Peri's New Fort

 We noticed that Peri likes to be under a blanket to play sometimes. She laughs and smiles and generally has a good time.

 So today we made a cardboard box and blanket fort for Peri. She seems to enjoy playing in it a lot. This is what it looks like:

she likes to drag toys into it and play under the blanket

we can fold the flap up in case she wants to see mom and dad while she plays

but whenever the flap is up, she starts to eat her fort!

  We think it's petty cool, and it seems like she does too!

Good Weekend

We've had a pretty good weekend so far. Except for Peri being particularly resistant to naps and therefore cranky all day (but we got through it okay), we had some pretty good news this morning! Gary got offered an interview at Union Pacific Railroad! This is definitely a preliminary sort of interview, and it is in no way certain that he'll get anything more, but it feels so great to finally get another interview after six months of literally nothing! It's been like banging our heads against a wall. His interview is in 2 weeks in Portland, OR. That's quite a drive, as it'll cost us money that we'd really like to keep to ourselves, but we can't afford not to follow up on a chance like this. So we're mostly just excited and crossing our fingers and hoping this is the answer to our prayers we've been keeping an eye out for. We'd appreciate any prayers that any of you'd like to send our way too!

The only downside if Gary gets this job is that we'd move around probably every few months for the 18 month training period, and Gary would be on call day and night and would probably work a 50hr week or so. Anyone who knows me knows that I have no problem moving around (in fact living in the same place for even 2 years is very, very hard for me) but we have no idea how that will effect Peri. Gary will probably have a hard time with it too, and think of all the packing and unpacking we'll have to do! We'll be pros by the end though. The 50hr week will mean less time at home with his family, but we'll just have to spend a lot of quality time together when he is home.

That's still an "if" scenario, though, and right now we're content to hope that this might be just what our family needs. Hopefully the good ju-jus keep rolling in!

Now just for fun, gratuitous family pictures!

The whole family! I have to work on putting everyone in a spot where we all get enough light on our faces.

These two are so cute together!

Peri loves the feel of Daddy's stubble : P

That's all for now folks! Good Night!

Even More Photographs of a Family Nature

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine at work asked me, "so with a new baby, have you come home to find your living room transformed into a photography studio yet?" Now I can say that I have. This friend has since ordered a professional grade backdrop and some other camera hardware. For the time being, we're still using fabric cuts from our supply, but we may see some more legitimate stuff in the future.

This turned out to be a good picture of me and Peri sure is interested  in something.

Our little family. We're still figuring out how to get more light onto Peri without overexposing the whole image.

This one was just fun.

This happened just after a "pulling Mom's hair" incident. We're still working on the idea  that pulling hair really hurts.

This was from a previous session, but I'll include it with this set because I'm kind of fond of this little one.

Although I will admit I'm also fond of Mom. 

When the weather warms up a little bit we're going outside for more pictures; maybe we'll get some shots of us doing our outdoors playing. We've still got that Kelty carrier we haven't used yet.

Like a Duck in Water

 Naomi has really taken to this photography thing. It's been nearly four years since I got my "last year's" entry level Nikon DSLR on clearance at Costco, and for the first time it's really being put through its paces. Naomi is loving it and loving finding places to get better at it. Basically, I come home every day to a new folder of great photos of Peri, and they're only getting better.
 

Peek-a-boo!

I like her expression here

By far, my favorite of this batch

I guess we're really embracing the arts around here. Next up: polymer clay sculpture, more sewing projects,   and further endeavors in the kitchen.

Gary, out.