Nob of a Daughter

First she hums the theme song from Elmo's World, then she runs off in her very Bean-ish manner.

Daddy and Daughter Bonding

Not only do they bond over tractors and other heavy equipment, but they bond over video games. Alena knows the difference between a controller that is moving the person on the screen and one that just isn't hooked up. She enjoys making video game characters twirl in circles and act pretty crazy! Last night, after playing on her own for a while, she sat down in Eric's lap to help him with whatever mission he was working on. Lucky for Eric, she has been pretty well behaved, at least so far!

The Little Farmer

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard called The Little Farmer with some friends from our church's playgroup. We didn't need pumpkins or apples, but we did get a chance to play around and eat a fresh apple walnut muffin! Alena loved being outside despite the cool and windy weather, and especially loved seeing tractors, goats, and chickens.


Checking out the fields, kinda.


Driving the tractor

Trying to ride a trike that is too big for her. Luckily, she was on a slight incline, and she figured out that if she pushed a pedal backward, she'd move that way. Then she'd push it again. Her feet only reached the pedals when they were closest to her (if that makes sense).

Ode to Uncle Kevin, the firefighter

Whenever we hear sirens, we tell Lena to listen for Uncle Kevin, since he drives ambulances and firetrucks for a living. She randomly started calling him "Cracker" which is what some of Kevin's coworkers have nicknamed him. Then, unprompted, she started to make the noise of a siren and pointing at firetrucks in her books saying "Cracker." We hope that Uncle Kevin gets a kick out of his niece!

More of "Micro" Cerkas

Kinda looks like a smile here. Also kinda looks creepy!

Bubble Bath

The Adventures of Bruce & Alena

Auntie Avery got a little orange kitten and named him Bruce. Alena met him and thought he was a pretty cool new toy. Bruce did not completely agree with this assumption. He found out very quickly that Alena = kitty torture. They were very cute together, though!

Random Shots

Bubble bath time!

Sitting on her potty reading the Northern Tool catalogue, certainly looking for "dadoos" (aka tractors), excavators, garbage trucks, cranes, dump trucks, etc :)

Random shot from our now broken camera. Point Beach State Park in early August. She LOVES the beach and the sea gulls.

Welcoming Auntie Avery back from her trip to Europe. She took the SS Badger car ferry from the camp in Michigan. We were happy to greet her!

After bathtime at Grandma's house, wandering around in her towel and getting in to her rocking chair.

Avery's Shower

Now that we've got a new camera, I'm hoping we can continue to take more pics and keep everyone that reads it updated. I'll have a few random shots and videos that are out of chronological order, but who cares, right? I couldn't figure out how to get the videos off of the video camera we've been borrowing, so I couldn't add those, yet.

Avery is getting married on January 1st, so we had a bridal shower for her with the DeNamur women and a few of Avery's friends. It is always so nice to get together with the family!

Alena loved playing with Auntie Avery's kitten, Bruce. She also tried to strangle him. Several times.

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Avery got some help opening her shower gifts from her flower girl.

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The girls in the family :)

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We went out to the cabin after Avery's shower and Daddy treated Alena to a ride on Grandpa Hawkins' excavator. Both daddy and daughter were in heaven.