Wickland Family Blog

It's not fair

2011-12-29T17:50:00.002-07:00

Eliana laid on a thick layer of guilt this morning when I said I was headed to work. She said she wanted to play with me. She said it wasn't fair that I had to go to work.

I took that as an opportunity for a teachable moment to Socratically point out that everything that she was wearing and all the toys around her were paid for with money I earned by going to work.

It worked surprisingly well. In the end she agreed that I should go to work.

Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh!!

2011-12-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

That's how Eliana sings it, anyway. She gets going with the Jingle Bells and the Hey! and she just can't seem to get that other part down! I don't know how many times on Sunday we heard (over and over and over)....

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!

I think you get the picture... But she really does like to ride in a one horse open sleigh, er... stroller, and here are the pictures to prove it...

From Holiday Fun

"Giddyup, reindeer!" She says, pretending to be Santa.

From Holiday Fun

Yes, oh how it is so fun to ride in sleigh like that!

Our House in Winter

2011-12-20T15:11:00.003-07:00

My parents are here visiting for the holidays. The other day my dad got a picture of our house in the snow and I think it's one of the best pictures we've gotten of our house. Since there has been such a dearth of house pictures on our blog and we've been in the house for nearly a year now, I figured it would be best if I shared...

Ice Skating

2011-12-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we saw folks out playing on the frozen pond in front of our house. Since it's Bozeman, of course one person was playing fetch with their dog. Another group was practicing hockey. One of our neighbors cleared the snow off off a wonderfully large ice rink and was out skating with his young kids. That was too good of an outdoor, close-to-home winter activity to pass up.

Ellie and I went to the used sporting goods store and picked up ice skates for the whole family. After an initially wobbly start, Ellie skated gleefully from after dinner until well after her bedtime. Her favorite technique was to build up speed on the ice that had been cleared of snow and then dive into the snow bank at the edge.

(You can see our house in the background over Eliana's shoulder.)

I look forward to spending a lot more time on the pond as a family this winter.

Own Goal

2011-12-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

I had been planning to take Ellie out for a donut breakfast date this morning before taking her up to Hyalite to play in the snow. When she woke up and groggily came to the dining room where I was leisurely enjoying a cup of coffee, I excitedly suggested we go out for donuts. She said she was hungry. I reiterated that we should go out for donuts. Again she replied that she was hungry. Patiently I replied to the apparently very sleepy child that we should go get a breakfast of pastries. Indulgently she explained to apparently quite dimwitted father that she was hungry and that she "should have some real food first," which is precisely the phrasing her parents use when she asks for treat-like foods at meal time. I was foiled by my own attempts to inculcate good eating habits.

December 1st.... Happy Holidays!!

2011-12-01T20:52:00.001-07:00

Today Eliana and I celebrated the start of December by decorating the gingerbread house!! My job was to put the frosting on, hers was to put the candy on. Kindergarten certainly made its mark this year... Eliana put "A-B" patterns everywhere on the house!! We even got an "A-B-C-B" pattern going once!! We had a great time together! Hopefully we will have some more fun activities all month long together!

From Deck the Halls

The Entertainer

2011-11-28T14:24:00.001-07:00

The other day we had Ben and Cathy and their two daughters over for dinner. Eliana found that dropping things made baby Ruby laugh, so she spent a good part of her evening doing this.... Entertaining Ruby and entertaining us all!

From Nov 28, 2011

Deck the Halls....

2011-11-28T14:04:00.001-07:00

Our halls have been decked. Woohoo!

From Deck the Halls

Fa la la la la.... la la la la!!

Overheard

2011-11-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Eliana: "Ow! I bit my tongue."
Me: "You did?"
Eliana: "Yeah. I bit it while I was cackling." Exit living room left skipping merrily

First Snow!

2011-11-06T12:49:00.004-07:00

Yesterday Bozeman received its first sticking snow of the year. Eliana was jazzed. First we put on her skis and slid down the steepest part of our yard, which is flat enough that she needs a push to get started. We had just picked up her skis and helmet the night before, so the snow was perfectly timed. Then we went to a park which has a good sized hill. We sledded for quite a while and then decided to try some more skiing.

We had the hill to ourselves, which I thought was weird, since normally a sunny weekend day with fresh snow results in hoards of families throwing themselves down the slopes. It all made more sense when I found out that yesterday was the annual ski swap which is a giant magnet for snow-crazed, child-raising Bozemanites. Imagine a Black-Friday-like event for warehouses full of used ski gear, with an emphasis on gear for kids.

When we went skiing at the same place today, the hill was a madhouse. We struggled to find a place Eliana could practice without getting run over by the teenagers on a giant innertube and without smooshing a toddler at the bottom. Eventually we found a particularly weedy spot that the sledders had scorned. From there she happily made runs down until she was worn out.

They're different

2011-11-04T13:19:00.004-06:00

Elizabeth left dark and early this morning to drive to a Mary Kay shindig in Seattle. She left the following note on the table. Eliana read it nearly by herself while eating breakfast this morning. Her biggest struggle was recognizing the uppercase cursive letter "I". They haven't gotten to that in kindergarten yet.

After she finished reading the note and the meaning had sunk in, Eliana sniffed a little bit and said something like, "She said she loves me twice. She loves me so much. That's so sad."

I don't think I'll ever understand girls.

Eliana made the news!!

2011-11-01T09:51:00.002-06:00

Eliana made the evening news last night!! (So did Cheryl Sheedy, my Mary Kay Director... you can see her in this clip, too.)

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-10-31T22:29:00.000-06:00

From Instant Upload

There are plenty of times when "angel" is not the term I would use to describe Eliana. But today was not one of those days. A package arrived on our doorstep on Saturday; in it was Eliana's Halloween costume, compliments of Uncle Robert. Today it made its debut.

Today, Eliana was an angel.

After she got her hair done, curled, and glittered, got her face made up all sparkly, donned her angel dress, halo, and wings, I took some pictures. I'm her mom. It's my job. (Her dad's job, by the way, is to take her door-to-door on this particular night every year.) So here are some pictures...

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(Check out the wing span! She took out more than a few kids with those babies today.)

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(Check out the detail in those wings!! - and ignore the ugly box in the background...)

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Yep, she's an angel.

The festivities started in Downtown Bozeman, where we went trick-or-treating before passing out some candy of our own with some other Mary Kay consultants. Downtown is a madhouse on Halloween, but if you start trick-or-treating at 3, when it officially starts, it's much easier to navigate without the crowds!

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Eliana wanted to talk to everyone, and she got complimented on her angel wings everywhere we turned. She had random people on the street taking pictures of her. She even got interviewed for the evening news.

Here's what she came home with...

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After spending some time downtown, we came home, had some dinner, handed out some candy to the neighborhood kids, and then Leif and Eliana headed out to make the circuit around the neighborhood. After a while, they came home with this...

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... A pile of candy and a one tired girl.

We separated out the milk-candy from the candy Eliana can eat, then she picked one candy to eat before bed. Oddly enough, she chose the one package of fruit snacks she got as her candy for tonight.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

She got to drive the tractor!!

2011-10-31T08:27:00.005-06:00

Do you see who's driving the tractor for our hayride at Rocky Creek?? It's Eliana!! She was thrilled to get to drive for part of the time!And... when her turn was over, she put in a good word for her friend Jaedyn, who got to go next thanks to Eliana's input!
(That's the guy saying... "Which one is your friend who wants to go next?")

