Easter

Last weekend we were able to see lots of family and enjoy our 2nd Easter with Elliana. Elli got to go on 3 Easter egg hunts and received a lot of goodies. Her little brother even got a few new things.

Here is Elli's 1st Easter egg hunt!

Unfortunately it rained, so we had to stick to finding eggs inside. It is hard to tell, but Elli has a huge grin on her face as she is getting ready to put her egg in the basket.

Sitting with all her goodies! Notice the beads around her neck....she LOVES necklaces and will put one on as soon as she sees it.... and never wants to take it off!

Trying to get a good picture of the 3 of them. At least they are all smiling :) Next year will be even harder with a 4th one in the mix.

Elli also got to experience many tractor rides. Although she loves all things girly, she does enjoy the tractor!

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On Friday, we were able to head up north to help celebrate Elli's Great-Grandma Wamsley's birthday. Grandma Wamsley surprised us by giving Elli a quilt that she had made. I love it and love that Elli will always have this from her Grandmother....

This was the best picture I got of the 3 of them!

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We also celebrated birthdays in my family. Elli and Kensley were a lot of help when it came to unwrapping gifts.

Elliana even wanted to try on the new undies I got for my b-day. This is typical. Underwear fit perfectly around her neck....if she sees them....you better believe they are going on her head or neck. Amber tried to put them on her the right way, but she was not a fan of that....potty training seems to be in our VERY distant future.

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Kensley and Elli were waiting for us to put our suits on for the pool!

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This girl loves to swing!

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We finally got to have an Easter egg hunt outside...

More tractor rides....

Time for a much needed bath. Yep, Elli is drinking the water from her Easter egg.

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Easter morning. All dressed up for church.

Smiling so pretty (of course with a necklace on)!!

This is the best picture we got of all 3 of us.

Vegas

About 2 weeks ago, Scott and I had the opportunity to go out to Las Vegas with Travis and Sarah. Elli was able to spend 4 days with one set of grandparents and 4 days with the other (we didn't spend that much time in Vegas, but Scott and I had to work a couple days after we got home, so we couldn't go get her until we were done with work for the week). I was extremely nervous about leaving Elli for so long and many times I thought I was going to have to cancel the trip because I couldn't imagine leaving her. BUT...we all got along well and she did great without us! I can tell she had a great time and really opened up with our parents. Typically she is very shy, but didn't seem like it this weekend.

So....here is what we did in Vegas....

Resting after walking, walking, and walking some more!

Scott doing "cirque du soleil" in the pool. Why you might ask.....

We went to go see Mystere and loved it! We left that show and Scott felt like he needed to diet after seeing all the performers. AND....he has actually stuck to his diet.

The strip

Watching the fountains at the Bellagio after we ate dinner there. Scott was insistent that we eat at the Bellagio buffet after he saw it on the food network. It was good, but I'm not sure we will eat there again. We had a brunch buffet at the Wynn and loved it....we will definitely be going back there!

A picture of our hotel, the Luxor.

We had a great time in Vegas and are looking forward to another vacation with Travis and Sarah! Thanks for a good time guys!!

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Elli looked huge when we saw her for the first time after being away. We couldn't wait to hold and play with her! She is getting so big! Since we've been home, she has been working on feeding herself with a fork and spoon and has done a great job! She is pretty independent with oatmeal and casserole (foods that stick together and are easy to scoop), but needs a little help with something such as spaghettiOs. She wants to use a fork/spoon at every meal now! Such a big girl!!

Wow....2 posts in 1 day!!

Pictures

Elli loves going outside and fortunately we had a pretty good weekend of weather that we were able to spend some time outdoors. We decided on the zoo for Saturday- not as hot and we figured the crowd would be less due to the forecast for Sunday. We had planned to go to the park on Sunday, but Elli's fever climbed. We spent a good portion of the day letting her rest, but spent the later part of the afternoon outside playing.

Elliana loved throwing the football...

Don't look too closely at her hair :) It has a mind of its own, especially after naps. I'm finding curly hair isn't as easy to deal with....especially when it is humid outside....her hair tends to go everywhere :) I'm thinking we are on our way to a mullet as the back continues to grow, but the front/top is at a standstill.

Can't figure out why the picture loaded this way! The football is about as big as her. We kept trying to take away the "niney" but she wouldn't let us!

Again, thinking that throwing the football is so funny. At least she enjoys it. An activity she can do with her brother when they are bigger.

Helping Daddy mow (clearly the mower is turned off). She LOVED this and concentrated so hard on pushing it.

So they had to go all around the sidewalk....stopping only to wave a couple times.

We ended the weekend with Elli falling asleep on me. I loved this, as it doesn't happen very often...unless she is really tired. I kept her there for about an hour and finally put her in her crib after I could tell she was getting a little uncomfortable and restless.

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I was getting Elli's breakfast ready after her dr. appointment on Monday and I found this. Elli was feeding Bella her food one by one. Elli LOVES LOVES LOVES dogs and can pick them out anywhere. I'm so glad she has Bella (and one day Bella will be glad she has Elli).

Sweet Little Lady

Our weeks seem to be flying by as this little girl keeps us extremely busy! She has so much energy, but is the perfect playmate! Today, her focus seemed to be on pushing her baby around in the stroller and thought it was extremely funny when she would run the stroller into things :) Elli tends to be somewhat tough on her toys as she often bangs her piano, throws toys while putting them away, and enjoys standing on her riding toy and many other things despite our attempts to keep her seated. We will definitely be working on playing more gentle within the next couple of months. Our friends brought their 6 month old over on Saturday night. Elli was nice enough to bring him a couple of her toys; however, she threw them rather than nicely putting them in front of him.

All dressed up for church! Elli LOVES the camera and reaches for it every time I get it out!

One of Elli's favorite games is playing chase! As you can see, Scott and Bella are chasing her. She LOVES it!

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We decided to give Elli a bath in the guest bathroom. The tub is smaller so we thought it might be easier to wash her. We quickly realized that this particular tub might not make the bath any easier on us. She figured out how to pull the drain (the drain cap comes completely off) to let all the water out and did this OVER AND OVER again.

She loves baths!

She then figured out that she was tall enough that she could just climb out if she wanted to.

This is the face we get so much these days! This is the "I know I'm not supposed to do this....I'm going to stare you down and test my limits" face. Oh Elli!

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And finally, I had been meaning to do this for the last couple weeks, but just hadn't gotten around to it. We finally took a pregnancy picture. I documented my pregnancy with Elli so well, but haven't done a great job with this little guy. One day I'm sure he will see this blog, so I couldn't leave him out! Here is me at 20 weeks! I'm officially in maternity clothes and can no longer button my regular pants. I think it's time to go shopping again....

We are getting more excited to see this little guy!

Elli is SO much fun and we couldn't imagine life without her. I think she gets a million kisses from Scott and I each day....we just can't resist her cute little face!!!! I still get extremely excited to pick her up from daycare each Wed. and Thursday (I usually get a 5 minute long hug from her when I get her) and still hate dropping her off at daycare in the morning....I don't think this will ever change. I just love spending time with her!