Memorial Day on the farm

We went down to the Phipps farm for a good time with the grandparents, uncle, aunt, and cousins! We had a great time, gorgeous weather, and got to swim in the pool. It was strawberry time, so we had home-grown strawberries with every meal! Yum!!

Elsie loves our sunglasses. On and off. On and off. Yank and bend...

Elsie and Leah had a lot of fun together. They both really like the dog, Maizy (except for her licking).

Everyone like to play with Uncle Jack / Dad!

New slide!

We found this slide at a yard sale for $5!! Elsie loves it, and it is small enough that we can drag it onto the lawn for play time and off of the lawn for grass-growing time!
Ava was over recently and the two girls were so funny! They just follow each other around doing whatever the other one is doing! It is really cute! I am sensing a "If Ava jumped off a bridge..." speech sometime in our future!.

Elsie is rolling around in the grass being silly. She likes to lay in the grass and be tickled!

Teamwork!

Our little girl

Elsie is really becoming a little girl these days. She is fascinated with a drawer where I keep hand lotion and chapstick. She gets the lotion out, opens the lid, squeezes out a little lotion, closes the lid, and repeats it over and over - until the lid snaps shut. Then she throws a little tantrum until we come help.

Elsie also likes to play with shoes. She carries shoes out of the mud room and puts them down in the middle of the floor or requests that we put them on our feet - "Mama. Shoe. Shoe. Shoe. Shoe. Mama. Shoe." There have been many times recently when Jack and I have step on or tripped over a random shoe. She is still working on figuring out how to get the shoes on her feet!

So pretty in her new dress from G-G-Ma!

And then there are days when Elsie comes home from school looking like she spent all day in the dirt and sand. When it is really hot, they spray the kids with water, so she is just a mess after a day on the playground!

So sleepy after a fun day at school! Time to go upstairs for a long bath!

Feverish photo shoot

Elsie was home from school for a few days when we returned from PA with a fever. But she just looked so cute in this outfit - I had to take a few pictures. You will notice the paper towel in her hand - she was walking around the house wiping the floor and walls. She is learning so much in the Toddler room at school!

Weekend in PA

We spent a quick weekend in PA recently. Jack and I attended a beautiful black-tie wedding for a friend of mine from Cornell, Chrissy Peruto (now Christina Post).

The reception was held at her father's Mercedes Benz dealership and was just gorgeous. Among some of the amazing elements were martinis poured through ice sculptures and cotton candy!

I had a fabulous time with all of my field hockey girls! Oh, and the flowers were just amazing!!!

This also gave us a great excuse to see my family!! We had a really fun time hanging out in some gorgeous weather. Elsie came home with so many great new outfits hand sewn by Aunt Becky, J-Ma, and G-G-Ma.

Reading a book with Papa Pete!

Mother's week

I had the whole week off prior to Mother's Day. In addition to catching up on MANY outstanding items, Elsie and I had a lot of fun!
We decided to finally take the cats to the vet for a checkup. While I was getting everything ready, Elsie managed to crawl into the cage! Not the safest toy, but it was definitely cute! She was having so much fun (while the cats hid under the couch petrified of the cages and all of the noise Elsie was making!).

She now helps me carry the cereal box to the table and back to the pantry. I think she just likes the pantry

On Sunday, Jack made chicken salad, and Elsie and I made apple pie - two of my favorite foods! Elsie was strapped into one of the bar stools on the portable high chair / booster seat. We made such a mess! Of course, I tried the pie crust recipe 4 times for one pie - I absolutely cannot make pie crusts!!

Another beautiful weekend

We have had so many beautiful weekends in April and now May! This one was especially nice, since I was unemployed! My last day at Barry Callebaut was on Friday, and after taking this week off, I will be starting my new job at Sara Lee on Monday.
We continue to work on our yard. This past weekend we trimmed trees and ripped out some dying / dead ones. Elsie was a huge help, carrying weeds to the paper bag, sweeping the driveway, picking up sticks, etc. (Yes, I breathed a huge sigh of relief this week when neither of us showed signs of poison ivy.)

Elsie loves the camera! She has also recently learned that there is a picture on the back of the camera. So, as soon as she sees me take a picture, she runs right to me to see how it turned out. We get a lot of pictures like this now - Elsie running straight towards the camera:

Or like this one. Elsie really likes playing with balls, especially playing basketball with dad. She picks up the ball, throws it, and "dribbles" (swats at it the same way she swats at the cats). She holds it up towards the basket when she is ready to have someone help her shoot.

If I shake hard enough, with the birdhouse come down?