Bowling

Shared called me up today and invited Cyndi and I to go bowling with them. So off we went. It was great fun. Cyndi had the time of her life playing with the balls and her cousins. On the way to the bowling ally, Cyndi was saying: 'Kylie's house, Kylie's house.' She loves to go and play with her cousins.

Cyndi loved to move the balls around. I kept getting a little worried that she was going to pinch her fingers, but she was very good about watching for that.

Cyndi was dancing

Cyndi would go and sit next to Ethan and then scoot closer to him. He would move away and she would scoot closer again. It was cute to watch.

I let Cyndi bowl every now and again. The ball kept loosing momentum and stopping before it got to the end. But Cyndi had fun and that is all that counts

After her turn watching everyone

The three little cousins all watching Britney bowl. I thought that was just a cute picture.

Thanks for a fun day Shared and Britney!

Crazy Cyndi

Cyndi loves to play in Mom's shoes. She also loves to play with Granmas walking stick. The other day she decided to combine the two. The heels that she is wearing made the right difference in height for her to use the walking stick with. It was so cute!

Candy Factory Tour

Last Monday for Family Home Evening, Granpa got off from work early and took us all to the Liberty Orchards candy factory where they make Aplets and Cotlets (they are a Washington jelly candy that has nuts in). The factory was in a small town called Cashmere, about 2 hours away. It was great fun to check it out. We asked someone to take a picture of us just before we went of the tour and they cut Cyndi out of the picture. I am little unhappy because now we don't have a group picture.

Granma, Cyndi and me in the tour line watching things happen

The big double boilers mixing all the ingredients together to make the candy

Pouring the candy in molds. Once it is poured, it is pushed the side and cools to room temperature. Once at room temperature, it is placed into the fridge to set.

Candy storage

The candy in slabs getting covered with powder sugar and cut in shape

The sugar in the background

Cyndi excited about all the candy. Look at that smile on her face!

Putting the information in the boxes

The candy box fillers. People sit and fill the boxes with the candy

The machine that wraps the boxes in plastic

The candy boxes coming out the plastic wrapping machine

Top Belt: The lids on their way to where they get put on the boxes

Bottom Belt: The boxes of candy on their way to get wrapped in plastic

Putting the boxes into a large storage box

Cyndi taking her hair net off after the tour. I was very surprised that she kept it on and never fiddled with it once.

Thanks Granpa for a fun filled Family Home Evening!

Flowers

Cyndi loves to be outside and in the evenings when Granpa comes home from work he always takes her out. The other night he was taking some of the dead flowers out of the flowers pots that hang by the front door. Cyndi had to help. So Granpa got out the step ladder and up she climbed. She had so much fun helping that we had to dust her off multiple times to get all of the dead flowers off her.

SWIMMING

The other day it was about 100 degrees so we filled up Cyndi's pool with water and let her go and play in it. She had such a fun time in the water. Even though I was not getting in and just watching her, Cyndi felt the need to wet me. So I ended up getting quit wet.

My Little Cutie Pie!

Playing with Granma in the pool

Chasing the ball. Cyndi would run around the garden and then jump in the pool. Then she would run and then back in the pool. There was a lot of grass, leaves and other things in the pool by the time she was done.

Conversational Candy

At Walmart tonight Cyndi heard the candy talk to her. And yes, she replied. It was so cute. She had a conversation like she was talking on the phone with someone. Then when she does done talking, she tried to eat through the bag. When I stopped her from doing that, she began to lick the bag.

"Eeeat meee!"

