Making Cookies for Daddy

Elyse and Mommy are making cookies so that Daddy can take them in to work.

Disney the Magic Kingdom!!

Our day at the Magical Kingdom was MAGICAL!! It was a tough day for Ellie though. She had not slept well the night before. Her allergies were crazy too. She was a trooper though.

The day started with a nice bus ride to the park. Ellie and daddy had fun on the bus!


Here we all are in front of Cinderella's castle! We had just finished watching a show with all the princesses and her favorite character of the day Donald Duck!



Here we are posing for a picture on Dumbo. The line was way to long to go on the ride. It was at least 30 minutes. SO we passes and posed on the stationary Dumbo.


The line for the Carousel was nice and short. So we enjoyed a nice ride. The only other ride we made it on was the Tea Cups!! Ellie really enjoyed the ride. We took video instead. Sorry.


Ellie got to enjoy a refreshing treat before we left the park. One of Ellie's favorites, a popsicle!

We got to enjoy lunch with friends from St. Louis. Funny to go all the way to Disney to have lunch with friends from STL. Overall we had a great, but short, day at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney World Animal Kingdom!!!

Well, I have not been looking forward to doing this post. We went to Disney World in May! There are so many great pictures that we have it is hard to choose which to post. I was a bit worried about going with Ellie being so young. She ended up having a total BLAST!! We stayed at two resorts because Nate had a conference at one and we wanted to check out another.

First we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. WOW was it nice. We had a safari view room so the animals were right outside our balcony.



Elyse wanted to spend every waking moment out on the balcony yelling at the animals! We had breakfast and snacks out there every day!



The resort itself was pretty nice. There was lots to look at and do.

The lobby was pretty as well!

The Animal Kingdom Park was nice as well! It made us realize how nice our zoo in St. Louis is...and it is free. I only wish we would have went to the Asia area so we could have sen a panda. We ended up going to the Africa area to take the safari ride. We did enjoy the ride so it was well worth it!! Here is the family in front of the tree of life at the Animal Kingdom.

Ellie had her first encounter with the Disney Characters at the Animal Kingdom. She wasn't to sure at first but ended up liking them quite a bit. Chip and Dale were two of her favorites of the day. But it was Mickey Mouse who got the KISS!!

Mother's Day

We had a wonderfully relaxing mother's day this year! Our morning was spent at the botanical gardens. Our evening was spent grilling out with friends! 

The botanical gardens has to be one of my favorite place in St. Louis! We had been already this year but not much was in bloom. This time it was just beautiful! The roses and iris were blooming! There were many other plants in bloom but I really don't know what they are! They were pretty though! 

The first thing Ellie did when we got there was make a friend! This is Parker and Ellie talking on the bench. These two really took to one another.  They chatted and pointed and followed each other for a while. All while keeping the adults very amused!

After parting ways with our new friend we stopped to smell the roses!

Finally I got some mommy time!

Daddy even got some Daddy time!

Before we left Ellie made another friend and played with the cement sheep! 

I don't know who had more fun! 

Coloring Easter Eggs

We went back to Cleveland for Easter this year. It was wonderful visiting with family!!

Saturday before Easter we decorated eggs at Dawn's house. Last year we did not do eggs, Ellie was only 8 months old. This year she had a blast especially with her cousins around!!

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

I celebrated my Birthday on April 1st. It was a lot of fun especially with Elyse blowing out the candles. She is really getting into it. Her birthday should be fun this year.

Building the Arch

My mom and nieces, McKenna & Taylor, came to visit us over their spring break. We had a great time during their visit! We made it to the science center where grandma, McKenna, Taylor and Elyse built the Arch. THey have this neat exhibit with foam blocks you piece together to make the arch. It was fun watching Elyse try and help!

First Hair Cut!!

Elyse got her first hair cut!! Finally at 19 months. 

We felt there was enough hair on her head to get some snipped off. She did pretty well. She cried off and on. But she sat VERY still!

I finished!!!

On Saturday I did the 5 mile St. Patrick's Day Run!! I am excited since it is my first race ever. I don't think I have really run since 'they' made me do it in high school!! With the support of my great girlfriends I DID IT!!!! I don't know my exact time since I didn't get to the start line until 5- 10 minutes into the race... there were so many people!!!!! It was great.

Here we all are before the race....

And here were are after!! And after a beer. 

Who knew it would taste so good at 10:30 am?

Then of course we had to get all the kids in!

Me and Ellie at the end!

No no mommy...

I couldn't believe it when I saw this picture!! She looks quite serious doesn't she?  I think she may have been trying to poke (point at) my eye. 

I am not sure which is worse...poking me in the eye or telling me no?! 

New Dress!

I made this great dress for Ellie out of one of Nate's old dress shirts. It turned out really nice. I especially like the colors!! I feel spring coming in this dress!!

Here is a front view. This is actually the back of the shirt.

Some nice side views.

Here is the back view of the dress. It is the front of the shirt. So the buttons are already in place to get her in and out easily.

Oh, the pants are the sleeves of the shirt (it was a long sleeve shirt). The next one will be easier to make since I now know what I am doing. If you are at all interested here is the link I got the idea from.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f4a0509f7395fa98f1eaab5f44f0dd7&topic=170402.msg1742893#msg1742893

Our new home!!!

Okay, so it is not really new!! We did get a tree removed from the front yard!! You know life has changed when events like this really excite you. The tree covered a good 1/3 of the house. Now it is GONE!!!!! Now all we need to do is get our neighbor to do the same with his....

Mardi Gras Pet Parade!

My parents and nephew came to visit the weekend of Presidents Day. This also happened to coincide with Valentines Day and the Mardi Gras Pet Parade. We had a fun busy weekend.

Saturday, Valentines Day, we went to the Gateway Arch in the morning. My nephew brought a friend with him as well. So we did the tourist thing. After the second or third time going up to the top Nate and I have refused to go. It is neat to see but not much changes and it is tight quarters. The boys, and my poor Dad, loved it though. Unfortunalely we forgot the camera. Elyse really enjoyed the museum they have down under the arch. She liked the stuffed beavers the best. I practically had to wrestle her down to keep her from going over the rope after them! Saturday night Nate and I took advantage of the free babysitting for a nice dinner (yeah us!!)

Sunday we went down to Soulard for the pet parade!! I was not sure if we would all make it. It started at 1pm, which is Ellie's nap time :0 She actually did really well, with help from a small nap in the car beforehand. We did not forget the camera this time!!

Here are Ellie and Papa at the parade.

This is not my mom, but I swear she will do this one day!!!
What a crazy lady!!

Here are some of the dogs that were around and in the parade.
People really get into it dressing up their dogs, getting them to do tricks.
It is wild to watch...

Is it a bee or a dog??

Westward Ho!!

New breed of Cow Dog...
Lizzard dog...

Elyse, my parents, my nephew and his friend all had a grand time. Nathan and I did as well, but we had been before. Elyse was thirlled with all the dogs and the fun of the parade. She is also really into the beads!! She is still wearing them at home.