alex, jody, & elsa

Lucy Kate

2012-02-07T20:55:00.000-05:00

Lucy Kate

February 6, 2012

9:09 am

7 lbs 10 oz. 19 1/2 inches

We're all happy she's here!

Drawings from a 2 year old

2012-01-31T16:42:00.000-05:00

I wish I knew what Elsa was saying when telling me about her drawings, because she had quite a story to go along with these pictures. All I got out of her talking a million miles a minute where whale, big, and small.

randomness from the camera

2012-01-27T15:48:00.003-05:00

Our camera lens was broken this last summer and I just got a new one in the mail today as an early birthday present- hooray! I found some funny and random pictures on it when I got it back out of the closet.

E sitting on her stuffed kitty- a little foreshadowing of what she would try to do with Darcy!!

Everyone needs a pair of 3-D bubble glasses!

This girl will color and color, I love it.

I am amazed how well she can color in the lines for her age. Maybe most 28 month olds can and I am just overly amazed cause she is my daughter!

On a side note:
Hopefully the next post or so will be of the new baby...T-10 days till she is due!

Snow

2012-01-23T11:22:00.000-05:00

Elsa has been talking about building a snowman for a while now. Sadly, this snow storm came with a big layer of ice and was not snowman building material. But, E was happy to just get out in the snow and make snow angles and forts with Alex.

close up of her "don't get me" face... love it!

snowball in mid air

trying to throw one back

Playing with the sheets of ice

Christmas 2011

2012-01-13T12:04:00.000-05:00

Some overdue random pictures from this Christmas....

Pre-Christmas decorating

Of course we had to watch the Steelers on Christmas Eve (and enjoy some Christmas m&m's too)

Christmas Morning

hanging this year's ornaments on the tree

Yay for new books and

Robots!

New train set

We headed over to Grandpa and GG's house and E got a homemade Chateau especially made for her....

decked out with a Christmas tree with lights and decorations!

Later we drove to Huntingdon to spend Christmas night.

enjoying Royce's new air hockey table

loving all the attention

Play-dough with Grandpa

A few days later we took another drive to Maryland to see more family- sadly, I didn't take one picture but I promise it was fun and eventful!

Weekend

2012-01-09T13:51:00.003-05:00

I think this might of been one of Elsa's top weekends.....

First, she got up nice and early Friday and was able to watch the 20 school buses drive past our house. To her, this was just they way she wanted to start her morning!

Of course, Laddie had to come watch too!

Next, Joe & Julie got to spend the weekend at our house. To Elsa, not much is better than having those two constantly around!

She wanted to do whatever they were doing.

(sorry, Joe- didn't get any pictures of you!)

Lastly, She helped Alex pick out a kitty from the ARL

This is our new kitty- Darcy

She is a super sweet kitty.

Loves to play with E's toys

She deals really well with how excited E gets around her, unlike most cats who run for their life when they see Elsa coming!

It's been a while...

2012-01-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

This is the longest I have gone without posting.

We've been busy here with all kinds of stuff....kidney stones, Christmas preparations, lots and lots of traveling and visiting, a baby coming in 5 weeks, and so forth.

Sadly, I haven't taken too many pictures of our adventures over the holidays. I will have to check with everyone we were with to see if they have some good ones for the blog.

So for now, Elsa on Christmas morning...I knew she would go straight for the one thing that went on her head!

Market Square and some holiday dancing

2011-12-07T07:53:00.000-05:00

We spent last Saturday afternoon downtown in Market Square.

We checked out the ice skating rink around the big tree...even got to see someone propose.

Inside the PPG building. Lots of really cool gingerbread houses.

E thought the Bert & Ernie and Curious George ones were pretty neat.

As soon as E saw the trains around the big tree and gingerbread houses, she was fixated on them. If we tried to move her she would just try her best to pull us back to the trains.

Lots more houses displayed for us to see from the outside. Of course, the train was the favorite and she would chase it up and down the window!

Outside in Market Square checking out the lights.

There were some musicians playing in the square and so of course E had to get some dancing in. It was the highlight of my night. Not sure what is more fun to watch, her or the reaction of crowd that gathers to watch!

