Family Photos

I thought it would be fun to show the past 3 years Memorial Day weekend family photos.

This is from the first year 2008

2009 (notice the new family member??)

2010 - the latest installment

I treasure these memories & these photos.

Recipe

Laura & I concocted the recipe for a great weekend this past Memorial Day. Here it is:

1 honey smoked ham
6 dozen eggs
5 cans of biscuits
$90 worth of salmon halibut & prawns
1 lb of Starbucks coffee
1 key lime pie
3 boxes of girl scout cookies
1 box of ginger cookies
3 bags of chips

1 bottle of whiskey
2 bottles of wine
2 containers of oil
3 batches of hush puppies
19 hamburgers
$12 of fire wood

Mix together until combined with:
1 Nana from SC, 2 Grandparents from ID, 2 daughters with husbands & kids from OR & WA, & 1 bat in the garage...
Well, actually, I could have done without the bat.

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

Better late than never, right? Right. Here are some photos from our get-away to the beach this past Memorial Day weekend. My family has started a tradition (3 years going strong) that we rent a beach house for the weekend & Nana comes out to visit. I love this weekend. I look forward to it all year, it means just the family, just playing together, eating great food, & relaxing. This weekend was my favorite one so far. Here are some pics:

Auntie Laura & Nana spoiling Eloise with some pie:

Group shot (usually we do this outside, but this year it was raining - boo!):

Nana & Laura hugging goodbye.

Eloise licking Nana one last time...

Eloise this week...

Here are a few random photos from our past week. Once the rest of the pics are uploaded, I will do a recap on our Memorial Day weekend trip to the beach....but until then, here are some other photos for your viewing enjoyment.

My two loves at the beach last weekend. Look at Ella-Roo's curls! It was misting out & that's all of the encouragement that they needed - I hope the curls stay...

Enjoying sticking her tongue out at her Mama (this is allowed....for now).

This is Eloise yesterday - she received rave reviews on her dress & rad boots at church.

And this is my little pumpkin today. Look! I got a sprout in her hair!! Shhhh - don't tell her it's in there. As we speak, it's still intact!

Uh oh!

P1040557, originally uploaded by dickieadams.

Look what Eloise learned how to do today...

Pictures, Pictures & an Update

Here are some pictures from last week - enjoy!

Eloise & Mama on Mother's Day:

This week Eloise discovered a new love for olives. She also discovered that olives have holes in them just the right size for small baby fingers. We didn't even show her this trick...she came up with it all on her own. Smart little cookie this one...

Look of fulfillment? Angst? Not sure...

Elosie Right now:

Things that Eloise is doing right now - (mostly a list for this mom so she doesn't forget):

Says: Dadda (all of the time), Mama (sometimes), nana (banana), dis (this), yes, NAHH (NO!!), Dack-ker (cracker)

Says 'doggie' & 'wuffs' at the dog. Points to the neighbors houses that have dogs & wuffs at them as we walk by - SO CUTE!!

Says 'me-aw' for kitty & still the tongue trill for kitty
Other animal sounds: elephant, lion, ... but mostly everything is a doggie
Signs: Please, Thank you, More, All Done - working on Eat, Drink, Daddy, Mommy
Gives kisses & says 'Muah' while doing it. Open mouth with tongue kisses only. :)
Waves & says Hi, Bye-bye & once in a while says 'Night-night'

Pulls up on everything! Reaches almost everything. Cruising along the furniture. Crawls like a mad woman...she can get places very quickly now.

Stops & sits when I call her name to come back from going somewhere she shouldn't. Most of the time she even comes back! :D She points to things & signs please. She seems to think that anything she points to - you will give her. I have NO IDEA where she's learning this from...

Eats a banana (nana) every morning. In fact, as I get her up, the first thing she says after me-awing at me, is nana. She also has cereal or graham crackers with her nana. She's drinking milk now, willingly! Hooray!!

She loves reading the pop-up books my mom gave her. She's memorized where the flaps are to look under & also where the textured parts are on each page.

I absolutely love this age she's at right now - she's so much fun & learning SO much every day. Absolutely amazing.

Shimmerz Pearlz Release Today!!

Shimmerz is releasing a new line of Pearlz today! Woo-hoo! These colors are so vibrant & beautiful. I've been playing with them and I love how they sparkle & shine. If I were to pick two favorites...I'd have to say go with 'Carrot Top' & 'Blue Into Town'. SOOOO fun.

Tulip Fields

A few weeks ago, we went to the tulip fields with Miss Amanda, Miss Sophia, & Miss Erin. It was so much fun with Ella Roo. We took pictures for about 1 1/2 hours, then had lunch. Perfect afternoon for a tip-toe through the tulips.

