*cuadro de arte

When my great-grandparents lived here, this was an outdoor porch, but at some point, someone enclosed it. We use it as our "art room" and where I have my laptop and sewing machine. It's a fun little room to have and the girls spend a lot of time here... Usually making a huge mess :).

The nice part about this house being small is just that - it's small and so the girls never feel like they are far away. Vera was always scared in our old house of being by herself in the basement or even upstairs alone.

Anyway, we were set to go to the park this morning but Vera found a new project, so we decided to stay...

*what we've been up to...

.: all from my phone - only recently found the camera charger! :.

The Farmer's Market here was pretty tiny! Even smaller than I'd thought. We only made it to one of them unfortunately but got some delicious peaches, pluots and plums as well as a handmade queso fresco. And a pony ride. Edie still talks about it. Ride horsie! Edie did! 
 

We have a nice shady backyard - here the girls made a little fort and had a picnic:

Riding around the cul-de-sac:

Dana and her girls came over one afternoon: Edie, Vera, Ellie, Edie :)

Grandma Kay over for a visit:

Celebrating Papa Sam's birthday:

lots of beach time. It's so peaceful and quiet now with summer crowds gone!

Hiking at Echo Lake on Labor Day:

First time having my parents over for dinner.  Reminded me of all the times we'd have my grandparents over for dinner when I lived at home - especially the hugs and good-byes at the door... for some reason I always remember that part.

Some friends were at Tahoe for a wedding and spent a couple hours with us at Zephyr Cove - it was so nice for all of us to see some familiar faces.  Vera was so excited to see Robbie :)

*ciudad de carson

I feel a little pressure to make my posts real interesting, now that I "invited" you all!  I need to just pretend you're not there, that this continues to be my little outlet and way to share what's going on in my head and our life...

So anyways, we are settling in finally here in CARSON CITY, NEVADA. That's where we moved, for those of you who still weren't sure!  Ben defended his PhD dissertation brilliantly back in August.  We had been waiting to hear about one job in Orem, Utah, and had decided that if he didn't get it, we needed to make a move either here or to California.  It just wasn't financially feasible to stay in Salt Lake with a big mortgage and no good prospects for Ben.  It worked out well to come to Carson, as my parents had recently bought a house for my uncle to live in (he has early dementia/alzheimer's). Just before they were to move him in, they decided it wasn't going to work, and they moved him to a memory-care facility.  So they had this perfect little 2 bedroom house ready for someone to move into. The really neat thing about it is that it was actually the house my great-grandparents lived in in the 50s! How crazy is that? My mom kept saying it was just sooo familiar to her, but apparently the people erroneously said they were the first owners.  Anyway, it turns out it was their house and it's pretty neat and makes it all seem quite meant to be.  Probably the only things that remain from the 50s are the pink fixtures in the bathroom... fun to think of washing my hands in the same sink as my Grandma Ruth, or looking out the same kitchen window as I wash dishes :)

Ben is still working on some dissertation revisions, and will help with some appraisal work for my dad. He's also applied to a few random jobs around here.  After 8 years of working on his MA and PhD, it just happens to be the worst time in history to get a job in academia. Specifically history. So that's nice :)  It's been hard and depressing at times. But really we are confident in a God that is in control, that he is teaching us to trust and rely on Him.  We live in such a crazy, broken and sick world - we are so thankful for our health and our 2 healthy wonderful kids, as well as families on both sides who love and support us. 


More later along with some pictures...

*

Not sure how well a phone video uploads, but we'll see how these go.  It's hard to hear Edie in the second one with Vera talking on the phone in the background, but it's still cute hearing her read the story to her napping Lion and Horse.  We are severely lacking in good videos of Edie as a little one - it's my goal to get some good ones that I can watch over and over and over in the years to come :)   .. once I find our camera charger....

*almost 2!

Lately Edie....

has had a language explosion!  starting in the first weeks of August, she is talking so much and so clearly. She's already lost a lot of her baby words and it makes me so sad. Trying to hold on to the ones she has left: sha-bla-bla (strawberry), Mamo Lala (Grandma Sheila), no shaka (no thank you)... aww tute! (aww cute!), Shaya (sorry), shayesh (stroller), noonoo (noodles)...

sings renditions of Happy Birthday, Jesus Loves Me and her ABCs [I really want to get a video of this - she totally surprised me in the car knowing about half of it!]

loves to get in arguments with Vera about whose is whose - of course it usually is Vera's thing she's claiming: No, MY!!!!

mimics counting: waa, twooo, four, twooo, four, twoo

is still not trustworthy with the bunny.
Edie can you hold Eloise?  Yeah. NO, Edie you canNOT hold her. Okay. Shaya, Eloise. 5 Minutes later....    
She also will lay on top of Eloise or next to her with a tight headlock. You can tell she just loves Eloise to pieces and can't help herself.

does not understand how to go on the potty. She'll sit on it and make faces, but doesn't know how to "let go" :)


is sad to drop Vera off at school and says get Vera? the whole way home. No, Edie we'll get her later. Noooo why??  However, often when it's time to actually get her, Edie is busily playing. I ask if she'd like to go get Vera and she says "No, shaka [thankyou]"

loves to answer any question in silly talk: blablo do! hahahaha  doobie dako ahahaha

calls Eloise "baby pie" - hearing us call her cutie pie :)

likes to do a trick or jump off something and throw her arms up and yell TA-DA!

*

Edie has been showing more and more imaginative play lately and I just love it. I think I haven't seen it as much with her being the little sister, always just into Vera's business. Tonight they did play together putting their baby/puppy to bed, so cute :).

Anyway...earlier today I saw her babying the dinosaurs:
T-Rex: up, mama?
Edie: ooooh-tay!
Triceratops: up too?