Ward Christmas Party!

Twas the night before Christmas, well, that was the theme anyways. It was actually twenty nights before Christmas. Everyone in the ward wore their pajamas to the ward party and had breakfast for dinner. It was a fun night for Eleanor, lots of kids present. Sadly, Clayton had a finals review class and couldn't make it. Here are a few pictures.

These are our friends EJay and his daughter Lauren. EJay busted out his footed pajamas.
In a sweet cloud motif to boot. I didn't get a full body shot, but I think it's just as well. Another law student, Dusty, was also sporting a full-zipper, footed pajama. Those boys.

Lauren is such a cutie.
This is Aubrey and her little Cadance. She has the brightest smile! Cadance and Eleanor are hallway buddies. During church meetings we usually end up in the hall so these girls do not disturb the classes. The "under one" set aren't as reverent as you would hope.

Cute Angela and Zach.

And my sweet, standing Eleanor in her Christmas pajamas.

Her favorite part of the night was playing in the back of the room. She would sit and watch the kids running or try to crawl after them. Every few laps a group would stop and talk to her. I love how kids love "babies".

This is her "Scarlett O'Hara at the picnic" moment.

"Now boys, don't you fight over who gets to bring me my brownie."

Mom still a bit of a dork? Check.

More catch up posts if I find the time. We fly to Utah Friday morning, and I have a ton to do. I can't wait to enjoy the holiday season with our family!
(Nothing will derail our Holiday! -That's for Megan and Jenni.)

At What Age Should She Get Her Own Line?

Eleanor is cracking us up yet again. Today she got a hold of my phone and started chatting away. I had no idea she knew this "trick" as we've never let her have either of our phones before. The video at the end of this post is her laberlaberlaberlaberlabering away.

She is picking up new things every day. I need to keep better track of her milestones. Some of our favorite little things of late are:

Shouting, seriously shouting, at the top of her little lungs, to Clayton when he is upstairs studying. She will stand at the baby-gate at the bottom and just holler away. It's so funny to me. Every now and then she will do it when he is gone, and when I tell her he is gone, she will give me the funniest angry, confused look. She is very aware of her daddy.

She can play pattycake. She can't clap yet, but she can kind of roll her arms, which seems harder to me, but whatever. At the end when you throw up your hands, she throws them straight out like a zombie. Cute.

Mimicking different sounds. If she hears something high pitched on tv or in real life she will use her "high" voice to copy it. One time someone on tv started crying and she starts in with her version of it. It sounded like she was mocking them. Can that count as her first cynicism too? Not yet?

She will copy me making animal sounds. For a cow she just hums.

She also likes to sing, but only to certain types of songs. A lot of Christmas songs have been hits with her in the car. She also likes to "sing" a long note if the car goes through a bumpy part of the road. Our car shudders a bit between 43 and 50 MPH (awesome) and she likes to hear her voice vibrate.

Cruising around the house. Along the walls and furniture. This isn't really new. As soon as she could crawl, she could stand up. And like a day later she started moving along whatever she had pulled herself up to. The baby proofing never ends.

She can also climb up a full flight of stairs, (we stand right behind her) but she has no idea how to go over or down a step, so that is a bit of a problem. When on the bed she will just take off over the side with no fear about the outcome.

She will eat anything you give her. She loves goldfish, puffs, cheerios etc... I'm also sorry to say that she really loves french fries. Probably the only thing that she has a problem with is that horrid baby-food meat. Ham in a jar? If it tastes anything like it smells, then I don't blame her. Has any one's kid liked this stuff?

She likes to play with my trims and ribbons. She will sit in front of the full length mirror and pull them over her head and look at herself. Ahh. Vain just like her mommy.

She also tries to put clothes on by pulling them over her head. Over and behind her head, I should clarify. It's really cute.

She loves kids and will stop whatever she is doing if she hears kids on tv. (See Gap ad below.)

She still gives really nice open mouthed kisses, but is getting better, ie: drier.

She can say "Hi" at the appropriate times. She can also say dadda and momma.

She can wave hello or goodbye, just never when you are actually arriving or leaving.