Rocky Creek Farm

2011-10-21T10:16:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Eliana and I went with our friends Kristiina and Jaedyn to Rocky Creek Farm for the afternoon! As I'm going through the pictures I'm realizing that there will have to be a few posts since we have so many pictures from the day, but here are some of my favorite shots!!We love going to Rocky Creek!! More posts to come, including... the pig pen, the tire swings, the pumpkin patch, and maybe even more!

Happy Fall

2011-10-19T12:08:00.002-06:00

We stopped to snap a picture while walking home from school today. After a quick lunch we are headed to Rocky Creek Farm for the afternoon. Happy Fall!!

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Dentist Day!

2011-10-18T19:05:00.000-06:00

Today was dentist day for our family. Some families don't like dentist day, but in our family WE LOVE IT! In fact, Eliana begs to go to the dentist sometimes. She loves it!Today was an extra special visit for her, because she got to have her first ever dental x-rays!

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Wearing the "apron"...

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"Bite down on this..."

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Now for the fun part...!

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Agh!! What happened?? (hee hee hee)

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Let's see how well she brushes...

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Not too bad!

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Getting those pearly whites all, well, PEARLY!

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The best part of the whole visit was getting to see Eliana's teeth in the x-ray. In fact, when she saw the images, she asked the hygenist, "Wait... did you take pictures inside my gums??" Yes, Ellie, yes she did.

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(Top teeth... notice the top teeth forming above the visible ones, getting ready to come through in the next few years!)

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(Bottom teeth... again, with adult teeth below the surface. How cool is that to see?!)6 months and we will get to have dentist day again. It's always a fun day for us!

House and Home Threatened

2011-10-16T20:06:00.000-06:00

My 5 year old just ate me under the table. We split a pizza. I ate 3 pieces; she ate 5. I'm stuffed. She wants more. Implausibe but true.

Family Tree

2011-10-14T12:50:00.003-06:00

Eliana brought home her family tree project last week, so I thought I'd share it!

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This is the front of the folder. Eliana informed me that she drew herself at the base of the tree, eating an apple. =D

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When you open it up, here's what you find... The family tree, complete with family member apples, and information sheets for members of the maternal and paternal sides of the family. Here are her maternal grandparents...

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And her paternal grandparents...

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Then on the back of folder is Eliana's immediate family... Including her!

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Here's how she pictures herself...

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And us!

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I thought it was a fun project! One of the things I appreciate about Mrs. Miller is that she does projects with the kids instead of sending home coloring/activity pages ad nauseum. They work on projects and then bring home a project every week or two. Much easier to keep track of and I think much more interactive for the kids!

The hat girl...

2011-10-13T18:32:00.001-06:00

From Instant Upload

Chilly Fall Mornings...

2011-10-11T09:11:00.001-06:00

From Instant Upload

Eliana riding her bike to school on a chilly fall morning. We can definitely feel the seasons changing and FALL IS HERE!! Crisp air, snow on the mountains, and changing leaves!

Leave it to beaver...

2011-10-10T14:39:00.000-06:00

The other morning I was snuggling with Eliana and she informed me that she was NOT my pillow. Feeling silly, I said, "No, you're my PILLOW PET!!" She held up her hands, splayed her fingers, and said, "Do these LOOK like hooves to you?" I replied, "No, they look like PHALANGES!" Indignantly, she said, "I'M NOT A BEAVER!!"

Whaaaa? Who knows. We got a good laugh out of it, though.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

2011-10-09T14:37:00.000-06:00

From Instant Upload

I'm not sure this post needs any words. What beautiful things the rain brings!

Recitation

2011-10-07T14:01:00.002-06:00

Today was the first of several recitations that the Petra elementary students have. Recitation is a time for the students to practice speaking in front of a group, sitting politely while others are presenting, and giving the parents a glimpse into some of what the students are learning in class. Of course, being a kindergarten parent, I videoed the kindergarten presentation. Enjoy!

House Tour: The MUD HALL

2011-10-06T09:42:00.001-06:00

Some people have entryways. Some people have mudrooms. We have a mud hall. It isn't visible from most of the house, which is a nice change from our last place, and it gives us a place to stash shoes, coats, and bags when we come in from the car. This is what our mud hall looks like when you walk in from the garage...

From New House

We have a place to hang coats and bags, and a place to stash shoes, and even bins to hold hats and gloves and various other items.

From New House

Our shoes usually just go wherever and we each have a bin for other items. It's nice!

From New House

And right around the corner is a full bathroom with a shower in case you need to clean up actual mud. But that will have to wait for another post.

House Tour: The TUPE.

2011-10-04T21:40:00.001-06:00

It occurs to me that unless you have actually been to our house, you haven't seen what the inside really looks like yet. The virtual tour will probably take a long time in the posting, but I can at least start the process with one of Eliana's favorite places: The TUPE.

What is a tupe, you ask? Well, it's the place under the stairs that we have turned into a play place for Eliana. Currently it is Barbie central.

The door in the hallway looks like it leads to a closet. Open it up, though, and here's what you see...

From New House

HELLO!!

From New House

Yes, it does go around the corner, and that is where Eliana likes to be.

From New House

It's quite a fun hideout for a 5 year old!

Learning to Knit

2011-10-01T09:04:00.000-06:00

Last night Eliana told me that she wanted to knit something, but she didn't know how. I told her I could teach her if she really wanted to learn. She did, so I set about teaching her the first part of knitting - casting on. It's simple enough that I think she can do that to her heart's content and I'll see if her attention span lasts long enough for me to teach her the next step. In any event, once she got the casting on down, she decided to be a knitter like the ones she saw in a book.

So she went and got a rocking chair. And then she got a blanket. And she sat, and she rocked, and she knitted.

From Instant Upload

Look who rode her bike to school today!!

2011-09-29T12:08:00.004-06:00

From Instant Upload

We are excited to have Petra moved into the new building, just a couple blocks from our house! We can now walk and/or ride bikes to school every day!

She's getting it

2011-09-25T17:05:00.001-06:00

Eliana and I rode my bike and the trailer bike to the coop for a date. We really like their bakery's bread, so we'll buy a baguette and spent a little time together gobbling it down. She prefers the soft bread from the insides and leaves the crusty bits for me.

While we were sitting here, she piped up and said, "They do have a restroom here!" That hardly seemed newsworthy enough for her exclaimation. Then I realized that she'd deduced this by reading a "restroom" sign across the store. I was impressed since the sign didn't have iconography, meaning she read the sign by herself. An eight letter word isn't too shabby for a kindergartener.

Mother / Daughter Love

2011-09-23T22:34:00.000-06:00

From Instant Upload

Fishing with Grandad

2011-09-22T10:43:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Leif's parents came out to Bozeman for my birthday. While they were here, Eliana and Grandad got to go fishing together. They were out at the pond for a couple hours and both seemed to have a good time!

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The first thing Eliana caught with her fishing pole was a duck. Or, as she tells it, a duck wing. Thankfully Grandad wrangled the duck and freed it from Ellie's fish hook. Oops!

The next thing Ellie caught was a fish, but he got off the hook before Eliana could reel him in.

The third time was the charm, though, because Eliana said she reeled really really fast and actually caught the fish! It was a little trout and she caught it all by herself. Go Ellie!

I don't know what luck Grandad had, but I know that he did catch a crayfish. Or, as Ellie says, a crayfish... that was a LOBSTER!

