My Deepest Apologies!

I know I have been terribly remiss about the whole blogging thing... I don't really have a good excuse, other than that I have been reading lately. I absolutely LOVE to read. The problem is, when I start reading a book, it practically becomes an obsession, and every spare moment is spent reading. Seriously, I take the book with me in the car and read at stop lights, every moment that I'm at home and not required to do something else, I read. Which means the house becomes a mess, I neglect my husband, and I totally forget about blogging! So, my deepest apologies, but here's a quick catch up on the last few weeks!

We invited Josh's Sunday School class (he teaches the college/career class) over for a Wii Game Night. It was... well, awesome! :) We played a few rounds of boxing, and then spent most of the night playing a game called Mario Party 8. It's like this giant board game, and you can play with a bunch of people by putting them on teams, and you get to play these different mini-games... it really is perfect for a big group of people... definitely on our Christmas list this year!! We ended up having 15 or 16 people, which was pretty awesome. Several people invited friends, so it was a good time to meet some new people. Unfortunately, I missed a good portion of the party because I was getting sick, but I managed to have a good time, and I'm thankful everyone else did, even if I wasn't a good hostess! But, being that I was sick, I didn't get many pictures taken... so here are just a few!

The girls... boxing! They totally got into it, but it's hard not to with the boxing game. It's quite the work out! After this I totally dominated Josh... and then I puked... what a fun night! :)

James and Corey REAAALLLY got into this game... they turned the remotes sideways and had to act like they were in a mine racing in those rail carts that you have to push up and down on the lever to move... given that they weren't ACTUALLY pushing up and down on a lever, just flailing about with little plastic wiimotes, it was pretty hilarious!

The next day, we had a youth service day. We almost always spend a Saturday in November raking leaves as a service project, but we decided to twist it a little this year, and turned it into Leaf Pile '08! We took all of the leaves out to my mom & dad's place and made a giant leaf pile to jump in. It was pretty awesome... again, due to the sickness, I didn't make it, but from the pictures, it looks like it's a definite repeat event!

This is the group with HALF of the pile. Isn't that amazing?!

My husband... he's kind of an idiot, because sometimes he forgets that he's 27!! Needless to say, he was a little sore the next day...


...but they did look pretty cool! This one has pretty good form!

And these pictures are for my friend Julie, in Japan! Elena finally fits into the Japanese onesies that you got her! The funniest thing about them is that they are actually kind of shorts at the bottom, so they go partway down her legs. She spent a good part of the day running around the house with no pants, and it looked pretty hilarious!

A close up of the front... gotta love the Engrish... :)

Well, sorry for the delay, but you can tell there hasn't been gobs going on! Elena continues to grow, she is a total maniac now, racing everywhere! She has also become quite the jabbermouth, and she LOOOVES to read. Now, that could be because she's been watching me read a lot lately, but she just keeps bringing books to us to read to her. Some of them are getting rather old (Brown Bear, Brown Bear had to go into hiding for awhile). She is also starting to talk more coherently, she says a few words- mostly "Uh-huh" (yes), and the occasional Dada and Mama. She has certainly started developing some stubborness and attitude, so life has been getting interesting. She is becoming quite the climber, mostly she just likes standing in her rocking chair and looking to see what I'm going to do because she knows she's not supposed to. There was much screaming one night when I took the chair and put it in the kitchen (on the other side of the baby gate) after 3 warnings. Ahhh, life is going to be so interesting for the next couple of years!!

The daycare issues have eased off, she has transitioned into the toddler room, and I am getting to know those teachers. I am still keeping my eyes open, but for now I think we will stay there. She is happy to get there in the morning, and happy when I pick her up, and that's about all I can ask for. No daycare is perfect!

Josh and I are off this weekend on our annual trip to Springfield to start our Christmas shopping. This is a weekend that we take for us, to go to Springfield and Branson and shop and just hang out together. It is a much needed break, and we are so excited to be going! I will try really hard to post pictures soon after we get back!!

Frustrated

Well... I am feeling rather like Laney in this picture right now... I'm really frustrated with our daycare. I absolutely love them, and they have taken excellent care of Elena thus far. But in the last month, there have been some issues that I haven't been too pleased with. The first was the resignation of the director. See, there is one lady who owns the daycare, and then she hires a director. Well, I absolutely loved the director, she was always in the classrooms lending an extra hand (especially in the infant and toddler rooms, where extra hands are MUCH appreciated), she always had a smile for me, and she really loved Elena. Well, a couple of months ago, her father died, and while she was gone to take care of that, something happened between the staff and the director, and Nolanda resigned shortly after she got back. On the same day, one of Elena's teachers resigned. So, I don't know if those were connected, but I assume they probably were. But Elena's other teacher, who happened to also be Nolanda's daughter, stayed because she liked the kids she was taking care of so much. Well, today I dropped Elena off like normal, and Chas was the one who was there to take her. But when I picked her back up, one of the teachers gave me a note, and said that Chas had been let go that day.

