Easter

Yeah, I know Easter was several days ago but it's been a CRAZY week. Better late than never. 

Daniel had to work (each manager has to work a holiday and Easter seemed like the easiest for him to miss).  The Easter bunny left a very pretty basket full of goodies.  Elayna had a great time unpacking it.

See my pretty dress?

Sippy cup!!

Princess sippy cup!!

Trying to chew on the basket

Bunny ears!

His name is no longer Nemo.  It's now sushi.

Guess how much I love you?

Love this one!!

Sorry if there are any duplicate pictures - I tried to catch them all but who knows!

Happy birthday, Emma!

Happy 7th birthday, Emmakins!  I can't believe you're 7 years old today.  I am so proud of who you are and excited to see you continue to grow. 

You love:

Your brothers and sisters
Your imaginary class
Your dolls
Coloring
Taking photos
Music
Riding your bike
Roller skates

You have such a great future before you and I'm exicted to be along for the ride.  I love you, my Emmakins!

6 months!

Elayna is 6 months old today.  I just can't believe it's already been 6 months.  Seems shorter and longer than that all at the same time.  My princess is:

Trying to sit herself up by doing mini crunches
Sits unassisted (mostly)
Scootching herself forward a tiny bit - crawling is on the horizon
Has tried sweet potatoes (likes them), bananas (tolerates them), carrots (hates them), and peas (likes them)
Not sure of weight or length, doctor visit on Friday
Loves her Mr. Monkey lovey
Is still nursing
Puts EVERYTHING in her mouth
Plays with her feet
Is still wearing size 2 diapers
Fits into 3-6 month clothes
Is a total water baby - loves her bathtime and enjoyed the hot tub.  Looking forward to summer in the pool.
Is still sleeping in our room
Her hair is getting longer and lighter every day
Enjoys daycare and has made several friends
Loves the baby in the mirror
Her giggle makes me happy

Some pictures from our mommy and Ellie photo shoot this morning before work/daycare:

One down

A zillion and seven to go.  Boxes that is.  Oye, do I hate packing.  We're set to close on our house and move out and I've packed one box.  One large box.  Of about 1/4 of my closet.  Eh, I'm probably being generous.  It's about 1/8 of my closet.

Now, to be fair, I do have a 5x10 storage shed full of boxes already packed.  But we have lots of stuff.  I mean, lots and lots.  Have I mentioned I hate packing?

But it's all going to be worth it.  I can't wait to have a huge kitchen.  And a game room.  And one large master closet instead of two very small ones.  And a laundry room, a real laundry room.  And a dining room.  And, and, and.  I'm so excited to be moving!

But I'm sure I'll cry as we leave this house for the last time.  Our first house together.  The place where Elayna will have spent her first 6 months.  The place where Loki lived and died.  So many memories.  I just hope the future owners create as many happy memories here.

Elayna's tutu

I've been wanting to get Elayna a tutu, but I saw a how-to video on youtube and decided to make one instead.  Took longer than I thought it would, but it was easy.  Probably the hardest part was cutting the strips of tulle because I had to lay the tulle flat and the cats tried to help :)

Finished product:

 I used white, pink, and purple and love how it turned out.  Got home this evening and put it on Ellie, over her clothes.

It swallows her up!  Next I'm going to try making bows.

Busy week

Seriously, it's been a very very busy week.  Got an offer on our house on Tuesday.  Correction - got a good offer on our house Tuesday.  So we accepted it!  Set to close on April 29th, which happens to be our 5 year wedding anniversary.  What a great anniversary present.  Can't believe it's been almost 5 years.

So we started our serious house shopping.  We looked at 7 houses on Wednesday and 5 on Thursday. Narrowed it down to 4 we really like and looked at those Friday (yesterday).  Put in offers on two of them today. 

House #1:
2 story, 3 car garage, great location.  Biggest pro - extremely low taxes.  Biggest problem - short sale held by Bank of America.  Ugh.

House #2:
1 story, 3 car garage, detail work is great.  Bigges pro - amazing storage space and around the corner from my parents.  Biggest problem - very very very small backyard.  And, we found out today when we went to sign the paperwork, it's also a short sale.

House #3:
2 story, new construction.  Biggest pro - brand new!  Biggest problem - still lots of houses to build around it, so there will be construction for the next few months?  years?

House #4:
2 story, great backyard.  Biggest pro - on a cul-de-sac.  Biggest problem - 2.  1st, there's a contract on it that they're thinking will fall through, but we won't know until April 8th.  2nd, the master closet is extremely small.  And I'm not a close horse, so you know for me to say that, it's really small.  I don't think it will fit all of our clothes/shoes.  Hence it being our last choice.

We gave the two short sales until the 6th to get back with us or the offer is withdrawn.  It's definitely been tough, each house has its own amazing features but also a major drawback.  So, who knows what will happen.

There's a field by Ellie's daycare that has blue bonnets in it.  We went this morning and took pictures.  I'll post some later.  After that was my company picnic which was a blast!  Signed the paperwork after that.  It's been an exhausting day.

Zoo tomorrow!  Ellie's first time, I can't wait!