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Mostly, Eliana was big on the worms. She seemed to think they were funny to play with. When I came down to see what Ellie and Grandad were up to, she was very proud to show me the worm on her hook!

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All in all, I'd say they had a good time together.

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Cursive

2011-09-20T21:29:00.000-06:00

At Petra, the kids learn to write in cursive first. When I first heard that, I was surprised. Back in my day, we learned print first, and then cursive in 3rd grade. As Eliana's kindergarten teacher explained it, by learning cursive first, the kids grasp the idea of word spacing better (since each word is connected, then a space separates the words from each other) and letter reversals are greatly reduced (since b,d,p, and q don't look as similar in cursive, and they all have leading edges and connectors that keep them going the right way). Even understanding the reason behind it, I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be for Eliana to learn, especially since she had already learned print. It turns out, though, that she's doing okay with it.

So far she has learned the letters a,c,d,g,o, and t. It's fun to listen to her recite how to make the letters as she writes. It goes something like this... "Upward stroke, stop at the 2, clock face stroke, add a connector." - That's an a. For c, she says, "Upward stroke, stop at the 2, clock face stroke, stop at the 5, add a connector." And for g she says, "Upward stroke, stop at the 2, clock face stroke, go straight down, backwards loop, add a connector."

In class, I believe they are working on writing the letters and learning the sounds each letter makes. Tonight, however, when I asked Eliana to show Leif what she'd been learning at school, she had no problem putting the letters together to form words. Here are the 3 she wrote when Leif asked her to...

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And, yes, she did add smiley faces to each of the letters in dog. I'm pretty sure that was her own bit of pizzazz, not something they taught her in school. Still, not bad for the second week of kindergarten, eh?

I'm going to go explore.

2011-09-18T19:14:00.000-06:00

This morning Eliana came into my bedroom with a pair of binoculars and said, "I'm going to go explore." Then she opened the door to our deck and went out. She stood there looking at the ducks, the lady walking the three large dogs, and the mountains.

From Instant Upload

She's a kindergartener...

2011-09-13T22:25:00.001-06:00

From Kindergarten

This little girl is a kindergartener at Petra Academy this year. It's kind of hard to believe, but believe it or not, it's true. We have officially entered the world of school supplies and uniforms and Eliana is loving it.

People ask me how she's doing with kindergarten. She's great! People ask me how I'm doing with it. I'm great! The worst part about the first day of school was that I missed it. Well, I didn't really miss it so much as I was too sick to get out of bed. So the cuteness you see above? Yeah, it's re-created. Here's the real first day of school picture:

From Kindergarten

Much thanks to Leif for taking that for me!! We pretended that this Monday was her first day of school, I took my own arsenal of pictures to go with it...

From Kindergarten

We are excited for what this year holds and Eliana is excited to learn! When I asked her what she was most excited about in kindergarten, she told me "just learning!"

Resourcefulness

2011-09-12T14:55:00.002-06:00

Ellie built herself a little "beaver fort" out of cushions and pillows and wanted to write a sign that said "No Coming In The Beaver House" to keep people out.

(First off, let me just say... not even her first full week into school and suddenly she's wanting to write signs? Crazy.)

She wrote "no" with no problems, "coming" required a little help from me, and she got "in" on her own. The word "the" is a tricky one, and I asked if she remembered what made the sound "th". She said she didn't, then got a spark in her eye.

"These books over here will help me remember how to spell it." She ran to the bookshelf and pulled off one of the Chronicles of Narnia. "See this word here? (Pointing to THE Magician's Nephew) It's "the", so that's how you spell it."

I was pretty impressed with her resourcefulness. Way to go, kid.

Big Church

2011-09-11T15:16:00.002-06:00

This little girl...

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... sat all the way through "big people" church today, without a hitch! I am so proud of her!

Insight

2011-09-10T19:47:00.003-06:00

While we were camping at Lava Lake over Labor Day, Elizabeth took a picture of Eliana, sat down and said, "I'm trying to be better about blogging." Ellie responded with, "Blah, blah, blah... What's blogging?"

I think she inadvertently distilled the spirit of blogging.

You're Awesome!

2011-09-09T18:49:00.006-06:00

On Tuesday Elizabeth was feeling very badly, so I drove her to the doctor. She was having trouble walking, so I pushed her to the office in a wheelchair. In between, we needed to take a ride on an elevator.

Eliana wanted to push the call button, so she was in front of us when the door opened. When it opened, an elderly gentleman with a crutch slowly hobbled out. Once he was clear, Ellie ran in. I started to push Elizabeth in when the doors closed in front of us. She didn't feel well enough to kick out to keep the doors from closing and I didn't try to dive around the wheelchair. Instead the doors closed. As the elevator took away our five year old, we heard panicked screaming fading.

We were on the second floor. Elizabeth and I quickly rode the other car in the direction I thought Ellie's car went. When we got to the third floor, I popped out, look around, and saw no kiddo. I left Elizabeth sitting in the chair there and rode down to the first floor, then back to the second. Repeating the drill on both floors revealed no Eliana. I rode back to Elizabeth. She hadn't seen the daughter either.

After a little bit of discussion with a not entirely lucid Elizabeth, I decided to go check her in and ask the receptionist to call security about Ellie. We did that. The receptionist was surprised when I calmly explained that I'd lost my kid as an addendum to checking in my wife.

As the receptionist started to call security, Elizabeth's phone rang. The caller said they were from hospital security and had an "Ariana." Elizabeth told them which doctor's office we were in and they said they'd bring Eliana there.

It turns out that when Ellie got to the third floor, the woman who had called the elevator found a crying kid and took her to security on the second floor, which explains why I couldn't find her.

I was really proud of Ellie; she remembered her mom's phone number at a really stressful time. A woman who works in the gift shop by the elevator heard the story and was also very impressed. A little later she brought a "You're Awesome!" balloon to the doctor's office for Eliana.

Terminology

2011-09-08T20:38:00.006-06:00

This morning when I woke Eliana up for school, she surprised me by asking a question I wasn't expecting.

Eliana: What does throw up mean?
I wasn't terribly surprised that she asked that since Elizabeth has been sick lately and we've been talking about throwing up.
Me: Throwing up is when your food comes up out of your tummy into your mouth.
Eliana: (Calmly) I need to throw up.
Me: What did you say?
Eliana: I really, really need to throw up.
Me: (Wild scrambling to get the kid to the toilet.)

She managed to wait until we got to the toilet. She was totally a trooper about it.

Labor Day Backpacking

2011-09-05T11:06:00.001-06:00

This weekend we decided to take a short backpacking trip up to Lava Lake to celebrate Labor Day. We went up on Saturday, stayed the night, and enjoyed a beautiful Sunday up there. There were LOTS of other hikers, but we had the lake to ourselves for camping, and it was perfect.

Before we left, I put new batteries in our point-and-shoot camera so we'd be able to have decent pictures of the weekend. I took a few pictures on the way up to the lake, and as soon as we pitched camp pulled out the camera to take a few more, only to find that the batteries I had in the camera were dead. Doh. We are thankful for smart phones, though, so we didn't have to go without pictures. Woohoo!

Our little campsite:

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We got up to the lake, set up camp, and had dinner. I wasn't feeling well, but this little girl was immensely helpful to her daddy as they set everything up!

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After dinner it was getting chilly, so we all snuggled into the tent and went to bed. After a bit of musical sleeping pads, we all finally fell asleep.

Morning came with below-freezing temperatures, so a warm breakfast was wonderful!

