Easter eggs!

Yesterday we dyed some Easter eggs. This was Eleanor's first experience doing it...and I don't know that she was all that thrilled! We did it after her nap and I think she was still a bit groggy. But, it was still fun. I hadn't done that in a long time!

Here is the finished product. We didn't do anything fancy because I don't know how to do anything creative with eggs!

After dyeing the eggs we went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Michael & Eleanor got their Concordia sweatshirts on!

Today we're going to go to an Easter egg hunt at a church right in our neighborhood. It's free and open to the public. I'll get some pictures and blog those later.

Happy 60th Birthday, Auntie Susie!

Aunt Sue (Michael's aunt) came to Rochester this weekend for a quick visit. We decided to celebrate her 60th birthday - which is officially April 17th. With the baby coming we won't be doing any traveling for her official family birthday dinner coming up this month. Six candles on the cake for her six wonderful decades! :)

Susan definitely has a way with children. Her niece & nephews adore her and now Eleanor is the next generation to receive Susan's unconditional love for her family. Susan was also nice enough to take care of Eleanor for us while we attended a wedding last night.

After church today we made a birthday brunch for Susan of waffles, sausage & fruit. Eleanor always likes to "help."

Thanks again for coming, Sue!

Bittersweet...

As my due date quickly approaches (April 28th to be exact) I'm starting to feel very bittersweet about this new baby. Of course, I'm excited to meet her, to see what she'll look like and to count all those fingers and toes. But, I'm also cherishing every "quiet" moment that I have with Eleanor. Eleanor seems a bit clingy to me lately and I think it's because of the impending birth. Michael's feelings have been hurt a couple of times because she'll ask for me or not want to give him a hug. But, I think in her own little way (as much as a 2 1/2 year old can comprehend) she's grieving for the loss of what has just been Mommy & Eleanor time - or perhaps that's what I'm grieving.


Just to update folks a bit on Eleanor, here are some funny things that she has said lately:


-She now calls my Mom "Karma Karma" - instead of Grandma Karma. It always reminds me of that Boy George song from the 80's.


-I was getting the crib in the nursery ready the other day and she kept climbing on it. After about three times, I had to get a bit more forceful with her to pull her down. She gave me this disgusted look and said "Mom, I am so mad at you."


-She likes to clap for everyone when they go to the bathroom. Since I'm going frequently these days, I've been getting a lot of applause.


-She's been at Mayo's backup daycare this week and when I woke her up this morning to remind her where she was going she said, "they have food there!"


-We were sitting on the couch the other day and she wanted to "see" the baby. Apparently, in order to see the baby she has to pull up my shirt and pull down the maternity pants. She was touching my stomach for a little bit and then starting pulling the maternity panel back up and said "Mom, cover up your baby!"


-Michael and Eleanor came to my OB appointment on Monday. I hadn't remembered that I would have to do the strep test (just a swab, but it requires getting undressed from the waist down). While the doctor was examining me and just about to do the swab, Eleanor flew off the little couch and got right by the doctor. Michael tried to pull her away quickly and she shouted "I want to see Mommy's butt!"


Well, that is about it. She says cute things all the time, but if I don't write it down I don't always remember. As of Tuesday I was exactly 36 weeks preggers...so, it's just a waiting game now! I'm praying for a short and relatively easy delivery as I had with Eleanor. Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers as we get ready for little sister!

Taking Lulu for a walk...

Spring has finally sprung in Minnesota! We had a lovely day on Saturday and Eleanor has been enjoying taking Lulu for a walk in the darling stroller that she got for Christmas (from Uncle Jordan & Auntie Natalie). She also loves to wear her sunglasses now. All we need now is some green grass!!!

Our Little Lady...

I loved this picture so much that Natalie took, that I decided to do a little bit of editing on http://www.picnik.com/. Try it, it's free!

Girls Weekend!

I know that many of you saw Natalie's blog about our girls weekend, but I wanted to put these pictures on my blog too (especially since this is basically my equivelant to scrapbooking!). Natalie, Eleanor and I had a wonderful weekend (March 6 - 8) while Michael was in Oklahoma City for a choral (very nerdy!) convention. It was nice to have company while he was gone. Being a single mom can get draining. So, we really appreciated Natalie's visit. In these pictures Eleanor is opening a present from Natalie - a new set of Playdoh. Eight new colors - including black & brown!!