Eloise in a wooden shoe:

You're not suppose to pick the tulips - but Eloise can't read, so she didn't know that. Please don't tell on her...

Dear My Blog

Dear My Poor Neglected Blog,

I promise that one day very soon, I will return to you & update you in a proper way with lots of useless information & adorable pictures of a certain sweet-pea. Until then, enjoy one less blog update popping up in your google reader.

Sincerely,

*Un-bloggy lately* Jessie

Bucky

When I was one, my parents got me a horse named Bucky. All was well with Bucky, until one fateful day when I rode Bucky into the sunset (so to speak). Or...if you're one, I was riding him through the kitchen, out the door, and down the step into the garage. Apparently I was not prepared for such a grand ride and was thrown off of Bucky upon entrance into said garage. This angered my father and poor Bucky was cast into the street at a high rate of speed for hurting his little girl. :) Thankfully Mom rescued Bucky from the street after tending to me. I rode Bucky around for years after, scratches on him and all. :) Fast forward thirty-one years and now Eloise has her own Bucky, courtesy of my parents. She will not be allowed to ride Bucky in any areas where stairs could become involved...

Her Bucky is new and improved and plays music when you press his cheek. And he's pink, comes with his own basket for carrying dolls and books, and has a fleece main and tail. How great is that?

Eloise loves her Bucky. Thanks mom & dad!

An Eloise and her Elephant

An Eloise and her Elephant

One year of photos:

12 Months!!

Here it is...the last installment of elephant pictures! I have loved this monthly routine of ours, getting out the elephant to see how much he had shrunk since his last venture out of the closet. I think I'll take another one with them together at 18 months and then again at two.

Eloise & her pal Elephant:

Ooohh, shoes! Love to pull off those shoes...

Pretending to be nice to Elephant - I think she's hoping to lure him in a little closer

So that she can do this to him! Poor Elephant. Attacked in the bedroom by Eloise with the shoe.

At 12 months my little one is:

Cruising furniture
Crawling like a 'real girl'!
Pulling up on anything and everything -including the cat (or so she tried)
Eating 'real' people food - good bye baby food!
Says 'Na-na' for banana
Signs 'More' & 'Please' - SO proud of her for this!!
Tries to moo like a cow. :)
Has a sound she makes for the cats - it's a tongue trill starting high & descending to a lower pitch. She makes the same sound every time a cat comes into a room. Or a dog too for that matter...
Goes to bed between 6:30 & 7:00 and sleeps until 8:00 am or 9. :)
Loves to play with shoe laces
LOVES to read books - we do this most of the time. Chooses reading over playing a lot of the time.
LOVED swimming in the pool at Nellie's birthday party this past weekend - she was kicking & splashing...so much fun!

A whole year of my Ella Roo. What a blessed Mama I am.

Sneak Peek

If you want to see the rest of this project (& I think you do!) go here!!

This is only a sneak...

So happy that spring has finally sprung!!

Meeting Wyatt

Here are some photos from yesterday & our date to meet Wyatt.

Eloise wasn't too sure what she thought about mama holding someone else...

Wyatt & his mama Kari - love this picture

Hee, hee

Congratulations Brett & Kari. And thank you again for letting us meet your precious boy!!

My Friday Four

Here's a little list of things that made me happy today (which is Thursday, but it's so late, no one will read this until Friday, hence the title). Are you still with me??

1. My little sweet pea signed 'please' for the first time today. She's really good at signing 'more' but up until today, hadn't officially signed please or thank you. We're on the road to good manners now!

2. I have an announcement: (& I'm SUPER excited about it) I've been invited to be an official member of the Shimmerz Design Team!!! WOO-HOO!!! In fact, I created a super fun project tonight that I will put on this blog & on this blog in the next day or two.

3. One of my former students is a rock star. Seriously. He's signed with a band called Sixteen Cities as their drummer. I'm a very proud former music teacher right now. Grant it, I only had him for one year, but I'm still claiming him as MY former student...

4. I got to hold this little bundle today!! Thank you Kari for sharing your precious boy with us - we were so happy to meet him!

That's all I have for now. I promise that will post pictures in my next post. Promise. Promise.

Eloise Easter Bunny

Yes, I know these are almost a week late...but better late than never, right?

Here are some sweet pics of my favorite Easter bunny from last Saturday.

And...I have a confession...I don't have any pictures of her in her Easter dress! *GASP!* I'm hoping they are on Tim's camera...
End of confession.