Elayna's First Birthday

For Elayna's birthday, we had a very small get together. Her cake was fabulous. It was a three layer cake. We intentionally ordered it this way so she could have the top layer and destroy it as needed. Unlike Hannah, she was very dainty and only used one finger for most of the feasting. Finally, tired of the cleanliness, Aunt Amy put her fist into the center of the cake. Not knowing what to do with the blob of cake in her hand, she just held it until she was finished eating with her other hand...completely unlike Hannah's experience. As the bottom right picture shows, she looked like she ran a marathon by the time she was finished. It was a nice enough day that we were able to spend a little time in the back yard. It was Elayna's first time in the swing...she absolutely loved it. She received many wonderful gifts, crawling into one of them before it was even out of the box. All-in-all it was a very low key, laid back event.

Cool Shades Man

Hannah found her Tinkerbell sunglasses this morning. She put them on Elayna...too cute. Maybe the weather will cooperate and we can actually start wearing sunglasses on a more regular basis.

Beautiful Ladies

Jaime's baby shower had many beautiful children. For the most part, they stayed downstairs playing with the toys and watching Wall-E, but they did come up for dinner, cake and of course a shower game! The object of this game was to scoop the cotton balls from one bowl to the other...blindfolded. Seemingly simple concept, but surprisingly difficult to accomplish. Hannah and Jayden struggled somewhat, but we made sure they were able to scoop at least one cotton ball into the bowl. Brooke, Kailey and Zoe were all somewhat successful without assistance. The five of them were very well behaved and a joy to watch interact with one another!

Elayna's First Baby Shower

Tonight we had a baby shower for Jaime. Elayna had lots of fun. Hannah was too busy with the other little girls to get many pictures. As is common to most babies, Elayna loved the wrapping paper more than any of the toys. I thought it was cute when she sat on the side of the box and tried to use the wrapping paper as a hat. She also tried to reach through the yellow wrapping paper tube; all too adorable.

Train Riders

I was working on the computer when I heard Elayna grunting. When I walked into the living room, Hannah had pulled her up onto the train. SO CUTE!!!

Wrestling

Well, Elayna and Hannah had their first bought of wrestling...or at least semi-wrestling. It was so cute to watch Hannah let Elayna attack. Elayna was laughing so hard and Hannah was giggling the entire time. Hopefully this bond keeps getting stronger. Hannah is a prefect big sister!!!!

Beauties

Well, as is tradition, the family was up early to church. After church we headed back to mom's house for a big breakfast. It is too hectic trying to find a place to eat on Easter morning. Hannah got a new blue dress. She loves to wear dresses, but it is either too cold to wear dresses, or she is running around like a monkey and a dress wouldn't be appropriate. She sure looks cute though. She also had her new pink sandals on, but as she does in all houses, she took her shoes off the instant she went inside.

Elayna is wearing dresses from the hand-me-down box. I actually have no idea where this dress came from, and I don't remember Hannah EVER wearing it. Elayna surely looked adorable in it. She is also sporting her first pair of shoes. She is cursed with the tall fat feet, so we are struggling finding ANYTHING that fits them.

Easter Baskets

Easter was great as always. Hannah woke up excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought her. She was overwhelmed with candy! She also got a book and The Princess and the Frog. It was the first movie we took her to in the theatres. The good thing about Hannah is that she gets sick of candy after a couple of bites. Elayna was quite intrigued with the Easter Basket. She of course got very little candy but did get a new sippy cup and a book as well. Her main infatuation was trying to open and close the plastic eggs.

Dying Eggs

Saturday we dyed Easter Eggs at my parent's house. Hannah is becoming quite an expert...only breaking three this year! Elayna on the other hand still thinks everything should be eaten! I had her working with me and the green eggs, but her hands quickly turned green after one dunk of the egg, so I changed to yellow. Hannah picked the colors for every family member, including Holly. It was quite a nice afternoon.

Puzzle Fun

Hannah really loves working on puzzles. This is one of the United States. After she does it once with help, she almost refuses help from that point on. She really is amazing!

PigTails!!!

Elayna finally has enough hair to put into pig tails...sort of! Funny thing is, once I take the rubberbands out of her hair, it still holds its shape!

riding a bike

Well, I haven't been all that great at updating the blog lately...I will blame it on the camera breaking. Here is Hannah riding one of her bikes home from Aunt Amy's house. She is getting the peddling down. I think she outgrew this bike before she really got to ride it much. She has another one that also needs the seat adjusted on it. Hopefully within a month or so she will understand the concept of peddling. Although, the weather isn't that great for riding bikes yet.