Best toy ever?

Right now it sure is. I love it. Elena loves it. She pushes it all around the house and I get to make dinner without a toddler attached to my leg. Whoo-hoo! The only downside right now is the strap - Elena is obsessed with doing & undoing them, but she can't do it herself. So we get spells of whining and pointing off and on. Ah, the joy of being 19 months old.

Cheesy

Easter et. al.

Our Spring Break was a busy week. My parents came in last Friday and stayed the week. The reason for the early arrival was Lauren's bridal shower - it's hard to believe she and Ronny are getting married in a little over a month! Here I am with the bride and her bow bouquet - I got a tell you the chiffon ribbons from Bed, Bath & Beyond present a challenge!

This was just a cute picture my parents took of Elena with the last of the azaleas on Palm Sunday. That is her new Disney Princess patio chair she is sitting in.

On Thursday, the Easter Bunny came early and he brought us Great Grandma Ila!
Elena promptly showed Ila her "new" kitchen set. This thing's been in our attic for a few years since Kat outgrew it. Ila gave Elena a few cooking lessons and taught her take the spoon around for people to try what she made.
We did some shopping - looking for shoes and a jacket for Kat to wear with her dress for Ronny & Lauren's wedding and my Mom's Mother of the Groom dress. We found the shoes, but that was it. We also stopped by the Easter Bunny at the mall and he scared Elena so bad she cried almost all the way to the parking lot. This was just with him waving hello, we never even got to her trying to sit near him. I am going back to my resolution that we're not seeing EB or Santa until she asks!

On to the big day - Easter Sunday! This is our yard sign - they sold these at church. We put the blank side out during Holy Week & then turned it around yesterday morning.

Mom helping Elena flower the cross:
The girls in the church gazebo - Kat, Elena, Ila, Me & my mom.

Ila with her grandson, granddaughter-in-law, and great-granddaughters.
Off to hunt Easter eggs. Elena had hunted eggs at school and kind of had the idea, but she wanted to stop and shake and open each egg. They gave her that little Easter Egg bag at school.My egg hunting fiends, pooch included:

Rob and Kat went on a Daddy-Daughter date to "Horton Hears a Who". Check out the totally un-Easter, coordinating "Nightmare before Christmas" shirts. We found them at the Disney Store on Friday.
Ronny & Lauren came over too - we talked wedding dances - they're having trouble picking the songs to dance with Dad/Mom.

They brought their big dogs who aren't allowed in my house very often (we're talking 8 paws, a lot of long hair and 100+ pounds of dog, here). Both the "boys" stayed right outside my open kitchen window. Elena kept going over to watch them and laugh, "Puppy!" I couldn't even get her to look at the camera, becasue she was watching the dogs.
And I leave you with one of our many new Easter stuffed animals (there were quite a few). I call this, "Duck, Duck, Silly Goose".

Portraits & Progress

These are Elena's 18 month/Easter portraits. The first four are the poses we ordered. I was very pleased. Particularly with the last one. It was one of those where the photographer said, "Let's just shoot one more and see what happens."

We didn't buy these, but they were still pretty cute.

It wouldn't be right to put the post up without crediting the lady that made the dress. I went looking to see if I had a picture of her and the dress, but no such luck. But here she is. This my best friend, Neil's mom, Susie with a two week old Elena. The dress looked gigantic that day when she gave it to us.

On to the progress part of the post, we had Elena's 18 month check up on Monday. She's a healthy little goober. The doctor is quite pleased with her progress - both physically and mentally. She's holding fast in the 25% for weight (22 lbs 2.5 oz), 75% for height (32 inches), and 75% for head (47 1/2 cm).

The 18 month appointment is shot free, but I was worried the vampires would still come for my kid. Luckily the doctor decided that he could put off drawing blood to check on Elena's anemia until her 2 year appointment when she'll be getting stuck anyway. She isn't showing any signs of adverse effects, so he's pretty confident she's not dropped below border line, if she hasn't improved.

O What a Beautiful Weekend

After a terrible storm on Thursday (2 1/2 hours to travel 20 miles anyone?) and a cold Friday, we got a gorgeous weekend. And a weekend that didn't require spending it all wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart & Home Depot or at work. We actually got to play! It was remarkable.

Elena has got the slide down pat. Her legs aren't long enough to climb the ladder, but she can slide down all by herself.

Kathryn conquered Elena's play-house. This involved a giant running leap and then landing in this haughty stance. "Ha ha, it is mine!"

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy, kids!
After outside playtime, Elena and I formed our own rock band in the kitchen. We jammed. And not to get to After School Special on you, it was so great considering the harried life I have been leading, it was nice just to sent on the floor and bang on a few pots with my daughter.

Elena digs in to some strawberry pound cake. She was enjoyed her first strawberries.Sunday was slightly warmer version of Saturday. So we wiped off a years worth of grime off the outside furniture and ate in the yard. Elena became quite upset when Kathryn moved her booster seat outside, she just couldn't understand the concept.

In another sappy moment, Kat says to me as we're driving up to the junior high this morning, "Good weekend. I liked it." Ah, the simple things . . . Back to the grindstone!

Not altogether surprising

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

18 months already?

First things first - Happy Birthday, Uncle Mike!

Second things, today is Elena's 18 month birthday or as close as we get. Happy February 30th, everybody. I've been gone for a couple of weeks, so here's some of the fun we've been having, in between the hectic.

Laundry basket silliness:

These are our backyard azealas - they've been busting out over the last couple of weeks: Reading the newspaper with Sissy:
And these are of my 18 month old today. She just keeps getting goofier and I keep thinking I can't love her more and proving myself wrong.


We had portraits taken today. Hopefully I'll post before the Smiles-By-Wire is available, but we'll see. It's been a little nuts around here.