsession with knowing what things bite. Every book we read or photo of something we look at, she always has to ask,"Does it bite?" Not in a scared way, just in a I-just-want-to-know way.

Elise looks for hippos.

Linnaea crawls on the lion.

Elise sits on a gorilla, the infamous one near the entrance of the park.

We all go on the big carousel.

Linnaea bonds with an orangutan.

Elise inspects the orangutan's fingernails.

Elise cuddles the hippos.

"Ah, help me!"

We meet the stilt walkers in Jungala.

Elise was a bit terrified at first but then had a great time.

We go across one of the treehouse bridges.

Elise and grandma ride in a dragon.

On the train going around the park.

Daddy and the girls ride in the dinosaur egg.

Catching up from Christmas

2010-01-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

We'll start with some pretty old photos. I tried a few times to post Christmas photos on this blog but it didn't work properly so I posted them on Facebook. I'll try again soon to get some more Christmas ones up. These first ones start with the end of our vacation in Florida, which was so cold it left us scrambling to find things to do inside. We found this place called Jungle Bounce, which had a bunch of inflatable bounce house type things to play on in one big indoor area. I guess I shouldn't complain because when we got back to Walden, the temperatures were getting down to negative 22 almost every night for a week. Our highs were sometimes 1 degree. So we've been staying inside a lot here as well, but it is finally getting up into the 30s again. Now we are working on potty training, which Elise is excelling and teaching Linnaea a trick or two.

Showing off our new sweaters and hats that we got for Christmas.

Getting a ride around Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Linnaea bouncing around at Jungle Bounce.

Elise was only happy if there were no other kids around to scare her.

Elise goes down a small slide.

Linnaea climbs up the wall in the obstacle course.

The girls go up the giant slide. This slide scared the heck out of me the first time Linnaea went down it, but she immediately hopped up and went again. Elise really wouldn't do it by herself until it was almost time to go. She did a great job of working up the courage to go on it!

Linnaea comes down the giant slide.

Linnaea takes a picture of herself.

The girls snuggle up to listen to "Little Puppy Lost."

Elise is obsessed with crossing her eyes. It makes Linnaea almost fall off her chair laughing.

We made an indoor snowman with boxes. The girls had the best time dragging him around the house.

Daddy is playing a game on the Wii Fit and Linnaea is imitating.

Bowlin', bowlin', bowlin'...

2009-11-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

This week we got invited to our first birthday party! Our friend Robby turned 5 and we went to the bowling alley to celebrate with all of our friends from the child center. We had a great time bowling, but got a little impatient waiting on our turn so we gave it up after a few tries. We found other things to do there, as you will see below. Thursday we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with prime rib, spinach and artichoke stuffing, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. On Saturday, we went over to Robby's house to play while Mom and Dad went snowshoeing. When they picked us up, they learned Linnaea had fallen off the couch onto the coffee table and had quite the shiner. We're hoping next week is a little less adventurous for her. We'll be in Florida in 17 days!

This is a great photo of the haircut Linnaea gave herself a few weeks ago.

The first thing we found at the bowling alley was the video game with a big gun.

Elise gets a turn at Lock N' Load.

Linnaea throws a ball. She was actually really good at chucking it down the alley.

Daddy helps Elise push her ball down the lane.

Elise tries to do it by herself.

Linnaea is REALLY excited about eating the Thomas the Train cake. She loved her piece of cake and immediately wanted a second one. When we said no, she threw a perfect 2 1/2 year old tantrum.

This is Linnaea's black eye. Every time she wakes up, it's so swollen that her eye is a little slit. But she is a trooper and has already been begging to go back to Robby's house.

Halloween and stuff

2009-11-01T13:45:00.001-08:00

There is a lot to do in Walden for Halloween! On Thursday we worked at the day care and we took all the kids over to the "big school" for the elementary school parade. We all dressed in costumes and bundled up to make the one block trek in the 17 degree cold. We got to walk with the preschool and pose for pictures in front of all the parents. On Friday we got to go trick-or-treating downtown to the courthouse, The Moose restaurant, the post office, the library and the bank. Our first stop was pretty chaotic as it took me about 10 minutes to talk the girls into putting their first piece of candy back into their baskets so we could go get more. We also got 2 half dollars at the bank. It was also freezing this morning, about 22 degrees, so we headed back home as soon as possible. Saturday morning we carved pumpkins, then watched the Gators stomp Georgia, and then went trick-or-treating that evening. We had planned on only going to 3 or 4 houses but the girls loved it and Linnaea kept asking to go to the next house. They were really good at saying "trick or treat!" and "thank you!"

Linnaea with her pink fingernails. She talked about having her nails painted for several weeks.

Doing acrobats on the closet bar.

I think it was Elise's idea to go upside down.

But Linnaea never shies away from a challenge!

This is where Daddy lays when he talks to Grandma and Grandpa, so Linnaea is doing a perfect imitation.

Linnaea demonstrates a scary face so I can carve it on the pumpkin.

Making pumpkin number one some ears.

Linnaea touches pumpkin number one.

Linnaea cleans out pumpkin number two. Elise would not dare to stick her hand inside.

The finished product.

Elise enjoys a "popsicle" from Grandma and Grandpa.

Linnaea eats her own.

Elise practices trick-or-treating with her "Elmo pumpkin."

This is the worst picture EVER but I had to include it as it was the only one of Elise in her costume.

Ditto about this picture. Really bad but our only choice.

The Funnest of Times

2009-10-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am really loving being a mom of twins as Elise and Linnaea talk more and more. And the most fun is to hear them talk to each other. I can stand in the next room and listen to them have conversations and just smile to myself. One day they were eating some chips and Elise stated that Mommy likes chips. Linnaea, ever the bossy toddler, immediately corrected her by saying "No Elise. Mommy doesn't like chips. Only Daddy likes chips." Just now I'm overhearing Linnaea ask Elise for recipe ingredients. This is what I'm hearing: "Do you have any garlic?" "No." "Do you have any paper?" "No." And this past week we were all at the dinner table and Elise was trying to tell us something that sounded like octopus at the end of the sentence. Kevin and I both had to say "What?" two or three times, when finally Linnaea chimed in with "She's saying octopus!" Even though we still didn't understand (they both told us NO, they were NOT saying octopus), at least they understand each other!

At the wildlife refuge again. They have now mastered walking around the entire mile-long trail without having to be carried. This past visit Linnaea got to hold Taffy's leash for the first 1/2 mile and Elise got it next. You might imagine that Taffy wasn't too happy about this arrangement, but she was a good sport.

Can you see the moose? This cow and calf were giving us the stare down. Cows (females) are typically the most aggressive of moose, especially if there is a calf nearby. Just after this we saw a bull (male) and he only gave us a 5 second glance and continued on his merry way.

Elise hurt her nose and insisted on putting this bandaid on herself. We go through about 6 or 8 bandaids a day.

Elise sports the hood from Daddy's big down coat. She put on this attire to head out to the library.

When Daddy cooks, he likes to have a towel over his shoulder. Our two little sponges noticed this and wanted one of their own so they could "help."

SNOW!

2009-09-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

Here in Walden we prefer to skip the fall and go straight into winter. When they forecasted snow for today I was actually excited, but I didn't think we'd really get any. I thought we'd have to drive about 25 minutes up to Cameron Pass to let the girls play. But when we woke up this morning we had about 3 inches on the ground! When I told Elise and Linnaea that we had snow last night, they ran out of their room like it was Christmas morning. They were SO excited. We scarfed our breakfast and ran out to play (well, after we located all of our gloves, hats, and snow boots that we played with all summer so they were all over the house).

Elise tries to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

Linnaea gets a ride in the sled. They actually pulled this sled out of the garage last week and were using it as a "boat."

Mommy gets talked into giving a double ride.

Elise was smiling the whole time outside.

What's a snowy day without hot chocolate? Linnaea says "I blow it."

Elise enjoys her hot chocolate.

