Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend we had a very BUSY weekend. Saturday, June 18 we spent the morning and afternoon driving Elle between birthday parties. We spent the morning at our friend Blakely's 5th birthday party and then we headed to our friend Kyleigh's 1st birthday party. Kyleigh's birthday party was half way to Matagorda so we left her party and went to meet my parents at their house on the river.

Elle enjoying some birthday cake at Kyleigh's birthday party

A little bedtime reading with Granna and Grampy

Sunday, June 19 we woke up early so the boys could open their father's day presents and then we headed out on the boat. Elle LOVES to drive my dad's boat - and on this trip she discovered the emergency whistle.

Elle loves her Grampy!

We left Maratgorda on Sunday afternoon and made our way back to Houston. That night we went over to Uncle Jake's house to celebrate father's day with Big Daddy.

The hi-lite of Elle's night was when Uncle Jake started playing his guitar. She loved it and Uncle Jake even let her use the pick to learn how to play!

Delirium

This is what Elle gets like when she only naps for an hour and didn't sleep well the night before...

Animal Print Friday - Ode to Aunt Mel and Auntie Shay

I have a slight obsession with Elle's clothes. Obsession might be too strong of a word but I do love to find her super cute clothes...and most of the time they are super cheap too. I haven't stopped thinking about this one certain outfit from Carter's since I first saw it around Easter time. My mom and I finally made time to go to the Carter's store and sure enough - the super cute outfit was on sale...they just didn't have Elle's size. So - being slightly obsessive - we loaded Elle up and drove to another Carter's store. Thankfully, they had Elle's size!

Ode to Aunt Mel and Auntie Shay - her new wiener dog outfit!

I had to get Elle a 3t shirt because all her 2t shirts are just too short. Yesterday afternoon, her dietician came over for our monthly visit and I was super shocked when after she weighed and measured Elle she told me Elle grew an inch in a month. No wonder her 2t shirts are just too short!

Yesterday morning I walked into the kitchen to find this taped to the coffeemaker...

Lee surprised me with a date last night to Vic and Anthony's. Yummy yummy yummy! We've been on Weight Watchers since February 1 and haven't had any dinners consisting of steak and creamed spinach and creme brule. It was so good and such a special treat for me. I loved spending a few hours alone with my hubby! When we got home, Elle still wasn't asleep but she was having such a good time playing with ViVi and Big Daddy that we just let her stay up. She even told us she wanted to eat and Vickie fed her some soup. Elle's eating has really taken off lately - she is eating more by mouth now than she ever has. We're praying we are on the road to no more feeding tube! Wouldn't that just be awesome if by Elle's 3rd birthday she actually could eat her birthday cake?! That's my prayer!!!

Painting With a Twist - Toddler Style

Yesterday morning Elle hosted a painting party at our house for two of her little friends and their mommies. The girls had a great time painting a little something special for their daddies and then they REALLY had a good time running around our house in only their diapers. They were just too cute for words! After painting and nap time, it was time for Elle to go to physical therapy. On our way home she told me she wanted to paint some more...so we came home and our little artist went to town!

and...just in case you were wondering where her hearing aids were clipped to during her painting session....

that's right....her pony tail!

Not too sure what we are going to do with her masterpieces yet but I'm sure we will find a place to proudly display her artwork!

Animal Print Friday - Then and Now

Friday, June 10 Elle had on one of my very favorite outfits...her chicken outfit! I just love the color combination and the fact that it has chicken and eggs all over it just makes me smile. It's an outfit that has been in her closet for a while so after a little searching I found what I was looking for...then pictures....

Elle on August 26, 2010 in South Padre. She wasn't even walking yet - and had only been crawling and cruising for around 3 months. She was around 17 months old.

And here she was on Friday....disregard her bed head....she had just woken up from a nap when we swooped her up to take her to the pet store.

What a difference 10 months makes! She still isn't the best walker but she is definitely improving! There was a time not too long ago that she couldn't walk through the store without falling and now she is walking all over the place and trying to help Lee pull the dog food off the shelves. She is our little miracle (and I'm so glad the chicken outfit still fits)!

Video from Lee

Lee sent this video to me today while I was out running errands. It's the type of video that makes me rush home to hear all about her adventures!

At the end when she holds up her pointer finger she says "one more time"...just a little elle translation!

In her daddy's shoes

Daddy's First Adventure to the Zoo

Saturday June 4 I had big plans to wake up early and get to the zoo by 8:00am so we could spend the morning and eat breakfast with the lions. Of all the days that Elle decided to sleep until 8:15 - she picked the one day where we needed to be out the door by 7:30am! Oh well - while we didn't get to spend the morning with the lions - we still made it to the zoo. Elle was so excited to show Lee all her favorite animals. Lee hadn't been to the zoo in probably 20 years so he was loving every minute of it! This was Lee's first time at the zoo with Elle and I'm not sure who had more fun...Lee being lead around by Elle or Elle getting to play tour guide to her daddy!

