Beautiful

I just wanted to post the pictures from Carina's photo shoot.

Happy Mother's Day

Whether it's your 1st, 3rd or 36th mother's day, I hope you have a wonderful day and you know just how important you are.

Books from the Heart

I am the point person at my office for the Books from the Heart Campaign. The purpose is to collect books for children in state custody. For every new book you donate you will receive a $10.00 certificate to McCormick and Schmicks restaurants. I will have certificates or you can donate at any Barnes and Noble. The benefit of giving them to me is they will be distributed to the children that are served in my branch. So dig deep and buy a new book or two for children who wouldn't otherwise get a new book.

Skiing....again

When Travis and I decided to teach Carina to ski we decided that it was really all about "growing" a skier. Which as we figure it means that it is our job to make this as much fun as possible for her. We initially started off taking her in a child carrier back pack... and that worked until Travis took a bit of a fall with her and she HATED it after that. We were worried that we had ruined it for her forever. But thanks to some you tube videos of little kids skiing Carina was hooked and hence the "I wanna ski by myself" post of earlier.

We did buy her her own skis and she has enjoyed it. We took her up with the sled this weekend, she wanted to start off in the sled and stayed in there all the way to our lunch spot. It is a beautiful spot with a great view of Mt. Hood.

















Carina and I stayed at the top of the hill while Travis made the drop. We made the snowman and went Sledding. It was an incredibly fun and silly time.









Carina managed to ski for about 1/4 of a mile back down to the car. She did really well but she was tired and got back in the sled and passed out all the way back to the car. When she woke up to get in the car she told me " that was really fun skiing."

Carina's magic carpet ride

Carina took her first ride at the resort. Mt. Hood Meadows has a conveyor belt like contraption that gets kids, mostly, up a small hill with out the complications of a lift line or the dislodged shoulder of a rope tow.









The first attempt Carina ended up on her buns and in tears. So Travis was then in charge of getting her up the hill. She did pretty good so long as we were both holding a hand going slowly.









But she eventually loosened up and enjoyed going fast and even let me take some action shots.

She even tried a few "fries" and "pizzas"

First Day of School

I started looking at daycare centers about a year ago when Travis got his job. I saw a few and although I did find one that I was willing to put her in I was not ready to let her go. She was just still so little and not fully capable of tattling about anyone being mean to her. Thankfully my friend Took so graciously agreed to take Carina even though she was at the time 9 months pregnant. I was generous enough to give her a 3 day pregnancy leave after the birth before Carina returned from her Aunt Megan's.

Took has taken wonderful care of Carina, loving her like her own fair skinned child. Carina loves Took and her sister in law Ghoy and over the last year they have developed such an amazing relationship. Took got her to nap everyday so that I would have my wonderful daughter in the evenings instead of a little monster. Took fed her everyday, plied her with M&M's to use the potty, didn't charge me a cleaning fee when Carina peed on her brand new couch (because somehow her daddy forgot to put a diaper on her) and taught Carina how to count and say a few phrases in Thai/Laotian. I appreciated Took everyday for this but not so much as I did today when I had to leave my baby with practical strangers.

Carina joined the forces of children of working parents everywhere and went to daycare. I was a wreck all day and worried about her, was she crying, was she missing me, where the other kids ignoring her or hitting her.

When I picked her she was happily playing in fact she didn't want to leave. Her teacher said she transitioned wonderfully and even wanted to lay down and take a nap when she first got there. Carina loves school and can't wait to go back tomorrow. They are having a St. Patrick's day party with cupcakes.

I wanna be...

Carina thinks grandma Jule is pretty cool. This isn't a passing phase, she's been saying it for a while. Jule may have gotten her wish, to pass on the veterinarian bug, it just took an additional generation.