So Chas was my favorite teacher of Elena's, and I don't know why she was let go, but it's not like she quit- they fired her. And she was an amazing teacher who really cared about the kids she was taking care of. I actually got to spend quite a bit of time with Elena's teachers because I nursed her at lunch for so long, and I got to watch Chas with the kids. She was great, and she really had a soft spot for Elena- she didn't want her to transition over to the toddler side at all.

Anyway, I'm just a little frustrated with how it was all handled, and the fact that no one told me- the note I got from the other teacher was not from the director or the owner, but from Chas, and she talked about how she'd like to see all the kids one more time to say bye. So they didn't even let her say goodbye to the kids. I just don't get it.

And I'm not sure what to do... when Nolanda left, she kind of joked about her and Chas setting up an in-home daycare. If they did that, I would totally move Elena there. But the non-emotional side of me says that there are two sides to every story, and I don't know the reasons they had for firing her. But I find it hard to swallow that they wouldn't let her say goodbye to the kids she took care of for 6 hours a day (and more, because she'd stay after she was off the clock and rock a cranky baby to sleep, etc), and that neither the director nor the owner had the courtesy to let the parents know.

Anyway, I guess my plan for the moment is to see if the owner is there tomorrow, and ask her about it. And I'll probably call Chas, and talk to her to see what happened. And go from there. Any better ideas???

Halloween!

Wow, was this a busy Halloween! It didn't make much sense to walk Laney around our neighborhood trick-or-treating, because she wouldn't really get it yet. So, instead, we went to see all the people we know... which is A LOT of people in Columbia!
We started off at my work, stopped by Grandma Price's office, then headed to Daddy's work to see all the people who listen to endless stories about Laney!

Chowing down on some candy corn at Daddy's office... she LOVES candy corn, well, and everything else sweet!

After we left the bank, we headed to D&H to see Aunt Ruthie, and all the people I used to work with. It was really pretty fun there, they were all dressed up like crayons (really, pretty easy/creative costumes, Josh and I are thinking that we should steal them next year!) and they had CUPCAKES! Which, of course, Laney loved!

From D&H, we actually got to go home for a couple of minutes, then we headed to Great-Grandma Looten's house. That was the only house where we really got to walk up to the doorway and actually trick-or-treat, mostly because that was the only time I remembered to bring the pumpkin bag!

But Grandma Looten's treats wouldn't fit in the bag! She got Elena a giant cookie shaped/iced like Truman the Tiger. We gave Laney just a little taste, then just gave her one of the little tiny sugar cookes Grandma got for her.

We hung out at Grandma's house for awhile, and Laney discovered the ORGAN! She was absolutely loving it, as you can imagine!

This was a pose we saw most of the night... shoveling in more sweets!

Eventually, we left Grandma Looten's, and head out to Grandma & Grandpa Price's house. Elena loves Grandma & Grandpa Price's because of the doggies that are just her size! And, something about her in that sheep costume running after the dogs and shrieking was just hilarious!

Grandma & Grandpa didn't give Laney candy, they gave her OREOs! And Elena promptly scraped off all of the creme and ate it!

While we were there, Elena thought she'd just check out the dog bed. This really disturbed Bob, who couldn't figure out why she was in his spot!

Our last stop of the night was at Aunt Ellen's house! We didn't make Elena stay in her costume for long after we got there, but she sure loved hanging out on the couch with her cousin Sam!

Just for fun, on Saturday we strapped Elena into her chair and let her have a go at the Truman the Tiger cookie from Grandma Looten. It was pretty funny!! :)

It was a really fun Halloween, but, MAN, was it exhausting! Next year we're just gonna throw a party at our house and everyone can come HERE instead of us driving all over Columbia!!

In other Laney news, I put the new car seat in the van, so now Elena sits facing foward, and not in a carrier!! She's so big!!

And, at the same time, she's so little still! One morning she totally passed out AFTER I got her dressed. Just thought this picture was too cute!

