Just Some Pictures

Mmmm...nothing quite like those eyes. We made cookies so Alyssa played with cookie cutters for a few days. I smartly stepped on one while exercising bear-footed. Oops! That hurt! 

Alyssa is also our little wreath headed Christmas baby. She eats cords sometimes, too. How do you really baby proof a house? Any suggestions because I'm not doing a very good job (apparently).

We leave for Texas in less than 2 weeks! I don't know how that happened! I'm excited, so excited!

Yeah, right....

I saw this today. Really? For a FIRST birthday party? Sorry, Alyssa. It's not going to happen.

Christmas is coming! The goose is getting FAT.

The choice was to clean the bathroom and kitchen floors or update our blog...

You can guess which one won.

Thanksgiving was a lovely day here in the Delyware. We drove to Philadelphia, Penn-syl-van-i-a and went to the parade. It is the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the country (take that, Macy's!). We saw some big balloons. If Alyssa has red hair for her 4th Halloween, she'll probably be Madeline. She was particularly enthralled with Curious George. We even saw B. Franklin on a bike! (That's the kind of obscure picture in the collage).



She's such a good sport with our little adventures. She happily rides in the back seat and endures her big snow suit on cold Thanksgiving mornings.

After the parade we went to the Cluff's for dinner. It was quite a feast for 4 big people and 2 small people. Alyssa loved the pumpkin pie. At first she was eating mine, but it became apparent that it wasn't enough, so I started sloughing some off of Erik's plate...still not enough. Jill cut her a piece and she ate most of that, too. I regret buying a frozen pumpkin pie and baking it because it mean that the high fructose corn syrup intake was greater than a homemade pie...but all in the name of big baby thighs.

The day after Thanksgiving we set up the tree. Alyssa was a little hesitant and mostly screamed when we tried to put her near it. Now she and the tree are old friends. She likes to look at the lights.

We are excited to visit family so very soon! Only 22 more days until we leave the First State and then like 30 days until we are in OO-tah! And since Christmas is here, you better believe that I'll be making some of these very soon.

7 months have come and gone...

Alyssa turned 7 months yesterday. This last month has brought with it an incredible amount of change and development! Alyssa is a speedy gonzalez crawler. She loves to pull herself up on anything she can put her hands on. She stands up in the crib (for all you worried people, we lowered the mattress). She is laughing a lot more and eating everything that is gummable. When she eats she sticks her toes in the edge of her tray and pushes out (see below). She also has 1 tooth and is working on another. She is such a joy to have in our home! We love our little Lyssa!

They came! They came! They finally came!

Mom and Dad came! It was so exciting! Alyssa was a little unsure at first but she bonded very well! We did some fun things. We went to Washington, D.C.  We parked at a subway station outside of the city. We started at Arlington Cemetery and ended at the Air and Space Museum. We walked 5.3 miles! We recommend driving if you want to see a wide range of things.

I was going to feed Alyssa at the A & S museum. I was slowly arranging everything on a bench when I noticed the security guard was playing peek-a-boo with her and was slowly coming over to us. Then, an Asian man decided he should take pictures of us. He took a few of Alyssa and a couple of us together before leaving. I decided that was not the best place to feed her. It still makes me laugh in my head thinking about it...That'd kind of how our journeys turn out though!



We also went to Old Historic New Castle. It is about 20 minutes from our apartment. It was a cute little place. We saw holly and ivy (holly is a tree...who knew?) and walked the streets of houses that "witnessed the Civil War."



We also went to the Hershey's Chocolate Factory, Gettysburg, and the Fallen Fire Fighters' Memorial.

The best part was just hanging around the house. Alyssa really liked playing with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa tried to teach her how to click her tongue and Grandmum (that's what the Delawarians say) played patty cake with her.

We were going to go to NY but chickened out. However, I now have the inside loop on the best way to go there. Soooo if anyone wants to come visit we can go there! If you are Newsies fan then Broadway is brewing up a little special treat for you. I wonder if Dr. Baxter will see that one...

Leaves of Fire

Autumn in Delaware.

It's beautiful. Yes it is!