Elsa has this spot in the living room next to the tree where she likes to stand to sing and dance. She will come get us and sit us on the couch and give us a little show. Again, by the time I got it on camera, she was about done with performing all but we got some funny stuff on camera.

And lastly, just a few pictures of E loving her nativity set.

Hats- it's hereditary

2011-12-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

E has always loved to wear hats and other things on her head.

For example:

I now see where she gets it:

Alex in 1986 wearing His Dammy's swimcap

If we had one, I am sure E would of loved wearing it!

Hokus Pokus, Abracadabra

2011-11-28T10:06:00.000-05:00

All of the sudden this weekend, E turned into a little magician. Not sure where she got it but it was pretty funny. We didn't get the really funny acts on video but this one gives you a taste of her performances!

Forgotten pictures from our Huntingdon visit

2011-11-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

Alex had a business trip last month and so I thought it was a perfect time to take E to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Royce.

We sure are missing the sun already!

seriously- how cute is she?

This was literally about 2 minutes after we walked in the door!

Obsessed and I mean OBSESSED with these cats...

Trying to find the kitty cats...I think all she said all weekend to everyone was "grandpa, where the kitty cats, Royce, where the kitty cats, mommy, where the kitty cats?" over and over and over!!!

Good times at Grandma & Grandpa's house!

Robot

2011-11-12T10:57:00.002-05:00

I asked E this morning if she was making a tower. She said no, its a bobot (aka robot). She loves Robots these days.

She was getting frustrated because her mound of items for her robot would always fall over. So we decided to hit up the recycling and see if we could make her a robot to play with.

It was nice to be able to use up lots of the ~~junk~~ stuff I had left over from making her quiet book.

This robot is going footless- we were too eager to play to try and find feet for it!

She really wanted it to have a necklace...

Check up for the robot

Not too sure how long this robot will last....I have a feeling it's head will come off at any moment!

Maybe Alex and his mad engineering skills can fix it up for us!

I love to see the temple

2011-11-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

Loved her shadow!

dancing with her shadow

Mclean High School Hall of Fame

2011-11-07T09:28:00.000-05:00

Elsa and I went down to DC this weekend with my dad to see him get inducted into the McLean High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Way to go Dad!

E had a full day of driving, pre-game activities, and a late night football game, all with no nap. She was a trooper and had a blast!

Elsa and Marianne at Clydes before the game

E loved all the music at the football game. She danced and got lots of fun reactions from the crowd and those passing by....

Hiding in the bleachers

Dancing to the marching band in the bleachers

Watching some football. She even let out a "Yay Steelers" a few times!!

Children's Museum

2011-11-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

We finally went!

We had all kinds of fun but was disappointed because I was under the impression that we would be able to play in/see Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Someone said they got rid of it. They had the puppets behind glass to look at and a big trolley but that was it. Bummer! I mean, isn't that a Pittsburgh staple??!?! (or maybe I just thought they had something they never did?)

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:53:00.001-04:00

E had a fun time decorating her pumpkin. She kept it on her table and spent days working on it.

She covered it with stickers and crayon drawings.

Alex wore this to work for Halloween.

He rode his bike in it and all. I am sure you can imagine the honks and hollers he got on his way home!

On Friday we had our Ward's Trunk or Treat.

Last night, E was so excited to go out in the neighborhood...

She went out twice, once with Alex and then with me. If she had it her way she would of stayed out a whole lot longer! The rain didn't bother her one bit!

She had fun at home too. When trick or treaters came to our house she would grab the bowl of candy, run to the door and say "Hi Kids"

Checking out her loot

having a piece of candy...which by the way might be her new favorite word!

Happy girl!

She pulled out a dum-dum and asked to open it. She has never had a lolly pop before, so I knew this was going to be entertaining. We tried to show her to lick it and not bite it. She very cautiously tried it- I'm not too sure she was very impressed with it!

Some kids go home and sort/trade their candy but E prefers making candy towers

and candy trains with hers!

books

2011-10-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

Elsa is really into her books lately. I guess maybe a little to into them.....

I promise we talked about how we treat our books but let's face it, she was very excited about her "book bridge" and it kept her happy on a bit of an off day for us!

Reading to Laddie

She was so happy to of been able to get some pumpkin books from the library last week.

