It's been way too loooong!

Sorry friends, I have stayed away from blogging for way to looooong! No real good reasons either, since we had such a long winter. Backing up a bit, christmas was great (Elinn's 1st), but we all got the stomach flu. Luckily, our birthday girl was able to avoid it and enjoy all the festivities. Ryan and I were even able to enjoy two date nights both including dinner and a movie (note-haven't had a date since!) I then started a new role at working after the first of the year and have remained very busy ever since. We are all ready for spring and summer. The monkey played in her first soccer game yesterday and the puffball is really enjoying going back to baby sign language again! The monkey also went to kindergarten round-up recently and is looking forward to starting full-day kindergarten this fall. Elinn is now babbling like mad, walking along the furniture and is pretty much nothing but rotten. She is very happy but quite mischevious and our littly bully, if you can believe it! Her big sister is always there to help her out and is so good with her! So hope you enjoy the pics, this should give you a good idea of how big they have gotten :) I hope to post the 1st b-day and some holiday pics once I get everything else downloaded, but we have been working on a book of her first year!!

Better Late Than Never...

Well were close to closing out 2010, and what a year it has been. Were so thankful for all we have (especially good health) and all the love and support of our family and friends. Things have been a bit crazy the last couple of months, mostly with my work (which has kept me from posting), some colds and sinus infections, traveling for the holidays and a family wedding. But I do want to still go back and re-cap the Buddy Walk in October, our Monkey's 5th birthday (which was awesome), and some more recent pics as we get close to celebrating the holidays and our lil' puffers
1st birthday. She has changed so much these last few months it is crazy. She is now a lil' crawling machine in her own cute way, her hair is getting longer, and she finally had her 1st tooth break thru. She also is beginning to sign back to us, which is so adorably cute and she has mastered clapping, screaming, and making as much noise as she possibly can. Our monkey on the other hand has enjoyed getting rides home from school with her best friend Eli, helping keep her lil sister out of trouble and mischeif, and she absolutely is an artist. She is always creating masterpieces, and is very good at drawing I might add. She is hilarious and keeps her daddy and I on our toes, with all of her adorable one liners. She is really looking forward to Christmas this year, and the top 3 items of choice are just so cute... Our monkey wants an electric pencil sharpener, stamps and a stamp pad, and a barbie doll house!! She is at such a fun age, and has our house totally decorated for christmas with her creations :) She has been my number 1 helper in decorating the tree and getting the christmas cards out!! So, I guess I rambled a litttle about our little blessings, but who can't help but to be so thankful for them and the joy they bring us. Enjoy the pics above. Oh and the awesome wizard of oz cake was made by CeCe (aka Ryans mom, she is cake wizard!!) Thanks CeCe...

Conversations with Dad

Hey there, no we haven't forgotten that we have a blog, we have just been really busy with work, kids, activites, etc. lately. But before I forget I wanted to capture some cute conversations that the Monkey had with her daddy recently.

We recently bought our lil' monkey some new tennis shoes to start off a new school year. The other day she wore them for the first time and when daddy came home, here was the conversation..

Daddy: Hey Bobo! (He says this every single day when he comes in the door from work and if he doesn't she gets really upset!)

Monkey: Hey Dada!

Daddy: So how were you new kicks?

Monkey: There not new kicks, there New Balance.... Did you forget, you helped me pick them out!!

So funny, she is quite perceptive.
One night they were watching something on the discovery channel, and so it goes...

Monkey: Did they say the name of that place is Chile?

Daddy: Yes.

Monkey: She thought for a minute? It looks warm there. Is it pretty warm there daddy?

Daddy: Most of the time.

Monkey: Well if it so warm there, why do the call it Chile?

I think he had a little trouble explaining this one! Anyways, he is a very good daddy, I hope to be back soon to post pictures from the buddy walk, and from the Monkey's 5th birthday party. Her real birthday is this Sunday, but we celebrated last weekend while all the family was here for the buddy walk. The party was a Wizard of Oz theme, Mommy did the decorating and Daddy was in charge of games. He spent a couple of late nights making a tin man (pin the heart on the tin man), wicked witch (we thru water balloons on her to melt her), and a lellow brick road, as our dorthy would say! Needless to say a good time was had by all, most importantly our lil "Dorthy". Hope to share the pictures soon. We still can't find the camera, ugh... But my mom is in the process of figuring out how to download all of them to me, will see how that goes! Have a great fall weekend! Were headed to pick pumpkins and apples at our favorite orchard :)

Photo Shoot

We had a little photo shoot this weekend! Mommy has misplaced her camera, so since CeCe and Poe were here this weekend we made sure they got plenty of pictures of the girls. The first picture is of Addie and her first real babysitter, our next door neighbor Brie. It was a sad and exciting day Sunday, as Brie left for college and had to come to our door to give our little monkey one last hug. Needless to say everyone had a tear in their eye, since we won't get to see her too often now :( We had a good weekend visiting, CeCe even got to enjoy the pool now that her leg is healing up from the big break! Daddy and Poe even got to enjoy an antique tractor show, while us girls enjoyed lunch at a local tea room. I think a good time was had by all. Now, if I could just find my camera.. ugh!!

Were Back, Just took a little break....

Well just as I knew it would happen, we took a bit of a break from the blog as I returned back to work in mid-June. Things have been going fairly smoothly and we have got a bit of a routine down now. Three days a week we have a nanny for our little puffball, daddy stays home 1-day with her, and then I work from home 1 day. So far, this seems to be working well for all parties. Our nanny is Tennielle and she brings her adorable little boy Hunter along, who is exactly 3 weeks older than Elinn. They have great fun together, and Tennielle has been a little blessing for us and caring so well for Elinn!!

Here are a few pics of Elinn with her new bud Hunter!

We have also been enjoying our summer! It has been great weather for dips in the pool. Our monkey has turned into a real fish. She can now conquer 2 lengths of the pool without her wings, as well as jumping in for cannon balls, etc. She loves to have her wings off, if we are not in the water with her!! Puffers on the other hand loves to just watch from afar, just relaxing. We have to be quite careful with her and the water, b/c the smallest drops that make it to her mouth could cause her to choke. I just hope as she gets older she can enjoy the water as much as her big sis. Now for a few pics from our summer fun!! You will see sibling rivalry has already started in a few pics :)









In other news, we have enjoyed a close friends wedding and spending time with family and friends. We hate that the summer is flying bye, b/c we enjoy soaking up the daylight for walks, and late evening swims and ice cream. Were so glad the monkey misses the cutoff for kindergarten in the fall, as this mama just isn't ready for her baby to begin school yet. These last 5 years have just flown bye. She will remain at her same daycare and begin Pre-k with one of her favorite teachers and her best buddy Eli.

Here's a cute story from this week. Addie's class had a field trip to see Toy Story 3, and during the movie there was a scary part where a building or something caught on fire. Her buddy Eli was right there beside her, patting her back and letting her know when the scary part had ended. They are just so cute together, and he is adorable. A real sports nut already. He always shows Ryan and I his latest Cubs or Butler hat or shirt.

Well other than given you the latest stats on our lil' puffers, I think I have somewhat caught everyone up on our household happenings. So for 6 months, Elinn weighed in at 13 lbs. 4 oz. and was 26 1/2 inches. She is close to sitting up on her own, as she can make it a couple of seconds without any help. She also is enjoying her baby food, practicing drinking from a cup, and puffs!! She is doing quite well other than her recurrent ear infections, which we hope to get under control at her next ENT visit in August. Here are some more pics of our summer fun, enjoy!