Look what I found!

While unpacking Christmas ornaments (which by the way is an extremely good use of time when we still have clothes to hang up and electrical outlets to babyproof), I came across Mr and Mrs Claus. Ah...now I know we're home. I've had them out every Christmas for as long as I can remember. My mother hates them and is glad I took them when I left for college. Eli, my old roommate, once admitted he was terrified of them. Zack wants to burn them. I love them. And in early December this year Beatrice will get to meet them!
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We've had a nice, relaxing weekend unpacking and exploring some of the area around Santa Barbara. On Saturday we bought Beatrice an alphabet and number puzzle-mat, which is foam and ALOT softer than the tile floor! She of course made a beeline for the tile as soon as we put it down...or perhaps that was because we played "pants-on-the-head" game with her.


Some pictures of Beatrice from the weekend - the one of her sleeping is what I like to call "Mad Sleeping" which is when she is obviously awake but doesn't want me to move her because she's mad that she's awake and wants to sleep (or something like that). And also my "Little Dutch Girl" - she hates when I do this to her hat.

And some more photos of our newest piece of furniture, as requested - our new TV table. It was an old "stereo", except that it was mono. Record player and radio. Fabulous.

Today we dressed Beatrice up in her new Princeton outfit, which we (belatedly) realized made her look like an escaped convict (and a boy). We also took the opportunity presented by her not napping in the morning of going for a long drive out into the country. Lots of beautiful scenery, and we could see burn line from the Zaca fire pretty clearly in some parts. We stopped in Solvang to give Beatrice a break from the carseat. And stumbled upon a Danish Wonderland...seems it was once a Danish settlement and now windmills and tourist tat abound. http://www.solvangusa.com/



We think (hope) that Beatrice is really teething now - she's gnawing on everything and has been in a bad mood for quite a while now. Lots of ear pulling and fussing before bedtime too. Poor girl.