On a separate note, we switched the girls to toddler beds last week, which just means we took the front part off of their cribs. The nights have been going very well, but naps have been horrible. They are constantly out of their beds playing with clothes, swinging on the bar in their closet, and stuffing things into the diaper pail. At first Elise kept ending up sleeping on the floor, but she has stopped doing that now.

2009-09-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Linnaea models her new striped sweater and corduroys from Grandma Kitty. She insisted on wearing this outfit every day that week.

Unfortunately the order was messed up and they did not have a striped sweater in Elise's size. She was pretty upset about that but made due with this shirt.

No, Elise (on the right) will not let me cut her hair so we are growing her bangs out. Most days she is agreeable enough to let me put a ponytail on top of her head to keep the hair out of her eyes.

Going to the child center with our backpacks and lunchboxes.

Linnaea walking to the park/child center.

Elise walking to the park/child center.

Elise paints at the child center.

Linnaea paints at the child center. She insisted on wearing that costume for painting.

We took a trip to Fort Collins this past weekend and got to visit some of our favorite parks. Elise rides the old car.

This park had a great rock feature to climb on. Linnaea got to the top and says "Ta da!"

This is a little teacup that Elise likes to ride in. It spins around pretty fast.

We also got to ride on the trolley. The whole thing was a fiasco but we finally got on and really enjoyed our ride.

Our new flip flops courtesy of Old Navy clearance. This was also a fiasco, since they only had one pair of polka dot flip flops in the whole store, so after Linnaea claimed them as hers, Elise was very unhappy and would not leave the store until I finally found these pair of flowered ones and talked her into wearing them. Then they wouldn't take them off for the whole weekend, which was pretty annoying since they can't walk fast in them and they fall off every time we get in or out of the car. Talk about getting on Mom's nerves!

Since my nerves were pretty much shot from the flip flops and shopping all over Fort Collins with two 2 year olds, I talked Kevin into letting me go for a hike today. I hiked up to Lake Katherine and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is coming back down from the lake.

End of Summer

2009-08-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

The summer has really flown by for us! It seems like just yesterday we were yearning for the warm weather and now we are already getting a taste of fall. We got to go camping last weekend, and again went up to the Vedauwoo Recreation Area in southern Wyoming. It was even easier than the first time we went, with no temper tantrums from Linnaea. We decided to go up in the morning and skip the girls' nap so they'd be tired by bedtime. Unfortunately it started to rain, so we hopped in the car to take a ride and the girls both fell asleep in about 3 minutes. So we let them nap for an hour while we listened to the radio and waited for the rain to clear up, which it did and became beautiful. We hiked a little bit, but Elise and Linnaea just liked running around our campsite the most. However, because of the late nap, we ended up staying awake much later than Mom and Dad would have liked. The next morning the rain came in pretty early so we packed up and left. We hope to go one more time before it gets super cold up here.

I also got a new part time job. I am working at the North Park Family and Child Center, which is the day care Elise and Linnaea go to. Now they get to come with me almost for free and I have been enjoying the time I spend there. It was rough at first, with Linnaea throwing a few good tantrums the first few days. But Thursday and Friday were much better and I am looking forward to working there this winter.

We took a bike ride yesterday. This is us heading west back into town.

Our new (well, used) bike trailer. Behind us are the mountains to the east of us.

Drinking milk while camping.

Taffy loves our camping trips, too.

A picture of our very short hike.

It was pretty cold that weekend, about 54 degrees while it was raining.

Elise conked out in the car.

More Summertime

2009-07-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I feel like the summer is flying by, and I guess it is since we only have about 2 months of it. Only one more month left! We have been so busy that I didn't even realize how many photos I was collecting on my camera. So here are a BUNCH.

We tried to go on our first hike a few weeks ago, but it was quite a challenge. The trail was pretty steep so it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to walk about 3/4 of a mile. We also tried a short hike in Steamboat Springs which was much easier but still difficult to get the girls to walk the whole way. The trail was probably only a half mile or so.

Last week we all had the stomach flu but thankfully it was WAY less severe than the first time we all got it, when we passed it along to Kevin's whole family the week of his sister's wedding. The girls and I were feeling well enough to drive down to Hot Sulphur Springs and meet Auntie Joanie, Wendy, and Cindy and cousin Riss. The girls had a BLAST. They did NOT want to leave. At the resort they had 22 hot pools, 4 of which were open to kids. The girls loved them because they were only about chest deep for them so they could easily walk around. That same day our best friends Jonathan and Lisa came up from the Denver area. They have been living in Vietnam for the past year and are going back for another year or so. Lisa and I went for an awesome hike up to Rainbow Lake (we forgot our camera for that one) and squeezed in a couple of early morning runs. Kevin and Jonathan got to go mountain biking over on Buffalo Pass and they said they got their butts kicked by the mountain. We also went out to the Wildlife Refuge and saw 3 moose very closely, a lot closer than was comfortable so we had to head back to the car. Other than that we did a LOT of eating and cooking.

As far as development goes, Linnaea has learned how to say "I want ...", which is quite helpful for now as she can tell me when she wants something. Elise has come as far as saying "I ..." as in "I grapes" to tell me she wants grapes, so "I want" is just around the corner.

We also got a bike trailer to attach to my bike for the girls to ride around in. They love it! I'll have to get a picture soon.

Kevin and Elise on our hike to Zimmerman Lake (although we never made it to the top since it took so long).

There were still quite a few snow drifts towards the lake and the girls were so excited.

One of the views from the trail.

Linnaea playing in more snow.

A few weeks ago Elise had an obsession with lotions and she needed the bottles with her at all times.

Playing in the sprinkler. Keep in mind that the water out of the tap is darn cold, even in the summer. It's a great thing when you want a cold glass of water but not so great when you want to play in the sprinkler.

Linnaea warms up with Daddy.

Elise finally gets dried off.

I told you it was cold!

Our first popsicles.

With cousin Riss and Auntie Joanie at the hot springs.

The water was soooooo warm.

Eatin' lunch. Those Blasingames know how to picnic!

Playing with the lady bug and our new friend, Olivia.

The inflatable animals Jonathan and Lisa brought from Vietnam.

Mmmmm....pumpkin ravioli.

Chillin' out with Lisa in the backyard.

Elise wearing Jonathan's bug glasses.

Our hike to Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs (thanks for the suggestion Jen and Colby!).

Where did that chipmunk go?

ABCs

2009-07-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

This was recorded about a month ago. They've gotten a little better and don't leave out many letters now, and now Linnaea can sing the part at the end (Now I've said my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me).

Summer is Here!

2009-07-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the summer has finally arrived. Last week we started getting temperatures above 80 for the first time this year! It hasn't been hitting 80 every day, but we get above 75 and we are loving every minute. It feels like we have so little summer left already. We go outside every chance we get. As a result, the house has gotten a bit messy. Day care is going well. When I first started dropping the girls off, they barely paid me any attention because they were so excited to be there. They always cried on the way home because they didn't want to leave their friends. However, this past week Elise has started to cry when I drop her off, and Linnaea has been "clingy" while at the Child Center. But the whole point of them going is to gain some independence, so hopefully these are just short term issues.

Last weekend we went to the Wildlife Refuge again. It's our favorite spot because they have a nice boardwalk that the girls love to walk on. Also it's only 10 minutes away and it is good to have some place to go to besides the park. Some pictures below are from there.

On Sunday we went to our town's annual parade. Elise and Linnaea LOVED it. It started with about 20 people riding horses, and had a bunch of floats with people throwing candy. Even the Shriners came! What's a parade without the Shriners? Kevin was cornered into dressing as Smokey the Bear. He was a real hit! Tons of people wanted their picture taken with him. Later that afternoon we went to our first rodeo. It was really neat. We got there in time for Steer Roping, Barrel Racing, and Bull Riding. Afterwards they had a kids' rodeo, where Elise and Linnaea each roped a chicken and won a dollar. They loved it!

Whenever I bring out the markers for coloring, Linnaea has more fun putting all the tops on her fingers.

Linnaea enjoying the view at the wildlife refuge.

We all had fun sitting down for a minute.

Our new jungle gym.

