New Bed and Riding

Elsie was able to ride her little car today, first forward and backward. She was pretty proud of herself :)

Mike went way up north to pick up the new bed I bought Elsie, it is handmade by the person we bought it from. Very pretty and I can't wait to take a picture of it so everyone can see. Simple but pretty. Excited to set up Elsie's new room.

Ruby was super helpful today, she swept the floor, put dishes away, helped Dad with the garbage. A nice day for her. We also went to Costco which is a favorite, so she was loving that too. While Elsie napped, I was able to do a puzzle with her and play Candyland. She won and did great at it, I think she has finally hit the age where it will be enjoyable to play it with her.

Elsie's other tooth on the right side is coming in now too, Mike noticed at dinner today. It still has to push through, but you can definitely see it.

Elsie is so funny...when she doesn't like or want something she will just throw it down to the ground. She's been doing this for sometime now. She even does this with food. She will put it in her mouth, move it around a bit and then spit it back out. Eventually she will then throw it to the ground. She also does this with milk, she will drink it until she doesn't want anymore and then get some in her mouth and let it dribble out onto her chest and shirt over and over again. Silly little thing.

Thankful

Lots to be thankful for right now:

Elsie's first tooth has been pushing through and finally is visible and you can feel it, yay! It is the left bottom one. These teeth are sure taking their time to come in!

My Dad called out of the blue and said he was thinking of me, so good to chat with him. We were on the phone for almost an hour together.

Mike's paycheck is here finally, what a long month.

Our learning playdates are so much fun and we are thankful to be a part of them. Ruby made a hula dress and necklace today, so cute. She did a little dance with her friends after they were all finished. We were studying Hawaii and the letter "H".

Sunday is the Bloomsday walk with my niece and nephew, looking forward to walking 7.5 miles with them.

So many wonderful friends and opportunities here in the Spokane area, it has been the best time of my life and I have made some really awesome lasting friendships!

Alittle about Elsie:

Elsie has been saying "Bye! Bye! Dad!" nearly everytime she sees him close a door, leave a room, or go to work. It is so cute, she will look at me like, "Shouldn't you be joining in. She has been saying this and practicing it since the Sunday before last and is getting pretty good at it.

She is definitely a girly girl. She loves to walk around the house with something around her neck, anything she can get her hands on. Sometimes clothes, plastic necklaces, string, ribbon. She also loves, loves, loves shoes and having them put on her.

She loves texture books and being read to. Mike was reading to her yesterday and it was totally cute, she was all propped up and engaged in the reading with a sweet smile on her face.

She has been getting onto toy riding objects like cars and horses. She is pretty good about getting off as well.

Elsie is a dancing queen...she LOVES to dance and swings her hips with the music. The past few days she has even started twirling around as part of the dance, she will do it over and over.

She also will mimic anything you do.

Alittle about Ruby:

Ruby loves to read to us after she knows the words of a book. She will hold it out like a librarian so everyone can see it.

She is also trying to predict what we are saying, it is pretty funny. I will say something and she will move her mouth at the same time moving her mouth as to what she thinks I am going to say. She does this with all of us and at her learning playdate. BTW...she loves going to her learning playdates and has made friends with all her classmates.

She has been trying harder to be more patient with Elsie and doesn't pull things away from her as much. We have been right on top of her with this.

We have been talking about what she is thankful for each night. She always says God first, then she usually says her cousins names or Elsie or Daddy. So sweet! We have been giving different types of kisses too and she loves this. We do a butterfly kiss, cow kiss, horse kiss, and fish kiss. She keeps adding different types every night, last night it was a ladybug kiss.

Counting my blessings everyday!

Blue Lake Trip

Daddy and Elsie relaxing before our long drive.

Ruby pulled her chair right up beside her Daddy to help him with fishing.

Elsie and her Grandma Dee playing around in the boat.

Elsie with Grandpa Mike walking her back from the boat.

Elsie and Grandma sitting and relaxing, she loved sitting in sister's chair and looking out across the water.

Ruby had a blast in the boat, she was able to pretend like she was driving and honk the horn at everyone.

Here they all are headed out to do some fishing with Grandpa, Ruby's first time in a boat.

