Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy, but fun labor day weekend!! It seems like Elli has grown so much in just the past couple of weeks! I am beginning to realize how difficult it is to get a 7 month old to nap who can now pull herself up on her crib. I tried to get her to take a short 3rd nap on Friday and came in to see her standing in the crib chewing on the wood....ugh!! Needless to say, her crib got lowered to the lowest level! She is in play-mode at all times now and is on the go. I constantly find myself saying "No...not that; No, Elli don't touch; Wait...Elli come back; No Elli" over and over again! She loves trying to get a hold of the computer and crawling out to the kitchen to play in Bella's water. She enjoys grabbing Bella's toys and of course Bella hates it :) She is keeping me on my toes!!

Elli stood like this for a couple minutes on Saturday morning thinking she was big stuff!

*****************************************************

We had some friends and their baby over on Friday night! Siena is 1 month younger than Elli, but is about her same size. They had a good time interacting together and we were able to get some pictures.

Joe and Rachel are casually looking at houses and have looked at a house in our neighborhood. We're hoping they decide our neighborhood is the right place for them!!!!
*************************************************

Saturday, Mom and Dad showed up at our house in the early afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Brauchler also made the trip to our house to go to church with us. Elli is at a stage where everyone but Scott and I scare her. It takes her a little while to warm up to people and eventually she does great....it just takes her sometime to look everyone over :)

Nana and Papa B. bought Elli some new toys before coming over to Columbus. They all spent time playing together with them before church and it helped make her comfortable around them.

Pictures before church....
********************************************************

On Sunday, we headed to Hocking Hills to do a little hiking. The weather was perfect! We ended up taking Bella which was probably her last trip there. She was a little too excited and ended up pulling us the WHOLE time. BUT....she did get to do some swimming and she was absolutely exhausted on our way home.

Pictures from Hocking Hills....

Elli is definitely a "Mama's Girl" which isn't too surprising seeing how we spend most of our week together. She knows where I am at all times.

This was Elliana after our first hike to 2 of the caves. She was exhausted and ready for lunch!!

Poor Scott was dragged around all day:) I attempted to walk Bella, but I just wasn't strong enough!

Dad put Elli on his shoulders and she was cracking up while he was making noises!

Elli was exhausted and fell asleep on our way to the last cave. We decided to let her sleep. Her and I stayed in the car while everyone else did a short hike to Ash Cave. It was a much needed nap for her!

*************************************************

We stopped by the park by our house and let Elli swing a bit before going home.

She loved the swing!!
****************************************

We spent Monday doing a little shopping and going out for lunch before Mom and Dad headed home. Elli got her 1st couple bites of ice cream and loved it!! We quickly stopped giving her the ice cream once we realized it had real strawberries in it which is one of the things on the list that we're not allowed to give her yet. Opps...she's fine :) She also got her first balloon which she loved!!

Dad was responsible for dressing her and this is what he put her in. A shirt that said "I love Mommy and Daddy but Nana and Papa are the best" Who do you think got her that shirt....not us :)

By the way, when did she get so big? Doesn't she look huge in this picture? Her hair is growing so much too!! Soon we will be putting bows in those little curls rather than wearing headbands!!

**************************************************

The following picture was taken a couple weeks ago. Scott was feeding Elli breakfast and she feel asleep in her seat. He thought it was so funny and snapped a picture before she woke up!!