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Eliana and I even went and picked thimbleberries to put in her oatmeal. She loved it!

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After breakfast there was exploring, more sleeping, and general enjoyment of the day. It was great!

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Memorable moments from this weekend included seeing quite a few small animals... pika, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, and bats. We picked huckleberries (or, rather, A huckleberry), raspberries, and thimbleberries. Ellie got to swim in the lake and said it was cold. =D We had a great time together and plan to make it an annual tradition!

Vestiges of Summer...

2011-09-02T22:45:00.000-06:00

September 1st came and with it came cooler weather. We've enjoyed the brisk mornings of fall, followed by warmer afternoons just perfect for playing at the park. Today Taylor called and said they'd be stopping by the park near our house to play and invited us to join them. The girls had such fun playing together, especially playing in the tree by the creek! Eliana enjoyed swinging from a branch over the creek and managed to keep herself from falling in or losing a shoe. Good job, Ellie!!

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After some swinging around, I watched Eliana climb a tree for the first time! She was pretty happy sitting up on her branch after settling in!

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It was a beautiful day for fun!!

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The other side of the house...

2011-08-31T06:38:00.000-06:00

If you want to see what our house looks like from the alley, this is it!

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Dinner on the Deck

2011-08-30T06:35:00.000-06:00

We love our nice, big, wrap around porch. We eat dinner out there most nights, and last night was no exception. Chili, bread, a nice breeze, mountains... It was pretty much perfect!!

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Butter is Better!

2011-08-29T18:32:00.003-06:00

"Guess what?! Butter on bread tastes better than just butter!"

This was Eliana's declaration of wisdom at dinner tonight. It is a comfort to me that perhaps she will not always be eating straight butter - perhaps these are the musings of a girl whose tastes are becoming a little more mainstream.

Then again, she still thinks the stem of the pickle is the best part.

Eliana's Lemonade Stand

2011-08-26T15:30:00.002-06:00

Today Eliana had her first Lemonade Stand. She's been asking to have one for a couple weeks, so today was the day! She invited all the neighbors and told me everything we needed to have a Lemonade Stand. Here's her list...

table

chairs

cups

lemonade

lemonade holder

money jar

customers

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She was pretty proud of her little stand! We had both pink and yellow lemonade for 50 cents (or "two quarters" as Eliana liked to put it) and Rice Krispy Treats for 25 cents. We started around 10 am and went as long as her attention span lasted. That was about noon, which wasn't too bad!

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Silliness Abounds...

2011-08-24T16:26:00.002-06:00

It never ceases. I try to take a picture, and the silliness comes out. At 5 years old, it's still true.

Eliana still can't have milk or milk products, so yesterday we set out to make our own version of the popular ice cream treat drumsticks. They turned out rather good! I think when she's gone through this batch we might make more! To make it fun, we put candy and blue cherries in with the ice cream. I think they were a hit!!

Jenga

2011-07-25T22:08:00.002-06:00

I pulled out the old Jenga set here at my parents' house and played with Eliana today. It turns out, she's pretty good at it!

Happiest with a froufrou dress and a big pile of mud

2011-07-21T09:12:00.003-06:00

When I was out doing yard a while back, the daughter decided to play on the leftover topsoil from the excavation for our foundation. I pulled out my phone and grabbed the following.

Overheard just now...

2011-07-20T11:32:00.001-06:00

Eliana: "Here you go, Mommom!"

Mommom: "Thank you, Madame!"

Eliana: "You're welcome, Eve! Get it? Eve, like Adam and Eve?"

Anatomy of a 5-year-old's birthday...

2011-07-20T11:11:00.001-06:00

Start by waking up and eating breakfast...

Then look at baby pictures with Mommom...

Go shopping with Mommy and Mommom and come home exhausted. Take a nap and wake up just in time to have a birthday party!

Open some presents...

Eat some cake...

And call it a good day!!

Where did the time go?

2011-07-18T14:32:00.001-06:00

data, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Where did the last 5 years go? It's hard to believe that tomorrow Eliana will be 5 years old and that in about a month and a half this will be her daily attire as she goes off to school! She is VERY excited about going to kindergarten at Petra Academy, and is excited to see the new Petra building going up just a couple blocks from our house! She can see the new building out her bedroom window. In fact, she thinks they are building it just for her!

While this may be life in a month or so, right now we are enjoying time in Texas - the last bit of summer before school starts!

Finally Summer

2011-07-01T22:22:00.001-06:00

Summer decided to show up in Bozeman about a week ago. The days have been warm and the evenings have been perfect and long. Tonight we ate dinner with some of our exceptionally lovely neighbors, whose band of merry children our young'un disappears among. When the sun had set over the pond, the mountains had graduated from amber to purple, and our conversation had finally wound down enough to think about cleaning up, I realized it was well after 9. Oh, wondrous Montana summers.

Of course, the kiddo has trouble getting to sleep at a decent hour under these conditions. She really only gets serious about having second dinner around 10. She's sitting a the table now having her second course. Just now, she asked me, "Dad, when is there going to be enough snow to sled?"

Ug, I thought. Summer just started. The mountains still have too much snow to get up high. Dar. I'm still hoping for the pack to melt, eagerly checking the Snotel map daily. "Well, in about five months," I said somewhat reluctantly.

The daughter emitted an eloquent sigh and languidly and morosely replied, "It's taking forever."

Mastered

2011-06-07T23:23:00.001-06:00

(Cross-posted from Leif's blog.)

The ol' postal service delivered the diploma cover for my master's in computer science today. This was after receiving my diploma rolled up tightly in a cardboard tube a couple weeks back with a postcard voucher for a diploma cover. That was after skipping (sorry, Mom) the six hour graduation ceremony I wasn't keen to sit through at the beginning of May. That was after actually finishing up last December. That was after taking (cough) 9 (eh hem) years to finish it while working full-time, being married, moving a few times, throwing away 9 credits due to transfer, throwing away another pile of credits after abandoning my first thesis, finishing a basement, designing and building another house, and raising a baby to a pre-schooler.

I am far prouder of this degree than I ever was my bachelor's. I was raised with the expectation of getting a college degree. It was always a foregone conclusion in my mind that I would finish that one. I struggled a bit with my bachelor's (I'm looking at you Electric Circuits I), but I never had reason or occasion to consider quitting. I can't count the times I wanted to give up on the master's.

Special thanks to my wife and daughter for putting up with me during all that, to my adviser, Rocky Ross, for helping me finish, to Neal Richter for nagging my butt into gear more than once, and to Erich Hannan, my boss through most of that interval, for supporting me doing work and school.

I am so thankful this morning...

2011-06-02T06:39:00.002-06:00

This morning I got up at 5 to go to the gym, but when I looked out the window and saw the beautiful sunrise over the mountains I got another idea and went for a run on the trails around our pond instead. It was beautiful! It makes me really thankful for our new home. We've already mentioned how much we love our new house, but I don't know that I've mentioned how much I really love our new neighborhood.

(In case you haven't yet seen it in person, the red house in the middle of the picture is ours.)

I love that I can head out my front door and within feet I am on a trail that is great for running or walking.

I love that we are just across the street from a beautiful pond, and that our pond is home to all sorts of creatures we're getting attached to. I took a break from my run and watched a big white pelican gliding along in the water. We frequently sit at the dinner table and watch the heron who calls our pond home. There are plenty of geese and ducks, too. I thoroughly enjoy the pond!

