Thursday, May 28, 2009

Some Grandparents Pay a Visit

Still playing catch up. We're getting there.

Pete's folks made it out to visit near the end of April. They were here for about a week and got to spend a lot of time getting to know Ellie, which I think they all really enjoyed.



We finally got her sandbox set up while they were here, and she loves it. She had so much fun playing in the sand and throwing the sand and eating the sand.


Aunt S. was able to come up one afternoon so we had a little bbq and enjoyed the nice weather.


BBQ's typically mean food on people's laps or carried around. This means there's a lot of potential for food to be dropped, of which the dogs are keenly aware. Our dogs are pretty typical dogs in that anything that looks like something you might eat they want, and anything you drop on the floor they will eat. Now I guess we have to add Ellie to the list of beggars who won't be choosers. If the dogs want it, she wants it. And if the dogs will eat it, so will she.


Yum. So, why doesn't she eat what's on her plate? I really don't know. It's one of the many great mysteries of toddlerhood.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Once Upon A Time on Easter

We had a pretty laid back Easter this year, probably our last as Ellie will know what candy and chocolate and hidden eggs are next year (she already knows what "cookie" is, as we discovered today). So, we took advantage of it by dying some eggs and having some people over.

Ellie "helped" us dye the eggs, it was a lot of fun. She really enjoyed it once she figured out what all the glasses were for (not drinking). She made a mess, of course, but it was worth it.





{finished product}

Later that afternoon a couple friends and their two dogs came over, and Aunt S. joined us as well. It was a really nice day out, our first of the season really, so we enjoyed hanging out in the yard all afternoon.




{our dogs being lazy}

Hmmm, no pictures of the adults. We just hung out on the porch and ate too many chocolate bunny brownies (made by Aunt S. Aren't they cute?). It was nice.


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Nightlife

Another oldish video for your enjoyment. Isn't she so cute? I'm lovin' my nightlife these days.


A Shower

Ellie absolutely hates getting her hair wet these days. I have no idea what happened. But it's made bath time unbearable. So, instead of sad showers that end with "no mommy no!" let's talk happy ones.

Pete's cousin is having a baby. Any day now. I'm surprised he hasn't arrived yet. But he hasn't. Which means this isn't as out-of-date as it could have been.

His aunt and uncle held a nice little baby shower for her right before Easter.


It ended up being a little surprising for us because I decided to make a diaper cake at the last minute, having never made one before, and it actually came out kind of cute (if I do say so myself). And because Ellie suddenly decided that maybe Scruncle (Scruncle = Scary+Uncle) isn't so scary after all.



{awwwwwwwww}

She still doesn't like sitting on Grandma's lap. Sorry, Grandma.



Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cherry Blossom Festival


One of the advantages of living near D.C. is that, even when they predict the wrong date for the peak blooms of the cherry blossoms, we can still pop down and see them. Which is just what we did the first weekend in April.




What I would have preferred doing was skip out on work and go down during the week when it isn't so crowded. But we didn't do that. So, it was very crowded. Very crowded. It sure was beautiful though, and the weather was perfect for walking around all afternoon. Ellie was content to ride in her stroller the whole time. Because she fell asleep. But a sleeping baby is much better than a screaming baby.

After walking around the entire tidal basin, stopping at the Roosevelt and Jefferson Memorials along the way, we made our way over to museum row, grabbed a couple of hot dogs, and sat in the grass behind the American History Museum to eat and let Ellie run around a bit and enjoy the sunshine.



Ellie was surprisingly not too impressed with the hot dogs (she has since changed her mind on that), but she was happy just chewing on the bun. She also made a new friend, as kids this age are want to do.


I'm really glad Pete convinced my curmudgeonly self to get out of the house and brave the crowds, it was a beautiful afternoon and fun to get downtown again. Starting to feel like spring.



Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Rapid Run

A video from a couple of months ago.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Our Big Airplane Trip

Hello? hello? hello? hello? Anybody here? ere? ere? ere?

A couple of things have finally been removed from my plate so I have some time to catch up on this here blog. We're going to start where we left off, way back in March, and I'll be interspersing some older video here and there as we go.


On March 17, 2009, Ellie finally got to take her first airplane trip! Being the daughter of a pilot I've always loved to fly, but with the crazy things the airlines have been doing lately I'd kind of been boycotting. But a trip to visit my best friend and her family was way way way overdue. So, I sucked it up and braved the airport with a toddler, and everything went swimmingly. It would have still been worth it even if it hadn't.

From the second we arrived Jo's kids took Ellie under their wings and showed just how much fun being a big kid (and gosh have they gotten big) can be.



They read and read ...



And read and read some more....


We spent a whole lot of time enjoying the outdoors, even though it was a little chilly for us (although Jo claimed it was "warm." Whatever.)






Ellie had a strange obsession with "Mr. Slow," the yellow slow sign they would set in the street when the kids were out. She wanted to ride him around. He isn't really ridable, but you try explaining that to a 15 month old.


{up please}

And on the days when it was either too cold (even for them) or too rainy to go out, we made due with staying inside.






And when we couldn't take being inside any more, we went to this indoor gym where the kids could just run and play and be crazy.





There was a whole lot of screaming and running and wrestling and sharing and stair climbing and bike riding. Best trip ever. It was way too short, and we miss them dearly.