Laney Update

Well, since I don't do weekly updates on Elena anymore, I feel like I'm not doing as good of a job at keeping track of, or at least writing down, all of the things that she has learned to do. So, since I'm still waiting on pics from Jess from our Christmas in January, I thought it'd be fun to just do a little update, complete with some pretty hilarious videos!!

I'm constantly amazed at how much Laney changes everyday. She is becoming VERY vocal, and learns new things constantly. She's learned to identify her facial features (eyes, ears, hair, nose, mouth, ears), and her feet, toes, and fingers. She LOVES to find bellybuttons, including everyone else's (so, beware if you're around her, she will grab your shirt and yank it up to find your bellybutton). We're also working on animals, she knows cat and dog now for sure, and what they say. Check out the video of her "repertoire" of animal noises below, it's pretty stinkin' hilarious!

Along with learning new things, she's been seriously developing some stubborness and a very strong will! She absolutely tortures poor Truman... it's totally time for a kitty door into the garage for him! And she has no problem making it known what she wants, and throwing a major fit if she doesn't get it. So, life has become increasingly interesting around here! Josh and I are learning to put our money where our mouths are when it comes to discipline and sticking with it.

She absolutely goes 100 miles an hour everywhere she goes and doesn't slow down until she collapses. The last week or so has been kind of hard because she has been really sick. Last Wednesday she stayed home from daycare, and I took her to the doctor. Thankfully, her ears were clear, so they said it was probably a sinus infection. We got some antibiotics, but by the end of the evening, she had a 103.5 temp and was completely miserable. She stayed home from daycare all day Thursday and half the day on Friday, and didn't go to the youth Road Trip on Saturday. (She actually spent her first night away from home & Mommy and Daddy (she stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Price), and we stayed home from church Sunday night. She finally, just today, has started to feel better. I think she is getting several teeth right now, too, because there has been some major drooling to go with the fever and stuffy nose. It's made for a really rough week, but I'm thinking we're on the mend now, thank God.

Anyway, just an update about our little girl, and how fast she is growing up. And, now, enough of the talking, and on to the pictures & videos, because I know that's what you really want! :)

We've seen a lot of this action this week: passed out wherever she happened to land, with red cheeks from a fever. And gotta love the nightgown AND pj pants... both courtesy of Ellen.

This was the sweetest thing... I took the tree down last week while Josh was at one of his meetings. I took all of the ornaments and tinsel, etc. off, but left the tree up until he got home. After I got everything cleared off, I walked back by and noticed that someone (obviously someone short!) had "hung" these two things back on the tree- a little stocking, and my ear warmer! Guess she didn't want to see the decorations go away! :)
So, tonight she was in a really goofy mood, and climbed into the laundry basket. She looked quite adorable in there, sitting in her cow pjs from Aunt Ruthie (a little large, as they're 24 months). Of course, the laundry was totally thrashed, but it was too cute.

And she was obviously more than happy to cheese it up for the camera!

And on to the videos! This first one is a new "trick" that she started randomly. She just starts clicking her tongue up against her front teeth, and it makes this really funny noise. If you do it back to her, she absolutely cracks up. Pretty cute! :) And one of those tricks that she'll stop soon, so I had to get it documented!

Well, I figured if she was in such a goofy mood, may as well capture it on video! And, since she as wearing cow pjs, well, it was a natural question!

Since she was willing to play along, I thought I'd try to get as much as I could on video. So, here's as many of her "tricks" as I could get... before the phone rang and she was distracted (the attention span is not so great with a 16 month old)!

So there's my update on our cute little girl. I'm hoping she continues to get better, and I will try to do better about updating on her as she grows! :) And stay tuned for pics from our "Christmas in January" with Jess! :)

Post Christmas Festivities

Slowly but surely, I'm catching up!!

The week after Christmas is always filled with fun stuff, and this year it started off with the MU Tiger bowl game (the Alamo bowl). Since it's our favorite thing to do when there's an MU football game on TV (and, you know, since we don't have cable and couldn't watch it anyway) we headed over to Kostaki's for some awesome pizza (and even better cheese bread) and the chance to watch the game on their sweet flat screen tvs! They were really busy at first, but we managed to get a big table, and Josh, Ruth, Sam, Laney and I had a great time! We brought lots of toys for Laney and, once the pizza got there, she was a pretty happy camper. We actually stayed until half time, then headed to Ellen's house, because Great Grandma & Grandpa Price were there for the weekend. So we had a great time hanging out with them, too!

