This Little Monkey is TWO!

Elise turned TWO on December 5, 2010. It is so hard for me to grasp that! It seriously seems like yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital, a nervous wreck about how I was responsible for this beautiful little life. I think her Daddy and I have done a pretty good job so far, though--with lots of help from a great family and wonderful friends. Elise's birthday party is a testament to how very loved she is, and I am so thankful that she is so blessed!

In honor of her nickname, Monkey, Elise had a monkey-themed birthday party. Stephanie Dill did a WONDERFUL job with the cake and cupcakes--Elise was thrilled and they were tasty too!

We all had a great time watching Elise open presents. She was easily distracted, but when she'd take the time to open presents, she was so excited about each and every one. Jessie did an awesome job capturing memories for me while I tried to corral Miss Elise!

Despite only having a 1 hour nap before the party, Elise was in a great mood the whole time--all smiles! :)

No one can argue that Elise definitely has all her grandpas wrapped around her finger! Here, she has Poppy (Great-Grandpa Stevens) and PawPaw (Grandpa Halleran) cleaning with her! She had Popa (Grandpa Stevens) opening presents for her, and she gave big hugs to Pah-Pa (Great-Grandpa Jackson) and Pah-Poo (Grandpa Jackson)! Elise really does have all these names for her grandpas, which she herself made up--and she knows who is who. Her grandmas have names too: Mammy (Grandma Stevens), Nana (Great-Grandma Stevens), MawMaw (Grandma Halleran), and Mimi (Great-Grandma Jackson). She also calls Great-Grandma Sweaney MawMaw--the only duplicate in her arsenal of Grandparent Names!

BIG THANKS to all the wonderful people in Elise's life who came to celebrate her SECOND birthday with her! May God bless my sweet daughter in her years to come, and may He give her daddy and me the patience and wisdom to raise her well and according to His will.

Thanksgiving Fun

Our Thanksgiving started on 11/21 with the Stevens Family Thanksgiving. We had a huge crowd this year: 26 including Alanna who didn't get in this picture for some silly reason!

Elise was not in a picture taking mood that day, and though we tried several times, we didn't get any good pictures of the Link Stevens family... sigh... maybe next year? :)

Our next Thanksgiving was on Thanksgiving day at the Fire Station with Daddy. Though Mommy forgot to take the camera, it was still fun, with plenty of little girls running around for Elise to play with. She was very excited to check out the big truck, too!

Our next Thanksgiving was 11/26 at MawMaw and PawPaw's. Elise had a great time running around and playing with everyone. She even sat still long enough to take a smiling picture with Aunt Amanda, even if she wouldn't look at the camera!

That night, Link had his first slumber party at our house. Elise was very helpful with him, and was asking constant questions about what he was doing. She held his hand for this picture before he went home on Saturday.

The final big piece of news for the end of November is this: Miss Elise is in her big girl bed! Daddy set it up last night and she was super-excited to get in it! She helped him "fix things" with his tools and then jumped in her bed for a little while after it was ready. She slept all night in her bed, and didn't even get out when she woke up this morning, only saying "DADDY" and sitting there waiting patiently for him to come get her!

Our sweet baby girl is a toddler now: all ready for her SECOND birthday on December 5th!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween came a bit early for Elise this year: she got to carve her first pumpking with Poppy a few weeks ago. She was really proud of it and loved showing it off! She carved a bigger one with Daddy last Sunday, and then ANOTHER one with Logan on Friday!

We went trick-or-treating with Baby Link, who was a beaver. Thanks to Jessica Arthur for handing down costumes for BOTH our kiddos :)

Elise was Nemo this year and though she was a little afraid to put it on, she did eventually and had a good time running around in it! It was awfully warm for it, though--go figure that when I have her all bundled up in a heavy costume it would be 70 degrees out!
After we trick-or-treated Nan and Poppy, we handed out candy at our house. MawMaw, PawPaw, and Aunt Lori joined us for the fun. Here, Easton and Taelyn trick-or-treated with us and posed for a pic with everyone. Getting these kids to sit still and be happy for a pic is a little difficult, but this one wasn't too bad.

Happy Halloween!

October is ALREADY a crazy month!

