Vegas Vacation--Last Full Day

Our last full day in Vegas included our trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. We packed ourselves in the little car and headed to Arizona!

Hoover Dam was first, and isn't that far outside of Vegas. This was the one thing Sam really wanted to see on the trip, so he was glad we stopped in the morning on our way out. Anne was asleep in the car when we got there, so Sam, Sarah, and I went exploring while Nana stayed with Anne.

Hubby and wife enjoying vacation! We are very far above that water!

Sam and Sarah in front of the giant suspension bridge that is being built across the dam. In the future you won't drive on the dam, you'll be able to bypass it all together. It is very unnerving to look at a giant unfinished bridge that drops off into nowhere...

P.S. See my coffee cup sitting dangerously close to the edge? Don't jump! I need you!

Tourist nerds, holding hands across the state line.
Post 9/11 security measures: Look out for shady men in trench coats!


We drove and drove and drove through the barren wasteland known as Arizona (love ya, John McCain!). Rest stops are few and far between, and actual organized towns are hard to find. We did stop for snacks at one point and Annie scooted around the teepee they had outside.

After many naps, snacks, and songs to entertain Anne, we made it to the canyon. It was cold there! The elevation and lower-than-average temps made for a chilly day. Even so, we had a very nice time. There were tons of people there--amazing how one of the country's most popular national parks has nowhere for people to park their cars! Are you not expecting a lot of people here every day? Pave a lot, for cryin' out loud!

The fam at the canyon. This was almost the Christmas card picture, but Annie is all squinty.
More canyon. It's a big hole in the earth.

Anne tries on a ranger hat in the gift shop. She really wanted a wooden snake toy, but I didn't want that creepy thing in my house!The ride home was a bit tougher on Anne than the ride out there. I think we'll all remember the highly-realistic animal noises Sam made during the family chorus of "Old McDonald" Anne eventually gave up on our bizarre behavior and went to sleep.

We got back to the resort around 10:00 and everyone came to our room to say goodbye. Anne was awake until 11:00 (!) and Sam and I stayed up until 1:00 packing and organizing our things. Our flight home was at 7:30, so we were up again by 5:00 to pack up and head out.

We had a pretty good flight home--things ran on time and we got all of our luggage. Anne was a bit more pleasant than on the trip out there, but she didn't sleep. And in a true and genuine answer to prayer, we had an empty seat in our row! It was one of only 1 or 2 empty seats on the whole flight--we kept hoping as people came in that they wouldn't sit by us (they probably didn't want to!) We made it back to Minnesota and were so happy to be home! Opa came to pick us up at the airport and Anne was asleep in the car before we even got back out to the freeway. All in all it was a great trip with lots of good family bonding time.

Links for later

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Weekly Word Wows and Messy Hair

Let's start with the hair: It is all over the place! Anne's head is full of wispy blonde hair that has no direction in life. It's getting kind of long and shaggy, but certainly not long enough to cut or shape into anything. I don't quite know what to do with it--it just sticks out all over and gets poofy in the back. Any ideas, moms of girls?
Lookin' too cute in my church clothes...

Anne now says "pizza" and "snack." Apparently she likes pizza (pee-sah!) and wants it at all times. She'll also stand by the pantry and say "Nah, nah!" which means "snack, snack!" This kid wants to eat all the time! It's hard to know when to say yes and when she's bluffing--I guess I can give her some veggies and if she's really hungry she'll eat them :)

She's also resurrected her ability to answer "What does a cat say?" She used to do it, forgot how, and is now back on track. A cat says "Mow."

It is quite fun now because she will try to repeat anything you say to her. She doesn't get all of the sounds, but she's trying! She a walking talking machine!

I may be jinxing myself by writing this, but my baby does not stand or sit up in the crib. She's known how to get from her back to her seat for some time, and now she can stand up, but she's never done it in bed. She's probably the only 15 month old baby who still has her crib mattress at the highest setting! (Don't worry--it isn't that high) It is weird that she'll lay in there on her back, simply waiting for someone to come and pick her up. 95% of the time she wakes up peacefully--you hear her talking to herself or kicking her legs and know that she's awake. But she won't roll over and sit up or try to stand. Weird-o-rama. I tend to think she just really likes her crib and likes to sleep in there, which then makes me think we might have some trouble when she needs to move to a toddler bed. I'll be asking for that advice when it becomes necessary.

Mobility!

