Busy with scissors

I thought it was a bit TOO quiet

Do not attempt to adjust your screen...

Michael here. I am learning to use this new-fangled blog thingy so when the time comes, I can post a few pictures and comments on the new baby. Bear with me as I try a few posts and then some photos in the coming days.

Elizabeth and James

Sandbox Fun

Michael made James a great sandbox. You can see Jamie's latest haircut in that last photo- he's looking SO grown up to me!

Quick update

No pictures right now, just a quick update. I've been sick for what feels like ages now. Finally feeling a bit better today. James also has been sick and has had a runny nose (yuck) for almost a month! However, he had his two year check up last week and the doctor said he was fine.

We've just been hanging around home this weekend. Even though I was a coughing mess yesterday (my birthday) Michael managed to make it a nice day for me- bringing me presents on the couch,and letting me rest. James had fun "helping" him in the garage. I'll have to post pictures soon of those two with their new haircuts, they match.

Shots at breakfast

James loving the creamers

A new discovery

I can post from my cell phone! OK- the quality of picture isn't ideal, but I'm very excited to be able to post pictures I take with my phone from anywhere.

The dirt bug

Birthday Boy and Easter!

For the full Album click HERE.
And to see a short video click HERE.
We had a relaxing and fun day yesterday. James & Michael slept in while mama easter bunny got to work hiding eggs. When James woke up he got to choose his own outfit- very stylish.

He loved hunting for eggs so much that at the end Micheal and I started stealing eggs from his basket and re-hiding them.

After egg hunting he got to read stories with Papa, go to the grocery store, and (finally) dye easter eggs. (We'd hidded plastic ones in the morning.) He liked dyeing eggs, but I thin Micheal and I were actually more excited about it than he was.
After his nap family started showing up for his birthday party. Cliff and Zoe hid eggs again for him, which he loved. We had ham, potatoes and greenbean casserole. Birthday cake was homebaked chocolate with dark cherries. Yum.
He was willing to come inside to eat dinner and cake. He got through opening about two presents when he found the pinwheel from Grammy & Pop Pop and really just wanted to take that outside. Then he got a wheelbarrow type toy, and forget it- he had to take that outside to play with it.

Overall it was a really great day. I think Jamie would agree.

Carribean Photos Part 2

Here are a few black and white Michael took. I've loaded the rest of them into our Picasa web album.

Home From the Carribean Part 1

The West Indies

Our Crew: Mark (Skipper) Jaques (Cabin Boy- hee hee hee-actually also a skipper) Karin, Joan, Scott, Elizabeth, Zoe, Cliff, Alissa, Michael & James. So nine adults. When we left Jaques' family came aboard and they had a total of 14!

Our Route: (To the best of my recollection!)Flew into St. Vincent where we picked up the boat, got provisions ( Veggies and fruits from the crazy local market where we were glad we had a guide who knew what things were and what they should cost!) From St. Vincent we island hopped all the way down to Grenada-

St.Vincent, 1 night- near Kingstown

Bequia, 3 nights- 2 at Admiralty Bay, 1 at Friendship Bay
Mustique, 1 night- This is a private island developed for the rich and famous- rather a strange place to visit because of this.

Canouan, 1 night- Where we found our geocache

Mayreau, 1 night- Salt Whistle Bay
Tabago Cays, 2 nights- Fabulous snorkeling
Petite St.Vincent, 1 night- had a great breakfast on Petite Martinique. The restaurant sent a boat taxi to our anchorage by Petite St. Vincent.
Carriacou, 2 nights-Hillsborough
Sandy Island, 1 (rolly wavy)night

Grenada, 3 nights- Prickly Bay

We had a great trip to the West Indies. This is part 1 because Michael will be posting some of his photos once he gets them scanned. He had a great time shooting with his medium format camera and got some neat black and whites. I on the other hand had my little digital which suits me just fine. We discover (thankfully) that neither of us seems too prone to sea sickness, and that sailing puts James to sleep. One of the highlights was the Tabago Cays where Alissa got to go snorkeling with Sea Turtles, and we saw Iguanas on one of the islands! On the island of Carriacou we went on a tour with a guide who was very knowledgeable about the plants and animals on the island. He told us their native cure for Asthma: Pour coconut milk into a glass. Catch a lizard from a tree (not the ground, as they will be too small) Drop the lizard into the cup and let it struggle for its life for about 10 minutes. Remove the lizard and let it go. Drink the Coconut milk. He says the lizard releases adrenaline into the milk. We dubbed this the lizard torture cure. On Grenada the people were friendly and we got to see a waterfall, a crater lake, and a rum distillery where they rum is made much the same way it was made 300 years ago- very neat.

PHOTOS Here are a few, if you'd like to see more click here.

James dries off with his aunt Zo Zo after his first time going swimming in his life jacket. This is Admiralty Bay off of Bequia- we could swim to the beach from our boat.

Mark and Karin in the Double Down's cockpit. This catamaran's owners live in Nevada, so on the back of the boat they had painted their home port as Las Vegas, NV- not sure how the Cat sailed here from the sandy deserts.

James and Michael on Jamesby Island in the Tabago Cays. The island you see in the background is the one where they filmed the deserted island scene in Pirates of the Carribean. We got to go explore it too, and found a ton of hermit crabs feasting on coconuts.

