Meow!!.. Halloween 2009

First, a disclaimer: My good camera has been shipped to some location in this country, and is hopefully being fixed sooner than later. In the meantime, I’m using my old trusty Kodak, which apparently is no longer as trusty. So I’ve been quite frustrated. However, Halloween was still fun with a toddler, who loves saying “Meow”.

On Friday, we went down to State Street, which had a kids’ trick-or-treating in and out of stores. It was quite nice. Yesterday we went to the mall, which also had trick-or-treating. Fun, but crazy and over-crowded, and a bit scary for Kajsa, but mostly fun.

Kajsa loves the cat costume. She wore it around the house this afternoon and evening as well. It was an easy costume–she had the pants, I bought the shirt, and bought the ears and tail. Easy, fun, successful Halloween.

from Abby

Hi, Jen… and others who have wondered if I’m still here. (Jen posted a comment on Cathy’s last blog, asking about me….) Yep, I’m still here. Not nearly as photographed, or blogged-about, as I used to be. This kid has pretty much taken over… everything. Food, kitchen, fridge, bed, playtime, walks…. yep, she pretty much thinks she’s top dog. She walks around the house dragging her backpack and other bags, over-stuffed with who-knows-what?, and frequently forgets that I’m even there, dragging the bags right over my tail. If she’d put fewer items in the bags, maybe she could lift them… but hey, I’m just the dog.

Of course, I know that Cathy & Jim still adore me, which is what really counts, but jeez…. a few more appearances on the blog or camera wouldn’t hurt too much, would it?

The good things about having this kid around are: I’m pretty much guaranteed scraps from the table, I get lots of toddler hugs each day, when they leave the house, Kajsa gives me a treat, because Kajsa needs some running-around time in the early evenings, Cathy and Jim are playing a lot of hide-and-seek.. and I get to participate as well. There are a lot of paper scraps to shred, thanks to Kajsa making lots of drawings. And then giving some to me. Kajsa also occasionally opens my food bin and gives me a handful of my food–which works well, until the adults figure it out.

Today Cathy and Kajsa made Hot Chocolate, and had a “HC Party” with Kajsa’s tea set. I ended up licking up all their plates and cups, and even got a bit in my bowl.

I still get to hang out on the bed sometimes, even though it’s crowded. But when Kajsa’s in her crib at night, I get Cathy & Jim back to myself. It’s good to have that quality time, still. At the end of the day, I’m pretty exhausted, though. It is exhausting trying to keep track of a toddler. Good thing there are three of us trying to keep track.

So, thanks for thinking of me. I’ll remind Cathy to mention me more often.

-Abby

besides the moose…

there’s not much else to say. No, just kidding. The moose pretty much trumps anything else. But given that, it’s incredibly fun to be with the

Broder, Kajsa and Sunny at Earthquake Park

Lawrence clan, to see Entropy, and to be in Anchorage.

We arrived Monday night. Tuesday morning, before Dave arrived home from Prudhoe Bay (work) and Sandie came home from work, the kids and Jim and I walked (with Entropy, of course)

Sunny, spinning and spinning and spinning

to a park nearby, where the kids enjoyed spinning on some funky playground equipment.

On our way to the airport to pick up

Jim, spinning and spinning and spinning...

Dave, we stopped at Earthquake Park, where all sorts of displays tell the story of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. Lots of mosquitoes. Lots of fun for Kajsa, holding hands with Sunny and Broder.

After picking Dave up at the airport, we all went to Moose’s Tooth for dinner. INcredible pizza. Moose’s Tooth is my third favorite pizza in the world. That’s right, the world. of course my other two are also in the US. (1: Giordanno’s, Chicago… 2: a place in New York City). But still.. out of all the pizza I have eaten, Moose’s Tooth pizza is my third favorite.

Little E, while Jim is driving

Can’t hurt that the restaurant has “Moose” in its name. But also, the pizza rocks.

The other night we were headed out to see some Falls, but it looked like rain that direction, so Sandie said we could go on our moose hunt instead. (See the “I saw a MOOSE” post.)