Daddy & Laney, waiting for the game to start. Check out Josh's cool new jersey! That's what I got him for Christmas: a Chase Coffman jersey. A Coffman jersey is extra cool for Josh because 45 was his number in high school, so now he has an MU jersey that's HIS number! Needless to say, I was pretty excited to find it online, and he was pretty excited to open it! :)

Laney spent a lot of time doing her new favorite thing: feeding her baby! She got this little baby from Great Grandma & Grandpa Price, and it's perfect for throwing in the diaper bag to take places!

Sometimes, Laney forgot who the bottle was for. Hey, mommies get hungry, too!

The other big party after Christmas is, of course, New Years! Our church always has a card party, then does the Lord's Supper Service from about 11:30-12:15, so that's how you start your new year. It's a pretty cool way to do things, and the service is always really neat. The card party, however, not so interesting for youth-aged people!! So, we always plan another party for them. The last couple of years we've gone to Empire Roller Rink because they always do a big New Year's party. Since we only stay until 11:00, they open early for us (8:00 instead of 9:00) and give us a big discount on the price. They are wonderful to do all that for us, and the kids definitely have a good time!

A little dark (skating rinks NOT good for photography), but here's Charlie, Corey & Josh heading around the rink!

Josh, on his last trip during the LIMBO... he made it through several rounds, not bad for an old guy! ;) Did I limbo... absolutely not. I'm lucky to make it around the rink without falling!

Josh and I... see, I skated, too. About 5 times around the circle! :) That totally counts...

Laney and her "Aunt Roof."

One of the really fun things about New Years and Christmas this year has been the clear memories of last year at this time, and what Elena was like, compared to what she's like now! So, just for some fun comparison, we took a video similar to one we took last year... check out the difference! :)

New Year's 2007...

And New Year's 2008...

Isn't it amazing how much she's changed? One thing hasn't: she still loves music and she still loves to dance! She even started slapping her legs in time to the music this year, which was pretty cute.

Anyway, I know it's natural at the end of a year to look back and think about how much has changed, but it's still just crazy how much a baby can change in just a year! I get the feeling 2009 is going to have even more excitement as she continues to grow, and develop her own personality... and her own WILL! :) Which she already had a pretty independent streak now, so I get the feeling it's going to be a wild ride!!

Christmas in Springfield

Well, the beginning of our trip to Springfield didn't start out too well! On Christmas night, Josh and I noticed that Laney had some spots on her. We went ahead and put her to bed, hoping it'd be better in the morning. Yeah, well, it wasn't! In the morning it had moved from just her tummy and back, and was all over her face and head as well! So, since we were headed to Springfield, and we didn't want to expose Leila to anything, we really wanted to make sure that we knew what was wrong with Laney. Well, of course, our doctor's office was closed since it was the day after Christmas, so we had to go to another doctor, where I spent an hour in a tiny exam room with no toys except the few little ones I had in the diaper bag, and uncovered outlets!! Seriously, who has uncovered outlets in a pediatrician's office?! Needless to say, it was not a pretty doctor's visit; Laney and I were both about to pull our hair out by the end of it! You can only sit in an 8x8 room for so long before going stir crazy! Anyway, the verdict was a "drug eruption," which really just means she's allergic to Augmentin. Thursday (Christmas) was her last day on that antibiotic, so it's funny that it showed up then. And she's had it before, so I thought that was even funnier. But the doctor said that a reaction like that may show up the first time you take a drug, or the hundredth, but once it shows up it will always happen. So, no more Augmentin or Amoxicillin for Laney! She was really a trooper, although you could tell she was uncomfortable. So, she spent a lot of the weekend drugged up on Benadryl, but really handled it pretty well!



I left my good camera at Mom & Dad's house, so I didn't get great pictures of the leopard look, but these will give you an idea...

