Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

Jenica went down the slide at the park today all by herself! I think it helped that we were there with my friend Cathy and her 3 year old son Samuel, so she had someone to show her the ropes. Here she is checking things out from the bottom. Then she decided that this would be the best way to get to the top. That, however, just proved to be frustrating, but eventually she discovered the stairs. Here she is checking out things from the top. This was right before she WALKED down the slide. It scared the begeebers out of me and Cathy but she actually did it quite gracefully and must have thought it was fun because she ended up trying it again! Fortunately, when I showed her how much better it was to sit on her bottom, she decided that she liked that much better and proceeded to climb the stairs, sit herself down and slide down the slide numerous times with out any coaxing. Such a brave little 1 year old! And there she goes! Don't worry, she always landed just fine. This picture was tak...

I entered a photobook of Jenica pictures in a contest, but we need your help to make it to the finals. Please click on the link below and search for the book "Jenica's First Year." Once you find it, just register and vote! It's that easy! Oh, and make sure you check out the back cover! You might just find something there that YOU wrote! Vote for my book in the Best Blurb Books Contest! Voting ends Nov. 9 View other entries »

Or in our case, crib time - since we don't have room in our tiny house to set up the play pen too, but the concept is the same. Having Jenica play by herself in her crib during the day teaches her how to focus and concentrate apart from the distractions of the moment. It also helps her to develop her attention span and aids in her creativity. And, it gives mom a chance to shower, cook dinner, fold laundry, or do any number of other things with out a toddler hanging on her leg. I had become a little lax in this area over the last few months but I have re-committed to work on it once or twice a day and today Jenica managed to do a 45 minute stretch (with only minor complaining) twice today, once after breakfast and again this evening while I cooked dinner. Way to go Jenica!

A girl after my own heart! I was in the kitchen tonight cooking dinner and I hadn't heard much out of Jenica for a while so I went to check on her. This is how I found her, walking out of her bedroom with as many shoes as she could carry, and looking so proud of herself. It was the cutest thing...I just had to share it with you.

I love fall! For the obvious reasons - that it marks the soon arrival of snowshoeing season, with festive holiday gatherings and gift giving right around the corner, but also for the more suttle things like pumpkin spice latte's, flannel sheets, and the opportunity to break out the fall wardrobe! Don't get me wrong, I love summer time with a passion! I think the bottom line is that I just enjoy change, so the changing of seasons is no exception. The chilly fall air seems like a good excuse to turn on the heater (hopefully fire up the wood stove some day when we build our dream house) and curl up on the couch with a movie or a good book. This year is twice the fun because I not only get to dress myself in fun fall sweaters and hats, I have to keep little Jenica warm and cozy as well! I couldn't pass up this outfit last time I was at the mall and today has been the first day it's felt chilly enough to put it on her. Funny story about the boots - I kept trying to put them ...