Walk-o-Mater

For Christmas Jamie decided to begin walking. Her eyes just looked amazed as she began walking from chair to couch to TV stand to the kitchen. Her crawl is still fast enough that she reverts to it often, but she's going vertical more and more.

Here's a little video link:

http://www.archive.org/details/JmeWalk1

THE Snow

Here are a few shots of our backyard after our first week of snow storms in Spokane. Most of the accumulation was accomplished in the first two days (which were the days we were supposed to fly out for Christmas in Utah). Consequently we were able to spend Christmas in Spokane!

We had big plans of taking down the trampoline for the winter, but as the vacation approached, we found ourselves scrambling to get prepared in every other way. Just yesterday I had thought it was about time to brave that pile of snow and relieve the springs. Then the roof unloaded and the depth of snow is now double what you see here. I think it's there until spring.

Christmas Cheer!

We had a great little Christmas here in Spokane. Our attempts to get home were thwarted by the weather. We made the best of it and actually decorated the inside of the house a little! As a little bonus, we stayed much closer to a budget than we would have travelling.

We are houseing two cats for a friend, and they are a handful. The kids love them, though!

Caitin and Jamie have had mixed reactions to the snow we've received. Caitin loves it and is almost always willing to throw on her snow pants and go play outside. Jamie doesn't like getting bundled up like a pink marshmallow, so she prefers to stay inside with Mom.

One of our Christmas surprises this morning was Jamie deciding to walk around the house. She had previously been chancing a few steps at a time, but today she walked back and forth across the room many times, and seems to realize that it's an efficient mode of travel. She is, however, very fast crawling, so she's not completely converted yet.

Cut it Off!

Last night at the dinner table Caitin was neglecting her vegetables...as usual. In fun I tried something new.

"Caitin, if you don't eat your corn, do you know what Dad is going to do?"
She turned and looked me in the eye.
"If you don't eat your corn, I'll cut off your leg!"
She glanced at Mom, and then back at my over-dramatic grimace, and then with a worried face whimpered, "No...Dad that would hurt!"
Surprised she bought it, I replied, "Then you better eat your corn!"

Immediately Mom began consoling and explaining that Dad would never do such a thing, but guess what...she ate her corn.

A few minutes later when Jamie crawled through the dinner mess she had made on the floor, I picked her up and told her I'd have to cut off her fingers. Caitin immediately began to defend her little sister by telling Mom on me.

Drink the Gospel

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting Caitin was being her wiggly stubborn self on the floor with her crayons and her sippee cup. As the deacon passing the water came near I whispered to her to stand up for the water.

"I have water," she replied.

When the deacon passed the water down our bench Sarah whispered, "Caitin, the water."

Again, "I have water. I don't want a drink," was her response. But then her brain sparked passed the stubborn moment and she realized she did want the water in its neat little cup...too late, we had sent the deacon packing. Now panicking, "I want a drink, Mom! I want to drink the spirit! I want to drink the gospel!" Volume rising, "I want to drink the gospel!" No amount of shushing or trying to substitute with a sippee cup would suffice, and in short order Sarah was carrying her out of the chapel. All the way out her cries continued "I want to drink the gospel!"

Welcome to our Sunday.

Pedal Skills

Last night when I came home Caitin was very excited to show me her new skills. Given that her tricycle was commandeered for Halloween last week, Caitin asked me to fix the training wheels on her bicycle (previously bent out of place when she and I were racing around the basement). After I fixed it she pushed it around the basement several times and then parked it. She had no interest in riding it. Well, yesterday she just decided to step it up and ended up riding it (her first time unassisted) for a full 30 minutes. She HAD to show me when I got home, and it was sweet.

Trunk-or-Treat!

Last night was the ward Trunk-or-Treat dinner and Halloween celebration. We loaded up and went to the church a bit early to help set up and let Caitin test her costume in the parking lot. Mater was the perfect little pink panther. Caitin loved pulling her wiggly little tail.En-route, Caitin with her Thomas smile,

and her costume tied down.

