While Daddy Is Away....

 Scott attended the Berkshire Hathaway Meeting last week/weekend. I don't love when Scott travels during the week, but when he travels on weekends...well...that just stinks!!  Although Daddy was gone for a few days, we still found ways to have fun!!

Thursday we went to MOPS and then came home and hung out the rest of the day.  Friday we went on a shopping trip to Walmart (a place I never go....esp. with the kiddos....and if you've seen the wal-mart at Easton you'd know why), but I needed to get something specific there!  The kids did great on our shopping trip!  It probably helped that we went to the toy section and got toys for our kiddie pool and sidewalk chalk.    We spent the rest of Friday practicing the 'Happy Birthday' song for Vander, making him a birthday card, and playing.  

 (Yes, I am aware that her shoes are a tad small.  When I make it to the mall, she will be getting new sandals.  She doesn't complain that they hurt her feet and she always wants to wear them!  Those may or may not be from last summer...)

 She was very excited about this sidewalk chalk and extremely excited about Vander's birthday.  She kept asking if we could have cake for his birthday.  Because we spent a good amount of our weekend talking about him, she now has it in her mind that we're going to go see him next week (not sure where she is getting this from because we aren't going to IN).  And every time she sees a bus she thinks Vander and Dane are on the bus and she yells "Hi Vander and Dane" (because she knows they are old enough to ride the bus).  

We hung around the house on Saturday morning and then met up with our friends at the park by church.  This park has EVERYTHING- I've never been to a park like it!!

 Laney and Connor (not only are Elli's sandals too small, but I put this hat on Connor-it was brand new just a couple months ago, and it too is too small....you can't tell in this picture, but you can't put it all the way down on his head : / )

 Elli and Siena (the girls loved this)

Connor loved swinging!!  (And by the way- this little guy is crawling as of Monday night!  Not army crawling. A full out crawl.  I'll have to post some videos soon!  YAY Bubbies!!)

We then ate dinner with our friends and headed home from a quick bath and bed time!!  We went to church on Sunday morning, skyped with Dane, Vander, Nana, and Uncle Ross for Vander's birthday and then DADDY WAS HOME!!  (And he brought us home a bag full of See's Candy because they haves tons and tons of See's Candy at this meeting- sounds rough, huh?)

We had a good couple days despite the fact that both kiddos did not sleep well (that always seems to happen when Scott travels!!)  

Videos

Here are some cute videos from this week.

Connor is clapping now and has been doing so for about a week and a half.  'If Your Happy and You Know It....' has been a favorite of Connor and Elli's for quite some time.  Also, Elli has become quite the singer.  It is hard to hear all her words in this video because she is moving all around and not really focusing on the song.  But she does do a pretty good job singing both songs when she is focusing.  

Connor love, love, loves Elli.  She can almost always get him to laugh.  He is on 'cloud 9' when she interacts with him.  She is 'scaring him in this video (hence the "RAAAAH")

This little guy is as sweet as can be, especially when he is laughing.  He is standing so well these days as long as he is holding onto something.  He has been army crawling around here for a couple weeks now and I think within the next few days or maybe hours (I say hours because after lunch he stayed on his hands and knees- moving them back and forth to crawl a few feet, but then it was time for nap- I didn't see how he was doing this morning because he was in the nursery while I was at MOPS) until this kiddo is crawling.  We're so proud of our big boy!!  OH...and what he is doing in the video might just be his new favorite game!

How cute are these kiddos??

Little Stinker

This post doesn't have any pictures to go along with it, but I wanted to document a couple things so we'll always remember this stage in Elli's life.  Lately, it has become apparent to us that this little lady needs watched pretty much at all times because she moves quick and is really starting to put things together to figure them out....on.her.own.  So, here are some things that have been happening recently.

* Elli has been able to open doors in our house for quite some time.  We realized she could when all of the sudden we saw Bella running around outside and neither Scott or I opened the door.  Well, the other day Scott watched Elli as she pulled the kitchen chair over to the back door, moved the rug out of the way, climbed up on the chair and unlocked the deadbolt.  She then proceeded to move the chair back and open the door.  Yes, we had a nice long conversation with her after that happened!!

* Today we went for a walk as a family to see the horses.  While getting ready to walk back, (we literally turned our back for a second to start walking), we turned around to find that Elli had climbed the entire fence and was starting to go over the fence.  It was a tall fence.

