Finally...we come to Elise's Birthday

Elise's FIRST Birthday (3/27/08)

Because we were still in the middle our our big tile project (actually the guy was working in our kitchen that very minute), we did a low-key birthday celebration for Elise on her actual birthday. A Little Debbie with a candle. hmm...a family TREND?
She obviously liked it and ate it all up! It was on to planning her big birthday party. Coming from a family of seven kids, we didn't always have big birthday celebrations. I guess I get extra excited for birthdays to make up for it...the first birthday is especially important --- I think anyway.

Because I go a little overboard, here's what my kitchen looked like the night before the party. I don't know what Chris is talking about when he says I can make big messes when I get "crafty"... Luckily, I always have sisters who offer their services. My oldest sister, Gina, was a huge help. She even spent the night so we could stay up late. Thanks to my other sisters and SILS for their help too.

THE PARTY:

We really wanted to focus on making the party a fun day for Elise, so we thought of lots of things Elise likes to do. For the theme, we chose to do a "Ducky Party". One of Elise's first sign-language signs was for duck. She seems to really love them and does the sign and makes a quack sound - so it was a natural choice for her party theme.

For the activities, we did finger painting -- messy, but fun!

- a fish/duck pond (thanks, Gina for making and manning it)...

Since Elise's birthday conveniently fell after Easter, we found little ducks that made quacking sounds on clearance - so that was the main prize for the fish pond.

A funny story: Ava was so excited about the fishing game after getting the duck reward, that she kept throwing her line over the pond even when no one was manning the station. I guess she threw it over a few times, kept looking at the hook each time, and disappointed said, "ughh, NOTHING!" That's so funny to think she thought it really was magic or something.

Elise loves to dance to music so we did some musical lily pads (the "everyone wins" version where you don't take any away), and sang along to some fun songs on a cd...
...like "If You're Happy and You Know It"...

We also did a little duck pond with water so they kids could splash around a bit.


Of course, we also had cake & ice cream, duck feed: Kix cereal, M&Ms and teddy grahams (cuz ducks love to eat bears), cheese squares, and tuna-fish sandwiches (more popular with the adults).

Nom-Nom!

Can't forget the bubbles - another toddler favorite.
Elise had a FABULOUS time, which was exactly what we wanted. She loved splashing in the water, reaching for the bubbles, singing and dancing to the music, and stuffing cake into her mouth. She also loved playing with all of her little friends and her family -- a very fun and memorable day!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, SWEET ELISE!

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

Today You're 3!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ava!

Blogging from the past series: Part 2 - Dec. 2007

DECEMBER 2007

Gingerbread Houses

Our community holds an annual Gingerbread House making contest and then displays all of the houses for people to come and see. We had never been but thought Ava would enjoy seeing the houses. Ava and I invited my mom to come with us. Elise took a nice nap in her stroller and Ava kept her hands off - so that made for a nice time. Ava also picked out her outfit. She insisted on wearing a dress.

I was pretty impressed with some of the gingerbread houses. We might have to try our hand at real gingerbread house making sometime, although I don't know that we'd ever come anywhere close to some of these mini masterpieces.

After viewing the gingerbread houses, we went over to our favorite bakery to visit "Baker Bob" or "Bob the Baker" (you know - Bob the Builder?), and get some yummy fresh bread. The cinnamon chip is totally addicting. I swear I could eat an entire loaf.

Playgroup Gingerbread House Making

For our playgroup, we did a gingerbread theme. I was in charge of planning it and so I ended up doing the Gingerbread Man story using my flannel board. Then, we decorated the houses. I actually made the houses, something I hadn't done before. Two ingredients: graham crackers and melted sugar. Melted sugar is a serious substance to be working with - let me tell you... After a couple batches of burnt sugar and a few scorched fingers, I successfully made 15 or so houses.

A typical observation I'm sure - more candy went in mouths than on houses. Fun was had. After the kids made their houses, we did a gingerbread hunt. When they came back to the room, they had a real gingerbread cookie waiting for them. This was also the first time I made gingerbread cookies. The cookies were great but I learned that the smell of molasses makes me want to vomit a little.

Finding that Special Tree

After several years "enjoying" our artificial tree, we opted to cut down a real tree this year. Chris is from back east and has really missed that fresh pine smell. I actually went online to find out what was "greener", cutting down a real tree or using artificial. I'm really not that "green", but it sounds like cutting down the real tree is better in the long run. You can google it and form your own opinion. It definitely seems to cost you more green - I think we spent like $50 after everything and it wasn't even that tall of a tree. We're taking our time to decide what we'll do next year. The experience of finding and cutting down your own tree is pretty neat and we did enjoy ourselves...so probably worth it.

I saw Ava from far away and it looked like she was squatting in the middle of an empty field. Coming closer I see that she found the tiniest little perch to sit on - a skinny little tree stump. Those are the type of kid things that make smile.

Elise looks so warm and snuggly.

We finally found the tree of the year after looking forever.

Here it is in all of its Christmas glory.

While decorating the tree, I got out our advent calendar for Ava to see. Boy did she have fun opening and closing all of those boxes. Maybe in a few years we'll use it as intended...or not.

Other December Moments:

Binky girls. Ava, Elise & cousin Kate


Elise in her Christmassy dress. She was in one of those stages where you point a camera at her and she's all dimples & grins.

Ava eating snow.
Mommy: Is that good snow?
Ava: Uh-huh
Mommy: What does it taste like?