Roaming through the cultural hall before it became too crowded.

There was an awesome turnout to this event...loads of people. We took turns sitting at the table for dinner. Needless to say, maneuvering this beast of a costume indoors was difficult, but outside during the trunk-or-treat, Caitin did great...only running over a few people. The light on the front saved many, but we didn't think about a back-up light.

You can download this (in slightly higher quality) and another from here:

http://ia310821.us.archive.org/0/items/K10Thomas/Picture029.avi
and here:
http://ia301524.us.archive.org/2/items/K10Thomas2/Picture025.avi

Costume Poll

Alright, I realized my Costume Poll (check out the right-hand column) was spelled 'Cosume', and that couldn't stand. I ended up deleting the existing votes to fix the error. I blame vanity!

Sorry to those who's votes were deleted, and please vote again!

Halloween Costume

Caitin is the biggest Thomas-the-Train fan in the world. Thomas is her blankie, her friend, and her favorite toy (aside from Thunder). Go figure that she would choose to be Thomas for Halloween.

We're glad that choice was made early enough for Dad to take it to heart. Some may consider this a little beyond the definition of a costume, but I think most Blankenagels will agree that it is just right!

We still have a bit of painting to finish up, but you get the idea!

I scream, You scream...

Mater has an aversion to being left out...particularly when sweets are involved.

We went to Maggie-Moos (similar to Cold Stone) last week for a Better Batter milkshake (thank you Sharps for cluing us into these!), and Jamie pulled a fast one on Sarah. I witnessed the event, but these pictures are only a substitute. Sarah sat down with the milkshake in hand and Jamie on her lap. She brought the cup up and put the straw in her mouth, but before she could taste the goodness of chocolate cake batter in drinkable form, Jamie had reached up, grabbed the straw, and pulled it right into her own mouth - drawing long and deep. And we thought we bought it for us.

One of my most favorite things is to hold my daughters when they are sleeping. It's a rare occasion, because they are both very determined to never miss any fun, and really work at staying awake when they really need naps. Last Sunday, though, mater and I caught a little shut-eye before church. That's her stuffed bat she's holding. What a sweetie.

Negotiator gone bad...

Caitin is our negotiator. She has often achieved extra bedtime stories, drinks, treats, etc. by striking deals with Mom and Dad. For example, sitting around the table to bowls of ice cream, when she finishes before Dad she looks him in the eye (a rare occurrence in itself), smiles kinda' shy-like, and says with extra layers of sugar, "Would you like to share with me?" Undeniably presented.

This last week she picked up a new tactic that is slightly more frustrating...Sitting at the table with her bowl of chocolate truffle ice cream (to illustrate a parallel example only...uhh...no, actually, we do eat too many treats), scooping up the last spoonful she begins to scream, "No! I don't want chocolate! Mom, I don't want chocolate! I want bannila!" At the first hint of a "No" from Mom the tears start flowing and the volume rises with the pitch to a shrill squeal that wakes up baby sister every time.

The new technique has been known to work to get a second bedtime story when Mom is in a generous mood. The second attempt in the same sitting, however, tips the scales the wrong way.

Yoga

Mater has been practicing her yoga recently. We put her to bed, laying her down in what we perceive as a comfortable position and walk out of the room. Obviously her opinion of comfort differs. When we check on her she is in the sitting splits position laying forward on her blankie that she is hugging - aka the Yoga position. It's pretty cute, but we haven't taken a picture of it yet.

We've been pretty busy lately, but not with anything significant. One thing we've just started is some financial planning. Some friends of ours are in the profession, and they gave us an introductory presentation this week. Their specialty is debt consolidation, accelerating of payments to eliminate debt, investing to build a sufficient retirement, etc. Anyway, Sarah and I have wanted to do some serious planning for a while now, and we're excited to do it!

Shooters

Caitin has been playing with the digital camera lately, and taking lots of shots. Among the 130 pictures of her legs and Thomas blankie was this little gem:

"Caitin...Put the camera down, and no one gets hurt!"

