Nessa's Name

Shawn here. This is really neat. I learned yesterday that "ness" is Hebrew for miracle, and that Nessa is the feminine form when using it as a name.

I've been calling Nessa "my little miracle" since she was born--turns out I was more right than I realized!

Our girls -- Enjoy!

We had the girls pose for pictures last Saturday and the end result was great! (The process was more than challenging due to Nessa's wanting to do everything but look at the camera.)

More of Nessa's one year photos (taken last Saturday)

Some of Nessa's one year photos (taken last Saturday)

These shoes were made for ... squeaking (??)

Yep, Nessa has a pair of squeaky shoes (apparently quite popular in China according to the website I ordered them from) and we're finally getting some use out of them. Nessa loves to hear them squeak when she walks and we think it's encouraging her to walk more rather than taking the faster route (crawling). I have yet to capture the many adorable moments when Nessa is walking to one of us or walking holding her blanket and pooh bear, and so on -- but I did capture a few pictures of Nessa walking outside with Daddy and her outside walking toy (thank you rummage sales!). Today we had supper in the park and Nessa was more interested in walking all over than she was in eating supper. She was wearing her squeaky shoes and it was so cute we didn't even mind (not much anyway; sure beat the whining she was doing in the Food Co-op because she couldn't get down and play).

Megan had a great time at Girl Scout camp!

Those of you that helped Megan get to camp -- thank you! And be warned that next year she has even bigger goals! :-)

Megan loved camp so if you see her be sure to ask her about all of her fun activities.

Megan was at camp Ehawee (http://www.gsriverland.com/modules/web/index.php?id=4). It's about 45 minutes from La Crosse in a beautiful rural area. Megan was enrolled in the "Sophisticated Ladies" session, but she also spent time doing traditional camp activities and working on Girl Scout badges. But in addition to the creek hopping, swimming and camp fires, the girls also went to the mall and participated in a fashion show, had makeovers and manicures, and had a limo ride into downtown La Crosse to spend some time at the Beuty school getting their hair done! You can see photos of Megan and others through their ecamp site (http://ehawee.ecamp.net/news.php?l=1 -- let me know if you want an invitation to see the photo album I have saved there).




I arrived at camp just in time to watch the final campfire ceremony. They gave awards out at the ceremony and Megan got the award for camp investigator because she asked so many questions!




After giving out the awards and telling us a bit about their camp adventures they all sang us a camp song and then it was time to say Goodbye. (By the way it was only the campers leaving on Wednesday that were at the "final camp fire" as the campers that were there for longer sessions were elsewhere -- so there really are more girls at the camp at one time than these photos would show!)


Megan was exhausted when it was time to go home as in addition to a pretty late bedtime she was awake much longer just talking to her tent-mates (girls talking? really?). She probably would have been asleep much sooner if Nessa had let her, but this is the photo I took of her in the car when we were just a few minutes from home (Shawn was driving then!)

Nessa missed Megan! And Megan missed Nessa!

Welcome home Megan!!!








Yes, we're sure Nessa misses Megan when she's not here. There was one day while Megan was gone that Nessa was looking out the window and "talking" and it sounded like she said "Megan"! Daddy told Nessa that Megan was at camp and that we all missed her.

Nessa was very happy to see Megan when Nessa and I got to camp to pick up Megan, and Nessa was even happier to finally be able to actually play with Megan! :-)

Megan still had her hair up from getting her up-do while at camp so I wanted a picture of her anyway and Megan said to leave Nessa's pants off because she had a "rock'n" diaper!

Nessa's new drawer

After Nessa discovered the drawer on the front of our end table (my what a lot of discoveries she has had lately), we decided to just let it be her drawer to use to put things in and have fun with. Nessa now likes to put all kinds of things in the drawer so if something is missing I always go and check the drawer! :-)

Speaking of farms and animals...

Speaking of farms and animals (see previous post)...

Nessa has a leapfrog fridge farm that she got for her birthday that she loves. We don't generally leave it down with the toys that she can reach at any time, so when I get it out I get a big smile. She can play with it for a long time before moving on to something else even though she rarely waits for the toy to finish singing about the animal she put on it before moving on to another animal or animal combo (front of one and back of another).

Baaa Baa - aa - aa (white) sheep

Baaa Baa - aa - aa (white) sheep

Yes, we have animal sounds at our house. Nessa seemed to favor the sheep that came with her farm from the beginning and now, after hearing me tell her the sheep says "baa" many, many times, she is telling me what the sheep says.