And a whole mess of other things I can't think of right now. Right now she is asleep in her crib. Face down and to the side, knees tucked under and her bum in the air. It's like she took a course on how to be freakishly adorable and aced it.

Here is the video.
P.S. The text was from my niece Megan.

Thanksgiving Was A Long Time Ago

We had a lovely fall here in Michigan. It stayed warm and dry much longer than we could have hoped for. And for that, I am thankful. I have a truckload of pictures, but will edit them down to a few so as not to overload. I've put off posting a bunch of them because I keep meaning to ask my neighbors if I can put pictures of their kids on my blog. I still haven't asked. I'll just throw them up without names and take them down if they refuse when I finally do ask them.
That should work, right?

The first few pictures are from a day of raking leaves. The leaves here in Michigan are crazy! I've never lived anywhere that has a city-wide leaf pickup program. I should also note that I actually didn't rake any, except onto children. That kinda counts. No?

I love how kids will jump in leaf piles and excitedly ask to get "buried". All I can think of is, "Spiders, spiders, spiders." You could not pay me to lie down in a giant pile of leaves.

For Thanksgiving, our awesome neighbors the Oversons hosted a big get together. We have five families on our block that are members of the same ward. None of us went anywhere for the holiday, so we all chipped in and made one incredible feast of food goodness. Two of us made turkeys so we would have lots of left overs. Here I am presenting mine. I was so glad I didn't ruin it or send anyone to the hospital.

Clayton got to carve. Note he grew a "study beard" for a while. He finally just shaved it all off. It was fun for a while to have a mountain-man around. Or maybe more of an indie rock band-man.

Our little family on Thanksgiving. By the way. I need help with my hair. If I'm not really careful, it ends up making me look like Toadette or Jasper from Twilight.
Both are looks I am not going for.

Sweet Eleanor loves the action of a house full of people.

The Johnsons. Two of the happiest people alive. They're like this all the time.

Their littlest one with his Indian head gear. The moms (not me) organized fun Thanksgiving-themed crafts to keep the little ones occupied during the day. Gum-drop turkeys, Indian head gear and vests and pictures to color. With 9 little ones among us, the activities were very helpful.

And the Johnson's other cutie being squooshed by me. It's hard not to squeeze him. He is so adorable and fun.

Clayton loves this guy. He is uber active all the time, which for some reason just cracks us up.

Another cute Indian.

And another. This one loves to hold our Eleanor. We wish she was a bit older so we could pay her to babysit.

This little Indian will have trouble hunting.

A few more little Indians didn't hold still long enough for me to catch them on film, and one was topless, (Guess who, neighbors.) so she didn't make the blog. Oh well.
The food was spectacular and I can't even talk about the pies. After dinner, all the grownups played a game of "Celebrity" while the kids watched a movie. It was a great, great day!

Reminder, Keep Doors Closed

Hey.... Eleanor?Eleanor! *

Yes Mom?

I was on the phone and on the computer (I know, nice.) while Eleanor was a few feet away in the kitchen playing. Or so I thought. Nope. She had made her way into a normally closed bathroom to find a whole new source of fun. One we had been hiding from her. Also, notice the plug in the wall there? It is her job to unplug it. That's probably dangerous or something, but luckily she just knocks it down, then leaves it alone. From the plug, you can tell these pictures are a little out of order. I actually found her before I looked in the bathroom.

It's so tasty. Paper, paper, paper. E loves paper. Kleenex, toilet paper, dad's homework (Not even kidding about that one.) or anything.
Notice the Huggies box she has been chewing on?

Bad baby. Just look at that rebellious expression. Oooh.

Sorry?

Yes. All is forgiven.
* P.S. Our vinyl floors are so dinged up that they never look clean. And I do clean them since Eleanor plays on them a ton. I just need to clear my good name. My good name in cleaning that is, not parenting obviously. Who lets her daughter chow down on toilet paper while finding a camera? Just me.

Video Giggling

Here are some videos I've been meaning to post. This first one is of Eleanor and our neighbor friend Lauren. We love when Lauren and her sister Jasmine come over, as they keep E so entertained. It's like in-house babysitting.

