Spring Break 2012

Yep, that's right. We will always get our Spring Break together, because mommy is a teacher!! :)

This is technically your 2nd Spring Break, but the first one was the last week of my maternity leave, so we didn't really count it as a "spring break"...so we will count this year as your first Spring Break! :) And Boy did we have fun!

We started the week off by heading to Buhler on Friday after school. I packed a HUGE bag of toys and a HUGE bag of snacks to get us through the 2 1/2 hour drive! It worked! We had TWO toys left when we got to Buhler.....I packed Just enough! :)

The first thing you had to do was try out Elijah's bouncy seat! :) Silly girl!

You kids just hung out most of the time! You all three do so well with each other! :)

Elijah turned TWO months old while we were there!! He's getting so big! :)

On St. Patrick's day we made hand-print Shamrocks. You enjoyed the finger paint!!

Such a sweet photo of you two in your green outfits! :)

I had to include this photo - because you two girls are going to be so silly together as you grow up! :)

We went to the park! It was so much fun! You have no fear! You were climbing all the way up to the top of the play center. You loved hanging out in the tunnel, and you went down the slide a couple of times with your mommy!

We cheered on KU in the NCAA tournament! This night you cheered them on to the sweet sixteen! It was a rough, rough 1st half...hence your face! :)

You love your baby Elijah! This is the first time you got to hold him!

Rebekkah went to see her other grandma Monday and Tuesday, so it was just us, Elijah, Jami, Papa, and Mimi. It was slightly quieter. Mimi and Papa caught the flu on Monday, so they didn't really hang out with us. Then Tuesday your Mimi came with us to take pictures in Wichita and to do some shopping! You did so good! You just love other kids so you walked around the photo place saying hi to everyone!! :)

Then, on Wednesday we went and saw Grandma-great and Grandpa -great! You loved seeing them! We went to the pizza place in town for lunch and you ate 2 1/2 pieces of pizza!!! Crazy!! Then we  headed back to Ottawa!

On Thursday your Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Melisa came up! Grandpa and daddy started tearing out our upstairs. We had to do some fixing-up, and us girls headed up to KC to meet Naomi and hang out.

On Thursday we went to Crown Center. You had your first slice of NY styled pizza! You LOVED it! Of course! :) After that we went to this animal exhibit that was free! There were so many kids it was crazy!! But it didn't seem to bother you! You just ran around and joined in teh fun! Here are some photos of your time there:

Climbing stairs with Auntie M

You went into this little cave, and there was another little boy in there making "roaring" sounds like a dinosaur....You FREAKED out and started crying!!! SO....

Aunt Melisa quickly went in to save you and bring you out!

We also went shopping at Crown Center, I'm not sure I've ever been there, it was pretty neat. Here you are reading a story at the Crayola store with your grandma!

That evening your Auntie M stayed the night with us and you guys played and played! I can't believe I didn't take any photos of you and her that night!!

Friday we got up and headed back towards KC and we went to The Legends, an outside shopping center. You did so good, considering you didn't take a name until 5:00 when we headed back towards Ottawa!!

Your Uncle Andrew came and met us for lunch! It was so good to see him!!

After lunch we went shopping! You LOVE purses and bags lately. So at this store you walked around picking up every possible purse!!

Such a cute photo of you with your Auntie M and Auntie Naomi! You loved shopping with them!!

You did pretty good Friday, however, I think you might be teething or not feeling too well. Your entire shirt was soaked with drool by the time we left The Legends. You never drooled with your other teeth, or as a baby, so I'm not sure why you are now. You've been pretty fussy tonight too. I'm worried you might not be feeling too well, hopefully that means lots of snuggles tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Saturday, it's our first day without plans. We're just going to hang out at home. I do have some school stuff I have to get finished! But hopefully I can complete that during your nap time! Then Sunday will come, and then we have to go back to work/daycare on Monday! :( But that's okay, only 8 more weeks and then we have SUMMER!!!!!!! :)

Thanks for spending a great Spring Break with me!!

I love you little girl,

Mommy!

Birthday Post!!

Alright, be ready for picture overload!! I don't have acutally a lot to say about your birhtday party - but I have tons of photos! This is only 1/8 of the photos that were taken this day. We had your party February 18 at 10:00 in the morning. Some people thought 10 a.m. was a little crazy for a party - but it ended up working out perfect for you! That way you were able to nap after the party and you cooperated during the party. I did have your dad drive you around from 8:45-9:30 so you got a nap before the party. We had the party at First Baptist Curch and we had 49 RSVPs from guests! I thought that was so many people but it ended up being the right amount. All of your friends and ALL of your family! You sure are loved! Even Aunt Glenna, Uncle Glenn, and Cousin Taylor came ALL the way from TEXAS! TEXAS! Can you believe it!? We were so excited to see them again! I'm not going to list all of your guests because I'm making you a scrapbook with notes from all of your party guests! They all wrote you a special note that I'm putting in the scrapbook!

Here you are with your tutu! I found this idea on Pinterest, however, I put more pink and orange in this tutu than the one on pintrest! I was so worried you would throw a fit and not wear it! But you LOVED it! You pranced around in it all day! Your mimi came up on Thursday night before your party. This way on Friday I could focus on getting things ready for your party! I baked a #1 cake, your smash cake, and 50 cupcakes Friday morning! We spent ALL day prepping for your party and finally went to bed around 11 (you were in bed way before that!) You actually fell asleep at Jenna Neuenswander and Joe's house! They babysat you while your daddy, mimi and I decorated the church for your party!