Picture taken on phone

Cyndi's New Owie

Yesterday morning, Cyndi was playing with Granma in the kitchen. The game was 'Boo.' Its one of Cyndi's favourite games to play. She says 'Boo' and you jump with fright. The bigger the jump, the funny it is. So Cyndi went and scared Granma, she jumped, Cyndi laughed. Granma the turned and went 'Boo' to Cyndi. Cyndi then laughed and turned to run away. In the process of running she had some altercation with the slops that she was wearing and/or the chair leg that she was passing and down she went - nothing new, when she gets exciting her balance and coordination fly out the window. Granma went to help brush her off, when she noticed the problem. Cyndi's mouth, chin and fingers that were close were now covered in blood. After hearing the screams from Cyndi and the calling from Granma, I came running to see what at happened. I got and grab a towel from the bathroom and place it on Cyndi's mouth and then I cuddle her to help her calm down. (I used a towel because a tissue or paper towel would just get stuck in the wound.) It really was not a pretty picture. Once I got Cyndi calmed down, she pushed the towel away and put her binki in her mouth. Then I took her into my bedroom so she can snuggle while I carry on with work. A little later, I got her some Sprite and ice and with that I was able to con Cyndi into letting me take a look at the damage to her lip. I got a little worried about it, so Granma called a friend who has a nurse for a daughter. The said where the owie was located the doctors would not do anything for it. Grampa came home from work during lunch (so we could have the car in case I decided that we needed to made a doctor trip) to take a look at the lip. So after talking with Ben and everyone else, I decided not to take Cyndi to the doctor. Most of the day yesterday she ate ice and popsicles - she loved that!

At first we thought that maybe a tooth had gone through her lip, but now looking at it, I have no idea how it happened. She has a cut on the outside of her lip. It is about 1/4 inch long and it is jagged. She also has a graze looking thing on the inside of her lip right next to another cut. The inside of her lip in swollen as well. Yesterday when she woke up from her nap her lip was bout 4 tips the size of it normally. So we gave her a popsicle and it shrunk down to the size it is now.

The inside of her lip.

The outside of her lip.

Sorry the pictures are not the best, Cyndi would not hold still long enough for me to take good picture where you could see the owie in details.

Update: Today Cyndi has been acting like her normal self. Her lip is still swollen but that is not standing in her way of anything.

Evening Stroll With Grampa

Last night I took a couple of pictures of Cyndi and Grampa outside. It was rather cute to watch Cyndi mimicking Grampa in some ways. Grampa got Cyndi a walking stick and then they went on a little walk to the end of the block and back.

Cyndi and Grampa with their walking sticks.

I really like this picture. Off they go on the walk. Sticks in hand.

CinnaBon-Bon Baby

Granma was in charge of treats this week for family home evening. She enlisted Cyndi's help to make cinnamon buns. They were super tasty - but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Cyndi had so much fun helping. Here is a step by step picture tutorial of how the cinnamon buns were made. The dough was premade in the bread machine.

Flattening the dough

Rolling the dough

Spreading butter over the dough so everything sticks

Spreading a mixture of milk and brown sugar over the butter

Adding brown sugar

Pouring the cinnamon/sugar mixture on the dough

Adding a little more cinnamon to the mix

Rolling it up

Helping Granma cut the cinnamon 'roll' into buns

Putting the cinnamon buns on the pan

Squishing them flat to fill the pan

Bread loaf and cinnamon buns in the oven

Gardening With Grampa

Cyndi has been learning all about the garden over the last few weeks. In the evening when Grampa gets home from work, he takes Cyndi into the garden. She loved to pick the tomatoes and peas right off the plant and eat them in the garden. Here are a few pictures of the two of them in the garden. She is really Grampa's shadow in the garden. It is so cute.

Cyndi's Hiding Place

When I left Utah, my work offered me a work from home position which I happily accepted. Cyndi is still trying to adjust with me being at home, but not having my full attention. So some how a blanket got under my desk and Cyndi followed. She has now made it her little hide away. She climbs in and out of it all day long. Today I got her a pillow to help make it a little more cozy there. She spent the rest of the day asking me to snuggle all the blankets around her. If you can tell, we have a full house under there. Elephant, Coco, 2 receiving blankets, her water bottle and some random toys.

She is smiling behind her binki.

Update on the Ames

A quick update for those of you who are out of the loop. Cyndi and I are living in Washington with Ben's parents at the moment. Ben is in Ohio, the Cleveland area to be more specific. We both feel that that is where we need to be. So he is out there paving the way for Cyndi and I to join him in the next little bit. He is staying with a wonderful retired couple. I have updated the blog with all the pictures that I have on the camera at the moment. More has happened, but I never recorded it. I will do better. So when you scroll through and look at all the pictures, view older posts for the rest of the updates.

S'mores

Tonight I introduced Cyndi to S'mores for the first time. She loved the idea of them. When it came to eating them, she was a little wiry of them.

Showing off her s'more

Trying to figure out how to eat it

Look Mom, there is chocolate on my noise!

Deep concentration

She wanted me to take a picture her chocolate marshmallow hands

Mom, it was nummy!!!