Headbands, Headbands & More Headbands

Here's the link to the original post about learning how to make

the headbands and in that post is a link to the tutorial for

those that are interested.

Here are some of the headband creations I made for Rowyn.

These are for the Halloween & the Fall.

And a few more.  I think I ended up making almost two dozen before

the end of my trip.

Rowyn modeling one that was pink & red.
I'll post more pictures of Rowyn & Alise & their headbands
when I get the second half of my photos downloaded.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Don't know when I'll be back again.

Oh Babe, I hate to go........

I always hate to go..

Good bye! Ro Ro...



A Day with Rowyn

This is what Rowyn looks like in the morning.

She wakes up slowly and sometimes ornery, but that

is mostly from her nap.

Most mornings she wakes up happy, ready to

greet you with a "Hi!" and a smile or a yawn.

This particular morning we played in her room while

waiting for mommy to wake up and took a few pictures.

Meet Thumper, Rowyn's lovey and sleeping companion.

She also cuddles and drags her cow around as well.

This was taken after dinner, she still has green beans or squash

or something all over her face.  Daddy tied the puppy on

to the back of her walker and Rowyn kept looking

behind her to make sure he was still following along.

Yes, she's brushing her teeth, although she only has two,

Audra is getting her into the routine of brushing her teeth.

She's very cooperative (Ashley would be so jealous) and

also likes to take a turn herself.

If it was a real day with Rowyn there would be many more pictures of

her eating, getting changed, going for walks, chasing the dogs around etc.

It is really hard to take pictures, down load them on

Rick's computer, email them to my account and then put them

on Audra's desk top and then upload them to my blog.   Ugh! 

Such a process, but soon I'll be home with my old familiar system and

all my tools and I'll be able to cruise through this whole process

with half the aggravation.

My time here is winding down just a couple more days and

 I'll be flying home, sad but necessary.

I wonder how much if any work will be down on the bathroom in the hallway?

I told my husband to get cracking, that he'd have hours home alone

 to concentrate without us girls in the way.

Do you want to speculate on whether he's accomplished anything or not, leave

a comment and I let you know when I get home on Thursday evening.

Rowyn & Friends

There are many nice little parks around the base.

Most of them are covered so the kids are not in the

direct sun.  Still it is so hot, you don't see many

people utilizing them.

Lydia turned a year old right before Rowyn.

Alise is 18 months, but tiny for her age, so she's not much bigger than the other two girls.

Rowyn is very talkative, reminds me of her Aunt Meghan at that age.

She says, Hi! dog, doggie, cat, hehe, tickle-tickle, duck, and

of course, Mama & Daddy.

She loves to walk & run with her push cart, behind her walker and

anything else with wheels.

Rowyn is just like her Mommy, she gets crabby when she's

hungry and boy does she love to eat.

One day she ate half a can of chili beans (apparently

they were the gassless variety- because they didn't give her the toots).

She plays by herself with her toys for long periods of time.

When I tapped on the book, she tapped too.

When I banged two sets of plastic beads together, she did the

same with her beads.  She loves to imitate.

Number 6

This is number 6 - That's how Audra's pregnancy was announced to me via

cell phone.  Ready for Number 6? and a picture of two pregnancy tests that

were definitely positive.

Rowyn Gracie Jane Roberts.

Number 1, 2, & 7 live in Maine.

Number 3 & 4 live in North Carolina

Number 5 in Michigan

Right now I'm happy to be vacationing in New Mexico and interacting with

number 6 every day.

Getting to know the older and more mobile little one becoming a toddler.

I shared on face book how well she can toss a ball back and forth for her age;

that however did not prepare me for what happened on the way

to Las Cruces yesterday.

Audra was babysitting for a friend's 18 month old daughter and

they started playing catch while riding in the car in their car seats.

It was hilarious to see them. Alise is tiny so they are practically the

same size and although I did have to retrieve it a couple times, they

really did well at tossing it sideways, back n forth to each other.