Anyway, despite the hives, we headed to Springfield on Friday afternoon, and went straight to Grandma & Grandpa Holt's house to open presents there. Again, I didn't have the good camera, so I didn't get any good pictures while we were there. But we had a good time hanging out and talking, and looking through old pictures!



Saturday we had breakfast with the Lootens, plus Jess, Luke & Leila. We ate lots of good food, and got LOTS of good presents! Laney's favorite was the baby doll that Grandma & Grandpa got her, complete with two bottles! Laney carried that baby around the whole weekend! She loved it, and it's just amazing to me how instinctual baby dolls are. I mean, we've never really shown Laney a baby doll, and it's not like she sees us taking care of a younger sibling. But, as soon as she got that baby and the bottles, she was feeding it, carrying it around, patting it on the back. It was so cute!



We really had fun shopping for everyone this year; Josh and I love to look for the gifts that will make our families excited when they open them. One of our favorites this year was getting a dvd for Josh's dad called "Dr. Syn and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." It was an old TV show that he watched as a kid, but when we tried to order it, it was on backorder. So we were looking for something else to get, when it showed up on our doorstep. So it was our little "Christmas Miracle." And we even watched it with him on Saturday night. It was actually pretty good!

Laney and Grandpa, watching Dr. Syn... and feeding the baby, of course... in their new flannel pj pants, courtesy of Ellen (Grandpa's have King Kong, Laney's have dogs in the bathtub).

Sunday morning we headed to church. But not without feeding the baby... are you seeing a pattern here?!

Leila and Jess met us at church, and the girls showed some cousin-love afterwards! They were pretty funny to watch thist time, because they're finally both mobile. So Leila was VERY interested in everything Laney was doing, which didn't really please Laney too much!

Note the expression on Laney's face... we've discovered, she's not so good at sharing toys! She's finally gotten a sense of "Mine" (complete with saying "MINE!") and wasn't keen on sharing with Leila!

Once, Laney was playing with her baby, and Jess grabbed Tigger to show Leila. Well, Miss Lena decided she didn't want Leila playing with Tigger, so she went over, picked Tigger up, and put him on the coffee table. Then, she went back to playing with her baby. Yeah, that didn't fly so much with Mommy... Mommy got Tigger and went back to Leila. After which, Laney watched me very closely while Leila and I played with Tigger. Not happy, but wasn't going to cross Mommy! Maybe it's time for a sibling...


Cute Momma and baby, hanging out in the kitchen Sunday afternoon!

As I said, Laney was a "Mommy" all weekend long. And, like any good mommy, she knew her baby needed a quiet place to take a nap. Not sure DFS would approve of a potato bin, but a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do! :)

Laney has been learning new "tricks" at record speed, it's amazing how fast she picks up new words and phrases. If I can ever get caught up with holiday posts, I'm going to do a Laney update with her fun new "tricks" and words and quirks! But this video was just too cute to pass up! We've taught Laney to say "PawPaw" for Grandpa. But we just can't get "Gamaw" down. So, instead, Grandma Looten worked up this new trick! The audio's not very good (again, old camera), but Laney's yelling "I do!" Pretty darn cute...

It was great to spend the whole Christmas weekend with so much family! It was a whole new experience this year with Laney running around like a wild animal! I get the feeling she's only going to get more and more excited about Christmas as the years go by. We're in for quite the ride!

Christmas in Columbia

Ok, I know that I'm totally late with this post, and the next several that will come! But I lost my card reader, so I didn't have a good way to get pictures onto our computer. Plus, I have been enjoying the time Josh, Laney and I have had to hang out together, without much computer time. It's been a good Christmas break for us! But, pictures must be posted, so here's the first of several Christmas/New Years posts!

Truman seriously enjoys the things that come along with Christmas... namely, boxes, bags, and wrapping paper strewn about the house! What better place for a kitty to play?! Here he is in the box that Laney's Price cousin gift came- a big stuffed sheep from Addyson!

It was definitely a different feel to Christmas this year. Last year, Josh and I were more excited because Elena was there, and Elena liked to look at the tree, but it was nothing like this year. She loved the tree, loved to look at the presents, it was a whole new world, and we loved every minute of it! Some cute pre-Christmas pictures...

