Elle's Christmas Outfit

After much shopping (Dave might even say "Too much shopping...") I just couldn't find a Christmas outfit that I liked. My great friend Susan's sister-in-law Gin makes special order tutus and shirts, so I decided that that was the route I would take. Elliot likes the outfit so much that she wouldn't take it off or stop dancing. (Check out Gin's shop on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/GingezShop?ga_search_query=gingezshop&ga_search_type=seller_usernames)

Elle's First Book Signing

I have been out of town for the last four days at Grandma Pabst's funeral. She passed away quickly and peacefully on November 29, 2010. She is already missed.

Dave picked me up from the airport after my return from Ohio and took me straight to the bookstore. Adriana Trigiani was there signing her newest book Don't Sing at the Table, Life Lessons from my Grandmothers. (I found this oddly appropriate since I was returning from my Grandma's funeral.) Elle was there, too, and got her first introduction to a real live author.

October - our social calendar is packed!

This past weekend, the Jak family headed out east to pick apples at Lewin's Farm. (Picks to follow.) That night, we made homemade applesauce from our apples, and hopefully this week we'll be making some sort of apple pie or apple crisp. Apple crisp just sounds like October to me!

Next weekend we're off to Philadelphia to go Sesame Place with our friends. In October, Sesame Place has The Count's Halloween Spooktacular! Elliot and friends will be dressed up in costume, we'll ride the dry rides, watch the parade and some shows. Excited for our first October trip to Sesame.

The following weekend we're continuing our tradition with Aunt Vik and Uncle Fuzz by heading to Boo at the Zoo at the Bronx Zoo. We're so excited for our new addition to our tradition - baby Lily!!! Again, the kids will be in costumes and we'll check out all the animals.

Pumpkin picking is our activity for the following weekend. We'll head out east again, though this time maybe we'll pick up a famously delicious Briermere pie. We really like the place we went last year, we're planning to go there again. I have to look up from my pictures where exactly it was! We'll do a corn maze, hayride, and pick our pumpkins.

The final October weekend will be spent Trick-or-Treating, of course! We'll do Trick-or-Treat Street at one of the local schools, and then go around our neighborhood on October 31.

A busy month, but exciting for sure! Elliot loves all the pumpkins and ghosts that we've been putting around the house.

Also, today, October 5, we're thankful for our PopPop (my Dad!) who is celebrating his 59th birthday! Happy birthday, Dad!!!

Absentee and Updates

Wow, I am TERRIBLE at updating this!

We had a very uneventful summer (which in some ways is quite a good thing). The new school year is off to a good start. Elliot began 3-year old preschool at The Laurel Hill School. She is doing quite well with not only the transition of starting full day preschool 3 days a week, but also academically. She has begun reading and math with the 4-year old classes, and has already learned to read her "-an" words (i.e. Fan, Dan, Man, Nan, Ran, Can). We are really proud of her!

Mommy Steph and Daddy Dave have begun our tenth year of teaching, which seems unbelieveable. Luckily, we both have the same schedules we had last year, which makes a new school year start off a little more easily. With all the teacher job cuts around the country and especially on Long Island, we were both not only safe, but our jobs remained untouched.

I'm All Done Sleeping

The other day, Elliot got up from her nap and I was laying in bed reading a book ("Eat, Pray, Love"). She came into my room and said, "Mommy, I'm all done sleeping." And I said, "Okay, honey." She then crawled up in bed next to me and went right back to sleep.

Don't Test Me Girl!!!

Elliot is supposed to be napping. She's been in her room over an hour. She keeps coming out of her room, which she knows she's not allowed to do. She's overtired. She's hot (it's over 90 degrees today)! The central air and her fan are on, but its still hot. The last time she came out of her room, I said, "The next time you come out of your room, I will take all your animals out of your bed and put them in a garbage bag. Do you understand?" "Yes, Mommy." Five minutes later? "Mommy?" I sighed. I didn't want to do it. But what kind of parent would I be if I threatened and didn't follow through?

Chute!

Elliot has a toothbrushing chart. Not because she refuses to brush her teeth, but because Daddy and I get too busy at night getting her ready for bed to remember to make her brush her teeth. I made a sticker chart for her. After every 8 stickers (for four rows - 32 total) Elliot earns a prize. Tonight we went to Toys-R-Us to get her a new toy. We all chose Chutes and Ladders, a great classic game that we thought would be perfect for her. Let's just say that she was a bit too tired to make it through the entire game, but we did at least start a game. (What good is a reward if you don't get to enjoy it right away?)



I also forgot to add yesterday that we packed up Elliot's hook-on high-chair, the last visible sign that we had a toddler. I mean other than 42 million toys. :)

Tonight she also set the table for dinner. What a big girl and a great helper!

Slow down! You move too fast...

Elliot grew up very much this weekend. She can now turn on and off lights by herself, got dressed by herself, and got on the potty by herself. When did she get so big?!

As the years go by...

"The"

Today my baby found the word "the" in her book! It was in one of her little tiny Winnie-the-Pooh books that we were reading before bed. For the last few days, we have sung the following song a few times. I wrote this song. That will be obvious when you read the lyrics.

(To the tune of "3 Blind Mice")

T-H-E. T-H-E.

That spells "The." That spells "The."

THE Cat in THE Hat and THE Red Balloon.

THE Mommy THE Daddy THE Elliot, too.

THE Man in THE Moon, THE Ohio State U.

T-H-E. That spells "The."

