Oregon Vaughns

Andy and I are getting back into Chess.  I have started a lunch time chess club once a week at the high school as well.  We hope to start a chess club, eventually, at the elementary school close to our house.

Lily loves “playing” chess.  She also loves the chess clock.  It won’t be long (a month?) before she will be able to successfully set up the chess board with no help.  Here is a photo, with a few short video clips:

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 1

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 2

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 3

We may have already mentioned this, but Stripes Baby is #1 in our house.  Not Pink Baby.  Lily takes Stripes Baby everywhere.  This include wearing Stripes Baby in her shirt (with the baby zipped into her jacket, like she is in a carrier).  No one else can really touch Stripes Baby.  Lily must bring Stripes Baby’s pillow(s) and blankets.  Notice that the “s” on the back of pillow is optional, but the”s” on the back of blankets is not.  Stripes Baby must have at least 1 pillow, but just 1 is OK.  However, Stripes Baby often has 10+ blankets for when she goes “Nigh Nigh.”  The other day, Stripes Baby was sleeping and I counted 14 blankets on her.  These blankets are bandannas, towels, burp rags, anything that can pass as a blanket for Stripes Baby.

Here is Lily “sleeping” with Stripes Baby during a trip to Target:

Here are some adorable pictures that Andy took of Lily at the park.  Andy is so good with her at this age — he gives her so much attention and loves being outdoors with her.

This park is about a 10 minute walk from our new house.  Also, I bought that hat for 25 cents at Target.

Lily lives in New Bend House.  Not Old Bend House.  Nama and Pabob live in Torvawis, Shauna  lives in Taneticut.  Get it?

We got the keys to our new place on March 1.  We have been moving and unpacking ever since!  My dad has taught me all about tools: hanging bike racks in the garage, shelving, pictures, etc…  It is nice to have some things organized, but there is still much more to do.  Here are a few photos of the downstairs.

Jealous of our 3-car garage?  You should be.

And, here is part of the backyard during a snowy day:

We are in our new house.  For good.  The other house is empty and clean.  We made it.  More to come.

Here is my conversation with Lily.  She just talks so much — I am always amazed by her vocabulary and her level of thought (yes, yes, she is so smart, must be genetic):

Lily: “Mom, where we going first?”

Me:  “We are going to Sears.”

Lily: “What you getting, Mama?”

Me:  “We are buying a washer and dryer for our new house.”

Lily:  “Where we going next?”

Me:  “We are probably going to go to another store.”

Lily:  “Fred Meyer?”

(she always says Fred Meyer)…..

Me:  “Sure, we can go to Fred Meyer.”

Lily:  “Lily walk?  Lily no ride in cart.”

Me:  “No, Lily will ride in stroller.”

Lily:  “Baby come in stroller too?”

Me:  “Yes, baby can come too.”

Lily:  “Baby so happy, Mama!”

Me:  “Lily so happy?”

Lily:  “No, mama, baby so happy, not Lily so happy.”

Me:  “Oh ok, sorry.  Baby so happy.”

Lily:  “Yes, baby so happy mama say yes baby come in store.”

Anyway, I think she almost has down her “left” and “right” — about 80%.  She knows we either drive left, right or straight.

I am sure we have lots of over-due posts and updates.  At some point I will get around to this.  Just looking forward to Tuesday (when we get the keys to our new house and can begin moving!) — more to come on the new house soon.

We are all almost healthy again, Andy has a lingering illness, but hopefully that is passing.

Lily’s obsession with babies has increased.  She takes her striped baby everywhere…. she always has to have her baby.  And, when she gets upset, she throws the baby (which just happened about 5 seconds ago).

Lily’s new sayings:

“What are you talking about?” (when she is curious about the conversation)

“Lily’s just kidding” or “Lily’s joking.” (when she tells a joke, obviously)

Lily has an ear infection and pneumonia… However, she is on the mend.  We took her in to the urgent care yesterday to diagnose all of this, as well as get the proper meds.  The big problem that we have been having is her gag reflex and her throwing up.  She has been throwing up everything upon contact (food, liquids, meds).  We now have her on all chewable medications, which is way better for her than liquid.

Today she is finally beginning to act more like herself: demanding pizza.

She has seen tons of movies while being sick and Mary Poppins is the new favorite (while she lies on “little bed” – the inflatable bed in our room).

When she is sick or tired, she has been saying “Oh Mama” or “Oh Dada”  Kind of a cute new quote

Just a little update about life in Bend:

• The semester ended today at my high school — half the year gone??  Geez, it goes quickly.
• Lily’s language is unstoppable.  She can say anything.
• However, there are occasions where Lily says something that Andy or I can not interpret.  So, after I try to interpret it, incorrectly a few times, Lily will exclaim emphatically “Mommy no understand.“
• Lily has also started saying “I’ll show you, Momma.” when she wants to show me whatever it is….
• When Andy picks me up from school, I have a bad habit of dumping all of the details of my day on him during the ride home.  Lily sits in the back seat (saying what Andy is thinking….) and says “Stop talking please.”
• Lily still loves “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz and can sing the whole song.
• “Tell story, please.”  I am told this even when I am in the middle of telling a story.  Also, I cannot get very far through a story without her adding her own details and turning the story in the direction she wants it to go.  Stories are usually Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs (BIG BAD WOLF) and Lily, Elmo and the Funny Guys.
• “Funny Guys” are what we call the little yellow guys from the movie Despicable Me — one of Lily’s new favorites.  We have seen this movie too much.  When Lily says Despicable Me it sounds more like “Speak-a-warmie”
• Lily loves playing with her babies and taking care of them.
• Andy and I have been trying new restaurants here in Bend.  Maybe soon we can sit down a blog a little review about what we have tried!  (We had a nice dinner out while celebrating our 4 year anniversary, too).
• 60 degrees and sunny today! Can’t beat that.
• “Momma, sit with Lily on the stairs and talk about kitties.”
• Andy asked Lily today if she was OK (something happened) and Lily replied “No, Lily happy!”
• Well, 6:50pm right now and Lily has not napped.  I am going to put her to bed for the night.

Lily got up at 10am this morning and did not nap.  I saw this as my opportunity to get her in bed early.  And yes, she was asleep before 8pm.  I am an all-star.

I took her to Target tonight to run some errands.  She cracked some funny joke about “Tunnel Shoes” instead of “Tennis Shoes.”  That cracked her up

At Target, I found $1 sweatshirts and $1 sweatpants (for Lily) — couldn’t resist!  $1?!?!  How could I not?  So, while we were driving home, Lily kept saying “see new skirt, see new skirt.”  I kept reminding her that she did not get a new skirt, she got new pants and a new shirt.  “See Lily’s new skirt!  See Lily’s new skirt!”  She insisted.  “Lily, you did not get a new skirt this time.”  Oh, but she didn’t stop.  “New skirt with flower on it, Mommy.”  I had no idea what she was talking about.  Oh well.

Then, I opened the door to get her out, and sure enough, there was her new skirt from Hawaii that some family friends had bought for her (Thanks Barnes Family)!  I had completely forgotten.

So, without further ado: