week/weekend in Appleton

Last week Rose had a "grandparents week" with my parents. They left on Monday morning, and she got to go to a city concert on Tuesday, visit a new park and zoo on Wednesday, and pick up Gigi on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mike and I went to a movie (for the first time since my 20-week ultrasound in December of 2011!) and had lots of quiet time at home. On Thursday I drove out to Appleton, leaving about 5 hours earlier than I had told everyone in order to surprise them. Rose was thrilled to see me, and I was even more thrilled to see her! On Friday we went to my cousin Alice's wedding, on Saturday we went to Bay Beach and Kroll's in Green Bay, and on Sunday Rose and I drove home (but stopped at a cheese factory en route!). I had a lovely time, and I'm pretty sure Rose did as well!!

Mmm...cheese...

First Ferris Wheel ride

I was scared of how high it went!!

Putting her on a B-52 (with gun!!!!) offended all my liberal sensibilities.

Thankfully she preferred this type of ride instead!

It drizzled off and on all morning, which made for very short lines!

Her father's daughter.

Ninja and PopPop even got in on the action!

my date!

Congrats again to Alice and Mike!

zoo trip (old)

We went to the zoo basically EONS ago for the "farm babies" special exhibit that runs through the month of April. Since I'm so far behind in blogging (and since our new ISP takes forever and a day to upload anything) I'm going to cop out and do another post mostly sans captions - enjoy the photos!

Owl in the middle.

Notice Mike's reflection?

"Simba!!"

Enthralled by "Pumba"

Rose-isms

Now that she is 3 (and very clearly trying to make sense of the world, as in what is "right" and what is "wrong," and also pressing the limits even more), she is coming up with some pretty cute Rose-isms! Here are two of my favorites from the past couple weeks.

1. en route from Appleton to Minneapolis, we stopped at a gas station to get some snacks and to go potty...
Rose:  Mommy, you hold me on the potty?
Me: Are you afraid you might fall in? Of course I'll hold you.
Rose: Hold me tight!
a few minutes later, when it was then my turn to go potty...
Rose: Mommy, you have a big bottom.
Me: Uh...
Rose: My bottom is little. Your bottom is big. You won't fall in.
(Yep, I definitely don't have to worry about falling in!)

2. recounted from Mike about a conversation they had the other day...
Mike: What do you want to do today Rose? We could go to the park, or to the library, or on a nature walk, or for a bike ride.
Rose: Give me another option, Daddy.
Mike: Uh...
Rose: I want another option. Like watching [Finding] Nemo.
(Yep, any way she can find to try to watch a movie!)


In other news, we are taking Rose backpacking in a couple weeks, so we decided to set up two trial nights of camping to get ready.  Tonight, she and Mike are attempting to sleep in the backyard - and I can't decide if this was a brilliant idea (to prepare her) or a disaster waiting to happen!  Here she was getting ready for the big night in the tent:

Because what else would you wear to camp in other than an apron, a princess dress, a headband, and a crown? Oh, and she is "talking on the phone" too.

On Saturday we head to a state park for more camping. Hopefully Rose, who is used to sleeping with black-out curtains on her windows, won't be too affected by the looooooong solstice day! 

Wish us luck.

Easter

Better late than never!   :)

photos of Rose

I had such a great weekend taking pictures with my friend Mary. It rejuvenated me for photography and blogging! As I slowly sort through the hundreds of photos that I just transferred from my camera to my computer, I thought I'd post a couple of my favorite subject, Miss Rosentozen. 

(It just so happens that she only allows me to take pictures of her when she is distracted with breakfast, hence the dirty mouth in all of these shots!)

Pictures from Grandma's Party

My wonderful cousin took some photos while we were in WI for my grandma's 90th birthday party last month. I have a great family! :)

  
 One of these days I'll post about the whole weekend. And Easter. And Rose's 3rd birthday party....

tonight, I made a connection.

I've been realizing recently (as in, for the past few months) that I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I used to. I still enjoy it, and I still feel motivated to keep this digital journal of Rose's early years. But somehow I just haven't found myself logging in to Blogger nearly as much as I used to.

It remained a mystery until tonight.

Tonight, I logged on to my VA account from home for the very first time in the past 8-ish months, using the same "citrix" gateway access that I used to use every. single. night. when I was at TEP. And for the first time in a very long time, I had an insanely strong urge to blog.

Aha!

Suddenly the pieces clicked into place: I used to spend SO much time on the computer when I was working at TEP, and blogging became a pleasant outlet - I could work for awhile, blog a little bit to get a break, then get back to work again. But now I haven't NEEDED that outlet in the same way that I used to. Instead I tend to fill my evenings with baking, reading, quilting, or watching TV.  All things that do NOT involve me logging on to a computer, and thus no need to take a break by updating the blog.

Huh.

So, while I still love this blog and value having this outlet, I'm realizing that I might as well accept that I'm just not blogging as much as I used to, and that's OKAY.  I have a running list of all the things I still need to catch up on (Easter, Rose's birthday, Gigi's birthday, Mother's Day...) and I'll get there eventually. But for now I'm enjoying my computer-free evenings at home. :)

New blue (natch) hat!

Prom 2015!

P.S. I have no intention of returning to my TEP ways of logging on my computer each night. Tonight was an anomoly because I have a big presentation to give on Thursday (with the slides due tomorrow) and wanted to look over it one more time before my busy week starts up! Have no fear - I certainly learned my lesson about work/life balance, and have no intention of returning to my old ways!