New Stuff!!

So, we're planning on doing some repainting this summer (I've been chomping at the bit to get rid of the not-so-attractive wallpaper in the kitchen) and I'm wanting to obviously do some redecorating. Our couch (a hand-me-down from Josh's parents, which we've really liked) has some broken parts on the frame (there are supports sticking out of the back of the fabric) and it's probably time for it to go. So Saturday we did some couch shopping, and ended up ordering one!!! It's this couch right here, and we got it from Ashley Furniture store.

So, you can't really tell from the picture, but it's a really neat chocolate brown, and the fabric is almost like a teddy bear! It's a full 10 inches longer than a standard couch (100 inches instead of 90) and it's wonderfully comfortable! It's definitely a couch that you sit IN, not ON, which is what we were going for. Anyway, we are totally excited about it! It will come in in about 6 weeks, so we'll have more pictures when we actually get it! Yay for new furniture!!

Easter... Finally!

I know I'm a couple of weeks late, but I finally have time to sit down and put up pictures from Easter! I actually was not very good at taking them, but Ruth took some, so I've managed to put together a few! :)

Easter started VERY early, as usual! Laney and I had to be at Sunrise Service at 0700 (Daddy was helping cook breakfast, so he had to be there even earlier)! But I did manage to get us both up and ready to go on time, which was a miracle (NOT a morning person). And we even had time to take a look at the Easter basket!

She was THRILLED... until we had to leave the basket alone until after church!

Notice... Laney's basket has all of Mommy & Daddy's favorite candy... weird...

One good thing about being up for sunrise service... seeing a cool sunrise!

We made it through Sunrise Service (no nursery) thanks mostly to packets of Smarties that I had in my pocket! I think she ate 4 packs during the service... but she stayed quiet! :) After Sunrise Service we had breakfast (cooked by the men at our church... delicious!) and our normal Sunday School and church. Afterwards, pretty much all the family we have in town came over to our house for lunch! We had a really good time, even if we were crammed into our little kitchen at our kitchen table and two card tables! :) Laney fell asleep during lunch, so pretty much everyone left. Then she woke up just in time to hunt for her eggs! She actually understood what she was doing, which made it a lot of fun. She looked pretty adorable, if I do say so myself!

Examining her "haul." Every time she found an egg and put it in her basket, she'd look up at us and say "Mo?" She was really good at finding them, though. Except for the ones buried in grass!

Even putting the purple one by the purple pool didn't fool her!

Great-Grandma Looten gave her eggs full of quarters for her piggy bank (much appreciated, since she got GOBS of candy). She had a blast putting them into the piggy bank one at a time... too bad Daddy's back still hasn't recovered!

Hanging out with Aunt Ruthie, eating Smarties, and playing with the stuffed bunny Uncle Tim brought her!

And... the million dollar question... Laney DOES like Peeps! We'll have to see if she comes to her senses as she gets older.

In fact, she likes them so much, she pushed them around in her stroller! If you can't see them, she's got a comb, her milk, and a peep in her stroller. What more could a girl need?!

So there's the Easter update... we are busier than ever, due mostly to the fact that we have a 19 month old with apparently limitless energy! She is a handful, very willful and stubborn. But she's a lot of fun to have around... most of the time! :) In case you're wondering, she's adjusting pretty well to the new daycare. We really like Tamra, who takes care of her. She's good with Elena, and she takes them all over, doing fun stuff like the carousel at the mall and Bonkers. And, she's even working on potty training with Elena (it's kind of like peer pressure, because the other little girls all go to the potty at the same time, so Elena goes, too). I really consider it a God thing that she happened to open up a daycare in our neighborhood when we happened to be looking for one. Lena is happy to go play with her friends (she runs towards the door yelling Ally every morning) and happy to go home every afternoon (she never fails to come running towards me with a huge grin, yelling Mommy), and what more could I ask for in a daycare?!

