March Madness

Sandi and I fill out our NCAA Men's Basketball Championship bracket every year. We wanted Amber to participate too. Since she doesn't quite understand the concept of March Madness we fill it out for her. Amber criteria is very simple: follow the seed values to pick the winners. This works great until you are left with the final four seed one teams playing against each other.  I chose Gonzaga over Villanova and Sandi chose Kansas over North Carolina.  That leaves Gonzaga vs Kansas. 
We wanted Amber to choose her own  winner so we set out her favorite two blocks; the blue clover and the green star. Which ever she chose is her championship pick.


As Sandi pointed out, Amber didn't just pick the blue block, she smashed the blue block on top of the green.  Pretty strong feelings about this tournament at such a young age...

Rock Chock Jay Hawk!

Shoe Shopping

Amber doesn't wear shoes.  She won't even keep her socks on most of the time.  Time for drastic measures: Nordstrom Shoe Department.  Sandi and Grandma took Amber to Nordstrom this morning for her first shoe shopping trip.  Sandi was a bit nervous as her least favorite activity is shoe shopping - how would her own daughter (who hates wearing shoes) react?  Turns out, quite well.

our star shopper

Amber chose silver 'Mary-Janes' with a velcro strap, no heal, just flats.

testing out the feel; kind of weird, but they might work

browsing for more options

Isn't this shoe cute?

 

She was proud to show me her new shoes and loved walking around the house with them this evening.

Side note: I asked Sandi to send me a photo of Amber whenever she wears a dress - makes my heart melt at work.

Testing out gravity

Amber was testing out gravity using two balls. Turns out, if you drop them at the same time, they hit the ground at the same time.

Helping with Groceries

We made a grocery shopping trip Sunday evening.  Amber did quite well considering she was both wet and hungry, though she did sound like a siren through the store towards the end.  Amber and I went to find pesto while Sandi was looking at olives.  Sandi just followed the sound of Amber yelling to find us.  Fortunately, everyone at the store was in good humor (probably glad she wasn't crying or mad).

We got home and began unpacking our grocery bags.  Amber loves helping and quickly began unpack the bag on the floor.

Peanut Butter!!

This might be a case of 'you had to be there' but it still makes me laugh.

Last night Amber and I were in the family room playing.  Sandi was cooking steak but needed ideas on what to combine with it.  Trouble was, the fridge was proverbially empty after using up all the meals planned for the week.  Making dinners out of 'nothing' is what I did as a bachelor so Sandi asked to help craft the meal.  I picked up Amber and we headed to the kitchen to offer suggestions.  My first stop was the cupboard where we keep the canned goods.  I opened the door and before I could look at the contents

our little girl pointed and exclaimed at the top of her lungs 'BUJG-AA-BA!!!!!!!'  I looked, and sure enough, there was the jar of peanut butter.  Forget dinner prep, Amber wants peanut butter.  So, Amber had peanut butter and was happy, we continued on with dinner prep.

Snow Day (or Snowpocolypse 2017)

Out of nowhere, a snow storm descended on Portland Tuesday night.  It snowed all evening and into the night.

 Sandi went out around 10:00 to explore.  Already there was 4" on the ground.

 By morning, the snow measured 7" and it was still snowing.

 8" seems to be the final count.

 Bummer I had to work all day.  I sequestered myself in our bedroom and watched the snow continue to fall.

 When I got off work, we all bundled up and went outside.  Amber looked like a sumo wrestler with her snowsuit on.

 We borrowed a couple of sleds from our neighbor and gave Amber her first sleigh ride. 

 She loved it!!!

Sleeping In

We all had a rough night last night. 

After napping for only 23 minutes on Saturday, Amber wend to bed at 6:30.  (That was a long day for all three of us to be cooped up in the house together due to the freezing temperatures outside.)  Amber woke up at 2:15, 3:00, 3:45, 5:00, and 5:45, each time for at least a 1/2-hour or more.  I hardly slept between 2:15 and 5:00 and Sandi didn't do much better.  I think Amber finally settled down for good around 6:15.  When I looked at the clock this morning it read 10:00!  Sandi was awake just a few minutes before me and Amber woke up around 10:15.  We've never, as a family, slept in-until 10:00.  Part of me was mortified that I slept the day away, but most of me was grateful for the chance to sleep.  Fortunately, we had no plans to leave the house this morning as our church canceled their services.  We got up, Sandi made brunch while Amber helped me make coffee.

our little sleepy-head

Once Amber woke up and had a bottle, she was much more amiable to playing with her toys. 

Amber sporting her new sailor outfit