Favorite Granddaughter

My Dad takes no less that about 200 pictures every time he and my Mom visit! They always send me a disc so that I can use them for my blog or to get prints. I thought this was a darling shot of her from their last visit in October. We were in the park (after the Halloween party, hence the plain white shirt and black pants that went under her Pooh costume) and she was just chillin' out. Dad captured this shot and I thought I should share. Also, there have been several people (I won't name any names) who have been giving me a hard time for not posting any new pictures! So, here you go!

Language Explosion!

Eleanor has had a "language explosion" - as Michael put it. Ever since I got back from Florida it's like she can now carry on a conversation. Her 3 to 4 words sentences have totally ramped up and her memory is unreal. She'll come out with these things she remembers from weeks (sometimes months) ago. This morning I was drinking orange juice and she said "Grandma's house...orange juice...didn't like it." She's referring to when she tried OJ at Mari Lee's 2 weeks ago and she didn't like it at all. I mentioned Jordan and Natalie the other day and she said "choo choo train." Yes, we saw and heard a train when we visited them in September. She also said "Mommy shower, Eleanor shower...didn't like." She was referring to when I was trying to save some time and had her come into the shower with me (also at Jordan & Natalie's house) and she had fit about it! Hopefully, I didn't tramatize her. These random memories she comes up with just amaze me. She is now our little chatterbox and we love it!

History in the making

I'm thrilled that I got to see this day...

Florida!

I'm in beautiful, sunny Florida right now! Today was just a travel day and when our flight arrived it was raining, but I'm sure that I'll see some sun at some point! I'm here for work. I'm at a conference for subrogation professionals. Subrogation is the bulk of the work that I do at Mayo - if you don't know what it is, you can Google it! Basically, I'm a Chandler Bing - no one really knows what I do. But, I can guarantee that it's super fun (not really!). I guess I can't complain too much because I'm on an all expense paid trip to Fort Lauderdale. I'm staying at the Westin Diplomat right on the beach. It's probably the most gorgeous place I've ever stayed.

But, despite all this, there is no place like home. I'm going to definitely enjoy getting home to see Eleanor's beautiful face. A special thanks to Mari Lee for coming down to Rochester and helping out Michael while I'm gone! Gotta go subrogate! :)

A beary scary Halloween

It was a very, beary scary Halloween indeed! Actually, it was anything but. It was a gorgeous southern MN evening. Not at all reminiscent of some of my childhood North Dakota Halloweens where sometimes there would even be snow on the ground! I left work a bit early so that I could get home and get her into her Pooh outfit. We then took some pictures while it was still light out. Then for a special treat we took her to McDonald's - in which several kids were in costumes.

Here she is getting ready for trick-or-treating! She's got her little "Frankenstein" bucket that she made at her Halloween party last year. We didn't take her trick-or-treating last year, so it was special to be able to take her this year. We first stopped at a friend's party (Anne & Grant whose son is the star of the Chronicles of Miles blog, which is under my favorites). They live 2 blocks away. We were there for about 1/2 hour and then we let her trick-or-treat in our neighborhood a bit. It was so sweet to see her go from door to door and try and say trick-or-treat (she mostly would turn mute when they opened the door). She then would try and reach for some candy, but it was difficult with her little mittens on!

Pooh bear in her natural habitat!

Theodore and Lucy also stopped by. Theodore was a ladybug and Lucy was so cozy in her little pumpkin outfit. Kids in costumes is just too cute!

Trick-or-Treating for the first time!

Twilight

As you all know, I went through major HSM3 withdrawal this weekend knowing that I couldn't see the movie again until the DVD comes out (or, unless I go to the theater again!). Well, the other major withdrawal this weekend for me was finishing this amazing book. I seriously couldn't put the last 150 pages down! Yes, it's a series of books that are meant for 15-year-old girls, but it's so intriguing! The movie is coming out next month and I'm going to start the second book soon (thanks, Laura!).

I promise, you will not regret reading this book.

Movie Review - 5 stars!

OK, so I know that you've all been losing sleep waiting for my movie review of HSM3! Well, here it is. Basically, if I was a junior high girl right now (and not married with 1 1/2 kids) I would be so severly depressed that Troy Bolton (aka Zac Efron) will never be mine. The movie was awesome - much more dancing, even better staging, and Troy danced & sang even more than before! I'm absolutely sick that I can't just watch this over and over again (as I have done in the past when I would just record the HSM movies off the Disney channel). I now have to wait for the DVD. Luckily, I did buy the soundtrack and so I can listen to the songs and imagine Troy singing to me! :) Seriously, I had dreams about Troy last night. Don't worry, nothing a married woman shouldn't be dreaming about...just Troy and I going to Prom, Troy and I going on a date, etc. Just a little movie star crush for a desperate housewife!

I highly recommend this movie - it was so fun!!!

HSM3!

Today is the day!!!