We did take Eleanor to a puppet master/magician at the public library, but she was totally not interested. So, we walked over to the free family day at the Rochester Arts Center. Modern art isn't exactly my taste, however, I always appreciate seeing other people's creativity. Eleanor enjoyed walking around...

I have no clue what this is...but, we found out later that we weren't suppose to be taking pictures! Oops...

Natalie enjoyed seeing Eleanor play with her baby, Lulu. Here she is putting her baby down for a nap.

Shhh...baby is sleeping. Hopefully, this behavior will transfer over when we have the new baby!

I wish that we would have gotten a picture of the 3 of us. But, Natalie got this mother/daugther shot of us.

As Natalie mentioned on her blog, I had told Eleanor that she could have a "special treat" which was getting to watch her new Arthur DVD from the library while in the van. We don't normally watch TV while running around town - only on long car trips. So, I thought this would be considered a special treat. Well, apparently, a special treat is a cookie or something to eat. She kept hounding me like crazy...

As you can see, she finally begged enough.

This is my new favorite picture of Eleanor! Thanks again Natalie for coming down to Rochester! We hope to see you again very soon.

Potty training update: We are considering Eleanor fully potty trained at this point (except during nap & at night). She's been wearing big girl underwear since last week and has had no accidents since last week Wednesday - including at daycare & in public places!

Potty Training!

Eleanor just decided this week that she wanted to be a big girl and go potty in the toilet! Yipee! The only drawback (as you mothers well know) is that she's going potty 2 or 3 times an hour. Oh well...I'd rather that she get the hang of it now rather than when I have a newborn. We're fully aware that there may be some regression (when the baby comes), but I think a lightbulb went off for her and she just decided that is what she wanted to do. I also have been using the sticker reward system. I'm quickly running out of stickers! :)

She was doing great at home for me but I was worried about daycare. I took her yesterday and she only had one accident. She also went to church with us last night in her big girl underwear and went potty in the church nursery (3 times!). She likes the potties at church because they are small - so are the sinks. Pretty cool!

One more thing: Auntie Natalie updated her blog with our Girls Weekend (March 6 - 8), so please go to her blog if you'd like to see those pictures. She did such a cute job!

A snowy afternoon in the park...

Eleanor and I just had to get out of the house yesterday as we were both experiencing cabin fever! We had some freezing rain/really heavy wet snow late morning and early afternoon yesterday - but, after her nap things had stopped and the temp was really very nice. So, we decided to go for a walk. She wanted to go to the park, so I thought "what the heck, she's all bundled up with snow pants, etc. - let's see what happens."

As you can see, we ended up having such a nice time. Because the temperature was so nice the only hinderance was the sticky, wet snow - but she didn't seem to mind!

Weeeeeee!

Hopefully, we can get outside again today!

On a side note: We had a wonderful "girls weekend" with Auntie Natalie. I'll post some pictures soon - once Natalie emails me some! :) I have a few of my own...but, with her nice camera I end up getting lazy and let her take all the pictures! The only thing I regret is not getting a shot of the three of us together. As usual, it was "all Eleanor, all the time!"

Bragging Rights!

I'm going to take some time to brag about my husband for a minute. Michael's first published arrangement, Joy to the World, was recently reviewed in the ACDA Choral Journal (a national publication of the American Choral Directors Association, which has a membership of 30,000 conductors). Michael did not know that his piece would be reviewed and was shocked to find it in the journal this month! Here are some snippets from what the reviewer had to say:

"Michael Culloton has arranged a fresh and modern version of the perennial favorite Joy to the World. The composer's primary innovation is the use of mixed meters which gives the traditional melody a festive lilt."

"Aside from the divisi requirements, this piece is very accessible for a host of ensemble types. High school, church, college, and community choirs should be able to perform this delightful version with ease if they have the forces needed and can correctly perform the changing meters."

"Culloton has demonstrated that new arrangements of old favorites can be inventive and modern, yet preserve the original intent of the source material. Those who choose to add this joyful arrangement into their holiday repertoire will find that they will be caroling in style."