Hilarious

Ok, I know I need to be posting Easter pics, and, really, I was supposed to be out the door 3 minutes ago, so I really shouldn't be posting anything. But I was changing Elena and she did this really funny song for me, and I thought, man, I need the camera! So I went and found it, but I didn't think she'd do it again, because she never does- she usually refuses to do anything for the camera. But, I gave it a shot, and this was the result...

I have no idea what song she's singing, but at least she's singing it with enthusiasm!!

Leila's First Birthday

As promised, here are pics from this weekend's trip to Springfield to celebrate Leila's first birthday!

Josh & I headed down Friday as soon as he got out of work, and planned to meet up with Josh's parents at Hemingway's for some seriously delicious all-you-can-eat crab legs! Occaisionally, Josh and I get a craving for seafood, and Hemingway's is our favorite place if we're wanting crab legs! We had a good time eating and catching up with Josh's parents, and they were loving the time with Laney! Elena discovered that Hemingway's also has delicious chocolate mousse! So she had two bowls full. No joke... after she finished the first one she picked it up and tried to lick the mousse off of the bottom. Which would account for mousse ON HER FOREHEAD! Then she went after the second bowl with two spoons. It was pretty entertaining! :) And made for a good picture!

On Saturday morning Josh, Laney & I went to CPO (Christian Publisher's Outlet) to spend Josh's gift card. Poor Josh, he actually only found one cd he wanted... I, on the other hand, found 4 canvases to hang in our living room (after we paint this summer). So excited about them!!

Anyway, after CPO, we headed back to the Looten's to help get everything ready for the party! It was a pretty simple plan (the best kind) with little sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, chips, and other finger foods.

Even Laney climbed up on the island to help stir the punch...

...mostly because she wanted a taste!

Anyway, the party went really well, everyone chatted and had fun, watched Leila (or really Luke & Jess) open presents, and eat cake- which was pretty funny, as all 1st birthday cakes are! Jess put me in charge of taking pictures. I discovered I really like taking pictures of babies and set up... not so much of grown ups. I just always feel like I'm intruding when people are talking. Or I take a picture right as someone opens their mouth or does something silly. So, not many pictures of the partiers, but lots of pictures of the birthday girl (and her friends!). There were 4 girls (counting Leila) there age 2 and under. It was fun to see them all in different stages!

The birthday girl, enjoying some juice!

And her cousin... enjoying some dinner! :) Laney loved all the snacky food, she ate the entire day! Never much at a time, but she was constantly eating a chip, a carrot, some ham, some turkey- whatever anyone would give her! Except for red peppers- she was NOT a fan!
The big cake...

...the little cake

With so many girls the same age, Leila had some serious competition when it came to opening presents! There were many reminders that those were "Leila's toys." But they all had fun!

Leila says "Yay for presents!"

Now it's time for CAKE! :)

Once the candle was out, Leila started off slowly... just tasting some icing!

But discovered that it was pretty delicious!

Unfortunately, she rubbed those purple-icinged hands in her eyes. Made for a good picture...

...but ended up with stinging and screaming!

And the demolished cake! :) Leila mostly stuck with icing, apparently!

Laney got in on the cake-action, too- she opted for chocolate... and a fork!

The Wilson family, after the party!

After the party was over, we headed outside to enjoy the weather- it was 70 degrees and sunny, absolutely beautiful! The girls ran around for awhile, and then the grown ups goofed off for awhile. Everyone had a blast, and ended up with grass-stained and muddy feet (most of us were barefoot)!

Laney picking flowers! :)

Grandma and her girls!

Laney had fun standing on a chair next to the porch rail and watching the grown ups play ball... and mooching some more punch from "Shella," as Laney called her.

Finally, Laney went inside, found the balloons, and drug them outside. Since the party was over, we let her have fun with them!

We really had a great time. It was a short trip, but a lot of fun hanging out with family and celebrating Leila turning one!

