Dinner with Eleanor!

It was time to get together with Eleanor again. On May 11th it will be two years since we left the US to travel to China to get our girls. We spent the next two weeks in China with Alan and Marilyn and our new daughters. It is now hard to remember what the girls were like at 11 months old when we first met them.
Two years later they are both thriving, beautiful, smart and happy almost-3-year-olds. Their birthdays are only a couple weeks apart and they have a lot in common except that Eleanor gained a little brother a year ago.
The five of us met Alan and Marilyn, Eleanor and Wesley at the Fox & Hounds on Thursday night for dinner. This time the girls warmed up instantly. There was no shyness and they were excited to start playing right away. After coloring on the floor for a little while we all headed into the dining area for a great meal.

Wesley is already a year old now and has just started walking. He is very happy and gets along well with Eleanor. Marilyn says when they are at day care she is his protector. Olivia went right to him to try to hold his hand and she thinks he is "sooo cute!"




Usually Eleanor is the chatterbox and Olivia sits back for a while and takes it all in......this time Olivia was non-stop blabbing about everything. She was in such a good mood and so happy. The girls chowed down on their bread, Cheerios, goldfish crackers, spaghetti and talked and colored and they were so much fun. Eleanor is still wearing diapers but Olivia and I took her along to the bathroom and she watched Olivia just like Olivia watched Emma right before she decided she wanted to wear underwear. When we got back to the table Eleanor told Marilyn, "I want to wear underwear too!" Maybe that's the push Eleanor needed and will be potty trained soon.

After they ate pretty well they couldn't sit still in their chairs anymore. We were in a small dining room and they danced around in the corner singing "Ring Around the Rosey" laughing and getting pretty loud. We didn't get kicked out but I'm sure there were people there that were not too enthused about us interrupting their dinners. Oh well !!

Then Jenny had them running to her and jumping in her arms. When Olivia started squealing too loud with excitement we decided it was time to pack things up and go back to the bar area to visit more.

The three hours we were together went so fast but it was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to the weather warming up and getting together somewhere they can really run and get wild.

They are just tooooo cute!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Yes it has been raining a lot lately but the flowers, grass, trees and bushes love it.

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. We have all spring and summer to look forward to. The trees and shrubs are just starting to bloom. The flowers are coming up but we have not started the battle with the weeds and mosquito's yet. Everything is new and fresh and we can come out of hibernation and start spending a lot of time working outside.

We will probably have to mow the lawn this week!

I love it!

Graduation 2009

Olivia has graduated from diapers to underwear. She is 2 years and 10 months old and is officially potty-trained. We started the process back in September when Kyle and Jenny went back to school and it has taken this long for her to finally come around to not liking diapers anymore.
It took seeing her friends use her own potty chair the week before Easter during our playgroup to finally convince her to be a big girl too.
She really turned the corner fast and rarely has any accidents. Doesn't even want to use the small chair anymore. We have been shopping, church, playgroups, etc. with no diapers and have not had any accidents.
At night I still leave a diaper on her but last night was the very first time she went all night and stayed dry. She waited for me to come in to get her this morning so she could use the bathroom.
She is growing up so fast now it is hard to believe.
We have also been having our breakfast together at the counter instead of in her high chair. She sits on a big chair, sitting up on a pillow so she is higher. We can sit and have whole conversations and she is so funny. Sometimes I forget she is not even 3 years old yet.
What will she learn/say/do next?

Easter Weekend Pictures

Easter weekend was busy for us. We had the whole Manning side over to our house on Saturday. It was a good time but pretty hectic. Olivia was able to get a nap in before people started coming and that was a good thing because she was busy entertaining the rest of the day.

She is the only one young enough to go egg hunting so she had a good time while we all watched her and helped her find the Easter eggs in the front yard. I wonder how much chocolate she took in this day?

Easter Sunday morning she was excited to find the real eggs we had colored and then she searched for her basket which was hidden in the bathroom in the bathtub. MORE Chocolate!!

And MORE Chocolate!!

Then after the church service, with no nap, we headed to the Pitz side for another day of socializing, playing, eating chocolate as fast as she could when I wasn't looking.

We had another egg hunt but Aunt Cindie filled her eggs with money. It was a little chilly outside but we did sneak a walk in too. By the end of the weekend we were all pretty tired but had a great time at both parties.

And this is what happens when you party too much......

Easter/Spring Photo Shoot

HAPPY EASTER 2009!



We took some pictures the other morning for updated portraits. Olivia likes to get all dressed up and pose but but I have a hard time getting her to look at me and smile. If she is distracted and plays with something I can get some really good shots.


We are looking forward to this weekend with parties on Saturday and Sunday. Easter egg and basket hunts and too much candy. I don't think she is quite sure about what is going on this weekend and doesn't remember much from last year but I know she will have fun getting together with everyone again.

And you know it's time to quit taking pictures when the props start falling on your head!

Play, Play, Play

After a few weeks of colds, flu and various schedule conflicts we were finally able to get together for our Monday playgroup with Emma and Cody and this time McKenna was at our house for the first time. It had been a while since they had been together and the Wednesday playgroup at school is getting pretty hectic so it was nice to have the small playgroup again. The girls played well together and us Mom's were able to visit too. The Wednesday playgroup is fun but it is also nice to go to each others house and be able to relax and visit while the kids play.

They enjoyed their snacks and drinks and they all did very well sharing the toys and getting along. Can't wait for nice weather when we can get outside to run around and burn off some energy.