Oden Adventures

Vianne's birthday was such a sweet day for the three of us.  First thing was a surprise - to all of us - Patrick walked out the door for work and found that the "birthday fairies" had been by our house...

Shortly after this, I said, "We need to have breakfast!"  Vianne said, "No breakfast!  I ride my bike!"  And shortly after that, she decided this was not a bike, this was a motorcycle!  Even now, if I call it her bike, she says, "It's my MOTORCYCLE! Pa has the bike."

We had a very sunny - even hot! - day to enjoy a trip to the Los Angeles Zoo, V's first zoo visit!  Ironically, they start charging admission at two years old ;-).  Vianne thought the zoo was mostly for running and occasionally seeing some animals, but was definitely in her element.

 Mama & her ladybug by the flamingos

 Daddy & Vianne spying the elephants.  Vianne kept asking, "Where's the baby elephant?"  We decided he must be "in the barn".

 Leave it to our girl to find a puddle to jump in!

 See her flushed cheeks?  Due to the 90+ degree day, they looked like that the whole visit - but even the heat didn't affect her fun!  We got some shaved ice, drank lots of water, and carried on!

 Just hanging out...

 Vianne got a kick out of this guy!

 Much to my surprise, she knew this was a telescope and what to do with it...

A little dance of joy...

Our social butterfly: this sweet kid was filming the giraffes on his smart phone, when he knelt down next to Vianne.  When something wasn't working on it, and he expressed his frustration, she reached out, patted his shoulder, and said, "What's wrong?"  He seemed to enjoy the attention and included her in one of his videos, then showed it to her :-).

 We wore out the birthday girl!  We got her a souvenir shirt and she passed out on the way home!

That evening, I asked her what she wanted for dinner (she doesn't often respond to this question, and usually if she does, it's "Applesauce!") and she exclaimed, "Pancakes!" (which I think she'd had twice in her life).  It was too cute of a request to deny...so blueberry pancakes for the birthday girl, it was!

 Then time for presents from Mama & Daddy!

 A Peppa Pig family...

 ...a Minnie Mouse look & find book...

...Peppa Pig DVDs, and a Peppa Pig playhouse!

Well, it's come to pass: Our baby girl has turned two, whether we can believe it or not!  This has certainly been the cutest 730 days of my life, and on her birthday, I felt overwhelmed with joy and wanting to cry my eyes out at the same time. We are so grateful for the sweet, adorable gift that is Vianne Rose.  

(Scroll down if you want to skip straight to the cute pictures ;-).)

Vianne at Two:

~ She weighs about 26 lbs and is about 35.5" tall (at home estimates).  So if that thing about doubling their height at 2 yrs to get their future height is true, we have at least a 5'10" lady on the horizon.

~ Her current favorite foods are apples, applesauce, grapes, craisins, blueberries, hot dogs, pasta of all sorts, and ice cream.  She is not a big eater, but she will generally eat what she's served.

~ She still loves music, both listening & playing. She is singing a few songs nearly recognizably, like "Jesus Loves Me", "Twinkle, Twinkle", and "ABC's" (She gets most of the letters but often gets stuck near the end - she says "T, U, V, double, X...T, U, V..." and repeats & repeats) - plus some Vianne originals, like "On My Way" and "Daddy" and something that sounds like "Arwen, Arwen, Arwen" (apparently, she's an LOTR fan already - so we've done our job :-) ).

 ~ She still loves books.  Her most recent favorites are a set of five Dr. Seuss classics, "Green Eggs & Ham", "Hop On Pop", "One Fish, Two Fish", "Fox In Socks", and "The Cat In The Hat", as well as "Pooh's Birthday Surprise" and "Curious George's Valentine's Day".  She also really likes look & find books.

~ She has gotten about 10 teeth since her first ones at 14 months old, which has been a lot of teething in the last 10 months!!  A molar & canine on the bottom right are currently working their way up.  She finally has some hair to speak of (a lot for her!) but not enough to not still get referred to as a boy by non-observant strangers (hello, she's wearing all lavender!) when out & about.

~ She has long known more words & phrases than we can count and is constantly amazing us & making us laugh at the things she comes up with.  Her biggest single word to date is " 'mergency" (emergency) which she must've picked up from Peppa Pig or Doc McStuffins.

~ Whenever she gets an idea, she exclaims, "I know!"

~ She is very silly and funny and we are enjoying her developing sense of humor.  In the last few weeks, she has started doing different funny voices (a low one, a high one, and a quiet sad one) and she amuses herself by saying things in them.

~ She is almost always happy, always wakes up so delighted to be awake & alive, and brings joy to everyone who knows her.  My mom told me we should've named her Joy because it's so fitting!