Nessa will go and get her sheep many times each day and play with them at the farm and also bring them to us to play with them too. Nessa also enjoys all of the animal books we have as well. And today there was a sheep on TV and Nessa turned to me and said "baa baa."




And yes, in addition to hiding her sheep in various places to find later, such as in her buggy, Nessa often chews on them. Of course Nessa chews on most things when she's in the mood to chew -- I even caught her chewing on the edge of the wood end table the other day! Yep, I'm pretty sure there are more teeth arriving soon ... baa - aa

Nessa goes for a walk

Shawn captured this photo through the window when he saw Tami and Nessa going for a walk. Nessa isn't quite walking on her own but she loves to walk with assistance and she especially loves using her walking toy outside. We walked *all the way* to the end of the block which is just a little farther than the length of our house. ;-)



I'm sure soon we'll be posting news of Nessa really walking. She's taken a few steps here and there but nothing consistent as she still knows she's faster and more sure of herself crawling. She has certainly mastered the art of falling though -- she now doesn't miss a beat between the ker-plunk of landing on her bottom and getting back up or taking off crawling. This means that there are fewer tears about falls in our home lately (of course there's more about wanting things her own way).

Riding bike is fun!!!

Shawn was able to capture this picture of Megan riding her bike (this has been a long time coming). If the photo looks a little distant and like there's a screen over it, it's because there was a screen over it -- Shawn took it from inside the house since Megan doesn't particularly like having her picture taken these days. Nessa and I were in the front yard cheering her on. Now that it's a few hours later Megan has been enjoying the freedom of riding around the block and to the school as if she's been doing it for years (I wish). Now we're looking forward to hitting the bike trails and exploring other places with Megan on her bike. :-)

Why Do We Always Wait Until Right Before Leaving To Take Pictures?

You'd think that two reasonably smart people such as Tami and I would learn to take family photos when Nessa is in a good mood earlier in the visit, but so far we seem incapable of acquiring this bit of wisdom. And this is what Nessa was like just before putting her into her car seat for the 8+ hour drive!

Fortunately, Nessa fell asleep within a half hour of being on the road and slept for a couple of hours.

Megan at Moondance Ranch

Shawn here. Megan also had fun at Moondance Ranch Memorial Day weekend. She tried her hand at mini golf...

...and as always was good with her sister.

Megan liked the animals best of all. Most are tame and roam the park freely, with little or no fear of humans, so you can get very close to them.

There are machines all over the park that dispense a handful of corn for a quarter, and many of the animals will eat right out of your hand. Megan enjoyed feeding them, and giggled at how their tongues felt.

This goat was amusing, except for the fact that he was hogging (goating?) the nice shady seat.

Many of the animals will let you pet them. This deer was resting in the shade by Nessa's stroller for quite a while. After Megan saw some other people come up and pet it, she decided to try.

Megan said she had a really good time at the park. We'll have to go back again when Nessa is old enough to do more.

Nessa's Big Day At The Ranch

Shawn here. We were at my parents' house in Walker, MN, for Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday we took the girls to Moondance Ranch, a park that has tame animals you can feed and pet as well as a variety of other activities. Nessa had a big day. First, a goat that Megan was feeding came up and licked Nessa's shoe (perhaps to see if it would be good to eat). It happened so fast that neither Mommy nor Daddy got a picture. Nessa was not happy about being a goat lollipop.

After walking around some to look at the animals, we played mini golf. Nessa had to help both Daddy and Megan. (She helped Mommy too, but we didn't get a picture.)

Then it was time to get in out of the hot sun for a bit, so we went to have snacks. Nessa wasn't excited about the ice cream (too cold), so Daddy got her an M&M cookie, much to Mommy's chagrin. It was yummy, and Mommy reports that the stains came out in the wash.

After we finished our snacks, Mommy and Megan went off to feed some of the animals while Daddy and Nessa walked around the park. Nessa fell asleep, so Daddy found a nice shady spot by a swing so they could both relax. A deer thought the shade looked inviting as well and came over for a rest.

A little later, a curious goat came by to see what these humans were up to, and had to check out the bright orange contraption with the little human inside. Nessa didn't mind this goat nearly so much for some reason.

It was a full day for a 1 year-old, but we all had fun.