Kajsa, spinning...

We drove around. Or, I should say, Sandie drove around, while Jim, Sunny and I peeled our eyes open, searching the highways, byways and woods for moose.

Sandie and Entropy, at Chugach State Park

Kajsa was basically in her I’m-so-tired-I-can’t-fall-asleep funk.

Sunny and Kjell, at Moose's Tooth

But eventually settled down. We ended up at Chugach State Park, where we hiked part of FlatTop Mountain. Only part, because there were too many dogs off-leash, and Entropy was with us–ON leash, let me add.

Sandie's, Entropy's, Sunny's, and Cathy's feet in the snow... at Chugach

So it was a bit frustrating that other dogs kept running up to Little E. That, and the girls were freezing cold. Sunny only had a sleeveless shirt on. And Kajsa was in the backpack, but we didn’t realize how cold she was getting.

a cold Kajsa, and Jim

Of course, there was snow. But not a ton of snow. So we wrapped up Kajsa in Jim’s long-sleeved shirt. Anyhow, gorgeous walk. Besides the cold.

I’m liking Alaska.

the four dogs

so I’ve had a few questions about the four dogs on one  of the Easter day photos… going counter-clockwise, starting with the dog at the top of the picture, the dogs are: Sky, Gaiden, Kaya and Abby. Abby is, of course, our dog. Kaya… Jen and Roy’s dog. and Gaiden and Sky are two of Kaya’s 11 puppies that she had in December. (Gaiden is the puppy Roy and Jen kept.)

so cute. For more puppy pix, check out Jen’s website, “Sugar River Chinooks”.

it’s been awhile.

Dairy Queen joy with “Uncle Roy”…. “Girl Cousin” power with Hannah… Kajsa’s sunglasses that make her look and feel way cool…. hugging “Ahb-wah” …. and trying to fit into Daddy’s shoes.

Easter Weekend, part 3

4 Exhausted Dogs.

1 Sleeping Toddler.

5 Tired-but-still-awake  adults.

(1 adult is snapping the photo).

Fun(ny) Times

the little girl who stopped by today

It must be the jeans. Something about Kajsa today made me feel as though she had grown up into a little girl, instead of the toddler. I’m not in denial of the fact that the terrible twos could be just around the corner. It just seemed, today, that Kajsa had grown up a bit more. It could be that she was talking more, listening more (and less, at times), followed commands, actually tried to say “pleeeez” instead of only signing it…

or, it might be the jeans.

Just so you know,

I did not stage the photo of Kajsa reading to Abby. (yes, that’s Abby’s nose under the book Kajsa’s reading.)

Several times today she brought a book out of the toy area, and I asked her if she wanted to read a book.

Each time she pointed to where Abby was.

And she plopped herself down in front of Abby,

and began turning pages. So dang cute.

The book she is reading to Abby is “Hush”, a Thai lullaby book that her cousin Bennett gave her. It has different animals in it, and of course, we make the animal

noises.

The photo of Kajsa with her hand on her nose is her making the elephant noise and motion.

Kajsa loves her moose rocker now.

She used to be a bit afraid of it, and needed help getting up on it. Now she climbs on it by herself, and even gets moving a bit. And she loves posing for the camera–

what a surprise! Actually, she loves posing for the camera–when she feels like it. Sometimes she does not want to smile or pose for the camera! But today was a good camera day.

Pictures

It’s been awhile. I’ve wanted to blog, about our friend and parishioner Phil, who died a week ago this past Friday. It’s been a rough road. So one of these days I’ll blog about Phil. But in the meantime, I am still taking photos of Kajsa. And Abby. They are both wonderful distractions while facing the “wilderness”.

when friends come to visit…

Kajsa enjoys storytime and play time. Along with Kia, Kathy and Steve’s little dog.

“There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” is one of Kajsa’s favorite books–a Dr. Seuss book that has quickly become one of my favorites! But as much as Kajsa loves this book, it seems as though Kia’s more interested in it. Maybe it was Kia’s first time hearing the story?