Busy Weekend!

We've had a pretty crazy summer so far. Lots of weddings and showers and such. And because of that, we couldn't remember the last time we'd done anything "fun" together, just us as a family. We hang out every evening and do the normal dinner and playing. But on the weekends, we've either been traveling or going to special events. Or we do the normal errands and chores. So I took it upon myself to commit the whole day Saturday to just having fun as a family. We started off the day at Monkey Bizness in Shawnee, which is a really cool indoor jungle gym type place. Eli was able to do a lot more of the stuff than the last time I took him. And Aaron really enjoyed playing with him there, since he had never been before.

After that, we went to Fritz's for lunch. If you live in the KC area and have kids, you should definitely go. The food is delivered by trains on a track that runs about a foot below the ceiling. Eli was completely mesmerized by it. We decided that if we ever wanted to put him on a diet, we'd just take him there for every meal. Because he was too distracted to eat hardly any of his food. The trains blow their whistles every time they bring the food out and Eli would just stare at them all the way around the room.

We also went to The Toy Store on Mass St. in Lawrence, which is huge. The toys were a tad overpriced. But they have a huge selection for kids of all ages. Their basement also has just about every kid's book you could want. And trust me, it's hard for me to be impressed by the number of books. I always think there should be more. But they basically have a children's bookstore in their basement, along with lots of cool science kits and other resources for teachers/parents.

To top the weekend off, Eli and I went to the Legends on Sunday with my mom and Ali. Aaron was studying so he didn't "get" to go along. But we had a really good time. And I think Ali and my mom kind of got a taste of how exhausting Eli can be while trying to wrangle him in public :) I told my mom at one point that she could let him out of the stroller if she watched him and he immediately took off running- lol. I suppose I could have been a little more specific in my warning that she should "watch him" but I guess she figured it out quick enough :) I'm pretty sure he went back in the stroller pretty quickly....

Anyhow, I took some pictures throughout the weekend and the link is below. We hope to start making it more of a priority to do these kinds of things together more often.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022280&id=65100372&l=8de3c6504f

2 Weddings in 2 Weeks

June has been crazy for us. I previously posted about my friend Leah's wedding. And now I am happy to report that our second wedding went off without any major hitches. I was a bridesmaid in my friend Kara's wedding this past weekend and the wedding was at Camp Wood YMCA in my hometown. It was absolutely gorgeous and couldn't have been a nicer day. While it was windy, it kept it from getting too hot - an important factor since it was an outside wedding. Kara was so beautiful and made it through the weekend with only a few tears ;) (I know you read my blog, Kara, so I'm being generous here on the emotional front lol) Anyhow, I think I finally figured out how to post a link to a facebook album. So here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022191&id=65100372&l=ba1b38690d

I apologize for the sheer amount of photos. I usually go through and select only the better pictures to post in an online album. But there were so many of them, that it was just easier to hit "select all" and upload them. So enjoy!

Rainy Day

I know most people hate gloomy days. But I actually sort of enjoy them. It gives me a chance to catch up on inside chores and not hate the fact that I'm not outside enjoying the sun. So far this morning I've cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed, and folded the last of the laundry. All while chasing my son away from the houseplants, dog bowls, trashcan, and laundry area (where he enjoys pulling out all the dryer sheets). You'd think our house would be completely toddler-proofed by now. But there are just some things you can't do away with. We have no other place for our trashcan than sitting out. And I'm sure Zoe would not appreciate having her food and water bowls hidden away in a cabinet....

Another rainy day side effect, my child is already napping by 9:45. Of course, that could also be because he currently has a bit of a bug. High fever over the weekend, not eating much (which is VERY rare for him), and some other health-related things that no one wants to read about. But his cough is probably the most annoying thing for him. Poor guy. I'm sure he'll fine in a couple days though.

The summer wedding season has officially begun. We attended my good friend Leah's wedding this past weekend. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids and I was very impressed with general calmness. There were quite a few last-minute things to do and she handled them all with much less stress than I expected. The ceremony and reception were beautiful and Leah looked gorgeous. A wonderful day overall and I was so happy to share in Leah and Brian's special day :)

I'm trying to get back into the Wicked series right now. I've read Wicked several times, but haven't gone past that one. And I'm borrowing a friend's copy of Son of A Witch. I started it last night and am looking forward to getting into it. Gregory Maguire's writing and imagination always impresses me. They're good books that aren't just "fluff" if anyone's interested.

Terrible

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a terrible blogger. And if I didn't have a couple family members who read this, I would probably stop. That, and the fact that it's a good way for me to document Eli's milestones for when I go back and fill in his baby book. But seriously, it's regularly a month between posts. I guess I could rationalize that I don't do that many noteworthy things since my life is fairly uneventful. But still. Sort of pathetic.