Sesame Place May 2010

We took another trip to Sesame Place this past weekend on Saturday. Now that we have season passes, we can do it as a day trip, and really have a great time, and do it all in one day. We drove down Saturday morning, despite warnings of thunderstorms. We agreed that we could have breakfast and do inside things until the storms were gone, then go on rides. Apparently, because of the threat of storms, no one else decided to go to Sesame Place so we had the whole place practically to ourselves! There were NO lines for rides, and we were able to ride many rides many many times. Elliot's favorite, the carousel, we rode 3 times! And she insisted on the roller coaster twice. If we weren't leaving she would have ridden that many more time, too, I'm sure. Happily, there was NO rain to be seen all day, and the weather was perfect. Also, Jack Hanna from the Columbus Zoo was there to do some animal shows. It was great!

Welcome back! (To me...)

Wow! It's been over two months since I've posted. Guess I've been busy!

Well, since the last post was about Vikki's baby shower, I'll update that baby Lily is here! She and Mama are doing well! I've had the lucky opportunity to hold Lily and I assure you that she is beautiful and a great baby.

Showering Babies

Aunt Vikki (Mommy's BFF Vikki) had her baby shower for baby Lily Victoria due May 9. Okay, those details are a little fuzzy, but I think they're right! Vik's BFF Melissa hosted the party at her home, her son Tanner joined us halfway through so Elle had a playmate. Tanner is our friend who is CANCER-FREE now!!! (And Melis and family will be bringing home baby brother Chase today! who was born 9 weeks early!) Anyway, Elle and I went of course, and got Vikki and Lily adorable clothes, three pair of shoes, and cloth diaper needs! Here are pics from her shower:

Melissa, Vikki, Steph (blogger) and Elle - who decided on her own to jump in the picture!:
Vikki - of "Vikki's baby shower" fame:

Elliot and Tanner playing with a truck:
Daddy Dennis ("Uncle Fuzz"):
See those cute boots, Lily? Awesome Aunt Stephie got those for you!
Elliot had an important call to take on her fake Blackberry:

The Bat Show

Yesterday, I picked up Elliot from Ronnie's house and brought her back to my school. We actually picked up a Wendy's lunch, and ate it at my school. After lunch, we went to an assembly my school was offering, showing Chinese culture, a Chinese acrobat show. Elliot was very excited to see the "bat" show like the bird show at Disney World. As the acrobats performed, she kept looking at the ceiling looking for the bats. Once she realized it was just going to be people, she got very excited by what she was watching. Between the two performances, she got to meet, talk to, and high-five the performers. I wasn't sure how much attention she was paying to the show, but she came home and told Daddy and later Nana by phone what she saw in quite a detailed account! I wish I had had a camera and could have gotten a picture of her with the acrobats, but alas, no. :)

Sledding - Great Family Fun!

We spent the day before Valentine's Day on the slopes. Or the slope. At Camp Tupper, right across the street from PopPop's boyhood home, Uncle Jamey and family, Me (Steph) and family, Nana & PopPop, and Aunt Cheryl, Angie, Uncle Mike and Nathan all went sledding. We had such a great time, despite the fact that we were freezing!!!

Robot Day

(On our way to Ronnie's house for daycare:)

Elliot: "Mommy let's make this a fun ride today."

Mommy: "Okay, Elle - what's up?"

Elliot: (in a monotone) "Let's talk like robots today."

Holidays 2009

Well, after our craziest holiday season ever, which David and I have sworn to each other will NEVER happen again, we have survived and have even begun to recover. We left Dec 23rd, right after work, to drive to Ohio - a crazy tradition that we will be keeping up - to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Amrine/Pabst sides of the family. On the 26th , we all packed up, Jamey & Constance and fam headed north to Michigan, while Mom & Dad, Phil, and Dave, Elle, and I headed way south to Orlando. We arrived late afternoon on the 27th and checked out the timeshare we were staying in with Bill & Betsy. Mom & Dad agreed to go on a timeshare talk, and ended up purchasing some timeshare there at Bonnet Creek. It was truly lovely, and we look forward to spending more time there with both sides of the fam. We all headed to the Magic Kingdom on the 29th, and spent a great day together. The following morning, Phil flew off to the Air Force's bowl game - the Armed Forces Bowl, Mom & Dad relaxed around the timeshare, and the rest of us went to Animal Kingdom. We spent the following day recovering from that day and resting up for our big drive home. Dave, Elle and I and Mom & Dad started our trip home on New Years Day, driving part way together. After having breakfast then lunch together, we split off toward our homes. Dave, Elle and I continued on toward Long Island, and stopped for the night in Falls Church, VA at Diana & Bruce's house. We enjoyed our quick visit with them (they are such great hosts every time we visit!), then drove the last 6 hours to our home on Jan 2. We celebrated our "real" Christmas when we arrived home, it turns out that Santa had stopped here and left our presents while we were gone!

We finally have survived a week of work (quite a busy one at that! - Dave conducted the NMEA division I concert!) and are trying to recover sleep, catch up on housework, and find a bit of time to spend together!

Elliot sleeping on Christmas Eve:

The whole Amrine gang (I love this photo more than any other ever!)
The Jaks:
Elliot and Uncle Phil at Magic Kingdom: (and that rash on her face that just wouldn't quit in FL!)
Dumbo:
New ears:
New kitchen:
New drumset:
Mommy, Daddy, Elle, Cinderella's Castle and a full moon!: