Karsten going underwater for the 1st time

Karsten, Mommy and Auntie Jen at swimming lessons

Inside Out

It is amazing how quickly children learn many things including cause and effect, loud versus quiet, hard and soft, and...inside and out. Karsten was so puzzled that she could see the dog, but not touch her. There was some annoying thing called a glass door in the way of her having fun with her best friend Hannah. Just another lesson in life!

Karsten loving on Hannah

Since Karsten started crawling she always seems to find our dog Hannah. Karsten crawls, grabs, pulls, pokes and does just about anything to Hannah and what Karsten gets in return are doggie kisses(you have to love lab's). The two also have a trick going when Karsten is eating. Any food on Karsten's tray that she either doesn't like or when she just wants to see Hannah next to her K throws her food off of her tray on to the floor. Hannah hears the food hit the floor and immediately runs over to scarf up the scraps. We have never fed Hannah scraps, so now that Karsten does she has found a new best friend.

Karsten and Mommy hanging out poolside

1st Day of Swimming Lessons

Karsten had her first day of swimming lessons today at the Kroc Center in Coeur d'Alene. She was AWESOME in the water and acted as if it was nothing! She floated on her back, got her hair wet in the water, sat on the wall and tried to leap in toward Mommy and Daddy. The instructor was very surprised at how comfortable she was in the water. We are very excited for next week.

The best part was that it was WARM inside for Daddy and Mommy. So when you looked at the COLD rain outside, at least it felt like the Caribbean inside!

Karsten Crawling

Crawling

Well it is official! Karsten had hit the floor crawling! Life as we have known it is no longer. This new phase is fun...so far...and it has been pretty funny to see how she reacts to things. She often times is fussing while she is crawling as if to say "this is WAY hard work and I just want to be picked up". But the funny part is she is a champ at crawling to mommy and then crawling up my legs, looking up and begging to be held. She is just so dang cute! She rocks back and forth on her knees just looking up at you-I know, I know...SUCKER!!!!! So needless to say we are still trying to catch her on camera before she poops out. We will get some pictures posted soon.

Bald Eagles on Lake Coeur d'Alene

So each year in the wintertime the bald eagles always come back to the same bay in Lake Coeur d'Alene to feast on the kokanee salmon that are spawning. It is an amazing sight to see these bird up close and even better thru a telephoto camera lens! They swoop down from the trees, skim the lake water and snatch innocent fish with their huge claws...pretty fascinating to say the least. It is simply mind boggling that these incredible animals know to come back to the same place year after year.

This is the boat from downtown Coeur d'Alene that takes people on eagle watching tours.

This one has the remnants of a fish in its claws but I could not get a picture of it!

Absolutely beautiful and sunny, but COLD!!!

Great family time and a good walk along the lake to shake off the winter blues!

Daddy and his girl.

Merry Christmas!

We had a mellow, laid back and wonderful Christmas! The morning started out a bit eventful with Karsten's diaper totally soaking thru her new Christmas jammies and her bed sheets...so off for an early morning bathtub we went! After we got that all taken care of we were off to opening stockings and presents.

It was so fun to see Karsten engage and rip the paper off of her presents. Although, sensory overload set in and we had to take a break for some breakfast, but then were off for round two!

Karsten's first stocking

Her name puzzle for Auntie Jenn and Uncle John

The purple "s" is a favorite
Like I said before, the purple "s" is so fun!

Cousin Abby, thanks for the books and bible song CDs.

New wheels-yeah!

Karsten's first fishing pole, fly vest and lifetime Idaho fishing license.

Gaga and Papa, this new toy makes GREAT sounds! Honk, honk, vroom, vroom...