Pacifier?

Anyone need a pacifier?

'Cause I've got plenty!

Play Group

We went to a little playgroup the other day and Lisa brought her husband's REALLY nice camera. Ah, what a difference a nice camera makes. Whenever I get to wanting one too much, I just remind myself that our camera now is still a million times better than what people had 50 years ago - and somehow they all survived!

Jayden proposing to Willa, she's not impressed. They get along really well together, actually. Jayden steamrolls through everything, but he's not aggressive about it so it doesn't bother her. Willa has a frenemy named Bridget. Bridget is one month older and a lot more daring and aggressive. Whenever they get together, they glare at each other. Willa knows that Bridget is going to steal her toy. Bridget knows that she is going to get in trouble for stealing a toy - a lose lose for both of them. The nursery leaders said that whenever a baby cries in the nursery, Bridget immediately runs to the leader and says sorry - not because she has done anything, but because she's so used to making babies cry that whenever she hears it, she assumes that it must be her fault!

Not the greatest picture of me, but Willa, as usual, is adorable.

Utah - March

We don't have a lot of new things going on right now, so I thought I'd post some pictures of our quick trip to Utah back in March. My friend Shalece was getting married, so Willa and I took a quick trip home to see the wedding and visit family. It was a short trip, but very fun and busy!

Baby in the baby stroller

Out to eat at Nordstrom's - I think we paid $7 for a kids meal that ended up being Kraft Mac n Cheese

Reading and playing with Best Cousin Friend Brody, they played outside for FOUR hours!!

The Swing - Willa must have spent half of our visit in this swing. It was heaven and just out the back door!

My mom had everyone over for a pre-Easter dinner and egg hunt while we were there. It was so fun to see everyone and to join in on the party. Here are all the cousins, with Willa trying to make a quick escape. I do also want to note that Uncle Chris's baby whispering is just as effective as usual. After a few well-placed tickles and games, he was able to scoop her up without a cry and she just stayed in his arms!

The highlight of the trip for Willa (and me) was definitely the backyard! She didn't know what to do with herself - it was like having a park just outside the door! The first thing she did in the morning was run to the back door and try to open it. It was also the last thing she tried to do in the evening. I went to get her toothbrush and came back to find Grandpa pushing her in the swing in her pajamas. She wanted to go out ALL.THE.TIME and then she would ride in that swing over and over again. She has always been an easy baby, but she was SO easy on this trip because there was so much space to play and play inside or outside without getting bored. She would just go and go for hours. It made me realize how much easier some things would be in a house with a yard. It was so fun to see everyone. Ryan's brother Robert and his wife even made it out for a visit! We can't wait to go back for a longer trip in July.

Netflix: Must-see Misses

Basically the only television Ryan and I watch is Netflix streaming. The one exception being NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up. As some know, there are a lot of terrible movies that you have to sort through to find something decent to watch. Sometimes, it's just easier to pick a terrible movie and enjoy it for what it is, rather than searching and searching and searching for something better. After a particularly fantastic one last night, I thought maybe I would occasionally share these Netflix "gems" in case anyone  has troubles filling their Instant Queue.

For the weekend, I have two great movies reviews for you.

Last week we watched Roller Boogie. A rich Beverly Hills girl defies her uptight parents by taking rollerskating lessons down in Venice Beach! Skaters band together to keep their roller disco open! If that description doesn't grab your attention, how about this catchphrase from the trailer: "He's the best skate in town, she's the hottest babe in town. Together, they're love on wheels."

The best part of this movie was seeing all the rollerskating on Venice Beach. Where beach cruisers now are, roller skates once were, a little bit of Angeleno history. According to Wikipedia, this was the "height of the quad rollerskating fad" (who knew?). If this trailer doesn't get you, I don't know what will.

The second film is called Blood and Chocolate and is a little more contemporary - filmed in 2007. I don't quite have the words to explain this movie, so I will reprint the Netflix description.