Simmons Farm

2011-10-10T10:43:00.000-04:00

We took advantage of the awesome warm weather on Saturday and headed to the pumpkin patch.

E was a little grouchy that morning and so pictures that she wanted to be in were sparse but we were lucky to have Uncle Joe there to help make her happy...

On the hayride to the pumpkins

Our first stop was the tire swing and

The apple sling shot

Joe and Alex got those apples pretty far with lots of Oooos and Ahhhs from the bystanders!

searching for the perfect pumpkin

While the boys went to get funnel cake and fried snickers, E and I went exploring all the different pumpkins...

She kept staring at this one- trying to figure out what was wrong with it!

looked just like a phone, so why not call someone

and play a little drums!

Then and Now

2011-10-06T11:18:00.001-04:00

Back then she loved her exersaucer....

And apparently she still does now....

We picked up the rest of our baby things from Grams' today and she crawled right in. I couldn't get her out of it. Lets see what she does with her bouncy chair and car seat?!?!

2011-09-28T10:18:00.000-04:00

It seems like after we found about about baby #2 being a girl, things slowed down a little and I didn't have too much to really blog about. We have been still staying busy but with things that are not too exciting for E- errands, visiting people in the hospital, etc.

I did however happen to take some random pictures of E .....

E loves her doodle pad. One of the best gifts I've gotten her. This was something she drew that she would tell me over and over about and that she made sure didn't get erased.

Elsa the bag lady?!?-

Seeing how much stuff she can fit into her shopping cart- and let me assure you she had a bit of everything!

Finding new ways to play with her kitchen....

I went down to the basement to get the laundry and when I came back up she was in her sink.

Two things I have learned about E....

She still loves pureed food. If I let her feed herself, she gets more on her shirt then in her mouth. These apple sauce squeeze packs are genius. She can feed herself, they don't make a huge mess, and they are not full of crap. Thank you Costco! (now hoping they get more flavors in stock).

I should of figured this out way before she was two- but better late than never!

I have really struggled to get E to drink out of sippy cups that don't have a soft plastic spout. This next baby will have her choice of literally 10 brands/types of sippy cups! I just figured out that E will drink out of any of them as long as the stopper is out of the top. I guess she doesn't like to work to hard for her milk/water.

Lastly, E loves her sesame street CD but I was in need for something new. I can only listen to C is for Cookie so many times in a row! We liked a few of the songs on this CD and

then our kind friends burned us the whole CD. E loves it and I love having some new music to listen to in the car!

We're having......

2011-09-16T20:08:00.000-04:00

a GIRL!!

This video made my day!

2011-09-09T17:02:00.000-04:00

Tuesday Randomness

2011-09-06T16:20:00.000-04:00

E loves to play with playdough and I love that it occupies her for almost an hour! Lately she likes to stick it in odd places....

She likes to make pictures and piles on the wall...

Be careful where you fall asleep...if she finds you, this is how you will get woken up!

E and Alex checking out the clouds in the sky:

E is ready to be able to wear her winter hats out of the house..

E kept asking to sit on the potty so I thought I would give it a try...

But it was a bit of a potty fail on my part because I turned my back for a minute and this is what happened...

She peed in a big brown box I had just emptied.

Lastly- a funny video of E....

Happy Birthday Elsa May

2011-09-03T13:20:00.000-04:00

Elsa turned 2 Last Thursday and I don't know where the last two years went!

Just born!

1 year old!

2 years old!

We had a fun family get together/dinner yesterday and Elsa loved every minute.

She used her fork this year for her cake and ice cream...

She got lots of fun gifts:

CMU gear

It was about 9 when everyone left. She kept putting her new toys "night night" but it took her a loooong time to settle down. Who can blame her! I found her at 10pm in bed still playing and reading books in the dark!

We sure had a great time celebrating E's birthday- Thanks everyone for making it so special!

February 5, 2012

2011-08-19T12:12:00.001-04:00

Say Cheese

2011-08-17T17:12:00.000-04:00

We were outback playing and I was trying to get some pictures of E. I asked her to smile and say cheese and this is what she gave me.....

So we took a break from that ...

to play

telling her bunny to "go go go"

and to concentrate on her drawing

I thought I would give the smile one more try....