I'm attending the premiere tonight with Bill, Amy, Gloria & Violet. I have a t-shirt to wear and already have my ticket purchased (thanks Nelsons!). Michael is staying home with Eleanor which is a good thing because he's just crabby about the whole thing...something about too much hype and too little talent - what does he know?! :)

Go Wildcats!!

Halloween Party!

Our daycare provider, Diane, has an annual Halloween party for the kids at Quarry Hill Nature Center. It's always a fun time that includes looking at the animals, doing a craft project, treats, & an animal demonstration by one of the Quarry Hill staff members. On the left is Eleanor at last year's party - a ladybug (so appropriate for the Nature Center!).

Daddy helping with her craft project.

Diane's youngest (her oldest sons are in high school!), Will, dressed as a vampire!

Tarantula!

This year's demonstration was with a real snake. Last year it was a owl - which was really cool! Harry Potter fans that we are...

Here's a video of the kids doing "The Snakey Pokey" after their snake lesson.

Apple Orchard

As promised, here are more of the Northwoods apple orchard pictures. It looks like it was a beautiful day, but in actuality it was very cold & windy. We didn't end up staying very long because of that. But, as you can see, it was enough time for us to capture Eleanor again this year in her pumpkin sweater & matching hat that Auntie Janis made. The picture on the left is from last year. It's fun to see the difference a year makes!

Bunnies!

Once again, the picture on the left is from last year (13 months old).

We did walk through the corn maze, but of course the concept of a maze is a little above Eleanor at this point. But, she had fun running through it and finding dried up corn!

We tried to get a nice shot of her by the hay bails & pumpkins, but she wasn't being very cooperative. We also did get a family shot, but it's on my Dad's camera. I can blog that later.

It was a fun afternoon and definitely a fun family tradition!

Jesus Loves Me This I Know

October 22, 2006 - Baptism day
Later today we'll light Eleanor's baptism candle (which her Guardian Angel, Quinn, is holding in the above picture) in honor of her baptism. Eleanor wore her father's baptismal gown made from Mari Lee's wedding dress.

Godparents Jordan & Natalie


Jesus loves me this I know
For the bible tells me so
Little ones to him belong
They are weak, but he is strong

Sneak Peek

I wanted to give all of our faithful blog-watchers a sneak peek at some photos from this past weekend. My parents were in town (yeah!) and we went out to the Northwoods Apple Orchard on Saturday afternoon and then on Sunday Eleanor had her 2nd annual Daycare Halloween party. It was such a fun weekend!

Eleanor was much more cooperative at the apple growth chart this year than she was last year!

Here she is at the Quarry Hill Nature Center for her daycare party. This adorable costume we're borrowing from Eleanor's good friend, Theodore.

I'll be posting more pictures of our weekend either tomorrow or Wednesday. Stay tuned! :)

Saturday in the Park (can you hear the Chicago song?)

It was a gorgeous afternoon on Saturday and we spent some time at two parks that we've never been to before. It was fun to explore and see what these parks have to offer. Eleanor decided now that she likes to wear sunglasses. These are a pair that Grandma Mari Lee got her last spring and of course she didn't keep them on then. But, now, she left them on the whole time we were playing.

After we were done playing we drove around for about an hour to look at houses. We're thinking with the new arrival we'll need something bigger next year. It was fun to get flyers for some homes that were for sale and check out the amenities/price. After all that fun we went to Wendy's for dinner. It was a perfect fall afternoon!

FAQs

Since our exciting announcement, I've gotten so many questions from all of you which apparently my blog entry of yesterday didn't address! So, here it goes:

1) How are you feeling?
I'm feeling pretty good! I was really sick with Eleanor...so sick in fact that one weekend I had to go in for fluids and I missed some of the Oscars (needless to say I was not happy!). But, this time I'm just tired and a little "gaggy." So, that is leading to a lot of speculation that we could be having a boy?!

2) How far along are you?
10 weeks - due April 28th, 2009, but mentally I'm thinking May 1st because it has a nicer ring to it! Also, I went 4 days overdue with Eleanor so it's better to think ahead rather than on time.

3) Will you find out if it's a girl or a boy?
YES! We can't wait! Plus, I'm just not that patient of a person.

So, I hope that answered all of y'all's questions! Thanks for all your support and prayers. I'll keep everyone updated on Eleanor news (of course!) and pregnancy status reports.

Big news for Eleanor...

What? I'm going to be a big sister? Why am I always the last to know?

I don't think I like this idea...

OK, I guess being a big sister will be cool!

But, only if he/she cooperates as well as my baby dolls (i.e. throwing it in shopping carts or on the floor, putting it down for a nap whenever I'm tired of playing, and relying little on food & water).

Here's the proof folks! We don't have a scanner, so I just took a picture of the ultrasound pictures.

That little thing that looks like a bean will be arriving on or around April 28, 2009!

Congratulatory flowers from Michael the day after we found out. The pink rose represents the new Culloton coming soon! :)