New Toy

Maren would like to introduce her new outdoor castle! After much debate and the pain of not living within short walking distance of a park (it's more like a long walk, short car drive, or short bike ride) we decided to get her a small version of a play set to use so she can learn ladders and slides and practice her climbing.

She seemed to have a lot of fun playing on it yesterday afternoon. I was so glad the rain went away. The grass was soggy, but it was nice ans sunny!

There is even this peek hole and we had LOTS of fun peeking.

Maren would crawl to the slide opening then hurry back to the peek hole and say "peeeeeek!" I rarely get so many smiling pictures looking directly at the camera!

Talking to Gama and Papa

Here's Maren talking to Gama and Papa!

An Apple A Day

Allen's Orchard, 2009

Maren learned to pick apples today. It was kind of hard because her hands are so small!

She even found treasures on the ground - like this pear fron the pear tree behind her. She was very excited to bring her treasures back to the basket. We worked really hard on being gentle with the apples, but it seems they are more fun to throw and attempt to get in the basket.

Maren wanted to hold her very own apple on the way home. I even think she picked this one. Of course, she couldn't wait to get home to taste it. SO.....

This is how far she got in the less than 10 minute drive. We kept making her say words like "cow" on the way home to make sure she wasn't choking. She kept eating this apple for the next hour at home until...

I put her down for a nap. She talked to her precious apple for more than 10 minutes, grabbing a bite here and there, but would NOT let go of it. See how it replaced stinky frog when she finally fell asleep? We had a fun time and ended our evening tonight with home made apple crisp.

Another Day in the Park - with Alena

This weekend has been better than we could have hoped, weather-wise. So sunny and warm! Yesterady we went to a party at the neighbors' then a block party for our neighborhood last night. We met the Jensen's at the park today for a picnic. Maren was busy busy running around, pointing out "goose", "puppy" and "puppy" (squirrels). She and Alena ate lots of picnic foods (cheese and fruit mostly) and enjoyed trying each other's water cups. There was even time for fun at the playground! No way was Maren going home with out playing on the equipment. I think it's time for our own swing set. We had a great time, Alena, Melissa, and Ben!

Friends and Odd Toys

We've had some gorgeous days over the past week. Maren loves being outside and asks to go even more than Izzy. This night, she brought her little duck friends to play. One of her favorite "outdoor" toys is the extra car seat base, though. She likes climbing in and out of it!

Go Hawks!

I'm very happy that my Hawkeyes have won again!

Hat

Maren decided that Izzy's toy bin at Grandma and Grandpa's was actually a hat last night. She tried it on, tried it on again, then decided to have others try it on too.