Linnaea always says she needs help getting to the top. Elise is willing to give her a push.

Standing at the fence, watching the water flow through the ditch. It's irrigation season, so the mosquitos are out in full force.

This is the table they are NOT supposed to climb on.

At the end of the parade. In the background are the other twins in town.

Our First Camping Trip!

2009-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend we actually went camping for the first time as a family of four! The location we chose was the Vedauwoo Recreation Area, just west of Laramie, WY. We wanted a place that wouldn't get too cold at night plus had lots of area to explore with the girls. We met our friends Jen and Colby and their 3 1/2 year old twins Jordan and Connor. It couldn't have been a better weekend. It was in the 60's both days and didn't get terribly cold. We got up there about 3pm Friday afternoon and set up camp. The area is well-known for rock climbing, so there were tons of big boulders everywhere. That gave the kids lots of things to do. We had dinner and ate s'mores, then tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, the sun doesn't fully set up here until after 9:30pm, so our girls didn't fall asleep until that time. Then they were up a lot, keeping us awake, in addition to the random gunshots we'd hear throughout the night. Hey, it's Wyoming. What do you expect. Then the sun rises about 5:00am out here, so that's about the time Elise was up. That made for a pretty long day with two tired 2 year olds! We did get to do a short hike in the morning before lunch before we headed back home. All in all, it was a very successful trip and I can't wait to go again.

Linnaea climbs a boulder near our picnic table.

You can see the camp sites were quite large with a lot of room to roam.

Elise tries the boulder and follows Daddy's directions of "using all fours."

More bouldering.

Elise on our first hike on Friday afternoon.

Linnaea and Mommy on the hike.

Elise and Mommy.

Linnaea throwing one of her MANY tantrums.

Elise helps Daddy start the camp fire.

Jordan and Elise chillin'.

If I can't stop laughing at this picture, doesn't it mean I'm a bad mother? Elise got nailed in the head by a log Daddy was carrying. It wasn't pretty. But don't worry--it was nothing a mini Hershey's bar couldn't cure!

Linnaea enjoys her first s'more. That was after her two roasted marshmallows, her two regular marshmallows, and a graham cracker.

Counting

2009-06-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

This is how Linnaea counts:

"One, two, fwee, foa, fie, sick, nie, sick, nie...."

and she keeps going. I think "seven" throws her off because it has two syllables. If I ask her how many of something there are, it's always "Sick? Nie?"

I help them practice counting by looking at books and counting the items, then letting them say the last number. With Elise, it usually goes something like this:

Me: "One, two, three..."
Elise: "Six!"

or

Me: "One, two, three, four..."
Elise: "Six!"

Do you see a pattern here?

Also, we went to the doctor for their two year check up on Monday. Elise is 32 pounds and 36". That puts her in the 96th percentile for weight and the 95th for height. Linnaea is 26 1/2 pounds and 36 3/4". That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and also 95th height. The doctor says they are doing very well, so hopefully we won't see him again for another year!

Our Second Birthday

2009-05-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun this week and are super excited about how nice the weather has been. Every morning we wake up to sunny skies, no wind, and warm temperatures. We usually get to do an outdoor activity, like the park, then the afternoon thunderstorms roll in during our nap. It usually doesn't actually rain much, it just gets windy and cool and the sky gets really dark.

On Thursday, we were invited to come visit a petting zoo that the high school FFA (Future Farmers of America) was putting on for the elementary school. They had two llamas, a colt, a mama cow with her baby, a few sheep with a baby, a few goats with a baby, and two rabbits. They did this in the parking lot next to the school buses, which was very exciting for Elise since she has a school bus obsession. Come to think of it she is obsessed with most modes of transportation: bicycles, big trucks, dump trucks, tractors, planes, motorcycles, boats, etc. Anyways, after visiting the animals we went to the park next door. A few minutes later we saw a sheep go sprinting through the school parking lot, followed by a few high school boys with ropes, followed by a few guys in pickup trucks. I think they chased that sheep all over Walden but I don't think they ever caught it because they all came back empty handed.

On Friday, we usually go to story hour at the library (or li-be-a as Elise calls it). We made cupcakes and brought them to share with all the kids there and they sang us happy birthday. Then we got to play in our sandbox, and after our nap we opened some presents.

As you may have guessed, Linnaea's favorite animals were the bunnies.

I still don't know why Elise was holding her hands over her mouth. All of a sudden she just clapped her hands over her mouth and wouldn't move them. The sheep were bleating really loudly, and I think maybe she wanted them to stop. I really don't know!

Her close up with the school bus...still with her hands over mouth.

...hands still on the mouth...

She never actually touched the cow.

This baby cow was so tired by the time we got there that afternoon. This was the only time we saw him move.

In our super cool galoshes from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Las.

Backpacks for day care next week...from Kitty and Papa.

And don't forget Cookie Monster, Elise's new best friend.

Chowing down on our first cupcake ever.

It appears that Cookie Monster is thinking about switching to cupcakes...

After cupcakes we drew went outside to do some sidewalk chalk.

After the library we played in the sandbox while Mommy made lunch (thank you so much for the sandbox Aunt Carolyn) with the sand toys from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Las.

Kevin left Elise alone for 5 minutes with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Las's birthday card. It had stickers from Madagascar in it. Like I said, it HAD stickers from Madagascar in it...

Almost Two!

2009-05-24T09:02:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation down to Fort Collins, Loveland, and Denver. We got to play at lots of really good parks, eat yummy food, and visit our friends Mandy, Bob, and Declan and Keri, Satchmo, and Emma. Then Sunday we headed down to Denver and had our first trip to the zoo! We were pretty entertained for about an hour or so, but then we became more interested in the landscaping and rocks. Mommy and Daddy were so busy following us that we hardly got any pictures. I guess we'll just have to plan another visit...

If you are keeping track, we turn two on Friday, May 29! We are very excited to be reaching this milestone. A lot of opportunities open up when you reach such an age. For example: tricycles. Great-grandma Kovacs generously purchased two tricycles and two helmets for us for our big day. Yesterday we drove to Laramie to pick them up at Wal-mart. While there, we decided to visit the Wyoming Children's Museum, which turned out to be super cool because you can touch EVERYTHING there. They had big, real stuffed animals, a live white feret, and all sorts of hands-on exhibits. We also stopped to have lunch at a deli and Mommy and Daddy are realizing how much easier it is getting to go out to eat with us. How exciting!

We just bought a new tent for our upcoming summer camping trips and we had to test it out. Mommy and Daddy's 2-person tent just wasn't going to cut it. Now we have a nice 5-person tent and there is plenty of space for Taffy!

Check out the static!

Linnaea crammed herself into the cargo section of our stroller. I was quite amazed that she fit into such a tiny space.

This is in Old Town Square in Fort Collins. We were waiting for our sushi take-out and got to walk around and play on the animals.

Elise made friends with a big bear.

Their favorite exhibit was the penguin habitat. They had been looking forward to seeing the penguins, and they ended up being able to get really close to them.

"Dekker", Bob, and Mandy.

Trying out our new sleeping bags.

Elise is REALLY good at jumping.

At the Wyoming Children's Museum.

Elise really liked the bear.

We love sitting on our trikes but need lots of pedal practice.

This morning I gave Linnaea her first haircut. Doesn't her bob look adorable?

Applesauce?

2009-05-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Elise is talking SO much lately. I like to say that she talks so much that sooner or later the right thing comes out. And she really has been combining words left and right. She even combined 4 words this weekend! Her favorite subject to talk about is Daddy. Daddy work. Daddy home. Daddy drink. Daddy eat. Daddy done. Daddy blue car. Bye blue car! Bye Daddy blue car! The last was her recent 4 word combo. She also LOVES to do things by herself (put on shoes, clothes, buckle her car seat, etc) and then say "all by self!" which sounds a lot like "applesauce." At first I thought she had an unusual applesauce obsession. Linnaea likes to read books and pretend she's saying all the words right. She can combine 2 or 3 words, but she doesn't do it frequently. We don't know if it is laziness or if she knows she can do it so she's bored with it already.