I love that we have friendly neighbors. Whether we're at the park with Eliana, taking a stroll around the pond, or just happen to be outside when someone walks by, the people in our neighborhood are quick to smile, greet you, and strike up conversation! I love it!

I love that we live in a kid-friendly neighborhood! Many of our neighbors have small kids, so Eliana has lots of little friends to play with! The neighbors across the street have 4 little girls, 2 of whom are close to Ellie's age. Just a couple houses down from them are neighbors with a couple little boys around the same age. Down the road from us are some friends we met last year (before we OR they lived in this neighborhood!) and they have a daughter and two sons who are close to Ellie's age. And in just a week or so another one of our friends is moving in down the street and one of her sons is Eliana's friend! It's so nice to move someplace new and instantly become a part of the community. I'm so thankful for that!

I love that Eliana's preschool was just around the corner this year. I love even more that Petra, where she will be in the fall, is building a new building just a couple blocks from our house! It's fun to watch the progress and know that's where Ellie will be going to school in just a few short months!

The Wickland Bike Limo

2011-05-31T14:28:00.002-06:00

For Memorial Day we took a family bike ride on our tandem+trailer bike. It was quite nice to be able to go for a ride all together. We went on the downtown historic district "walking" tour (of course, we rode instead of walked) and looked at all the cool old houses.

We found the walking tour guide on the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce website and enjoyed the little history lesson as we rode!

This little girl...

2011-05-24T22:40:00.003-06:00

This little girl went to preschool....

and is not in preschool any more.

Tonight was Eliana's graduation from the preschool at Heritage Christian Early Learning Center. She has thoroughly enjoyed being there, even though she didn't start until January. She loves her teachers, Miss Sandy and Miss Michele, and they love her, too!

All of the kids from the Early Learning Center put on a program, which culminated in the graduation of the preschoolers who are headed to kindergarten next year. Here's Eliana's class:

They sang a song about 5 little ducks...

... and each recited a verse...

Eliana's verse started with the same letter as her name.

"E... Even a child is known by his deeds, by whether his conduct is pure and right."

Then the kids presented flowers to Miss Sandy and Miss Michele as a thank you for all they've done this year!

The kids even got diplomas to make the whole event official.

Ellie's will be going in a scrapbook, minus one corner. She managed to chew that corner off while we were taking pictures. Great.

Congratulations, kiddo! We are so proud of the big girl you are becoming and excited for you to start kindergarten next year!

Date Night

2011-05-19T12:35:00.000-06:00

Last fall Elizabeth and I decided to buy season tickets to this season of Broadway in Bozeman. We'd done it once before a few years back and it had been a nice excuse to schedule some data. Well, although Garrison Keillor was astonishingly good, I'd forgotten that I really don't like musicals. So, when it came time for The Wizard of Oz earlier this year, I suggested Elizabeth take Eliana. They had a great time and the kid loved it.

This past Tuesday, Elizabeth had a conflict, so I took Eliana to Riverdance. Because it was date night, I went all out and took her to eat at Wendy's. She ordered her own food, which included a baked potato with a side of crackers. We got into our seats at the show about 4 minutes before show time. Three minutes later she was quite impatient and was asking when the show would start, so we started looking through the crowd for people with funny hats. That tided her over until the show started. We both enjoyed it. Her favorite part was, ironically, the Flamenco dancer and her beautiful dresses. Then again, I liked the staged dance contest between the hip hop dancers and trio of Riverdancers. It was a good night. The next morning she said thanks for taking her on a date.

What I think is funniest about our taking Eliana to these shows is that the whole Broadway-style of entertainment, or at least the family friendly versions that manage to tour our neck of the woods, are probably more fun and more exciting for a kid than for an adult. I wouldn't have guessed when we bought the tickets 9 months ago that it would be our baby, who's rapidly turning into a girl, who would enjoy them the most.

Great moment in parenting

2011-05-12T22:54:00.000-06:00

The day my kid learned to climb into the car, close the door, and buckle her seatbelt was a great moment in parenting.

One fine day....

2011-05-02T06:47:00.000-06:00

We had one fine day amidst all the snow lately, so Ellie and I went to the park!! Here's some of her fun there!!

Wisdom from the young one

2011-05-01T20:25:00.001-06:00

"Why is it called a restaurant if you're not supposed to lie down and rest there?"

"If you want people to be friendly to you, you have to be friendly to them."

"Is it called shampoo because it's made out of sham and poo?"

Nothing like a birthday party at the park

2011-05-01T18:35:00.000-06:00

On the last day of April in Montana!

Recent Birthday Party

2011-04-30T06:38:00.000-06:00

Eliana got to go to her friend Jocelyn's birthday party recently and was so excited to be there! Here she is with the birthday girl:

It was a Rapunzel party and Eliana got Jocelyn a ballerina Barbie. It was a hit!

Look at the BEAUTIFUL cake her mom, Jessica, made!! It's amazing!

The girls had a great time playing with it! ;)

And they were mesmerized once the candles were lit - can you blame them??

Make a wish, Jocelyn! Happy Birthday!!

My Favorite Picture Yet

2011-04-28T18:29:00.002-06:00

I asked Eliana what this picture was and she told me there was the grass, clouds, sun, sky, and Josie. I pointed to the not so obvious parts of the picture and asked about those:

"That's Josie; she's a carrot. And that's me; I'm a cherry. We're Veggie Tales characters!"

This is my favorite picture yet!

Better Bike Rider

2011-04-17T20:49:00.001-06:00

Last time I posted about Eliana learning to riding her bike, I mentioned that she was unable to get started unassisted. Well, she's pretty much gotten that figured out now. We've also been riding longer distances together. Yesterday we rode to Weebee's to buy sorbet. It's about a 2 mile trip which involves crossing a major street and riding in bike lanes. She's doing a really good job staying in the bike lane and following directions. It was a fun trip that I hope we'll be able to repeat often this summer when we don't need to wear parkas when going for ice cream.

Wii Bowling

2011-04-14T19:58:00.001-06:00

I am sitting here watching Leif and Eliana play wii bowling. It's funny to watch Leif's competitive side come out against his own daughter. It's also funny to watch Eliana skunk Leif by getting 6 strikes in a row. It's the first time Leif has played with Ellie. Apparently she has been learning to wii bowl at Josie's house. She's either crazy good, or crazy lucky. Either way she's crazy. :)

Bike Riding Fun!

2011-04-09T20:30:00.002-06:00

Tonight for the first time I actually got to witness Eliana's new-found bike riding skill. I was impressed! I'm pretty sure she can ride a bike better than I can now. I had fun watching her ride to and fro in front of our house and snagged some pictures.

Playing the classics

2011-04-05T22:47:00.000-06:00

A while back Shirt.Woot had an awesomely nerdy shirt I couldn't resist.

It came in the mail yesterday and I proudly wore it today. Eliana was quite interested in the shirt and kept asking questions about the details of it. It was hard to explain why the turtles were doing those things and how they were painting a cloud on the sky.

I figured the easiest way to explain it was to show her. So we fired up the Wii, downloaded Super Mario Brothers, and set to playing. I played a few levels to show her the ropes and then turned over the controller. She laughed gleefully at being able to make Mario jump and run and so forth.

She definitely lacks the motor skills to play well, but it doesn't matter. It was still a fantastic moment. I've been looking forward to playing the classic video games with my kid for a long time. It's right up there with teaching my kid to ski and bike.

