Eliza Joy! You are 18 months old! What a crazy 18 months it has been--you are such a different child than your brother as your lives have been so different! You've been such a trooper through it all. You hate your carseat but you put up with all the driving and trips and moves. As long as you have your beloved blanket and fire, you'll sleep anywhere. You made it to 18 months with only 4 teeth! (However, within the last 2 weeks, 5 more are making their way in). But you enjoy eating everything! Your favorites are definitely fruit, cheese, and chicken nuggets--and lets not forget smoothies!! Your vocabulary never ceases to amaze us! You communicate so well. Right now, my favorite is when you go and sit down and say, "nime out, six, two, eight, four, ten!" and then you are all done and continue to do whatever you were doing. You love bubbles and swimming and swinging, going down slides and singing. You love to sing "la, La, LA!" and "lightening" or the "Pizza" song. You love your family dearly and hate to part--especially from Mommy. But you are starting to be a little bit more independent--'self' you say. Part of this new independent streak has included two successful trips to the potty--like I've already said--you never cease to amaze us!
There is so much we love about you--you are so beautiful and we are so grateful that you are part of our family! We love you so much and are so excited to continue to help you grow and learn as you teach and bring Joy to our lives in return!
All smiles every day for 2 weeks when she woke up from her nap because she knew it meant SWIMMING TIME!!
We had a blast despite my apprehension to ever do a Mommy & Me class! I hope you know how much I love you Eliza!!
Being silly for the camera--he had so much personality during all the lessons--it was so fun to peek over from where Eliza and I were!
He's swimming to me!! His teacher let him swim to me at the end most days--it was so exciting!
Singing songs
I don't know what it is about Ben & I but it seems that wherever we move we bring 'record breaking weather'! When we moved to Arizona we had the longest stretch of 110 deg+ weather (something like 30 days) and then the coldest January temperatures. Now we move to Oregon and we top out at 106 degrees! Well, anyways, we much prefer Oregon's 106 to Phoenix 106--because it cools down at night a lot more here than there. It has been pretty fun to make fun of our friends though as they tell us it is too hot to even walk to the car! (Don't worry they make fun of us too as we show up in pants & sweaters when it's 68 degrees!!) The other night though, 102 degrees and all, I decided I wanted a Blizzard (no, I'm not pregnant, but I had a coupon that was going to expire). And since DQ is in walking distance of our abode--I refused to allow us to use a car. (ie one mile or less). I think people thought we were abusing our children--but our kids loved it! We had a blast and it was nice to get out--there was also a gentle breeze that kept us pretty cool. SO Much FUN!
They were absolutely delicious! Light, fluffy and so tasty. They were suppose to be small portions but, well, I couldn't hold myself back. My one recommendation if you attempt them: it says that you can make the batter the day before--if you want it to be really lemon-y, I highly recommend it. I made it right before we were going to eat them and they had a lemon flavor but I wouldn't have minded a little bit stronger lemon flavor. Also, make sure and let them completely cool. Anyways, ENJOY!! Click here for the recipe.
