Blogging from the past series: Jan '08 - Easter '08

Yes, I'm still blogging old stuff. Of course, I did blog a few things this year - here are some of the things I missed.

January 26th, 2008

I had to take a picture of this because it is exactly how Elise would wake up from every nap. She wakes up, cries, I make her a bottle - happiness. She was always so, so happy to be fed...imagine that.

This girl loves to ham it up! I took about 10 pics in about a minute and each one is a different, happy, expression. She just loved the attention of the camera.

Elise with what is now nicknamed, "Scary Baby". I don't think the baby is that scary and wasn't the one who nicknamed it. The girls love it. It's weird. These pics were taken the same night we ended up having to take Elise to the ER for RSV. I spent my birthday morning at a hospital and we just finished paying the bill. Elise is happy and healthy now though.


FEBRUARY 2008
OK (as in Oklahoma, not "just okay" ;) Trip

If you keep track of my blog, you probably already see that we go down to OK at least twice a year to visit my Grandma Patty and our cousins, etc. Here we all are at Chili's enjoying food after waiting an hour or so to eat. They only had 2 tables to accommodate large groups and the people just wouldn't leave!

This is the face I get from Ava when I say, "Look at the camera - say cheese!" Ava's enjoying herself some mac & cheese.

And here's the face I get from Elise when I point my camera in her direction and say, "Say cheese!" One shot and this is what she gave me. How adorable!

Daddy & Ava

Great-Grandma Patty, Elise & Lori

Ava has a 2nd cousin only a few months older than her, McKinley. They've really started to enjoy playing together on all of our visits.


REORGANIZATION

I was starting to feel more energy after many months of caring for a small baby and wanted to tear the house apart and then put it back together, "the right way."

We set a table up and went through every room and closet, putting all of the misfit, homeless, to store, to get rid of, on the table. Then, we sorted things into categories: store, keep, donate/give away...our own mini "Clean Sweep". Sadly, it's probably about time to do this all over again.

THE 2008 TILE SAGA:

This is our old kitchen floor.

This is how our living room looked for a few weeks while we waited for our tile to be finished. It was so bad, we basically ran away every chance we got, calling on family and friends to let us hang out with them. We had to put everything from our pantry and laundry room, plus anything kitchen related that we'd need, in our living room.

The progress in progress. Ava had fun pulling out all of the spaces once the mortar was dry. I'll have to post an after picture sometime to show the finished product. I'm happy with the end result for the most part. The guy doing the tile was very nice and all, but the timing just wasn't the greatest. Originally, the tile was only supposed to take 5 days. But -his wife had a baby during the process and the roofing season started (that's his main business), so he had to be out to get bids and help his wife. It was definitely a trial for us, but I've heard much, much worse horror storiess. At least we have what we paid for, even if it took 4 times longer than expected.


MARCH 2008
EASTER: March 23, 2008

The Easter Bunny brought some fun things this year. We went to at least 2 Easter egg hunts this year, which Ava thoroughly enjoyed.

We celebrated with my family of course - this time at Kevin & Gaia's. Elise was enjoying her ham & potato chips....Hey, who gave her potato chips!?

The cousins minus 1. (Kate didn't feel the need to conform to the annual cousins group photo). from left: Ryan, Ava, Elise, & William.

Pretty girl.

Ready to hunt. As you can tell by looking at the kids all bundled up, it was pretty darn cold that Easter. Overall, it was a fun day and most importantly, the kids all enjoyed themselves. They got lots of toys & treats and had fun playing and coloring eggs.

Elise found a few eggs and kept them all to herself.

Next update: Elise's Ducky Party and springtime fun