We had our own little elf! Here is Miss Elena using the mail cart Uncle Tim got her for her birthday to deliver presents!

The funny thing is, the bigger present that's in there is no big deal, it's just a spare from the youth Christmas party. But the little red one is actually Elena's present to me, which was obviously really from Josh. And it was my big present this Christmas, a beautiful silver cross necklace with a sapphire (I LOVE sapphires) that Josh had made for me. Anyway, it stayed in her mail cart all the way until Christmas morning (I think this was Christmas Eve), and when we passed out presents and it was gone Josh panicked, and then I remembered seeing it in her cart. It was pretty funny. She definitely earns her "Relocator" nickname!

In general, though, Laney didn't really know what the presents were for, but she sure liked digging under the tree! Not sure if it was because of the tree, the presents, or the joy of torturing Truman!

As usual, we woke up BRIGHT AND EARLY on Christmas morning. Josh and I are such big kids, we have trouble sleeping Christmas Eve anyway. This year we put a movie on and watched it in bed until we finally fell asleep. But Laney woke up at about 5:30, and then we were awake, so up we went!

Laney was not so excited to be awake. She was, however, a fan of the candy in her stocking!

Truman LOVED his present. It's just a pole with some stretchy fleece attached to it, but he was all about chasing it. So maybe it won't join the pile of unused cat toys!

Elena wasn't actually too into the opening presents thing (although that could have been the whole 5:30 AM thing), but once she saw that Santa had brought her a baby doll stroller, she perked right up. Literally, she jumped up off of my lap and started pushing it around with a little baby doll she already had. Gotta love when they're little, and an $8 stroller is the best present in the world!!

And it wouldn't be Christmas morning without a traditional Looten-family portrait! Josh tolerates me breaking out the tripod and messing with the self-timer. This one came out pretty good, although the sugar craze has started working on Laney!

In the car on the way out to Grandma & Grandpa Price's house. Check out the cell phone from her stocking!

Mom & Dad always have a real tree, typically one they cut themselves. This year's was HUUUGE, and took up half of the living room. Sometimes I miss having a real tree, since that's what I grew up with. But then, after about 15 minutes at Mom & Dad's, when my head is about to explode, I remember why I'm glad to have a fake tree! That, and I can put mine up in November without being a serious fire hazard!! Anyway, here's their tree... looks pretty good!

Dad opening his big gift, which was from Jess, Mike, Charlie, Josh and I. We got him a 3-ton jack, a set of 3-ton jack stands, and a creeper. It was a major Black Friday find, which I had to wrestle into the car by myself (yes, it weighed 114 pounds according to the bottom of the box). I even got it wrapped (with Josh's help), which I was quite proud of! And it was too fun to watch him open it, he was pretty excited!

Speaking of pretty excited, this was what Grandma & Grandpa Price got Laney for Christmas! Pretty cool, huh? And built by Grandpa! We're waiting for it to find a place in the house when we get our tree taken down, but she sure liked it Christmas morning!

Eating some "apples," aka pears at her new table. Everything is an apple to Laney, at least every fruit. We just recently learned the difference between apples and "nanas." And, let's be honest, she still calls bananas apples half the time! But she is a fruit monster, whatever kind of fruit it is!

As cool as the new picnic table was, it was nothing compared to what Uncle Charlie got her. He was definitely the winner as far as Laney's favorite Christmas morning presents! He got her this Tigger, and once she figured out how it worked, she was all about it! Though, she wasn't too sure whether to dance or bounce or clap, so she tried to do all three and ended up looking like she was having some sort of seizure... what can I say, she gets her dancing talent from her mommy!

Anyway, so those are the highlights from our Christmas in Columbia. We also had Christmas dinner with the family that didn't leave for Springfield that afternoon (Ellen, Sam & Charlie). I cooked a ham and everything, broke out the table cloth... it was very fun! I know there are lots of other good pictures from Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Price's, but they are on Ellen & Ruth's cameras; we just grabbed whichever camera was closer! So, if I ever get those pictures, I may do another post! I will definitely post soon with pictures from Christmas in Springfield, and New Years!! Stay tuned...

