Happy Is Her Middle Name

Daphne made this face a lot today:













Yep:













There it is again:


















Cheerful, isn't she?

Tomorrow will be better.

Because she loves me.

Most of the time.

I think.

8.14.04

What were YOU doing 6 years ago today?


















I know what I was doing.

It involved a pretty white dress, the most beautiful flowers you'll ever see, and one handsome dude.













Gettin' hitched, that's what I was doing. (Because I realize all those hints were very vague and could have related to any number of activities.)

There were two things I said I would never do when it came to getting married: never get married in the summer and never get married on a Saturday. I did both, because life just works out that way sometimes. I also said I would never have a baby in December, but I went ahead and not only had one in December, but on a national holiday to boot. That's how I roll.

I wanted a Friday night wedding, but wasn't sure about going for Friday the 13th. I'm not superstitious or anything, but doesn't it seem just a little freaky?

So happy anniversary to the best guy I could have hoped to marry.

It is a pleasure living a lifetime of happily ever after with you.

Choring

I discovered today that I am raising a genius.

That or she is developmentally right on track when it comes to watching and learning. It's one or the other.

Every morning I take the little miss out with me to take care of the morning chores. We feed the dogs, head out to take care of the chickens, and feed Ellie the Cat. We water the garden and pull a weed or two. Three mornings a week we go milk the goats.

Daph takes special excitement when caring for the chickens. Lately she has said "chicken house" (meaning- please take me to the chicken house because I love my chickens so very, very much) and "chicken water" (meaning- I am officially ready to take on the responsibility of caring for the chickens that I love so very, very much).

So today I was thrilled when she grabbed the chicken water bucket and went back to the rain barrels where I get their water. She asked me to turn the water on, so I let her fill the container with an inch or two of water. I held her hand while she walked, without spilling a drop, to the chicken house where she watered those chickens. All by herself. (Except for turning on the water and the walking. You know, close enough.)

































How long do you think it will be before I can send her out to do all these morning chores on her own? A day or two? Maybe give it a week? I'm already imaging what I'll do with my extra time...

More Parties

Yesterday was another big family shindig, this time for the Stutzman clan. Apparently summer is a good time for these types of things, since this is the 3rd party in 3 weeks. Sheesh.

Daphne and GAB bonded and I love this picture of them talking on the phones.














Then we went back to GAB's for what is apparently becoming a weekly Sunday night pool party. David and Uncle Kyle were doing this...


























...which was making Daphne squeal with glee.
































You probably had to be there, but it was so funny.

Love that girl.

Short and Sweet

This afternoon when I sneezed, Daphne said 'bless you.' She's a polite little bugger.

Tonight she said 'night night' to the bathroom.

Although Daph usually hates wearing hats, lately she's taken a fancy to wearing her 49ers baseball cap.


























You may recall her wearing it when she was 3-ish months old.














She likes it a lot better now.

Daphne has been a grouchy, grouchy girl this week. Lots of screeching, but she's doing really well saying 'haynana' when she's frustrated and needs something. What's a 'haynana' you ask? I taught her to say 'help me, mama' when she needs somethings, as opposed to all the yelping and fussing she usually does. 'Haynana' works fine, too.

Craft Warehouse is having an amazing sale right now. They hardly ever have sales! I had no idea that they had cute fabric, but they do! Buy 2 yards get 1 free.

We have to get up at the crack of dawn to go milk some goats. Daph and I are going alone; here's to hoping she will quietly sit in one spot while the goats and I spend our time together. Super gluing her buns to the floor is definitely a viable option.

More Farming

Look what I learned how to do:













Yes indeed, that is me milking a goat.

There is a little farm not too far from us that has an abundance of goat milk and needed someone who was willing to do their own milking.

Daphne was so happy there. She could not get enough of those goats, and was of course thrilled to be around their dogs.































I know she wants her own goat. I know it. Now if we can just talk David into it...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Sunday we made the trek down to Albany for the annual Roth Christmas. I tell ya what, our Idaho drive has truly scarred Daphne for life when it comes to riding in cars for longer than 5 seconds. It's not fair that David can completely block out her screeching because I cannot. I feel the need to try everything in my power to make her happy and calm, but nothing works. I feel so bad for her.

Anyways, we made a lovely family tree, which after the hours of work we put into it I was hoping we could just shellac it to the wall so it could stay forever.














Daph loved playing with her little cousins.














And she got some snuggles from her Grandma-Great.














We capped off the day with some swimming at GAB's (Great Aunt Brenda) house where Daphne got to watch her dad and Uncle Kyle be totally weird, and where she got to play with Payton.


































That, my friends, is what you call a pretty much perfect summer day.