Ava: peanut butter

Mommy: LOL

CHRISTMAS 2007/Elise's 1st Christmas

We tried to start some Christmas traditions this year that we thought Ava would enjoy. Here's Ava helping to make cookies for Santa. She dictated a letter to leave for Santa too. I know some people don't do Santa and that's their choice - but Chris and I have such fond memories of the Santa experience that we have to continue the tradition. Of course, we also stressed that Christmas is about the birth of the Savior as you'll see if you look at the flannel board in the picture below. Ava loved to hear the nativity story.

Christmas morning. Santa ate the cookies, the presents were placed under the tree. This was the first Christmas at home with Ava being old enough to remember it and understand it more. We had a great morning at home, just the four of us. Later, we met up with the rest of my family and had a nice time - I guess I didn't get any pics of that - although I remember coming home and looking at all of the thoughtful things my children received and truly feeling so blessed that my kids have so many people who love them.

Everyone up and still in their pjs. Present opening time. This was Elise's 1st Christmas and you probably guessed it - she loved all of the boxes, bow, bags and wrappings.

Ava's big present: a Loving Family Dollhouse.

Ava loves her dollhouse, but I have to tell the Barbie story: Whenever we asked Ava what she wanted for Christmas she didn't say dollhouse every time, sometimes, but not every time. What she wanted was a Barbie. For some reason I decided she was too little for a Barbie and told her she wouldn't be getting one. One tradition that we started this year is to have our kids pick out a toy to donate for Toys for Tots. We told Ava that lots of kids don't have very many toys and that there was a little girl her age that we wanted her to pick a toy for. What did she pick? A ballerina Barbie. She looked at it, almost hesitating but then resolved, and dropped it into the donation box...the toy that she wanted so badly.

Sadly, Santa didn't bring her a Barbie, even though she asked for one again in the note she wrote him Christmas Eve.

Later Christmas day, it was Ava's turn to open presents at my parents' house, along with all of the other grandkids. She got some neat things: paint, pjs, more stuff for her dollhouse, even a music box. Then came the best moment. I had no idea, but someone had gone against my wishes and got her a Barbie! I'll never forget her face when she opened the present, saw it was the same ballerina Barbie she had picked out for the other little girl and screamed with excitement, "A BARBIE!" I almost cried. Not because my parents & sister had pulled a fast one, but that this little girl was so happy to get a Barbie of her very own. I quickly forgot my Barbie prejudice and joined in the excitement. For Ava, this was a Christmas miracle. ;)

One other somewhat funny Christmas gift story. When Chris asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said that all I really wanted was a breadmaker and maybe some other kitchen stuff, but for sure a breadmaker. I thought for sure a breadmaker was under the tree. Nope. No boxes for me big enough. I opened my gifts which included some pretty nice diamond earrings. Do you know that I was actually a little disappointed when I got diamonds instead of a breadmaker? Am I actually that practical?? I think I was just expecting to get the breadmaker. I think I hurt Chris' feelings as he was trying to get me something more thoughtful and personal than a breadmaker. I love my earrings and wear them all the time. I also just recently picked up a used breadmaker from my friend Rebecca's garage sale for $3. Case closed.

Elise's favorite present - an apple of her very own from her stocking. This was her first time gnawing into an apple. I took (okay, I ate it off - one of the perks of being a mom ;) the peel off of half of it so she could eat it without the fear of her choking on the peel. Whenever she got close to the peel I'd take it away and turn it or something. She got SOOOO upset anytime I even touched her apple. She cried and cried when the it was finally bye-bye apple time. All good things must come to an end.

And that's the end of our 2007.

Still blogging 2007??

I'm quite backblogged so I'm going back to blog about some pretty old stuff that I want to make sure and keep some sort of record of for my family. A few will enjoy this - many will find it incredibly boring...sorry 'bout that.

NOVEMBER 2007
Ava walks into the computer room all dressed up and with plenty of bags (even a backpack), looks at Mommy and says, "Ok, see you later!"

MOM & DAD'S 35th Anniversary & Surprise Party:
November 18, 2007 - my house

My sister Gina had the idea to have a surprise dinner & party to celebrate our parents' 35th anniversary. While waiting for the guests of honor, the cousins kept busy and entertained by dressing up in costumes I picked up real cheap after Halloween. We weren't able to truly surprise my parents because my mom had signed up to feed the missionaries that night so we had to spill the beans. We still turned the lights out and jumped out and said "SURPRISE" to them. They acted surprised for the grandkids at least.

My parents sharing a laugh - it's been so long I can't remember what was so funny. It was kind of cute - we even made them feed each other cake like they did 35 years ago. Ok, so as my sister pointed out in the comments section - it was actually my parents' 35th anniversary. I had said 33 because that is what the cake had on it. However, if you look closely you'll notice two little candles by the 33. I guess we just didn't have a 5 that day.

THANKSGIVING 2007

Since all of my siblings live relatively close by, we have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner where we all get together every year. The numbers are growing...with marriages and new nieces and nephews - so there is always some sort of excitement when we get together. This year we had 3 Thanksgiving tables. Here's the kitchen table crew.

Liz always enjoys a nice visit at the kiddie table - making sure everyone eats their veggies. ;)


The other adult Thanksgiving table. As usual, the food was yummy. Everyone always especially enjoys my mom's cranberry salad. New guests joining us this year: Heidi's new hubby, Luke (first adult table), and Gaia's mom, Debbie.

Here's Elise enjoy her first real, not strained, Thanksgiving sweet potatoes at 8 months old. Looking closely at the high chair Elise is sitting in, you'll notice that it's either a modern replica of a vintage high chair or it is in fact, eh-hem a "vintage" high chair. This is actually the same high chair used with all 7 or us kids in the 70s and 80s. I can't believe my mom held onto it that long, but hey - it has obviously come in handy.

Next Update: December 2007