Visiting

Taking baby for a walk. Greta loves her baby dolls!
Relaxing with sleepy Papa
Last weekend we went down to Washington and stayed with mom and Shayne. Shayne took Greta and I to the Children's Museum in Olympia (mom was working and Matthew was busy...they really missed out!) Greta had a great time there! Here she is in the "lighthouse".
She loved climbing up and down these stairs to the lighthouse.
A dream come true! Tons of huge rocks (pretend--light enough to pick up...)
Enjoying the water table. Greta spent a lot of time here and Shayne and I had animals and boats floating down the current for her to try and catch.
A fun tent from Grandpa Shayne!
Playing the piano with Nanny.
Nanny gave Greta her first ice cream cone. At first she didn't quite know what to do with it...
Mmmmmm...now she knows! "Num! Num!" says Greta!
"Num! Num!"
Tired and overloaded on sugar...that's the way it's supposed to be with the grandparents!
All the ice cream is gone from the top...Greta persevered and ended up eating the entire cone and everything!
Nanny made Greta a kitty-cat smock with pockets and her name on it! Adorable :-) Greta loves to point to the cats and say "Meow!"
It looks like it's time for some gardening!
Wearing Nanny's glasses! Greta had so much fun with Nanny--when we got home she mentioned her quite a bit still, and pointed to her smock and the flower she had given her and said "Nana!!"
Also that weekend Greta got to meet her Great Aunt Wendy and Great Uncle Tommy for the first time! They were up for a visit from California, and we didn't want to miss the chance to finally introduce Greta to them. Greta really got attached to Wendy. Wendy let Greta wear her bracelets and she fed her water out of her sippy cup while holding her like a little baby! Greta loved it! It was so sweet to see them bond like that :-)
Tired tired tired. All that visiting really wears a person out. Time for some dragon and panda snuggles :-) Sleep tight sweet baby girl!

Batter Late than Never

These pictures were taken when Nana Judy came up over a month ago. We captured many good pictures during that time, but somehow they never made it into a blog post. These are the best of those pictures - late, but worth it.

Summer

Excitement!!!
A summer afternoon with Mama--this was on the weekend Matthew was away.
Matthew gave this dot to Greta, encouraging her--yet again--to use her markers on her face!!! In our new place we set her little table out in the living room and she often sits at it and colors (she also climbs on top of it, stands on the chairs and climbs over them, and does other related activities--she's very active!)
She loves her blanket and her panda! This blanket was given to her as a newborn by my Uncle Dave. She sleeps with it all the time and lately has been requesting I get it out of her crib so she can carry it around--along with panda (a Christmas present from her Grandpa Mac and Grandma Linda...as many of you know, she LOVES panda!)
Reading a favorite book from the library.
In the past couple of weeks we've gone to the beach a few times. The weather has been beautiful and the water is actually a pretty nice temperature. We live in a beautiful city!
Greta loves to lay down in the warm sand and roll around! What a MESSY BESSY!!! (she loves it when I say that...)
In the water with Papa.
Having a sandy snack!
Yesterday we went to the beach and Greta made friends with some guys who had quite an assortment of balls that Greta was very interested in. This picture was NOT posed! Greta loves to sit on big balls and say "Bounce! Bounce!" while trying to bounce up and down! She's such a friendly, joyful little girl.

Mama and Papa

Date night!

Last night Matthew and I got a sitter and went out for a date. This happens very rarely, but we are trying to turn it into more of a regular occurrence.

We went out for food and drinks, and took the Canada Line downtown to walk around. Everything was abuzz because last night was the last night of the annual fireworks competition that Vancouver has every summer. It was so fun to be out and about and FREE for a few hours! What a happy time!

Pretty!

A couple weekends ago Matthew went out of town for the night. This was the first time where it felt like Greta and I could really have some "girl time" together--now that she's a bit older. So, we went to the pool, we had frozen pizza and sweets for dinner, and I even gave her toenails a coat of paint! She knows how to say "pretty" now and she thought her toenails were very "pretty" :-)

We're pretty well moved into our new place now. We just need to put some more things away (WHERE, we don't know...not much space left!!!) and hang things on the walls. Here is Greta in her new bedroom. She shares the space with Papa's office--we used the room divider Matthew made a year ago to section off about 1/3 of Greta's room for office space. Even when she's sleeping someone can quietly use the office (as I am doing right now...), and when she's awake we have it gated off so she can't get into the office area.
Greta still has plenty of room for all her necessities such as her tent and her many books, among other things. Most of the time when Greta plays on her own lately it involves looking at books, carrying her baby around (and saying "Baby"), or coloring with crayons. Greta is very interested in babies lately. She says "baby" often and points out babies at the park and in books and other pictures. When she saw a younger picture of herself recently she said "Baby!"
Greta made this picture during nursery time at church a couple weeks ago. It's hard to tell but she DID color it :-) We hung it on our fridge and she often takes it down to admire it and add more color to it with her sturdy crayons.
At the park with her little baby doll.
My mom made Greta this adorable hat (and she usually tolerates wearing it, which is unusual for her...)
Riding the horse at another park in our neighborhood.

Greta has been accumulating animal sounds and can now say baa, meow, woof woof, neigh, hop (ok, that's not really a sound but it IS associated with an animal!) and she does a squished-up-nose face combined with funny breathing to make a pig "sound"!
Having a picnic dinner. The weather has been so beautiful lately!
Every Friday evening in the summer the park near the outdoor pool has live music--so we took a picnic there a couple weeks ago to listen to it. Here is Greta dancing!
Sometimes Greta takes her time to duck before entering or leaving her tent...
Family tent time!
Matthew bought Greta some markers a few days ago...he left her to explore them while he made her lunch...and this is what happened!!! Greta was fascinated with looking at herself after she had mouthed the green marker for awhile. (Don't worry, they are kids markers, non-toxic and washable!)
Our new place came with a HUGE mirror on one of the walls in Greta's room--it's really fun for her! Such a pretty, sweet girl :-)

Greta has been a little sick the past few days, and she is teething. We hope she feels better soon! She has been a bit of a basketcase off and on recently--poor thing.