Pumpkin Fun

Josh and I never make too big of a deal out of Halloween, but we still always carve a jack o' lantern. So, Monday night we sat down and carved one. We let Laney play with the gunk,


but she wasn't too interested in it:

She was way more interested in drawing on things with the marker that came with our carving kit. Speaking of which, if you haven't gotten a pumpkin carving kit, you are missing out! I bought our's for $2.99 at Hyvee, and it was AWESOME. Plus, I found this fun site for printing off templates for pumpkins, so Josh and I went with the "Surprise" face. I think it turned out pretty good... though I can't take any credit for it, because Josh did it all!



Don't know why this picture came out so funny, guess I moved the camera a little. But still a good picture of Laney and her daddy.

In other news... I'd really like to thank Jessica for buying this card for Elena:

She loves it, but all I have to say is... payback is coming!! :)

A Weekend at Home

Well, this weekend was a much needed respite from the normal go-go-go of our lives, and we DEFINITELY enjoyed it! We set out on Saturday to have the perfect Saturday, and we did! We started off by sleeping in as long as Miss Elena would let us... which was about 9:00 (after getting up to feed her once). Then we headed to breakfast at Little General, and Laney decided she LOVES chocolate chip pancakes and mangoes! After breakfast, we wandered around Walmart for awhile (who doesn't love to do that?!) and learned the funniest thing- Laney also LOVES Christmas stuff! Walmart has all of its Christmas stuff out (just a TOUCH early, if you ask me), so of course we had to go up and down the aisles. She was just enamored by all of the shiny, jingly, fun Christmas ornaments and decorations. She is going to be a maniac once we get our tree up!!

After Walmart, it had been such an exhausting day, that we went home and took a nap! There is something so awesome about all 3 of us passed out in the bed together, taking a good afternoon nap. It is priceless family time, even if we are all sleeping! After our nap, we played with Isabelle, and took her for a walk. If there is one family member who really suffers when we are busy, it's Isabelle, so I'm glad it was nice enough to head out with her. We just strolled around the neighborhood and admired the leaves.

By that time, it was 5:30, and time for the game to start! So we headed to our favorite place to watch the game, Kostaki's! We like it there because they have great pizza (and even better cheese bread), big flat screen TVs, and not a huge crowd. And they're really nice about letting us stay and just sit and watch the game after we're done eating. Anyway, Ruth came and joined us there as we watched the Tigers STOMP Colorado, 58 to NOTHING!

Aunt Ruthie and her favorite (only) neice, supporting the Tigers! Notice that's the same shirt Elena has worn every other game day this fall... 'cause she's only got one MU shirt! :)

Don't know why I took this picture... but something about that penguin sticking out of Josh's hood struck me as funny...

Speaking of funny... guess now we'll know what happened when someone charges us with child abuse after Laney ends up with shaken baby syndrome!!

So, that was pretty much the perfect Saturday!! :)

On Sunday, we got to celebrate Uncle Charlie's 22nd birthday!! Laney thinks Grandma & Grandpa's house is LOTS of fun because there are doggies there that are JUST her size! Not sure what the doggies think, but Laney sure enjoys herself!

Check out the cute dress Liz made!

Since lunch wasn't going to be ready for awhile after church, and Laney's not the happiest when she doesn't get fed on time, I thought it would be best to distract her with some exploring! So Aunt Ruthie, Laney, and I headed down to our old house to look at my favorite fall tree.

Riding on Mommy's shoulders... check out that awesome blue sky! The weather was so perfect for fall!

Laney thought the leaves were pretty cool... for about 10 seconds. And then she was way more interested in Bob the dog!

Sitting IN the tree was cool for about another 10 seconds! Guess Laney just doesn't quite get fall yet... maybe next year!
So, instead we decided to take her down to the creek! Every Price girl (and Laney is half-Price!) loves a good tromp through the creek! And Laney was no exception...

This was moments before a sopping wet Rachel-Dog came bounding by about six inches from us! But the picture came out pretty cute, anyway! Many thanks to Aunt Ruthie for braving the stepping stones in the middle of the water to take the picture!

Nothin' beats splashing in the creek with a stick!

FINALLY, it was time to eat! But Grandma Price's lasagna was well worth the wait!

And the birthday boy! Hard to believe that there are that many candles on my baby brother's cake! He turned 22 years old!! I always especially love Charlie's birthday party because he loves lemon cake with lemon icing, just like me! And, apparently, just like Elena! She hoovered like half a slice! And then was promptly on a massive sugar high!

In the middle of the sugar high... making all kinds of noises at the dogs outside! Check out the belly... this will be a torture-her-with-it-later picture, for sure! Kind of like the one of me sitting at the picnic table in our backyard totally naked at age 4 or so!