So anyway, here's the monthly update. Since I last posted, I went to Florida with my best girl friends for a bachelorette party. I was a little nervous at traveling with so many type A personalities. The phrase "too many chiefs, not enough indians" came to mind. But I was very pleasantly surprised at how well we balanced the responsibilities throughout the trip. Each of us taking our turn at the reins and happily taking a backseat when it was someone else's turn. I was also happy with how well I did in regard to being away from Eli for the first time for that long. We left Friday morning early and didn't get home until Monday night late. And while I, of course(!), missed him. I didn't cry or get super emotional. And Aaron and Eli had a great boys' weekend from the sounds of it. Lots of trips to Home Depot and they even bought a new tv (interesting time, eh?). So it was a great weekend all around. I got lots of much-needed girl time and R&R. And Aaron had some fun bonding time alone with Eli. Don't get me wrong, he was exhausted and ready for me to come home. But there were no complaints at all while I was gone! So we'll put that one in the win column.

Eli is running everywhere these days it seems. If he's not in motion, he's merely considering his next plan of action. :) At the same time, though, his love for books rivals my own - which makes me very happy. He'll sit and look at books for 20-30 minutes at a time. One of my favorite things is when he picks up a book and carries it to one of us, wanting us to read it to him. How can you say no to that?

We're very much looking forward to summer. The baby pool, sand box, swing, and slide are starting to get a lot more use as we spend more and more time outside. Eli LOVES outside and will bring his shoes to me and point to the door :) The summer also brings a break from class for Aaron, as he starts working on his final project for school. So while he'll be working hard, it can be around Eli's schedule instead of the same night every week. So in a nutshell, we're doing good and have lots of fun things to look forward to in the coming weeks and months!

Catch Up

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything. Over a month.... Whoops! Well, as you can guess, a lot has happened in the last month - the biggest being Eli's birthday. We had lots of family and friends help us celebrate and it was a lot of fun. Eli was only slightly overwhelmed at everyone staring at him while he ate his cupcake (or poked at it) and opened his presents (or watched me open his presents while he played with tissue paper:). But it was a great day and we're so thankful to have so many people care for our little boy.

We also had a fence built in the back yard in March and we are LOVING it. No longer do we have to take Zoe out on her leash. We can just open the back door and let her out. We're also able to play fetch with her in the back yard while pushing Eli in his swing. Both Zoe and Eli are thoroughly enjoying that. So that was sort of a big deal around our house.

Eli's no longer crawling at all really. He's a full-blown (dare I say?) toddler. *sigh* How did this happen? In spite of the sadness at no longer having a "baby," we're both so excited to watch how Eli grows and develops on a daily basis. He seems to understand more and more of what we say. And he is constantly babbling. No truly identifiable words are repeated. But he's said "mamama" and "dadada" on a regular basis for a while. He's also stuck on "baba" right now, which turns out sounding like a combination of "baby" and "bye bye". So, we'll see when he decides to really start talking. It's a process. And it's so hard to focus on that when he's got so much exploring to do!

Eli also had his first x-ray last week :( He got his finger smashed in a door at daycare on Friday afternoon, so we had to take him to urgent care to make sure it wasn't broken. After a long couple hours, they told us it wasn't brokren - thank God. But it still looked terrible all weekend and into this week. Unfortunately, I think his poor nail is infected. So the whole process isn't really over yet. But we're just thankful it wasn't worse. It's a really heavy metal, outside door that it got shut in. So it definitely could've been worse.

Well I think that's about it for now. I'll make more of an effort in the coming weeks to be better about posting. I know all 5 of my readers are impatient to hear more of our exciting life :P

Busy Little Weekend

We're so excited that the weather's finally getting nice again. Poor Zoe has been feeling really neglected since we hadn't been giving her too many walks in the cold weather. But yesterday we finally went on our first family walk of the season. It was so lovely to reacquaint ourselves with the neighborhood. See what people have done to their houses and yards in the past few months (the ones that aren't on our normal driving route). Eli was pretty curious too, taking in all the sights and sounds that he hadn't experienced in about 5 months - and I'm sure didn't remember. And then when we got home Aaron was VERY excited to fire up the grill for the first time this year and make us some hamburgers. Eli stood against the door the whole time, looking out at Zoe and laughing hysterically. So I'd say it was a good day, all in all.

My wonderful husband also finished hanging a bunch of pictures last night while I watched the Oscars (that he had no interest in). And we also got a bunch of laundry and errands accomplished over the weekend as well. Add to it that we hung out with some friends and played poker Saturday night - and I won! And we had quite a nice little weekend. Let's pray that the nice weather sticks around bc we're tired of this yucky winter stuff! Let us get outside and get some fresh air!

To quote my nephew, "Oh dear...."

Pretty grainy, but you get the idea. We're super excited but terribly frightened all at the same time. I hear that's sort of what parenting is all about.... :P