Sledding

Well, we braved the cold, cold temperatures and went sledding this weekend. Once it hit 7 degrees (the high for the day), we thought we should just go for it and after about 20 minutes we thought we should just get back inside! My mom, Charlie and I all took turns going down with June, I think it might have been too much for her though. I think the snow flying in her face was a little scary. Maybe just the bunny hill for the rest of the season, Mt. Everest next winter.

By the way, if I look super dorky like this on any other occasion, please let me know. I was nice and warm, but I don't know if looking like a conehead was worth it. Did everyone notice Grandma Joy is wearing a hat! Obviously it was pretty cold if she threw one on. Remember, we must all be a good example for June!

Holiday Program

June had her first Holiday Program last night at her daycare center.

We had practiced her song for a couple of weeks, but I think all of the toddlers came up with some major performance anxiety because they all just sat there while their song was playing. Pretty cute. June got plopped right in front (by chance), much to our delight! She just kept her fingers in her mouth looking around, but managed not to cry like a couple of the other toddlers did. The theme this year was "The Mitten", based on a children's book. Their songs had a mitten theme and the kids were supposed to wear mittens and hats. You'll notice June isn't wearing either, still not sure what happened there. Jeff and I actually labored over what mittens and hat to bring too! Bummer.

You can see in one of the pictures, a little boy crying (to her left in the stripes). That's Cooper.

I guess he and June hug and kiss, which oddly enough makes me a little queasy.

When we bought her dress and shoes, we looked at them and thought "No way, these will be too big", but sadly they were not and our little girl is growing up.

She kind of tap danced around the house in her shoes last night with Jeff. We tried to show her some Riverdance moves, but I think she just thought we were nuts. She'll learn to accept that sooner or later.

Hollidazzle Holiday Parade!

Jeff and I took June to the Hollidazzle parade in Minneapolis last Friday. It was our first big snowfall of the season and it was really pretty. Traffic was a nightmare getting there, rush hour + snow storm = grumpy mom, but once we were there and found a spot on the curb, we enjoyed the snow and the pretty parade lights. We couldn't tell if June was having fun or not, but once she started leaning out as far as she could go, stretching, trying to see the floats and lights; we knew she was enjoying it. Her poor little cheeks look so red, but so do Jeff's, so she must get that from her dad. I on the other hand look as pale as usual; not even a snowy, 12 degree evening can give this girl a glow darn it.

My mom and Charlie met us for the parade too, they said they had a good time too; but I think that was mostly about watching June and not the parade!

Boooooo!

I suppose I loaded these in the wrong order(but I'm not knowledgeable enough to switch them around), we started out making our Jack-o-lanterns, earlier in the week, then we went trick-or-treating (2 houses!). She enjoyed seeing the kids show up at our house more than she enjoyed being out there. Maybe next year when candy is an actual commodity to her.

June seemed relatively comfortable in her costume, I think maybe the hat part bugged her, but she was a pretty good sport and left it alone for the most part.

She was a skunk, but people kept asking her to say mooooo, so I guess the tail was the most important component of the costume. One of the older little girls at daycare kept telling June to stay away from her because she didn't want to get sprayed. So, there's probably a story there, poor girl.

Very fun Halloween this year, Jeff and I got to eat all of June's candy, makes us all the more excited for next year.

Lead by example.

First Haircut!!!!! (or the de-mulleting ceremony)

Before.













(It never did look this horrible normally, they brushed it down and she put on a perfect "I'm so miserable, my hair is a fright" face. )
She was so good, she sat quietly, taking it all in.
She couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror!
Closing her eyes, she's such a pro!














She looks like she's feeling like a new woman!
Ready to take on the world with her new haircut!



















After.

(I can't believe it was such a dramatic change, I felt so awful waiting so long in the first place!)
Just beautiful!

Fabulous Fall!

I think her head needs to grow a little more, or this just might be for large-faced freak children!

It really was not a large slide at all, but for some reason June and I are acting like it's a huge roller-coaster or something. Weird.

June picked out some nice pumpkins. These smaller ones were the Archie and Rose pumpkins.
She was ready to bring them all home I think. (That's Dawn's foot there, Hi Dawn!)

We had a fun day on Saturday, picked out some pumpkins with Dad and Auntie Gayle. My friend Dawn's work was having a fall festival type thing, so we went to check it out. Still hoping we have a chance to do a Hayride this year and pick some apples, but at least we have pumpkins now.

Jeff is convinced that Hayrides are super dangerous (apparently he knew someone who fell off and was run over, by the trailer-not the tractor) Dad is a little paranoid and protective. No way! Boys can be paranoid and protective too? Of all the things to be paranoid about........Oh well, we love you anyway sweetie!

Sweetie.

On the 21st June and I flew up to Anchorage to visit Jeff (trip pictures to come); and we didn't make it on the first flight that day, so we had to wait around for the next flight some hours later.

Mom picked up June and I at the airport and took us to lunch, we also stopped by the National Cemetery to visit my grandparents.