Success!

A visit from Aunt Cori

2011-08-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

Cori came to visit from Savannah right after we got back from the beach. Elsa was thrilled to say the least. She was attached to Cori- taking her by the hand to play whenever she could.

OBX 2011

2011-08-10T13:59:00.000-04:00

We got back from an awesome week in the Outer Banks this lovely group (missing the little kids)

Day one at the beach. E wasn't too sure about the the waves but loved playing in the sand.

Taking a break from the sun. E loved having lots of cousins to run around with.

E's marker trumpet

Nap-time was well needed after being on the beach all morning

We had three days with a really warm and calm ocean. Then we got a few days with big waves that made these great tidal pools on the shore. E loved them and were perfect for the smaller kids.

Checking out the beach with Great Grandmommy and checking out Uncle Dave's sand creation.

Time to hang out with the big boys.

She loves her Uncle "Coe"

Alex got some sweet paddle boarding in. Saw lots of dolphins and big Jellyfish.

E screaming at the ocean. Not sure why but it was pretty funny (video in post below)

E spotted this big pile of sand and decided it would make a good slide.

Kept her occupied for quite sometime!

The last day there, it rained. E insisted on playing out on the deck in the rain.

We spent a nice last day hanging out with everyone.

OBX videos

2011-08-08T15:06:00.001-04:00

I have a gazillion pictures from our awesome OBX beach trip. I just haven't had the motivation to go through all of them for the blog. But GG got some fun videos of E on the beach that I thought I'd post.

First garden tomato

2011-07-25T18:47:00.002-04:00

Elsa has never really been interested in eating tomatoes but ever since she sees them growing in the garden, she has has become really interested in them. She wants to check out the plants, hold them, examine them, and take bites out of them. They are no longer safe on the dining room table.

We've gotten some cherry tomatoes but today we got our first ripe tomato (we successfully kept it from the deer). Elsa starting asking for it this evening.

I was pleasantly surprised that she actually ate it. She is good about asking for something and not eating one bite of it. Notice she is sporting her "dancing headband" while eating.

She's working on poking her food with her fork but it usually ends up like this:

or just going straight to using her hands

2011-07-21T18:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, anything Elsa and I would do she would have to go do with her baby. It was really cute and made for a fun way to spend the morning. I just followed her around with my camera and had some good laughs

as she took care of Baby

We went to the library in the morning and got some fun touch & feel books.

She read them to her Baby

Her PJs were laying on the couch from the morning and she had to dress Baby in them...

When Elsa colored, Baby had to have a turn too!

Elsa got a diaper change so Baby did too...

This was quite hard and frustrating for E to figure out...she got some help!

Snack time for the Baby...

peeling the banana and apparently baby didn't want the banana cause E just kept saying "no no no nana"

But the watermelon was a hit- that is E saying "yum yum yum" as she fed Baby

She eventually put baby to sleep and that was the end of playing with baby for the day. I hope she does it again soon- it was very entertaining!

Gymnastics and Playing in the Rain

2011-07-18T20:40:00.000-04:00

E had a little Gymnastic session today....

After most of the rain storm passed we went out to look at the yard and discovered that part of our back yard was a small lake. Elsa had fun splashing in the water...

Camping

2011-07-11T12:47:00.001-04:00

We went camping this last weekend with the DiPietros. We lucked out and got there as the rain was moving on but they weren't as lucky!

I didn't hardly take any pictures but did manage to get some while we went to swim at the beach in the park.

We had fun checking the little tadpoles out. There were so many of them.

Alex and Joe rented those bikes you can see in the background. Sadly E had a meltdown as they went out on the water so I didn't get any pictures- they were pretty cool though.

checking out the sand pile on the beach with GG

E got SO tired, so I took her back to the tent for a nap. It was a million degrees in the tent-poor baby!

4th of July

2011-07-07T13:53:00.000-04:00

This post is going to be a long one- tons of pictures were taken (thank you Royce)!

We spent the 4th downtown. My parents and brother came into town and we were excited to show them the awesome firework show that Pittsburgh puts on.

