videos -- because Daddy is a long way from home

What would we do without the Intertnet? I promised these videos to my husband months ago, and now, Praise the Lord, he can see them.

Annika sings "This Little Light of Mine"

Annika meets more cows.

Sorry.

I can't seem to keep up with my blog all of a sudden. I have a hundred cute things to post about Boo Boo, several deep thoughts, a little bit of light thought, and the beginnings of a book (to join the other twelve beginnings that have yet to turn into anything) running around in my head, but sitting down in front of the computer to actually put in the work just doesn't seem to happen very much anymore. I can remember a time when I posted every week or week and a half. I think that was a time before kids. It certainly wasn't during the Christmas season.

My little Boo is 21 months as of the first week of December, and she gets more interesting every day. For instance, today she learned to climb into the bathtub all by herself. If I had been on the ball, I would have pictures, but I was juggling laundry, dishes, and the garbage can, so I have no proof. All I have is the memory of hearing a pathetic little cry and following it into the bathroom to find my fully dressed daughter in the tub investigating the drain. "Up," she said, holding up her hands to me.

"Are you stuck?" I asked.

" 'tuck," she agreed. So I helped her out of the tub. She promptly turned around and climbed back in.

'tuck and up join her vocabulary list, which now includesdown, juice, shoes, socks, juice cup, no, no-no-no-no-no, please, mama, daddeeeeyyyy, pretty, moo, gogg, meow, cack (generic bird noise), baby, owie, ooohhhh, and num/mimi which means pacifier. She also says eat, more, please, and apple in sign language. Sometimes she gets them mixed up. "Eat" usually comes out as a "more" gesture directed up the nose because her pacifier is in her mouth. But she's learning.

We spend Thanksgiving at my in-laws dairy where Boo's greatest delight was to visit the calf barn. It's funny how cows get more skittish as they get older. These baby calves aren't even weaned yet, and they wanted to get right up close to Boo. But when we went to the next barn over, the weaned calves just watched warily. And in the barn after that, the young heifers spooked at her slightest noise.
Twilight fever was in full swing, and the friendly tension was runing high between Team Jacob and Team Edward. Note the t-shirts. Actually, I've never seen people obsess as coolly as my in-laws do. Sure, they know the books forward and backward, pick sides, establish crushes, make jewelry, and buy t-shirts, but at the end of the day, it's just fiction. I wish I could do that. As it is, I went to see New Moon with my mother- and sister-in-law and got all goose-pimply because when I have a guilty pleasure, I endure both the guilt and the pleasure. But I did enjoy the movie.
While we were at the movie, the Boo had to hang out with Pake Jaap, which was a first. She's not usually this comfortable on the laps of big, bald, bearded men. The only reason she stayed in his lap in this picture is because I refused to get up and rescue her. But my dad-in-law is great with kids, especially small ones, so they had a great time. I think he basically just let her do whatever she thought good as long as it was good. And they were good.

Annika and the cows

My little model?

Goodness, what is this girl going to be? Just when I'm convinced that she's all tomboy, she reveals a girly side and insists on being dressed in dresses and hats. Today was the first day in a week that she's worn jeans, and that only happened because she was distracted from her clothes by I forget what. She's always loved posing for the camera (except for the first 6 months of her life when it scared her half to pieces), but these days, sometimes it seems like she's just showing off how cute she is.

I find her in the strangest places. This book nook is on the far side of my (and Seth's) bed. She seems to have discovered our comic book collection. Heavens, but she is her father's child.

And she's beginning to do all sorts of new things. In the last three days, I think she's added three new words and four new animal sounds: spoon, Max, and yeah; coo, bah, moo, and cac (quack). She's learned to nod and shake her head to communicate. She tells me when her diaper is wet. She begs for her Halloween candy by signing "more." She gets her own cup out of the fridge. I'm flabergasted.

She startled me last Sunday by sitting down and building a block tower. It's been at least a month since she showed interest in her blocks, but she just dumped out the blocks, sat down, and built a seven block tower. Check out this montage. One block on top of the other. That's the first time she's done that. I was worried because block building is on the 18 month checklist, but now I can see that she's not going to have any trouble with it.

Seth laments that Boo Boo always does the most growing when he's gone, and as much as I'd like to call that crazy, I really think it's true. Maybe the shift is personal attention does it. Or maybe there's just more space. Or maybe she has less distraction because Daddy isn't here to snuggle with. Whatever the reason, she seems to grow by leaps and bounds when he isn't around to see it. It's not fair, really. Here's hoping he'll be around to watch the next one grow.

Hey, I used to do that!

Have you ever looked at your children and thought, "Hey, I used to do that." Well Boo Boo has been giving me those kind of moments lately. I know for a fact that I used to sit in the laundry basket with my stuffed animals, and I'm pretty sure I crawled into cupboards too. It's funny how generations seem to repeat themselves.

