Let it snow!

Althea was very excited about the snow - and she is really excited about playing Peek-A-Boo!

"Where is Althea?"

"BOO!"

Gobble Gobble Goo

These are some shots from Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving Day and Post-Turkey-Bloat


Her new thing is to climb up on the couch, sit in the corner and read a book. She loves to tell us, "Sit!" and points to a place on the floor or the couch for us to sit down in - I am starting to feel like the dog.



Believe it or not she liked the cranberry sauce - homemade tart cranberry sauce - she has the most unusual baby taste buds ever. She loved everything about Thanksgiving - the crowd, the parade, the food, the attention.



Mom and Althea are waiting for the arrival of our guests. Our crazy Thanksgiving story... The oven broke, that's right stopped working on Thanksgiving morning. Lucky for us Jim and Ellen were not hosting Thanksgiving at their house so we hi-jacked their oven. It was very interesting carrying both birds, stuffing and the like down the road in my pj's and slippers. Matt and David traveled back and forth checking on the dinner - I was too exasperated and exhausted to move.

Some random shots of our girl

I need to get better at loading photos as I take them...


Hanging out and chompin' on some pizza.


In search of the last blueberries of the year... She did manage to find a couple hidden in the depths of the bushes.



The bouncey swing makes a comeback. She loves this thing - jumping and twirling, I get dizzy watching her.

The leaves are falling!

We hiked Bradbury Mountain two weekends ago and many of the leaves were still clinging to the trees. The view from the top was perfect as always - clear all the way out to Casco Bay!


Chris and Cooper pose on the granite top of Bradbury. Cooper needed to be leashed at the top - there were a bunch of other dogs out enjoying the fall foliage.



Matt and Althea pause for a pose!




Stopping to rest in the woods on a cool fall day (to steal a thought from Robert Frost) - we certainly have miles to go before we sleep.

Halloween

The lion sleeps tonight...



Grrrr....candy....



So, Noa can I have that Pixie Stix?


Yup, that's right - I'm a lion and you should be scared, it's Halloween silly!

It's October People

Burrrr...
It is starting to get chilly around here and we are dragging out winter coats and turning on the heat. Yes, I know it was close to 60 degrees today - but - my garden is officially dead, plants have been hacked to the ground, football season is taking over the house and Matt has started playing hockey again.
The camera is full of great shots of our girl but this teacher is too tired to load them on the computer tonight - perhaps tomorrow there will be some new photos for you to ohhh and ahhhh over, but for now just this teaser... She gets cuter by the day, she is talking up a storm, dancing to Neil Diamond and ABBA in the kitchen while dinner is being made and telling the dog to "go lay down" (perhaps we say that too much...) OH! and she points to the photo of cousin Jakob on our fridge and shouts "Jakob!"

Check us out baby!

So...They randomly have the trophies out at games now - you just need to check and see if they are there. That'd be '04 on the right and '07 on the left and yes that'd be Chris in her Neil Diamond shirt... Let's go Red Sox! Clapclap clapclapclap!

Common Ground Fair

We forgot our camera but Sharon remembered hers! Yeah Sharon!



Althea is leaning in to the Nigerian dwarf dairy goat. Really cute 2 month old kid - think Portland will let us have a goat? We have a barn to keep it in...


So at this point I am thinking "vet"...


Kinship with the animals...


Althea and Nora checkin' out the horses - otherwise known as big doggies.

Uncle David - These are for you...

We think she was the good luck charm for the Patriots last year - so even though Tom is hurt we broke out the Brady jersey...


Chillin' in her chair on the porch and enjoying a snack before the game.


Stopping to gaze at the camera and Daddy.

BahHaHaHa!

Yes, she is really enjoying the pizza. She scrapes the cheese and sauce off with her 6 teeth and then tackles the crust.


Oh Yeah! Happy pizza baby!


Fun in the Tupperware drawer... All kinds of things to bang, throw and generally have a grand time with...


Quick run away from Momma with the Tupperware in hand - run, run, run!
BTW those are leg warmers she is wearing - ha! pink striped Punky Brewster style leg warmers.

The Tricycle

Althea is a big fan of Ben's tricycle.


As you can see her feet don't touch the ground but that doesn't stop her. She really likes holding on while we push her on the tricycle.


"The helmet goes on like this, right? What's so funny?"


"For my next trick I will stand on the tricycle without a helmet and scream AHHHHHHH! really loud."

It's been such a long time...

Yeah! A visit from Uncles Jay and Will!



Jay, Matt, Althea and Will pose atop the Tower of Power - otherwise known as The Portland Observatory (last remaining maritime signal tower in the country thank you very much). That would be the lovely Casco Bay over Jay's right shoulder. Althea is however more interested in Will's Whistler shirt - what does that tell you?


"Oh I'm so cute! Yes I'm so cute!"
Still sporting the Easter Bonnet from Mammie, some lovely striped pants and the glorious green romper! A girl with her own sense of fashion - watch out Uncle Drew!


Chewing on the lens cap - I am trying like mad to get a clear shot to send to Nikon, hoping for some free gear or maybe a jump start on the Peanut's college fund...


Punk. Check out the way she is resting her foot - too much little one, too much.

BumBumBumbleBee

These photos are amazing and needed to be shared.
Matt took these last week on a rare sunny day - there are literally hundreds of bees in our garden at any given time, most too drunk on pollen to notice the other bees (or bee species) or the humans.



Check out the pollen sacks on this green headed bee/wasp/flyingstinginginsect.


"You talkin' to me? You must be talking to me."


Amazing that those paper thin wings get them around - and who knew bees were fuzzy like little puppies, well maybe not puppies...

Roscoe comes for a visit

Roscoe stayed with us this weekend for a little doggie slumber party...


Althea and Roscoe get along great - he loves to kiss her and she loves to play fetch with him...


"Hey Roscoe, wanna go for a walk?"


Althea, Cooper and Roscoe waiting for Matt at the bottom of the stairs.

Hair Product

Even though we don't use hair products it doesn't mean we don't own hair products...

I used some Bumble and Bumble hair wax on our girl's hair after the women at daycare "did" her hair a.k.a. made her look like Pebbles, ugh.


Waxing out those curls...


Bigger hair Mommy - I want bigger hair!


Random tooth brushing shot - mmm...tooth brushing...

Playing

This summer has been so... rainy that Althea and I have been playing inside the house quite a bit. One of her favorite games to play is peek-a-boo, we use the doorways to hide and "scare" each other. She also enjoys just plain old yelling for the heck of it and growling --- hmmm...



Here I am!


"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


"I said! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

awh...lil' gurl

Some more fun summer shots of our girl...


True to her hippy name Miss Althea loved wearing her flower head wreath...I had fun making it...


The "Budding Genius" with her daddy and her doggie.


In the middle of an allergy attack she still looks cute as a button.


Did I mention she is crazy about climbing? She is crazy about climbing. This chair came from Rose's house and I rediscovered it this summer - I think Rose would appreciate the metallic pink paint, complete with a purple metallic crown for Princess Althea Rose.

Rain Out

Okay so I have never been to a rain out game when the sun was shining...but there is a first for everything. Yesterday's Sea Dogs double header was postponed due to unsafe field conditions - we got soaked with rain over night and all morning long - I think Hadlock may need a drainage system upgrade...


The rainout didn't stop Slugger from coming to meet Althea!