Elle's favorite animals are the birds. She wanted to go there first (after we made a brief stop by the sea lions). I love the first picture because when Elle hears something for the first time, she usually points to her hearing aids and then will sign or say whatever she hears. She obviously heard those birds talking!

Telling the Eland to "come here come here" - the funny part was that the big Eland that you can kind of see in the background did start to walk up to the fence when Elle was telling it to "come here come here."

In all the times that Elle and I go to the zoo, we have never once ridden the carousel. I always ask and Elle always tells me no - so we move on. Lee wouldn't hear of not riding the carousel so we bought our tickets and slowly made our way around to pick out which animal Elle was going to ride. She was not a happy camper - so Lee decided to let her sit on a very unassuming log with a snake wrapped around it as her first carousel ride. The other animals were just too much for our little one. She was telling Lee "up please up please up please" for the first few minutes of the ride but once the ride stopped - her reply was "again! more! again please!" She told us she wanted to ride the turtle - so we bought more tickets and this time - Elle thoroughly enjoyed the entire ride!

The pictures don't do her excitement justice - she really was loving riding on the turtle

saying hi to the elephants

Lee and his tour guide

I just love this picture - lee had his leg propped up on the edge while they were looking at an iguana. of course elle had to mimic her daddy....too funny!

I just love the zoo and hope we can get back a few more times before Elle's next surgery. We see something new and exciting every time we go. I am so glad that Lee was able to be with us and share in Elle's excitement and amazement at the animals! Now he knows why the hour long trek down there during rush hour during the week days is totally worth it!

Memorial Weekend Fun - Part II

Monday, May 30 we went to Pump It Up with our Moms and Tots group. It was so much fun to have all the dad's there! It was also so funny to sit back and watch the dads climb all over all these blow up moonwalks and slides. The last time I went to Pump It Up with Elle, I left sweating and my arms felt like noodles after carrying her up the 2 story slide - multiple times. This time I got to sit back and watch as she and Lee had so much fun together.

We loved meeting up with our friends the Ilsevers and the McCowns. You could just tell how much all our little ladies love their daddies!

Memorial Weekend Fun - Part I

Saturday, May 28 we loaded up Mark and Vickie's car and headed to San Antonio for a quick weekend trip to Sea World. Elle had no idea what was in store for her (and neither did any of us!) Lee, Elle, Mark, Vickie, Uncle Jake and myself pulled in to the parking lot around 11:00am on Saturday....an hour later we were finally inside the park! It has probably been 20 years since I had been to Sea World - needless to say I was just as amazed as Elle was at all the attractions the park had to offer!

Elle waiting patiently for us to purchase our tickets...it was already 100 degrees by the time we got inside the park!

We briefly stopped in to watch part of the Azul show before heading to the sea lion show - elle was so amazed to see the dolphins jump!

Checkin' out the sea lion show....Elle wasn't too sure what to think of the performers

After the sea lion show we headed to see Shamu. It was so hot by this point that we had to take Elle's hearing aids out because she had sweat just dripping down her little face. She never once complained or whined and after the Shamu show we all headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap! That evening we strolled along the River Walk and had a fabulous dinner at the Little Rhein Steakhouse....even Elle enjoyed sitting outside and enjoying the wonderful breeze.

Sunday morning we got to the park before it opened and the first thing we did as soon as those gates opened was head to see the dolphins.

Elle didn't want to feed the dolphins but we were lucky enough to have one come and swim right up to us. We all loved it - Elle wasn't too thrilled with the big dolphin being so close but the only thing she really objected to was leaning on the wall to get closer. As long as she was being held - she was totally cool with the up close encounter.

We checked out the aquarium, alligators and playground before heading to see the Azul show with the beluga whales and dolphins.

The Azul show was by far the best show EVER! Not only were the Beluga whales and dolphins amazing but the show also included amazing acrobats and synchronized swimmers. At several points during the show huge parrots flew over the audience. It was just absolutely amazing and kept Elle entertained the entire time. After the show, we went down front to say hi to some of the performers

little did we know that we were going to get a close up with one of the stars....

We had such a fun trip - despite the 100 degree weather. Elle was a little super trooper and did so well for all the traveling and heat! We left for home on Sunday afternoon and can't wait for the next time we get to go see the "baby beluga" as Elle calls the whales! We had so much fun with Uncle Jake, ViVi and Big Daddy. Elle loves them all so much so she was enjoying every minute of our quick little getaway!