Baby Dedication

Yesterday morning in church we had Baby Dedication so after Sunday School Elianna came into the main service with us. Elianna and I were sitting on the front row with Mr. Koenig and when Chris got up to do an announcement, Elianna turned her head around and gave Chris a look that said "Why are you up there talking?" Of course, she decided that out of the 3 babies being dedicated, she would be the loudest while we were waiting to go up there. Gotta love those pastor's kids! Once up on stage, she had everyone's attention while she clapped her hands and smiled. Oh, she is a funny kid!

On the bottom of the certificate it has this verse:

3 John 1:4 - "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

This is our prayer for Elianna - that one day she will grow up to be a young woman who loves and serves God with all of her being.

SuperBaby!

Hi! I'm Elianna and I'm SuperBaby!

I wear a cape ...

I fly and help toys find their way home ...

Sometimes I get a little off balance ...

But I will not be deterred. I will conquer and get them home!

You may wonder where I get my super powers from ...

Wonder no more!

The end

Hijacked!

Hey it's Elianna! I hijacked Mommy's computer to post this since she didn't get a chance to on the appropriate day.

Happy Father's Day!

This year we spent Father's Day in Florida with Papa! I had sooo much fun!! Mommy will tell you all about it later.

Happy Father's Day to Papa! I enjoyed seeing you and spending the weekend with you! I was a little cranky for part of it - sorry - it was a very long weekend full of flying around and not getting alot of sleep. You are the best Papa and I love you very much! Whenever I see you I get a huge smile on my face because I just love you so and think you are funny and the best! I hope to spend many many more Father's Days with you! I love you Papa!

While in Florida I also got to "meet" my other Grandpa. He's lucky because he gets to hang out with Toree every Father's Day! I love you Grandpa Promersberger!

Happy Father's Day to my Papi!!! Oh boy! You make me giggle and laugh and smile! You are tons of fun! I'm starting to realize that it's ok to hang with you and that I don't always have to be in Mommy's arms. That makes Mommy so glad for so many different reasons she says. You are such a wonderful Papi to me and Toree. It's so cool that sometimes in the morning you ride your bike over to her tombstone. You are the best Papi a little girl could ever want! I can't wait until I'm bigger and we can go on dates and hang out and have tea parties and play dress up and ... and so many other girly things! I just can't wait! I love you Papi!!

1 Week Later

Wow! Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Please hold off the boo's for another day - I'm too tired to boo back. Alot has gone on in the last week - softball games, Father's Day, a trip to Florida. All so much to post about. Today we will start with last week.

Chris is playing softball again this year. Boo! Hey, I told ya'll to hold off on the boo-ing! That was me? Never!! Really I do enjoy watching him play softball it's just that 1) it makes for a late evening with a tired baby and 2) the team is terrible. Yup, I said it. Every year we win about 1 or 2 games. I know, it's not about winning. It just is hard to watch your team get smashed into bite size pieces every game. Anyway, I get to sit and talk with friends and watch my Chris show off his muscles! Oooh! I take back my boo now!

Oh goodness! Anyway... A friend of mine watches a little girl who is about 2 months younger than Elianna. As you will see in just a minute (or two depending on how long this paragraph gets and/or how fast you read) - can you tell I'm super tired? - Elianna and Emily look almost like twins. One time someone got all up in arms in the nursery because Elianna didn't have a bow in her hair until they were told that it wasn't Elianna but Emily. Haha! I think we should dress them alike and stick big bows in both their hair and see what happens!

Bike Ride

Some friends let us borrow their bike carrier - we have been looking at them but this way we could see if we liked it or not. Elianna enjoyed riding back there bumping along looking at everything. She did what she usually does on evening rides - she fell asleep.

The negative part of this ride was that when Chris and Elianna got home, he found a tick on her back. It was an interesting night of trying to determine if he had gotten all of the tick out of her or not. Thank the Lord he had! Truthfully I am so glad he found the tick and took care of it. Before that night, I had never seen a tick and did not know how to get it out. I am now well schooled in the ways of tick sightings and removal. I guess that's a good thing?

Chris said Elianna got lots of oooh's and aaah's while on their bike ride. Why not? She did look super cute sitting back there.

This is right after she woke up from her nap.

Gross!!!

Just so ya'll know - she really does love it when Harley licks all over her. She usually laughs and giggles the entire time but, of course, when I get the camera out . . . nothing. That is also the reason why I let him lick her so long this time - to try to get the laughs and giggles on camera. I was thinking of you and your viewing pleasure.

