this could take all day

September Adventures: Foot Ferry

Whoo-hoo! We made it through August. Time to move on to September. Quite a few less adventures, so maybe we'll get caught up one of these days.

Over Labor Day weekend Darin decided to tackle a yard project, which left the girls and I to entertain ourselves. I decided it was about time we take a trip across the water on the Port Orchard/Bremerton foot ferry. Since Darin was home, he dropped us off (yea for saving on parking fees!) which was extra great because the Bremerton Blackberry festival was also happening and parking would be tricky.

We were a bit early, so we wandered over to the festival and enjoyed the musical stylings of Navy Band Northwest. I've always wanted to sing in a cover band, and this group was just my style. Except the whole Navy thing. (The girls loved their uniforms.)

The ferry runs about every half hour so we walked over to the dock and right onto the ferry. (Kids under 6 are free, us grownups pay $2 each way.) The ferry is pretty old and is one cool way to travel. The kids loved exploring the boat and looking out the windows. 

I had thought about bringing the girls' life jackets, but decided against it knowing they would have jackets on the boat. However, if I had to do it over I would totally bring them. The girls really enjoyed the upper deck outside but the railing wasn't super secure. I was holding Dani in my arms and had a death grip on Daisy's hand. Next time: another grownup or life jackets for sure.

Once on the Port Orchard side we made our way to one of our favorite parks when we lived in this town: the Dizzy Park. (I'm pretty sure it has some official name, but we call it the Dizzy Park because it is filled with all kinds of spinny toys.) We had lots of fun getting dizzy and playing pirate.

After playing for quite a while, we enjoyed our picnic lunch of PB&J's.

Over at the farmer's market I tried to satisfy my desire for those amazingly beautiful bouquets (one of my favorite things in the world) by taking pictures of them. We were 3 days into a September spending freeze, but I just couldn't walk away. After a quick phone call to Darin I had myself a $6 bouquet and I was one happy mama. It was my first (and only) Farmer's Market Bouquet that summer and I think it was totally worth breaking the freeze!

We were all getting pretty ready for naps, so we headed over to the ferry dock to wait the next arrival/departure. Unfortunately with all the traffic for the Bremerton festival, the ferry was running about 20 minutes behind schedule. And let me tell you, entertaining two tired children stuck in their stroller on a dock was not my idea of fun.

But we sure did luck out with one sunny day.

Dani wouldn't leave her shoes on, so was stuck in the stroller for the ride home.

But I was so proud of Miss Daisy who wanted to sit outside and did so all by herself (with permission of course).

Yup, it was a lovely little day trip. And made me realize the longer we live out here in beautiful Kitsap County, the more I like it.

more birthday party fun

I can't believe I never shared the rest of the pictures from the girls' ice cream parlour party. Well...time to get on it!

Turns out having a birthday party at the park is just about the perfect idea, as long as the day is a nice one, and we sure lucked out!

The adults get to hang out...

while the kids happily play on the toys or in the sand.

Since we didn't have a cake, the girls got their candles in ice cream.

I don't know why she was making this face, but could it be any cuter?

And here's the (blurry) face of a girl who's candle blew out before she could blow it.

All is well again. Time to sing!

 

I think she's happy now.

She finished her's, and then went after Papa's!

 

Then after ice cream, it was time to hit the beach for lots of rock throwing and treasure hunting.

Oops. I think someone got a rock in her shoe!

No party games or activities or crafts necessary. I love it!

The girls only opened one present at their party cuz Mr Gabe asked so nicely to see them open his gift. Turns out this was a great way to do gifts as we were able to stagger the opening of them at home over the next few days.

Here's to hoping next year we can just get away with special mama/papa dates instead of a party! I'm exhausted.

sisters

Fighting one minute.

Happily playing together the next.

I didn't live with my sisters growing up, so any sibling advice would be much appreciated!

around the corner

It wasn't too long ago I enjoyed coming around the corner from the kitchen to the playroom and finding this scene. Now I see this one:

 

Morning hair, Daisy still in her PJs, perfect scene.

Except they're growing up way too fast.

my baby's growing up!

The bouncy seat is being outgrown and the exersaucer made its appearance this week. Despite the look on her face here, she seems to be enjoying it.

Daisy seemed to like the new toy too! (What a great big sister to teach Dani how to work all the toys.)

December 10

We've had some pretty cold days around here lately. And it's killing me to be this cold and not have any snow. In fact, Miss Daisy keeps thinking the frost is snow and trying to get some in her mouth!

Another sweet sister moment. I was doing dishes and Daisy kept bringing in books to "read" to Dani.

Daisy got a lollipop in her advent calendar and wanted me to take a picture of it.

Let the wrapping begin. I do not enjoy this task, and Darin does, so most of the wrapping falls to him.

December 9

A sweet sisters moment captured.

