Playing with Daddy

We're keeping busy, busy, busy this summer - especially Seth (he and I have had only 1 day at home together in the last 6 weeks, and we will not have another for 4 weeks). Needless to say, blogging has taken a second seat to trying to keep up with life, so I'll just leave you with this little video for now.

Big news!

We were visiting a few friends in the cities this weekend, and Elena had a great time playing with the other kids. She must have really liked them because she kept smothering them with kisses, espeically little Elliot.

With Adrianna

Getting a kiss from Jerome

Elliot with his mom

Anyway, onto the big news. After spending Saturday with Adrianna and Sunday with Jerome (both of whom walk very well), Elena took her first steps. We were at Jon and Duquesa's home when she took her first steps, and she was so proud of herself that she just kept practicing and practicing for about 20 minutes. It's been a long time coming so she caught on pretty quickly. Here she is walking within about a half hour of taking her first few steps.

Cheesehead

I think we lived a little too close to Wisconsin when Elena was born. She was winding down by the time I got the camera out, but you get the idea.



By the way, if any of you visit us in the near future and happen to eat cheese, we will make sure to start a new package for you...unless you prefer your cheese full of tiny bite marks.

Deer

A couple of nights ago we got to pet a doe and a couple of fawns. That was a neat experience for Elena and Mom and Dad. A friend of ours in Minneota raises deer on his farm. He has around 90 deer ranging from newborns to 3 years - the younger ones (a few of whom just hang around the back yard) are really tame and will walked right up to us. Too bad I didn't bring my camera.

A week ago we went to visit our friends Joy, Dan and Ana (their 1 1/2 year old daughter, soon to be Elena's best friend...once they figure out how to play together). Dan made Pad Thai for us, which was delicious. They had baby kittens, which Elena loved - she was squealing and shaking with delight. They also had chickens, which were very friendly...maybe a little too friendly. One of them pecked Elena, and they followed Ana around like puppy dogs. She's trying to back away from them in the picture below.



And, as promised, here's a shot of our new baby niece, Kelly.

Looking for new dance moves?

Elena will let you borrow hers.

Camping

Elena had her first camping trip 2 weeks ago on the annual DeCock family camping trip (that's Seth's mom's family). Thankfully we had cabins and the weather was gorgeous all weekend. Elena didn't sleep much, but she had a blast with so many people around all weekend.

giving kisses to Aunt Tina

with 2nd cousin, Maddy

with cousin Madison

her first sucker (she stole it)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a picnic with my parents and some friends from Cottonwood for the 4th. We had a great meal followed by another great meal: there was a Mexican group next to us who brought over a few plates of steak, rice, guacamole and a couple of Coronas. I gave them some of my pasta salad, but I don't think it compared even remotely to the deliciousness of their guacamole. We were so stuffed, but the food was too good to throw away so we were hurting for a while afterwards.
Thankfully, Elena didn't wear out before the fireworks started. I don't know which was a better show - the fireworks or Elena watching the fireworks. When the fireworks went off, she would throw her arms up in the air and squeal with excitement. She was laughing and "wow"ing and "ooooh"ing up a storm. Unfortunately it was too dark for our camera to get any video footage of her, but we got a few good pictures.

Here she is waiting in anticipation for the next explosion.


Wow!

Animal Sounds

I've been trying for weeks now to get Elena to do all of her animal sounds for the camera. She did a pretty good job this morning, although she's eating her breakfast at the same time....and her bear is usually much more ferocious :)