Fuzzy buddies....

We obviously enjoy hanging out with Sequoia and take an admittedly stupid amount of joy in watching her do almost anything.

It does not take much to amuse us, but that should not diminish how very lucky we are to have Sequoia in our lives.

She is just so durn cute.

Anyway, recently Sequoia has started to become even more popular with her fuzzy buddies Rogue and Yukon.

Part of that might have something to do with improved size and coordination so that she can interact with them a bit more on an eye-to-eye level.

But I am pretty certain her improved popularity has more to do with the fact that she has become an almost endless source of delicious Scooby Snacks for the boys. Here she shows Yukon how to clean up her secret stash of peas, macaroni, chicken and apples.

Elayne in the house....

The other day sequoia got to entertain her friend Elayne at our house.

It was our chance to pay Elayne's mom back for watching Sequoia for us a few months ago.

Sequoia and Elayne are exactly 2 weeks apart in age and obviously get along great together.

I think the pictures talk for themselves.

This sort of one on one playtime has to be good for Sequoia since it forces her to figure out about sharing her stuff and her space.

So she had to share her stockpile of toys.

They shared the big rocking chair...

but it looks as if Sequoia may not have wanted to share her personal sized rocking chair.

She even let Elayne (who is walking already) take her hot-rodded cruising buggy for a stroll.
Now that is friendship at it's best.

Volunteeringers on the loose ...

As many of you know, Sequoia regularly fulfills her part of the social contract by volunteering at the local assisted living center. This is a part of the Gloucester Mommies network, and in particular the brain child of Brooklyn Sneeringer (hence the nickname volunteeringer if you had not already caught on to the title) ... or perhaps her mom may have had some input as well.
Anyway, as you can see in the first picture, volunteering is hard and often thankless work. You always have to be ready to shoulder somebody else's weight ... like when Elizabeth sat down on Brooklyn.

Sequoia was happy to just sit back drinking out of her new sippy cup that has a straw ... that's a pretty cool thing in itself.

Sequoia is also learning that becoming a volunteeringer is tough work and takes somebody to organize all of the little helpers. We are all happy that Sequoia is getting exposed to this sort of socially responsible activity at such a young age.

Hanging around the house....

Sequoia sometimes gets to hang out with daddy while Colleen is off taking care of the rest of our life. This is a dangerous prospect since it is my chance to teach Sequoia all about the finer points of housekeeping.

As you can see in these pictures, Sequoia is already as good as I am at doing the laundry.

The thing I am much better at teaching her about is how to get outside and enjoy life. Actually both Colleen and I have this trait way more than the domestic gene. I am not 100% certain that Sequoia will be very well schooled in some of the finer points of housekeeping.

But honestly I don't really care about that. As long as she grows up with a love of being outside and embracing life we can all look past a little dirt on the floor...

So what are you waiting for Mom?
Let's get going!!

My goldfish wish...

On Sunday Sequoia got her very first pet - a goldfish named Mr. T.
Mr. T has a big black Mohawk if you are wondering where the name came from.

Sequoia absolutely loves her new fishy friend.

I can only imagine how many more pets we will get to take care of for her before it is all said and done. I secretly think that Colleen plans on using this to her advantage in her quest to own a petting zoo.

It was electra-flying fun...

So let me start by saying that no babies were injured, harmed or put at risk during the filming of this footage. We love our little girl ... it just so happens that she loves to bounce on her trampoline.

This is a hilarious past time that happens under extremely close supervision.

We particularly love the effects of the static electricity on her hair.

It's not always a great thing to be blessed with long hair.

Sequoia has a game where we put her on the trampoline and she tries to crawl to the opposite side before we can catch her. It's not really much of a race, but in her mind it is and therefore it is always a great surprise when we beat her there.

She started to add a new twist to the game when she would sit down or lay flat on her back with her arms outstretched and start trying to make the trampoline bounce.

She can not get it going, but Colleen and I will gently get her bouncing and she absolutely has a ball.

When she is on her belly she tends to do crazy acrobatic stunts like this break dancing move.

Or who can forget this classic move from the disco era ..

But one of her favorite ways to bounce is to lay flat on her back with her arms outstretched to the side. She has great body control in that position and just giggles her little butt off.

As soon as you stop she starts her little attempts at getting the thing going again. There is no doubt that she is Colleen's little girl.
It should only be another week or so before Sequoia starts hula-hooping.

A new Discovery...

Today Colleen and Sequoia came out to my work to take me out to lunch and see the new Discovery I have been telling them about.
Oh what could it be...??

The new Discovery I've been talking about is our latest project at work - the Discovery, the smallest of the three ships at Jamestown, is at my yard for her annual painting and repair work. Anyone that knows me realizes that this type of work is near and dear to my heart and what I have spent a large part of my adult life working on.

I really enjoyed getting to see Colleen and Sequoia at work today since normally I only get to see Sequoia for a couple of hours after I get home from work during the week. We make the most of those hours, but it never feels like enough. An occasional mid-day visit is always a wonderful change to the routine.

Pillow fight ....

Although Colleen and I are taking this parenting gig pretty seriously, it might be hard to tell if you saw how we act around the house. Sequoia is just too much fun to have around for us to be too serious for very long.

Thursday night when I got home from work, Sequoia started to attack me with the couch throw pillows. She was pretty full of herself since this is a new game (pillow fighting with Sequoia) we started a few days ago while shopping for new pillows.

Well unknown to her, Colleen unleashed a sneak pillow attack on Sequoia from behind....

Sequoia was squealing and laughing hysterically while she was getting attacked by her mommy.

I think the lesson here ... other than that Colleen likes to win and is not afraid to pick on little people ... ask me about the Olympics some day ... but the real lesson I think, is that kids are fun and only a fool would allow themselves to miss out on that magical spark they bring to your life.

Living it up at the Living Museum...

On Tuesday Sequoia and Colleen met Grant and his mom at the Wild Rabbit for lunch. They were also joined by our friend Pam. This will likely be the last time they see each other before Grant turns the big 1. These guys are really growing up fast ... just like everyone warns you they will, but wow - it just seems unreal.

On Thursday a bunch of the group took advantage of a surprisingly nice day to go to the Living Museum in Newport News. Brooklyn wore her Green Monster outfit ... possibly in preparation for St. Patrick's day?

Sequoia chose to wear her ever trendy pink and purple clown hat.

Jeremy (who is Sequoia's age) wore his fathers winter ski coat ... just kidding, but you have to admit, he is a big boy.

Evidently Sequoia and Brooklyn enjoyed catching up on their gossip as the moms pushed them all over the boardwalks looking at the beautiful animals.

Sequoia and the crew had fun crawling around the interactive exhibits. This is a nice shot of the sweater that Great Grandma Dot made for Sequoia.

As always sequoia enjoyed playing with the toys that the other kids were thoughtful enough to bring for her enjoyment. This was one of Jeremy's books.

And here is the crew
Sequoia, Brooklyn, Jasper and Jeremy.

And here is Jasper reflecting on the beauty of a sea turtle....

It would appear that Brooklyn was quite taken by the pretty fish as well.