Fun at Parks

We have tried to actually take some pictures when we went out to parks this past week.  We got some cute shots.  

Elly has decided she likes slides.

Peter has decided he does not.  He does not like to be shocked from the static electricity buildup form the plastic slides.  Oh, my son is such a cautious little guy.  So serious sometimes.  

He usually takes more pleasure in playing with the bark than on the actual playground toy.

This particular park has a mini golf course.  It is not running right now, so we went on it with Peter's little play golf club set.  He loved it.  

Elly was not so sure what she thought of astroturf.

Clearly, we need to work on his form.

She decided it was not so bad after a bit.

 

 

Elly has started to appreciate the swing.  And it is Peter's favorite.  He will swing for a good twenty minutes straight.

 

 

Elly is starting to try to negotiate stairs.  She doesn't have many opportunities because we put a gate on our stairs.  But I decided to take it off so she could learn how to climb stairs.  I'll have to watch her, but I figure with all the stairs in this house, it's a good idea.

And this is a fun state park out on a little peninsula.  So pretty with the beach.

 

 

Peter loved to throw wet sand.  And eventually he ended up walking in the water with his sneakers on.  sigh.

Yes, it's actually ME in a picture!  Chris does not like to take pictures so much, but he actually volunteered to do these.  :)

Me and my Elly girl.  

Happy Birthday Elly!!

Yay!  One year!  I cannot believe she is this big!!  With two kids, time flies even faster than it did with just Peter around...and that was fast too!

I love my little girl.  She is a sweet little thing and has a lot of personality.  She is always making us laugh with her impish ways.

I have some video of her birthday that I will post soon, but it is going to take some time to figure out how to get onto the computer, as our computer doesn't seem to recognize it yet...hmm...

 

She received some books for her birthday (we are trying to get her to like books), and some fun nesting ball toys, in addition to a little xylophone.

I was a little bit intense about getting a good xylophone for the kids (Peter is playing it above).  I can't stand it when a kids toy is out of tune, which is, unfortunately, most of the time.  So, I found this on Amazon, and it is tuned to exactness.  I love it!  I wish it were more than one octave, but we can still play a few little songs on it.  Peter loves it, and is having a hard time understanding that it is Elly's toy, and not his.  He was also having a hard time understanding that it was Elly's birthday, and not his.  He very much wanted it to be his birthday.  Poor kid.  He did a pretty good job, all things considered.

Elly smiles very readily at Chris.  He is just good with kids, and our kids LOVE him to bits!

Also, I am a bit obsessed with hair things.  They have huge flowers for little girls these days, and I used to be opposed to them.  But now, for some reason, I think they're rather cute on her.  

 

Happy birthday, Elly girl!

Trip to Hershey

We decided to take a little trip to Hershey.  Peter loved our trip last year.  Chris and I realized that we went to Hershey exactly one year ago from this trip, right before I gave birth to Elly.  The kids loved it this year.  We went on Hershey's little chocolate ride, where they show you how they make their chocolate.  This ride wouldn't be complete without the singing cows.

It was hard to get pictures of them all within the chocolate bean we were all riding on.

They give you the current daily production rates as you go on the ride.  Kinda fun.

 

Fake little hershey's kisses.

Fun little place.  We ended up going on the ride 4 times.  They give you a free little mini candy bar at the end.  We estimate that Peter had the equivalent of a regular size Hershey bar.

I do have to add that we got sucked into going into a 4D movie experience because it was free.  However, it was advertised to us as a puppet show.  We thought, "Great!  Peter and Elly would love a puppet show!"  Not so much.  As it was, Chris took Elly out, and Peter ended up screaming during the movie because the villain stepped on a cute little robot.  sigh.

And as if a chocolate bar wasn't enough, we bought him Rocky Road on the way home.

Happy boy!

Growing Kids

Peter's growth caught me off-guard.  I think I was so concerned with Elly not going up to the next clothing size that I forgot to keep track of Peter.  Anyway, we had to go clothes shopping, and he was very excited to model one of his new outfits, complete with hat and sunglasses.  I think my kids will be clothes-horses.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a random picture of Peter "fixing" the deck.  He loves his tools and trucks and trains.  Such a boy!

Eleven Months

Sweet little eleven month old.  She finally graduated from 9-12 month clothes after 6 months of wearing them...

I love these little rompers.  Too cute on babies!  I will be sad when she is too old to wear them anymore.

She knows that there is a secret to this gate, but she can't quite figure out what it is. 

She will be walking soon, I think.  We'll see if she will be on par with Peter at 13 months. 

 

I can take quite a few pictures when Peter is having his "quiet time."  He has sort of given up on his afternoon naps lately.  But that doesn't stop me from giving him time alone.  It gives me a little time to be with just my Elly girl.  

I should mention that she is totally sleeping through the night now!  Hallelujah!  And she is starting to be a little taste-tester.  She loves to taste everything we are eating.  From crackers, to meat, to vegetables and fruit.  She wants it all!  But she won't eat a lot of anything yet.