So many "new" pictures!

I've decided the only reason blogger is useful to us is for posting larger quantities of pictures for family to view.  Now if we would all get on Facebook, wouldn't THAT be a dream!  It would be so easy!  A dream, yes - something imaginary that will never happen.  :)

Enjoying some grapefruit together a couple months ago

I've since put the kibosh on this anti-social behavior, but what a funny picture!  :)

Climbing down a slide

You should hear her say "slide!"  It's so cute!

Making a HUGE and totally fun mess while I make bread

She needed just a little more flour....

Do I do this??  It was really cute!  She stood very attentively for several minutes with her hand on the mixer.

Us with our good friends Andy and Lisa on a night out recently

Silly girl actually placed a couple of blocks on her tower with her mouth!  I love how silly she is.  :)

My family will have a special appreciation for these next five or six pictures.  One evening I sent Andrew a text at work saying, "meet us at the Lake Hood bike trail after work!"  There we met him with a picnic!  It was NOT warm weather.  It was very windy and cool and I almost decided to cancel, but then I remembered all the memorable (notice I did not say 'pleasant') times I had in Ketchikan on windy beaches roasting hot dogs and building fires and never being quite warm.  So we did it and had a really fun time together!

The site

Our view

Helping Malena eat her first ever roasted hot dog!

Our beautiful little fire

Mmmm barbecue chips

A sweet father-daughter moment

Back to normal life...Malena in her diaper making rice!

These next few pictures are from a walk we went on just an hour ago!

Blurry, but what a cutie!

Us!

Sweet pea

So happy days of fun in the sun are here!!!

Christmas and more

Oh how I procrastinate and how daunting these posts become!  Seriously.  How have nearly two months passed already???  Do you realize how many pictures we've taken in that time?  *sigh*  I really DO want to share some of the pictures from the last several weeks because we have captured some AMAZING Malena-ness.  She's learning to ham.  She'll actually do something for me twice so that I can take a picture of it.  She is...self-aware now, I think.  :)  BUT FIRST, I must share a few Christmas photos.  Maybe the really AMAZING pictures will have to wait for the next post. 

My darling parents came for 2 1/2 weeks and experienced the coziness of our small "treehouse" during a very cold month.  My Dad braved the frigid temperatures often enough, but only out of desperation and because he has this abominable snowman type coat.  I cooked and baked (it was Christmas after all) and my mom, when not washing endless sink-fulls of dishes did the best she could to occupy Malena who was in a very unfortunately timed mommy stage.  I watched both of my parents love, play with and adore their grand-daughter which, believe me, is a sight for sore eyes when you live in Alaska.  Andrew worked a lot so he wins a badge of honor for providing for our family whilst still charming the in-laws.  :)

We opened presents on the wrong day (life in the weather service), made important decisions REALLY appreciating God's provision of my parents' wise counsel and experience, watched football (I was greatly chagrined), and had a very amusing/heartbreaking skype call with Andrew's parents in which it was VERY evident Malena remembered them and wondered what they were doing in the computer???  So enough talking.  Here are some pictures.  :)

These really came out in random order - sorry.

My Ukpik parents!  Ice sculptures downtown.

A pink-nosed girl snuggling in with the ever-present "fuzzy".

She is saying "cheeeese!"  :)  :)

A little blurry, but precious

Malena "helped".

These bells were HANDS-DOWN her FAVORITE thing to play with for weeks on end.

Malena's very first tower that she built all by herself!  You see, Grandpa Dennis?  Your training paid off!  :)

All dressed for a Christmas party!

The Christmas meal

Cutie.  :)  We all went to the Zoo in zero degree weather to see their lights display.

Hard to tell, but there we all are (except for Andy).

Football with Grandpa.  His dream come true.  :)

I left so much out but I think I have like a dozen pictures here.  This will have to do.  Andy took my on an AWESOME surprise for my birthday in December.  That will have a post all its own.  :)

Trip to Michigan

We just returned from 10 days in Michigan visiting Andrew's family, and especially meeting our beautiful new niece, Charlotte.  Charlotte and Malena are going to be GREAT cousins, especially since Charlotte was born only two days after Malena's first birthday!  David and Emily are AMAZING parents; so patient and seemingly relaxed and at ease in their new role.  If only I had handled the first six months of parenthood with such grace.  :) 

Okay so I have LOTS of pictures, and I'm not very good at controlling where Blogger puts them.  So here they are in no particular order.  I hope you enjoy them!

Andy in his natural habitat.  

Charlotte and Malena meeting!  Well actually, they first met while Charlotte was still in her carseat, and Malena made her cry.  :)  But they warmed up and were soon completely absorbed with one another by dinner time.  

Malena climbed the tree and Andy heroically rescued her!!

Uncle David and Malena bonding.

There's never a shortage of things to eat at Grandma's house!

You can't hear it, but this is the face that accompanies the giggle and squeal Malena utters when she sees animals.  She LOVES animals and we were watching some deer.

Malena's first toss in a pile of leaves!

Grandpa and I trying to get her into the spirit of leaf frolicking.

She finally got into it.  :)

 

 

 

A cape-bearing girl taking a delightful ride on Daddy's shoulders!

We took a day in Frankenmuth to celebrate our month-old anniversary - just the two of us.  So fun!

Andy was very reluctant to take this picture.  Therefore I must post it for the world to see.  :)

The grandparents with the girls.

The great-grandparents with the girls.

Sweet, sweet Charlotte asleep on Uncle Andrew's chest.

Happy Grandma.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

I have an unmanageable number of really great pictures!!!

And I don't know what to do!!  This would be far more manageable if I posted more often.  :)  Here are a few randoms, and then I will do a new post just about our visit to Michigan to meet our BEAUTIFUL new niece, Charlotte.  For now, randomness.  

Smoothies have become a very favorite snack with Malena.  She loves to suck the whole thing down very quickly so is receiving hard lessons in brain freeze!

Malena has discovered the joy of the washer door!  SO FUNNY!!

How could you not love her???

FUN!

Snow was very late in coming this year, so we still had green grass in October!

I'm not sure what's going on with my hand, but otherwise a very nice picture on a hike overlooking Turnagain Arm.

Malena loves to tote around this highschool picture of Grandma Kathie.  :) 

I know, so many Malena pictures.  But let's face it, this blog is for the grandparents.  :)