My mom had been on me for weeks to get my annual Christmas card together. I’ve picked up the slack writing about our family’s happenings for the last two years, I guess she expected I’d take on the challenge again this year. Well, Christmas came and went, and Mom pleaded for me to get busy and send out a New Year’s update. Let’s be honest – who wants to spend the glorious days of Christmas Break working? Not this kid. I need time throughout the day to change into a variety of Elsa dresses.  So, I decided to reason with my mom. I gave her a choice… I would update my blog with the happenings of 2015 or she could wait and hope to have a Christmas in July card ready. You see, I’ve found that giving my parents choices is the best way to deal with them when they’re being difficult.

Anyway, let’s get on with this. I have to say that the highlight of the year was my early birthday present. Mom and Dad got me a new sister!! I know that they were very choosy about her, because they left early one morning – before I’d even woken up – and went to a special store called the hospital to find her. It was only March 21^st, so I know they must’ve been excited for my April birthday. They just couldn’t wait any more. They did such a great job! I just love little Audrey, and everyone says what a great big sister I am!

Audrey has grown a bunch these past 9 months. She crawls around the house looking for treasures that I’ve left that may fit in her mouth. She pulls herself up onto all kinds of furniture, and her list of tricks include clapping and waving on demand. She’s a good kid, and I can’t wait for her to come share my bedroom. My entourage of stuffed animals and toys are getting a little old to perform for each night before I sleep. I could use a new audience. I don’t anticipate her joining me too soon, though; she’s done a great job of sleep training Mom and Dad.

So, I had a lot of other memorable moments this year. You may have noticed my absence from blogging in the year 2015. This is in great part because I can express my thoughts verbally now and don’t need to type them out so much. I love to talk and sing, and well, it cuts into my computing time. There hasn’t been a lot of time to be on my computer anyway. During the summer I was busy exploring the lake; I even got out on my first camping trip here on Vermilion! Audrey and I were baptized in this same beautiful lake and a very special service. We also took lots of walks in the double stroller and played with my cousins all summer long. Another big family event included a trip to Eastern Wisconsin. We managed to make the 8-hour drive in just under two days. It may have been some kind of record! It sure was a fun time, though.

This fall brought my parents back to work and me and Audrey back to Jill’s for daycare. We love it there, and Mom and Dad are both happy at their jobs, too. Now that winter has finally (somewhat) arrived, we’re taking advantage of the snow. Dad, with the help of some friends, rigged up our bicycle trailer to be pulled behind a skier. It is SLICK, and both Mom and Dad are excited to get out after a day of work for a little fresh air.

It was great hearing from so many of you over the holidays! We continue to hope for all the best for you in 2016.

With love,

Vera

(Bill, Erin, and Audrey too!)

Five Months!!! Has it really been five months since my last post?  Boy does time slip away from a growing girl.  I don’t think it would be feasible to catch all of you up on every nuance of my life from the last few months so I guess I’ll hit a few things here and there.

I’ve been doing a lot of growing as you can imagine.  Im getting a little taller for sure, but my hair is growing gang busters.  A girl like me doesn’t get lushes locks like mine from her dad.  I have to thank mom for this.  You’d think I was in some sort of hansel and gretle rendition with the trail of hair clipys I leave in my wake, but thats only because I can pull them out as quickly as the adults in my life can put them in.  Sure my hair is in my eyes most of the time, but I see all the high school boys sporting that look these days so I figure I can’t be that far off.  😉

Back when the lake was still water, but no longer swimmable we did get out for some nice canoe rides along the edge of the lake.  I always would wear my life jacket of course, but I love Moms red canoe so much I like to just relax in there from time to time.

Boat rides were still a lot of fun.  We switched over to one of the smaller fishing boats once the water got too low for the big boats lift and both had to be taken out.  One of my favorite things to do in the small boat it throw leaves over the edge.  The silly things end up flying all over though and you never know where they are going to end up.

At one point this fall there was a really nice calm afternoon when dad thought we should go up for a little flight.  Mom was on board with the idea and after work we headed out to the Orr airport and hopped in the plane.

After I studiously monitored dad fueling the plane and ensuring the ground was firmly connected and that he had the gas caps tightly secured after filling each wing I was ready to hop aboard.

Thats right I have access to a headset for these types of adventures.  Notice I’m rockin my sweet boggs and riding in style in my own car seat for not only a cushy ride, but also a little lift allowing me to see out the window if dad banked to the left just enough.  I’ll post a little video of the take off.  Not sure who I was waving to, but I felt a bon voyage was necessary at that time.