Here is your birthday board! With photos of you! Oh,and the sweets!

Morning of the party! You were greeting eveybody! :)

"The party is over...I'm almost one!Thanks fr coming, I hope you had fun! Here is some candy, from me to you! See you next year, when I turn two!"

These were your favor boxes that the people filled with candy.

*These will be your favor boxes next year too - because I have TONS left! -- I actually took them to school, hoping I can use them for an art project!

You really were not that into you gifts. You'd walk over and open a few and then leave. So, Bekkah and Emma helped you open your gifts!

Pretty Girl!

digging in!

You Love All of your new toys!

Cake time!

I love our family of 3!

This photo is out of order...but this is us before the party! Also, this is the only photo of you with your bow on!!!

The cakes!

Joe and Jenna!

Friend Family!

Scott Family!

haha - rockstar Cake eater! :)

Oh my gosh, your boyfriend Brayden is so adorable! He was crawling around at your party!! He's getting so big!!

Based on these 3 photos - you sure did love your cake!

The Erickson-Higginbotham Family!

You LOVED, Loved, LOVED, your party! You just walked all aound the room. And everyone was so in love with you, of course who couldn't be! :) You didn't whine, or cry, or fuss! You were a perfect angel! How incredibly lucky am I!? :)

You love your balloons! They're still inflated and you love playing with them!

I was so nervous about your party. I felt a lot of pressure to make sure it was perfect, and it was! I'm very thankful it was, and I'm not sure I needed to be so nervous about it. But I just wanted your first party to be the best it could be! I feel it was the best party ever! Hopefully your 2nd birthday party will be just as perfect!!

I love you,

Mommy

Everything Eliana: 12 months!

Well, here we go! Your 12 month post!! Crazy how time flies! I have been hesitant to write this post because you are doing SO many new things and I just feel there's no way I'll be able to record it all! But, I guess I will just do the best I can! :)

Well, you are walking and sometimes running! But usually if you run you get to going too fast you fall! You love it when we get down on the floor and chase you! You squeal and run away from us! Sometimes, if we are just crawling over to you you think we're chasing you and you run away, even when we're not! :)

 

You eat lots of things! You love your veggies, bananas, and pizza. You enjoy eggs, macaroni, grilled cheese, and all of your baby - gerber foods. You are not a fan of meat! You eat VERY little meat, and usually it's only if we can sneak it in! You just prefer not to have meat!

You really only take two bottles now. One in the morning when you wake up and when when you go to bed. I think I bought the last can of formula....makes me kind of sad. When we're done with this can we MIGHT switch to only milk. If I think I can emotionally! hehe! You have started to drink milk at Jodi's, she says you take it fine, but you don't drink it at home when I try to give it to you!

During this month Kinsley and Elijah were both born! You LOVE playing with them both! And in just this short time they have both grown so much you love seeing them even more! :)

Diaper size: 3, I'm thinking about buying size 4 next time though.

Clothing: Still mostly 12 month. You are pretty much done with the 9 month clothing. And even though the 18 month clothing is a little big, I've started dressing you in it, mainly because I'm bored with your 12 month clothing!! :)

Teeth: you have 3 on the bottom and two on top! I thought I saw a 6th tooth peeking out but it disappeared again. 

Talking: You can say mama (but you don't do it very often), dada (ALL the time...I mean ALL the time you say dada), and you say "Hi Da!" :) it is so cute! When dad walks in you always respond like that! We're working on other words but you're not consistent with them.  

Schedule:

Weekday:

6:30 - wake up, have bottle while mommy gets ready for work

7:00 - Sleep on the way to Garnett

7:30 - arrive at Jodi's

8:30 - Breakfast

Play at Jodi's!

11:30 - lunch

12:00ish - 3:00ish - nap

3:15 - snack

3:45 - Sleep on the way to Ottawa

4:30 - play at home!

5:00 - play in the kitchen while mommy makes dinner

5:30 - dinner time!

6:00 - play with mommy and daddy

7:15ish - bath time if it's bath night

7:45 or 8:00 - bottle and bed!

You are again starting to sleep through the night! You're so funny, some nights you sleep all night, and some nights you wake up. I can't figure out what makes you wake up, if you wake up! We've been making you cry it out lately. If I hear you in the night I make you wait a bit. This has helped, 8 out of 10 times you put yourself back to sleep, but if you get to the "crazy cry" I get up because I know you won't go back to sleep! :)

You LOVE books! Did I write this on your 11 month post? Because if I did, you REALLY love them now! You will bring us a book and then throw your arms in the air and squeal with excitment then crawl into our laps! :)  

You know where your shoes go! You always try to put your shoes on your feet! It is SO cute!!

You are understanding more and more. When I say, Let's go - you leave the room. We can say, go find mommy, or daddy, or book, or baby and you do whatever it is we say! I just love watching you learn! You amaze me all the time!!

You are 21.2 pounds....which is hte 44th percentile!

You are 29 inches tall (yes, tall! becuase they measured you standing up!) which is the 49th percentile!

This is your new play corner! We created this for you! You love it! Notice how the 2nd shlf is completely empty? Well, when everything is put away this shelf is completely full of books, but you like to pull them ALL off and read them! I love when you go over to this corner and play, it makes me realize how big you're getting!

Sweet girl, I love you beyond measure! I just can't believe how much I love you and feel so blessed to have you as my sweet girl! I cannot wait for Summer to get her so we can have lots of time to play!!

Love you!

Mommy