Well, folks, she did it. She stood up all on her own in the middle of the floor. By all accounts and definitions, she is officially walking now. We had suspicions that she could do this, but we hadn't actually seen it happen, but now we have video proof. Way to go, Anne!

Language Update

Even more words coming out of this girl!

Duck
Cow (Caaahh)
What does a cow say? "Mmmmmm" (Yeah, that's what we say when we eat a cow!)
Mommy (she'll do it, but she doesn't do it often!)
She also knows where her tummy is

This morning while getting ready she was yakking away--"Oma, Oma, Opa. Nana, Nana, Annie, Annie. Puppy, Daddy." I laugh at her inflection; her voice always goes up at the end of a word. Everything sounds like "Pup-EEE" or "Oh-MAH" or "Ann-EE" The only exception is "Opa" which she says in a covert-spy voice, almost a whisper: "Oh-paah.."

She also signs for "eat" now. To do so you gather your fingers together and tap your lips. As soon as she's out of bed she does it. Taps her lips, rubs her chest to sign "please" and says "Eeee, peees" That's "Eat, please" for those of you not fluent in Toddler. I always tell her "Diaper first, then milk" and then she'll furiously sign "Milk" while I get her dressed. It is fun to have her communicate so much--it makes life easier instead of having her randomly cry! Plus we are working on manners--it's never too early.

One more story...

...about our Thanksgiving day.

Sarah and I were walking out of Excalibur towards the car and we passed another mom with a stroller. She had a little boy who was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and pants. They step outside and she says "Jesus, it is freezing out here! Where is his jacket?" and proceeds to put a jacket on this kid, put the hood up and zip him in. I look down at my baby who is wearing a little cotton dress and has BARE LEGS and just kind of laugh. Temperature is all relative, I guess, but you have to be pretty weak to call mid-60s "freezing"

This reminds me of a story my dad likes to tell. He used to work with lots of businesses in California, and often had to small-talk about weather with people. He had a guy ask him once "So, when you say '10 below' you mean 10 degrees below freezing, right?" Um, no, we call that "22 degrees." At 10-below, water froze 42 degrees ago. Apparently living in CA means you don't understand negative numbers.

That said, the high today is a balmy 20 degrees. Heat wave!

Vegas Thanksgiving

Thursday in Vegas was a fun day. We started out in the pool (!) for fun. It was kind of chilly, but we wanted to say that we had been swimming outside on Thanksgiving. Good thing the pool was heated. Anne loves to swim and had a good time with her Daddy.


We had lunch with all of the family at Excalibur. It was very nice and we had a good time. I got a little crabby because Anne wouldn't eat and was tossing all of her food on the floor, but she wasn't screaming or anything. I thought she was being SO naughty and Hilary looked over and said "She's being so good!" Perspective, people. Sometimes I need to get some.

Like a good little historian I made sure to get a picture of Anne with each family group. Here they are!

This is Sam's grandma Diane (Bubbe) and uncle Marc. One of my favorite memories of this trip was Bubbe calling Annie "Cookie" It was so cute!
Harriet's sister Libi, her husband Dave, their kids Dani and Matt, and Matt's wife, Megan.

Uncle Ben, Hilary, Louis, and Thomas
Auntie Mich and Uncle Chad

It is freaky to me how much these siblings all look alike! No question about who is related by blood!

Thursday concluded with a stroll through New York, New York, a poker tournament in Libi and Dave's suite (Nana won!) and a nighttime visit to the Strip. We watched the fountains at the Bellagio, did some shopping with Matt and Megan, and saw the Freemont Street "Experience". It was by far our busiest day, but quite enjoyable. Anne was such a trooper through the whole thing, just relaxing in her stroller and charming total strangers.

Playing at Oma's

Anne decided to wear the little backpack at daycare today. She's too cute. We caused quite a stir this morning because Anne had a barrette in her hair. Nic said "Annie has a flower!!" and Lucy said "Annie has a bow in her hair!" It was a pretty big deal to the 3-and-under set.

We are ready for Daddy to come home. Mommy is tired of singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and changing all the diapers. I had kind of a freakout last night when Anne woke up at 3 am and when I got up was super dizzy and hot. She ended up crying in the crib while I was "driving the porcelain bus," if you get my drift. (Or having the "technicolor yawn, as Opa calls it.) It was just so scary to think "Okay, I'm the only adult here and I'm incapacitated. What do I do if I can't get up and walk? Who do I call?" Not fun. All was well, but I wouldn't want to do it again.

