Birthday Post #2…

Father’s Day and Elaine’s birthday fell on the same day so we had a dual celebration.  Grandma, Papa, Grandma Bonnie, G.G., Grammy, Bob and Grandma Shirley joined us for a yummy meal, cake and presents.  Undoubtedly, Elaine was treated very, very well by all parties and her birthday was a special day.  We were lucky to be surrounded by lots of special people on a fabulous day.

Father’s Day with Daddy

Papa liked Elaine’s signature on his card

Elaine helped Bob open his only Father’s Day gift

Elaine posing with all her gifts

Elaine loves her new Barbie dig wheel

Elaine’s cake

She loved blowing out the candles…

but, most of all, she loved eating the frosting!

After cake, Papa, Jer and Bob put the big wheel together.

Birthday Post #1…

Elaine had her party on Saturday evening at My Gym.  Mr. Corbett and Ms. Danielle did a FABULOUS job keeping all the kids entertained and everyone had a good time.  The kids enjoyed the parachute game, space flight and bubble frenzy best.  Elaine is so blessed to have such good friends who were all so sweet to her on her big day.  My favorite part was hearing each child laugh while doing space flight.  The laughter was that huge belly laugh that seems to come from their toes–there is NO better sound in the whole world!  When I asked Elaine what she liked best, she said, “Cupcakes!!”   Go figure!

Elaine was so excited about her party!

During warm-up

Lane, Josh and Hannah

My Dad wanted Owen to be part of the celebration

Mr. Corbett telling stories

They dressed Elaine up when the kids sang Happy Birthday.  She sat on the high trapezee and felt VERY SPECIAL!!!!

All she ate was frosting

Can you tell how much she likes space flight??

Bubble frenzy

Birthday Week Begins…

We had Elaine’s 3 year old pictures taken this week.  Our favorite photographer from Kiddie Kandids is moving, but she did a great job once again.  Here they are:

90+90+40=220 (years, that is!)

 

Last weekend, we went to Longmont to celebrate Jerry’s 40th (which was in February, but with basketball season, we didn’t do anything with his parents) and both grandmas 90th birthdays.  Sara, Warren, Cory, Dustin and Sheena were down from Grand Junction and Uncle Dennis was here from Dallas so it was a fun family filled day.  Grandma and Papa put together a treasure hunt for Cory and Elaine which they both enjoyed. 

Cory helped Elaine read her clues

Elaine loved playing with Cory.  They ran from end to end of the house, blew bubbles, rode a big wheel, read and cuddled.  It was fun watching them together. 

Elaine loved that Aunt Sara blew BIG bubbles!!!

So cute!

Dustin pushed her so fast–she still needs to work on steering though!

Cory lost to a girl!!

We exchanged gifts and Elaine was lucky enough to get a couple early birthday presents.  She loved opening them and was quite spoiled by the Walcher crew!!

Opening gifts

Lighting Daddy’s cake–look at all the fire!!!

A new favorite picture!!!!

Elaine and Cory with their great grandparents!

Ready To Go???

 This week we started potty training with pockets of success and pockets of complete failure.  I feel horribly for Elaine when she has an accident because she is so devastated by it. 

One of the biggest problems is that she wants to be outside playing with the neighbor kids so I’ve had to create reasons to stay inside.  We made our own play dough, which she loved to help with and was in awe of the process of it going from a liquid to a solid.  Thanks to my mom, I had an easy recipe (at the bottom of this post).

She was very helpful dumping ingredients!

Of course, she chose pink!

Before we started cooking.

Just warming up…

 

Getting clumpy…

Almost finished…

What it looks like at the very end.

Recipe for the dough:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

1 c. water

1 T oil

2 tsp cream of tartar

Mix well.  Cook 2-3 minutes over medium heat stirring until ball forms.

Unorthodox Dinners…

 While Jerry’s working sports camps, Elaine and I eat very different dinners than we normally would.  Last night, for example, we had ants on a log:  celery sticks covered in peanut decorated with “ant raisins.”  Elaine loved it and it was super easy!!

Weekend Fun…

On Saturday, we went to a picnic in Bear Creek Park and Elaine had a great time.  A Skyway family rented a pavillion so Elaine knew a lot of kids there and loved eating and playing with them. 

Elaine and Maggie

Sharon and Dane–Elaine loved playing with Dane!!

We have a neighbor friend who leant us a tricycle for Elaine to try out.  She got the hang of the pedals and is working on combining the steering and pedaling to actually get somewhere.  Fortunately for us, we have a lot of older kids who provide daily examples of what happens when it works!

Night Out with Daddy and Bob…

Tonight, Jerry and my dad took Elaine to a Sky Sox game.  This was Elaine’s first baseball game.  She seemed to enjoy herself and liked walking around the park.  She got 2 treats which made it a special night.  Bob gave her the standard M&Ms and Jerry bought her ice cream, so she was happy!!  

Vacation Finale…

Sunday morning we got back to Marty and Katie’s house from D.C. and I am so glad we went (and that Katie and Brooks came along!).  Everyone was glad to see Marty and were sorry he didn’t make the D.C. trip with us.  Once the kids got naps, we went to a nearby park with the dogs and the kids and then to dinner.  It was a nice ending to a great weekend.

Today, we were going to keep it kind of low-key, which somehow backfired on us.  We headed out to try to have lunch with Marty and to run a couple of errands.  While running errands, Marty phoned with the opportunity to get on his plane for a quick tour with the Murphys.  It was a neat experience and one that Elaine, Brooks and Sophia seemed to take in and enjoy.  After that, we got Elaine a birthday cake for a little celebrating with Brooks before heading home.  To top off our last day in Jersey, we ate dinner with the Murphys and Ryan Sags (a recent addition–it was great seeing him!).  Marty brought us to Newark just moments ago where we are headed to bed to catch our morning flight.

Katie and Marty were the most gracious and enthusiastic hosts.  (Katie was such a trooper!!)  We are so thankful we got to spend time with them all.  It is so hard to live far away from loved ones and it was great getting to see them for such a long time.  Brooks was most patient and I think the kids really did learn some things this week about sharing, taking turns and learning to love each other.  I loved, most of all, spending so much time with my special nephew and seeing Elaine and him together!

Saying goodbye in D.C.

Playing at the park…

Brooksie too…

Lola too!!

Marty, Brooksie and Elaine in the cockpit.

Neither kid could wait…

She is SO excited for her birthday!!

Sophia and Elaine became quite close this week…

And they tried to rope Brooksie in!

Longtime friend, Ryan Sags with Elaine and me.

The whole group at our final dinner together!!