Par-Tay

Elle turned 2 on April 3rd and had a wonderful party at the Enchelmayer's house. Of course the theme was Minnie Mouse, which she can actually say now. (For a while Mickey was "meemic").

I was so excited to have a theme to the party I knew Elle would love. The plates, the cake and cupcakes, the napkins, the ears I made for the party goers, and Elle's two birthday outfits all screamed Minnie Mouse. The joy on Elle's face when she walked into the house and saw the "Pin the flower on Minnie" poster hanging on the door was priceless. Pure elation. Here are a few pictures from the special day.

Elle just making sure to get a little bit of reading in.

A shot of the table. The cake and cupcakes that Beth and I worked on the night before and Brock making a funny face.

Grandma thought it would be fun to have red vines at the party. I think red vines and Cheetos might be all Elle ate that day...oh and cake!

Reading the card first of course.

This book was from Auntie Ro, and it was the first gift Elle opened. She was satisfied with just that gift. We had to lure her with Minnie Mouse in order to get Elle to open another gift.

The messy face and the Minnie dress from Papa and Grandma = Happiness!

Phrases Heard Around the House

Elle reading her book all by herself

Elle is now 26 months old and I can totally tell that she is becoming an independent woman. Here are some of the phrases heard in the last couple weeks at the Petersen house:

"No Mommy, I do it!"

"Forget about it"

"Go away Coach!"

"No bite"

"Thank you Mommy, welcome"

"I git you Daddy!"

"Elle chocolate milk too, now"

I love to see how Elle strings words together to make short sentences. It is becoming much more fun to have a conversation with her these days.

Our Little Bully

Apparently our "little darling" is kind of a bully at school.

When I picked Elle up from school last week her teacher informed me of her bully-like behavior. I guess Elle as started pushing her classmates and is kinda sneaky about it.

Apparently Elle looks to see if the teachers are watching and then, if she thinks they are not, she pushes her classmate and runs away really fast so the teachers can't pin it on her. WOW! I'm not looking forward to when Elle is a teenager. Sneakiness is not good!

Then, oh yes, it doesn't end with pushing, the next day Elle's teacher said that Elle has started taking toys from her classmates and then taunting them with it. Oh, wow do we have our parenting work cut out for us!

Last night Cole was biting Elle's arm and she was loving it, giggling and squealing up a storm. She kept putting her arm in front of Cole's mouth as if telling him to bite her again. I had to put an end to this playtime for fear that when I pick her up from school today I would get the "Elle has started biting her friends" report.

Fun times!

The Deaf Cousin

When we were in Oregon for our family vacation, cousin Karen, observing Elle communicating in sign language, began to call Elle "the deaf cousin".

Karen is anything but deaf. In fact she is the loudest in our group of cousins. Karen is very animated, always telling a story loudly, and of course with her hands. When Karen began calling Elle "the deaf cousin" I assured her that if she hung out with us long enough she might pick up a few signs and this might make her stories a bit more exciting. At least it would keep her audience on their toes! Here husband gave me the thumbs up.

Elle does love using her sign language, and I love it because instead of yelling at me she can tell me what she wants. (not that she doesn't still yell to get my attention) We started signing to Elle when she was 6 months, and we didn't get a sign back until she was 12 months. Now it seems like she is learning at least one a week!

Elle now signs:
dog
mom
dad
grandma
grandpa
water
milk
cereal
ball
car
hat
all done
more
please
cracker
juice
banana
coat
shoes
bird
apple

She can also, dance, bow, clap, snap (no sound comes out), "get in your seat" (bumbo seat), and show us that Elle is "So Big" all on command. Which are all WAY TO CUTE!

Of course Elle does SAY words, with her mouth too. She says mama, dada, daddy, dog, duck, go, no, nonononono, and she has said a few others, but very infrequently.

Here's an example of the "Clap"

Elle's Latest Stats

At Elle's 15 month check up she was...

20.5 lbs = 9th percentile
28 inches long = 48th percentile
Her head's circumference was still in the 7th percentile (I don't remember the exact measurement)

All measurements are on the curve which means that she is growing just fine!

When the doctor told me that she was in the 9th percentile for her weight, I said, "What? Only the 9th percentile?"

The doctor gave me a "rrreeeaaalllly?" look and said, "Have you looked at yourself lately? You are not going to have a large child!"

I did however, find a picture in which Elle does not look 9th percentile (I actually don't think she looks small ever, but this picture helped her pack on the pounds)... My dad said she looks like the Michelin tire man!

Family Fun!

About a week ago we got back from a great family vacation.

My grandmother (my dad's mom) treated the entire family (42 of us) to a weekend at the Inn at Spanish Head in Lincoln City, Oregon. Our family has spent many vacations at Spanish Head throughout the years, and it was so nice to be there all together once again. There was not ONE family member missing.

We had such a great time. The beach was chilly, the hot tub was warm, the bonfire made delicious s'mores, and it was SO good to see my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids!

My grandma hired a professional photographer and we all had a individual family session with her. Here are a couple of the cute pics.

The Three Musketeers...
Elle started walking while on the trip, and I believe it is because she knew it was the only way to survive with the older cousins. :)


A sweet picture of me and my man!


Marly and "baby" Elle


Elle absolutely LOVED the sand! She even enjoyed eating it...So gross!!


My beautiful sister-in-law and me!

I feel so blessed to be a part of such a great family. I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures from this trip as time goes by. They all turned out so great!

Okay...It's been WAY TOO long!

Okay, Okay, I'm back!

Things have been crazy busy around our house and thus, no blog posts lately. Things are starting to slow down so I think I can keep on top of the blogging . Summer is just a week away!

Here's a quick update of what's been going on since the last time I posted:

We moved
I helped direct a musical at school
Elle is now walking (mostly on her knees)
Elle is talking and doing much sign language to communicate
Cole has a new job
I am applying for VP jobs
Elle is a dancing machine
Elle had her first birthday (what a blast!)
Elle has 10 teeth (all 4 molars came in 4th of July weekend...not the best!)
Elle just had her 15 month check up and it went very well. Here are her latest stats:

Height: 30 inches (48th percentile)
Weight: 20.5 lbs (9th percentile)
Head: 17 inches (13th percentile)

Life is good. We are adjusting to our new place, school is almost over for the summer and Elle continues to be the joy of our lives! We are looking forward to a fun summer!