Ready for the Big Leagues

Well, I took Elena to her 18 month doctor's appointment this week. One funny discovery we made is that Elena now remembers the doctor's office, and what happens there. And, more importanly, how much she dislikes it! She loves the waiting room, because there's a big fish tank. But as soon as we started walking into the back she started fussing. And then she was fine playing in the exam room, until Dr. Garb actually came in! As soon as he came in the door, she made a beeline for my lap and started fussing. Then, he sat and asked me questions for awhile, so she got down and started playing again. As soon as he stopped writing and started talking to her and coming towards her, she was back on my lap and fussing. It was pretty funny, really.

Anyway, in Dr. Garb's own words "She's still got a big head" (Nice, thanks Dr. Garb!). Here are the stats:
Weight: 21 lbs, 14.5 oz (20th %)
Height: 31 1/8 inches (35th %)
Head Circumference: 19 inches (90th %)

So, yep, still petite with a big head! :) [WARNING: Bragging mommy moment ahead] But, apparently it's to hold all her brains, because he also said that she had an above average vocabulary. I knew she talked a lot, but since I'm not around many 18 month olds, and she's my first, I didn't really have anything to compare her to. But the benchmark he asked me about was does she know 10-20 words. And I said, wow, definitely more than that. As the rest of the day passed, I started thinking about the words she really did know, and thought that I would write them all down. So I started listing them, and she actually knows (as in consistently uses and [mostly] understands). We came up with around 120 words! And we kept saying "Oh yeah, she knows xxx, too." It was amazing. Body parts, people, animals (and animal noises), food, clothes and then just the random ones; she can actually communicate with us. I know it sounds silly, since she obviously didn't learn all those words in one day, but it kind of struck me how much bigger she is getting, now that she can actually communicate! It makes her so much more a little girl instead of a baby; it was kind of shocking.

This age is so much fun though, she climbs on everything, runs everywhere, and jabbers a mile a minute! Of course, those same 3 things can be absolutely infuriating (hello, Terrible Twos) when she's climbing up to sit ON (not at) the table, dumping the leftover soda from dinner all over my book for work. Or running in the opposite direction when we want her to do something. Or screaming and throwing a giant fit (she's kind of a drama queen, and VERY independent) because she can't have another "kuhkuh" (cookie). But she really is growing up... she is incredibly independent, very determined to get her own way, and stubborn to the point of stupidity sometimes (might have gotten that from her mom), like when she gets in trouble for hitting, glares at me in defiance, and as soon as I let go of her hand, rears back to hit me again. Yeah, we're going to have an interesting life with her!

Anyway, that's probably more rambling than I meant to do, I just haven't really updated on her in awhile, so I thought I'd update everyone. The not-so-good news from the doctor is that she had fluid in one of her ears. He says she's not a candidate for tubes, because the fluid goes away, and because it switches from ear to ear, and she's obviously not having trouble hearing anything, since she's learning so many words. But he gave her an antibiotic to just clear it up. The amount of antibiotic he's given her will last for 30 days, once a day. My doctor/other mom friends: is that an unreasonable amount, or is that a normal dose? I'm debating calling and double checking, but I hate to be annoying.

I guess that's about it... the new daycare is going really well (she's been there this whole week). This morning when I dropped her off she wasn't even interested in coming to me for a kiss. Of course, that's because she was over by the fridge, and there was a chance she was going to get something to eat- I think the lady that watches her is afraid she's going to eat them out of house and home (she's an eater- that might be from both sides of the family!). But she has fun, and she's happy when I drop her off and when I pick her up. So, I think we've successfully transitioned!

This weekend we're headed to Springfield for Leila's first birthday party! So expect fun pictures next week!

Pedis, S'Mores & Goodbyes

Days 5 & 6!!

