Snubbed By a Puggy and a Hubby

Seriously, come on. My lack of intimate space with my husband, in my own bed, is verging on ridiculous.

Oh sorry, did I wake you two?

The Hills are Alive....

...with the sounds of cousins squealing.

George, Katie and I took cousies Bea & Gabe up to Snowbowl for the afternoon. George went mountain biking while Katie and I sat out on the Lodge deck and fed the kiddies pepperoni pizza (undisputedly the best pizza at Snowbowl), watched them pick non-poisonous berries (or so we think) and drank a few pitchers of Hefe.

By the end of the afternoon Katie was pretending to compete in the gelande and I was scoring her on a scale of 1-10. We think Bea & Gabe were still picking non-poisonous berries. George came skittering down the hill just in time to enjoy the last slice of pizza and glass of beer. Prost!

Greenough, Pet Rocks and a Little Paint

A relatively quiet Sunday, just the girls and Mr. O, as George had to work today.

We did the have the benefit of Sat afternoon and evening as a family. Last night we ended up making grilled panini together, then hit Big Dipper for some ice cream. Rounded out the evening with a beautiful walk in Maclay Flats; Bea & Ollie tossed rocks and romped in the river.

Some of the smoke from the forest fires has cleared out of the Valley, so its a decent day today. Bea, Frau & I went for quite a long juant in Greenough along Rattlesnake Creek. Bea and I collected rocks from the Creek so we could make some "pets" for our backyard. On the way home we ended up stopping by Bonner park so Bea could play awhile. Then we made lunch and commenced the pet rock project.

Bea got paints from her cousin Gabe for her birthday so we put them to good use. One thing I noticed about her though. She got really tweaked when her hands got dirty or if she got paint on the table or her t-shirt. I felt sort of bad since that is obviously a direct reaction to me always telling her to "wipe her hands" "be careful not to spill" "don't get ____ on the table." At any rate, I felt pretty guilty that a 2 year old would be so concious and preoccupied with keeping clean. So I made a point to get some paint on her and myself (...ok...and Frau too). I think I better lay off the control freak tendencies and let her just enjoy being a kid at the expense of a dirty t-shirt.

She seemed to have a lot of fun painting her "ladybug." I know I had fun painting my "turtle."

Here she is with our new backyard friends:

Afterwards she enjoyed a nice long hot bath (note the splash of brown paint by her nose, that's as crazy as she'd get) and is now blissfully sleeping the afternoon away w/ Ollie.

Just waiting for George to get home from work. Uncle Al and Sasha are coming over for dinner before they fly back to Seattle, then we're headed to a campaign party for John Tester.

Snug as Two Bugs in a Rug

Frau is becoming more humanoid every passing day and Bea is begining to exhibit pug-like qualities.

Clearly there is no pressing need for child # 2.

We're Back!

Been a very long time since I posted..in the interim our family:

• survived George's stint at the MLEA. (Monkey Toes!!)
• Proudly watched our Daddy graduate from the MLEA
• Enjoyed many wonderful days on Flathead Lake at the Meeks Compound

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• Transitioned from Elmo into a full fledge "Curey-George" (Curious George) obsession. Hey, at least it's not Bratz or Polly Pocket or some overly-feminized girly shit that has my daughter playing with dolls that are essentially dressed like tweeny-hookers.
• Had a whirlwind long weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Erickson, complete with Osprey baseball and backyard BBQs enjoyed (suffered) in 104 degree heat.
• Celebrated Skeetie's 2nd Birthday, Curey-George style in Bea & Ollie's backyard.
• Met baby Casey Weight for the first time, subsequently planting the seed of "big sister status" in Bea's brain.
• Finally, was a part of an incredibly sincere, beautiful and moving experience: Shonna & David's wedding on the Long Beach peninsula. :)
• Wrapped up Labor Day Weekend by relaxing in our family vacation spot, Cannon Beach, Oregon. Complete with sand, Drop-Top, Pizza-a-Feta, Tolovanna and lots-o-Crab and Chower for Skeetie.

Now we are back in the swing of things. George is enjoying his new job, and I must say, it is the coolest, most impressive, male-jealousy-inducing, job out there. He has the biggest and baddest guns, firetrucks, airplanes and any other toy you could think of at his disposal. To top it off, it is relatively low-stress, low-key, and best of all he has the benefit of working with very nice, considerate people. To say I am extremely proud and grateful is actually an understatement.

Another milestone....Bea has nearly finished her potty-training. The kiddo is amazing. Donna, her Norwegian-surrogate-grandmother-babysitter actually got the ball rolling and did a fantastic job. We finished up by buying her real panties this week. I actually found Curey-George panties and little panties that have dogs on them. Bea solemnly pledges "Bea do not pee-pee on Curey-George." "Bea do not pee-pee on Curey-George's doggie, Woof-Woof." She is doing great. She makes a definite point to never poop in her panties, she in fact enjoys doing so in the "toitee." At any rate, we're almost there.

All in all, life is good. Fall is near, pug-a-lug-a-ding-dong has been seen sniffing the fall breeze, and we are ready for a beautiful, crisp, Missoula fall. And we all know, with Missoula falls comes trips to the Hamilton House in Victor with the Hurshes and Cunningham/Thomas duo. Yippee for Guiness and fish & chips!! :)