They came up Sunday and Elsa was so happy to have new people to play with......

playing the "drums"

New bubble maker from Grandma

catching lightening bugs

E got pretty tuckered out so we took her inside to get her pjs on and

of course she got all her energy back!

Monday morning we got up nice and early and headed downtown...

We fed the ducks who also took a few nips at Alex's feet!

We took a walk across the Fort Pitt Bridge to the Inclines

Then we walked back into the city to cool off in the fountains

We had a nice lunch with the DiPietros and then headed back downtown to get a prime spot for the fireworks. Of course once we found our spot it started to pour.

We ran to get cover under one of the underpasses. It kept us pretty dry and the sun set was really pretty despite all the rain!

Luckily, that was the last rain storm to pass through and we were able to enjoy an awesome firework show.

Sounds like someone just had a great idea...

2011-07-01T13:42:00.000-04:00

Reading & Tomatoes

2011-06-24T10:46:00.001-04:00

We were trying to get E to come to the table for dinner but she insisted on finishing her book....

Elsa and I went out to check on the garden- so far it's looking pretty good.

bush beans-growing like crazy

Something is eating the leaves of this one.

the first green pepper

We're getting lots of cherry and regular tomotoes- The animals have stayed clear of them so far (knock

on wood)!

This tomato plant is going crazy- I think I need a bigger cage for it. Can I replace the cage without messing it up?

It just seems so squished but I am scared to mess with it.

The only litte animal getting into my tomatoes is this one-

I guess she thought it was ready to be picked!

Where's Elsa?

that hiding spot never got old- we played that for a good 15 minutes!

Ohiopyle

2011-06-18T16:28:00.000-04:00

We joined our ward for a campout at Ohiopyle State Park. This was Elsa's first camping trip and I was a little nervous about taking her, but lots of other families had lots of little ones going so I knew it would be fun for her and us.

The first thing we did when we got there was join a group that were at the natural water slides.

E absolutely loved it and didn't care that it was cold.

When I made this towel for E, I never imagined Alex would get some use out of it as well!

Alex went down this scary natural water slide...it was hard to watch-didn't want to end up in the ER!

Back at camp, E had fun running around with some of the other kids...

looking (screaming) at each other through the tent windows

getting Alex through the tent window

soaking herself

Elsa didn't nap at all that day (can't blame her with all the excitement going on) and didn't go to sleep till almost 10 that night. It rained hard all night and she did not sleep well. She woke up at 5 and we were all pretty wet. I wasn't sure what to do with a 21 month old stuck in a tent at 5am while it was raining outside. Eventually, when it was late enough that I didn't feel bad if she woke others up, we ventured outside and played in the rain.

Checking out all the rain falling from the leaves

We decided to take off but stopped at Cucumber Falls to check out the waterfall. It was really pretty. Wished we could of hiked down but it was chilly, threatening rain, and a grumpy toddler.

the grumpy toddler-she wanted nothing to do with pictures.

Maybe next time!

How Elsa likes to spend her afternoons

2011-06-16T17:01:00.002-04:00

Elsa's signature sandwich

2011-06-14T16:34:00.000-04:00

When Elsa received her play kitchen, it came with 4 tupperware containers full of of food, utensils, tea sets, etc. I only pulled out half of it to start. Today I pulled out the rest of the play food and E has been thoroughly entertained.

Anyone care for a pickle, lettuce, egg, pea, donut, and tomato sandwich?

E's leaning tower of food

time to test out her creation...

Now if she'd only eat like that in real life!

Also today, E got her diapers out of the diaper bag and attempted to put one on her dog....

we decided that the dog was a little big for the diaper and put it on a teddy bear...

Sunny Weekend

2011-06-05T21:58:00.000-04:00

We enjoyed all the sunshine this weekend.

Saturday, Elsa's friend Jaeden stayed with us for the afternoon. They enjoyed lots of time outside in the water.

E really like splashing Jaeden

Elsa loves Alex's hats. She wanted to wear this one to church this morning.

This picture is mostly for Kassidi. She can finally fit into those cute Laura Ashley dresses you got her when she was born.

Sunday was another great day to be outside.

E helped water the plants

ran away as fast as she could while Alex tried to get her with the hose.

and of course spent most of her time in the pool... Alex and I even got some time in to play Catan!

