June Update

June is so much fun. This is my favorite age because she is constantly making new discoveries and doing new things. She'll be 16 months next week.

Communicating: June continues to use some basic sign language (please, thank you, more, milk). She also says some words: Hi, Bye, Mama, Dadda, Baby, Dog, Duck, More (that was just today), Yeah, Grandma/Grandpa, Walk, etc. In addition to communicating to us, it's amazing what she can understand. I feel like she really understands almost anything we say to her. It's quite wonderful!

Play: She is still a little dancer and is full of endless moves. June also enjoys singing. The latest is the chorus of Matilda the Gorilla ("Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh, Ah ah ah, Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh, Ah ah ah...). It's adorable. I can't wait until she gets those hand actions down.

June is pretty good at playing with other children her age. This is her friend Emma (dressed alike coincidentally). They give each other hugs, share treats and toys (and occasionally take each other's things as well)

June's favorite pastime is probably reading. Her favorite book: The Wheels on the Bus. It's on a high book shelf because it isn't a baby-friendly book. She walks to the shelf, points, signs "please," and whines until someone gets it and reads it to her or distracts her with something else. It is fun to read to her, but you are warned: you can't just read it to her once. I generally stop at 3. I've never tested how many times she would listen to it. Her attention span for that book seems endless.

She loves flap books...but has a problem ripping the flaps off. I'm very skilled with scissors and tape and the books are all surviving.

She eats most everything. Some days she is picky, other days she eats whatever we put in front of her. She eats a lot, but with her growing and running around, she seems to have chosen another growth curve (ie dropped in weight percentage last few appointments).

What else...she runs around and LOVES girly things. She puts on bracelets, necklaces, purses, scarves, rings, etc. She also loves to dress up and will try to put any piece of clothing she can find on her body. When Grandma Venita was visiting, June was pretty insistent on wearing a particular flowered skirt. I haven't gotten it out again, but the second she sees it she'll want to live in it again.

Grandma put her earring on June when she visited. June wanted them on constantly :)

And really this one's for me

I loved the wreath I made at a Relief SOciety activity. My mom always hung the Christmas cards she received in the mail and I've gladly continued the tradition  It is fun to see photos of family and friends throughout the season. I finally took the wreath/cards down 2 weeks ago. Sad to see it go...

Christmas 2012 Part 2 of 2

With the Calders

Huntsville is always beautiful (and cold!) in the winter. We enjoyed time there and in Ogden with Curt's maternal grandparents.

Check out those lashes (in the car on the way to Ogden to see Grandma and Grandpa Maw)

Playing with cousins Hadley & Trent. They came to visit from Boise.

Curt surprised his parents with this special gift. We bought a fresh reed and he pulled out his saxophone. He played them a few Christmas songs. I had actually never heard Curt play. After years in bands and symphonies and hearing many saxophones, I was absolutely impressed with Curts skill and, especially, tone. It had been at least 10 years since he played. If you didn't know, he was actually offered a music scholarship to the U after high school which he declined.

With lovely Aunt Candice!

Visiting Grandpa's chicken coop

June LOVED the animals (chickens, dog, horses)

Christmas 2012 Part 1 of 2

With the Gatrells

We spent about 2 weeks in Utah (VACATION!!). The first week we spent with my family in Salt Lake and the second week we spent with Curt's family in Huntsville.

Breakfast is always fun at Grandma's

June's cousins Josilyn and Kylie took very good care of her

The Nativity on Christmas Eve with the cousins. There are 15 now, and everyone was there.

Christmas morning with Grandma and the Lindbergs.

June's special present (IKEA pans)

June LOVES pianos

June learned to say "Grandma/Grandpa" (a form of it). This was thanks to great effort by Grandpa Calder. Grandma Venita was happy to reap the reward as well.

June, Grandma and I went with the Bryants to watch Brady's school program 

Finally made my yummy Swiss Christmas cookies

June's favorite toys at Grandma's: Drum, binoculars, cell phone, ornaments and rocking chair (inspiration for our recent IKEA purchase)

Christmas gift I made for Grandma Venita

Laughing Again

I love this girl's laugh. Curt started filming this after minutes of laughing. She just kept going. My favorite part is when her laugh is 'uncontrollable' from the gut.

Outings

On Wednesday June and I went on a Mommy-Daughter date.

We went to a local book store to see a puppet show of Rumpelstiltskin, based on Paul O Zelinsky's book. To our surprise, Paul was there. He wrote/illustrated a very well-known "Wheels on the Bus" book. I remember it from when I was younger and just had to buy it for June. He wrote her a cute note and signed it. The first night home she wanted Daddy to read it to her three times.

We ended our date at Jamba. YUM!

On Thursday Anette and I went on a field trip to IKEA. We took the water taxi there, had lunch and shopped. 

It was very, very hard to pry June from the children's furniture section. Part of the reason for this trip was actually to buy June a chair. She LOVED the mini chairs at her grandparents' homes in Utah.

We set the chair up at night and the next morning she went to it and sat in it like it had always belonged there. It so adorable!

Like Twins?

June loves her friend Paige. People usually ask if they're twins--they are only 6 weeks apart and have blonde hair/blue eyes. One day while Anette had an appt I took the girls out and about. It made me think mothers of twins are saints (my grandma, mother-in-law, etc.). It wasn't hard because the girls were both happy, fed and good; but I got a glimpse of how tough it could be.

No caption needed for this

June loves to give Paige hugs.

And for lunch one day, June decided to have fun with the noodles. I sometimes let her make a mess because I think it's healthy (for whatever reason). This time, however, I decided I would not let her make a mess with angel hair pasta again. It was so hard to get off of her clothes and the furniture/floor. Sure was fun though!

Finances

My sister-in-law, Candice, sent this to me and I just had to post it so someone else could get a good laugh (or gasp):

Lesson # 1:* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's now remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:

* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $38.50

Got It ?????

OK now,
Lesson # 2:

Here's another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:

Let's say, You come home from work and find
there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood....
and your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.
What do you think you should do ......

Raise the ceilings, or remove the poop?

Merry Christmas!

(click to see web version)

Dear Family & Friends,

We have had a year full of adventures and changes. That seems to be our theme every year.

We enjoyed traveling in Europe until we moved to New York City in August. Curt received a promotion and wonderful opportunity that was appealing enough to make us leave Geneva. We have been having a wonderful time in Manhattan. Allison continues to work from home for a medical company and June is the center of attention. June waves at everyone she sees--until they wave back. She also loves to dance, give hugs and accessorize. New York City is the perfect place for this little girl.

We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season. You can follow our adventures throughout the year at: http://calderco.blogspot.com

Love,

The Calders