lately

Last week was a little unusual . . . we had Monday off for Presidents Day, and then on Thursday a big storm was predicted to roll in (and it sort of did - later than they thought, and less snow too) - but we we still ended up having an early out on Thursday and another no school day on Friday.  Friday marked our third snow day of the year, and although I am not looking forward to making them all up, it is fun to have a "surprise" day at home.  

Billy still headed to work, but Braden, Elise and I slept in, then spent the morning playing in our jammies. I did bake some cinnamon rolls (and out of 4 pans, we had one (roll!) left when we went to bed Friday night (we did share with my parents and Jim Grandpa, Addie, and Aidan who hung out with B & E while Billy and I went to a BB game that night).  

It's fun to watch Braden and Elise really play together now.  I hate it that she is getting so "grown up," but they sure do have a good time now that she's able to do more . . .

Most of the time B is pretty good about letting little sis play with his toys . . .

While Elise napped in the afternoon, Braden and I bundled up to play in the snow!

I love how pretty everything looks with a fresh, white coating . . .

It really warmed up on Friday, and by the time we made it out, our driveway (which Billy scooped a bit of, and then Uncle Kyle pushed snow off of) and street were all melted. B was kind of bummed because I was going to pull him up and down the street (baby monitor in my pocket) - but it was dry! So he decided to take advantage of the clear driveway and ride his bike instead. :)

I also made Elise another smash cake on Friday (I had done a practice one on Monday) for her one year pics on Saturday morning.  Here's a sneak peek from her photo session.  I think we can safely say that she enjoyed the smash cake!

I hear there's another snow storm approaching . . . maybe we'll have ANOTHER snow day this week? Regardless, we're savoring each final day of Elise being 11 months - can't believe she turns ONE on Saturday!

Presidents Day projects

There are some holidays that I really like to observe, although the actual holiday isn't all that notable to me. Presidents Day would fall into that category; I am happy to honor our past presidents, but am really happy to have a seemingly random three day weekend near the end of February.  For some reason, though February is the shortest month, it often feels so loooooong.  Christmas is over, and spring is so far away. The skies are usually gray, and the weather cold and dreary.  Yuck.  So that "bonus" day off is something to look forward to, and is greatly anticipated and enjoyed.

Last year I vividly remember how I spent the holiday . . . not because I participated in anything especially patriotic, but because I was about 2 weeks away from my due date with Elise.  I spent much of the day shopping with a friend, and can recall a few specific items I bought for our sweet baby girt that I was so excited to meet in just a few short days. . . onesies at Carter's,  3 (yes 3!) pair of cutie little newborn girl shoes - denim espadrilles, white crocheted espadrilles, and pink sneakers, and a cute outfit of teeny tine khakis and the sweetest little floral peasant top.  Sigh.  Also that weekend Billy and I went shopping for furniture for our new home that we'd just moved into . . . dining room table and chairs and master bedroom furniture (and oh how we've loved our king bed upgrade from the full we had previously).  

So here we are a YEAR later.  Miss Elise is almost one!  So this year, I was much more practical.  I spent the holiday enjoying breakfast with friends, but then took advantage of the fact that the kiddos went to daycare to tackle a bunch of to-do's:  vacuumed out the car (and was going to wash it, but it started raining and is now SNOWING?!), cleaned out the garage, dusted and vacuumed, and did about 9,000 loads of laundry, took down the remaining winter and valentines decor in our house (I am SO over winter!),  and made a trial run of E's smash cake for pictures next weekend:

I thought the cake turned out pretty well, for an amateur. I will try to lighten up the middle shade of pink (and maybe darken the lightest shade - it looks cream in the picture, but it's really pale pink) - but I think it will work.  We did smash cake pics for Braden's first b-day photos, and it was really fun, so I am excited to see how it goes for Elise.

So the only thing I really didn't get to do today that I had on my list is to work on E's baby book and photo books . . . but I have a hunch I might get my chance if we have a snow day later this week. ;)

All you need is love . . .

I am having a lot of fun decorating for the holidays in our new home (although I guess it's not so new anymore - we've been here a YEAR already!)  . . . I think our old space was just too small to be able to do too much decorating in without feeling cluttered.  And while I like seasonal decor, I do NOT so much like clutter.  Anyway, I have found some fun decorating ideas on  Pinterest that I have had fun with this year.