"After moving from America to Bucharest, Romania, a teenage werewolf finds herself torn between loyalty and love when she falls for a human and incurs the ire of the pack leader -- who's planning to make her his mate."


Okay, so that give you an idea about this movie. I was expecting a campy, tweeny-type movie. Maybe something for the Disney channel, starring Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato opposite Justin Bieber in high school. Definitely something with some sugar coating. Oh no, this movie was deadly serious. It was obvious that they had high ideals and wanted to really change the world with all the platitudes they threw in.


Ryan and I were both really grateful that the main love interest (an artist) has a line in the beginning of the movie telling us that his father was an Army Ranger who made sure he (the main love interest) knew how to defend himself. It makes it all the more believable when the artist is able to successfully take on a pack of werewolves with his skinny noodle arms and Bohemian/Hipster style.  (I know there is a split-infinitive in there, but I believe that English allows split infinitives. It is only our forced melding of Latin grammar on this Germanic language that decries it.)


The other highlight for me was watching them transform into werewolves. It was the combination of beautiful swan dive and the Aurora Borealis emanating from the middle of their bodies that makes the whole process wildly beautiful (as only werewolves can be). 


Here is the trailer. You can see that the movie, with its Romanian setting, is deadly serious. It's a bit long, but about 3/4 of the way through you are able to see some of the fantastic morphing which I described above.

I hope you take time to put these movies on your Netflix Queue. They were such gems, it didn't feel right that I shouldn't let others know about them.

Willa decided last week that she could do the actions to our library songs! It was actually a funny breakthrough. I started singing the library songs and doing the actions with her doll. She thought it was hilarious and from that point on has been doing ALL the actions to ALL the songs! It's like she just stored them in her mind and finally made the decision that she'll physically do them. Here are a couple of clips. Again, no pressure to watch all (or any) of them - it's a mother's indulgence to post them :).  When I sing "Wheels on the Bus" there's a part where the mommies say "Shh Shh Shh" and she holds up her little pointer finger to her face. It's hard to see on the video, so I had to point it out.

I should also mention that when we go to the library, she doesn't do any actions. It's like she just wants to observe and enjoy the performances. She only acts them out when we are at home.

Fun in the Sun

Wednesday was my last final and I am turning grades in today! Since all my students had to prepare a poetry presentation and turn in a two-page analysis on the poem of their choice, I thought I'd sum up my own thoughts and feelings with a little poem.

No more papers,

No more books,

No more students' dirty looks!

It's  been a hard semester juggling the two classes, Willa, and YW. There were always papers to grade and I think having to go every MWF was hard. Last year, when Willa took three naps a day, it wasn't a big deal, but now she just naps once - usually while I'm at class, which leaves me very little time to get things done. Next fall I asked to do just one night class again, so I'm looking forward to that. There was a babysitter break-through about a month ago, Willa stopped crying every time I dropped her off. She finally started understanding that their house (and little boy) was a whole lot more fun than playing with boring mommy all day. 

In honor of freedom, here are some summer pictures. I picked up some baby sunglasses at Target and Willa LOVES them. Whenever she sees them, she whines to put them on, it's become a little annoying and now I have to hide them. She thinks she is very hot stuff, and I think so too (especially with that pacifier!). I love when we get home and she is wearing them because she will run to the bedroom and look at herself in front of the mirror for several minutes!

Being very wary by the grate. I know that babies aren't supposed to remember much, but Willa definitely remembers where she fell and broke her wrist. She is VERY careful around grates now and also going down any steps where there is a chance she could fall.

Grandma Daniels sent Willa an adorable ladybug swim cover-up and matching hat! This is our first pool-outing in the new duds and they were a hit. Willa is looking slightly grumpy, but she is actually being very patient in allowing me to take a picture when she really just wants to go swimming.

Big Talker

Sorry for the poor video quality. We got home from the grocery store yesterday and you can see that this girl had lots to say!