This is E being entertained by my feet. Because we are awesome at the whole parenting bit. I also have to add that the mess of blankets in the background is sadly semi-permanent. They are "hiding" a few cords from Eleanor that she otherwise likes to pull out. I've thought about taping them, but the tape attracts her attention too. Any ideas? Oh, and this was day two of Eleanor's thrush treatment, so her mouth is stained purple from the gentian violet. It totally works by the way.

And last, we have Eleanor's all time favorite commercial. She will stop ANYTHING to watch this. She holds perfectly still, entranced and enchanted until the very end. Once it's over she will bounce and smile. I have to admit, I watch it every time too. Good job Mad Men.(You know, advertising...)

I Know Three of You Will Judge Me

Now I know there are Twilight haters out there, but oh well. I enjoy the books and love the movies. My defense to those who mock is that I realize they aren't Proust. They are meant to be for entertainment, and entertaining they are. And yes, there are hilarious parts that aren't intentional, but that is part of the fun. So judge me if you want, I had fun. Lots of fun.

Some friends and I went to see New Moon on the night it came out. We decided to make shirts, because we enjoy the "cougaresque" feeling of ogling Shark-Boy with his shirt off. No, not really. (Is it just me or does he talk like a valley-girl?) I decided to try my hand at freezer-paper stencils, something I have been dying to do for ages. Here are the results. I also did some onesies for the BYU-U of U game. Go Max Hall! (This might be my most controversial post ever! And if you want take the side of the wounded in that argument, let's talk. Seriously people. Ok, moving on.)

If you don't get the joke there, the love triangle is Edward, Bella and Jacob Black. He figures prominently in this book. I'm not just making racially charged statements.

Here are the friends I went with. Can I just say I love my ward? Coolest chicks ever. From left, Moi, Marissa, Lexie, Aubrey and Jade.

We had such a great time!
I am woefully behind on blogging, so expect a few more "fall" and Thanksgiving posts to follow.

Where the Wild Things Are

Why is Eleanor so happy?
Because she met a polar bear.
We were at the Allee's house to watch the BYU- UofU game and Eleanor got to meet Maverick. Maverick is their giant, fluffy, white, indoor dog. The sweetest and chillest (sp) dog I've met in a while. Eleanor was thrilled that this horse sized pet would let her touch him. She spent the rest of the evening crawling after him. Slightly bothered, he would just casually get up and mosey off out of her reach until she caught up with him again.

I don't think she's really had much interaction with animals yet. A few on our walks, but they are usually way out of arm's reach. She could not stop smiling.

I love that she has no fear of this ginormous beast. And thanks to the Allee's for letting her pester him for the night. (They have four kids, so I suppose he is used to kid-love.)

Here is a video of her chasing him. Poor Maverick.

My Nemesis

It's becoming a problem. Luckily they should be off the shelves by about mid February. Just in time for Cadburry Eggs. It's much more calorie friendly than cake, right?

Our Little Snake

Clayton taught Eleanor a new trick.
We think it's cute, but, you know. We like her.



P.S. I'm holding E on my lap to show her the video, and she does the trick again when she hears Clayton's voice. Am I easily entertained? Or is that as cute and funny as I think it is.

Should I stop feeding her or something?

Today I dressed Eleanor in one of her Threadless onesies. Clayton bought her a bunch of different ones last Christmas and we've loved them. Later today, I ran across a picture of her in the same onesie, but from about six months ago! So I took a few pictures of her to see the difference. Ouch, sob etc... When did she get to be so big? When did she grow all that hair? (I promise not to sing Sunrise Sunset here. Oh and the hair.She is trying her best to pull it all out. She grabs and yanks at it constantly. Ok, so maybe just a few times. But still, bad Eleanor. One of us has to have pretty hair. More on that later.) Also- she did have pants on today, this was right before a diaper change, and I wanted to compare her little (ahem) legs.

Man she's cute.

Then this.

