Nathaniel was accepted to the Woodbury School of Business MBA program at
Utah Valley University for fall 2011. We are excited, but also not looking forward to no
weekends for most of the next 2 years. We are so proud of him and his hard work.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Fun
Anika's new helmet for her rides in our bike trailer.
We've gone grocery shopping with it a couple times now.
It is also a jogging stroller.
Mini golfing at Trafalga. We bought the Pass of All Passes and have gone mini golfing for free about 8 times so far. It has been so great to get out with Anika. It distracts her before bedtime.
We used to get one ball for her to hold. Now we prefer to get her two. But even then she still spends her time trying to get ours. She has at least three in this picture.
She used to fall a lot when she would go up and down the curbs; sometimes even when we were helping her. But now she is so good at stepping up and down the little curbs all by herself while holding her golf balls. Anika usually finds a rock or two while we are there. The rocks seem to find their way into her mouth.
We've been able to play Bocce Ball a few times too.
The set includes a small, yellow ball, which is called the pallino, but we like to call
it the golden snitch. We have a yellow golf ball that we bring out for Anika to
hold while we play so she can have her own golden snitch.
We are excited for warm weather so we can play outside some more!
Orem
We are just so happy and lucky to live such a short walk away from the library.
I have never a loved a library so much. Aside from books, movies, audiobooks, and CD's,
we can even check out games and toys from the PERC located in the library.
The library even bought a book for me.
We walk there a lot to return or pick up items on hold. I take Anika to laptime when we can,
but she is usually napping at that time. We go there a lot (especially when it is cold) to let her
run around and explore. They have fun displays and areas for kids, and there are a lot of books for Anika to pull off the shelves as quickly as she can (that usually means it is time to go home). There are some AMAZING stained-glass windows that depict well-known stories.
We have been to dozens of free concerts, several free classes (gardening, organizing,
parenting, marriage, more, and lots of others we have missed), and a series of visiting authors.
Our favorite presentation was from Brandon Mull.
On St. Patrick's Day we went to the library to see a Celtic band. We also went to their
Christmas concert. I love bagpipes! What a treat; and so close by!
We live right by the city center so we can easily attend the events there at the park.
Last summer we went to a Bike-to-Work Day breakfast and got some free stuff. We also live near
dozens of stores so Anika and I can walk to a lot of places, and I love it.
14 Months & 11 Days
There is always just so much going on with Anika...
We let her try to feed herself a time or two, and now I can hardly slip a bite in her mouth before she realizes that SHE wants to do it herself. There is no room for negotiating with this little girl. It isn't always convenient, and she isn't very good at it, but I guess that's why she needs to practice .
She is getting two more teeth in on the bottom (#7 & 8). She tries to put her shoes on by herself.
She won't let me put headbands, bows or clips in her hair. I can occasionally sneak the little ribbon bows on
from behind and then play a game where I pat her all over, including where the bow is to help it stay on.
from behind and then play a game where I pat her all over, including where the bow is to help it stay on.
After her bath once her pajamas are on, Anika will take my hand and lead me into her bedroom. I love it! Often when Anika wakes up (usually from a nap) I hear one little noise from her. I am not sure if she is
still awake or if she fell back to sleep. But then I hear the sound of her binkies hitting the monitor
(we slide it out from under her bed). When I go in, I usually find her standing in the crib, but her blanket, teddy bear, binkies, and sometimes even her socks are on the floor.
Anika is FINALLY starting to wave bye-bye regularly. She also can FINALLY sign "more."
Although she does it by clapping, and it usually means something more like, "I want that!"
She is doing pretty well with turning around at the top of the stairs to scoot down backwards.
She absolutely LOVES being outside. She always seems to think it is time to go outside.
When she is outside, she often runs away from our house and our car because
she just wants to go where she pleases.
Anika puts things in her mouth like this ALL the time. Then she just goes on about her business.
She doesn't like us to read to her as much anymore (hopefully it's just a phase). Sometimes she
will sit on the floor with a book and "read" it out loud while she turns the pages. So adorable!
Here is one of our latest baby-proofing attempts. It has worked really well, except that
Nathaniel has wanted one of the belts he donated to the project...
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Learn What Your Name Means Day
Just for fun :)
Hardman is an occupational name derived from herdsman.
Hardman is an occupational name derived from herdsman.
Nathaniel is a Hebrew name meaning "Gift of God" or "God has given."
George means "tiller of soil," "farmer," or "earthworker."
Lina had a lot of different meanings including illustrious, compassionate, delicate, pure,
palm tree, tender, and most commonly light. I guess I better work harder at living up to my name :)
Marie is a form of Mary. All I could find was "bitter" and "bitter sea."
Anika's name (a form of Anne) was most frequently connected with "grace" or "gracious."
I found a few other meanings such as "very beautiful" and "favour."
Mae is also a form of Mary. Again, all I could find was "bitter."
What does your name mean?
Thursday, March 3, 2011
About 13 3/4 months
I really don't know how I am going to keep up with this girl.
Here is some of what Anika has been doing lately.
She often grabs our hand and leads us to what she wants. It seems like it is almost always to the door,
her shoes or the stroller. The next most common thing is for her to lead us somewhere and
point to some object that is out of her reach... for a reason.
For quite some time now she has figured out to grab our arm in order to pull our hand to a
place where she can reach it. Then she'll take it and lead us somewhere or turn our hand around
so she can put something in it (most often a book).
For awhile she had a MAJOR necklace fetish. If she ever saw one of the necklaces, she immediately
picked it up and put it on. She wore them most of the day. It seems like I had to take them off 5-6 times
when I was going to put her down for a nap or give her a bath. Sometimes they got a bath too.
You may notice she is standing on the air vent. She likes to go over and do a little dance on it.
Here is Anika carrying one of my hand weights. She LOVES to lug them around. I usually exercise
when she is asleep, but if she is awake she tries to take the weight out of my hand.
Occasionally Anika does a little sideways shuffle or backwards walk.
She still likes to put things on her head. Although lately she likes to put things on her head so it covers her eyes and she can't see. Then she starts running and laughing. We've had a few close calls.
Anika's first love note from a boy at church.
Maybe one of the hardest things is that she has started climbing.
She climbed onto a box several times and has climbed onto the open dishwasher door a few times
(she would have done it a lot more if we hadn't stopped her so much).
Oh, and she figured out how to open this gate a few weeks ago.
Thankfully there is a little extra lock that she hasn't figured out yet.
She doesn't say many words. Maybe "dad" and "go." She has been doing a fun little whisper thing lately.
Anika likes to run away when I am about to get her dressed.
I keep finding the stereo on, but I can't hear anything - thanks to Anika turning the volume down.
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