Well, it wouldn't be a trip to see Jess if we didn't go get pedis together!! So, on Wednesday the girls hung out for some more shopping, and pedicures!! The boys split up, Josh decided to go fishing while Mike & Charlie met the girls for lunch (at the Spicy Pickle... delish) then headed to the golf course. Turns out, Mike is bad and Charlie is terrible, but Charlie is Mike's good luck charm- he shot his best round of 9 ever!

Anyway, while the boys were golfing & fishing, the girls explored Old Town, which is downtown Ft. Collins. It is full of cool shops and fun shopping, which we were all about! :) We wandered around for awhile after lunch, then headed to get pedicures. Laney was with us, so, of course, she got her toes painted, too! Aunt Jess painted them while we were all in the chair. We were a little worried about what an 18 month old was going to do when all the grown ups were getting pedis, but she was actually really good. She was totally interested in what the lady was doing to Jessica's feet, so she just sat and watched. Once we were all drying, she started pushing the little rolly chair around; since it wasn't busy, the people in the shop didn't mind at all. And I remember why I love pedis so much- we all walked out feeling totally relaxed, with pretty toes to boot! :)

Lined up in the chairs! Love how the guy doing Mom's feet made the mistake of looking up just in time for the picture!!

Laney getting her toes painted by Aunt Jess. She was VERY interested in what was going on!

While we were all drying, Laney found a new toy!

It was JUST her size!

Post-pedi... baby toes included!

Wednesday night we decided to hang out around the house, so we had a great dinner (pepperoni rolls AND mini-meatloaves). After dinner, we decided to break out Jess & Mike's new porch furniture (under her new pergola!) by roasting s'mores. It was rather cold out there, but we all just huddled around the fire! It was pretty fun, and s'mores are always delicious!

Huddled around the fire. However, "should you catch on fire, please do not light the pergola on fire, but stand still so that I can hose you down." At least, that's what Mike told us to do! Ever the safety man, he had a bucket of water and the hose right next to the porch. Luckily, no one burst into flames, we just enjoyed yummy s'mores!

Josh and I... someone forgot to tell me to put real clothes on, guess I should have expected the cameras!

Laney, all bundled up and ready to go! She spent most of the time with a marshmallow in each hand. She didn't really eat them, just took a bite or two out of them, but she seemed to like carrying them around!

Thursday morning the plan was to head to breakfast at a diner, then head out of town. So Mom, Jess & I were enjoying some lazing around time, just drinking coffee and snuggling. Got some cute pictures of Laney and Aunt Jess!

We were enjoying watching the snow fall; it was beautiful snow that they'd been predicting since Monday. Unfortunately, then the boys came downstairs and turned on the TV, and we found out that it was going to be a major storm, with 12 to 24 inches! So we had to decide whether we were going to stay for a couple more days or leave immediately and try to outrun it. We decided on the latter, and I'm not even kidding, it was like the scene in Home Alone where they all sleep in. We had everyone packed and that van loaded in nothing flat. It probably made goodbyes easier, kind of like ripping off a bandaid!

Anyway, the trip home wasn't fun- it was pretty nasty on the roads until we got to I-70. And all the way through Kansas it was wickedly windy. But we got ahead of the storm, and stayed ahead. And the trip as a whole was wonderful! We all had an absolute blast hanging out with Jess & Mike, and can't wait to go back and do all of the things we didn't have time to do (skiing, Denver, etc. etc.). And we had some of the best times just hanging out, talking, laughing, and telling stories.

Thanks again to Jess & Mike for being awesome hosts, can't wait to see you guys again!!

Estes/Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 4!!

And now for the major picture explosion: Rocky Mountain National Park!! We'd been seeing mountains from Ft. Collins the whole time we were there, but on Tuesday we got to really SEE MOUNTAINS- like, be up in the mountains, not just the foothills. And it was amazing! Estes Park is a town that is kind of a "gateway" to RMNP; you can drive up into the mountains from there. Mike & Jess were kind enough to rent a suburban for that day, so we could all go together, which was totally worth it (even if I was jammed into the backseat with Mom & a carseat the whole time!). It was really cold on Tuesday, but it wasn't snowing or raining, so it was an amazing day!

