Elli's New Friend

Elli's New Friend? The fan in her bedroom. She can reach the on/off and timer buttons and had so much fun tonight playing. She would turn off the fan and then work to turn it back on. She was so proud of herself when it came back on...I captured one of the smiles I got when she turned it on.

Elli's Old Friend? Tegegn! We had so much fun with the Ponsler family last weekend. We headed over to our second home, The Children's Museum, on Friday morning. It seemed like the kids had a fun time. This is the third time we've visited and each time Elli is really into something different. This time she enjoyed the sand. I love to watch her play and watch her little brain work things out. It's so sweet. It was so fun to watch Tegegn too. He's such a sweet little boy...he's got so much energy and brings so many smiles. It's so fun to share the joy of parenthood with one of my best friends. Sarah is such an amazing mommy!!

They played SO hard! I got to sit between two precious and worn out little ones on the way home. :)

We grilled out with the 'Second Six' (yep, we have a name...Ponslers, Nicholsons (Katie, we're close enough to group you as one!!), Nicholsons) on Friday night. We had a lot of fun and you'll see from the pictures below that Elli enjoyed her first cotton candy! Every time we passed it at the Children's Museum I told Greg I wanted to get some and since Greg wasn't there to tell me no I bought some for Elli and Tegegn. Elli was a mess afterward (and so was I). Afterward Elli and Tegegn shared a bath...I am pretty sure that girl has gotten around when it comes to sharing baths with other kids. We have pictures which will be fun to drive them crazy with in a couple of years!!

I just confirmed today that I am leaving next Wednesday for an overnight work trip to CA. I am excited for the trip but so sad to leave Greg and Elli. I feel so blessed for the amazing support we have that live nearby and those who aren't so near but make it feel that way! I know Elli (and Greg for that matter) will be well taken care of in my absence!

T minus 8 days to Elli's birthday. I have been stressing about the party itinerary (yes, there is an itinerary) ...thinking through what I need to do to get the house in shape and which games we should play and on and on and I was reminded today that all of that pales in comparison to the thought of Elli having fun next Saturday with all the people who love her! Everyone is invited - next Saturday / Elli's house / 2:30 p.m.

Elli's One Year Pictures

Here is a preview of Elli's ONE YEAR pictures! I have to thank Grace for going with me and helping me to get Elli to smile! My baby girl is definitely growing up!!!!

Addie & Elli

I had to post some fun pictures of our weekend in Greentown a couple of weeks ago. Addie was gracious enough to share her toys. We had a really fun time!

At Katie's shower...Elli's best friends! :)
Elli had so much fun on the little slide in the Sycamore nursery.

They are holding hands. So sweet!

Elli pushing Addie on her princess toy.

Elli's first tooth brushing! :)

They had fun in their bath together!

Playing hard in their bug p.j.s!

Three steps forward!

So, I started this blog a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting to finishing it up. We've been pleasantly busy, so here is what we've been up to.

We had so much fun with the awesome weather around my birthday. We tried to take advantage of it as much possible...lots of hammock, park and playing on a blanket time.

We celebrated my birthday by going to the Children's Museum. A few notables from the museum:

• Elli loved it!


• Elli climbed 'up' anything she could.


• She was really understanding the 'case and effect' station.


• She tried to kiss a chunky little 12 month old.


• Elli enjoyed the story time...or she enjoyed trying to eat the fake food during the story time.


• Elli was exhausted but she continued to play her heart out...and was SO good!!


• She wasn't so sure about the carousel ride, but I figure she'll get used to it.


• We got a membership and plan on going regularly (we got the +2 so if you are in the area and want to go please call us!!)


• We went again this past weekend with my whole family and we had a ton of fun. Owen, Grace and Elli seemed to all really enjoy our time there. It definitely reinforced our decision to buy the membership.

We also had fun trying to fly Grace's kite on my birthday weekend. It was such a beautiful day to hang out with my family.

We went to a nearby park and Elli got her first swinging adventures in. She seemed to like it...well, she was actually enjoying the string cheese more but I think she liked the swing.

Look at her hair flying in the wind! :)
Elli's not so sure about the feel of grass. She would crawl from one end of the blanket to the other, but never actually touched the grass if she could keep from it. She did enjoy our dandelions...good thing we have about a million for her to play with.

Elli loved the cake and ice cream at Katie's shower. She started dancing when my sister was feeding it to her. The ladies got a big kick out of it, but I was a tiny bit embarrassed because her dance is a little provocative...lots of hip action. Not sure where she learned that from. Seriously!

Holy moly! With all the great weather updates I forgot to mention that Elli has two teeth! That's right! The first tooth came a couple of weeks ago and our babysitter Kelly had to tell us. We didn't even know it! Elli didn't have any of the symptoms (well except for what we found in her diaper...which made things really interesting when she pooped in the bathtub...good times) so we weren't really looking for it. Now that she has one she must be cutting more because she's definitely slobbery and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. I guess that's not terribly uncommon for her, but it's to a new level.

Elli's birthday is just about a month away. I have been enjoying thinking through the plans. I'm so excited and feel so blessed that God chose Elli for us. It's been such an amazing year. Everyone, save the afternoon of June 6th for E's party! Everyone's invited for some homemade ice cream and cake. Yum!

Another HUGE update: Elli is starting to walk. She's taken a step here and there but on Sunday she took three or four steps at a time! She loves to walk with help so I have no doubt that it will be any day that she starts and doesn't stop.

We visited our friends that moved back home to Michigan a couple of weekends ago. They have a precious baby boy - only 4 weeks old! It was so fun to see them and catch up.

Mother's Day was spent at the park and then with the Nicholson's. It was a beautiful day. We had fun eating our picnic and feeding the ducks.

I love the above picture because Grace was drinking her Sprite and she saw Elli watching her, so she just plopped down and let her drink from her cool M&M cup. We typically (okay, we ALWAYS) shy away from feeding Elli carbonated beverages, but I thought it was so sweet how natural it came to Grace to share with Elli. No wonder Elli loves her big cousin so much!

We had fun on Papaw's golf cart too! The weather was just warm enough to go for a ride.

Yay! Grandma and Granddad are back!!