Thursday, January 13, 2011

Catching Up #3: Elenore's 1st Birthday!

I feel a little sad that we did not do much of anything for Elenore's first birthday, but she couldn't eat any type of cake that I knew how to make, we didn't have money for lots of fun presents, and she wouldn't it remember it anyway. Those are my excuses. But We had our family have a little gathering, ate pizza that poor Elenore could not share (though I did give her a sip of soda to see her reaction), and her aunts and uncles were kind enough to give her presents, and me too as my birthday was a few days before. Here she is in her cute birthday dress from a friend of mine in Virginia, and then the next day (her actual birthday) I took some little "glamor shots" of her too. Enjoy!

Birthday Girl in her throne surrounded by her presents. Of course they must all be tasted...

More tasting... that little plane, a freebie from her Uncle's work,  was one of her favorites. Go figure.

Mom trying to help her grab another present, but she is still fascinated by the plane...

"Here, dad, do want to open it, I want to play with my plane..."

Checking out her cute new hoodie from her Aunt. Polka-dots galore!

The Wonder of being One!
I gave her a rose to hold to "be pretty" and she thought she'd better taste it of course...

A little bitter, perhaps?

"Yuck, these things are gross, mom!"
Trying it in the ear... looking demure with her favorite wind chimes
Beautiful eyes...

Walking to the pool...

Pondering her next move... or the meaning of life... not sure which.

Climbing the stairs...

Bright Eyes

Tiptoes

Attempting to be artistic...

"Hey, mom!"

A peek through the fence

Cuteness

Peek-a-boo!

My sweet girl... hard to believe it has been a year!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Catching Up #2: Good Times in Kansas

I wanted to write a little about our 10 months in Kansas, and though it was a hard time and we didn't want to be there, especially in that situation of no job, living off of others, etc, we had plenty of good times, and were truly blessed to be with so much of our family to so long! We miss them a lot, and who knows when we will get to see everyone again, so I wanted to just post some great pictures of great times we had there. I have hundreds more than these too!

We loved having Jonathan's parents come to visit often. I never grew up with that blessing, so I love having it for my daughter.I wish I could find more pictures of Elenore with her Grandma and Granddad. I know I have many more, but these were all I could find:

She loves her Granddad!

Randomness. Granddad was trying to get Elenore to stand up on his hand, but she was a little wary

Fun with Grandma
Grandmas and swings: great  combo!
Grandma pulling Elenore on the dump truck all around the yard. Grandmas are the best!
Here are some of the cutest little cousins ever. Elenore really misses this little guy! I do too. Who could not love his adorable self. And now he is a big brother! Hopefully Elenore was good training for him. They are about a year apart and once Elenore was big enough they had plenty of fun playing together, wanting to do or play with whatever the other one was, and often getting into scrapes together. Here's to cousins! 

Driving the lawnmower

Bath time!



"Get me out of here, he keeps dumping water one me!"

"Who, us?"

"Can we PLEASE go outside?!"
Taking turns riding the dump truck
"I want to ride what he's riding, mom!"
"Come on, push faster!"
"Do I have to let her ride with me?"
Little treasure hunters waiting for their food... "more cereal!"

We also had some fun times when Jonathan was home from work and we could go enjoy the city and all the fun places we found there. Here are some pics of us at the Botanical Gardens, mostly in the butterfly exhibit, and then some at a park with fun fountains to play in.
  

Watching all the butterflies
Focused on the butterflies

"Butterfly kisses" from mommy

Daddy's shoulders: her favorite place to be. Even got a butterfly in the shot

cooling off in one of the many fountains

Cooling off at home with freezy pops
You should have seen her face when daddy actually let her try some... the puckering was fabulous!

Fountains to play in at the park. "Look mom, water!"

Getting brave enough to touch it...

Still a little hesitant...

"Look mom, I went through them all by myself and got all wet!"

This gives a better view of all of them and how fun it looks... wish I was a kid again...

Getting splashed by Daddy

"Oooh, cold on the tummy!"

Time to get dried off and play on the playground



Trying the swings...
She wasn't too sure...


holding on tight!

Trying the slides...

"Now this is fun!"

"Look at me, mommy!"

Just too cute...

"Take me again, mommy!"

Going down the big one with Daddy!

Peeking out on the bridge


Home we go!

...with a little snacking on the way...