Oh, to turn 3 again

It's hard to determine what is the best part of a 3rd birthday. The presents are great. Partying with all of your friends is certainly at the top of the list. And could anything be better than pink cupckaes? Or is it the fact that Veronica turned 3 three days ago, but started partying with her friends four days ago, is still getting presents in the mail, and will be eating cupcakes for another few days?

It's been nearly a full week of fun for Veronica and the clock is still ticking. Grammy flew out from Pennsylvania and brought a football jersey from Gramps in the wrong shade of green. Oh well, at least it's not black and gold. Veronica didn't want to put the jersey on until she was introduced to the concept of tackling. You don't want to face this going over the middle.

The birthday party itself was held at gymnastics. 17 of Veronica's closest friends came to celebrate and run wild for two hours. The party somehow went off without a hitch, although the guidance of experienced parents and gymnastics chaperones my have helped the two clueless parents constantly asking questions like "Should we do cake now?" and "Where are the candles?"

Happy Birthday Veronica. Now could you slow down so the next one doesn't come so soon?

Gretchen and Jason's wedding in Boise

We traveled to Boise, Idaho last weekend to celebrate Gretchen and Jason's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, but we didn't make it through because somebody couldn't hold it all the way through the ceremony. Oh well, at least we got one last dose of summer. Congratulations to the wonderful couple and thanks for hosting a wonder weekend. Veronica loved cutting a rug at the reception lasted long into the night. It was so much fun that to airplane trips in two days wasn't even the best part of her weekend.

Birthday presents are starting to roll in and presents always make Veronica happy. The birthday month is off to a good start.

Cape Meares, Oregon

We made our annual end-of-summer trip to the Pacific coast with the Heaters at the end of August, and oh how much has changed in a year. The Oregon coast is beautiful, but don't mistake it for a day in the surf. Of course that didn't discourage Veronica. We lucked out with a few sunny hours, which gave Henry and Veronica enough time to explore.

So what else is there to do right here in Cape Meares? Well there's grass... And that feeds the cows... And that starts with C, which rhymes with T and that stands for Tillamook. The Tillamook cheese and ice cream factory was right around the corner. And nothing says vacation like an ice cream cone at 10 AM. Too many pictures of Vv attacking ice cream cones on the blog this summer? You try and say no to this face.

In 16 years, when Vv is explaining to her therapist that her Daddy humiliated her by sharing every detail of her childhood on the internet and the therapist argues that it couldn't have been that bad... well, this video will be Vv's exhibit A. Vv attended her daycare classmate Sofia's hula-themed birthday party. The video quality isn't great because it was taken from a phone, but keep an eye on the girl in all pink.

Still a boy

During the first ultrasound, we were told we were having a boy. Then the OB told us to stop getting ultrasounds from trainees and according to the internet, he was right (snarky, but right). So for about a month there, we were back to not knowing if the baby was a girl or a boy. Well after the 19 week ultrasound, he's back to be being a boy. So if anyone would like an attic full of pink clothes, we've got you covered.



He continues to look happy and healthy in there. He's not as shy as Veronica either. I never once felt Veronica kick, but can already feel him rolling around.

With all the excitement about the new baby, Veronica is feeling the pressure to step up her game. She been endearing herself to Daddy by helping out around the house. And even started practicing her most important role as a big sister.

CAMP!

Is there anything left to say about Camp? I haven't even started. It's the best week of the year and pictures don't quite capture the bliss of rotating between dips in the lake and fistfuls of junkfood.

Camp is the place where seven layer dip becomes seven hour dip. Beer and coffee are the only beverages. Even a lake house can be called Camp. 2011 will be the year Chi-Chi jumped off the dock for the first time without a life vest. The year the house was probably a little too nice. And the year we needed three of everything to be exactly the same. And the year a trucker hat was chic.

Sad to see you go Camp. We'll remember you fondly.

Weekend with Henry

We are weeks behind here at Veronica Tales, mostly because we've been away taking pictures. Hopefully there will be a flurry of posts and we can catch up to real time before anything else interesting happens.

How long ago were these pictures taken? We had even caught Women's World Cup fever yet. And we haven't seen symptoms of that for weeks. Veronica got to see her boyfriend Henry for an entire weekend and we got to see unforeseen levels of patience exhibited by a 5 year old. Henry was a great sport tolerating Vv as Veronica wanted to do everything he was doing all the time.

Speaking of good sports (actually a terrible segue tothe Mariners) we went to daycare compatriot Victor's birthday party at Safeco Field, home of the hapless Mariners. Luckily the Mariners were on a road trip, guaranteeing a great time by all. The day at the park included playing in the centerfield playground, a tour of the visitor's locker room, a walk through the dugout, a short press conference, and a behind the scenes look at major league baseball. Thanks to Victor for such a fun day and thanks to Victor's parents for setting the birthday party bar so high at daycare before we've even hosted one.

Boy, oh boy

What better cure is there for insomnia than staying up because you have to? Now that Vv is out of diapers and helping herself more and more everyday, we're diving back in. Mama is now 13 weeks along and can now explain why she isn't drinking and is so obsessed with pasteurization. The baby looked happy and healthy during the 12 week ultrasound. We saw the baby play, we saw the baby sleep. We saw the baby's feet and we saw the baby's hands. Then we saw what we didn't expect to see for another 8 weeks, that the baby is a boy. He is due to arrive on January 19th.