For instance, I've begun to notice that Boo Boo doesn't interact with other children immediately the way some children do. Instead, she waits on the sidelines with the adults, soaks up the emotions, and then gets all excited when she thinks she's figured it out and tells me all about it. That's a lot like me, all the way up through high school and beyond. And she likes to sit and draw and and be helpful and involved and explain things. And she likes to know what she's doing before she gets into anything. That's a lot like me too.So the question becomes, how do I nurture the strengths inherent in these common traits without perpetuating the common weaknesses?

I want Boo Boo to enjoy a sense of adventure in this life. I want her to do what she feels like doing, within reason, the limits of decency, and the will of God, instead of thinking, "Well, it looks like fun, but I can find reasons not to do it" like I have so often. I want her to know that fun isn't necessarily a bad thing and that it's okay to jump into things and look silly and have fun. Of course, she might not need the lesson. Just don't let me quash anything worth keeping, please Lord. Let me raise a child with constant access to joy.

Pictures for daddy.

I'm quickly posting some pictures for Seth before he goes underway. The Internet is such a blessing when people have to maintain families long distance. I really marvel at how far communications have come. Just months before Seth joined the Ohio, families had to rely on things called "family grams" -- telegram like messages that only allowed fifty words including names and salutations -- and they only got eight of them per patrol. Pictures had to be sent by mail, and it was anyone's guess whether or not they would get to the sailor before he came home. Now sailors can receive emails on the boat and can download pictures and videos off the Internet when they stop at ports. Whatever ills may have come with the Internet, it is still a blessing.


These are some pictures from the last week which demonstrate how quickly Annika is growing up. Seth laments that she always seems to grow faster when he isn't around to see it, and sometimes I think he must be right. There were a whole host of things that she began doing right after he left that she'd never done before. Every time I turn around she's doing something new and grown up.

This is Annika learning about the parts of my sewing machine. She seemed to have more luck with it than I did.

Here she is trying to put her pants on all by herself. You'll notice that she's already wearing pants, and she's putting both feet in one leg. Here she is putting her dollies to bed side by side. Here she is drinking from a normal cup instead of her sippy cup (we still use the sippy cups for most things. After all, she still requires quite a bit of attention with a cup like this one). Here she is reading a book to me. And now she's illustrating something for clearer understanding (my little teacher). These are pictures from my church's Harvest (Halloween) party. My pastor's wife came as a musketeer. She's really the only picture I can post (besides myself) because only one other grown-up came dressed up (her husband Dave in matching costume), and I didn't get a good picture of him. Kudos to Nancy who outdid me in level of costuming. May the creative spirit never die. I went as a gypsy, and Boo Boo is a clown without make up. I actually bought the make up to make her a clown, but I don't think she'd have put up with that that night. It was hard enough keeping the hat on her. Seth wanted a fuller picture of my costume, but this is the best I could do. I guess I'll have to put it on again for his benefit when he gets home. :) I learned that elaborate costumes and small children just don't mix. By the end of the evening, half of the jewelry and all of the scarves were deposited in various places around the room I was working in. Saddening. I like elaborate costumes. Maybe I should go out for community theatre, like my sister. Wouldn't I fit right in with Fiddler on the Roof?

More quickly this time.

More pictures, and this time I won't make you wait three months for them. I am forcing myself to sit still long enough to post some more pictures of Boo Boo and our activities over this summer and fall. Whenever Seth goes out, I get too restless for my own good, so I don't know how much explanation you'll get. Plus Boo Boo isn't feeling well. Have you ever tried to type with a grumpy baby on your lap?

If you can read Seth's hat, you know his current location. And when Daddy's away, I always like to post as many pictures as possible so he can put them on his computer. He was here for most of these pictures, but that doesn't mean he has these pictures, so have fun, Love.

About a month after we got done dodging raindrops at Ft. Flagler, we finally fulfilled one of Seth's persistent ambitions and got our whole family down to Mt. Angel's Oktoberfest. Of course, Boo Boo was happy just to be back on the farm again, but Seth and I were excited for the festival.

Mt. Angel, Oregon, the town where Seth grew up, was founded by immigrants from Angelburg, Germany, and the town has maintained close connections with its roots. Angelburg Cathedral fostered the Mt. Angel Abbey, one of the few active abbey's in the US. Most of the buildings and businesses have Bavarian architecture. And once a year, the town really goes Bavarian for Oktoberfest. So many people come in for Oktoberfest that this town of 3,000 swells to 10,000 for one weekend (or so they say). Every Knights of Columbus organization in western Oregon comes in to sell sausage. The police cadets are called out to direct traffic. Men don their leiderhosen; women their patterned skirts and peasant tops; even teenagers get into Bavarian costume. It's a big toodoo.

Of course, one of the main attractions at Oktoberfest (for us anyway) was Seth's uncle Arthur and his magic show. Arthur proudly boasts that he is the only Atsma boy who has never owned a cow. Instead he performs, both in magic and in music (http://www.atsmagic.com/). We love Uncle Arthur's shows, and he's always at Oktoberfest. They fly him in from Georgia. So we had to go see Uncle Arthur. This is one of Uncle Arthur's tricks. This is Boo Boo, enthralled with whatever trick Uncle Arthur is doing. Oktoberfest also has tons of booths where people can find the Bavarian spirit people never knew they had. I'm not Bavarian. I'm not even German. But I found that I just had to have a head wreath. I don't like to do a lot of shopping at carnivals because they tend to cost more money than stores, but there are some things you can only find at a streetfair. Boo Boo doesn't like to shop at carnivals period, especially not if she's expected to wear her cow leash. Such a sad face! Back into the stroller, I guess.

Being third generation in the dairy business, Lydia and Alice end up serving ice cream to Oktoberfesters every year. This year, Alice is the Marion County Dairy Princess (Last year, it was Lydia.), so we just had to stop and get our picture taken with the aunties.

All in all, I can highly recommend Oktoberfest. Come check it out sometime.

This past week, we took a trip to see my folks in eastern Washington. There were no town festivals waiting for us there (which I think is a pity. If you can't celebrate apple harvest, what can you celebrate?), but there were lots of apples. Sunnyside was expecting an early frost, so the orchardists were more than willing to have us come out and glean a few boxes of apples that otherwise would have gone to waste. For those who don't know, gleaning is going through a crop after it has been harvested to pick up whatever happens to be lying around. Most apple orchards get picked twice through by professional pickers to catch the apples that ripen early and the apples that ripen late. Because of the frost, they had only had a chance to get one picking in, so we found lots of apples.

These pictures are off my cell phone, so please pardon the focus. Here is Boo Boo with Grandpa eating apples in the orchard.

Here is Boo Boo picking her first apple. (I gave her the one in her hand.) She started out enjoying herself, but after about an hour of trying to walk on squishy, roly poly apples while wearing galoshes, she decided that she'd had enough. In that time, we managed to gather about twenty gallons of apples.

Boo Boo also discovered rocking chairs while she was at Grandpa and Grandma's. She sat in this chair for fifteen minutes at a time singing, "rock, rock, rock, rock." Ain't she cute?

Ooops. Sorry

Well, I guess I can no longer complain about those friends of mine who never update their blogs. July! Yikes.

In my defense, it's been a crazy couple of months. Our local pro-life organization decided to sponsor another 40 Days for Life campaign with only a month of prep time. I started applying to school districts to get back into the subbing game. Annika is growing like a weed and requires all the attention that a growing child requires. And Seth has been getting ready to leave. He departed Wednesday morning, and we departed Thursday afternoon. I'm at my folks' place right now, and I must say I am enjoying the forced "inactivity."

There are all kinds of things that I love about my parents' house, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera on my kitchen table, so you don't get to see any of those beloved things. No pictures of the harvesters or the laden grape vines. No pictures of Boo Boo gleaning her first apple. No pictures of Boo Boo pulling a toy cat out of the toybox and saying "Kitty." Those are on my cell phone, and I don't know how to get them off yet.

These pictures are of the end of summer, and they've been on my blog since August. Most of them are of us at Fort Flagler, a small state park on a government preserve in the middle of Hood Canal. Our church goes there for our annual campout, and since Seth was home this year, we went too.

This is our campsite. It poured buckets the first day and a half that we were there, but the trees kept us dry. The rest of our church was down by the beach where there are no trees. They got really wet. We just had to dry out our sleeping bags a little after the trip up. This is our beach, where the rest of the church was camped. Notice that the sky is blue, proof that even here the sun has to shine once in a while. Further proof, if you needed it. Seth took a number of sunset pictures while we were there.

Boo Boo discovered that she likes slides and staircases. She actually went down this slide herself once.

But most of the time she wanted help.

As the name suggests, Fort Flagler was once a military installation, and what is a military installation without big guns. The Fort saw action during WWI & II, and still has a some active duty people stationed in part of it, though most of the old housing is rented out to vacationers or used by scientists studying wildlife and water flow.

This is Seth pretending to be a WWI gunner.

This is Boo Boo looking at the geese in the observation pond. She was quite taken with the geese.

And finally a random Boo Boo picture. She set up these animals on the couch, and the opportunity was just too much to pass up. My little living doll. :)

Maybe next time I'll have some current pictures for you. :)