DONE

In case you were wondering...

THIS IS WHAT A FINISHED TREE LOOKS LIKE!

I'm definitely celebrating because I wrapped the very last present today. We were waiting on two presents that were being shipped, and they came yesterday and today, so I wrapped them this afternoon. I love wrapping presents, and I love picking out fun paper, and bows, etc, but, MAN, it's hard to wrap with a 15-month old wandering around "helping!" But we're all done, and ready for Christmas!

May you all have a Merry Christmas!

Wow

It's a well known fact that my cat is an idiot. Examples can be found... here, here, here, here, ANY WHERE! (Can you name that movie? And yes, I know anywhere is one word, but I had six links...)

But, should you need more convincing, here is further proof! And, yes, the cup is full of water.

What makes this even funnier, is that he had already gotten this same cup stuck on his head AT LEAST 2 times, and he did it again before the night was over! Guess he doesn't learn very fast...

Enjoy!

15 Month Check-Up

Well, we headed to the doctor's on Monday for Laney's 15-month check up. It wasn't a pretty experience, all around! I didn't expect it to be, because Laney had pretty obviously been feeling yucky for a couple of days, and she had a red, bumpy rash on her thighs, so I knew that it wouldn't be pretty! Since she didn't feel good, she was not happy about anything the doctor wanted to do, from measuring her height to looking at her ears, never mind the shots!!

The results of the medical issues, weren't too surprising. She has another ear infection (boo) and a sinus infection. The rash turned out to not be anything too major- it's not contagious, at least, it's eczema. So, it's more antibiotics, and lots of aquaphor lotion for the dry skin spots. Nothing too major, but she sure hasn't been feeling good the last couple of days, so I'm glad we already had that doctor's appointment scheduled! She also had to get 4 shots, which she was NOT happy about... but by Monday evening she was playing like normal, so I guess she took them pretty well!

As for the stats... she's following her curves: little with a big head!
Height: 30 1/8 inches
Weight: 20lbs 10 oz
Head Circumference: 18 1/2 inches

The timing of the whole ear infection thing has actually been pretty good, because CPS has had two snow days in a row, Monday & Tuesday this week. So I've been able to stay home with her, and she hasn't had to go to daycare. Instead, we've gotten to do lots of playing! :) Monday it mostly iced, but today it was real snow, and it snowed most of the day. Since Laney was too little to enjoy the snow last year, I couldn't resist the chance to take her out to play in it today! So we bundled up...

...and headed outside! Laney LOVED the snow. She ran all over the yard, chasing Isabelle around. And she only did one face plant into the snow, and she recovered from that pretty quick!




Laney and Isabelle were both very interested in the football! I was actually really excited with how well they played together. Most of you know that Isabelle is a pretty high energy dog (and that's like saying that the sun is pretty bright), and she is extra excited in the cold weather and snow, so I was a little nervous. But she really kept it under control around Elena. She would race all over the yard, then screech to a slow walk as soon as she got near Elena. I was so impressed with her. She has obviously accepted Laney as a member of the "pack," and a delicate member at that! It was really fun to see them playing together! I can't wait until Laney is a little older and can really play with her. For now, Isa just looks at her like "Hey, throw the ball! See, the way it works is, you throw the ball and I bring it back! Hey, you're not throwing the ball!" Pretty cute, though!

And the downside to me and Laney being home all day... yes, that is the toy bin totally on its side and totally emptied... nice... I only picked up all the toys 43 times over the last two days! :)

I suppose tomorrow I will be wishing for toys to pick up while I'm at work! It's been a fun couple of days!

Christmas Party

Josh & I went to the bank's annual Christmas party last Saturday night. They always have it at the Expo Center, and it's usually a pretty good time. After all of the changes that have happened in his department over the past year, I was kind of afraid we (or at least I) wouldn't know anyone there. But Josh's boss had a party at his house last weekend, so I got to meet most of the people then, and we had some common ground to talk about this weekend- namely, all of us looking like idiots playing Wii tennis and getting schooled by Dave's (Josh's boss) 8 year old son. Anyway, so this weekend's party, which was a little more formal, ended up being a really good time. Every year the bank gives the employees who go to the party a gift, and this year it was a portrait. They had a little photography "studio" set up there, kind of like at proms and such, and we got our picture taken. I thought it was a neat idea because we were all dressed up, and (at least Josh and I) never have pictures taken of the two of us. So, here we are...

