The stool

While we were in Cleveland Ellie spent a lot of time at my parents house playing on this stool. She was so excited she could get on and off and sit on her own!

Birthday Party...take two!!

Ellie was officially one at her second 1st birthday party! She enjoyed us singing Happy Birthday to her and did a lot better with her cake! Thankfully none got in her hair. It is also a good thing that she will not remember this first hand! I am not planning on giving her two parties every year!






Oh, my mom's dog Max enjoyed Ellie's cupcake too!!

We had a great time visiting with family at her party. It had been a while since we had seen some of them. We even got to see my cousin's new baby girl, only 3 weeks old. As always she enjoyed Grammy. And Of course she loved her cousins Kelly and Morgan, who kindly watched over her for most of the party!

It was nice to visit Cleveland for her birthday. The drive on the other hand is becoming a little too much! I think from now on we will be flying.

Lorain Fair

We made it back to Cleveland in the summer this year. Nate and I were discussing how long it had been since we had actually been back in the summer. We couldn't remember for sure, that should tell you something!
We spent the first weekend with Nate's family. They have a concession at the Lorain County fair. We were able to see Nate's brother Scott his wife Brooke and their two kids Kelley and Ryan. She really enjoyed spending time with Aunt Brooke at the fair...she wanted Aunt Brooke to carry her! We also got to spend time with Nate's sister Stephanie, her husband Chris and their two kids Ava and Samantha. Samantha is one month older than Ellie, so we had a little party for the two of them on Saturday night at the fair. And of course we spent some time with Nate's parents too!
I was excited to take Ellie to the fair to see the animals. I think she had a good time.

She saw turkeys and sheep.

And a pig getting a drink of water!

She and Aunt Brooke checked out the horses as well!

It was a nice to hang out with Nate's family and enjoy the fair. Next weekend is her birthday party here. So I have a bit of shopping and preparation to do!

Almost one party!!!

We had a party for Elyse here in St. Louis, the week before her actual b-day. The party was great, lots of good friends and crazy kids having a good time. Luckily the weather here has not been your typical St. Louis weather! The day was warm and not very humid, where it is usually hot and humid.
Planning the first year party was kind of difficult. For one Elyse is not really into any characters or TV shows and she cannot really run around and play. So, I did a jungle theme and Ellie crawled around. Unfortunately she is not walking yet so she was a bit dirty at the end of the day. She seemed to have a great time!

I made the cupcakes! I saw them online and got really excited. I think they actually turned out well! There were elephants, monkeys, giraffes, zebras and lions!

Ellie did well with her cupcake. She enjoyed us singing to her...


I am not sure she knew what to do.
First she poked at it...

Then I had her taste it...

Then she got it!!

The second cupcake made it into her hair...
... after encouragement from Dustin!

Tigers at the zoo

The tiger at our zoo has FIVE cubs. We were lucky enough to see them out playing it was great!

Crazy hair day...............

Fairy Princess

I had to get this tutu even though it was too big! She will grow into it!