For Mother's Day we decided to try a one mile hike. The first hike we tried, Ranger Lakes, was closed for tree removal. The second hike we tried, Beaver Lodge, had a flooded bridge so we could not access the trail. So we just played around a service road and looked for birds and squirrels and juniper berries. Then it started to snow, so we packed it in.

The weather has been really nice lately. Well, nice for North Park, Colorado. That means the temperatures are in the 50's and 60's, but it is windy EVERY SINGLE DAY. So sometimes this makes it feel pretty cold, but if the sun's out it's not so bad. Thursday we're driving down to Fort Collins to visit some friends, do some shopping, enjoy warm temperatures hopefully, and eat some good food (mmm....sushi!). Then Sunday morning we are going to head down to Denver and have our very first visit to the zoo. I am extremely excited and it is all I can think about. I've talked about it with the girls and they love to hear about the animals we will see, but I'm not sure they really understand yet. So be sure to check back next week for some great zoo pics.

Moose and Play Dough

2009-05-03T15:59:00.001-07:00

We've been leaving Taffy's food on the floor more to try to teach the girls not to touch it. It hasn't been working very well.

I decided the girls were old enough to play with play dough, so we made a batch this week. Elise is a little scared of the mixer, so at first Linnaea was the only one brave enough to get close. We found a really good use for the old T-shirts Grandma Sue gave to Kevin and were too small for him: smocks! Of course, we can't do anything without our snow boots on.

Elise gets some courage and comes over to help.

Our first play dough. I accidentally dumped too much food coloring in it so it was red, not pink as originally intended.

The project would have been hugely successful had I not left the food coloring on the counter.

On Wednesday, Elise and Linnaea refused to take a nap. Around 4:oo, they crashed HARD into their easy chairs.

Today we took a field trip to the Moose Visitor Center at the Colorado State Forest State Park (yes, that is the name of the park and not a typo). It's about 20 minutes from us, straight into the mountains. They had lots of hands-on displays and a big moose made of barbed wire out front.

Daddy puts on the moose ears.

Elise gives them a try.

Learning about the environment.

Elise is a really good flipper.

Linnaea gets to touch fake moose poop.

There were a TON of birds and chipmunks at the bird feeders in back of the center. Elise gets a peek with the binoculars.

It was in the 30's and snowing a little bit.

Elise said,"Big moose!"

Goodbye, Rosie!

2009-04-23T16:18:00.001-07:00

Today I had to take our beloved dog, Rosie, to the vet to be put to sleep. She was a central part of our lives for almost 9 years. We adopted Rosie and Taffy in October of 2000. I had just gotten my job at STA Travel so we knew we'd be staying put for a while. I talked Kevin into going over to PetSmart to look at the dogs up for adoption from local shelters. As soon as I saw Rosie and Taffy, I just knew we had to take them. They had been abused and abandoned, and when they found Rosie she had almost given up. They had to keep them both at the shelter for almost 2 months since they were in such bad shape. Kevin didn't want two dogs, but I convinced him that they would keep each other company while we were at work. I remember in those first few months we would watch them for hours as they wrestled and played. It was so amusing to us. It was a hard time, too, because since they had been abused they were so scared of other people. But eventually they came around and we had so much fun walking them all over Gainesville, taking them hiking to San Felasco, and taking them with us to visit our respective parents in Tampa and Jacksonville. They truly were our kids. We moved to Colorado in 2003, and those were the best years of their lives (even though Taffy is still with us, those were definitely her best years, too). Our first year out there we lived in an apartment adjacent to an enormous city park. Rosie got to go there almost every single day. She and Taffy would run and tackle each other. Well, it was Taffy doing most of the tackling. Then the house we bought the second year was 4 blocks from a nice park, and we went there almost every single day, too. We took them hiking on trails that allowed dogs off leash, and they had the most fun ever. When we moved back out here in August, I started taking Rosie and Taffy hiking again. We got to go on several before I noticed Rosie wasn't recovering as well as she used to. She was standing funny and dragging one of her feet. That's when she was diagnosed with neuro mylopathy, a disease that causes her to lose feeling in her legs, and ultimately the ability to walk. So these past few months her condition deteriorated so rapidly until this past week, when we realized she was only walking about 5% of the day and was losing bladder control. So I wanted to post some pictures of her in the good old days, because that's how I want to remember her.

Rosie enjoys getting her butt kicked by Taffy.

On one of her favorite days at the park.

Chilling on the couch.

One of the rare occasions she got the Frisbee from Taffy.

She didn't care much for balls or Frisbees, but sticks were a good substitute.

Her favorite position on the couch.

She loved the snow so much.

Another happy day at Roland Moore park.

More Fun in Walden

2009-04-19T08:17:00.001-07:00

I can't figure out why this text is underlined or how to turn it off, so bear with me. New words and phrases learned recently include:

bump
like
sauce
beets
Ernie (they went from saying "E" to "Ernie")
wheel
go away
mommy help
toothpaste
hold

Hang on, Marty. We're going back...to the future!

Look how long Elise's hair is getting! She has the cutest little ringlets on the ends. I just know when she gets her first hair cut that it will be the end of her curly hair.

Mommy and Linnaea.

The new fashion trend in Walden: a bikini and snow boots.

Brushing our teeth on our new pink potties. I think that was the last time they sat on them. They were interested for about a day but have not wanted to sit on them since.

Elise set up her bunny and bear to eat lunch.

We're practicing going camping. We hope to camp a few times this summer so I had the girls practice sleeping in their tent.

Peek a boo!

Clarification

2009-04-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

I thought I should clarify a point I made in my last post, and add some details I forgot about. The girls will be starting day care on June 2. The day care in Walden requires they be two years old.

Also, I forgot to add a bit about the songs Elise likes to sing. Her newest favorite is "la la la, Elmo Wor!" (translation: La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World...) She also gets really excited when she has Grover on her diaper and chants "Elma, Gogee, Elma, Gogee!" because Elmo is on the back of the diaper. Her other favorite song is the Do Ray Me song from The Sound of Music. When we drove to Steamboat last week to take Grandma Sue to the airport, she sang "Do me me! Do me me!" the ENTIRE way.

That's all I forgot! I hope you enjoyed thoses stories.

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

2009-04-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

So here we are, still in winter. Sigh. We were teased by temperatures in the sunny 50's earlier this month but lately we've had lots of snow and even if it does get up to 50, it's freezing. I've decided to put the girls into day care two mornings a week and we are all very excited about it. On one of those days it was warm, we visited the park at the same time as the kids from the North Park Child Center. Elise and Linnaea had the BEST time playing with the other kids, and there are 3 two year olds to make friends with. When the group had to leave, Linnaea burst into tears and Elise tried to go with them. So I think they are ready for some socialization and mommy-free time. They really have been doing so well with learning words, colors, and letters. I estimate they know well over 100 words by now. We're still working on counting to three (we're stuck on two). And I think Linnaea is ready for potty training. Twice this week she's grabbed one of her bath bowls, sat on it, and said, "Pee pee! Pee pee!" So we've got two pink potties coming in the mail from Grandma Sue. Photos to follow.

Swingin' at the park on one of the "nice" days.

Playing dress up.

A picture of Linnaea with a smile--no eye squinting! Her pacifier is her bunny's tail.

Elise channels Olivia Newton-John circa "Let's Get Physical."

The future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades...

Wearing mommy's boots.

Elise truly loves all things music.

Elise explores at the wildlife refuge. We saw lots of poop that day but no animals.

Walking towards the bridge at the refuge.

Linnaea picked this outfit out all by herself.

Today they dressed themselves again. The backpack is Elise's standard accessory.

Linnaea's ready for the beach!

Grandma Sue reads about clownfish.

More dressing up. Linnaea loved Grandma Sue's shoes because they didn't have backs--easy to get in and out of!