Leaves are falling all around

We went for a delightful walk today. There is a wood behind our apartment and it's quite lovely now that all the blood sucking mosquitoes have left for the winter. It was a little chilly so we bundled Alyssa up nicely.

She wore the gloves the entire time. They sure did keep her hands warm!

Alyssa has really started to talk off in her development! Within the last 2 weeks she has learned to sit up, crawl, return to sit up position, and pull herself up on low objects including bongos and crib sides. When we put her in bed she sits up until she's ready to sleep (sometimes crying, sometimes not). Several times I go into her room to find her in a new position. It makes me laugh!

We have also ix-nayed the baby food. She was not eating any of it. She now eats green beans, graham crackers, saltines, bread, noodles, eggs, apples, peaches, pancakes, waffles...if she can gum it, she eats it! It is working 93084 % better than the baby food. I guess it was not for her!

Her final achievement is her little tooth. It's cutting in! This really has all happened so fast that I just have to marvel. I thought babies were a little bit slower in their progression, but I guess it is not so!

Hah ppy Hall o ween "Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaa"

Remember the jack-o-lantern? I'm sure you do if you know what I'm talking about.

Our Halloween celebrations were kind of limited this year. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat. Alyssa was a skeleton and Erik and I were...

(Look at the picture)

(Take a guess)

Losers

Since both teams lost the night before we thought maybe it would be kind of obvious that we were losers. But notsomuch. Our confidence dipped a little lower when an 8 year old told us that we really were losers. He was wearing a U jersey, so maybe we'll forgive him... 

Alyssa was really funny today. Every morning when she wakes up she is a little bit different. She must learn things in her sleep. She inhaled (practically) half a slice of bread. I'm always surprised what she will eat. While we were playing on the floor she decided I work well as a baby jungle gym. She also thought it was funny to suck on my face. She decided that laying down and waiting for me to get her out of her crib is so for little babies. She now sits and waits until I come kind of babbling the whole time. She's got a funny little personality in that body that brings me so much joy each day!

Fall, Food, and Philly

Fall is coming! Alyssa and I went on a nature walk and took some pictures with the leaves. It still is mostly green, but there are lots of colors that are slowly manifesting themselves. Alyssa's hair fits so well with fall.

Alyssa turned 6 months last week. With this milestone we are trying out a few foods. We might have ruined her rice cereal appetite because we were a little too quick to give her the good stuff like graham crackers and apples. She chews on apples and celery because it helps her to feel a part of dinner. Apples, however, are becoming too dangerous! She can gnaw chunks of them off which requires us to go sweeping. She is not a very neat eater, but she does like food!

On Friday we went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! We rode the SEPTA, which eliminated city driving! We saw Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed (August 2, 1776 rather than July 4, 1776) as well as the Constitution. We strolled around Washington Square where there is the tomb of the unknown soldier from the Revolutionary War. We toured the US Mint where we saw lots of conveyor belts running without much explanation. It was a little colder than we had anticipated but by the look on Alyssa's face it was all a bit of a joke anyway! {Yes, I accidentally put the same pic on twice. Oops :)}

Do we all look the same?

[Just as a little disclaimer. I am not racist. I think people of all ethnicity, skin colors, heritages are generally great people. Just so you know and don't take this post the wrong way]

I looked out the window and saw an African American man leave his car. That's not really unusual around here considering that of the 4 apartments in our "building" we are the only Caucasian family. Then I thought to myself..."Do all Caucasians look the same to all African Americans like all African Americans look the same to me?" Now, I know they don't all look the same. The guy who wears really long shorts and a sideways baseball cap with a little bit of a heavier set is definitely not the same as the one who is a bit taller and thinner and limps BUT when there are like 6 guys with kind of gray beards who talk in their African American dialect outside my window, I just had to wonder...

Serene Saturday

Today was a lot better than yesterday. Our car actually is fix-ed! It turns out we were just in a Princess Bride dream and that the princess (stinky, broken car) who was booooed in the dream is really actually the good princess (Yellow Manly) that we all love. Hopefully it will stay good and lovely for more than 2 weeks this time!

