August Happenings

                                     Troy and Eliana up above
If you click on the picture, you can see her growing locks in the back.

GramE, Kallie, and Eliana to the left

 August has been a blur of events.  I had a baby shower in the middle of the month.  I didn't bring my camera, but I'll get some pictures of the shower from my sister some time in the future.  If I haven't had the baby by then, I just might put them up on the blog. I'm not promising a whole lot of blogging once our newest wee one comes.  We had a lot of family come up from our hometown.  It was great for Eliana to see them, especially her cousin Kallie who she played very well with.

 Eliana and Kallie

 I found that I took my camera several places in August only to realize that I hadn't charged it.  Here are a few shots from the zoo with GramE and Rachelle.  Eliana loves the tigers and the Dino Dig.

 When Aunt Marcie visited later this month, we went to the zoo again.  We were there for the grand opening of the new sea lion exhibit.  It was AMAZING and so much nicer than the former one.  There is a whole section on the other side of the exhibit where you can see through glass into the underwater world of the sea lions and seals.  I meant to snap a picture of Eliana and Aunt Marcie, but alas I didn't.

 Eliana turned 26 months last week.  My how time flies.  Overall I love having a two year old.  She's been having a hard week with her two year molars coming in.  The top two are in, and the bottom two are partially in.  Eliana loves being outside.  Yesterday while Kyle, Eliana, and I were walking in the "cool" of the evening, Eliana said, "Look, I found it!"  Curious as to what "it" was, I asked and she smiled with glee, pointed, and said, "Clouds!!!!!!!!"  Awe.  I too enjoyed the clouds multiple times on our walk and was glad that Eliana pointed them out.

Eliana's memory is cracking us up.  In July, she saw Thomas.  Thomas showed her a giant stuffed animal tiger which happened to terrify her.  If you mention Thomas, she says, "Thomas. Tiger."  After the baby shower, which was nearly two weeks ago, Taylor was holding Eliana when she had an accident (which hasn't happened to anyone else while they were holding her).  Here and there she brings up, "Pee Pee on Taylor."  She is very sorry that she did so.

Things Eliana reads or is read to are very important to her.  She regularly goes looking for the moon outside since in one of her books a bear and the moon play hide and go seek.  She can tell you just about all of the words for Kitten for a Day as you turn the pages.  Dr. Seuss's ABC An Amazing Alphabet Book cracks her up on the "c" page because the camel is on the ceiling.  "Silly camel" is her response.  Her new favorite series is the Little Bear series.  We picked up another story today at the library.  It amazes me how she can sit and listen for such a long time.  It is such a blessing, because she isn't whining due to her teeth if she is sitting and listening.

We've reached the 35+ week mark in pregnancy!  Eliana often says, "The baby is growing!"  One night a week or so ago she said, "Baby sister.  Baby sister come out and play!"  I told her baby sister needs to keep growing for a few more weeks.  We love at night when after giving me a hug and a kiss, she kisses baby sister by kissing my belly.  We've been getting some of the baby gear out, and she loves playing with it all.  Her dollies have gone in the stroller, the car seat, and had their clothes changed multiple times thanks to Aunt Marcie's handy sewing work.

Visiting Family

When we were down for Mother's Day, Taylor's birthday, and Trisha's birthday, we visited Troy, Aimee, and Kallie.  I love how well Eliana and Kallie play together!  I laughed at the price of gas.  It was $2 something.  Oh how I wish it was $2 something and not around $4.25.

 Kallie and Eliana had a blast playing in Kallie's playhouse.  

Kallie knows how to get around in style!

I love going on walks with family.  I was totally impressed that Troy could get both girls to fit and get the skateboard moving.

If you look to the right, you'll see the boys having as much fun as their daughters.  Eliana has been able to say her version of Kallie for awhile now.  She added Troy and Aimee to her vocabulary for our visit.

Kallie turned 2!!!

 Eliana's cousin Kallie turns two tomorrow, but we were able to celebrate her birthday over the weekend!

Eliana was initally not so sure about this saucer swing, but Kyle and Rachel got her to giggling!

Eliana LOVES slides.  Even though the steps are far apart, she climbed up the steps and was ready to slide.  Before, Kallie always wanted help up.  But she figured if her cousin is a climber, she could try it too!  Hopefully Eliana's lack of fear when it comes to heights won't totally rub off on Kallie. 

 

The paparatzzi, aka Kallie's Grandma Jan and Rachel :)

I'm so glad that Kallie liked her cake this year!  She wasn't too fond of it last year.  The chocolate chips in the cake were very yummy!!!

Kallie has learned to pose and say, "Cheese!"  It was quite cute!

Aimee has such a way with cupcakes!  You can check out her blog here.

 

Kallie has become a pro at opening gifts.  It is amazing how much little ones grow in a year.  Last year she wasn't too excited to open all of her gifts.  This year she did it at lighting speed!  

 It is hard living two hours away from a lot of our family.  Troy and Kyle ran some errands a couple hours after the party.  It was such a treat for me to see Kallie and Aimee and for Kyle to have some brother time.

Kallie is holding a toy dog that Eliana thought was hysterical.  Both girls laughed and laughed as the dog rolled around on the table and fell off the table.  Awe, such sweet memories!

Family Visit

 Troy, Aimee, and Kallie came to visit us!  Rachel and Ruli joined us for a day of fun!  I love Troy's smile in this picture.  It was the second take, so he opted to be goofy.  It makes me chuckle every time.

 Aimee and I went shopping with our girls.  Eliana was pretty funny when we had the shopping carts together.  She kept pulling her cousin's cart closer to her!

 Eliana had just woken up from a nap, so she was serious for the entire photo shoot.  

Our girls can now both stand!!!  Some day soon Eliana will be able to keep up with Kallie's steps.

 

Eliana is holding her walking coach's hand.  Ruli has been working with her for months to scoot, crawl, and now walk!  It is very entertaining to watch.

Thanks for visiting us Troy, Aimee, and Kallie!!!

Eliana and Kallie

Eliana's great great grandma made these dresses for GramE and Aunt Marcie when they were little girls. Kallie and Eliana are just far enough apart to fit the dresses pretty well. They took these pictures back in November, but I didn't post them since I sent a picture out to relatives with these wee ones together. Have you ever tried to get to wee ones to smile at the same time? I can't imagine trying to get twins to smile together regularly. It was a bit of work, but worth it. Kallie's Grandma Jan really helped by singing to them.

Thankful Day 6: Cousins

I am glad that we got to celebrate Kallie's first birthday yesterday! It was great to see family and friends!

Here is Kallie in the special chair that Aunt Marcie, GramE, Grand Apa, Kyle, Eliana, and I got for Kallie!


For now they can both sit in it! Ha! One day I'm sure we'll laugh at how small they used to be.


Kallie was very interested in her cousin's toes!


Kallie and her Grandpa Mark



Kallie's friend Josie


Sadly, Kallie didn't absolutely love her cake! It was WAY cute though!


From left to right: GramE, Grandma Sue, Kallie, Candace, Eliana, Kallie's friend, Joe, and Josie