Oden Adventures

This is definitely a record for me: getting the previous month's photos up on the blog the first day of the next month!  (reveling in it for just a second since it will most likely never happen again)  Today we're relaxing at the house after two days of hanging out with Joel & Jesse and we're enjoying the amazingly cool temperature of August 1st (85 out at 3:45pm).  I see this as nothing less than a direct answer to prayer, to pleas to Heaven that we not have to endure heat like last summer...and God heard the cries of His people!  So we're reveling in this, too - Vianne's enjoying VeggieTales while I get an unusual catch-up done here.

July 2013: Back in California after our travels, we continue to use & enjoy the porch play area...

Grandpa came early one morning so I could run to the DMV & get a new license from the purse-losing incident.

We enjoyed some pool time with Rachelle & the boys at her sister's house one Friday afternoon.

Vianne, our little water baby, L-O-V-E-D it!

Daddy was trying to help her get a feel for swimming, but she was more interested in drinking the pool.

She got a kick out of throwing the ball back & forth with the twins' uncle.

One of her favorite things to do of late is to 'read' books - that is, flip through the pages and 'read' them out loud.  She does this with her books, but also with ours if she should get her hands on them.  'Reading' the Bible with Granma....

Hear her thoughts on several passages...

She loves feeding her babies with their bottle.

The past week brought an enduring passion for the guitar (or as she calls it 'tar').  Many times a day she asks for the 'tar' and wants to give it a strum, and if I'm on my computer, she comes over and says & signs, "Mama, 'tar" and wants me to find videos of me playing & singing on YouTube.

I can't get enough of her in this rose-covered red & white outfit Granma recently brought for her!  Sometimes the beauty of this little person takes my breath away.

These are from yesterday, playing with the boys.  We were on two days this week while Rachelle's sister was away on vacation, and we had lots of fun.  The boys are growing so fast - another week & a half 'til their first birthday! - and are so very sweet!  We love being part of their lives.

Vianne definitely takes on a 'big sister' persona around them.  She likes to show off when she can do something they can't, like climbing up into the chair, and often gets a bit jealous when Mama is snuggling with the boys.  Good practice for having a sibling some day ;-).