Laney: dressed for the weather in her new sweatsuit from Grandma. I mostly packed spring clothes, so I was really glad Grandma bought this for her! Gotta love a self-portrait!

See, I said jammed, and jammed we were! But still really fun, and way better than being in two cars (or jammed all 8 into the minivan).

Needless to say, we have GOBS of pictures. But, as they mostly just look like mountains again and again, I've tried to sort through and just find my favorites. Mike was a great guide, and he didn't even complain when we asked to stop every 50 feet for more pictures! :)

Apparently, it's darn near impossible to go to RMNP without seeing Elk. We were a little worried we were going to be disappointed, since we made it all the way to the turn around and were headed back down before we saw any. Charlie spotted 2 or 3 grazing behind some trees, so Mike pulled a NASCAR pit stop pull-over, and we all raced out to look at them. Only on the way back did I see the "Restoration Area, Stay Off" sign. WHOOPS!

Then we saw this huge herd of elk, which was really neat. There were probably 30 of them, including a big male with giant antlers and this one with a bird sitting on its back. Guess you find good fleas in elk, plus a nice warm seat!

This is probably my favorite mountain shot of the day. The clouds are hiding the highest peak, but there's just a hint of blue sky showing through. Seriously beautiful! You stand up there and just are amazed at the power and creativity of God. To think, He created these AND rainforests, AND everywhere else AND Heaven, which is even cooler. Pretty amazing.

Ok, so there's obviously no way I could pick ONE favorite mountain shot... so here are the rest of them! Love, love, LOVE this first one: if it was black and white it would totally look like Ansel Adams!

So, can you tell I like the ones with a hint of blue sky? :)

Along with tons of mountain pictures, we all wanted to take family pictures at every stop! So, that involved finding a place to set the camera, setting the timer, smashing into the picture, yelling "Where's the truck" so Laney would look in the general direction of the camera, and trying not to blink! It was QUITE entertaining! And here are just a few of the results...

One of the first, and one of my favorites: we tried using the suburban hood to hold the camera the firs couple times. Obviously, didn't work so well!! Although, I like being tall for once... ;)

For this one, we got smarter, and used a post to hold the camera. Unfortunately, the post was in the middle of the road, and to get the right proportion we also had to be in the middle of the road. And, of course, Mike had to dash across two lanes to set the timer and get back into the picture. Everyone together now, "Where's the truck?!"

This one we actually got someone else to take (in exchange for taking one of his family, I love how when you're someplace cool, everyone will do that for total strangers).

And at the park sign on the way out. This is one of my favorites, although it doesn't have quite the story of the dashing across the road one! :) Many thanks to Mike for putting his life in danger for a good family pic!

After driving up and back down the mountain, stopping every couple of feet for pictures from one more "scenic overlook," we went out to lunch, and then wandered around downtown Estes shopping. It was a really cute downtown, with lots of candy and souvenier shops (and one knife & sword shop, where the boys spent most of their time). We bought homemade candy and caramel apples (delicious) and bought ourselves sweatshirts and t-shirts and coffee mugs, like all good tourists do!

We kept Laney happy during the shopping by giving her the core of a caramel apple to chew on. She was quiet content, although her jacket was absolutely COVERED in caramel and sticky afterwards. But she knew what to do with that apple-on-a-stick!

And, back home, another beautiful sunset over the mountains...

Seriously, though, RMNP was probably my favorite thing we did all week. Between being jammed in the truck, piling out every 50 feet, driving with the windows down despite the 30 degree weather (and much to Jessica's dismay) to get good pictures, and just laughing the whole time, it was a true "ferret family adventure." Add to that getting to enjoy the beauty of the mountains, and it was awesome. Definitely a MUST for any trip to CO!

Up next: The last Colorado post, all about pedis & goodbyes!