All about Eleanor...

I know that I've been blogging a lot about Miriam and so, of course, I don't want to forget about Eleanor! As Miriam's first birthday is approaching I'm reminded of how quickly this year also flew by for Eleanor. She has been such a great big sister and we've had very little problems with bringing a new sibling into the house. She often tells Miriam that she loves her and it's so cute to watch the girls together.

This week we got Eleanor officially signed up for preschool in the fall. WOW! It's called Rainbow School and it's at our church (although it's not directly affiliated with Zumbro Lutheran). Here she is wearing her new Rainbow School t-shirt - she's so proud! She got to visit last Thursday and spend some time with the kids and see what activities she'll be doing. The teachers seem great and we're so excited for Eleanor to start in the fall. They even have some summer sessions that we may send her to.

Eleanor loves to go to the "beauty salon" (as she calls it!). We've been taking her to Little Dudes 'N Divas here in town. I'm not thrilled with the name of the place (I hate using the word diva for small children!) but it's a local business and I do like to support local businesses. Obviously, they specialize in haircuts for kids and it's super cute. They have a DVD player at each station and a waiting room full of toys. When we took Miriam in for her first haircut, we got Eleanor a bang trim. She loves getting dolled up!

Sisters...

now & forever.

First Haircut (April 17th)

It was time - we just couldn't wait any longer to get Miriam her first haircut! She wouldn't keep barretts in anymore and she also liked to take out her ponytails. So, the last resort is the scissors! I'm a big believer in not cutting my child's hair - it never looks good. Plus, the first haircut is baby book material! :)

The first comb throughs - she was looking a little apprehensive (and like she was about to swat that comb away!).

To keep her still, I grabbed a sucker. Her first haircut and her first sucker!

Before and after!

All done!

She did great and looks so cute. I remember feeling a little weird after Eleanor got her first haircut. It really changes their look. But, after a couple of days it doesn't look like a fresh haircut anymore and it just becomes them. Of course, either way, she's a sweetie!

Proud Mama with her chicks...

As I mentioned in the previous post, my friend Shawna took these pictures on April 1st at a nearby park. It seems like as parents (particularly mothers) we don't often get in the picture with our kids because we're too busy actually taking the pictures! So, I'm grateful to Shawna for having her camera there and then giving me a disc of these great shots. :)

11 months!

I thought I better get this post out soon since we are quickly approaching Miriam's first birthday!! I can't believe it. I know this sounds so cliche, but this year has flown by. I'll get more sentimental with her first birthday post, but Miriam has added so much to our little family. We love her so!

This was her first time on a swing. The girls and I had an impromtu playdate at a nearby park one night and my friend Shawna was there with her camera. She took several pictures of us which I'll share in another post. I'm glad she was there to capture Miriam's first swing ride!

I just took these pictures at home that same day (it was actually April 1st). I wanted to be sure that I got some 11 month pictures of her before I take her to get her 1 year pictures taken. What has Miriam been up to lately? Well, she is now crawling, although it's not a traditional "on her hands & knees" crawling. She sticks her right leg out and then kind of drags the left leg over. But, it gets her to wherever she needs to go! We're going to have to get the gates up soon, I'm afraid. She also has been trying to pull herself up on things. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she'll do that too. She loves taking a bath with her big sister and splashes & giggles like crazy. She doesn't like grass. I've put her down in the yard a couple of times and she just sits there with her little hands up like she doesn't want to touch the grass. What a little diva!

As you can see, she's got quite a bit of hair. We're going to take her in this weekend to get a haircut. I took Eleanor in right before her 1st birthday, so it's about the same timing. Miriam just has so much hair on top and it looks like a really bad comb-over. :) I also wanted to mention that Eleanor has become quite the watch-dog for Miriam. She'll call out at me, "Mom, Miriam is getting close to the TV" or "Mom, Miriam is getting too close to my Barbies." Eleanor will definitely have to take some lessons soon in sharing! :)

I've got some other posts I'm working on, so stay tuned!

The "Little" Dress

Do you recognize this dress?

Here is Eleanor at 7 months old in this dress for her first Easter. My aunt Janis knit and/or crocheted it. She looked adorable as you can see! I was hoping that Miriam would be able to wear it too, but it was just too short on her. While I was trying it on Miriam, Eleanor took it and tried it on. It looked adorable as a shirt! We then grabbed the matching hat for pictures.

Another shot of Eleanor at 7 months.

Easter baskets & Easter egg hunts!

This is the last Easter post - I promise! Here is Eleanor with her Easter basket. We told her that the Easter bunny comes through the neighborhoods while all the little kids are at church. But, you don't get an Easter basket unless you are a good boy or girl in church. That made total sense to a 3-year-old! She was a very good girl in church and got her basket. She got a new Belle Disney barbie and The Princess & the Frog DVD. Plus, some candy and other little things.

Of course, Miriam got a little basket too! She was also a very good girl in church. She got a board book about Easter and a Thumbelina DVD (I found it for $5 at Walmart!). Eleanor quickly claimed the DVD for herself...shocker.

Right when we got home, and while she was distracted with her basket, Michael ran out and hid some eggs in the yard. We then said that the Easter bunny must have "dropped some eggs while he came to deliver your basket." Once again, she believe it wholeheartedly! :) This kid thing is fun...

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt at our church. That was great because they did a little devotion and activity at the beginning. This gave the parents time to hide all the eggs outside. We were all supposed to bring 12 eggs with candy inside. All the kids then could find 12 eggs, plus 1 egg with their name on it. That was perfect because then we didn't have to race to make sure she got some eggs (and fight through bigger kids to get the eggs). Plus, then the kids don't get so much candy.

That's all for Easter 2010!

Miriam's First Easter!

Baby's First Easter!

It's hard to believe that I was near the end of my pregnancy with Miriam last Easter. And now here she is almost a year old! She looked so sweet in her little dress - with ruffle butt tights (which Daddy at first put on backward, "honey, do the ruffles go in front?").

I put her hair up in a little ponytail on top of her head and then curled it just a bit. I can't really do much else with it right now because she now won't leave barretts in anymore.

All that Easter stuff is exhausting!

Hallelujah! He has Risen!

Easter 2010!

Eleanor looking beautiful in her pale yellow dress. It matched her hair perfectly!

Standing at the foot of the cross.

Our girls! Miriam wore a pale sage dress with white on top and little rosebuds. It was sleeveless, but our church is so hot that she was fine.

We hope you all had a blessed Easter. We spent ours just the four of us at home. We love our service at Zumbro and at the end they had a "community sing" of Handel's Hallelujah chorus!

More Easter pictures to come....stay tuned.