Words and More

2009-03-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am having a lot of fun teaching Elise and Linnaea words, letters, and feelings. They each know about 6 or 7 letters and can sing the first 4 of the alphabet. They absolutely love hearing me sing, which totally baffles Kevin, as my voice is one of the worst singing voices he has ever heard. But my darling children seem to be enchanted by it and continuously ask for more songs, which makes me feel so good inside. They have started to sing along with the Do Re Mi song and My Favorite Things from "The Sound of Music." I put in the movie set to "songs only" and they are completely thrilled to see the songs performed for them. You can set it to "sing along" where the words appear on the screen, and can I tell you how happy I am to finally see the words to the Lonely Goat Herd song?

I also had an amusing conversation with Linnaea at the park on Saturday. It went like this--
Me: "What are you eating?" Her: "Dirt!"

She and Elise also like to point out when people are crying in books. Their work for it is "cuck" and then they say "sad". Linnaea also likes to tell me whenever she is stuck, which sounds like "Guck!"

Well, no pictures this time as Kevin has taken the laptop with him for a week long training in Glenwood Springs. I forget how to load and convert photos on our desktop and really don't feel like trying to figure it out again. It's already 40 degrees this morning so we're going to get over to the park and enjoy the clear blue sky!

Are We There Yet?

2009-03-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

We have been having lots of fun finding things to do in the house this winter. Not really. Actually, we've had 3 or 4 days of 50 degrees or higher this past week, which is REALLY exciting. We've been able to go to the park again, although the playground and swings are surrounded by enormous puddles from the melting snow. But we brought the stroller out from the garage and have used that to visit the park, and boy, what a treat it has been. We're already planning some camping trips for the summer and just can't wait.

Elise and Linnaea are at the cutest stage now. Well, every stage is the cutest, right? They love to repeat everything we say, and Linnaea constantly tries to have conversations with us while we have no idea what she is saying. They were very much into hot and cold last week, and love to tell us when something is cold (milk, ice) and hot (bath, oven). They are also extremely into telling us which objects belong to who: Kevin apparently owns the ketchup, cokes, and all the hats, jackets and shoes. I own the phone, the toilet, and the kitchen chairs. They also love the characters on their diapers. For those of you who don't know, Pampers diapers are decorated with Elmo on the back, and a different Sesame Street character such as Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster, or Grover on the the front. They get so excited about who is on their next diaper!

We've been on a few trips to Steamboat Springs to visit the indoor playplace at McDonald's. Those trips are quite fun. We do a little shopping at the Safeway in the racecar cart, then head over for some play time and a cheeseburger at McDonald's. However, it is an hour away so we only get to do that every 2 weeks or so.

Elise love to put on her backpack, shoe, and hat to go around the house.

A glimpse of my new haircut. I'm not sure my hair has gotten used to being short yet.

Elise watches Sesame Street in Linnaea's easy chair.

Elise reads Mommy's book about toddlers. She wants to know when she should start potty training.

I tried to get a nice, natural photo of Linnaea, but I ended up getting 4 in a row of her cheesy fake smile.

Elise can put away some food.

This is how they insisted on being dressed to play in the house. Elise is upset because I won't show her the photos on the camera.

Elise likes to wear her bath towel around the house in the mornings.

The girls "help" Mommy with the dishes.

What We Did For Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

We decided to have a two day Valentine's Day celebration. On Friday we went to the library for story hour. We dressed up in our new Valentine's Day outfits and went over to visit our friends. It was definitely an improvement over last time. We sat still in Mom's lap for two and a half books!

When we came home we found Rosie had an accident.

We got Valentine's Day tattoos from Miss Kathy. Elise decided she wants to look like a sailor.

On Saturday we woke up and brushed our teeth. Linnaea has an Elmo toothbrush, while Elise's features Cookie Monster.

After we brushed, we got a piece of Valentine's Day cake Mommy made. Elise was scared of the icing. They both ate about half a piece after a LOT of coaxing.

Then we colored!

Then we got to take a bath, our all time favorite activity. Linnaea is sporting Mommy's old swim cap from the Tri For The Cure she did two and a half years ago. Linnaea kept the cap on during the whole bath.

There's Nothing Better Than Sisters

2009-02-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Elise as "The Coat Monster"

All of a sudden, Linnaea has started to love giving hugs to Elise. She actually cried last night when Elise wouldn't come over and give her a hug! Elise was into it the night before last but lost interest since.

It's the Little Things that Count

2009-02-06T06:53:00.001-08:00

Elise and Linnaea reached 20 months old on January 29th and are two little joys (most of the time). I just love watching them play together and by themselves. Sometimes I still wonder what I have gotten myself into, but every challenge is worth it when I look at their little smiles and hear their little giggles and words. They have picked up over a dozen words in the past two weeks: Mommy and Daddy (instead of Mama and Dada), rice, box, backpack, rock, sleep, water, wet, cookie, night, apple, red, blue, brown, etc.

Linnaea has even combined words, which is a big and exciting milestone. She can say "night night Taffy (or Daddy or Mommy)" and yesterday she said "Daddy apple" about the apple Daddy was taking for lunch.

Elise LOVES to sing and dance. Her favorite song to sing is Patty Cake, which sounds like "Pa kee, pa kee. Rooooo. Paaaa. BEE!" Interpretation: Patty cake, patty cake. Roll it. Pat it. Mark it with a B. And she does it over and over without any prompting. Elise also likes to pretend sneeze. I think she got it from one of her favorite books, The Mitten, when a mouse sits on a bear's nose and tickles it with his whiskers, making sneeze "AAAAA Choo!" So she walks around going AAAAA choooo. It is absolutely darling.

They are still crazy about Sesame Street and anything Elmo. They have also started watching The Jungle Book movie and LOVE it. They get so mad when I turn it off.

Lots more is still to come!

It Wasn't Me

2009-01-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

I don't know who ate all the M & M's, do you?

Middle of Winter Update

2009-01-19T08:56:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are in the middle of winter in Walden and we've got a looooong way to go until summer. But our house is nice and warm thanks to our wood stove, which we've been lighting every day. The temperatures have been reaching 30 degrees pretty consistently, which is actually quite pleasant if the sun is out and there is no wind. The sun is out most of the time, it's just that pesky wind that hangs around. So we finally took the girls to the park this weekend. It was warm enough to not even have to wear a hat and gloves! Still lots of snow and ice on the ground, hence the snowsuits.

The girls are learning new words by the minute. This past week they've learned snow, nose, shoe, more, Elmo, and milk. They've known the signs to most of those but they've just started saying the words. Elise also knows one and two, and Linnaea knows two. Elise walks around the house going "wa, doo, wa, doo" (for one and two). They also love to tell us that they have a poop, or that Rosie has pooped in the house by saying "ba pa" and pointing at either their diaper or the offender. For those of you who don't know, Rosie has developed a degenerative nerve disorder that has made her lose a lot of feeling in her hindquarters. She falls a lot and has frequent accidents in the house. She is not in any pain, thankfully, so we are hoping that with some supplements and exercise the disorder will progress as slow as possible.

They also had their first Oreos this week. Linnaea is a lick-the-cream-first Oreo eater, while Elise just shoves the whole thing in her mouth as fast as possible. Both of them absolutely LOVE Sesame Street, so this gives Mommy a little time to clean the kitchen and post on her blog.

Daddy walks his girls around the park.

Elise stretches out with Mommy.

Linnaea practices being like Daddy.

Elise found the secret stash of stamps that Grandma Sue had given us for Christmas.

Linnaea plays with her bouncy ball.

Well, if we can't get to the park, the bar in the closet will suffice as a swing. Elise's favorite word is "Whee!"

Elise dons a hat, mitten, and purse to do her rounds of the house.

Daddy and Elise read on the couch.

Christmas Continued

2009-01-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of our wonderful Christmas presents.

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Tim sent us some super cool sleds to use on all of our snow here in Walden. There is a hill in back of the elementary school that shoots you onto the high school football field. Linnaea had a blast going down by herself. Every time she stopped at the bottom she asked for more, so we had to haul her back up to the top and shoot her down again. Elise was ok with it at first, but she hit a few bumps and fell face first into the snow twice, so that was the end of that. She absolutely loved being pulled in circles around the football field.