I made the XO/hearts garland for our mantle out of felt . . . I think I need to starch it so it isn't so "floppy," but it turned out pretty cute and added some color to the mantle.  I also printed out the I heart U ABC's from a printable I found on Pinterest.

We've always done some sort of Valentine treat for the other kids at daycare, but this is the first year we've done valentines for a class.  B was really pumped to take valentines to preschool, until he realized he had to give them away (ha!).  I decided to get my craft on and make these cute superhero sucker valentines (Pinterest, of course!), since he is so into superheros these days . . . I forgot to take a picture of ours before he took them to school, but here's the pic from the pin:

source:http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2011/02/its-bird-its-plane-its-super-valentine.html

After cutting and assembling about 10, I was rethinking the plan - but they turned out very cute, and Braden was very impressed and excited about them. 

We also made these cookies (which we made last year too - but again, forgot to photograph) - YUM!  Who doesn't like PB cookies with a Dove chocolate heart?

(I couldn't find the original source for these, but they're pretty self explanatory and are all over the web).  

We packaged up the cookies and added our family valentine card (which of course I could NOT get a really cute pic of the kids for - it just wasn't happening, and I wanted to use a recent photo with both kiddos.  This was the best I could do)  . . .

 . . . and loaded up in the car to make a few deliveries to family members and neighbors.  Braden was so excited to hand them out.  After we'd been to a couple of stops, he exclaimed,  "I like Trick or Treating!"  It was too funny - I suppose it was sort of like Halloween, going from house to house with treats. :)

So it's been a fun "Valentine season" this year . . . I know that some people don't care for Valentine's Day and categorize it as a greeting card holiday, but I really do enjoy it.  Don't we all need a little more love in our lives?  And isn't it a good thing to tell our loved ones that we DO indeed love 'em (although we can tell them anytime)?  

xoxo

Elise: 11 months

I am so sad to report that Elise has reached the 11 month mark . . . I'm  glad that she's growing and thriving, and becoming a sweet little person with lots of giggles and lots of spunk . . . but so very sad that she's quickly reaching the end of babyhood.  It all just goes way, way, way too fast.

E "celebrated" her 11 month birthday on Saturday with a trip to the doctor and a diagnosis of her first ear infection. :(  On Thursday night she started running a low grade temp, but was also gnawing on her fingers, so our first thought was teeth.  By Friday night her eyes had that "sick" look to them, and we knew something else was up, but of course the doctor's office does not have evening hours on Fridays. So we took her in first thing Saturday morning, and her right ear was showing signs of infection (which the doctor said may not have been present even the day before, so we did't have to feel too badly about not getting her in on Friday.  She also said that it appears some top teeth are about to make an appearance).  Now she's on amoxicillin, and feeling much better (and acting much more like her usual self).  

 At 11 months, Elise . . .

• is a walker!  She's taking more and more steps, and is even starting to stand up unassisted (like from a sitting position without using anything to pull up).  She still reverts to crawling if she wants to get somewhere quickly.

• wears size 2 diapers (but I just bought a box of size 3's), and is moving into mostly 12 month clothing.  A lot of her pants are too large in the waist, but she needs the length.  I went shopping to pick out an outfit for her 1 year pictures, and it's crazy to be buying the largest size on the rack already.  (I miss those teeny tiny newborn clothes!)

• loves food!  E has moved almost totally to "regular" food, and is doing a great job of feeding herself bits of bread, crackers, etc.  So far she is willing to eat almost anything, but continues to reject bananas.  She's also working on using the sippy cup, but still likes her bottles too.

• is a snuggly sleeper.  She still ends up sleeping with us most nights (don't judge), and loves to curl up right next to Billy or I.

• gets into everything . . . little Miss is a curious one, and loves to open drawers/cupboards and check out the contents (and often empty said contents all over the floor).

• is becoming a "daddy's girl" - she always has a huge smile for her daddy, and I think will have him wrapped around her sweet little finger.

11 months!

For comparison, E at 1 month and 11 months in her "monthly birthday outfit"