We went to Walmart while we were out and bought Rowyn

some birthday toys.  She loves the Mega blocks and could

take them apart as I made them.  Within a half hour she put her first

two blocks together herself.  Hurrah!

We also stopped at Hobby Lobby to get more button for her new

headbands.  I'll post pictures of them soon.

Today we are going to go swimming, so that should be great fun.

Yesterday, we took the two babies to the park and met a third friend.

Rowyn however was feeling a bit down from her shots the day before

and wasn't her usual happy camper.  She was very quiet and did not

like the slide.  The swings were okay, but they were in the full sun, so had to keep

the time on them short.

More Ro

Gramie's camera has been busy taking tons of pictures.

Isn't she just the cutiest little thing.

She's in the 50th percentile for height and weight.

Rowyn - 1 year old

Playing in her ball pit

Cutie Patootie

Hello from New Mexico

Dealing with a little bit of jet lag, due to the the time difference.  First night here I went to bed at 1:30 a.m. Michigan time.  I'm in bed at home pretty much at ten o'clock or shortly after, so that was very late for me.

Yesterday we went to WIC to recertify Rowyn now that she a year old.  It was crowded and the wait was long, so once we finished up there we came home for someone to take a nap.  While she snoozed I put up the quick blog post, so we'd have time for me to show Audra how to make the t-shirt headbands.  The first one we put together was a cream color with polka dots with a lace flower with a big button in the middle.  I took a picture of Rowyn wearing it, but you'll never guess what happened..... or maybe you would.  Audra's lap top loves to destroy my picture cards for some reason.  The last time it ate my 8 gb card and this time my 1 gb card.   Luckily Audra had a card for me to use, so I'm back  in business and next time we'll try Rick's lap top and see if we have better luck.

Rowyn stayed with me while Audra ran with the dogs.  I'm glad she's not to shy, although she very much prefers Mommy.  I made chicken stir fry for dinner, trying to follow my Weight Watchers as much as possible, so I don't gain back any of my hard earned weight loss.

This morning I entertained Rowyn while Audra cleaned and then we went for a 2 mile walk, it's to hot already to go further, we'll have to go out again tonight after it cools off.

Rowyn has a 1 year check up and shots this afternoon, tomorrow we are going to Las Crues and I hear Rick wants to take me to White Sands sand dunes probably this weekend.  I'll try to blog again soon.

Birthday Girl & Ice Cream

It was 92 degrees when I landed in El Paso, perfect weather for ice cream and besides it was Rowyn's Birthday.  Here's some pics of the birthday girl at Cold Stone, after eating her strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.

Rowyn walking around Cold Stone Creamy

Happy Birthday Outfit from her Grandma Lynn

Her strawberry ice cream matched her outfit, perfect!

Shoes

Photo Challenge - Shoes Theme

When I visited the Through the Lens website  (on my side bar) and saw the

category "Shoes Theme"; I knew I had to post an old photo, which

is an all time favorite of mine. 

It was taken almost a year ago, when this little doll was

only a week old and had all these shoes to grow into.

I'm leaving hubby and family home to go see Rowyn Gracie Jane and

will arrive on the date of her first birthday.

Perhaps we will take a new shoe photo while I'm there.

Packing my Book Bag

It's that time again, you know time to pack a vacation book bag.

I took pictures of the books I'm trying to choose from.

I've had this one for quite a while and really should

read it just to get it off the shelf, but is that

a good enough reason to haul it to New Mexico?

I love Joyce Meyer's teaching.

I get what she says, she speaks my language.

I could use some Power and some practice

being positive.  What about you?

A story about a large family with an autistic child.

Written by the Author of the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

This book got rave reviews - it's about a foster child

in Nazi Germany that steals to survive.

I've just read the introduction and the first chapter

and I've already learned things about my camera, I didn't

know before. 

I've gotta take this one.  I plan on shooting a massive

amount of pictures of my granddaughter, Rowyn.

Another choice from my autism shelf.

I may just have to take another look at my four shelves of

books to make sure there's not some gem waiting to be unearthed.