Elise gets her kicks going in slow circles.

Linnaea gets ready to go. She's got the need for speed.

Elise plays with the stroller Grandma Kitty sent. She also likes to dress herself. She put on her hat and one snow boot all by herself.

We took a trip to Steamboat Springs to do something different. We stopped at the Safeway for some groceries and the girls got to ride in the race car at the front of the shopping cart. And they are looking super cute in their stylish clothes from Aunt Carolyn.

Playing with the doll house from Grandma Kitty.

Our new tent from Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs. "Tent" (te-te) was on of Linnaea's first words. They like to play underneath a blanket with daddy, so Kevin started calling it "playing tent" and Linnaea caught on really fast.

Our new table from Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs.

Linnaea talks to Elmo on her new Elmo phone from Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs. You can download their names to the phones so Elmo talks personally to them.

Their new chairs from Grandma and Grandpa Bartosik.

Christmas Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs

2008-12-29T18:50:00.001-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs came to visit for Christmas. Here are some photos we've taken so far:

Linnaea's fake smile.

Elise and Grandpa.

Linnaea snuggles with Daddy on the couch.

Linnaea is looking at photos of herself on Grandma's camera and Elise wants a peek, too.

Snack time.

Mommy and Daddy got their first date since May. We went snowshoeing in the Poudre Canyon.

Kevin, trailing behind me the whole time.

My hat was a cool Christmas present from the Kovacs.

Our first Christmas cookies!

Elise has this habit of shoving a few mouthfuls worth of food into her mouth all at once.

Christmas Card Rejects

2008-12-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been waiting and waiting for a good snowy day to get some winter wonderland photos for a Christmas card. We've been getting a good bit of snow but it's usually too nasty to go outside and get some pictures. We finally had a good dumping last night so we bundled up to go outside and snap away. We didn't get to stay out too long because the temperature was about 18 degrees and Elise wouldn't keep her mittens on. She has figured out how to pull them off with her teeth. Unfortunately, after all of that waiting, we really didn't like any of the photos we ended up with. The one of Kevin and I was pretty good, but the girls aren't in it so it gets a thumbs down. I love the one of Elise sitting in the snow by herself, but Linnaea just looks really cold in all of hers. Yes, it was pretty cold, but they had a good time.

Profiles

2008-12-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd tell you a little about the what the girls really enjoy doing these days.

Linnaea

Weight: 25 pounds, 4 ounces

Height: 34"

Hair color: Still dark brown, but it has a golden sheen in the sunlight

Favorite Food: Anything! She is our little garbage disposal. She particularly enjoys graham crackers, carrots, broccoli, and yogurt.

Favorite word: Mama and any animal sound. She just learned juice (ju jush) and the sign for bunny.

Hobbies: include (but are not limited to) being carried by mommy, reading, running, watching Sesame Street, building blocks, "talking" on her cell phone, hiding, having her back tickled, and eating anything that mommy is eating.

Elise

Weight: 28 pounds 11 ounces

Height: 32 1/2"

Hair Color: still light brown

Favorite food: Peas, peas, and peas. And anything hidden in the spoon underneath a mound of peas.

Favorite word: Bye. She just learned juice (ju jush), baby and cracker (ca ca).

Hobbies include: Taking baths, dressing herself and putting shoes on, drinking juice, stealing Linnaea's diaper while mommy is changing Linnaea, stealing Linnaea's juice, hiding her spoon under her high chair tray then doing the sign for "where" and asking "ga?" (for go?), playing in the snow, carrying books and baby dolls around, using an adult fork at mealtimes, and testing her limits.

2008-12-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

Pockets, Belly Buttons, and Headbands

2008-11-17T09:07:00.001-08:00

"I have a belly button. Look! You do too!"

Elise discovers her jeans have pockets!

Aunt Carolyn sent us some headbands. Is this where it goes?

How 'bout here?

I think she's got it...and all by herself.

Even though the headband isn't really doing its job, it's still pretty darn cute.

Go Gators! We have so much fun wearing our Gator cheerleader outfits, even on non-gamedays.

Halloween Adventures

2008-11-02T07:44:00.001-08:00

Elise gets to touch the pumpkin, which was very exciting as every day they had been passing the pumpkin sitting on the front porch step. Every time they passed it they would point and touch and babble and they finally got to play with it up close. And standing on a chair was a bonus since they're not allowed to stand on chairs normally.

As you can see, Linnaea is just tickled about these two special events. She's probably more excited about standing on the chair than cutting the pumpkin.

Daddy cuts the face on the pumpkin.

There is lots of cool stuff inside to play with.

Yummy...pumpkin guts.

We're on our way out the door to the Halloween Carnival. They had lots of games to play for older kids, and some fun stuff for little ones, too. Elise and Linnaea got to ride on a mini-roller coaster. The most fun thing Linnaea got to do was hold on to Daisy's leash, a Shar-pei dressed as a sailor that someone had brought.

Elise crawling through the play tunnel at the carnival. And another of her playing with the pumpkin. I just can't get that one to move to the top of the page!

Linnaea as a bumble bee.

Elise as a ladybug.

Ok, so the funny story is that first Grandma Kitty sent us two Halloween costumes of a ladybug and a bumble bee. Then Grandma Sue sent us two Halloween costumes of a ladybug and a bumble bee. So we wore Grandma Kitty's costumes to the Halloween parade at the elementary school. This went quite well even though I took the girls all by myself. One of their friends, who is one month older, was there and dressed as Elvis so they all walked around a little bit. Linnaea had the most fun walking in front of people who were sitting in the bleachers. She would just stop and smile and let them look at her in her cute ladybug costume. Then she lined up with the preschoolers and paraded with them a little bit. She was trying to follow the boy dressed as an airplane. We also went to story hour at the library and trick-or-treating at the courthouse. This was an adventure since the courthouse has lots of steps and Linnaea wanted me to carry her the whole time and Elise was ok walking but was REALLY slow. Afterwards, Linnaea had her first lollipop. I think she was just born knowing how to eat lollipops. And it was quite the scene when I had to take it away from her since she had gotten too close to the tootsie center.

Elise as a bumble bee.

Linnaea the ladybug. She actually enjoys putting the antennae on all by herself.

And the two of them together. Aren't they the cutest little bugs ever?

Happy Columbus Day!

2008-10-13T14:24:00.001-07:00

Because I haven't totally figured out how to post photos and move them to where I want them, I can't put captions under each picture. So here is my photo guide:

Photo 1 (top): Watching a Baby Einstein
Elise and Linnaea just LOVE their Baby Einstein videos, so I put one in to get some work done in the morning. Elise is obsessed with taking her clothes off, but she usually only gets the left arm out as in this photo.

Photo 2: Our Little Snork
I've been practicing putting their hair in ponytails because it's getting long and I don't want to keep cutting their bangs. So this is the result. Again, Elise is watching a Baby Einstein video and being a couch potato. Who do you think she takes after?

Photo 3: A Morning at the Park
Elise's favorite thing to do at our little park is to climb inside the bushes and trees. Again, who do you think she takes after?

Photo 4: Stuck in a Drawer
Elise also very much enjoys crawling into small spaces. A favorite is the bottom drawer in our kitchen.

Photo 5: New Shoes
We finally got Linnaea and Elise some shoes with good soles for the winter. Aren't they the cutest? And Linnaea also says Go Gators!

Photos 6, 7, and 8: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge
The ANWR of Walden, CO. This is a refuge about 10 minutes from our house and it is so cool. These photos are on their interpretive nature trail. The first time I took the girls there, we saw 3 moose REALLY close up. Then we went back a week ago and saw two beaver, which I thought was really neat. Kevin said his photo of the beaver wasn't good enough so unfortunately that photo will not appear on our blog.

Rocky Mountain High

2008-09-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we got invited over to Kevin's boss's house for a Swedish dinner. We had a yummy meal and afterward we went out to his hay meadow and enjoyed the sunset. His wife is a professional photographer and she took these wonderful photos of our family and we are so happy to share them with you.