Alissa on Jamesby island- this was just a tiny island that we took our dinghy to from the boat. We saw Iguanas lounging in the rocks here, and hiked to the top for a great view of the surrounding islands and reefs. On our tour of Canouan we visited the Hospital for this view. The cannons were put there in the '40s simply for decoration, though there was at one point a fort on a different part of the island. The Hospital is way up here because it was originally built during a Malaria out break and this way the patients could be easily quaratined.

Beach bum bum!

Going home- I think we were all as tired as James, just didn't have laps to crash on.

Papa-wave

This picture's a bit late, but here's how our house looked for the holidays. We were pleased with it!

We've been getting snow and cold weather. Thankfully, our woodstove is working great to keep us warm in this relatively uninsulated house. Today was finally warmer and James and I went for a walk down town, and got new books at the library.

The reason for this post title-

Today I told James I was going to put some food in the micro-wave. He looked at me hopefully and said, "Michael-wave?" Then he changed it to, "Papa-wave, Papa-wave!"

Oregon Christmas

We've had the whirlwind Christmas Tour. It started with Yule on the 21st/22nd at our house. Then we had Christmas with Alissa's step-family on the 23rd, then Christmas with Alissa's Mom's family on the 24th, then onto an airplane on Christmas day to have Christmas with Michael's family! Whew! We're still up in Oregon, and will post photos when we get home. Hope everyone's holidays have been good.

Fashion in Squeakerville

Hello from the fashion advisor here at the Marquess home. His advice: forget the clothes, it's the shades that make you cool.

We've had a good week here. On Wednesday we had our first midwives appointment for this pregnancy, and got to hear the heartbeat going whoosh whoosh whoosh. Thursday we went to Sedona and he got to go on a Buggy ride with Nana, on Friday we went out to a Christmas party held on a ranch and James went MOOOO MOOO at all the cows. And this weekend we've been putting up decorations and lights. Yesterday we got our tree- Michael has today off work, so we'll put up ornaments today. We'll put up photos of our decorations tomorrow, in the mean time here are a few more fun pics of James.

The Master Builder concentrates on his Bristle Block creation.

Asleep in "Strolly" as he like to call his stroller

"Nuggling" with his dog Pixie

Reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with Papa

Rules

Just in case you come visit, a few rules recently enforced around this house:

1. No peeing on the bathroom rug.

2. Toothbrushes are not allowed to touch toilets.

3. No cards in the oven.

4. Please do not bounce on the dogs.

5. While you MAY put a necklace on the dog, you MAY NOT whack the dog with said necklace.

Here's a photo of the culprit in action-

Thanksgiving

Hello- A late Happy Thanksgiving. We hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. We spent the holiday down in Sedona. James was thrilled to wake up each morning and go feed horses with his Nana. He's talking and repeating everything we say. He can't say 's' very well yet so he asks to "nuggle" and likes to read his book about a "pider".
His latest achievement is learning how to open the back door. The other morning (this is when we found out he could open the door) I found him out back in just a diaper and T-shirt chatting with the neighbor in her robe!

Wish List

Some people have been asking us for gift ideas. So here ya go!

James' Wish List: (as always, we try to stay away from plastic if possible)

• He loves animals, especially kitties, also dogs, fish, and anything else.
  A membership to Best friends Animal Sanctuary would be nice because then they send a magazine full of animal pictures.www.bestfriends.org/donate/index.cfm
• Clothing size 18-24 mos. He needs PJ's (all cotton) , long sleeve shirts, and pants.
• Bongo Drum
• CD by :Raffi, Laurie Berkner (we own Under a Shady Tree), or Putamayo Children CD, or other kids CD you find and think would be good- he loves music we can sing along to.
• Art Supplies like washable markers, fat crayons, or finger paints
• Books that are interesting enough to read over and over and over and over
• A kid sized broom
• Sturdy Photo Album with family pictures in it.
• Bath time finger paints
• Gift Certificate for Music Together Class www.flagstaffmusic.com/gift.shtml
• Subscription to Babybug Magazine www.cricketmag.com/shop_magzines.asp He really love to be read to right now, and is constantly bringing us books to read to him.
• A puppet ( maybe dinosaur, dog, fish, person....he's got a kitty puppet)
• He's started to get into blocks.
• He likes to be involved in cooking.
• He loves going outside and tromping around.
• He hates to wear hats.
• We'd like to start a library of beautiful classic childrens books- Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn etc.

Alissa & Michael:

• Donations to Heifer International http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/

Michael

• Gift Certificate for Flagstaff Homebrewers Outpost http://www.homebrewers.com/
• iTunes Gift Certificate
• Regional Craft Beer
• Books- History, Biography (Presidents, Leaders, Inventors), Photography (not how to, but picture books)

Alissa

• Fun Cookie cutters
• Gift Certificate to JoAnnes
• Small beautiful bowls, for small portions of pudding or ice cream and such
• Vintage or retro Apron
• Books- Cooking, Sewing for babies, Fun Novels, Organization :)

Halloween Spiders

The Itsy Bitsy Spider had a great Halloween. He and his Mama Spider trick-or-treated at two neighbor's houses and at his Great Grandma's and Grandma Georgia's. We had lots of trick-or-treaters come by our house- we almost ran out of candy.

Congrats Dory & Leon!

Today was a beautiful day for a backyard wedding

Reverend Kristin and Reverend Michael performed the ceremony (with help from James and Sarah) Ceremony was followed by a fabulous dinner at Porters. Now we're off to bed since we've got to be at the airport at 5am.

Up to Oregon Again

We are in Oregon once again this weekend. Dory and Leon are getting married- so James has the rare chance to be at his grandparents wedding!