Raspberry Torte makes an appearance at the nativity scene. (Love this about having kids around!)

And a newly crafted ornament hangs on my tree until I take it down for an ornament exchange. (More on this later.)

3 adorable minutes

I've got lots of great pictures to share, but have reached my upload limit for the month. So while Typepad and I get it figured out, how about a video? Darin shot this one last night while making dinner. It's three minutes long, but I guarantee it'll be some of the best 3 minutes of your week.

Love my girls!

matchy-matchy

Packing their Christmas dresses up for them to wear to a wedding this weekend.

 

Walking by these little matching piles has made me smile all day long. Love being the mama of two delightful and adorable little girls.

Now if only I had the cash required to dress them alike every day...

the princess & the penguin....

get their pictures taken!

 

 

 

 

 

 


  

 

 

Thanks to Darin, for the shots of the princess, and the ones of the girls together. Thanks to Miss Karen Russell for the amazing photoshop file so I can round my photo edges. (Karen also taught the online photo class I took last year.) Thanks to Gran for the adorable penguin costume. And thanks to JoAnn fabrics, for putting your halloween costumes on sale two weeks before Halloween!

And one behind-the-scenes shot for your enjoyment.

 

 
 

sharing the playmat

I was sweeping the kitchen the other day and things were a little quiet in the playroom. I came around the corner to find this beautiful scene:

 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching these two together. The magic of siblings.

how many does it take?

  
I took the girls to get their pictures taken on Saturday for a MOPS fundraiser. I had a Children's Place coupon that had to be used in October, and since their holiday dresses are released this month, I snagged my first matching outfits for my girls and dressed them up for the photo.

I packed along my camera and tried to get my own cute shot while we were waiting for the professional. Let's just hope his turn out better than mine!

"Dani, you look awesome. Daisy, please smile for Mama."

 

"No, Daisy, not like that. Smile nicely. Don't squint your eye."

 

"Great kiddo. But Mama's over here. Look at me."

 

"Okay, fine. If you won't look at me I'll just focus on Dani."

 

"Whoops, that's not working so well either."

 

"Time to give Dani a pep talk."

 

"That's better, but gee Daisy, what is so interesting in that corner?"

  
 
 "Uh, Daisy. I think your sister is falling over."

  

 "Okay, that's better. But you don't really need to rub her face."

 

This, I believe, is the point where I busted out the fruit snacks bribe for one nice picture.

 

But she still couldn't manage to look at the camera.

  

  Or smile nicely.

 

  
 
I think it's time to give up and go home.

Believe it or not, the first picture I took was the best of the bunch. Oi!

 

double stroller

Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to our purchasing of this lovely double stroller. With about 8 gift cards and a 15% off coupon, we were able to purchase this lovely at Babies R Us just before vacation.

I really wanted a side-by-side, even though it's pretty wide, I could envision countless fights about who would get to ride in front of the sit & stand models. But, there will probably be lots of fights over "MO-OM, she's on my side!" with this model.

See? Daisy's already trying to hold her sister's hand for the picture!

We also had to get a jogger because of the rough roads and fields around camp, and this guy handles like a dream. Here's a shot from vacation on our way back from the beach, don't look too closely or you'll notice one cranky baby.  

We also love that the seats go up and down so easily, allowing us to use it with both the toddler and the baby, as well as be able to use it for quite a while.

Here, Miss Dani is hanging out while the rest of the family was swimming.

 

Oh, she's so cute, we must need a closeup!

 

All summer long when we'd walk to the dining hall for meals, Daisy would choose to walk over riding in her stroller. Now that we've got this guy, she always picks stroller.

Thanks again!

video post

We've had a whirlwind week, what with a visit from my very favorite twins and then a camping trip for our little family. Needless to say, I've got a lot of photos to go through. So while I work on those, how about a post full of some recent videos?

I had the video camera out one day and Daisy wanted to watch herself on it. So I made her "do something" that she could then watch. Since I had her at my disposal and the camera on, I had to document the way she says these two words: popsicle and bicycle. Makes me laugh every time with her little french accent.

While reading a repetitive book can often seem tedious for a parent, it is really cool when your kid catches on and can join in the fun. And even cooler when she says "what do you see?" in the cutest way possible.

Inspired by a recent episode of Dora the Explorer, here's Daisy's version of the Happy Dance.

These videos were a little Daisy heavy, so here's a recent conversation with Miss Dani.

chatting with Dani from Deanna Gemmer on Vimeo.

more cute sister shots

The other morning Dani and I went to get Daisy up and after laying Dani down on the bed, I had to run and grab the camera.

 

Daisy must really love her sister to share her special Nemo blanket with her! (Even I don't get to share Nemo.)

 

I took a few minutes to play with my depth of field and got this cute shot.

 

And one of my baby and her goofy grin.