A Day in the Life of the Kovacs Twins

2008-09-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

I bet some of you wonder what life is like with two 15-month old girls. So I'll tell you! We usually wake up between 6:30 and 6:45 am. Once, they even slept until 8:00 am which was on my birthday--the best birthday present ever! We eat breakfast about 7:15 or so, which is usually a fruit (bananas and strawberries are faves) and oatmeal. After that I clean up the kitchen and try to get an hour's worth of work done. So I ask the girls if they want to watch a Baby Einstein and they run into the TV and wait for me to start it. There favorites are On The Go, all about planes, trains, boats, and cars, and Baby MacDonald, A Day on the Farm. They are REALLY into animals right now. Farms and ranches surround our town, so we walk by horses, cows, and roosters and they LOVE it. I usually work from about 8:00 to 9:00 am, and I can usually hear them running around about half way into it. Usually Linnaea loses interest in the video but Elise will sit there the whole time. After that we get dressed into playclothes and have a snack. They love cottage cheese mixed with fruit or yogurt with honey. Then we walk over to one of the parks in town. Once we went to the wildlife refuge outside of town and saw 3 moose. That was pretty exciting. This usually tires them out and makes them hungry for lunch, which is at about 11:30am, followed by a nap between 12 and 12:30. They average about 1 1/2 hours per nap, sometimes 2 if I'm really lucky. This is when I eat lunch and get some more work in. When they wake up we have an afternoon snack, which is usually cheerios with milk. If we didn't make it to the park in the morning, we'd go now. Or we'll run to the grocery store to pick up items we go through quickly, like milk and eggs. Sometimes we'll walk to get our mail at the post office, and stop by the library on the way home. This brings us to dinner time, which is a long part of the day because Elise and Linnaea eat first, about 5-5:30pm, while we wait for Kevin to get home which could be anywhere from 5:30-7:30pm. After they eat, we eat. Then every other night they get a bath, which is a favorite thing to do. They LOVE their bath. This is followed immediately by bedtime, about 7-7:15pm.

They are learning all sorts of words and signs now. They both say mama and bye, and Linnaea knows quack. They know the signs for bath, milk, all done, and are learning toothbrush and more. I think Elise is going to be a botanist because she is very interested in bushes. She always goes up to bushes and tries to get all the way to the inside of the them. They also love slides and swings, and there are a few short slides at the parks they can go on by themselves.

So that is a day in the life. It sounds easy, doesn't it? Sometimes it is. Sometimes not so much :-).

Elise in the Cabinet

2008-08-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

Body Parts

2008-08-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

Just some more photos from before the trip--

2008-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our Trip...

2008-08-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

One of our MANY rest stops.

Four days of driving is the most exhausting thing we can imagine.

Oh man, was it a long drive or what?

Ok! We're ready to go hiking with Mommy!

On our new front porch.

Did someone say snow?

Playing in the sprinkler.

Photos Finally!

2008-08-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

We made it!

No, this photo is not enhanced in any way. That is the view from the street one block from our house. We had a lot of rain the past few days and the surrounding mountains got snow. Walden is in North Park, which is basically a valley surrounded by mountains on four sides. The nearest cities are Laramie, WY, Steamboat Springs and Granby, CO. All are about an hour away. We really love being here so far and are enjoying the quiet small town life. But if you were to ask me how I like it in the middle of winter, you might get a different answer. Kevin has been quite generous and babysat for the girls while I've been on a hike the last two weekends. When the rain finally cleared this morning, I grabbed my hiking shoes and the dogs and went to Rainbow Lake in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. It was a 35 minute drive and just an amazing 3 hour hike through aspen groves and pines; we stopped at the lake and enjoyed the view and we even walked through snow.

...Our kitchen

...our "driveway"

...and our new backyard.

Growing, growing...

2008-08-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

We had a weigh-in today. Elise is still fit to fight in the heavyweight category, coming in at 26 pounds. Linnaea is doing well, too, coming in at 22 pounds. The funny thing is that Linnaea is the more adventurous eater, she just eats less of whatever it is. We're still trying to tempt Elise's palate with meat and beans but she's developed some funny ways of telling us she doesn't like them. Once she took a mouthful of food, immediately decided she didn't like it, grabbed a towel that happened to be sitting on the table, opened her mouth and proceeded to wipe the food off of her tongue with the towel. Today she realized that she can get rid of some of the unwanted food on her tray by placing each cube of food on Linnaea's tray, one at a time. This is an improvement over throwing everything on the floor.

This past weekend our friends Jonathan and Lisa came to visit and say goodbye before they go to Vietnam for 18 months. We took a trip to the park and the girls got to go down the big girl slides. Jonathan and Lisa both took them down the big red spiral slide. Their favorite was a long blue one with humps. Once, I let Elise down without anyone at the bottom to catch her (thinking she wouldn't go fast enough to go over the edge), so she went flying down one hump, two humps, then bumped on her butt on the ground. It was funny.

We're going to make a trip to the library tomorrow!

Welcome to Walden! (Photos to follow)

2008-08-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I realized I never post because I'm always trying to make time to get some photos uploaded, and I know you all look forward to the pictures the most, but I have got to finally post an update of what is happening in the Kovacs household.

First, we made it to Colorado! We arrived in Walden last Wednesday after 4 grueling days on the road. Kevin's mom came with us and was an absolute lifesaver. I don't know what we would have done had we not had that extra set of hands at all the rest stops to help with the girls and the dogs. Kevin drove the moving truck and trailer while me, Grandma Sue, Elise, Linnaea, and the dogs were packed into the Subaru. Thankfully, we don't have any exciting stories from the road which is exactly how we like it.

So now we're in Walden and what have we been up to? Well, the house we are renting is really big and has a great backyard. The girls have their own toy room next to their bedroom, we have a separate computer room, large living room, and a good sized bedroom and guest bedroom. We do have 2 bathrooms, one even has a groovy green toilet. We have a REALLY nice park 2 blocks away and a public swimming pool and library that we have yet to visit. Our phone guy has already offered to take us fly fishing, which we are really excited about. Kevin LOVES his new job but has been working really long days so they can show him all of the sites he needs to be familiar with. Once September comes he'll be stuck in the office so the days will become more reasonable.

Now...all the things that Linnaea and Elise have been up to! Elise has been waving "ba-ba" for quite a while now, and she continues to do it to every single car and motorcycle that passes our house (we get a bit of traffic since we're right on Highway 14). Both girls want to know what EVERYTHING is by pointing and asking "Ba?" or "Ga?". We taught them about bellybuttons about a month ago and were having so much fun with that that we forgot to move on to the other body parts. So just this week they've learned hair, nose, ear, and toes. Sometimes when Elise is trying to remember toes, she'll put her hands to her hair really fast before she puts them to her toes. They aren't saying any words besides bye-bye but they recognize all sorts of things like window, shoes, juice, milk, peas, cheese, etc. They play with everything in the house except their toys. Favorite things include shoes, underwear, boxes, and any sort of bottle from the refrigerator. They are finally getting their molars in which explains why they have been taking turns waking up and screaming every night.

I really hope to post a bunch of pictures and a video soon but I will at least try to post smaller updates so they don't become so lengthy.

Birthdays and Weddings

2008-06-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Daddy swims with Elise. She was happy for about 15 seconds.

Elise's favorite toy was the cake tupperware lid. Hours of entertainment!

Who says you need expensive toys? A simple box is invaluable!

Linnaea throws a tantrum...again.

Walking the gangplank. Argh!

Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

I love cheerios...and smiling at the camera!

Mommy always holds Linnaea.

We went down to Florida the week before Memorial Weekend for Aunt Carolyn's wedding. The week before we went, we all had a fantastic stomach flu so we were really ready for a vacation. Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls so Kevin and I could have a day off and go to Busch Gardens. It was the best day ever! There were no lines the whole day long so we walked on to every single roller coaster without a wait. Kevin even went on the Sheikra 3 times in like 10 minutes while I waited. Unfortunately I was feeling a little motion sick so I had to pass on the super scary coaster. But the next day, we discovered we brought the stomach flu from SC because Kevin's parents both got sick, especially Grandma :-(. A day later Carolyn got it too. Thank goodness we all got well by the wedding day! We wanted to send Carolyn off to her Mexcian honeymoon healthy, and maybe her insides got a little training for eating and drinking down there.

