Birthday party #1

The day of Elise's birthday was pretty low key since it was in the middle of the week. So we had a little party just us.

She was waiting patiently while we sang to her. She was really ready to blow them out. 

 What a big girl!! I actually had to light them a couple more times because she liked blowing out the candles.

I really thought she would make more of a mess, that is why I took off her shirt. Plus, I don't like trying to get chocolate out of clothes.

 Just a little taste of birthday presents before the big party over the weekend.

More Memorial Day weekend

 There is a cute little playground not too far from Grandma and Papa's house, so we decided to go for a walk and play.

 I know Uncle Matt will be thrilled that I put this up, but it is kind of funny. It really has nothing to do with Elise...Dad put the balloons on him while he took a little snooze. 

 Elise really likes playing with Aunt Sis (Bob's sister). She is always so excited when she comes over because she is always willing to play and read books. Our friend Alex and his son Jack got to come over and play too. They had a good time will all the cars.

Aunt Sis also makes a great jungle gym.

:)

Dad's hat- May 2011

As I said before, she is really into putting our stuff on. Dad gave her one of his hats before we went on a walk on evening. She thought she was too funny putting dad's hat on.

 I love this picture!

I can put in on myself!

big shoes to fill...

 I'm not 100% sure when these were taken. The date on the camera says May 28, 2011, but I know there are other pictures that have the same date and I know they weren't taken then. So we'll just call these end of May 2011.

She has come into the habit of putting our shoes on if we leave them out. So happens Dad left his shoes out, so she thought it would be fun to walk around in them. She did a pretty good job. Please don't mind the hair, it looks like she had just woke up from her nap.

July 4th Weekend- swimming

 Bob's parents have a pool, so we were lucky enough to spend a hot weekend hanging out by the pool. Elise was very excited to get into the pool. The tube had Nemo on it and she was very excited to use it.

 I was a little leery that it would hold her, but it was perfect for her. She could hang on with her arms and shoulders and kick/swim as much as she wanted.

 She was so proud of herself that she could swim and kick all by herself. She also figured out that she could spin in the water. She would push her legs and body around and twist in the water.

 Too busy splashing and kicking to put on water wings.

More bubbles.

 She was really interested when we went underwater. I think Bob swam back and forth across the pool at least a half dozen times. We got her to put her face in a few times, but she wasn't too keen on going underwater.

 Elise thought it was really fun to have Dad pull the noodles.

 I think we might have a water baby.

:)

 Hanging with Dad!

May 18- New playground in town

Columbus has rebuilt the concept of their original indoor playground. It is really great! There are areas that are for certain age groups, though none really stay in one area.

Yes, there are children climbing up there...they are supposed to and it goes higher!

It is designed for ages 5-12. Elise tried to climb on it, but she really wasn't big enough, and she's not that good of a climber anyway.

This is part of the toddler area. Not really sure the purpose of the circle, but she liked sitting in it.

This picture has most of the playground in the frame. See what I mean about the climber being so high?

Toddler slide 

Fun times crawling through on of the tunnels.

This is a small piano/xylophone. Elise referred to them as bells.

This slide is in the area for bigger kids, but she liked climbing up the hill to get to it. It was so big that she had a hard time keeping her feet straight so she would get turned around by the time she got to the bottom.

This is a little bit better view of the toddler area, and you can see most of the playground.