Our school week went like this: Monday, early out. Tuesday, late start. Thursday, no school. Friday, late start. I'm pretty sure the only 2 districts in the state to have school yesterday were the one I student taught in and the one I used to work in! Sorry to my friends in Anoka-Hennepin and #196. You just can't catch a break, can you? Sometimes it's good to work in the small, rural district...

More new words (and some cute pictures, too)

Here's baby Anne in her Wild jersey, having a grand old time. She especially loves to pound on the piano. I hope its out-of-tune-ness doesn't damage her musical ear!
Thanks for my sweater, Opa! I'm just like Mikko Koivu--blonde and adorable.

Anne has even more words than the list I posted 9 days ago. She says "uh-oh"when something happens and "uh-huh" when you ask her questions. As in, "Anne, are you hungry?" "Uh-huh". This morning she dropped her blankie in the garage and said "Uh-oh, deedee, uh-oh!" I totally knew what she meant, which was great. She did say "Hi Mama" one time at home, and apparently she says it at daycare when she plays with the phone. It's always funny how she holds the phone behind her head, not exactly on her ear. She's working on saying "diaper" (sounds like bye-buh) and generally babbles all the time. As soon as I get her out of the crib in the morning she signs for "milk" and "more" while I get her dressed. Apparently she is hungry in the morning! She also screams "Oh-MA!?!?" when I lay her snowsuit down to put it on, as in "Are we going to Oma's now?!?!" Smart cookie, my baby.

She's very close to being able to stand up on her own--Oma has been watching the progress each day. It would be awesome if she could stand on her own; right now she whines and cries for someone to help her stand, and that is getting old. Come on, baby, be independent in some way!

New Videos

Here's Anne on her pony with Auntie Erin doing the video. That's the kind of babysitting service we like--make a movie while you're there!


Anne's newest trick: Touchdown! Sam started the training and Opa took it over when Sam left, and yesterday her mastery was demonstrated. Daddy will be so proud.

Vegas Vacation--Day 2

Okay, so our trip was over a long time ago, but I never did tell all about the things we did. Day One has been blogged, as well as some video, which you can find in the November archives.

Our second day in Vegas was Wednesday, and it was a nice, easy day. Sam had a date to golf with Dave and Matt. They almost didn't go, because the temp was going to be "low" (the Floridians get worried when it dips below 60--we love you anyway!) They braved the "cold" and went out and had a good time. Sam won, but only by a shot or two. While he golfed Sarah and I took the shuttle downtown and wandered the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. I enjoyed having a break from Anne and some adult conversation. We decided that Sarah and I should decide all fashion trends (no neon!) and that gelato is 100 times better than regular ice cream.

That night we went back downtown to the Mirage to have dinner. They have a Carnegie Deli there, which is kind of a Jewish deli in New York. They're famous for their giant sandwiches, "Jew food," and cheesecake. Auntie Mich and Chad joined the Westphall branch for dinner. Sam ordered a huge sandwich, as did Nana, and we all tried knish for the first time. It is delicious, by the way--think mashed potatoes wrapped in puff pastry and baked. Here are our photos from that night.

Mom, Mom, cheesecake, please!
Yeah, can we get a box now? We're gonna need it.

Happy baby with her pickle...

Wait a minute, this thing is gross!

Some more Christmas re-cap

Here's our little family on Christmas Eve. I showed this picture to my friend Emily at work and she said "Hey, that was Valerie's Christmas dress, too!" Her daughter had the same dress and we both bought it for the same reason: it has long sleeves. There are so many cute dresses out there, but they all have short sleeves on them. Hello, it is for wearing on the 25th of DECEMBER! Cousin Emma always manages to have cute Christmas dresses that have the attached cardigan, so we might have to look for one of those next year.
Aah, the couch picture. Every year Mom has us sit on the couch in a line and takes our picture. It used to fit the 4 of us quite nicely, but now Sam and Annie are there, too. I was smooshed on the end between hubby and sister. Todd, I don't know where you are going to sit next year...better start a diet!
L-R: William (age 20), Travis (26), Erin (22), Corrie (25), Anne (1), and Sam (24)

Oranges!

Not, the fruit, but the redheads!

This is especially for Ginger and Robyn, one who has red hair and one who wants her kids to have her husband's red hair.

http://www.littleredheadsacrossamerica.com/

This is a site for a book by a mom of a redheaded son. She took pictures of red-heads all over the country and shares lots of fun facts and myths about people with red hair (we're not all Irish!)