*While cooking dinner today, I turned around to put something in the sink and when I turned back around I found garlic salt all over the top of the meatloaf I had just made.  Elli had taken the cap off the seasoning and poured it all over the meatloaf within seconds.  I turned to find her with her face in the chair and hands covering her head-she new she was in trouble!

Last couple of weeks

Here are some random pictures from the past couple weeks!

We made another attempt at pig tails the other day.  

Elli was feeding 'baby Sally' juice in this picture right before our trip to the library.  Lately, we have taken this baby everywhere.  She loves this baby and takes such good care of it.  She especially loves when we start taking care of the baby....she just watches us and smiles.  

Connor after his 1st of 2 cardiology appointments.

I took Connor to the cardiology for a check up a few weeks ago.  This picture was taken on our way out of the office- he was exhausted.  We were there for 3 hours and had an hour drive (round trip)....it was a long afternoon.  Connor had an EKG done along with an echocardiogram.  He did great with the EKG, but was not a fan of lying still for 45 minutes while they took an ultrasound of his heart (not surprising- he was 7 months old).  He had other plans for this echo and decided that he in fact would control where the Doppler went.  Needless to say, this echo didn't work and they got some bad results from it.  So, we were scheduled for a sedated echo a week later.  

My mom came with me for the sedated echo while my dad stayed home with Elli.  We had to withhold food from Connor from 2am on before the testing.  I woke up at 1:30am to give him a few ounces of milk to try to help with his hunger the next morning before the test.  His appointment was at 8:00 and he finally got the sedation meds around 9:00.  He passed out immediately and the test went well!  The dr. said the hole was still there, but they didn't think it was having any kind of effect on him.  So...we go back in 1 year for another check-up!  He came out of sedation well and didn't get sick from the medication!

We took a quick, random road trip to my grandparent's house here in Ohio on Saturday late-afternoon to help celebrate my Grandpa's birthday.  Bella came with us and enjoyed the road trip.  

Connor got to take his first ride on the carousel!!

Elli was so excited to ride the horses!!  She got to take 2 rides on the carousel and loved it!!  She is currently watching a video of a carousel on my phone right now and laughing with excitement!  She keeps saying 'next week' meaning we can go next week (ha....don't think so)!

We then went to the local children's museum which was free!  I can't believe we fit it all in within an hour!

We've been playing outside more as the temperatures are slowly starting to increase!  I made the kiddos sit for a picture before we went outside.

They were both ready to go outside.  This isn't the best picture, but they have the same look on their faces and I think they look so much alike in this picture!!

Lately, 'baby sally' has had to come with us on our walks.  Elli pushes 'baby Sally' in her stroller and I push Connor in his stroller.  These walks tend to take for-e-ver!!!!  Oh my!!  

  Within only a couple feet from our house baby needed her paci, then decided she didn't want her paci, then  needed a bottle, then didn't want to sit in the stroller, then she needed picked up, then she needed to be put to sleep.  Unbelievable- who would have thought this fake baby could be just has high maintenance as a real baby!!  Not only was baby needy, but Elli kept taking off her glasses every time we walked into shade.  Ha....do you realize how many trees line our neighborhood?  So...every couple feet the glasses came off, then they went back on, and the process was repeated over and over again!  

  

Connor was ready to get going and was not too excited about having to stop every 5 inches for baby or Elli's sunglasses!  

Last weekend, we enjoyed a mini trip in Chicago with our friends, Sarah and Travis, while both sets of grandparents watched the kiddos.  We left early Saturday morning and headed north to Chicago.  Our first stop was a quick bite to eat at a restaurant Sarah found and then we headed off to our hotel!  Scott booked us a room at the Waldorf Astoria, a place that he had stayed at before for work.  I'm very thankful for Scott's job and am lucky to get to experience some of there perks that come from his company.  He was able to get us a suite at a discounted rate because of his affiliation with NetJets.

Here are a few pictures from our room....

I think its safe to say that none of us have stayed in a nicer place.  We ended up spending the majority of the day shopping and walking around Chicago.  For dinner ate night, we ate at Fogo de Chao.  

We may or may not have spent a good amount of time playing the game Sequence.  I'm happy to say that all of us were able to stay awake until at least 11:00.  This was an accomplishment seeing as how we each had had some rough nights with the kids earlier in the week.

I walked by the bathroom on Sunday morning and found the guys watching T.V.  We had a T.V. hidden in one of the bathroom mirrors (You can kind of see it....its right in the middle of the picture).

Our view from our room....

In the lobby of the hotel...

We took a boat tour on Sunday while we were at Navy Pier....

It was extremely windy....