~ She still loves being outdoors, loves her weekly outings with Grandpa on his bike to parks & other outdoor spots, and taking walks with Mama & Daddy.  She loves playing in the backyard where she runs & kicks her balls with such glee and spends time in her playhouse.

~ She's such a big girl that she often goes away with Granma & Grandpa for several hours on Saturdays, while Mama & Daddy work or clean or collapse like tired blobs on the couch.  She always comes back to us smiling from ear to ear, with a belly full of ice cream and a toy or two in hand.

~ She often talks about her family in Oregon, too - and multiple times a day we talk about going on an airplane to " 'Ma's house".

~ She can identify her upper case letters and can count to thirteen, but doesn't yet recognize all the numbers by sight.  She loves to point out letters while we're out & about, and will loudly exclaim, "Mama!  Red A!"

~ She loves to pretend she's either a crab, a frog, or a dinosaur (stretches her arms out in front & says "ROAR!").  She also has an alter ego, "Super Vianne".  She will say, "I'm Super Vianne!  I save the day!  I fly in my airplane!  I fly in my helicopter!" and then will fly around, hunched over with her arms sticking straight out in back.

~ At one year, I reported that she wasn't a great sleeper.  But now she's an AMAZING sleeper.  She will often pull a 11-12 hour night these days and it's now a rare night that she wakes up before 7:00am or so (boy, have things changed in a year!).  Most days she will also take an afternoon nap for at least an hour.  She's been spoiling us for months now & adjusting to a newborn's sleep habits again in August is going to be rough on us!

~ She has been doing great in the nursery at our "new" church.  She is often the only (or one of two) kid(s) in there and loves playing with Mrs. Irish (she calls her "My Irish").  This has been great for Patrick & I (although it was entirely my fault she never went at our other church), to allow me to lead worship a couple times a month, and just to sit together & enjoy the service.
~ Her favorite friends are Joel & Jesse, Canyon, Ella, & Ansley.
~ She has this hilarious possessive/territorial/everything-in-its-place streak, where (especially when tired) she insists on things being how and where they should.  For example, if you call "sandals" "shoes", she will let you know they are sandals, NOT shoes.   Often, if Patrick goes into the kitchen, she will say, "NO, DADDY!  Mama's kitchen!  You stay in the office!"  (Um, can Mama put in for a different room of the house?)  If I am using something that is Daddy's, she gets all out of sorts.  This will get interesting when Baby O. starts using some of her toys & equipment from babyhood...

This is the photo shoot we did on her birthday in her dress from France, a gift from our friend Jeannie Thorp, and her ladybug dress from Granma.  A lot of (grown-up :::sob:::) cuteness!

The last week of March, we had our first house guest at the new house, our dear friend Mindy!  All the way from Germany...via Pennsylvania...we had the great pleasure of four days of her three-month furlow shared with us out here on the Left Coast.

I don't have nearly enough photos to portray the bliss, but here are just a few glimpses...

Mindy arrived late on Monday night, so the first full day, Tuesday, we had a ladies day at Newport Beach.  Mindy introduced Vianne & I to the world of geocaching (which Vianne called "finding treasures" :-) ).  Our very first one was a few hundred yards from where we parked...

 It was a perfect neither-too-hot-nor-too-cold day at the beach.  Vianne got right to business with her beach toys...

 ...while Mindy greeted the Pacific.

 Mindy showed Vianne how to make sand castles...

 ...while it warmed up enough for a wardrobe change.

 Mindy & V were fast friends!  Puddle and wave jumping...

 We walked down to the end of the pier and saw a couple of playful sea lions.

On Wednesday, Grandpa took Vianne for several hours so Mindy & I could get ready for our concert, planned for Friday night at our church (Valley Center Church of the Nazarene).  We walked into San Dimas for lunch in the charming downtown at the Sweet Savory Bakery & Cafe, which I'd been wanting to try - and it was delicious!  We found five geocaches on our walk to & from as well :-).

On Thursday & Friday we mostly prepared for the concert, but got in lots of catching up & laughs & good food, too.  And Vianne & Mindy built a lot of tents out of blankets, which remains a favorite pastime of Vianne's.  

Friday night, we had so much fun singing together - with friends & family in attendance - that I could've gone on for hours. 

 With our friend Cammie

 Mrs. Irish takes care of Vianne in the nursery on Sundays.  Vianne loves her (as you see) and calls her "My Irish".

 Vianne & Rachelle

 A little playtime in the nursery with David & Ansley

Such a great time!  We really rocked San Dimas:  on the way home, while picking up some dinner, we felt a 5.1 earthquake!  I guess Mindy couldn't leave without experiencing this joy of California living.

Mindy had to leave us on Saturday morning :-(.  We got in a few more snuggles...

 ...and a dental check-up before she had to go.

We still miss her!!!