This and That

2011-06-03T19:33:00.000-04:00

Drawing- becoming a popular pastime

She even practices using her feet!

She takes every chance she can to run through the hose....maybe a sprinkler would be better than a pool for her!

I know it is silly to get excited about the small growth of my plants, but I am just so glad to see that I can keep something alive and that it has not been gobbled up by some creature that has been wandering through our yard.

Elsa treating us to some of her singing....

Sandbox

2011-05-25T17:29:00.000-04:00

At first she kept trying to reach all the toys from outside the box. She freaked out a little when I stuck her in there.

Then she warmed up to it...

apparently it was nap time in the sandbox

My only wish now is that the hose was on this side of the house....this girl got sand on every inch of her body- but it was totally worth it!

bubbles, water, gardening, and more!

2011-05-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

I take advantage of anytime that Elsa is having fun entertaining herself. Today I finished the vegetable garden because she was busy covering herself in bubbles! (we just have to get sand and hopefully she will keep busy in her new sandbox)

She then decided she wanted to help me dig in the dirt and we were both covered. I ended up just hosing her down outside with the hose.....

She especially like to drink from the hose!

She got a real bath too and I couldn't believe how long her hair is when it's wet...

This is my first time trying a vegetable garden.

I really don't know what I am doing, so I started small this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that...

I don't kill everything
We actually get some tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and herbs out of them this summer.
I can keep these out of it (crossing fingers the liquid fence does the job)

a couple random videos

2011-05-19T19:10:00.002-04:00

Found these and thought I'd share them since I haven't posted a video in a long while.

Our Daily Visitor

2011-05-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

We have a bunny(bunnies) that pay a visit to our backyard almost daily. E loves ~~watching~~ chasing them!

We started by just watching out the window but that didn't last long.

we had to go outside and check the bunny out.

determined to get that bunny!

This bunny stayed for longer than I thought. I am always surprised how they run around and let E come after them before they really take off.

"Where aaaarrrrrre you???"

When it Rains....

2011-05-16T16:39:00.000-04:00

Pittsburgh is back to it's rainy weather again but we sure did enjoy the couple of days of sunshine that we had. So while Elsa is dying to spend the days outside (not just outside between storms), we are trying to find lots of ways to stay busy.

Made some homemade play dough for E- I can't believe she didn't try eating it.

Our fridge is stainless steel so you can have magnets on it but luckily the front door does the trick.

She eventually just liked to push all the letters making them fly off the door.

Painting! Most of ended up on her, but that's pretty expected!

She got a little crossed eye trying to check out the paint brush!

Now to think of some more fun things to do while it rains for the next week!

Peonies

2011-05-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

Blogger has erased (hopefully temporally) my pool post so thought I would replace it with my two favorite flowers out in my yard.

I had to pick this one this morning because the rain made it super saggy.

And of course the one stem with all the buds on it has bent pretty bad. It will soon be picked and enjoyed inside.

The lady at the nursery said not to pick them after 11am-anyone ever heard of this? Just about anyone knows more about peonies/flowers than me so I'll go with it.

She also told me that if I want to postpone the bloomingof the buds that I can keep them in my fridge for up to a month. I have much to learn!

Hopefully the other buds will blossom indoors okay.

Pool Time!

2011-05-11T19:25:00.000-04:00

I got the pool out for Elsa this afternoon. It was by far the best two hours outside today!

Not too sure about getting in

Testing it out

practicing her kicking

The holes in the cup get her every time!

E spotted this dandelion and hopped out of the pool to check it out.

She seriously tried to kiss and hug it!

blowing all the seeds off

She quickly headed back to the pool to work on her bubble blowing

and splash some more in the water!

Who Knew?!?

2011-05-09T19:17:00.000-04:00

This is kinda a random post. But maybe there is someone out there that also hates cilantro that enjoy this little clip!

I was at a baby shower where we were making up freezer meals. One of the recipes called for cilantro. I definitely didn't volunteer for the job of chopping it. The girls at the shower thought it was pretty amusing/surprising how much I disliked it. Everything about it is just totally icky to me.

I then randomly came across this video and now it all makes sense...