On the topic of biking, we went out riding again tonight. Given a sufficient slope, Eliana can now get started on her own. The best slopes around are found in the park across from our house, pointing straight down into the pond. She's better than I expected at translating that momentum
into forward motion around the pond when she rolls down to the trail.

As last night, she was quite resistant to heading home when I told her it was time, despite obviously tired legs, cold hands, banged up shins, and flushed cheeks. I love the spark of drivenness that I see in her.

In another sign of her growing up, when we got home, I told her she needed to take a bath or a shower. She picked a shower. She even managed to get out of the shower in a timely fashion when I told her to keep it short. I was proud of her.

Bike Rider

2011-04-04T20:25:00.008-06:00

Today Eliana learned to ride a bike. She went around our neighborhood pond three times. She still can't get started by herself, but with a little something to stabilize her to get started, she's off.

This newfound competency was met with such humble expressions as

I'm doing it. I'm doing it.
Whoohoo!
I am the greatest bike rider ever!
I'm a five year old!
I need to tell Josie about this.
I am an excellent rider!

It appears she got my sense of humility. (The preceding sentence caused Elizabeth to cackle.)

To think I considered staying in to watch some silly basketball game tonight instead of taking the monster out.

First Crush

2011-03-27T13:27:00.004-06:00

Eliana apparently has developed a crush on one of the boys in her preschool class. A few weeks back, she received an invitation to his birthday party. She toted the Transformers festooned cardstock all over the house right up until the day Optimus Prime had announced.

It was the ever insightful Mommom who first noticed that Eliana's enthusiasm seemed to be greater than usual for a birthday party. She asked Ellie if she though the boy was cute. Emphatically the reply came that he was the cutest boy in preschool.

The party was Wednesday at "Old McDonald's." Elizabeth had a chance to talk to the boy's mom at the party. It turns out the crush is requited. She said that her son tells her he and Eliana are "in love." In more worrying news, the mother of another boy at the party says that he doesn't like girls, but he talks positively about Eliana all the time. This pattern could become concerning to a father.

Today, Eliana is running around, making what I believe is a card for the birthday boy. She's been writing their names next to each other obsessively and commenting effusively about the shocking fact that they both have "E"s in their name. Oy.

It gets worse. Elizabeth reports that the wee one then said something to the effect of "Eliana and boy's name. Now for love." Then she asked her for help drawing a heart, which she spent the next 20 minutes practicing. The authoring of this post was interrupted many times to be shown her improving attempts.

Pleasant surprises about the design of our house

2011-03-23T00:47:00.006-06:00

We put a lot of thought into the design of our house. (Elizabeth would typically call it obsessing when I would do it. She'd do something else while I pondered the importance of the position of a door, for example. Often that something else was try to get me to stop obsessing so that we could leave the house.) With a few exceptions most things worked out the way we'd hoped. For example, I had the electrician install a power outlet in the downstairs hall at light switch level. I intended to put a shelf there to set my phone on while charging. In the end, Elizabeth came up with a better solution, which was to put some furniture in our "mud hall" to collect that kind of stuff. Because I wasn't on the same page with her there, I didn't get an outlet on the right wall in the mud hall, so I can't plug my phone in at the same place that I drop my keys and wallet. Whoops.

However, there were other things we didn't plan that have worked out well. For example, as we were walking through with the electrician Elizabeth told him that we wanted one can light on its own switch above each of the window seats. I thought it was a silly idea, but the electrician said it would not cost substantially more to have it on a separate switch, so I acquiesced. Turns out, I use that light in Eliana's room as a night light. She likes it because it's bright enough to read by. I like it because the CFL can uses less power than the pretty, girly incandescent night light.

Another happy surprise is also lighting related. I've been reading to Eliana most nights before putting her to bed. We'll turn off all the lights in the living room, light the fire, and sit down to read. Normally, that'd be the time that you'd want some sort of end table lamp to give you just enough illumination to see the page. Well, I don't really like lamps and we don't have any in the living room. But we do have awesome lighting on our deck. If I turn that on, more than enough light comes in through the window to read by and provides something of a sunset effect. I like it.

The shelving unit that we bought to put into Eliana's closet was a mistake that turned into serendipity. It took up too much space in the center of the closet, i.e. where the door opened, leaving too little room to hang closets on the rods, which ended up back in the hard-to-reach corners. I'd already assembled the shelving unit at that point, so we didn't feel like we could return it. Then Elizabeth had the brilliant idea of installing the unit in the laundry room. We'd originally drawn the laundry room with enough space for cabinets on the wall opposite the washer and dryer, but hadn't planned to actually buy them until later. Well, the closet kit, which was much less expensive than cabinets, worked great in that space and provided hanging space that we (or at least I) weren't even thinking about. It also provided storage for detergent, stain remover, etc. There was even a little room left over to slide in a table for folding clothes on.

On an unrelated note, the water is starting to melt off the pond and the birds are beginning to return. After Eliana and I cleaned up after dinner, we took some bread down to feed the ducks. We also saw a Great Blue Heron, a Red-tailed Hawk, a pair of Hungarian Partridges, and some geese. It was fantastic except for the daughter forgetting to put on socks before we wandered outside into a newly fallen half foot of snow. Her cold toes required the excursion's end.

Officially in the new house

2011-03-12T21:47:00.002-07:00

Last time Elizabeth posted on the blog, she included a picture from the bedroom of the new house. What she didn't mention is that that, February 26, was the first morning we woke up in the new house. We had been planning over a month beforehand to move into the house that weekend. We were busy enough schlepping that weekend and since that we really didn't take the time to say that we're in the house. We've been a little hesitant to post pictures since we're not completely unpacked and because there are a few more construction details to complete. Most notably, a fair bit of the siding still needs to be painted.

But the real point of this post is to say that we've been in the house two weeks and love it.

Here's what we woke up to this morning...

2011-02-26T07:18:00.001-07:00

Here's what we woke up to this morning..., originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Here's what we woke up to this morning...

Our house is getting so close to ready to move into!

2011-02-24T18:07:00.001-07:00

Our house is getting so close to ready to move into!, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Our house is getting so close to ready to move into!

Energy Star Certified

2011-02-23T09:48:00.009-07:00

We decided to have our new house Energy Star certified. I had two motivations for doing it: I wanted to be able to advertise the house with some sort of green credential if we sell it and I wanted to have an independent third party directing all the various subcontractors toward building an energy efficient house. I feel like it turned out great.

Bill at Infrared USA did our verification and ensured that everybody was building things energy efficiently. Oddly enough, just the fact that we were building a home we intended to have certified seemed to make a big difference in the subs' attitudes. I'd overhear them discussing how to do something and picking a certain option because it was an Energy Star house. I'm not sure if they were required to do it that way to meet the certification, and in some cases I'm guessing it wasn't. However, that sort of green umbrella over the project is the kind of secondary effect I'd hoped to achieve by opting for the certification. Some of the credit for that effect certainly should be extended to our builder, Keith Fraser who made a point to mention the goal.

The news aspect of all of this is that today we had our final blower door test. One of the key aspects of the Energy Star certification is ensuring the house doesn't leak much air. To do that, the tester performs a blower door test with a rig that looks like this:

That rig contains a fan that turns hard enough to generate a specific amount of pressure and an anemometer to measure the amount of air moving through. From that and the volume of the house, the air changes per hour can be calculated. To meet the standard, the home needed to have 4.0 ACH or better. Our house measured over six times better than that, 0.65 ACH. I'm pleased.

