Blueberry Girl's Birthday

Last Friday, June 24, was Sabine's doll Blueberry Girl's birthday. (Sabine remembered it from a tradition started LAST YEAR at Grandmom and Grandpa's house!)

So of course we had to celebrate. Fortunately, Grandmom and Grandpa were fresh back from their travels, and able to come down to help make it a real party.

Naturally, there was cake. Grandpa and Sabine made the frosting, and did all of the decorating.



We sang, and Sabine helped her blow out the candle.







And then everyone had a good time partaking of the cake!









Grandmom and Grandpa even brought Blueberry Girl a birthday present:



So she now has a new outfit. And she seems to be particularly enjoying her new bonnet!



Happy birthday, Blue!

Portland

Two weekends ago we took Aspen and went to Portland to celebrate some good friends' marriage.



Aspen was a trooper, staying up late for travel and to hang out with a bunch of grownups.



Sabine elected to stay home for this trip. She was originally supposed to have a fun-filled weekend with Nana, but unfortunately Nana had a bad fall and hurt her ankle, so we brought in babysitter reinforcements. Our babysitter is amazing, she and Sabine had a blast, they even got to visit Nana so she got some good time with Sabine over the weekend, and then she and Sabine also managed to go swimming, have play dates, bake cookies, and even make it to the aquarium!



Back in Portland, Aspen had fun exploring the neat hotel (a converted elementary school!) we were staying in,



and befriended all of mommy and daddy's friends, while she was at it.



She even suckered some of them into buying her a peacock feather at the gift shop,



and had great fun with it!



So did daddy.



We managed to make it out of the hotel to explore Powell's in downtown Portland, arguably the most famous bookstore in the U.S.



and the farmer's market



and A & P's house



where she had a great time running





and making a new friend



The reception was in the evening, and we had a good time getting ready



although it took some convincing to get Aspen out of her Red Dress


(Spanikopita will do it every time. Mommy's girl!)

and good shoes never hurt, either.





Neither does the iPad, which attracts kids like non-other.



Plus: cupcakes!



And, of course, dancing.





We had fun.



We said goodbye to our neat hotel room on Sunday morning





and to our friends



and headed home to Sabine. The girls both missed each other very much, (I think more than we, the parents, were missed!) it was sweet to see the reunion.

28 Months, and Happy Father's Day!

Aspen turned 28 months old on Friday.



She's definitely growing up, physically and mentally. She's solidly in size 2T now, and just looks longer in general. She's got more complex thoughts, though, and with it, more imagination and more fears. She's going through a big mommy phase, and has no interest in strangers, babysitters, shampoo, or anyone walking behind her. She's also waking up at night pretty regularly. But she is still sweet and funny, and no one can crack her up quite like Sabine.



But Aspen is also coming out with more opinions and preferences. She still loves to play with Sabine. She has a favorite red dress, which you will notice in most pictures of her these days, because she only doesn't wear it if it's in the wash. (Mommy inconveniently "forgets" to wash it pretty regularly, especially on very hot days when it's not a great option for wearing outside.)



Aspen loves to say, "What, what what, WHERE?" to ask "Where?" and she loves to "wrap presents," either with paper draped with string, or even just bath toys wrapped in washcloths in the bathtub. She's more ambidextrous these days, and loves monkeys, tigers, and dogs. She also loves babies, and is always happy to see her friend W, and hold her whenever she can.



Sabine is obviously around, too, but harder to photograph these days. She's a girl on the move...in every way. She's gone through another huge growth spurt, almost up to mommy's shoulders, all of a sudden! She started swim lessons again and is thrilled, swimming is still her favorite sport, if you ask her. And her new favorite color is black. She's also contemplating a pixie haircut! Her days are full of camps, play dates, and various outings.

And not to be forgotten, we also celebrated Father's Day yesterday. It was a quiet celebration this year, everyone was a bit tired but we had to document that these girls adore their daddy, and we all appreciate how very much he does for our family every day.

Back to the Farm

We also recently had the pleasure of introducing cousin H to the farm, so naturally I had to document the occasion.

Sabine did a great job of taking the littles around the farm, and showing them the ropes, so to speak.











Farmer John wandered by and recognized Sabine, and gave her special permission to get in the pen with Rock, the tortoise.







The little cousins were fascinated by the zip line. Sabine is a pro, but they were still a little unsteady.



But they quickly discovered that it was fun just to go and retrieve the zipline and pull it around, and they had a great time running back and forth, just holding on to it.













A hot day and a lot of exploring requires an occasional break in the cool grass.



Aspen's friend A also managed to join us at the farm, it was fun connecting all the little ones together.



The kids had fun exploring the tree house while we set up our picnic lunch







And then we all took a break for a quick bite to eat.



And were even joined by the not-so-little-anymore piglet!



Then it was back to exploring



and feeding Aspen's beloved goats.





Everyone got in on that action!













Then we revisited some favorite tractors (and bulldozers) and called it a very successful day!