Coming back, Ruby stood at the front of the boat and everyone else stood up too.

Mike and Ruby with their catch, in one hour they caught their limit. This is Mike, his brother and Dad's all together.

Elsie was exhausted by the end of her time at the lake, she had a blast running around and just plain wore herself out.

Trip to Eburg

We just got back from a quick overnight trip to Ellensburg. The girls did well overall. Ruby had a bit of a meltdown as we were leaving a friends and getting ready to head home, only because she was sooooo tired.



We arrived at our hotel around 4 pm yesterday, dropped some items off and then headed out to look at some the Kittitas Valley spring beauty. We drove all the way out by where I used to live as a child...Hungry Junction area. I wanted to let Ruby get out and pick some flowers. It was so windy, but I was determined to make it happen. Ruby loves to pick flowers right now, so I thought it would be a lot of fun for her. We ended up getting out briefly and she scouted one out, checked for bugs, picked it, and then it was back in the car because of the wind. My favorite memories of Ellensburg are from our ranch that was nearby and the smell of all the spring flowers that popped up. Ruby did like it too, wish that wind would have died down a bit.





Next, we went up by Mt Stuart Elementary, where I went through 3rd grade. There used to be the Winegars farm right next door with cows grazing in the pasture. I was surprised to see they had sold off the land next to the school and it was full of new houses :( They still own a small portion though where they make all their icecream and goodies. I went to another store in town with Ruby and we each had a scoop of icecream. Ruby chose the bubblegum and loved it. She was thrilled of course to be eatting icecream.

After our little treat, we headed to Kiwanis Park, another childhood memory. There is a stream there that you can find crawdads in. It was really chilly and windy, but we still got out and they both went on the swings and then we walked along the water. There was a new playset across the field, so we tried that out too and they both went down the slides. The water in the stream was going really fast and pretty deep, but I was surprised to see some daredevil kiddos walking through it, despite all the conditions around them. Ruby wanted to pick a dandilion and then we headed back to the car.

We then drove toward my friend Justine's house, we were meeting them for dinner. Ruby walked with her up to the house and chatted with her, introduced herself as Ruby Rose. She is definitely getting more social these days. I quickly got Elsie out and headed in, Elsie hates the wind in her face so we had to be quick about it all. I was able to look at Justine's scrapbooks, she is amazing at it and it gave me some ideas for mine. We all sat down and had spagetti, yum! My girls love spagetti. Ruby ate all the sauce and was pretty distracted so she didn't finish it all, Elsie was on my lap slurping the noodles that I gave her one by one. We chatted some more and then headed back to the hotel to meet Daddy. He arrived about an hour after us and got Ruby ready for bed. Once all the lights and tv were off, they both fell fast asleep and so did I. We were exhausted.

In the morning...we woke up and Mike took Ruby out to wake up students. Ruby got scared by the first student but still stood by Daddy as he woke the rest. We then said goodbye and headed over to Evie's house. When we got there, we all were standing outside the gate waiting for her to open it or notice us...we were really early. Ruby tried to go to the other gate, but when she noticed where I was she came back.

We went inside and Evie had baked scones for everyone, so yummy. Ruby ate two, she loved them. As I chit chatted with Evie and another friend Trista, the girls played so well together. I was amazed. At one point they were holding hands with eachother. They didn't really have any major squables. They are only 5 months apart and pretty much exactly the same size. They spent part of the time pushing Elsie around in a plastic bin. She seemed to be fine with it. Elsie has been into putting things around her neck and over her head lately, she had me nursing cover completely over her head and walking around, she thought she was pretty funny. It was fun to see them enjoying their time so much. I always have a blast there and get tons of laughing in too. So good to see my longtime friends Trista and Evie. Love you guys! We headed home and made it back at 3 pm, perfect trip back, my babies are such good travellers these days.

Tonight when I asked Ruby what she was thankful for, she said God and then Franka (Evie's daughter). They just had a great time, so good to see.

Elsie has been dancing up a storm these days, she does this little swivel with her hips, so cute. She also is trying to fit into all sorts of baskets and drawers, the smaller the better. I have been enjoying reading touch and feel books with her and Ruby together. Elsie loves to reach out and touch.