Also, for all those moms out there, what do you feed your picky eater? Elsa is a hard one to feed. She rather me just help her eat pureed baby food than anything else. She did eat a whole hot dog the other day but I really rather not have her eating hot dogs every day!

Lunch is starting to become a battle everyday and so I thought maybe someone out there has some good healthy ideas that their toddlers like that I haven't tried or thought of yet. Please share!

Someone needs a sandbox!

2011-05-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

Becuase we have been doing lots of this:

Elsa has been doing lots of this:

I have to remind her that dirt isn't for eating or drinking!

you can't really tell here but she had one dirty face!

E prefers to eat her lunch out back in be big chairs!

I think it's time to get her a sandbox to dig in!

coloring impoved

2011-05-03T16:01:00.001-04:00

A family from church saw my status about E loving to color all over the walls and gave us a big roll of butcher paper. I hang it on the wall for her to color on and am trying to teach her to only color on paper. So far so good. I still have to give her a pat down and confiscate any crayons she tries to smuggle out of the playroom!

Now she just needs a a real drum set!

I finally finished Elsa alphabet cards. I love having a laminating machine!

and of course she likes to color on them too!

Mud pie anyone?!?!

2011-04-27T18:50:00.002-04:00

E loves it outside. After all the rain, Elsa and I went outside so that she could run around some more and I could do some more weeding. After turning around for just a couple seconds this is what I found....

So we stripped off her clothes and had a bath in the kitchen sink

The kitchen towel is the perfect size for this cute girl!

Easter in Huntingdon

2011-04-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

We spent Easter weekend in Huntingdon. I took way too many pictures (120 to be exact) so this post might be alittle overkill with pictures, but I can't help it!

The weather was supposed to be pretty cold and rainy so we headed out before it got too icky.

A bubble gun- the best 3 dollars ever spent!

Dying eggs. I thought E would be too young to really do it but she did great!

It rained so hard Saturday morning but by the time Elsa got up from her afternoon nap, it was warm and sunny.

We headed down to the park

When we got home, Grandma had a Easter egg hunt all ready for E....

Opening up her Easter Basket from Grandma and Grandpa

Sharing some chocolate with her bunny

The bunny ears...

Skyping with Jess and Dulany

When we got home, E had a blast with her Easter grass!

Chlo-Chlo

2011-04-20T20:39:00.000-04:00

Chloe (or Chlo-Chlo as Elsa calls her) is one of Elsa's very best friends. They are both busy babies with lots of spunk and I think that is why they play so well with each other.

Today, Chloe came over for a couple hours and Elsa was just so excited!

They raced each other.

(Having a room without much furniture is really starting to come in handy!)

Hid in the tent!

Took a quick break

Hid each other inside the diaper box

Hung out in the closet

became Pirates fans

It was a perfect morning for Elsa!

Early Easter

2011-04-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

We had an early Easter with the DiPietros yesterday and they planned an Easter egg hunt for Elsa. She caught on quick and loved it.

Sharing the cookies she found in her eggs

Hanging out with Aunt Julia

E got this Gund in her Easter basket. It is the 30th anniversary of this Gund which happens to be the same one that Alex had as a baby. E has Alex's in her crib and now loves this one.

E insisted on sleeping with it and then made sure it came out of her crib with her in the morning. She snuggles with him a lot!

She found her basket from yesterday and so I wanted to get a picture of her carrying it around.

When I came back with my camera she was re-hiding her eggs and

then acting all happy and surprised when she found them again. It was pretty funny to watch!

Thanks GG, Grandpa, Aunt Julia, & Uncle Joe for the the fun Easter Egg hunt!

2011-04-15T13:19:00.001-04:00

Never known someone who loves string cheese so much

and she finally fits this skirt that is size 6-12 months!

We had french drains put in the basement. There was so much water that they took 2 days to finish the job.

Couldn't believe how much water was already in the pump

Alex's work got a little torn apart so he will be back down there replacing the drywall and the tile.

We didn't have heat while they were working and the first day it was chilly!

We have spent most of our time outside. E loves the dirt.

collecting rocks

I know it's a little early to pull out the pool but it was perfect for playing in.