 

And my favorite shot of the morning.

sisters on blankets

Blanket on the floor, baby on the blanket. Pretty standard procedure around here, especially in the evenings as we work to keep Miss Dani awake.

Big sister wants her own blanket to lay on too. Happy to oblige.

 

Then the other day, Daisy spread out her own Nemo blanket, grabbed a book, and told me she was "laying down ona my banket".

 

Then she showed me a picture of "Baby Dani, seeping" in her book.

 

Life around here is never boring...

park picnic

This morning I woke up with the idea to take my best girls and my Mom on a little picnic playdate. One of my favorite parks around here is about 15 minutes up the road in a town called Home. They have an awesome play area and lots of shade.

Here's my Momma, cuddling the baby so I can play with Daisy.

 

And Miss Daisy, fearless on the big slides today.

 

We even brought CC along to guard our chairs.

 

 

Wish this one wasn't so blurry.

 

My picnic buddies.

 

And, lastly, my favorite shot of the day.

a conversation I won't soon forget

Last Thursday, on Darin's last day of leave, we took our new little family for an outing to the dizzy park in Port Orchard. Dani and I were happily sitting on the park bench nursing away under a lovely coverup (thanks Auntie Jen!) when a little girl walks up to me.

LG: "What's that?"

Me: "A baby."

LG: "Can I see?"

Me: "Not right now."

LG: "Why not?"

Me: "Because she's eating."

LG: "Oh. How?"

Me: "She's breastfeeding."

LG: thinking "How does that work?"

Me: thinking...how best to answer this..."She drinks milk from my breasts."

LG: "Oh...Can I see?"

Now, any good La Leche League mama would have whipped it out and given this little girl an anatomy lesson. Me, I was a bit freaked out about sharing with the rest of the park. I was desperately searching for a mother to come and save me, but no mother was to be found. So I told the little girl no, and sent her back out to play.

Darin told me later I should have told her to "go ask you mother" and seen what sort of reaction that garnered from said mother.

And here are some fun pictures Darin took from our afternoon outing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And look at me. Officially the mom of two sweet little girls.

 

big sister videos

This first one is kinda long, but Darin shot it during our second day at the hospital. (You get to hear some of our banter if you make it through the whole thing.)

This second one I love. Daisy singing to her little sis. (And then wanting to watch herself sing as soon as she is done!)

one week later, tidbits

Is there anything cuter than a little baby in a big carseat? I know it won't be too long and she'll fill it out.

 

We talked our doctors into letting us go home on Friday instead of Saturday and it's been so nice to get settled at home. Of course, it's also been wonderful to have the help of my parents and the friends bringing meals. We'll see how life looks when Darin's back at work and my parents hit the road again.

 

So far Miss Dani is a great baby, although she does seem to be of the opinion that when she's awake she should be eating. My little snacker likes to eat about once an hour, and always seems to get hungry right when my food is hot and on the table. (What is that sixth sense in nursing babies?)

She also has a love affair with her hands (which you saw on that video below) and it means we're constantly pulling them out of her mouth while trying to get her to latch. Hopefully she'll figure it out soon!

So far she is a great sleeper and we have logged several 4 and 5 hour stretches of night-time sleep since coming home. Heaven!

And is there nothing better in the world than snuggling a sleeping baby on your chest? I think not. (Gram & Dani)

What is it about sleeping babies that makes them loose all muscle function?

 

There are two things in life this kid clearly doesn't enjoy: baths and diaper changes. In the hospital she really enjoyed the head massage while all wrapped up and washing her hair. But clearly was not a fan of the sponge bath. And the one bath we've given her since being home was met with mighty resistance. Man, our kid has good lungs.

 

Big Sister Daisy has taken to calling Dani "my baby", which is only slightly confusing because she received a new baby doll from Gran last week too. So we're always clarifying, "baby Dani or baby Doll?" Most often she's asking what Baby Dani is up to or where she is.

 

Daisy has taken to her role as big sister quite effortlessly. She loves to see "her baby" and giver "her baby" kisses. She's learned how to throw diapers in the diaper pail, pat gently to help burp, and hand us wipes upon request. She gives us updates about Dani's status while riding in the car, and gets excited to serenade her.

We are so very blessed and I pray often these two will grow to be sisters with a life-long love and bond.

 

We took Miss Dani to the pediatrician on Monday and it turns out our little snacker was already up to her birth weight and beyond. We were pretty proud parents to hear how rare such an occurance was, and took extra pride in being told they wouldn't need to see her again until her one-month visit. Ah...the silly things that make us parents puff up a little.

 

Weekly photos began today and for those of you curious, you can see the last-minute prop decision below. Since Danielle is a derivitive from Daniel, Darin thought this cute little animal of Daisy's would be appropriate.

 

 

That's all for today...off to take a nap!