We've been walking with the wagon a lot lately, the weather has been so beautiful and Elsie and Ruby can ride together in it now. So much fun for us all, we love to look at the beautiful colors of the sky, trees, and flowers and ride around our cute little neighborhood.

Elsie is walking like crazy now, she can even get up without holding onto anything. She is on the go. This was taken at Whispering Pines Park in Eagle Ridge in their tennis courts. They both love to run around in that area.

Ruby took Elsie down the slide a couple times too, she loves any opportunity to hold her sister.

We have been hitting the parks lately, with this wonderful weather. Mike went with us to Salnave Park and the girls loved having him there with us.

Couldn't resist this picture of all the pink blossoms on a tree in the yard of a house we pass by on our way home from the park. Ruby and Elsie both loved touching the fresh blossoms on all the trees we passed by, so thankful that spring is here!

Elsie just loves to follow her sister around in our little cul-de-sac, such an exciting new adventure for her.

We went to the Valley Mall Drop and Play on Saturday for a friend's birthday party. Ruby went up in the tunnels they had, this was her first time of actually going up and crawling all around, usually she gets scared and comes down. She had her favorite friend Jacqueline with her though...so that made a world of difference.

Daddy took Ruby to see "How to Train a Dragon" in 3D on Sunday, so Elsie and I had some time to just hang with eachother. She is just so much fun and we had a nice relaxed time together.

She thought she was pretty awesome carrying around my camera bag.

More grins as she rushed around the couch.

All night as I prepared dinner, Elsie kept squeezing into different drawers. I happened to look down and see that she has squeezed into this tiny drawer that holds oven mits, so funny. I don't know how she did it, amazing.

Ruby is really into dressing her lamby right now, she will take Elsie's clothes and dress him all up. For church on Sunday she dressed him in a fancy dress with a bead necklace that matched hers. Yesterday she dressed him in this, the exact same colors and similar outfit to what she was wearing. She also had him in Elsie's little shoes and some underwear too, she is getting really good at dressing him and herself these days.

The Weekend

The buttercups were gorgeous on our Fish Lake walk yesterday, I had to get a good pic of them to post here. Ruby and her cousins had a great time picking them together.

Quick shot of the girls at the end of our walk together. Love getting together every week, we usually walk between 2-3 miles.

Here we are before the "Walking with Dinosaurs" event today, Ruby and I went together and Mike stayed with Elsie. We had a great time, just the two of us.

Loved this part where the two dinosaurs ran their necks together in a loving way. We had tickets for seats in the first row, so we were able to see everything so closely. It was absolutely amazing.

Ruby wanted one of these masks so bad, she was so excited to put it on. Nearly every kiddo there was wearing one. Ruby roared at her Dad when she saw him. Pretty cute! What a great day!

Mike took Elsie to look at doggies at the different shelters while we were there, they had a lot of fun.

Elsie has been putting things into other things all the time now. Yesterday I caught her putting crayons and pencils into an old glass spice container, so amazing how she can get it perfectly lined up and into the container. She also started reaching down to pick something up and then standing back up instead of falling down to the ground. She did it several times while we were playing with Ruby's elephant game together.

Another funny thing...I give Elsie cheerios for a snack and she will take one between her little fingers and put it in her mouth. She also LOVES to eat things off the ground (EW..I know). So she noticed that one fell to the ground and I picked it up, so she would take one and drop it to the ground, bend down and pick it up to eat it. She was doing it on purpose so she could eat it off the ground. Very interesting!

She also is getting quite stubborn and will let you know when she doesn't want to do something or when something is bothering her. Her reaction is so immediate and quick...it amazes me.

Elsie's Birthday with My Dad

We did a small birthday with my Dad and his wife Sandi on this day. The girls loved having them over. Ruby immediately chatted my Dad's ear off and tried to play with Sandi like crazy. She was so funny, she used to be so shy around them and now has no trouble at all. In fact, she laughed and talked nearly the entire time they were here :)

I decided to make some yummy chicken wings, asparagus, and potatoes for an early dinner. They loved them and we ate every last morsel. We then ended the meal with some strawberry shortcake, everyone liked that too. The meal was a success. Ruby wanted to sit by Grandma Sandi, so my Dad sat by me and Ruby sat next to her. She loved it!