Sarah and I could not say our prayers for several minutes after uploading this picture due to sudden bursts of laughter.

DONE!!! (Warning...more playhouse pics)

Finally, we are finished with the playhouse! We went back and forth as to how we wanted to landscape around it, and finally chose the indoor/outdoor patio carpet. I really really wanted to just get it sealed up and done for the year, so here it is. Clean and self contained, and looking swell. Sarah did a great job with the stain.

Here's the Finished Product

A View from the Deck

The Stairway

One Satisfied Customer

During construction, my father-in-law and I joked about getting the Bobcat in here and getting the land smoothed out. Particularly whenever the ladder was wobbling over uneven ground.

Well, here's the Bobcat...

Portraits

Construction Complete! Now it's just staining to finish up. Sarah's on the task...whenever the girls and I allow it.
Last night we had some friends over for dinner. Since my last Scout camp I have been craving dutch oven BBQ ribs. Within the comfort of our privacy fence, I rigged up this little cooking area and went to town.

The recipe? A load of ribs, cut into individuals. Bottle of favorite BBQ sauce. Cook the ribs for as long as you can stand smelling them without delving in (about 2 hours in this case). Pour off excess juices and then pour on enough BBQ sauce to coat the ribs (about a bottle or less). Cook for another 30 minutes. Use care when serving cause the meat will just fall apart.
For Labor Day we worked extremely hard...and then relaxed extremely hard. Caitin and I did a little fishing at our friends' cabin.

Check out that Lunker!

Fenced

I finished the handrail slats last night. Caitin calls it "the fence around the playhouse so I don't fall off".

Items left to complete are: 1. Stairway handrail; and 2. Staining.

Additional items that will probably be put off for a while: Landscaping around and below the swingset/sandbox/playhouse.

photos to come...

Topped

We now have a completed roof over the playhouse! After staining I'll post a finished photo.

Sandbox Addition

OK, so this is still a work in progress, but here's the latest addition to the sandbox...

I wouldn't be nearly this far had my father-in-law, Ralph, not come and crank away for 2 1/2 days last weekend. A visit from Bob The Builder helped too! This glider is Ralph's design. He's built these for two other swingsets, and he really does an excellent job. This thing is smooth and silent, and will even carry an adult!

After the two days of building, we were about to get rained on, so we bought a huge tarp to protect the investment.

Items left to complete:

1. Safety slats below the handrail - all the way around.

2. Add hand-rail up the stairway.

3. Build and install roof over deck.

4. Stain the entire thing.

Crawling, Camping, and Pedaling

Today Mater (or as Caitin would say, "Jaa-meh Meh") crawled across the floor for the first time! For a couple of weeks she has been up on hands and knees rocking and sometimes scooting in reverse, but today she finally made forward progress toward what she wanted to get. Heaven help us now... Oh yeah, and she also has picked up the bad habit of sitting up on her own...usually when it's time for a nap.

We went camping a couple of weeks ago. A simple over-nighter, but we had a good time. It was the earliest we've been to bed in a long time, but sleep didn't come until late in the night because it was a crowded campground.

In other news, Caitin has mastered pedaling! We go on many walks around the block now as she pedals her trike all the way. Occasionally she'll try to build up speed to go over a 2" curb, and every time it has stopped her. The last time her back wheels came off the ground when she hit that curb, and then she just sat there as if to say, "Why didn't that work?"

A few Summer Activities

We've been mighty busy lately, and here are a few things we've been doing...

First of all, we have to occasionally enjoy this beautiful city we live in. This is the Duncan Garden in Spokane's Manito (pronounced man-it-oh) Park. This garden is symetrically designed and always immaculate. It's a sure visit every summer.

We went to an anniversary celebration at the Riverfront Park, and the rides were reduced to 1978 prices! We road the tour train, and Mater tried on my cowboy hat. I normally don't wear my cowboy hat, but since we were going to ride the carousel also...Finally, we updated our sandbox with treated lumber. After one year, the untreated original was rotting out. Still to come are photos of a few small improvements we've made to the sandbox.