Absolutely SHRIEKING at Joy on Grandpa Price's lap. Grandpa Price couldn't pick her up since he just had surgery on his neck, but we just sat her on his lap and she loved every minute of it!


Apparently, October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and the youth kids surprised Josh with a Superman ice cream cake and brownies! It was pretty fun! And the cake was right up Josh's alley... as a side note, I had a much better picture of the cake that's taken at a cool angle, etc... yeah, but blogger insists on putting it on sideways, so here's the plain ol' boring picture instead!

Here's Laney playing in the nursery later... check out the icing ALL OVER HER FACE! Uncle Charlie was feeding her cake during the songs and, well, it's dark then, so his aim was a little off. It's tough to hit a moving target, you know!

In random Laney news, she has discovered the joy of climbing... GREAT! But, as my typical bad-mommy self, I grabbed the camera before I grabbed the baby! :) She's actually pretty good at balancing, so I wasn't really too worried about her!


And funny story from today... the daycare calls me at like 1:30 and says that Elena just woke up and is just arching her back and screaming like she's in pain. We tossed around some ideas, and decided to give it a little bit. So they call back at 1:45 and say that nothing is working, and it would probably be best if I came to get her. So, I gather all of my stuff, drive home with a SCREAMING baby in the backseat, and within 10 minutes of walking in the door, she looks like this:

Happily banging toys on the cedar chest, grinning like nobody's business... GREAT!! Oh well, it got me out of work early, I'll take it! :) But that's sure not gonna fly when she's older!

Worlds of Fun

Well, to continue the absolute madness that has been our lives for this fall, we took the youth group to Worlds of Fun this past weekend! They won the trip by selling $1000 in raffle tickets for the Fish Fry, so it was totally a for-fun event. And we did have fun... I hadn't been to Worlds of Fun in a long time, probably close to 10 years. The very sad news I got when we got there, was that the Orient Express had closed!! That was the very first roller coaster I ever rode, and it was on a youth trip! I was very sad about that. But I did get to ride the Patriot, which was one of those rides where your feet just hang loose, like the Batman ride at Six Flags. It was really fun, I love those rides! I only rode that and the Mamba, which is that really HUUUUGE roller coaster, because it's pretty hard to ride many rides with a one year old tagging along! Anyway, it was a pretty easy day, because we only stayed until 7:00. During October, Worlds of Fun does a Fright Fest thing, where they make it really spooky and scary at 7, so that was a darn good excuse to head out early! Anyway, I didn't take many pictures, because I was trying to corral Elena most of the day, but here are a few! :)

In a bad move by Mommy, Laney wore khaki's and her camo jacket... so she got called a boy the WHOLE day! :) Not sure the dog on her head helped, but it was awful cute. Sam actually won that and gave it to her. The big pink dog was Andrea's, and she was nice enough to let Elena borrow it... and didn't even mind when Elena slimed its nose! :)

The carousel isn't just for little girls! Ruth, Jordyn, and Heather rode, too!

Mommy & Laney on the carousel. She was not convinced that she liked it. Kind of like the frogs the weekend before, it took a lot of convincing!
Random... but Elena kept sticking the head of this turtle in her head... never mind that it's a bath toy, she was loving it! :)

In other news, Elena had her first bout with spaghetti at home, and it was definitely an event that merited breaking out the camera!! Not much to be said about these pictures, just enjoy them! :)

WOW... onery, much???

Life with a one year old continues to be really interesting. We've developed some new fun tricks, like barking when someone asks what a dog says, and she's really close to using Mama and Dada purposefully. She's got more, please, and all done down pat in the sign language department. But, there have been some not-so-fun tricks, too... like pinching, which she got from her mommy, unfortunately. It seems like it is a frustration thing, when she doesn't get what she wants or she's having trouble letting us know what she wants, she'll just grab whatever's close (arm, face, chest, whatever) and pinch with her whole hand. Sometimes, if you tell her no, she'll grab herself- hair, ear, hands, even face- and pinch herself. It's pretty frustrating for everyone, but we're working on it. The last couple of days she has been very, very fussy. We're guessing it's teething, but it sure isn't much fun!

But nothing beats a Sunday afternoon nap with everybody in the same bed!! Last weekend, we took a good, long one, and Laney woke up with some SERIOUS hair... check out the spike!! :)

This picture is just for Aunt Jane and Jess! Does this look familiar?? Laney kept walking around doing that (honestly, her ear probably did hurt) and it was cracking Ruth and I up. And it made me think of Florida... and Disneyworld... and ol' Jess with the swimmer's ear... :)