Bwaaaa waaaaa waaaaa! Boooo hooooo hoooo. Ok, so maybe I didn't break down quite like that. But look at her sweet little chubby face! Look at her lack of a neck! (I used to have a heck of a time cleaning under there.) Look at her thighs! Well, she still has good thighs. That's my legacy to her, but with crawling, they will whittle down to nothing. I miss my baby, and she's still just a baby. Geesh! Get a grip.

In other hormonal news, last week I chopped off all of my hair. Plugged in the curling iron and grabbed the scissors instead. I grabbed a big chunk from the back and just CUT. I capitalize for emphasis on how freaking CRAZY that was. Mentally sane people do not cut their hair on a whim. As I already mentioned on Facebook, this is what they do in movies. To show that a character is losing it big time, they show them cutting off their own hair. So ya. Psycho me. Luckily I haven't been too attached to my hair in the last 9 years or so. I like a change. But usually I defer to someone who has talent and or training in that arena. Or at least someone who can see the back of my head. In my defense, Eleanor would grab my hair about, oh, seven hundred times a day. She would use it to pull herself up like I was an unwitting Rapunzel. Since the cut? About one tenth of the pulling. Totally worth it right there.

Look at what I did!

See that awesome, even work I am doing? Great idea Marianne!Since my pregnancy, my hair has been much wavier. You can see the natural wave here. I figure I might be able to pull off a messy, "beachy hair" vibe. We shall see. Luckily my super-awesome neighbor Ann helped me even it out. I will seek out professional help (a stylist, not a shrink) in a few weeks, but it's good enough for now. Here is the lame-o self portrait I took today.
I tried to find a "before" shot, as I've actually thought my hair looked nice recently, but no. I could not one shot of me with my hair not in a ponytail in the last few months. And only about five pictures of me total. Out of about eight hundred. Good grief Clayton, grab the camera once in a while!

Update: Eleanor is Still Cute

Here are a few shots of the last two weeks with Eleanor. She keeps us endlessly entertained.

Some of her new tricks are:

-Sticking out her tongue like a little snake when we ask her to. (Or maybe an iguana, she inherited her dad's freakishly long tongue. No jokes please.)
-Climbing on everything.
-Opening cupboards and taking out what's inside.
-Pulling herself up to everything, by everything (Including my hair, which is why I cut it last night, more on that later.)
-Pulling all of the diapers out of the basket.
-Playing peek-a-boo.
-Picking up every tiny thing she sees in the carpet to see if it's tasty.
-Crawling away during diaper changes as soon as she is naked.
-Chattering on end when she's sleepy.
-Playing with neighbor kids.
-Playing games with daddy and saying "dadda" whenever she sees Clayton.

I think of thirty things every minute that I want to remember, but never when I am trying to write them down. She is eight months today! However, she just barely got her 6 month immunizations, (because I am awesome) and weighed in at 18 pounds and is 26 inches long. She is in the 50-75% range on everything.
But on to the pictures!!!

Here she is with two of her best friends, Lauren and Jasmine. They all lined up at their baby gate while the moms put the car seats in the car for a trip to the mall. They thought they were so funny. (They were.)

Can three seats fit? Sure. Kinda. Eleanor really enjoyed the novelty of having friends to talk to in the back seat. She often gets bored with just me singing to her from the front. Although I think she is really enjoying this week's cd choice of "Wicked". She sings along with me by going "aaaaahhhhhhh, oooooooaaaaaahhhhh" etc... It's painfully cute. Her favorite song though, by far, is 'Eliza Jane' by Elizabeth Mitchell. She also likes Sigur Ros and Death Cab for Cutie.

Here she is driving the plane at the mall toy area. Giving props to mom's old job.

She loves to play with Clayton's hats. She plays peekaboo with them and sometimes just wears them around until she bonks into something.

Happy baby. Notice her adorable bunny slippers? Thanks Smarts! We love wearing them here in cold Michigan.

Eleanor all dressed up for church with daddy.

I love this picture, you can see her two bottom teeth!

Also- I have to note how cute her little sweater is from cousin Caitlin. She wears it all the time.

An example of naughty Eleanor. Here she is scaling the fireplace hearth. Note the wipes case used as a step? And note the diapers all in a pile after another game of "messy"?
That's ok. Mom plays that game too.