Some lighthearted fun for Wednesday afternoon. :)

Doctor Day

Anne had her 15-month checkup today, and here's the rundown:

Weight: 24 lbs, 14 oz (70th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (90th percentile)

Head size: off the charts (again!)

She got two shots, one in each leg, and was kind of unpleasant through the whole thing. She didn't want the doctor to look in her ears, mouth, or nose and kept pushing away his hands when he tried to listen to her heart. I hate having to hold her down while she cries and he checks her out, but I hate that she can't just relax and let him do it! He seemed impressed with her talking and was glad she was walking around the room. Overall she is fine, just like we like it!

Christmas Photos are Up

Oma uploaded the Christmas pictures to Photobucket. Bad mom that I am, I let everyone else take pictures of her and just enjoyed myself at our various functions. If you watch the video you can see Anne answer the question "Where is hockey?" Too cute.

Above is Anne in her very own official Wild jersey with her "Boogie Bear" The bear has a Derek Boogaard jersey on--Mom and Dad's favorite NHL goon. Her jersey is so cute; it is cut like a real jersey with the longer tail on the back, the size patch on the front (her size? INF.), and the Reebok logo on the back. It's all very accurate. Thanks, Opa!

FIFTEEN months!!!

Are you serious? My baby is not only 1 year old, but she's been 1 year old for three months already? This is getting crazy.

All vacation I was thinking "I must make a list of Anne's words." She's been talking so much lately and I want to make some sort of record of what she can say at 15 months. So here it is:

Daddy
Dad
doggie
kitty
puppy
hi
Hi Daddy
Opa
Oma
OmaOpa (one word)
Bye
Bye Daddy
more (sign only)
please (sign and speak)
milk (sign only)
baa-baa (she means "sheep")
monkey (pronounced "nuntee")
ball

Words she has said once or twice:
Mama
Nana
Don (Sam's boss)
Maddy
Gracie
Todd
Nathan
book
hockey

Word I don't know
"pit-tee" Pretty? I don't know. She said it 6 or 7 times last night, and this morning it was "Oma pit-tee" So Oma, Anne thinks you're pretty (I think).

Her blanket is "dee-dee" though we don't ever call it that. We just say "blankie"

She also can point to her toes, mouth, and ears and will point to your nose when asked where hers is. She'll also point to the buckle on her booster seat when she's done eating and point to her diaper when it is dirty (and always looks surprised/concerned about it)

Sam taught her how to "tickle" people, so if you're holding her and she puts both of her hands under your chin, you're supposed to giggle and tell her it tickles. She'll laugh, you'll laugh, it will be great fun.

Anne will occasionally indulge us in a hug or kiss, which is very sweet when she chooses to do it. She leans in with her head or cheek and lets you hug or kiss her. Very nice.

In motor-skill news, she's walking all over the place. She still can't pull herself up, which is frustrating to everyone, but when she's up she's up. She's good at catching her balance and using the walls and furniture to get from one place to another. Teresa, I'm remembering how you described Luke as "Destruct-O" back around Halloween, because that's Anne right now! Pull the books down, dump out the toys, rummage through the baskets, knock down the blocks. I'm constantly chasing and cleaning up the mess. As Oma says "She's good enough on her feet to start using her hands!" Her favorite thing to walk and touch is the piano, which makes such nice noise!

So that's the 15-month recap. She's pretty much the most awesome baby ever.

Some Random Pictures

Anne rides on Dad's shoulders. That's almost 7 feet tall!
Anne falls down and her parents laugh and take a picture before helping her...

Anne gets a turtleneck stuck on her head

Anne drinks a fruit cocktail

Vacation Update

I know, it has been a long time without any blog posts. Sorry! I have been enjoying our long break from school and trying to relax. Here's the recap of our holiday events:

Dec. 23rd. Last day of school. Everyone was antsy to leave by 3:00, teachers and students alike. When the clock hit 3:30 I was out the door!

Dec. 24th. I shockingly had some last-minute shopping to do, so I ventured out to a few places to get a few things. Our afternoon was weird--Sam was waiting for information on whether or not he would have to work the next day and we were trying to orchestrate 4:00 church and 4:00 nap time. In the meantime, a stray dog wandered into our yard. We coaxed it into our garage and called the vet number on its tags. Sam left a message, we left for church, and the dog stayed in the garage. Christmas Eve is always a bummer service for me because I end up sitting alone. Mom, Erin, and Sam were all in the choir and Dad and Will were ushering, so Anne and I sat in the back row. I tried to keep her with me because I knew she was tired and I didn't want her freaking out in the nursery, ruining someone's Christmas. I tried to keep her quiet and happy, but it wasn't gonna happen. About halfway through I was tired of wrangling her wiggly body and trying to appease her with any little toy or snack, so I plopped her in the nursery with everyone else! I always feel bad when I do that--some moms stay and kind of explain what their kid likes and what they might want to play, etc. I basically toss her over the little door and say "See ya!" She was fine, but the worker commented when I picked her up that she looked very tired. Um, yeah, naptime was an hour ago.