Turned out to be an ok picture... I do look taller than Josh because I was wearing 4 inch heels (yes, me... aren't you impressed?). Mostly I was only wearing those because I couldn't find my traditional 1 1/2 inch black heels, so I was wearing the 4 inch gold heels I wore at Jessie's wedding. We did decline the invitation to join in with the professional dancers and learn the hustle during the party. Somehow I thought the hustle & 4 inch heels would be a bad combination... at least with my gazelle-like grace! But we sure had fun watching the people who were brave enough to learn! Anyway, we had a good time, and it was a good chance for Josh and I to have some grown up time, and just a chance to get all dolled up and go out for an evening, even if it was just a work party!

And, for the record, I'm posting this at 11:45 on a Monday morning in my PJs because IT'S A SNOW DAY! I love being a teacher... :)

BUSTED!

Well, it appears Miss Laney is turning to a life of crime at an early age! It's a long story, so bear with me...

Last Friday, I took the afternoon off because it had been a very stressful week at work, and I had a bunch of errands to run. Mostly, I needed to go shopping for the Voluntary Action Center families that the church adopted. They were due on Sunday, and I was picking up a few last things. So I left work around noon, grabbed Laney, and we headed to Target. First on my list was a "true meaning of Christmas" book for each of the families (hey, we are a church, we're all about spreading the true meaning of Christmas), so I looked at Target, didn't see any, and headed to Barnes and Noble. Now, one thing I love, love, love about our mall is the family restroom area. As I was headed that way, I look down, and Miss Laney (who is riding happily in the stroller), ONLY HAS ON ONE SHOE! Are you kidding me? What did you do with your shoe?? You know how you always see those random shoes on the side of the road and you think "Seriously, who loses a shoe?!" Now I know...

Anyway, as it has been time for a new pair of shoes anyway, I wasn't too worried about it. Laney just went shoeless until we got back to Target (though I kept a lookout for the missing shoe... never saw it). I wandered around Target getting everything I needed, which included several big things. So I had to switch from the stroller to a cart, which was kind of a pain because I had the big stroller, and those don't exactly fit in the cart, so I had to fold it up and stick it on the rack at the bottom, but it stuck off about six inches on each side, and CONSTANTLY caught on everything. So, you can imagine my mood after wrestling the baby into the cart and the stroller onto the bottom of the cart after a long week at work and one trip around the mall already! But I was sticking with it...

So, I picked up the two comforters, box of glasses, and toys that I needed for the VAC families, and headed to the shoe department. Yeah, NO BABY TENNIS SHOES! Lots of dress shoes, NO TENNIS SHOES. Soooo not happy, because it's not like I can unload all the stuff I've already put in my cart. And who doesn't have tennis shoes, seriously?! But, not much I could do besides head out to the parking lot with my stuff, unload the cart, and head BACK inside with the baby in the stroller.

We headed to Payless, and found several cute pairs of tennis shoes, so I put them on her and let her walk in them a little, found a cute pair, and bought a pair of black dress shoes, too (hey, buy one, get one half off). Not a bad deal... however, after 2 trips around the mall and through Target, wrestling a one year old the whole time, and now getting a one year old to try on shoes (harder than you'd think, and it's not like she could tell me how the shoes felt), I was more than a little ready to go home and enjoy what was left of my afternoon off!

So back to the van we went! I unloaded the payless shoes, tossed my purse in the van, and reached for the diaper bag. As I pulled the diaper bag out of the bottom of the stroller, something caught my eye... A hot pink, glittery, Disney Princess ballet flat THAT I DID NOT BUY! Yes, my dear, sweet, Elena found a shoe she wanted and just decided to take it with her! So, BACK into the stroller she went, and BACK into the mall we went, BACK to Payless to return the shoe, then BACK to the van to unload everything again.