The downside of having such a tight home is that we'll need to install an HRV to ensure that the home has sufficient fresh air. In the short term that hurts because it's another couple thousand dollars we'll be putting into the mechanical system of the home, but long term it means that the house will have fresh air that we're not paying to heat which should mean lower heating bills (and hopefully no cooling bills).

It has been brought to my attention...

2011-01-29T10:03:00.002-07:00

... that I am slacking in the blog post department. My apologies. =D

The house is coming along! I am excited for all the changes that are taking place - daily it seems! Here are a few looks at the progress...

We have cabinets!!

We have Corian countertops!

We have progress on the siding!!

We have wood stairs!!

Hooray for progress!! About a month until we get to move in!!

Wood Floors...

2011-01-24T09:28:00.002-07:00

This boy has been working so hard to help put our house together, including installing and finishing the hardwood floors. Don't they look great??

This little girl...

2011-01-23T22:18:00.001-07:00

... starts preschool in the morning. I'm not sure I believe just how big she's gotten.

Siding Progress

2011-01-09T19:16:00.004-07:00

We had a warm spell last week, so work began on the lap siding, which is "traditional red." Above the red, you can can see the board and batten, which is the other style that will cover parts of the house.

More House Updates

2010-12-26T23:17:00.003-07:00

We have flooring going in!!! It's very exciting. Gavin is working on tile while Leif and Keith (our builder) are installing the hardwood floors. Keith is installing the "important" rooms (kitchen, dining, and living rooms) while Leif is working on the "less important" rooms (craft room, MK office, and den). It's fun to see the house taking shape and starting to look like a home!!

The family entrance from the garage

Boxes of tile for the master bathroom.

The master bathroom in progress.

The maple wood flooring waiting to be installed.

My craft room is getting a hardwood floor!!

So there... that's the current progress on the house. It's looking good!!

Merry Christmas from Eliana!

2010-12-25T23:04:00.001-07:00

Happy Holidays!!

2010-12-23T08:23:00.002-07:00

We are not sending out Christmas cards this year... Instead, "We've Moved" cards will be going out around the end of February when we move into our new house! So don't feel left out if you haven't received a card from us this year. You're in good company! If we had sent out cards, though, here's the picture we took for them. Enjoy! =D

The siding is going up!

2010-12-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Color in the house!!

2010-12-17T10:37:00.002-07:00

Those of you who have been to our house in Belgrade probably know that there was no color in it. None. Veeeerrrry beige. Leif didn't want me to paint in that house, because it was never "our" home, it was always just a temporary (for 8 years!) until we were able to move to Bozeman. This new house is, apparently, different, though, because Leif has encouraged me to use some color! It's been a new process for me and one I have thoroughly enjoyed, especially because I didn't have to do the painting!! Here are some views as the color goes on...

The base wall color is "Only Natural" - a kind of light beige. The ceiling color is "Marshmallow" - which is not white, but kind of looks like it in contrast to the beige. =D

The first accent wall you come to is painted with "Hot Stone" - my favorite color! I love how rich and warm it is without being too dark! This color is going to go in our den, too.

The darkest color is "Grey Earth" or something like that. It's in the dining room, just on the pop out. I think it will nicely frame the view of the Bridgers, and it adds some character in the room. This color will also go in Leif's office on one wall.

Ellie's room has the most subtle accent, a light pink called "Shangri La" that we picked to tie into the curtains and bedspread Robert is making for Eliana's room. This color is also going in the guest room and in my Mary Kay office.

The boldest accent is in our bedroom. I went with a color called "Bolero" - and I love it! It's very close to the color that the outside of the house will be, and it goes very nicely with our bedding and our dark bedroom furniture.

So there you have the progress... COLOR!! It's starting to look like a real house!

10 Years!!

2010-12-16T10:29:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe, but we've been married for 10 years now. A decade! It also means that we've had this blog for 5 years now, as our very first blog post was about our 5th anniversary! A lot has gone on in the past 5 years... We had Eliana, I started (and then stopped a few years later) teaching scrapbooking classes, I started my own business with Mary Kay, Leif started doing freelance photography, Leif finished his master's degree, we designed and started building our own home, we changed churches, we moved to Bozeman, I started playing keyboard and singing for the worship team at our church, I started teaching Sunday school, Leif started skate skiing, We gained some new close friends as others moved away, and we have fallen more in love! All in all, it has been a good 10 years, and I am excited to see what the next 10... 20... 30... bring!

Movin' on back....

2010-12-05T16:19:00.003-07:00

Well, our move-in date has been moved back again. So, now it looks like we'll be able to move into the house around the end of February. The house is coming along, though, and that's neat to see. Here are some pictures of the progress - we have sheet rock!

What we're up to this weekend...

2010-11-14T11:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, moving.

Our house isn't done yet, but we're moving into an apartment for a couple months so the other people can live in this house.

Just thought it might be time for a blog update!!

C-O-K-E

2010-11-12T16:13:00.001-07:00

When we picked Eliana up from gymmnastics today she said she was thirsty. I didn't have a drink for her, so Mom asked is Ellie could have some C-O-K-E. Ellie said, "Yeah, Mommy, can I have some C-O-K-E?" We asked if she even knew what that spelled. "I think it spells pop." She's pretty sharp, that little girl!

No Spring Chicken...

2010-11-10T22:07:00.002-07:00

My mom is here to visit. This morning Eliana went down and woke my mom up. As my mom was getting out of bed, Eliana said, "Mommom, are you an old lady? You're walking like this... (hobbles all hunched over). You need a cane."

Then later this afternoon Eliana was talking about being 16 years old. My mom said, "You know what, Eliana? I am sixteen PLUS forty." Ellie's reply? "Wow. You're older than a dead dog."

Anyone else want to come for a visit and get your self esteem shot down??

Well, at least we know she's polite...

2010-11-03T22:14:00.002-06:00

Ellie has been in bed and asleep for about 2 hours, now. And yet, I hear her talking and singing wildly in her room, so I go to check on her. She is sound asleep. She must be dreaming something crazy, because you can just see her mind turning, even in her sleep.

Amidst it all, she suddenly burps, says, "Excuse me." and falls into silence once again, before saying in a hurried frenzy, "Is it sparkly enough??"

Sound asleep.

Well, at least we know that she's polite - nothing says manners well learned like going through them in your sleep. =D

The Hay Maze

2010-11-02T01:20:00.000-06:00

Most years we go to Rocky Creek Farm for the pumpkin patch. This year we ended up doing something different with friends from college who were in town visiting! This year we went to the Hay Maze, something we'd never done before.

Ellie and Makala became fast friends, and held hands all through the hay maze as they searched for the next checkpoint!

We were given these cards and had to find 4 stations through the maze - if you filled out your card, you got free candy. =D

Of course, when you go to redeem your free candy card, you have to go to the concession stand and the kids see that there is also cotton candy. =D Yes, we got some cotton candy....

They also had a little train for the kids (and parents) to ride, so the girls and I went on that. It was very cute and the girls loved it!

(and yes, Ellie and Makala did just happen to be wearing pink bottoms and purple gap sweatshirts the same day! I think it added to the friendship.)

Riding the train with little-miss-cotton-candy-face...

The "conductor"

There were a couple other things to do at the hay maze, including a tent with a corn-box (like a sandbox filled with feed corn) that the girls LOVED!

There was also a pumpkin patch, where we got our pumpkin for carving. Of course, I have a silly girl, so all I got were silly pictures...