Reviewed by Jamey Kelley, Nashville Tennessee

I'm going to hope that this leads to more arrangements/compositions in the future. Michael definitely has a talent that he just needs to take the time to tap in to. Also, this was great publicity for the Matthew & Michael Culloton Choral Series through Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Inc. Hopefully, more copies of this piece will be sold very soon! :)

Sibling Class

Yesterday afternoon Michael and I took Eleanor to the Sibling Class here at Mayo. It was for 2 to 3 year olds and so it was geared for that age group. I would highly recommend this class! The instructor was so great with the kids. She first read a book to the kids with pictures of what the baby looks like inside Mommy's tummy. We then all took a tour of the Labor & Delivery area - including the nursery. There were two babies in the nursery and one of the nurses brought out one of them and unwrapped him for the kids to see. Eleanor was just enthralled! We then saw where Mommy will be in her hospital room. It was a great reminder for Michael and I too (on some of those hospital policies!).

Of course, playing with the babies was the best part! Eleanor learned to hold the baby gently...

wrap it in a blanket & change its diaper.

She was such a proud looking little girl in the class! We then took her to McDonald's for dinner as a special treat. Admittedly, it's our favorite time of year at McDonald's due to the infamous Shamrock Shake!! :) So, needless to say, it was a treat for us too!

Fieldtrip!

Before I get to our fieldtrip pictures, we had to take a couple of pictures of Eleanor's new haircut. I took her in yesterday for her first "bob." Her hair was just getting too snarly and hard-to-manage. At Cost Cutters she had to stay so still in the chair so that they could get it even and she did a great job! They took off about an inch and a half off. I couldn't believe it had gotten that long!

Here is the back.

OK, now for our fieldtrip. We've done this a couple of times, but I've never brought my camera. We take the city bus downtown and visit the library. We live right on a bus route and I take the bus when I go to work and she always comments about the busses that go by. This wasn't her first time riding, but it was still exciting! Here she is waiting for the bus to come (on a corner right across the street from our house).

Riding the bus is so exciting!

Here she is at the library looking at the fishtank - one of our favorite things about going to the library!

Another favorite thing is looking at this huge homemade dollhouse on display. As you can see, it has real working lights! The details are amazing - tiny little toys, people, & furniture. It's so fun to look in all the rooms. The front of the house is also fully finished and decorated - complete with a huge cherry tree in the front yard!

We always have such a nice time going to the library. We got 5 new books and a DVD.

On a side note: We missed our departure bus from downtown today and I was so frustrated! I was so sure that it left at 11:55 and instead it left at 11:42. We literally saw it leave while we were waiting to cross the street. At that time of day the busses only leave every hour. So, here I am stuck downtown with a hungry toddler and I'm carrying a purse, packback, and our new library treasures! Luckily, I thought to just head to my work building and there were several of my co-workers eating lunch. They offered her some of their extra food to satisfy her until we could get home! Thanks co-workers - you know who you are!

On a second side note: All of these pictures were taken with our brand new camera! I've been so disappointed with our other digital camera (which many of you may know!). My aunt & uncle, Janis & Jim, kept their eye out for me and they ended up purchasing this great camera (with some extra coupons) from Cost Co for us. So far, I'm so happy with it! Thanks J & J!

Highlights

I wanted to share with everyone (especially all you young mothers) the best Christmas gift that we gave Eleanor this year - it's the gift that keeps on giving, or so they say! Highlights Magazine (remember those in your dentists office waiting room when you were a kid?!) came out with a junior edition. It's called High Five and it's geared for 2 - 6 year olds. Eleanor has gotten three months worth now and just loves them. First of all, she loves to get mail so that is always fun. But, she loves reading the poems & stories in the magazine. She has fun doing the hidden picture find (and is quite good at it, I must say!). We have read them over and over again. There is even one poem that she has completely memorized.

I would highly recommend these magazines for the little ones in your life - makes a great gift too! Here is the website for those who want more info: http://www.highlights.com/

Big Girl Room!

As promised, I'm finally posting some pictures of Eleanor's big girl room! Doesn't she look so proud?! She has transitioned amazingly well. She loves her new room and often plays in there reading her books and listening to her CDs. We may eventually move her Rose Petal Cottage in the corner and free up some space in the basement play room.

This bed was Michael's Grandparents' and after Grandpa Mohs died we took the bed & matching dresser from his home. It was a 70's looking wooden bed with a shiny stain on it. I sanded it down (this was years ago before kids!) and white-washed/distressed both pieces. I was really happy with the way they turned out. This was our guest room/office before it became Eleanor's room.

A cozy reading corner.

On the left is her bookshelf (which we are residing ourselves to the fact that it will never stay clean because she's constantly taking books down) and toiletry area. With her still being in diapers, I still needed a place for all her diapers, lotions, hairbrushes, etc. On the right is the matching dresser to the bed.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!