Somehow June decided that headstones should be hugged and she proceeded to walk around giving the white marble a quick cuddle.

I'm sure she made whomever was looking down on us that day smile!

No Way! A post!

Last weekend June and I went out to my mom's house and stopped by the park near there. She had a really good time and it was a lot of fun to watch her. She started on the "small slide", but I think she's a little adrenaline junky, so we had to upgrade to the bigger slides after a while. She's getting so big I can't believe it. Our little girl is growing up!


Bravely walking the plank. She's soooo excited to do it on her own!
June swinging with Grandma Joy.

A Beautiful June Day!

June and I enjoyed a beautiful day at the Memorial Gardens this weekend. She really hasn't had much opportunity to walk about outside, the gardens are perfect because they have pretty, paved paths and it's quiet.

She did a great job walking around, such a pro already! She ate some dirt, smelled the flowers and was much admired by other folks out and about that day.

We might have to make this a regular outing; it's so close to the house and it's so peaceful!

Cosmo Girl

June sings the Blues!
Jeff and I had to do some birthday shopping for June (shhhhhhhh), so Gayle and June had a girls day out and had lunch downtown with Mom, Charlie, Sara and Terry at Brits pub (hence the pint, which I was assured she did not sample!). The Blues Festival was right across the street, so they enjoyed a few songs and June got a couple of Downtown Cool Girl tips from Auntie Gayle!
Look out Mary Tyler Moore!

Grandpa Hyde and June just taking it easy this weekend. She really loved just sitting there and swinging. She just needed an ice tea and she'd be set!

Is the Bug a Bully?

Jeff and I had a "parent-teacher conference" at June's daycare last week; and as we were arriving, the kids were going out for a stroll. I've never seen her in the big 4 seater before, so we stopped and got a couple of pictures. She's the oldest in the bunch now, so I guess she got the prime spot in the front seat! Kind of like a roller coaster, you sit in the front for the most action.
The little girl next to her is Bridgette, in one shot she's super grumpy looking, in the next her hat is pulled over her face. This is because June kept trying to pull her hat off, she just kept reaching over and terrorizing poor Bridgette. I think they managed to have an OK time despite June being a little bit of a booger!

Muffins with Mom

June's daycare hosted a 'Muffins With Mom' brunch on the 8th, to celebrate Mother's Day. My mom and I went (it was Grandma's birthday too!) and enjoyed seeing some of the others kids with their mom's and some of June's artwork. We had some muffins and made a crumby mess.

I enjoyed my first Mother's Day very much, June and I spent the day with Gayle and my mom; Mom made a great brunch at her house (still feel bad that she made us food on her day), June was running a fever and didn't want to take a nap, so I really had a chance to do some real "mommin' " for Mother's Day!

The Highchair Chronicles

For some reason we have a lot of photos of June in her highchair. I guess it's because a majority of her time at home M-F is around dinner time. She seems to do the silliest things at this time, so we always have the camera ready.
This is a crazy "J" pancake, she's obviously mad that we don't have the "J" facing the right direction.


These two are "Happy, Messy, Shepards Pie Face" and
" Messy, Don't make me eat anymore, Shepards Pie Face"

I


She skipped a nap on this day, so she was really tired at dinner time.

One second she was crying and the next she had drifted off to sleep (still holding her spoon!)

We were going to try and get her into bed (we weren't sure how we would do it), but luckily Rosie barked and woke her up, so we were saved from putting her to bed covered in food. I suppose we would have really regretted it come morning (if she let us make it that far!)

Happy Birthday Gavin!

June was a guest at Gavin's 2nd Birthday party this past weekend. Gavin is the son of some friends of ours, Tricia and Keith.

It was an Elmo themed party, so Tricia asked everyone to come in red for Gavin, which was a really fun idea I thought. June got to play with Gavin and his friend Moira, who just turned 1 a couple of weeks back. June might be younger, but she could sure hang with the big kids.; runnin' wit' 'da big dawgs! Very fun now, but probably not so much later on.

A very fun day, but we found out on the following Monday that June has pink eye; so I feel horrible that she exposed the other kids. Hopefully they all manage to avoid it.

June's been a real sport about the whole thing though and it only takes 5 adults to hold her down for her eye drops!

Little Helper!

June was a lot of fun this weekend and such a big help! We had the refrigerator door open to put some groceries away and she just waltzed over and wanted to touch everything in there!
She found the cauliflower particularly interesting, but I'm doubtful if she'll enjoy it as much when it comes time to eat it! Jeff got this on video too, what you can't see in these pictures is June going for the cup full of cranberry juice, spilling it all over the shelf, the floor, the food, herself and me saying &*#! It did make us notice how dirty the coils under the refrigerator were, so those got cleaned too. I told you, what a helper!

All Hail The Starfish Queen

Howdy June!

Just a couple of pictures from daycare yesterday. I love if I can sneak in and watch her while she plays, but she caught me this time. She crawled over and said hello. Very cute. Made Mom feel really good.