October...ahh, October. WHAT CAN I SAY? It has been insanity, and it is only 10/11 (Happy Birthday, Sean :))! The first weekend of the month, Sean and I celebrated our 5th anniversary (it isn't technically until 10/15, but he has a big test for Academy that day, so we celebrated early) with a trip to KC. We stayed in the incredible Hyatt Regency-Crown Center on the 38th floor. We spent Friday night/Saturday morning with each other, and then being the social people that we are, spent Saturday afternoon and evening with some great friends! Thanks to all who helped us celebrate!

This weekend began with a very fun party at Rustic Celebrations. Aunt Lori celebrated her 50th birthday on 9/30 and we had to throw an awesome party to commemorate it! Sadly, I wasn't very good about taking pictures--and the best one I got of Elise was her dancing with Po-Pa!

Next up on the very busy weekend was Link's baptism. Sean and I were honored to be his sponsors. He was an angel--never making a peep. The only time I hear him peep at all is when his Mommy burps him. Mammy, of course, never gets peeps when SHE burps him :)

Earlier this week, we were surprised to hear that not only were Rob and Amanda engaged...they were getting married on 10/10/10!!! Rob proposed on 10/6, already had everything arranged, and they had a beautiful wedding on 10/10. We wish them all the luck and love in the world!

Elise was her ornery self at the wedding--here she is playing hide-and-seek running from Uncle Dave. Can't you just see the mischievousness in her grin??

CONGRATULATIONS, AUNT AMANDA!!!

Baby Link is HERE!

Elise was so very excited to meet her new Baby Cousin Link yesterday. He was born at 2:01am on 9/6/10 (yes, Labor Day, haha!). He weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 22 in long! Aunt Sasey went in about 4:30pm and had a pretty good labor overall. We're so glad he's finally here!

The Happy Family

Elise meeting her sweet cousin!

The proud Auntie!!

The little snuggle-bum :)

Lacy and Jayme will be taking their new joy home on Wednesday and settling in to family life. Link's Daddy already had him in camo when I went to see him today--ready for his photo op with the hospital! I got him to open his eyes...but with a grumble of irritation that I would bother him! We're all absolutely in LOVE with him!

Toybox, Baby Link, and Cruising

As usual, Nan kept Mommy updated on the goings-on while Elise was hanging out at their house this month. She snapped this gem whenever Elise and Poppy were wore out from lots of fun playing!

And in a rare change of events, Poppy was able to get this great pic of Elise and her Nan getting some cuddle time in too! Nan and Mommy often talk about how the Moms and Grandmas are rarely in pics with the kiddos because they're usually the ones with the camera!

Elise has been very lovey with Aunt Sasey and Baby Link lately. She's ready for her cousin to come out, but she is back to cuddling with Aunt Sasey (for a while there, the belly seemed to weird her out!) Here, she had both of her Melmos there for her and Aunt Sasey to cuddle.

Elise was very excited to get a "new" toybox. We dug this out of Mammy and Po-Pa's basement--it was Mommy and Aunt Sasey's when they were kids. It still smells a little musty, but at least her toys aren't scattered throughout the living room now...most of the time!

Daddy and Elise were both really excited to get to bring the Corvette home (FINALLY!) Elise had a great time playing in it while Daddy did some work this past weekend. I think we're in trouble when she is old enough to drive--she already enjoys "pretending" so much!

"Let's roll, Daddy!"

Summer Marches On

It has definitely been a crazy-busy summer! This weekend was the first one in many where we didn't have any set plans before we started. We decided that the best thing to do with a free weekend where the temps were in the 90s was to go to the pool!

I wasn't very good at taking pictures while we were at the pool, however. It was too hot to be out of the water taking pictures! We had a great time at MawMaw's pool with Jessica, Easton, and Taelyn!

Later that evening, we celebrated PawPaw's birthday! Elise and him are big buddies, and she likes to know where he is at all times. She prefers when he is right there near her so she can keep an eye on him. We had a good visit with Grandma Halleran, who came down for PawPaw's birthday and who made a homemade German Chocolate cake for the occasion! YUM!

Sunday was another day spent at the pool (this time the country club pool in Marshfield), followed by another BBQ (this one to get together since some of the Petersens were in town). The BBQ was at Aunt "Dory's" (as Elise calls Aunt Lori), and Elise always has something to play with there. Aunt Dory has as many toys for Elise as we do! In this pic, she told me she was going bye-bye on her horsey.

