1 for 3 at Christmases

Since her birthday is only three days before Christmas, you could have guessed Anya was going to strike out on Christmas Day as well, considering her record of being sick this time of year.

Oh well, there's always next year.

Anya would feel a little better when we gave her some tylenol though...


She even let Austria sit beside her for a while without yelling "Boogers, Daddy!"...


Let's hope 2009 brings some better health compared to the last couple of weeks of 2008!

Happy New Year!

0 for 2

Anya is "batting zero" for her birthdays - "Oh for two. " She was sick again. Poor little girl. She had a fever of 103 and her nose was running all day long. (I attempted to calculate the odds of being sick on all of your birthdays but the probability distribution is unknown. Looks like I know what I'm doing December 22nd, 2009...)

We hardly took any pictures all day. There is more than one reason for that but we thankfully took a couple of pictures last week when she was allowed to open up one of her gifts so that she could enjoy it during the season. It was a Christmas Nativity set. Anya calls them her "little people." (Hopefully, certain groups will understand her benign usage of that term.)


She also liked the "snow from Utah" that Nana sent:


With all the terrible weather across the country this week, Anya wanted to show that she was willing to face the elements as well:


Austria tried to play in the snow too but she wants you to know she had a hard time holding onto that one flake in the background.


But this was the gift that kept on giving... Once the snow became too boring to play in, Anya turned to the box itself and had a great time making pretend beds, baths and beyond with her imagination. I believe this following picture is a bed or perhaps a train...


Lastly, Anya was clever enough to convince us to open Austria's gift for Christmas, too. But unlike the previous gift, Anya actually let Austria hold and keep them.

On This Day . . .

On this day, 28 years ago, a baby boy, John LaNay Salmon was born. He will dislike this post . . . it's not his style to blog about his birthday--he'd rather share a Marta Moment. So to celebrate, a few stats he will appreciate:

1. Our daughters have used approximately 4348 diapers. This may not be exact (it is difficult to count every diaper we have used on trips that have been supplied by generous Grandmas). Oh, and there was that time that I was feeding Austria in the mother's lounge at church and she had a major blow out--going through her tights and onto my skirt (don't worry, I was wearing black that day)--and a nice woman pulled out a diaper, since mine were in the chapel with Anya and John. So I guess we should say 4349 diapers.

2. Austria is using considerably less diapers . . . or we aren't changing them as often :) At Austria's age, Anya had used 744 diapers, Austria has used 533. Hmmm . . . maybe I missed recording a package. However, I do remember changing Anya's diaper at least once during the night for a few months. Austria has to sleep in her soggy one until morning.

3. Anya currently weighs just under 22 lbs. Her weight and height are off the chart in one direction and her head measurement is off the chart in the other direction.

4. Austria currently weighs in at 12.5 lbs. She is average in weight, height, and head circumference.

5. The first birthday celebration I was part of, we went to a U2 concert. My, how times have changed, today we are going to the Zoo with our girls and eating steaks grilled by the birthday boy.

6. Of the 4 birthdays I've celebrated with John, I've been pregnant 2 of them.

7. Also notable on December 18, 1980: Bruce Sprinsteen's concert at Madison Square Garden, IRA's Sean McKenna becomes critically ill and ends hunger strike, Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts minister Van Agts abortion laws and Vietnam adopts constitution . . . at least that is what one website said was notable. But for three girls in GA, John Salmon's birth has had much more of an impact :)

We love you John/Daddy! Happy Birthday!

Dude!

Dude! I found a little green pepper growing inside our large green pepper!

Mer-ry-Christ-mas-to-ME!

Canadian Giraffe

Anya has been looking forward to seeing a giraffe in Canada for a couple months now . . . I finally figured out what she was talking about . . . we have been telling her we are going to Canada to see Jeff get married to Megan (or Meggie, as Anya quickly nicknamed her). Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Anya was quite happy following Uncle Jeffrey around. She was glad he wasn't really a giraffe! We didn't capture too many moments of the wedding. We'll leave the posting of wedding photos up to someone else.

Here is a picture of the giraffe (Jeff) Anya traveled many miles to see:

And his wonderful bride, Meggie:


All the Salmon brothers, probably debating something while this picture is being taken:



Anya enjoyed seeing her cousins and playing with them--as long as they didn't play with the toys she wanted to play with :) Here she is guarding one toy:


Austria enjoyed Canada . . . I think she really liked the Canadian cuisine:


We attempted to take a family picture, but discovered it was quite a trick with 9 kids under the age of 8, and 6 of those under the age of 2! Photographer Cathy had quite a job--taking the picture, blocking the sunlight, and entertaining all the kids. After a group photo, we tried to take pictures of each family . . . it looked something like this for the family being photographed:

Where's Bear?

Of all the stuffed animals Anya owns her most favorite is a little bear called "Bear." We write "owns" because it was actually given to Austria.


We recently had a little photo shoot around our apartment which has some surprisingly nice views.

We missed almost every opportunity on Saturdays (due to other things) to see the leaves in North Georgia this year but at least the view from our patio is decent:

Anyway, we tried to get Anya to pose in front of some of the beautiful trees but our digital camera is from the "early 2000's" and so we can't snap the picture on demand.

We have now started saving for a new camera with a few more fps speed than 0.1 per second...


Luckily, Austria, who doesn't move around constantly can still have her picture taken with an older model. She's not going anywhere...for awhile...

Aristotle and the Penguin

We are a little late for a Halloween post but some of us were sick this last week and so after all the other less eventful things that happened this week, this post arrives.

Lindy and I performed our parental duties and taught our children about Halloween and how we must celebrate this holiday for the simple reason that pumpkin farmers need a market.

As for costumes, Anya was Aristotle...


...and Austria went as a penguin.


From their perspective, it probably wasn't anything unique. Their parents dress them in the clothes of the day and then they spend the rest of the day trying to get "treets." I suppose it is Halloween everyday for Anya, but at least on this one day her efforts were successful.

As Aristotle, Anya was quick to figure out the strategy for one of the games at the Halloween party we attended. I was completely confused and got all spun around trying to understand the logic in which she obviously excelled:



She also enjoyed carving a pumpkin and wasn't too scared of the Pumpkin Slime!



Austria posed as the model for the pumpkin's face. She did a good job but Anya couldn't figure out how to carve the tongue.

Double Date

Anya and Austria accompanied Christian and Parker to the Pumpkin Patch. Because none of them have a driver's license, their moms kindly chaperoned them. Anya quite enjoys double dating with her younger sister, since Austria doesn't demand any attention from the boys. However, Anya does get a little jealous when Christian calls Austria "baby".


Anya enjoyed Christian wanting to be near her and protect her.


Because of Parker's rugged good looks, he gets tired of the paparazzi, but was proud they had found him at the pumpkin patch, so he could impress his date.


Anya was impressed by Parker's ability to eat various things during the date.


Not to be outdone by Parker, Christian showed his strength by carrying, not just one, but two pumpkins for much of the date. Near the end of the date, he finally sat down, a bit tired, and contemplated his next move to impress the girls.


Anya pulled out a few of her own charming moves when the boys weren't giving her the attention she wanted.

In an effort to win Anya's heart, Christian let Anya DRIVE the tractor . . .

. . . until Parker moved in.

Austria was more difficult to impress. She fell asleep. Maybe one of the younger brothers that both Parker and Christian will be having in the next six months will be able to do something that will keep her awake.