Holy Girl

Francie finally got baptised this weekend! The snow stayed away! Katie (Mark's sister) is her godmother and Dan (our really good friend here in Portland) is her godfather. We thought it very appropriate that at lunch afterwards the two godparents ordered the "Diablo" Bloody Mary. I guess the responsibility drove them to drink. Mom wanted to make sure we got a picture of four generation of women in my family -- Gertie, Joanie, me (with the horrible tilted smile) and Francie.

NY Cousins

Mark's sister Katie, my sister Katie and her husband Brian and adorable kids Christian and Olivia were here visiting. SO FUN. We went on hikes, roasted marshmallows in our fire pit in the backyard, and had a great time. The adults even got to go out to a really good restaurant while Grandma and Papa babysat. AWESOME.

STOP

Now that Francie is all of over the place Henry is trying to find ways of "blocking her". He built an intricate "city" with his Lincoln Logs and was VERY worried about Francie knocking it over. So...he first made a barracade with his guitar and a puzzle. When she tackeled that, he thought of a new idea. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote "ST" and then asked how to spell "STOP".

He then taped it to his barracade, sure that this would be the final step needed to protect his creation. Francie tried to eat the sign.

Places to Go, Things to See

With a week of crawling under her belt, Francie is all over the place. She is now focused on bigger and better things....like pulling herself up. Tonight while cooking dinner she discovered the dishwasher. It's a whole new world!

8 Month Valentine

Our little sweetheart turned 8 months on Valentines day. Go Francie! Below is Henry at 8 months...we were in San Francisco for Christmas. Seems like decades ago!

Friendship Celebration

Henry's school had a "friendship celebration" to celebrate Valentines day. SO CUTE. The night before I realized that we had to make valentines...I am such a "rookie preschool mom"...so we made all 20 cards in one day. As you would expect, Henry wanted to make sure a number was on everyone's valentine.

My favorite was the card he made for his friend Oliver. Right on the front, in big font, the number "69". He was very proud of it...he said he likes the way the number looks. Lovely. Francie, as usual, enjoyed getting into all the classroom toys.

She is on the Move!!

Since Sunday Francie has been doing this interesting version of "downward dog" (She is such a Yogi). On Tuesday she crawled...of course when I was work...my mom was babysitting and said that she was just trying to get away from her. Today s he had a breakthrough and made it across the rug. Yahoo!

The only problem is that she has already destroyed three of Henry's car line ups.

I feel sibling wars coming on.....

She is also addicted to pulling herself up..and subsequently to pulling things down. I have a feeling she will be cruising along the couch soon. Oh Nelly.

Having two kids is about to get a bit tougher....but REALLY fun and exciting.

New Roomie

Big doings in the Reuland House. Grandpa Gordon's heart is not doing so well, so he has moved into our house. As you can see, Francie is thrilled with having another person to feed her. She is a bit like her mother, she will eat ANYTHING. The kids are very excited. When I told Henry that Grandpa would be moving in he hooted with joy......and then got a very nervous look on his face. After a few moments of intense thought Henry asked "Do we have to move out?". Poor kid. I guess the whole three houses in one year thing is making him a little anxious. Tonight he had movie night with Grandpa Gordon...including cookies. Yummy.