First Farmer's Market of the season

Adeline says hello to one of the few vendors at today's Farmer's Market. It was the first one of the season and was dampered quite a bit by the Spring snow but we had fun anyway!

Adeline loved tromping down the snowy street.

Addie at 16-months

~ She is just too stinkin' cute ~

Spring Fest

Adeline quite enjoyed Spring Fest downtown (...last Saturday...) One of the highlights were the giant bubbles outside Lasso the Moon. We could have stayed all morning.

Grandma Cheryl and Addie colored a carousel horse and received a free ride token!

She hated the wet sand but still managed to find a pink egg.

As usual Addie wanted to spend most of her time walking and running and exploring.

Week of the Young Child, part 2

Last week Tracy and I teamed up and took her son Eli, our friend's daughter Eliza and Adeline to storytime at the Capitol Rotunda.

The kids liked the stories but had most of their fun exploring the capitol building. Pictured above, the three kiddos look down from the third floor.

And of course looking out the massive windows was a big hit.

Eliza and Adeline get a closer look at the stained glass.

Adeline contemplates the next bill she'll propose to the legislature, requiring that ice cream be mandatory for dinner on Tuesdays.

Sometimes...the best part of our day

Adeline sure has enjoyed her baths lately. I think between her growing pains, teething pains and the general bruises from learning how to walk on uneven ground -- she has been sore. But the soothing warm water (along with lots of splashing) melts away all her aches.

Week of the Young Child, part 1

Last week there were many activities to do around town for kids. One of them was Celebrate the Week of the Young Child. Promoting the "early years are learning years" they hosted storytimes, activities, open houses to theatre, museums and music all week. Very fun stuff. One day Adeline learned about music from Karen McLean at the Music Makers Conservatory. She had a blast.

One year wonderful ~ A reflection

One year ago I left the newspaper business to be a full-time mother. I up and left my career that I had worked and studied to build since starting Journalism school 10 years ago. Yet this last year has been the best year of my life.

I don't regret one single moment of leaving full-time work. Sure I miss the life of a newspaperwoman and my fun coworkers...I miss going to neat assignments, meeting famous people, getting on the sidelines, using sweet camera equipment and seeing my name in print every day. But I don't miss the stress or the long hours.

Not being attached to the paper full time allowed me to travel, one of my favorite things. In the last year we took trips to: Salt Lake City, Laramie, Choteau, Billings, Indiana, Flathead Lake, Cooke City, Dubois, Great Falls, Cody, Powell, Bozeman, Seeley Lake, Butte, Anaconda, Yellowstone, the Tetons, Lake Alva, Arlee, Hauser, Holter and Canyon Ferry Lakes and of course Missoula and Greybull more than I can remember. What freedom. It was a joy to take Adeline all those places without having to miss work!

This time with Adeline has also allowed me the opportunity to build my photography business. Sure I only work a couple hours a week and there's usually a toddler jabbering away in the background while I'm on business calls but I have sweet personalized business cards :)

With my new business I have been able to enjoy a handful of fun freelance assignments while being a stay-at-home-mom. In the last year I've had the pleasure of photographing political events, college basketball, parades, feature stories, a poster campaign, weddings, numerous portraits and advertisements, and even a state basketball tournament.

I've also had more time for my husband and for myself. I feel like a more centered woman. Without the sporadic hours of the newspaper I have more time for my friends and family, time for daily bible study, time to decorate, time to volunteer, time for exercise, time to read, time for just me. I am now home when JD gets home from work, I get to cook him homemade dinners from scratch and I have the time to keep up on the housework (although JD helps out more than I expect.)

As I reflect on this last year I am so grateful to have taken the leap and had the faith to slim down to a single-income family in a rough economy. Yes money has been tight and we've ate our share of ramen when JD was between jobs, however I wouldn't trade being home with Adeline as she developed in her first year of life. Our family and friends have been very supportive both in good friendship and financially when times have been tough. And above all God has provided for us and taken care of us.

To me the best part of leaving the paper is that I get to be at home with my daughter, every day. And we don't have to pay someone else to watch her. The schedule of a toddler is truly awesome, we go to the library for storytime, eat delicious healthy food, we sometimes stay in our jammies till lunch, we go to church playgroup and mothers groups, we go for long walks in our neighborhood, go swimming, hiking or to the park to play, and we take naps in the middle of the afternoon together. It's a blessing to be Adeline's full-time caregiver and it's been a joy to have been a positive teacher for her, a positive mother and the best playmate she could hope for.

Maybe someday I will return to a daily newspaper career. But for now I'm quite content with my "work days" full of finger painting, goldfish, books, diapers, snuggling and a boss who is the most beautiful, caring baby girl in the whole world ~ our daughter Adeline Grace.

Strawberries and yogurt

A few weeks back when I was in Missoula I met up with my friend Rinchen and we went shopping at the Good Food Store. While we were waiting at the deli counter Adeline and Tashi made work of unloading their respective groceries. Too funny.

A really funny video

Tonight I made homemade pizza for dinner....and I will be adding it to the list of Adeline's favorite foods.

Visit to the doctor

Adeline had her 15-month check up and shots yesterday. All went well and it was a joy to see the doctor so amazed with Addie. Our doctor said by the age of 24-months a child should say 20 words. Well at 15-months Addie can say 25 words! Plus her sign language skills! She can make 6 signs and can understand 10 signs. So she is well ahead developmentally for her age but still low on the charts with her weight. She weighed in at 18.9 pounds but is following her growth curve perfectly. Another milestone she reached early, she can feed herself cereal with a spoon!

We sure love our walking-talking little peanut!

Who me?

"I don't know anything about powdered donuts," says Adeline....

Spring Break

JD, Adeline and I just spent the last 5 days enjoying family in Greybull. It was so relaxing! We spent most of our days playing, napping, running around the yard and eating really good food.

My favorite part of our mini-vacation was checking-out of reality. No blog posts, no facebook updates, no emails, no photoshop work. It was nice.

My other favorite part....I didn't change a single dirty diaper for 5 days. That's a vacation.

Grandma Cathy and Adeline go for a stroll down the drive.

More photos to come later.