I think we will definitely go back to the hay maze next year! I'm hoping we'll make it to Rocky Creek, too, since I really am sad we didn't get to go this year. Fall activities are so fun!!

Halloween... (the extended version)

2010-11-01T09:44:00.003-06:00

We are not big into Halloween. We do not decorate. We (aside from Eliana) do not dress up. We do not do scary. I don't even make costumes. I am usually happy to leave that up to someone else, like Robert. =D (He can spoil his niece with fabulous costumes if he wants!) Ellie, however, has been very excited about Halloween this year. She got a $5 set of kitty ears, tail, and collar at Target a few weeks ago, and has been wearing them everywhere. She decided she wanted that to be her Halloween costume. Okay. Easy enough. =D

I suppose you could say that our Halloween festivities began at the pumpkin patch, with this crazy girl:

I'll have to do another post about the pumpkin patch, but we'll save that for later. =D

We got a pumpkin... I normally just process any pumpkin patch pumpkins for pie and whatnot, but this year Ellie wanted to carve a jack-o-lantern. Okay... I've never carved one, so we just kind of figured it out as we went, with the help of one of those cheep-o pumpkin carving tool kits. The tools actually made it pretty easy!

It was supposed to be Ellie's job to scrape out the guts. This is about as far as she got before she decided that was gross and didn't want to do it.

So, it was my job. Fuuuun.

I made a mess of the pumpkin in the gutting process, so it became Ellie's job to clean the outside of the pumpkin so we could carve it. That job she did. =D

She wanted a kitty jack-o-lantern, so we went online for templates to print and trace. Then the printer was out of ink and I was too lazy to deal with it, so we just freehanded a kitty design. I really wasn't sure how it would work, but I think it turned out fine. =D We used a dry-erase crayon for the design, which was neat because it just wiped right off when we were done carving. I'd do that again. Here is the kitty after we carved...

And, of course, no kitty is complete without whiskers...

Or ears, a tail, and a hair bow, apparently... =D

All that was left was to put a tealight in and light her up!

We enjoyed the kitty-o-lantern for a couple days before Halloween - then it was time to dress up and go trick-or-treating! Because I don't do costumes, we pulled what we could find that was cheetah print (or close to it), added the ears, tail, and bow, and then I painted Ellie's face a mottled brown with kitty features to complete the look. Voila!

A cheetah! Make that a FEROCIOUS cheetah!

Leif took Eliana trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while I stayed home and did door duty. Among the things Leif had to say when he came home were the following...

She talked to everybody at every house we stopped at.

She asked politely to pet any dogs inside.

She got invited inside two houses to look at fish tanks.

Most people thought she was a leopard.

She didn't meow nearly was much as I was afraid she would.

She did get cold and wanted to stop after about 1.5 hours and .75 miles of Trick or Treating, but I made her walk the rest of the way home.

Once home, we dumped out the candy and sorted all the milk-containing pieces from the purely sugar ones. =D Then Ellie proceeded to answer the door and pass out candy to all the trick-or-treaters that came by. She talked to them all. She commented on their costumes. She was the hostess with the mostess, and she took f.o.r.e.v.e.r to pass out the candy. =D I'm glad we had some very patient trick-or-treaters at our house!

So, there you have it. The extended version of Halloween at our house this year. It's not my favorite holiday, but I'm glad Eliana had a good time.

"You're old..."

2010-11-01T09:24:00.002-06:00

As I walked out of the office this morning, Eliana looked at me and said, "You're old. You should use a cane. Wait right there." Then she came back with a broom, showed me how to use it as a cane, and handed it to me. To appease her, I used it to walk back into the office. From behind I heard her laud, "Wow, that's pretty good walking..."

Maybe I should go back to bed...

Cheetah Girl

2010-10-27T21:30:00.001-06:00

FlickrDroid Upload, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Here's a bit of cuteness to brighten your day! Ellie's pretty much been wearing her Cheetah ears and tail everywhere for a couple weeks now. At least she's a cute Cheetah!!

Reframing...

2010-10-24T10:01:00.000-06:00

Of course, when you design a house on paper, it looks differently from it's physical counterpart. So as our house has been going up, Leif has found a few things he wants reframed. Now the reframing has been taking place and it's fun to see the house we loved turn into something we love even more! Here are a few of the changes...

We made the front closet smaller and added a nook into my office, perfect for an inventory cabinet or a cozy chair.

We opened up the hallway to extend into the bonus area and make that area feel more like a part the house. This leads to the laundry room and the craft room. I think it opens up that end of the hallway so much more!

We added windows to the side of the sliding glass door in the dining room. We had windows upstairs, so these just mirror those.

I don't have pictures of it, but we also added a second door to the upstairs bathroom from the guest room, making it a sort of Jack-and-Jill bathroom. It will make the guest room access nicer and when Ellie is older she can have the guest room and have access to her own bathroom that way without having to cross the hall to get to it.

The last (I think) bit of reframing that needs to be done is the wall at the top of the stairs. Currently it is a full wall, and we are going to have Keith reframe it to be a half wall with a square window in it, like the windows around the stairwell on the first floor. I think it will open up the hallway and add a bit of continuity between the first and second floor, as well as continuing the contemporary design.

We've also got sidewalks and driveway in, rough plumbing in, electrical going in, and other stuff going on, so it's coming along nicely!!

Alabama people

2010-10-23T04:23:00.001-06:00

I was reading this article on my phone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Homo_sapiens_neanderthalensis.jpg
When Eliana asked to see the silly skeleton again. She told me that skeleton was a kind of people, and that those people were called Alabama people who live in a country called Alia and that Alia is a giant city with buildings that reach up to the sun.

Talk about an imagination! Her off-the-cuff stories always make me laugh.

Deck-oration...

2010-10-22T09:51:00.002-06:00

This week Leif and his dad are working on framing the deck in. The actual decking won't go on until later so it doesn't get beat up in the construction process, but the framing is coming along nicely! Here are the boys at work...

Our new house has quite a bit of deck, which will be so nice in the summer months! We love eating outside and spending time outside!

Rapunzel

2010-10-14T20:45:00.001-06:00

This morning Eliana was sitting on the potty when she looked at me very thoughtfully and said, "Wow, if Rapunzel let down her hair while she was going potty, that would be... um, weird."

Another...

2010-10-13T16:48:00.002-06:00

I just gave Eliana a little bag of Skittles. She looked at it and said, "Oh, these start with "S." They must be SEM-n-Ms!"

Ellie-isms

2010-10-13T09:23:00.002-06:00

Recent words of wisdom from sweet Ellie...

"Mommy, is a zebra a kind of horse, or a kind of cow?"

"Chula colasta gooleta - See, Mommy! I can speak in Spanish!" (Ellie talks in "Spanish" a lot these days. Mind you, she makes it all up, so it's really funny.)

This morning I peeked in on Ellie, surprised she was still sleeping quietly in her room. She was just laying on her bed, arms behind her head, staring at the ceiling. I asked her what she was doing. "I'm just thinking about hatching caterpillars and turning them into butterflies." I love it!

Ellie put on her pink fuzzy coat from Uncle Robert a few days ago and pranced around the house in it. Every time I talked to her she insisted that her name was not Eliana. It was (hands spread out with fingers splayed) "Rockstar!"

Guess where we are today?

2010-10-06T09:31:00.001-06:00

Yep! It's family day at the dentist! Hooray!