So off we went to my parents' house for the traditional Droogsma Christmas Eve. This involves dinner and the opening of gifts with my parents and siblings and the annual photo of the 4 of us on the couch. Anne went to sleep when we got there and we tried to help get dinner ready. This is always the longest part of the evening--we're all hungry and waiting for potatoes to boil or the grill to heat (yes, Florida relatives, we grill on Christmas, cold be damned!) So we waited and peeled potatoes and waited and ate cookies and waited and "opened" our stockings (we all got socks!) and Sam grilled the steaks and we ate! Then it's the rush to load the dishwasher and open presents. Mom gets more help in the kitchen on that night than any other night of the year. Even though we kids range in age from 20-26, we still like to open the presents and watch the "Yule Log" on tv. A good time was had by all and Anne was a good sport. She got many nice gifts, including her own Wild jersey from Opa. Adorable pictures will follow soon.

We tried to do the right thing with the stray dog and find its owner, but the vet couldn't track anything down until the next day and when Sam went to put the dog in the yard to potty it ran away again. Lesson: put proper tags on your dog. Hopefully if Mikey ever got really far from home someone would try to help and call us.

Dec. 25th. Since this day was a Thursday and Sam works on Thursdays, he got up early and went to work. He had 3 jobs to do that day and ended up working for 14 hours! He gets holiday pay, so he'll get paid for 24 total hours, but it really wasn't worth missing the whole day with his family. Anne and I drove to my grandma's in Minnetonka to see our extended family. Some of my cousins spend this day with their in-laws, so the whole crew wasn't there, but we still had a good time. We had awesome brunch food and opened presents. Anne got to spend some time with "cousin" Emma, who is just about 1 year older than she is. It is fun to see what Anne will be like next Christmas!

Fast forward to Dec. 30th. We spent this day with Sam's dad and stepmom and step-siblings at their new house. Auntie Sarah and Uncle Ben came with us, so we all piled in the Jeep and made the long snowy drive to their place in Brownton. We had a good time there, too, and Anne really enjoyed Grandpa's dog, Babe, who likes to jump and kiss!

Dec. 31st. Sam has yucky stomach bug and stays home from work. We finally get around to giving Anne her "Santa" presents (!!!!) She got 2 new books, some shape and color flash cards, and a "popcorn" push toy from Ikea, which she loves. We did stay up until 12 to ring in 2009, but Sam felt yucky still and so did I, so we were in bed by 12:30.

Jan. 1st. Corrie has yucky stomach bug and stays home (of course). Annie and I played the day away and I drank lots of ginger ale. My dad called late in the evening and said "Hey, bring the baby over." Turns out they hadn't seen Annie in 6 days! It was cold and I am lazy, so we decided Anne could go to daycare the next day.

Jan. 2nd. Anne went to Oma's for the morning and I did things I can't easily do with her around the house. Anne hates the vacuum for some reason, so we get creative with how to do it. So I vacuumed, washed and replaced our couch slipcovers, did the dishes, folded laundry, etc. I also went to Target for groceries and discounted Christmas merchandise. Erin came over that evening to hang out a little and we discussed many important wedding-related things.

So that's our vacation in a nutshell. Tomorrow is church and a wedding-planning trip to Woodbury, then it is back to work on Monday. Oh, and did I mention? Sam is leaving to work in North Dakota for 17 days. He's leaving Monday. He'll be gone the 5th through the 21st. It is a good chance for him to work a lot and earn a lot, but that's a LONG time to play single mom. It is funny, because the day after he gets back is the last day of the semester at school, so I have 2 simultaneous countdowns going on. As if the month of January isn't long and dreary enough on its own... :( So I'll probably be much better about posting each day so Sam can see what we're up to (oh yeah, apparently in ND Verizon has a 60% service rate, and his Sprint/Nextel phone is even worse, so we may not speak often) Lame!

We hope you all had a merry Christmas and a safe New Year celebration. From what I gather, most people were ready to see 2008 end and have high hopes for 2009. It will be quite a year for our family, I'm sure.