We tried to give the girls a party, but no one came except Great-grandma, because everyone was terrified of our flu. We gave the girls cake but they were scared of it. They wouldn't even touch it, and when they did so on accident they started to panic. We had a few good swims in the pool, or at least a few good dips on the steps. They didn't really like being in the pool, just playing around on the stairs.

Also, we went to our one year doctor's checkup when we got back. Elise is in the 90th percentile for height and 95th for weight. She measures in at 24 pounds and 30 3/4 inches. Linnaea is taller, measuring 31 1/4 but is only 21 pounds. They got two shots with really long needles and had sore legs he next day. Every time Elise tried to stand she would just wail. It was so sad. She did take her very first independent steps on her birthday, but no more action since then!

2008-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Elise is definitely the sensitive one. She bumps her head ever so slightly and screams and screams, reaching that high pitch that only Mariah Carey can. Then she pops out the biggest tears you have ever seen and it is just so hard not to laugh. Kevin and I do end up laughing at it quite a bit. She is still the biggest eater and has mastered smashed bananas but doesn't really know what to do with finger foods. She can squish 'em and squeeze 'em and spit 'em but the food pieces just end up stuck in all the cracks and crevices of her high chair.

Linnaea is our little energizer bunny and just goes, goes, goes. She likes to put anything and everything on her head, like bibs, books, blankets, and my tank tops and robe sashes. I feel she is on the verge of saying her first word any day now. She loves to be scared by things, like me jumping out from behind a door or something. And that first picture above is her genuine, not messed with or styled in any way, bed head.

They are both becoming very observant and can now imitate things that we do like put our hands on our head, clap, or make the "wa-wa-wa" sound by putting our hand over our mouths. The still love to sit in the stroller for walks and swinging at the park.

We Have Walking!

2008-04-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Elise isn't quite there yet but we needed to include her in the video montage. She is probably going to be an 18-month walker because she is in NO hurry to catch up to Linnaea!

Future Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models

2008-03-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

We are gearing up for our trip to Florida in May and are picking out bathing suits. Grandma Kitty sent us these and we had a fashion show. Elise will probably get embarrassed if I say this, but the suit that fits her the best is size 18 months.

Today we went to Publix and used the racecar cart again. We got lots of attention and we are using that to practice waving. While we were at the checkout, Linnaea grabbed Elise's hair and slammed her head into the steering wheel, all action-movie style. The cashiers and baggers thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Elise is trying to stand on her own for a few seconds. Linnaea can walk 6 steps on her own. I swear she knows how to say "baby" but Kevin doesn't agree.

Groovin'

2008-03-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

If You're Happy and You Know It...

2008-03-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the doctor yesterday for our 9 month checkup. No shots--Yay! Elise weighed 22.6 pounds and was 30 1/8 inches tall. Linnaea was 19.2 pounds and 30 1/4 inches tall. The doctor told us we have the heights of an average 15 month old! Nothing else exciting happened there, which is how we like it sometimes.

Elise is doing all sorts of fun stuff. She was the first one to start clapping and she claps in response to mommy clapping and singing patty cake, or when she's all done with her bottle or food. She also LOVES to rock her head to music, which is on the video. Isn't it the cutest? She has the most attention for things. She will play with one toy for a long time before she goes to find another one. She gets extremely frustrated when she puts herself into positions in which she feels stuck, like up on the fireplace hearth. She is also the most sensitve, for when she falls or gets bumped by Linnaea or the dogs she screams quite heartily. And then she squeezes out the two biggest, most perfect tears you've ever seen. Last week we went to the library and she fell down one step in the children's theatre. She screamed so loud that I am sure every single person in the entire 2-story library heard her. Then mommy had to show her face up at the counter to check out books. She was embarrassed. Elise is still the heartiest eater but the doctor assured us she won't max out on food. She polishes off formula, cereal, and two jars of baby food and still has room for cheerios.

Linnaea is trying her best to walk on her own. She is up to four steps without assistance and I think the only reason she goes to the floor is because she knows she can crawl faster to get where she wants to go, which is anywhere and everywhere. She doesn't like to focus too long on one toy because there are just too many unexplored places to go! She can clap now, too, and she likes to stand and bounce to music and songs. When she falls, she rarely cries. Even today when Rosie knocked her from behind, smashing her face into the door, she cried a little but was focused on something else within seconds. Linnaea is the best at feeding herself finger foods, particularly dog food and cheerios. She also has a bit of separation anxiety, and those are the moments she'll really let you know she's unhappy. She will be playing with daddy and Elise just fine, but as soon as she sees mommy she will start to cry and eventually get hysterical until mommy picks her up. It seems to be the worst when she's tired and hungry, or always when mommy needs to be doing something else.

We have discovered that we fit into the racecar shopping cart at Publix, which is SO exciting. Elise holds her steering wheel at ten and two and keeps her hands there the whole time as she smiles at the people shopping. Linnaea spins her steering wheel, then tries to undo her harness, then tries to climb over Elise, then grabs Elise's steering wheel, tries to undo Elise's harness, then tries to climb out the other side...

Boy are we having fun!

2008-02-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

Elise now has 5 teeth and weighs 22 pounds and is at 28". This month, she finally started pushing herself to sitting and crawling on her hands and knees. She loves to stand holding on to things, but she can't figure out how to get down so when she doesn't want to stand any more she starts to scream. Sometimes she'll accidentally sit down and this makes her scream, too. She is really sick and tired of Linnaea using her to pull up on and crawl over, and those two things will also make her scream. She entertains herself extremely well and will play with all of her toys for hours without needing anything.

Linnaea has 6 teeth and weighs 19 pounds and is at 29". She can stand on her own for long periods of time, and will bounce and play with things while standing. She has taken single steps once or twice. As stated above, she loves to stand up and crawl over anything, particularly Elise. She is definitely the most fearless and bravest, for as she stands and crawls she still falls a lot but hardly ever cries about it. She constantly babbles and makes happy noises.

They both love to walk to the park and swing, and it is an easy activity that takes up about an hour and they are happy the whole time. They have started eating Cheerios and they LOVE them. No one ever told me Cheerios are magic and that they make babies happy and quiet while parents eat dinner!

"I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they're socialists. They could be fascist anarchists, it still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car."

Just Cute Photos

2008-01-30T11:57:00.001-08:00

Elise just realized how much fun a pacifier is!

Our new favorite spot--the living room window!

6 teeth!

Elise says,"I have two teeth!"

Linnaea's favorite hang out--between mommy's legs.

Crawling

2008-01-25T07:04:00.000-08:00

This is the video of Linnaea's first crawl. We got the camera in time for the end of it, but you'll see how far she went. Elise is making some valiant efforts but still hasn't got the hang of it.

Favorites and More

2008-01-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Linnaea Susan Kovacs

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Dark Blue/Grey/Green

Teeth: 5 (and I can feel 3 more coming)

Favorite food: Sweet Potatoes

Favorite Song: The Name Game

Favorite thing to say: Squeal like a velociraptor

Favorite Hangout: swinging at the park

Other Likes: Standing, squealing, standing, jumping. Oh yeah, and standing.

When she grows up she is going to be a: Scientist (Kevin is determined that one of them will be and Elise already picked out a profession)

Elise Chloe Kovacs

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Blue

Teeth: still 2

Favorite food: Anything not green

Favorite Song: Knick Knack Paddy Whack

Favorite thing to say: Da da da da da da da

Favorite Hangout: Wherever Linnaea is

Other Likes: Eating, chewing on a pacifier (every part of it but the actual thing you are supposed to suck on), and watching Linnaea.

When she grows up she is going to be an: Acrobat. Two days ago she tried to jump off the bed and Kevin caught her by the hand. She was dangling all cliffhanger style.