And then we took a ride on the ferris wheel......

We had a great time and made some great memories.  We're looking forward to our vacation with Sarah and Travis next year, as we decided it will be more at a place that is more relaxing with no walking involved (last year we went to Vegas which involved lots and lots of walking just like Chicago).

We made it back to my parents house around 5:30  and my mom had planned to have cake there for my birthday with Scott's parents.  The kids had a great time with their grandparents, as they were kept very busy.  This is what I can gather from Elli about what she did over the course of 2 days with both sets of grandparents: she went on the swing and she went real high, drove the 'lello' (yellow) boat, took tractor rides, drove the tractor, helped make cupcakes, went to church, played in the basement, and gave mackey and bailey hugs.  Not sure which of those things is true, but in her little mind all those things happened and they very well could have!

8 Months

I'm not sure where the last 8 month have gone; however, here we are only 4 months from Connor's first birthday! Connor is so much fun these days and as sweet as ever! He loves, loves, loves watching Elli run all around and especially loves it when his dad walks in the door from work. We continue to call him 'bubba,' but Elli has now also started the nickname 'bubbies.'

This little guy is not yet crawling, but gets on all fours and rocks back and forth. He loves to stand up and I just started holding his hands while he tries to walk. Connor is quite the jumper and loves to bounce up and down while standing. Although he is not yet crawling, Connor sure does know how to get around. He rolls all over the place and can get from one side of the room to the other side in seconds!

Connor is now eating 3 meals a day and is starting to prefer table food over his baby food. He has tried many table foods, but mac and cheese seems to be his favorite! He still continues to get about 24 ounces a day of milk (half of formula and half of breastmilk). He takes 4 bottles a day (3 big ones and 1 small one in the afternoon). These days, he gets extremely distracted while taking his bottle, so we usually have to give it to him when there are no other distractions in the room. His bedtime is typically anywhere between 7:00 and 7:30 and he usually sleeps until 7:00 or 7:30 in the morning. He still is relatively easy to put down to bed, but we've had a couple days in the past week where he fought it. Connor sleeps with a 'lovey' each night and typically needs this 'lovey' or blanket to hold onto while taking his bottle.

Connor loves to play and will now get mad if you take away a toy that he was playing with. Some of his favorites include his piano and toy rattle. He still loves it when I sing to him and play peek a boo!

Happy 8 month birthday to my favorite little guy!!

Easter

We had quite the Easter celebration which lasted a week in our house. We ended up decorating Easter eggs a week early and Elli had such a good time with it. Our plan was to decorate them at our friends' house, but we didn't get around to it at our final four basketball party. So...we did them ourselves on Sunday after naptime.

Connor holding the stickers for Elli!

On Good Friday, we traveled home and arrived at my parent's house around 5:00. We managed to squeeze in playing in the sand, an Easter egg hunt....

Clearly excited to go find eggs with Kensley

Action shot....running to the egg

"found one"

And Easter egg decorating....

all before bed at 7:30

Connor and Uncle Jeremy

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

After little sleep, we woke up and headed to Scott's house for some Easter celebrations. I met my friend Kortnee for a quick lunch at Ivanhoes while the kids napped.

Connor took his first tractor ride!

Elli of course loved the tractor rides as she asked for them multiple times over the course of 2 days.

After tractor rides, we did an Easter egg hunt with the pillow cases Nana L. made the kids.

Even Connor participated in the Easter egg hunt

Posing for pictures with the Cousins
We also found out that Connor looks almost identical to Uncle Ross' baby pictures
Connor and Uncle Ross

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

We then decorated step-stools made by Papa L.

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

We woke up to look for baskets the Easter bunny left on Easter morning, took pictures, and then went to church. Here is the photo shoot before church and a little after.....

Nana L. made Elli's dress and Connor's tie onesie

Cousin picture.....

Grandma and Grandpa Zurcher and Carla came over for Easter lunch after church. We ate lunch and let the kids play outside for a bit before we headed home.

We left around 2:30 on Sunday hoping both kids would sleep most of the way home. Obviously, things never work out as we plan. Every time we head back to IN, we are continually reminded of how long 3 hours in a car can seem with a 2 year old and 7 month old. We were all excited to get out of the car and look to see if the Easter Bunny came to our house!! He never disappoints and brought both kiddos baskets ( I only got a picture of Connor with his basket)....

Scott ended up taking Monday off! As a result, we decided to save all the unpacking for Monday and give ourselves a free night to watch T.V. on Sunday. It was so nice to just relax!