Elina's First Lake Trip...

At the end of August our Canada Team got together for out first retreat. It was a lot of fun and productive as well! We were blessed to get to stay at a lake house and went out on the boat a couple of times. Elina didn't really think too much of being on the lake. She was mostly quiet and clingy...just taking it all in...that or just holding on for dear life...poor thing! While it was Elina's first lake trip, it was also Jason's first time to water ski...

Or attempt to water ski! :) He did so good, just couldn't quite make it. We all had more fun with the tube though. Josh of course had to throw Jason out of the tube, but he was gracious enough not to flip me when I took a turn.

After our retreat we all went to Adeline's second birthday party. They had a jump house, and I was pleasantly surprised that Elina was more than willing to play on it. Up until this party, anytime we were around one she didn't want anything to do with it. If you notice on top of the TV behind me in the video, you can see a precious painting of Adeline. This was a gift from one of their friends...I told the lady I wanted to put my order in for Ellie! :)

Right and Left...

Look what her Daddy taught her...

Sign Language...

Ever since the first time I witnessed baby sign language, I planned to teach it to my babies. However, I never ended up getting any books or anything to teach myself. Elina has always been so vocal that I really thought she would be an early talker (which in some cases she really is). She hasn't really been the type to grunt and point in order to get what she wants. So in a way I suppose that made me feel better about not teaching her sign language.

However, now that she is eating better, I have noticed some grunting and pointing. I really thought it was a little late to start signing with Elina, but on the contrary she has taken to it very quickly. It has really added so much fun to our home, especially at meal times! We love seeing her sign! She knows and frequently uses four signs now (please, thank you, more and all done). These videos were taken 7-27 (she just turned 14 mo.) and 'please' was all she knew at the time. Within days she picked up on the other three signs all in one day! I'm hoping to get video of her other signs soon.

She loves to sit and eat off of Daddy's plate. While he was feeding her I noticed how much she was using 'please'...sometimes even with both hands (which I turned the camera off too soon on one of the videos or else you could have seen that!) Disclaimer: Jason would like everyone to know that he doesn't normally have that much food on his plate!, but since he and Elina were sharing.... :)

First Trip to the Spray Park...

She didn't really fall in love with the place until it was about time to leave...poor thing! Doesn't it stink when that happens to kids!

This, however, was our second trip to the spray park (about five days later)...Thrill my heart!!!

Yummy!

Couldn't you just eat her up!?!?

We were playing beauty shop in the bath tub again. While experimenting with those luscious locks of hers, I found that she had enough hair to pull back in her first pony tail!
(pics taken 7-11-09...Elina was 13 mo.)

Happy Resurrection Day!

We hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior! We had a wonderful service praising our Lord and then a great time with Jason's family in Burk. I have to share something that struck me yesterday morning during Sunday School that I never caught before. We were studying some of the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and talked about Peter's denial. There was one point where Jesus was carrying his cross and the crowd was following, one of the gospels mentioned that Peter followed at a distance. While we talked about that...distance...I found myself wondering why I sometimes follow at a distance instead of being near my Lord (much like John...the Gospel of John mentions that he was near the cross!). Why would I ever want to be distant from the Lord, distant from what he wants for me, distant from his love? I felt led to share...I pray that you all are well and fall even more in love with our Savior...for he is Alive and Risen!!! Praise God for his Goodness, Mercy, and Love!!!

I Love this Man!...

Daddy loves his "Little Bit"!...

Mommy loves her "Honey Bunny"!...

It's safe to say that the bunnies were precious and the puffs will be thoroughly enjoyed, but I think Elina was most intrigued by that green stuff in the basket. She didn't leave one piece of grass in the basket. Thank you again Nana and PaPaw for her Easter Basket!...

The Girls!...Elina loves her Nana and Great-Grandma!

The boys were pretty full after Easter lunch!...Daddy, PaPaw and Uncle D acting silly!

PaPaw got down Daddy's old rocking chair for Elina to play with, and she LOVED it...

...just for fun...

A few Extras...

First Plane Ride

Elina experienced her first plane ride during our trip to Washington at the beginning of March. Before we even made it past Wichita Falls Jason and I looked back to find this...

