Elise's 2nd Birthday!!

Elise had a great 2nd Birthday! She started the day with a trip to Dutch Monkey Donuts with Gigi and Grandpa! Here she is enjoying a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles! :)



Since Elise's birthday fell on a Wednesday, we waited until the following Saturday to have her birthday party. Greg and I decided to make it a small family affair this year and wait till Elise is a little older to have a party with friends. Since Greg's side of the family is in Florida (we're celebrating with them over Thanksgiving!!), it was just my parents and sister but we had a great time celebrating and showering our little angel with lots of birthday love and attention.


Elise loves butterflies so I had to make her a butterfly cake. Don't look too closely - I'm an amateur and I ran out of frosting!!



Hamming it up for the camera during her birthday party!




Blowing out her candles!



Dancing with her new 'dance with me ballerina doll'!



Playing with her new art easel!



Even the grown-ups liked the art easel - here's my dad showing Elise how to draw!



Family pic!

Two Years Old!

It's hard to believe that we went from this, Elise at 3 days old:


TO THIS, Elise at 12 months old:


TO THIS, Elise at two years old:













(We didn't intend to take this picture but we think it's hilarious and such a good representation of our little goofball!)


Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl who turned two on Wednesday! We're having a small family party this weekend so stay tuned for pics of the celebration!

Halloween Recap

We had a great time getting ready for Halloween and celebrating the big day! First stop, the pumpkin patch. October was such a crazy month with a lot going on that by the time we made it to the pumpkin patch the selection was a bit picked over. We had fun nonetheless and picked a great one!



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After visiting the pumpkin patch it was carving time! Greg and I concentrated on carving the big pumpkin while Elise decorated her miniature pumpkin with stickers!












Next up was the Halloween party at Elise's school. All the children & teachers were dressed up in their costumes and there were games, candy, a haunted house, face painting, etc. for the kiddos to participate in.

Our little cheerleader!





After that we had some friends over for dinner. Elise got all dressed up for her best buddy, Jackson. :)




On Halloween night, we went to my parent's house for dinner and of course some trick-or-treating. We made it to four houses before Elise wanted to go back to GiGi and Grandpa's house - she was such a good sport and is enjoying all of her candy and treats!

Elise's First Haircut!

Elise will be turning two next week and believe it or not, we haven't gotten her hair cut yet! It was getting a little mullet-like so we knew it was time.

Here she is anxiously awaiting her haircut (I had already taken her pony tail out):



She's a little unsure but doing well!



Looking like she's going to fall asleep.



The hairdresser loved her!



Showing off her new do!



Being silly and not smiling for the camera!



The sucker was the best part, of course!



She loves her new haircut and was so excited to go to school today and show her friends and teachers! :)

I'm Back!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - Elise and Greg are on round 2 of antibiotics for nasty sinus infections so it has been doctor appointment after doctor appointment, followed by pharmacy pick-up after pharmacy pick-up around here. Hopefully the worst is over and we can stay healthy (at least for a little while!).

Elise has successfully transitioned to her new class at school. She's now in "Get Set" with the older kids where they're continuing potty training, learning how to drink out of regular cups (no more sippy cups), etc. I can't believe how fast she's growing up - where did my baby go?! She's talking in sentences now and we can actually have conversations with each other which is one of the best things about this age. ;) She has also become such a good little helper - feeding our dog, putting her shoes on all by herself, loading the fridge with water bottles, and picking up her toys and putting them back where they belong after playing.

This past weekend we went apple picking, one of our family's Fall traditions. Greg found a good one for Elise:



She didn't want to put the apples in the bag after picking them off the trees. Here she is running away with one! :)



Pausing for a quick picture. I have so few of just Elise and I since I'm always behind the camera but we're slowly changing that. :)



Showing off our apple!!



We managed to pick a good mixture of fresh apples and used some of the Granny Smiths to make an Apple Crisp when we got home - YUM!

Almost Two?!

In about two weeks, Elise will be 23 months old - 1 month shy from being a 2 year old! I can't believe that we're going to have a 2 year old - it makes ME feel old! :) I'm so amazed at how much she has grown and changed over the last (almost) 2 years. She's now talking up a storm (I wonder who she gets that from?!), saying her ABCs, counting to 10, and singing all of her favorite songs - Twinkle Twinkle, Old McDonald, Row Row Row Your Boat, BINGO, etc. She feeds herself with her own spoon (and makes a mess in the process!) and as of a couple days ago, she has started going to the bathroom on the potty! One day she just started telling us that she had to go, so we sat her on the potty and she did her thing. We'll see if it continues and if it does we'll get serious about potty training because she seems to "get it." She's thriving at school and always talks about her friends and teachers - which makes me a little nervous because she will most likely be moving to the next class once she turns two and meeting a whole new set of friends and teachers. Elise never ceases to amaze us so I'm sure she'll handle it just fine.

Last Saturday, we went to see Sesame Street Live which Elise loved!








And on Sunday, our church had a kid's carnival and while my mom and I manned one of the booths, Greg and Elise got to play!

Here they are catching fish:



Elise is enjoying a sucker while daddy's trying to stay cool.



Our little jumping bean in the bouncy house!