You should also note that I did clean her up after this episode. I may be gross in letting him lick her just for some good video footage but not disgusting enough to make her hang out in all that "lovin' "!

I keep going back in and adding these side notes. Side note #3: She is definitely a persistent little girl. Although he was trying to deter her with those kisses, she stuck to her guns in playing with the tags on his collar. Persistence can be a good thing . . . I'll remind myself of that when we are having a, what I like to call, "who will win it" contest (aka: Elianna wants to do something and Mommy says no).

Harley & Me - 9 Months

Wahoo! We have hit the 9 month mark! That means 1) I've been "out" as long as I was "in" and 2) only 3 more months until my birthday!!! Party!

Here is what I'm up to these days!

*I weigh 20 pounds and am about 30 inches long (I don't lay still long enough to get an accurate reading).

*I kinda skipped the 9 month size clothes and have moved right on up to 12 month clothes. Mommy says it's ok because it was hard to find 9 month clothes anyway.

It may seem as though not much has changed in the last month but right now I'm working on perfecting some stuff - namely walking and talking.

Walking

Mommy is trying to get me to be braver with letting go of her things when I'm standing up. I do occasionally walk holding just one of her hands although I'm not so sure about it but she says I'm doing just fine. She's getting kinda pushy with this whole walking thing because she thinks I need to be a little more independent and not so clingy-on-her-legs-when-she-is-trying-to-make-dinner stage.

I'm really good about holding on and walking along things like the couch, Harley's chair and the ottoman. Pretty quick at it to which has lead to a couple of spills but we just brush it off and get back up. No wimpy kid here!

Mommy says if I just focused and stopped being so nosy to what is going on all around me, I would realize that I could probably stand by myself. Hmm... I'm not so sure I want to give up my noseyness for standing on my own though.

Talking

My favorite words are "ma ma", "aah" and "da da". Papi says that I have his energy and squirminess (he may not have exactly said squirminess but I know that's what he meant) but I have Mommy's talking. *Whisper* I actually heard him say that means that I don't actually talk alot because Mommy doesn't talk as much as Papi does. Whew! Glad he said it first and not me or Mommy. I love you Papi!

Since it has been scorching hot warmer out (until today anyway), we have been playing outside and I love it! Harley is entertaining to watch and I like to try to eat sticks and leaves and grass and anything else that I can get my hands on. The grass is kinda tickley on my knees and feet but I don't let that deter me from crawling all over - gotta get to those sticks and leaves somehow.

Guess what? I'm going to be flying again real soon but this time Mommy is taking Papi with her! We are going to FL to spend Father's Day with Papa and Grammy. I'm super excited but I'm really hoping that I can make it through without ruining my clothes again. Still kinda scarred about that tragic episode. Mommy will be sure to tell you how that all goes.

Well, I've been sitting still long enough. Off to get into some trouble. See ya! ~Elianna

Memorial Day Weekend

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend. We began our weekend by picking up a hammock and the cutest wagon for Elianna given to us by a couple at church. After running a few errands, Chris promptly set up the hammock and gave it a well deserved test run.

After Sunday morning church, Chris and Harley spent the afternoon with friends out doing "guy stuff". When they came home, Chris called me out to the yard to look at Harley. This is what I saw:

My cute puppy in the bed of Chris' truck. The reason: he was filthy! Although Harley was due to go to the groomers in just a few days, he still had to have a bath.

He does really good and just sits there and then BAM! I get a bath. Thanks Harley - just what I needed.

Memorial Day we wanted to go strawberry picking but, alas, the strawberries were all picked out for the day. So instead we viewed and petted different farm animals.

We also got some cute pictures (of course) of Elianna.

This is Elianna's new "smile." She scrunches her face all up and shows those 6 teeth she has. It's super cute!

I dressed Elianna up in this very "Memorial Day-ish" outfit but everyone kept calling her a boy. Guess we won't be doing that again.

For dinner, we decided to barbeque. The difficulty: a terrential downpouring of rain. My Chris was determined to smoke those ribs to perfection. Here is his solution to keeping the rain out of the grill.

I wish I could show you pictures of the ribs but they were so delicious that we didn't even stop to snap a picture. We simply gobbled them right on up! His hard work certainly paid off!

9 Month Pictures