Much to Mommy's amusement, Elise has started saying "Cheese" when she sees the camera come out. Here, I wanted to catch her in the fire hat--and she just looked up and said cheese as loud as you please! Don't mind the graham crackers in her teeth. She can eat whatever she wants if Aunt Dory and/or Mammy are around!

Finally, we were having dinner last night and Elise did something peculiar with her spaghetti, causing me to break out the camera--as you can see, she was putting it on her "toast" and eating it off there. But of course, being the ham that she is, as soon as I grabbed the camera, out came the "cheese-face"! Elise can always make us laugh!

4th of July!

Our 4th of July weekend was a busy one--as always! We started the weekend out right with the Independence Day Parade in Marshfield! Nan and Mammy joined us on the square! Elise still isn't that interested in the parade, but she did have a good time running around, eating suckers, and seeing people!

This is Elise at home after the parade with her new bows that Nanny and Mammy bought her at the parade from Rebecca's booth. She sure does make cute bows. Elise thought she needed to do some shopping after the parade--that girl is always on the go!

On Sunday, Mommy and Daddy threw a pool party/BBQ at MawMaw and PawPaw's pool. Elise had a great time. She always loves to hang out with MawMaw and PawPaw.

Elise is always up for a good swim, too--even if she isn't properly dressed for a swim and even if the water is cold from a good rain! We all "cracked" up at Elise's soggy diaper!

It was a really fun weekend, but Elise also fought her naps due to all the fun things going on. While at MawMaw's she decided to crawl up into her highchair and finally fell asleep.

To close out the weekend, we helped move the Lippys into their new house in Marshfield--though they still have a few more trips left to Nebraska, they're officially Marshfieldians! We're so excited to have them in town.

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Family Photos!

We got some INCREDIBLE family photos done on Sunday. Sheena went to HS with Lacy and takes pics in her spare time. Obviously, she does a fantastic job! We were sooo pleased!!

The best ones by far were taken in the river. Elise is such a water baby and had so much fun splashing around! Elise likes to go "rock fishing", so of course she had to check out the goods!

Elise's expressions always crack me up. She still doesn't say many words, but she definitely gets her point across based on her facial expressions alone! Sheena said it best when she said this one looks like she's saying "Are you kidding me?" I can't help but be SO PROUD of our happy little family :)

This and That

Mommy absolutely loves it whenever Elise is at Nanny and Poppy's (every other Thursday) because Nanny is always so sweet as to send Mommy pics of what Miss Elise is up to that day. Today, Elise was a little chilly after the rains, and Nanny pulled out one of Cousin Nick's old sweatshirts (proof that Nan is a bit of a packrat since Nick is 27 years old). Elise looks like such a big girl sitting in her lawn chair! (Also Nick's :))

Elise has been very lovey lately. This was her two weeks ago at Nan's, hugging on the cowboy that is in their dining room.
Daddy might be in a little bit of trouble, because Elise is quite smitten with shoes. She talks about them all the time and loves to try them on, even if they aren't hers. Here she is sampling some of Mommy's flip flops. Daddy helped her walk around in them, which amused her to no end!

We've got some festivities coming up this month--starting with Stephanie and Carter's wedding this weekend, the Jackson reunion on Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's 60th Wedding anniversary the following Sunday, and a trip to AR to visit Auntie Rissa the weekend after that. We hope to have lots of fun pictures to post this month!

New Kitchen!

Elise got an AWESOME new kitchen!

Elise got a new kitchen last week. Mommy and Daddy thought she needed one, and a friend had one for sale, so voila! She was instantly in love and began doing dishes!

The sink is easily her favorite part of the kitchen.

At first, the kitchen was in the basement, so she had to come up and down the stairs to play with it. Here, she was on her way up to greet Grammy and O-pa, who were coming over to see her play with her new kitchen. We quickly learned that it was smarter to have the kitchen upstairs, so she could play with it when she wanted and we didn't have to go downstairs with her! Now, it is in her room, where it takes up a lot of space, but she doesn't care!

Her 2nd favorite part of the kitchen is the microwave. She likes to put as many things in there as possible and the shut the door and "cook" them. I think it bums her a little that the buttons don't make beeping noises like our microwave, but she's good at pretend.

Elise's reaction to seeing her new kitchen! She was very excited! Thanks to Cara who brought her food and baking stuff to add to her kitchen!