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!

The Park!

We had such a great time last weekend at the park with Auntie Rissa, and thankfully she has an AWESOME phone that takes great pics, so we were able to get some good ones! Miss Elise adores her Auntie Rissa (if you can't tell :))



Sliding is Elise's favorite thing to do at the park. She enjoys running around and climing on the equipment like any kiddo, but when it comes time to slide, she's as excited as she can be!

We were glad to get a pic of the three of us girls--our last pic of the three of us was during Elise's first trip to AR, which was quite a long time ago! I have that reel hanging on my computer, and enjoy looking at it, but it was definitely time for an update! Too bad Elise wouldn't smile for us--she just wanted Andrew to give her the phone!

We're going to Silver Dollar City this Sunday to celebrate Grandpa Mike's birthday, so keep an eye out for exciting pictures from that adventure. Now that she's old enough to realize what she's seeing, I really hope that she has a great time (or the money I spend on Season Passes will have been wasted!)

I'm Back--and it's Easter!

I am a terrible blogger, it's true. With all the craziness that comes with being a Mommy, a wife, a housekeeper, an HR Manager, and attempting to be a fit woman, there is no time left for blogging. HOWEVER, I've really enjoyed reading all of my friends' blogs, so I am going to attempt to blog twice a month from here on. I know how much fun they can be for others to look browse, so I am going to get back into it!

Easter was a wonderful time! Elise got her first Easter Basket and had a lot of fun with it. She really enjoyed her new push-toy, which plays the drums. She gets mad at you if you try to take it away from her!

We went to church on Sunday morning, and Elise is starting to really behave well at church. She especially likes when the choir is singing and always tries to check them out. Then the Easter festivities began at Mom and Dad's with lunch and a pinata. Elise is a Stevens, in that she loved Nan's dumplings! She also loved the pinata--she wanted to ride it! Next, we went out to Rhonda and Terry's. Elise loves to ride Grandma Sweaney's walker. The faster the better! Good thing Aunt Amanda always pushes her fast!

Hope everyone had as great an Easter as we did!