Oden Adventures

We moved into the new place at the very end of January & started settling in by the first of February...only to all 3 get hit with the flu bug!  Vianne has never been sick like this so it was very strange and hard to see her so lethargic.  In this picture, she (who never ever just falls asleep somewhere) was sitting on the couch with a sandwich (trying to get her to eat something!).  After one bite, she was asleep!

We're loving the private, fenced backyard at the new house!  Vianne is also getting quite good at kicking, our little soccer player in the making!

Vianne had never seen me clean so much in her life as those last few days moving out of the old house.  I was using Clorox bleach wipes on almost everything so ever since, she's found great delight in cleaning things with her baby wipes, paper towels, anything that looks like the bleach wipes.  I sure don't mind having some extra help :-D!

Playing in the new living room

My little Alice in Wonderland

Enjoying her new bedroom

We've been walking to the San Dimas Library often since the move, now that Vianne is big enough to enjoy the kids' area.  She loves coming here!

This is our little buddy Canyon, who's turning one in March.  We've been watching him on Monday mornings for a few weeks 'til April when his mom is done with her school commitments.  Such a sweet boy & so easy to take care of!

We enjoyed some much needed rain at the end of the month!  Vianne was out back jumping up & down in (not so) muddy puddles.  In rain boots & sunglasses: definitely half Oregonian, half Californian :-D.

Between the trip to Oregon, baby-growing nausea, and packing & moving to a new house all in the month of January, not a lot of pictures were taken.  A few glimpses of our month...

The hills above Glendora were on fire for a couple of days and we could see it from our yard!

A trip to Via Verde park - I used to walk here when I was pregnant with Vianne and when she was a tiny baby, so it was fun to bring her back to play here!

First peanut butter & jam sandwich!  I'm so happy we're in the sandwich phase now, so much easier when I'm out of lunch ideas.

Sweetie in her Sunday best

Headed off to work :-D

Grandpa's assistant in the moving truck

"Helping" Mama clean up the old house

The carpet steamer doubles as a horse

Taking a little water break...and reflecting on good times had at the Covina Blvd house

On February 8, sweet V turned 22 months old.  Her year of being one is slipping so quickly through our fingers - and yet, we're trying our best to soak up & savor as much of the cuteness as possible.

This was our first photo shoot at our new place, in the backyard.  Vianne loves the new house, loves having her own bedroom, loves the backyard where we do a lot of playing in her house, running, and "catching the ball".  She loves to color with Mama or Daddy and chooses our color for us and where on the page we should be applying that color.  She's added Doc McStuffins to her list of favorite shows, loves dancing ("I spinning!") when there's music on, loves playing her saxophone & with her trains, and helping Mama & Daddy with whatever we're doing.  She does a lot of work sitting at Daddy's desk ("I working!") which consists mainly of banging on the keyboard.  She also loves to "go to work" which consists of putting something - anything - resembling a purse or bag over her arm, giving us kisses and saying goodbye.  She usually returns within seconds, "I back!"

She's been counting to eleven lately, and singing the alphabet song with about 90% accuracy.  Never does either for the video camera, of course :-). 

On the morning of our fifth anniversary, I told Patrick I had something for him...and I sensed the brief moment of terror, as we had never done anniversary gifts, and had reconfirmed we weren't doing them this year.  Well, it wasn't a gift per se, just a little tune I'd composed in the prior months, and managed to (hastily) record in (my few) solitary moments...

We were up in Oregon for New Year's so we took advantage of my mom's very capable grandkid skills and her generosity and braved our very first overnight (well, my first overnight) without Vianne for a lovely time away in Forest Grove, OR, at McMenamin's Grand Lodge.  (Vianne apparently did great, and I didn't do too poorly myself.) 

We had the Mozart room, very charming...

...king-sized bed with a private bathroom...

...well, private to the rest of the hotel, anyway...

...drinks and the must-have tater tots at Pat's Corner...

..another stroll around downtown Forest Grove, though a little too late to see anything, and then back to the hotel for a lovely dinner.  

Even more lovely, though, was the breakfast we had at the same place the next morning.  Who knew McMenamin's had one of the most incredible breakfast menus around?  Not us!  We were floored (and I sure wished I was feeling better).  I (still) enjoyed the Brioche French Toast and their delicious coffee, while Patrick indulged in the Chicken Fried Steak with eggs and these fabulous biscuits that were like croissants and possibly the closest thing to heaven on earth.

We took another leisurely stroll around the grounds, cameras in hand...

Woke up to a frost-covered wonderland

Posing under our window (top center)

Blessed with this gorgeous view of Mt. Hood for 10 or so miles of the way back!  Softened the blow of returning to normal life :-).