Although, I think these are some decent choices, I'm hesitant to chose

until I'm sure I didn't miss something better.

Off to take another look..................

A Trip to Spicers

We started our Spicer's Adventure in the corn barn.

This is like a gigantic sensory bin, you

walk in it, scoop it, pour it....anything but eat it.

She fell asleep on the way over to the orchard and

it took her a bit to wake up and play.

 Some bigger children were over in the corner burying

each other in the corn.

 

She filled this truck full of corn before we moved on to the next play area.

Daniela loved this castle - she climbed up the ladder

to the upper deck and then slid down one of the slides, at

least a dozen times.

MiMi & Grandpe took turns pushing her around this

track and going under the bridge.

Daniela on the train.

And then we took the hayride out to the orchard where we had our

choice of five different kinds of apples to pick.

We chose McIntosh, Ginger Golds, & Gala.

I can't remember if we picked Fuji or not.

Daniela ate two big apples before we left the orchard.

She had a great time visiting the goats, horse, ducks & turkey.

Last of all we took a trip through the country store

and bought cider and doughnuts.

We love Spicer's Orchard, and I'm sure we will go

back again before the season is over, perhaps

we'll pick a pumpkin next time.

A Very Rare Event

My mother is not fond of dogs.

She barely tolerates a selected few and

down right detests the rest.

Everyone who knows my mom, knows this - it's just a fact.

While here to visit, Daniela was chasing our Wheaton Terrier

and she was looking for a safe place to hide or someone to protect her

and she jumped into Grandma's lap.

Grandma saved her from the rowdy toddler and Danan stayed on her lap.

I said I'd get her down, but my Mom said she was fine.

I almost had to laugh - what a turn-a-bout.

I had to get a picture, for this is a rare event indeed.

When I told my mom seven years ago that I was

getting a dog, she told me she wouldn't come visit anymore.

I promised her it would be the nicest dog she'd ever met

and she had to at least come once and see.

She did and begrudgingly declared she was alright as dogs go.

Fast forward seven years and

now my  mom's not afraid to go out shopping and come back

to my house and enter it without anyone being with her or anyone home, but the dog.

Can you believe it?

I don't think I'll ever convince her to get a dog

of her own, but I don't have to worry

about her visiting my house or whether she minds my dog anymore.

She's not Grandma's best friend yet, but Danan's working on her.

Guess Who?

Guess who turned 10 last month?

I've now known him for 1/2 of his life.

My boy, postersized....he's growing up.

Never Again!

Never again will I roll down a steep hill in wild childish abandon.

Mark this down somewhere, September 4, 2011 was the

last time I will ever do that again.

It all started harmless enough, a trip to the park with friends.

The girls had fun riding their Radio Flier Push Trikes around the

bike path, playing on the playground, picking flowers

and eating a snack.

When it was time to go home, Rosie rode on the path, but

Daniela insisted on taking the stairs, so they beat us back to the car.

(Because Gramie had to go down the hill beside the stairs with the

bike and hang on to Daniela, step by step as well.)

It was a slow process.

Rosie was rolling down the hill in front of the parking lot area

and it looked like fun, so

Daniela wanted to try it.

She'd panic every time she started to roll, but kept wanting to try.

That's not me, but looks like our hill.

So very foolishly Gramie decided to show her how it's done.

Daniela didn't hesitate to give me a push to get me rolling

and she laughed uproariously as I rolled and tumbled down the hill.

Natalie & Rosie were laughing hysterically as well.

My friend said at first she wasn't sure if I was okay

because of all the flip-flopping I did.

Really--- because I thought I was rolling rather smoothly

and had trouble figuring out how to stop myself.

When I had come to a halt,

I had to lay there for a couple minutes, as it really made me dizzy.

Then I made my way back to the top
 where I attempted to walk Daniela through the

whole process of rolling down a hill.

She wasn't having it, but kept saying, 
 "MiMi Lay Down!"   "MiMi Lay Down!"

I finally gave up and told her I'll show you one more time and that's it.