Definitely NOT my favorite shopping trip ever!! Ahh, the joys of a one year old! I told Josh I was never taking her shopping again... but I'm planning to take her tomorrow, so I guess I'll never learn! At least Laney and I have already covered that buy one get one half off does NOT mean a half of a pair of shoes!! :)

Thanksgiving 2008

So, here's the Thanksgiving post, finally! It's been a busy couple of weeks around here, as I'm sure it has been for everyone else, too!

This Thanksgiving, Mike & Jess were able to make it to MO & IL to hang out with us... unfortunately, Josh & I were headed to Springfield this year, not Illinois! But we still got to hang out with them on Wednesday, and managed to squeeze a pretty good time into just a couple of hours!

We started with lunch on Wednesday, at a restaurant downtown called Bleu. We had a really good time just hanging out and telling stories.

The fam, or at least most of it, hanging around outside Bleu.

We spent the afternoon checking out the Black Friday ads, and playing some Wii. Mike tried out our new Lynks Crossbow game that came with our Wii Gun. He was pretty serious about it!

Check out the really cute outfit Aunt Jess bought Elena... FOREVER AGO! This is actually a 9 month size outfit, and by the time it fit it was too cold to wear it! But it ended up being warm enough on Wednesday to wear it with a sweater. It was awful cute!

After Josh got home from work, we went to Flat Branch for dinner, then grabbed some dessert, rented Mario Party 8, and just spent the evening goofing off. We had a really good time and stayed up entirely too late considering how early we all had to leave Thanksgiving morning!

At Flat Branch, Laney decided that she LOOVED onion rings! And, french fries dipped in salsa ranch dressing! She would suck the ranch off of the fries, but not eat the fry! Those poor fries would just be totally limp and mushy, and she'd keep dipping them and licking the dressing off. It was pretty funny! :)

Thursday morning, Laney & Aunt Jess put on their Old Navy Thanksgiving shirts, entirely too early in the morning! We were all up and out of the house around 7:00am!!



On the way down to Springfield, we drove through some pretty major fog at the Lake. It was pretty cool looking, and I couldn't resist taking some from-the-car pictures!


Thanksgiving dinner was great, the table was so full the food wouldn't all fit on it! But Laney found a new favorite food... black olives! And, with a little of Mommy's help, she figured out how much fun it is to eat them off of her fingers! She seriously ate GOBS of black olives that day, which showed up the NEXT day in her diaper, which was absolutely disgusting... but she sure had fun eating them! :)

Friday morning I hit the Black Friday sales, and really scored. I left at about 4:45, and opened up one store, where I got Josh's big gift! :) So excited about that! I also went to Penney's, Staples, Kohls, Walmart, Target, Bass Pro, and Walmart (yes, I went to two different Walmarts). I was pretty successful, and got most of the stuff I went after. My best advice for next year: plan to buy a pair of earrings at Kohls! The line was at least 45 minutes to an hour, and all I had were a few little toys for Elena. So I bought a pair of $8 earrings, and checked out at the jewelry counter, where there was no line!! Totally worth every penny!

After a nap on Friday, the whole family headed to Silver Dollar City. Tim hadn't ever been to the Christmas festival, and we wanted to show Elena the lights, too. She absolutely LOVED the Christmas tree, with the lights and the music, she was totally captivated by it.

Hanging out in the stroller... check out the cute hat and mittens Grandma Looten bought Laney!

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Looten, getting ready to watch the light parade...

...which was a pretty cool parade!

After which, she totally passed out.

Although I missed my family in Illinois, especially since Jess & Mike made it this year, it was a good time hanging out with the Lootens, and I loved taking Elena to see all of the lights at Silver Dollar City.

Other than that, I've taken a few other pictures that are just too cute over the last couple of weeks... so, here goes!

Look how much hair she's getting! She sure loves her bath...

Just like her Mommy... she sure does love to read... anytime, anywhere! :)

We got our first snow, which didn't hang around long enough to really enjoy and take pictures of, but I did get this cute one of Laney & her daddy looking outside. It's funny, she really liked to watch the snow falling in the porch light (it was snowing when we got home from Springfield Saturday night), and she liked to run her fingers through the snow on the hoods of the cars. But she did NOT like snowballs. Kind of a funny thing!