Goings on...

It has been quite the whirlwind the past few months.  I have not had tons of extra time for blogging because I just got called as the Primary president to our brand new ward.  They just reorganized the boundaries and created a new ward, of which we are now a part.  It turns out it is a LOT of work organizing a primary from scratch.  Having never been in primary before, this has proven to be a daunting task at times.  But it has also been an exciting and unique opportunity, and I am glad that I get to offer what service I can.  I have only been in it for a few months, and I already love it.  The kids are wonderful and I love to teach and learn from them.  It also helps that I have the most awesome counselors and secretary ever. 

This happened to poor Elly at one of the padded, indoor playgrounds.  This should not happen at indoor playgrounds, I feel.  They had some wood molding that came to sharp corners by the parent's seating, and she fell (or was pushed, I'm not sure which) right into the corner.  Poor kid.  The goose egg it produced had me worried, but she only cried hard for a few seconds.  She's a tough little cookie sometimes.

We have taken many opportunities to go to the zoo.  Our kids are a great age for the zoo, and the National Zoo is free and a great way to spend our free time.

On a whim back from the zoo, we decided to see some DC sites with the kids.  Here's the Lincoln memorial from a distance.

 

And Mr. Lincoln himself.  It's quite impressive in person.

Elly got a new bathing suit, but refuses to go into any water.  I think she doesn't like the cool temperature, no matter how hot it is outside.

This is what happens when Peter is in the pool.  Elly just watches, either outside on the deck, or from inside.  Someday maybe she'll venture into the water.

On our way to the beach.  This glasses are a little big, but too cute and funny to pass up a picture opportunity.

Elly loved the beach, as long as she didn't have to touch the sand or the water.  It's kind of amazing she enjoyed herself as much as she did.

We went to Colonial Beach, which isn't the best of beaches in the world, but it was fairly close by.  And it gave Peter his first chance to exerperience the beach.

 

Peter LOVED the beach.  This can't be overstated. 

Happy, excited boy!

 

 

Elly was a little sick recently and feeling very snuggly.  She is very snuggly in general.  It is very sweet. 

I have decided to try to get Elly to cut her nursing opportunities in half: from 8 to 4 times a day. At first it was a little difficult, as she kind of refused food and drink of any sort.  But she was feeling a little under the weather at the time, and I think she had a sore throat.  But it was just a couple days later that she started to eat more.  She still only sips a little from a cup.  Her liquids still come from me and fruit (usually grapes and watermelon) that she consumes in large quantities.  She is not going for the milk thing.  I hope she transitions eventually.

She has been starting to consistently say new words the past few months.  However, she has a pattern of saying a new word for a little while, and then never saying it again.  She did this really early, at 10 months with "up," and "more (mo)," and more recently has said, "hi, baby, bath, fish, sheep."  But it seems like as soon as she starts saying new words, she stops for some reason.  She still mostly resorts to grunts to express her views.  sigh.  She is very much a girl who is not going to do anything she doesn't want to do.  And yet, she is still a sweet, affectionate, and playful little thing.

I wish I could get pictures of Peter and Elly having their snuggling wars.  At first it looks really cute, but then it looks like they are trying to inflict death by snuggling on the other one.  I have had to intervene from time to time. 

Elly has started to give kisses consistently.  She especially likes to kiss her daddy, and it is very sweet.  She is a good little kisser already, and has figured out that she needs to close her mouth and pucker up.  So cute!  It took Peter a long time before he figured that one out.  I'll have to try to get pictures of this soon.

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!