Brightening the Dreary Winter Months

A little secret: I love snow. Give me a great big storm with a foot of snow, so I can't do anything but stay home and cook and play games...I'm a happy camper. No wait, I'd be a miserable camper, I'm a happy homer. D'oh! You get the idea. I suspect the only reason I look forward to these events is because I'm blessed to live in a city where it only takes a few hours for the plow crews to clear the roads, so we're never homebound long enough to get cabin fever. Plus, when the storm blows itself out, we can take Elly SLEDDING!

Had Ourselves a Merry Little Christmas

Ok, so I got behind again on posting Elly photos, and it's time to catch up. When we left off, it was Elly's birthday...the week before Christmas.

As with most families, I suppose, Christmas is a very busy time. We have two families to visit, multiple church services, choir, and we almost never do our present wrapping until Christmas Eve. Toss in a one-year-old, and the week starts to feel a little like this:

...and then she was one.

On Saturday, we celebrated Elly's first birthday. Both sets of grandparents, and her aunt Becky, uncle Justin, and cousin Nathan came to party. Everyone was greeted at the door by that same giggling cloud of balloons, which had by now become completely entangled around her leg.

Elly, 11 months old.

Elly is now in full-tilt toddler mode. She constantly keeps us on our toes, as she literally runs from one thing to the next. She has also developed her own little (or rather, big) personality.

A giraffe and a half

We had a blast at the Brookfield Zoo today. Cori dressed Elly in her giraffe costume (gotta get our money's worth). We asked the guy at the gate if he would let us in free, since we were bringing our own animal, but we had to pay full price...bummer.



I was pretty surprised at how much Elly got out of it. I didn't really figure she'd be interested in (or even notice) the animals very much, but she had a blast.

Elly, 10 months old

Yesterday, Elly passed the 11 month mark. Time to upload the photos of a 10 month old Elly...but first...it appears there was a batch of pics from 9 months that I missed. So to begin, here are a few from right before she turned 10 months old.

Piggy and Me

After Elly was born, Cori took a "Mommy and Me" class at the hospital, where she became friends with a group of women who all had babies around the same time. Over the past year, we (mommies, babies AND the dads) have gathered every few months for reunions. The most recent was this past Saturday, when we met at our church. Now that the kids are getting more mobile, we figured we'd need a bit more space than someone's living room, and the activity room at the school seemed like a great place. We met at lunchtime, and I voluneetered to provide the main course; everyone else brought sides/drinks/dessert. I had been waiting for another excuse to make pulled pork.

A pot of chili, a loaf of bread, and thou.

Ok, so it turned out to be two pots of chili, because "thou" doesn't like beans...and Fred came over for dinner, so I guess it should be: Two pots of chili, a loaf of bread, Fred, and thou...
...but first! Elly had her first non-baby-food food. And of course, it was pizza, bbq chicken pizza...and of course, she loved it.



On to the chili...

Elly, months 8 and 9

...and just when I got caught up, I didn't post for six weeks and got behind again. Ok, catching up again. Here are months eight and nine.

Elly, Months 6 and 7

Alright! We're getting caught up with the Elly photos. This group are of Elly at ages 6 months and 7 months. Since she's 8 months old now, I guess we're caught up.

Here's our big girl, right around her 6 month birthday. She wasn't really standing independently at this point, but stayed there long enough for Cori to snap a quick photo.

First day of September

September, day one. Cori and I stepped out our front door to take a walk with Elly and were greeted by this sight. Summer is waning.



We didn't let it keep us from having a good time, though.

July 4, 2009

This summer I took a couple days off to extend the Fourth of July weekend. We packed up the car and drove up to Racine, WI to spend some time with Cori's family. As always, we had a blast spending time on the boat and hanging out with the family.

Elly at 5 months

When Elly turned 5 months old, we started her on cereal. Here she is with her first bites.

Elly photos, months 3-4

Let's continue getting caught up on old photos, shall we? As always, let me know if you'd like a higher-res version of any of these.

Elly (3 months) and cousin Dylan (6 months)

Random photos from month three.

Photos of Elly's first few months

Here is the first batch of old Elly photos; from her birthday through the first couple months. You can click each photo to view it in full size, and then right-click and select "Save Picture as..." If you'd like a full-resolution version of any of these, email me, or use the comments feature at the bottom of the post.

A few minutes after birth
Later that evening, a happy grandma