So...

 ( I know this doesn't make me look very bright,

but be kind and give me Gramie of the Year why don't you.)
So...  after a big push off,

I rolled down the very steep hill a second time.

This time unbeknown to me I had an even bigger audience

and I rolled so fast I practically rolled out of my pants, which

were to big for me, after my weight loss.

I had more trouble stopping the second time,

probably because I was more disoriented.

I was so dizzy I couldn't even sit up and kept falling over.

It took even longer to recover the second time and I

felt like I was going to puke and my head started hurting.

I do believe that little escapade could have won a Funniest
Home Video award had it been recorded on someones camera.

Of course, Daniela wanted me to go again, but

I had wizened up and insisted we head for home.

I jokingly told my friend it was going to take the rest of the

day to recover.

NO JOKE, IT DID!

I could not function the remainder of the day.

I felt faintly dizzy and sick whenever I tried to

so anything, but sit.  It was awful!

Like I said.

Never Again!



This Kid is a Hoot!

Daniela was reading stories to me this morning.

You have to see this, she's very animated.

Listen to her.  Daniela identifies the baby in one book as "Ro Ro", we

didn't tell her that and she looks nothing like Rowyn, but Daniela thinks so.

She says a bunch of words in there,  like MiMi (Me), mouse, RoRo, airplane,

uppie, so big, look at that, house, nice airplanes,

 mouse ran away, sit mouse, NO! and yellow.

She was hysterical.  I didn't manage to get the best of her performance

as the camera shut itself off.

Bummer.  She was a hoot.

  

Today's Picture/Today's Post

These are the pictures that were suppose to go with today's post.

Pictures taken of Daniela doing was she enjoys most.

Playing with her puppy.

Pushing around the Bitty Baby Stroller with her puppy or dolly.

Saying "Cheese" for the Camera Lady!

Conversation Explosion

Daniela's language skills are multiplying daily.  She's very talkative and can actually carry on a conversation now.  She's just a ton of fun at this age.

When she accidentally shut herself in my bedroom and couldn't open the door, she started yelling "Mee-Mee", her special name for Gramie.

This week at the dinner table Daniela passed gas and announced to everyone "Toot".  Ashley said "Yes, that was a toot, what do you say when you toot, Daniela".  Daniela says "Poop" and we all stifle a laugh.  "Daniela, when we toot we say, Excuse me."  Daniela attempts the word, but it doesn't come out very well.  A few minutes later, Daniela announces that she's tooted again, although we all heard it and know that she did.  ""Yes, that was a toot, what do you say when you toot, Daniela".  Daniela says "Poop" and we all laugh in unison.  Sorry, it was just toooo cute.

For the longest time this kid was stuck on number two.  Everything was two, that was her lucky number.  Well after months of insisting that you start counting with number two I'm happy to report we now have number one! This morning it was one, two, four.  We are making progress.  When you count and hesitate she often fills in the correct following number.  Her cousin Griffin was performing this skill when we were in NC in July, they are just 6 weeks apart in age.

Daniela will sing songs for you and you can follow along and figure out what she's singing.  Her repertoire includes "Twinkle, Twinkle Litte Star", " Head Shoulders Knees and Toes"', "Patty Cake", "It's Bitsy Spider", "Ring Around the Rosies", and "Mr. Sun".

She loves pushing Freya in her dolly stroller (look out dog), playing with her plastic frogs, and hauling around her puppy that moves and barks.  That puppy was a great find at Salvation army, she's had more fun with that $1.00 puppy than other way more expensive toys she's received.

She's a determined little soul.  Every day without fail she tries her darndest to get two vitamins out of Mama, even though every single morning, she hears the same words.  "We only get ONE Vitamin."

She's very into identifying where people sit at the table, and what belongs to whom.  Mama's shoes, Ella's shoes etc.  She's also starting to speak and respond to some Spanish words.  I'd share, but I'm not sure how you spell the words correctly, so I'll have to do that some other time.  Right now I'm off to the groomers with the dog.