Elsie Turns Two

Yesterday Elsie turned two.  I feel like there are many times in my life that have caused me to pause and ask "how did we get here"?  This is definitely one of those times.  It seems unreal that she is already two in some ways.  In others it seems like she is much older than two.  She is so smart and independent that it is easy to forget that she isn't older.

This weekend was all about celebrating our birthday girl. Saturday morning we started the day with birthday donuts.  After a brief interruption for Merrick's last basketball game and a stop at the baseball equipment swap (because it can't really be all about Elsie and what would a Saturday be without some sports mixed in), we went to lunch at Wendy's (Elsie's choice).  After lunch we headed home for nap time.

 

Once Elise woke up, we opened presents.  She was spoiled with all of her favorites.  She got new Pinkalicious books, a Minnie Mouse chapstick set, some bath toys, Peppa Pig clothes, money, and an unstuffed Build-a-Bear.  It may come as no surprise that our next stop was to Build-a-Bear to complete our new furry friend, which she named Fluffy.  Truth be told the Build-a-Bear experience was a little overwhelming for her and I think she was probably a little too young to really enjoy it, but I think there were parts of it she really enjoyed and she loves her new bear.  The day capped off with dinner and birthday dessert.

Today the party continues.  After dinner, all the extended family is coming over for dessert.  She chose to have Peppa Pig cupcakes.

We so love our sweet Elsie girl.  She is the perfect caboose to our family and can't wait to continue to watch her grow and develop into the amazing person she is already becoming.

Valentine's Day 2020

This week was Valentine's Day and it was one of our best ones yet.  If you read the blog, you are probably familiar with our traditional love hunt that we do.  This year Carrigan was so excited that she wanted to create her own love hunt for the family.  She did hers on Valentine's Day Eve and, after sending us all around the house, rewarded us with all kinds of hand-crafted treasures made of paper.  There were hearts, visors, bookmarks, "stairs", and a puzzle with all of our initials on it.  Basically if you can craft it from paper, she did.

On Valentine's Day, I got to spend a big chunk of the day with one of my little loves as Carrigan and I headed downtown to see the play "Dragons Love Tacos" for a school field trip.  I don't get to go on field trips very often because they are typically when I am at the preschool so it was a special treat for me.  While Merrick stayed behind at school, he was making his own love connection with a girl in his class.  I was just really happy that he was excited to come home and tell me all about it.  I hope that never changes.

Later that night, when Jeremy was home, we had our official Love Hunt.  This year was extra "special" as Merrick read clues into a microphone and Elsie struggled to keep up (mostly she just wanted to eat the candy).  At the end of the hunt the kids found information on a family date that we planned with a trip to the aquatic park and pizza.  We are excited to have the date soon.

Aside from Valentine's Day, February 14th is also a big day for our home state of Oregon as it celebrates its birthday.  Merrick has been learning a lot about Oregon and this week made a salt dough map of this great state.  Unfortunately the paint smelled really bad so, while the memories will last, the physical map needed to leave our home very quickly.

The Valentine's celebrations capped off yesterday with a date night out for Jeremy and I while my parents watched the kids.  I am truly blessed in the love department!

Something New

I apologize for my lack of a post last week.  We went over to Emily and Tala's house to watch the superbowl and when we got home I was out of both motivation and ideas for writing on the blog, so I took a vacation week.

This week was full of new adventures for our family.  On Wednesday, we went roller skating for a PTA event with lots of our friends from school.  Merrick has been roller skating a few times, this was Carrigan's second time and Elsie's first.  None of us skate frequently enough to feel really comfortable with it.  I really hadn't planned to skate or have Elsie skate at all, but once we were there, she was insistent.  I was shocked with how well she did.  Granted she was using preschool skates that really don't roll very fast, but it was still impressive.  She continually pulled away from my hand and went out on her own.  Like I said, impressive.

Yesterday, Carrigan went out of her comfort zone yet again and tried Lacrosse for the first time.  The city league had an event where you could try it out before deciding if you wanted to sign up. While she was completely unfamiliar with the game, Jeremy says she was picking it up and she really liked all the running around.  We may sign her up for the season, we'll see.