They brought Elsie some presents and one for Ruby too. There were three really neat books for Elsie and they even wrote a short inscription on them, love that, so much more personal. Ruby liked her ballerina activity book too.

It was a really great visit, wish they came more often to see the girls and chat with us. Hopefully in the future!

Shoes!

Elsie is so funny! She goes into the playroom everyday now and grabs her shoes out from under the changing table to bring to me. She will carry them together and bring them right to me, it cracks me up. She actually has to get into a basket to find them. She just loves them. She will hand them to me and then sit down and lifter her foot up to put into the shoe. Once it is on, she will lift her other foot up too. After they are all snug on her feet, she will get up and walk around in them, all over the house. Usually she doesn't even have anything on other than a diaper. Too cute!

She spent most of yesterday practicing walking around the house, especially changing direction and turning corners. She is getting to be quite the pro at it all.

Still NO teeth, I am amazed :)

Elsie was asleep today while we went to the park. We packed a lunch and loaded in the stroller and headed over to Salnave. Ruby loved the extra attention she was getting, since Elsie was asleep the whole time. We ran around together, sat on swings together, and ate together. A bit chilly, but still nice to be outside. I used the extra eggs we dyed for egg salad sandwiches, one of Ruby's favorites. Lots of fun, can't wait to get out more these days.

I am trying to slow down a bit, I had made too many commitments and we were running all over the place in the past few months. It actually feels good to be home again and get into a routine a bit. The girls are enjoying it too.

I am applying at a SL Start, a company I used to work for that cares for individuals with disabilities. Hoping to work nights now that Elsie is a year old and can handle being home without nursing constantly and Daddy feels more comfortable too.

We also paid for a membership to Eastern's Rec Center and Mike and I are going to be switching off at night to go work out there. I am excited about it for sure. He has already started and I am just trying to get better (alittle sick right now) and then I will be going too. Mike has also started running at night. We both want to get back in shape, for me it is mainly just that I want to feel healthier again.

Just a fun picture of us yesterday, I was surprised it turned out so good. Ruby loves to push the button, so we were playing around with the self timer. Lovin' my girls!

Elsie started grabbing her shoes out of the basket in the playroom recently. My mom noticed it first. She will bring them to us and put her feet out to get you to put them on her, so funny and cute. She continues to do it everyday since then. By the way, we are loving having a playroom for the girls, our living room is so uncluttered now. We really need a twin bed or bunkbeds though for the girls, hoping to find some this week so we can get their rooms together.

First Birthday and Easter

After our Mommy and Me Easter egg hunt, Ruby just loves holding Elsie. Love the bunny ears this year!

Love this picture too, wish that Elsie would have been more smily, but still cute!

This is the cake we bought for Elsie's birthday party on Saturday. I think it turned out really cute, we always love their creations. We go to the Happy Cake Company for all the birthdays. I couldn't resist this theme, I saw when I was picking out Ruby's birthday cake in October and knew that it was the one I wanted. So yummy too!

Elsie had a great time digging into her little ladybug birthday cake. She was a bit skeptical at first, but enjoyed it once she got some tastes in.

Digging into the cake!

More digging, so much fun for her!

Here she is all smily and laughy, she was the life of the party after she had a little sugar in her!

Cake, cake everywhere!

The next morning, on Easter, Mike woke up early and hid the eggs for Ruby to find. Her first hunt at home and she loved it. She thought it was so fun and so did Daddy!

Elsie at an Easter egg hunt in Four Lakes, it was really fun! There were tons and tons of eggs because there were so few kiddos in Ruby and Elsie's age frame. Ruby had to unload into another bag and continue on with finding them because there were just so many. Mike had fun following her around and helping her find them.

Elsie was content just sitting there looking at a few eggs while sister worked her way around the field.

I wanted a pic of all the cousins together. Too bad Elsie was looking away, but still pretty cute! They all hunted eggs in different sections, but we still had a good time together.