Since she turned one...

Since Valerie had her big 1st birthday party, I haven't posted much! So here's a bit about what we've been up to in the last month...

My friend, Bec Jones, an Aussie from London, came to visit us for a week. We had a fabulous time together! We walked around Greenlake...Spent a day in Seattle together...Went to the Tulip Festival in Mt Vernon... and just LOVED spending time together! I had missed her companionship so much!Easter: Following the tradition my parents set for me, we put together Valerie's first Easter basket and "hid" it in the house for her to find. Because she's not too good at hide-and-seek yet, we made it easy for her and set it in the middle of the empty living room!
Both she & Samson had fun finding it and playing with the contents!We enjoyed a great Easter service at church and then went to Ralph & Teree's to spend time with them & their family...Valerie even got to "find" Easter eggs! She thought that was pretty fun...Aren't her new Easter shoes cute? :) I'm so thankful that Valerie LOVES playing outside... most times when I open the backdoor to let Samson out, she reaches for the door and wants to go outside too. I love it that she loves being outside!
She loves playing with bubbles... but thinks its much more fun when SHE tries to blow bubbles, even though she has yet to produce one real bubble! Despite the evidence in the picture below, Valerie really does love this garage-sale find! Her little outdoor car gets all kind of use... she just gets cranky when I won't let her take Samson's toy away from him in order to put it in her "trunk."Our flowers & trees have bloomed!!! I LOVE my dogwood...And lilacs...And rhododendrons...One of Valerie's favorite things is bath time... then being naked & wondering around AFTER bath time! :) Cute buns, huh? This one is definitely being saved for blackmail...There is a fantastic conglomerate of boutique shops just 5 minutes drive away from us - called Country Village. Not only do they have great little shops, but a coffee shop that includes a play area for kids AND a pond with ducks & geese. Valerie LOVES it there! I loaded up Val and little Laurel (the almost-4-month-old that I babysit) and we went off to feed the ducks...But first Valerie wanted to ride the horse... she was a little worried at first, but then didn't want to leave them!Once we got to the duck pond, she had a blast. Her duck-feeding routine goes like this:
Pick up a piece of bread,
Take a bite,
Throw the rest,
When it doesn't make it to the water, pick it up again,
Try to take another bite (with protests from Mommy saying, "yucky! That's dirty!"
Throw bread again & hopefully make it in the pond.There are roosters near the pond too... they've taught Valerie to make her own version of the cock-a-doodle-do sound. It's quite hilarious. I'll try to video it soon so that you can hear it too! Good friends...

One of Valerie's new favorite fruits is grapefruit!! Mmmm.... sometimes she even eats the rind!Favorite past times include book reading... especially with daddy because he makes such silly noises & gestures. When reading this book with him, she signed "more" over & over & over again... why is it that kids never get tired of doing the things that we get tired of, but when WE want to do something over & over again, they have no patience for it? Hope your last month has been as fun as ours!