This is one of her favorite toys to chew on in the car. We found it pretty amusing that that bear stayed in her mouth for a good 30 minutes. We kept looking back to see if it had fallen out or not. Elina's car seat sits behind the passenger seat so I just held the camera over her and got this picture...hence the reason it's upside down.

At one point on our way to Dallas, we pulled over so Jason could take a break and Elina could take his place at the wheel. Ha...I know I'm not that funny...but I thought she was so cute when we pulled over for her to take a break from the car seat (and to eat). She takes this driving thing very seriously...

We stopped at Wal-Mart for some last minute things and to also waste some time before going to the airport. When we came back to the car, this is what we found! That bear was not going to be left behind that's for sure! It was also crazy that we dropped the same bear in line at the airport and a little while later someone asked us if it was ours! Poor little fellow, he'd really been through it that day...and it was just day one!
In the tarmak (sp?)...we thought it would be fun to wheel Elina on instead of carrying her! j/k But she did think this was a fun ride!
Getting ready for take off...
This was before I started balling my eyes out and praying intensely out of worry! I was fine until we were taxiing out. I started to worry about Elina's ears. We tried to get her to drink from a bottle just for this trip so her ears wouldn't hurt. She would suck some but not consistantly. I worried that she wouldn't nurse at the right time because of her habits we've gotten into lately. Without going into more detail...God was so good and answered my prayer to give Elina a willingness to eat even though she wanted to look all around. Jason was so wonderful and supportive the whole time!
Anyway...back to before take-off pics...
Elina thought it was fun to stand between my legs in the little bitty space between the seats.

I promise we brought some toys for her to play with, remember the bear! Isn't crazy that kids prefer to play with anything that's not a toy!...sunglasses, cell phones, remote controls!
Here's Daddy trying to get Elina to drink and swallow...she actually took more than we thought she would. But if this tells you anything...that bottle never even came close to getting empty. I have to admit...it's kinda weird to see her with a bottle in her mouth!

First Tomlin Concert...

We got to take Elina to her first Chris Tomlin concert at end of February. While Jason was Indescribably excited...Elina was...well...

Turned out that she started running a fever on the way to Dallas...103!...so we pulled over and got some Baby Motrin. She really did well throughout the evening. Poor girl, she just didn't feel good! We were able to catch most of the opening act and then the beginning of Chris. I took just a few pictures and then we sat out in the foyer for the rest of the concert.
While Jason may or may not agree, the best part of the trip was getting to see Valerie! We had an extra ticket, so Val met us for dinner and then followed us to the concert. She was also so sweet to sit with Ellie and me out in the foyer. I guess she didn't want to sit next to Jason in my place! :) I don't know that I would have wanted to be next to him the whole time anyway...I still haven't found out how he acted in there...it was Chris ya know!

Elina's First Recital...

"Hmmm...what shall I play?"

"Oh I know...here goes..."
"Pretty Music!"

First Party Hat...

While this wasn't Elina's first party, it was her first party hat to dawn. We were pretty surprised that she left her hat on for most of her friend, Eli's, first birthday party. How funny that she managed to color coordinate her outfit to Eli's party decorations also! She's so fashion conscious!

She was sick at this time also, but there was no lack of expressions...

Random Pictures of the Month...

Although Elina pulled her socks off, at least half of her feet were warm thanks to her mock Baby Legs (yea for affordable look-a-likes)...I must say I love these little piggies!!!

All bundled up and ready for a stroll...

Umm...can we say "waaaay past time to baby-proof!"

Can you see the little purplish/blue line above Elina's brow? Yep...she had a little run in with the door frame and won her first bruise!...I think I was more upset about it than she was!

These foam bath toys are Elina's absolute favorite toys to play with/chew on!

Wave hello sweet girl!

Is it me or is my baby starting to look like a little girl...I don't think we'll be wearing this outfit again for a while!!! :)

Elina loves getting to visit her Daddy at work!

This was taken the day Elina started crawling...I finally let her get her bow!

(I didn't think she was going to get to wear this outfit...hand-me-down from her cousins Haylee and Reagan...but sure enough we ended up with a record breaking temp on the 22nd...85!!!