Busy day for a busy baby

2011-04-10T14:42:00.001-04:00

Elsa's friend Chloe had her 2nd Birthday and to celebrate we went to the circus. I was weary about it being a 3 hour show where E had to be in a seat but she did great and most of the acts really caught her attention.

She had fun clapping, yelling, and dancing.

During intermission we took E down to look at the horses and elephants but she just wanted down and it was a zoo, so we ended up going out where all the vendors were at so that E could run free for a little bit.

We really liked the elephants and the human cannon....

By the end of the show, E was so tired and didn't like when I had her hug her friends Chloe and Jaeden.

It took everything we had to keep her awake on the ride home. She took a short nap and woke up in time for her next visitors...

and she sure was happy to see them!

Some random pictures to end the post:

E determined to wear my shoes...

Can't wait till it is warm enough all the time so we can wear dresses and show of her cute chunky legs!

We got lots of super cute dresses from Katie so she is well prepared for this summer!

These pics are for Jess and Dulany. You can kinda see the picture of E and Dulany from the beach last summer. E likes to look at it and say "Elsa." She is working on Laney (a bit easier than Dulany)!

a beautiful day in the neighborhood

2011-04-07T14:49:00.001-04:00

She was very proud of herself!

She found her old stash of crocus' that she picked and stuck in her little bike

pigtails, tomatoes, & spoons

2011-04-04T14:15:00.000-04:00

Elsa's hair is finally long enough to put all the way into pig tails.

Pretty cute, don't ya think!?!

E loves looking out the front door, especailly when it's almost time for Alex to be getting home. She usually takes a few toys and parks it there waiting for him.

Elsa decided the only way she wanted to eat her lunch was with this wooden spoon....

and then use them as drum sticks (lunch at our house is pretty exciting)

Remember the broccoli? We'll this is what I get for turning my head for a minute...

Not sure how much she liked that tomato!

April Fools Day!

2011-04-02T09:31:00.002-04:00

Some friends of ours had signed up to feed the Missionaries yesterday.

Since it was April Fools Day, we decided to join forces to rig the table and their dinner.

The Wilson's went to a magic store and got all kids of tricks and fun gag gifts.

We ended up with 11 adults and since we don't have furniture in the living room yet, we put the extra leaves in the table and set it up there. It worked out perfectly because the kids had the playroom and dining room to run free in.

We had to keep the kids away from the dinner table because the guys had rigged it pretty well and things kept getting set off.

E was a big fan of the blackberries in the fruit salad, she had a very messy face all night!

The Elders had to eat with these huge utensils and their water glasses had a hole in the bottom.

Once they figured out their water glasses were rigged, we got them a new drink. This time we put a powder in it that made the drink turn to jello.

We also had popping plates, toilet paper that wouldn't unroll, soap that turned your hand black, spiders in the cake, fake mustard, and disappearing ink...

The Hundley's kids even brought some fun tricks of their own to share

Everyone had a great time and the Wilsons sent the Elders home with some goodie bags for being such good sports.

stickers, scarves, silly faces, & more

2011-03-28T17:47:00.001-04:00

E loves to look for the moon, whether it's out or not.

I got her some stickers to keep her occupied during Sacrament meeting at church. They were supposed to stay in her Sunday bag but she snuck them out and looooves them (good idea jess)

She made her way into the closet and pulled out my scarf.

She tried hard to wrap it around her so I helped tie it around her waist. She had fun running, jumping, and dancing around her hula hoop...

Lastly, this girl is full of faces....

DC Trip

2011-03-20T19:54:00.000-04:00

We made a quick to DC so that we could finally do a session in the Temple. It was great. I was able to do my Grandma Elsa's work and Alex did my Grandpa Kenyon's. It made it extra special. Seth and Marianne watched Elsa and she enjoyed every minute of it.

(lots and lots of pictures below)

We took E swimming at the hotel and she wasn't hesitant at all about getting in the water.

That night we walked around Silver Spring and came across an outdoor mall. They had this area for kids to run around in. E was in heaven!

She liked watching all the older kids.

We took E to the National Zoo.

The only downside was that she now hates to be in her stroller for more than about 5 minutes. She wants to walk and look at everything so we go veeeerrry slooooow!

They had a play area for kids which was nice for E to finally have a chance to run free.

E hanging out when we finally got home.