Swinging continues to be one of my favorite things and unfortunately dad found a slow motion feature on his phone so I get to deal with these things all the time.

Soon the weather really started to cool down and it was time to start thinking CANDY!!  Thats right Halloween was up and this girl had a costume.  Mom was kind enough to set me up with a hand made candy corn costume, hat included!

Here is a paparazzi shot of me and my peeps hitting up the locals for some sweets.

You will notice that Libby and I got to match this year.  How fun is that?!  I was a little hesitant at first.  Not to jazzed up about all the car rides involved in the process, but once I found out we were getting candy everywhere we stopped, the car rides didn’t seem to be that much of an inconvenience.

We of course obliged to the other Halloween tradition of carving a pumpkin.  Dad found a sweet AngryBird stencil off the interwebs and after I helped him scoop out all of the gooey insides he went to work on the fine motor skills portion of the project.  It actually looked pretty cool in the dark.

Fall can be a busy time in ones life and I often found myself pretty tuckered out at the end of the day.  Sometimes I would even fall asleep in the car on the way home from day care.  Dad would be lucky from time to time and was able to plop me down in my crib when we got home.

One thing I think you all should get on board with is having your own dancing chair.  Thats right you heard me, a dancing chair.  This is a great place for you to work out your extra sweet dance moves while listening to some 90’s hits on the tv, or if your lucky enough to catch a Charter Triple Play Commercial (see link)  Anyway my dancing chair is the brown recliner in our living room.  If I get the dancing bug, you’d better get out of my chair, case thats where I need to be to get my grove on.

We get to do a lot of playing in the house.  I have a some fun toys to play with and some great books to read.  I like to dress up from time to time of course, and at times it does get out of hand.

When this happens its time to get out for some fresh air.  We get to go on some great walks up to get he mail and down to what mom says used to be Raps beach.

Another thing I love to do is cook with my mom.  She is so good about letting me help out with every little part.  When mom is rolling out dough for pirogies I get to roll out dough.

Rolling out pirogies

When mom makes some delicious chocolate cake I get to help make and eat said chocolate cake.

Do I have frosting on my face?

Another great indoor activity that I’ve been working on is jumping.  I’m getting pretty good at this even though the only video I could find on my dads phone was yet another slow motion one, but worse yet, one that I fell in.  Let me tell you I hardly fall now a days when I’m working on my vertical.

Now that the snow is here there is still plenty to do outside.  Swinging of course is still high on my todo list.  The only difference now is I tend to fall asleep in my snuggly warm snow pants and coat.

Other than swinging there is of course sledding.  How fun is this?  Let me tell you, I have it made.  My mom and dad will pull me up to the top of the hill on the sled.  Thats right, I just kick back and let the long steppers work like a ski lift and bring me to the top of the drive way.

Then I get to lean back and let one of them provide the expert steering skills needed to fly down the hill all the way to the lake.  Then, you guessed it, we do it again.

Well this has been a pretty long post and I’ll leave you with this.  I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving and that you all ate way too much.  I of course got my fill of turkey and corn casserole.  We even snuck out into the cold for a little family picture.  Stay warm this winter and I’ll try to do a better job of posting updates here for your viewing pleasure.

So my mom and dad just finished up the first week of school which meant I finished up my first week at day care.  I get to spend the work days with a very nice lady named Jill along with the other kids she watches.  Most of the kids are my cousins which sure is nice for spending the days with.

Today after daycare my dad picked me up and we drove out to the Northwoods school to get mom.  We helped her rearrange the desks in her classroom and then hopped in the car and drove out to the Orr airport.  Incase you hadn’t heard my dad is a pilot.  He got the plane all ready to go and then I got strapped in the back seat in my carseat.  It was a really warm day, so dad kept the window open while we were taxiing and closed it just before we took off.

I’m back there. Look Close.

A toy to play with during the flight.

It was a nice flight with very few if any bumps.  We flew over the hunting shack, Great Uncle Ricks House, then over to Trisha’s cabin.  We circled over Hinsdale island, then over Great Uncle Glenn’s cabin at the end of Norwegian bay before heading back and landing at the Orr airport.  Now I can’t confirm all these details because I pretty much fell asleep as soon as we took off.  I did wake up when I heard the wheels squeak when we landed.  I thought it was a fun little ride and giggled as we taxied back to the hangar.

Lets go flying….

Great flight.

First Family Flight