Dodge Ball Friday

I got a card once that said something to the effect that "Some days are like playing dodge ball...you are pinned up against a wall with no where to go." That was today...Dodge Ball Friday. The short story is we tried to change our spark plug in our car which was successful after about 7 hours and getting a socket extension wedged under the air intake manifold. The spark plug, however successfully installed, did not fix our problem. BOOO BOOO BOOO (Princess Bride anyone?)

This picture basically sums up my day with the popcorn paralleling more than just the mess in the kitchen.

Luckily Alyssa is cute despite car failures. She was a Halloween Cat + Pumpkin today!

Yesterday she was a picnic lunch...

And she does smile for the camera now :)

Like Daddy, Like Daughter

Erik stayed home on Friday and did homework. Alyssa joined him. They are silly kids!

Pumpkin Girl

Today we went to Milburn Orchards. Alyssa took some pictures with the pumpkins. They matched her hair. :)

There's a spider on my cheek...EEK!

October is here. Really? When did that happen? Yet it did. We are singing Halloween songs at our singing group and the leaves are s.l.o.w.l.y... starting to turn colors. The wooded view behind our house will be something to behold in a few short weeks.

We enjoyed a round of General Conference. It's a whole new ball game watching it with a child but at least we stayed awake!

We are also avid football watchers now. Sometimes Alyssa participates (as seen below). The bummer thing is that we usually stay up way toooo late, especially during home games. For example: this week's game starts at 8:15 PM MDT (yes I'm sure) so that means 10:15 PM EDT. I guess it means I can still go to stake conference AND watch football...

 On Friday we went on adventures. We went to Wilmington and walked the "Riverfront." This is something that is happenin' place in San Diego, San Francisco and probably even Atlantic City, but it's not really such a crowd pleaser in Delaware. Either way the weather was nice and we got to see a tree huggin' environmentalist land place. It was well landscaped and built in a swamp...don't hurt the turtles :)

Alyssa's also been sporting quite the wardrobe. 

 

We still eat cookies...lots of them. Alyssa is starting to help make them! She's quite the chef. I have to add less liquid because she does such a good job of drooling in them. These particular cookies were snickerdoodles and for the FIRST time EVER they were not hard, thankyouverymuch! (Oh and please note the chandelier in our new apartment...yes it's gold and it does not hang straight.)

Giggle Giggle Giggle

Last night Alyssa got the giggles just by looking at Erik's face. She loves her daddy, that's for sure!

Alyssa

While we were in Utah I asked my cousin, Becca, to take some pictures of Alyssa. She did an excellent job! The pictures turned out much better than our little snap and shoot produces. She also has a nice eye for angles. Thanks, Becca! 

(curly red hair...yes!)

That's all folks!

Have you ever seen a llama wearing pajamas down by the bay?

It has been awhile...

Indeed, since the last time you heard from us we have traveled over 3,000 miles by yellow car. We have seen every member of our immediate families. We have seen Utah desert, Colorado mountains, New Mexico atomic laboratory museums. Let's not forget the yellowy yellow fields of Texas, trees of Arkansas, the hills of Tennessee, the American Parthenon, Elvis Presley's home (it was a drive by), America at its finest (don't worry, there will be a picture), and our new "well maintained, but old" apartment which our good friend, Irene, welcomed us to.

I didn't think we would make it. But...alas...after what seemed like a long alas...we did make it.

Pictures are better than words.

Let's travel!

Alyssa likes aquariums!

the newest Texas Ranger fans!

The Mississippi River

Did you know Nashville has a Parthenon? 

The Future Mr. and Mrs. Jensen

Virginia...it's green!

Our champion travel buddy! She's asleep, not just blinking.

Road Construction + Washington Monument = America at its finest

Unpacking is hard business!

We are all settled in now. Erik has started classes at UDel. Alyssa and I are enjoying a mostly stress-free life. We are grateful that we made it safely and we are grateful for the faith of those who prayed and fasted for us. We are grateful for technology and that video chatting is possible. It makes 3,000 miles seem like it's not so bad!