Waiting for Godot...

...or, at least, some potty action.

This is such a common site in our home these days that Jeff thinks we should install a couch in the bathroom. We're both getting really tired of standing, and/or sitting on the bathroom floor!

Cute Baby Alert!

Tonight we had dinner at my parents' house, along with Mike, Cristina, and Baby Tristan. He is doing great and is getting cuter by the day! He seems amazingly awake for such a small baby. Apparently he is actually giving Mike & Cristina some decent stretches of sleep (well, at least decent by 1-month old baby standards) and they seem very calm about the whole parenthood thing. Amanda is very cute with him...she was a bit shy when someone else was holding him, but when I got to cuddle him for awhile, she came over and gave him lots of little tiny kisses on top of his head. She commented on how soft his hair was (so true!). But mostly she was distracted by the cool new firetruck Grandma had bought.

A few shots of Tristan with his Grandpa:

Muffin Mania

Last night we had a couple of mangy bananas lying around, so I figured we should whip up something to eat. Amanda put on her new apron (a Christmas gift from Grandma & Grandpa) and we set to work on some banana-chocolate chip muffins...because in my mind, bananas can only be redeemed by oodles of chocolatey goodness. She was a very good helper, dumping the dry ingredients into the bowl, whisking up liquid ingredients, and mushing bananas.

When Jeff pulled out the camera it became even more evident to us that she's become far too familiar with the thing. She takes directions like a pro...for example, this is what Jeff got when he told her to "put her hands on her cheeks like a flower" (what does that even mean?!?):

She also went through a succession of different faces on command - grouchy:


Surprised:


Thinking:


And just plain cute:


(The muffins were delicious, by the way!)

A Walk in the Park

On Saturday, the weather here in Vancouver was stunning - crisp, cool, and a beautiful blue sky. I figured I'd better get us out of the house, as we have a bad tendency to either stick around home and do housework, or spend whole days running errands. So I packed Amanda and I up and headed over to Rocky Point Park for a couple of hours (leaving Jeff at home to work on the housework stuff!).

It was a beautiful day for a walk, and Amanda did great - we walked all the way from the main park, by the spray park, to the Starbucks at Newport Village. We'd had a really late breakfast and she didn't seem too interested in lunch, but I figured a snack was in order, so we stopped for a hot chocolate (her) and chai latte (me) at Starbucks. Jeff was nice enough to come pick her up, as I didn't think she would be able to make the entire 2-2.5 km walk back - it was a pretty long way for a 2 1/2 year old to walk in the first place!

It's so much fun walking with her these days...she's so curious and full of questions. First she regaled everyone within earshot with a stunning rendition of "EIEIO" (as she calls it), set off by viewing some ducks on the shore. At one point we saw one of those informational signs, describing a specific kind of chickadee found in the forest. We talked about how, if we were really quiet, maybe we would be able to see or hear one. Fast forward a few minutes, when we head into a darker part of the woods and Amanda says "Be very fearful, there are lions and tigers and monkeys in the forest". After I reassured her that there are no such animals in our local forests and that it's perfectly safe to go walking, she responded with "That's right Mom...only chickadees". :)

I've been working on trying to get better pictures, and maybe even some that don't feature Amanda (shocker!). I was not displeased with these shots, but they're still missing some oomph. I think that is my New Year's resolution this year - I want to really figure out how to use our fancy-dancy new camera to take better pictures.

The best of the day's photos are in a Flickr set...here are a few:

New Blog...

Yes, we updated our blog with a new template...it seems that Blogger Beta doesn't like the old templates much, so it seemed time for a switch. I actually really like the new blue look...what do you think?

Despite all the problems switching to Blogger Beta, I must admit I'm quite liking it...I haven't yet experienced the problems others seem to be having with posting and crashing (knock on wood!) and I like the ease of customizing the elements on the blog. When it comes down to it, it IS a free tool, so how much complaining can ya do?