Congratulations!

This post will be full of bragging as a proud sister. My little (ahem!) brother has worked very hard the last several years - lots and lots and lots of overtime working hard to make sure our world is a bit safer. Last week he received a very special award for all his hard work. He was named "Officer of the Year".

Congratulations Eric! We are so very proud of you!

*To fulfill my monthly quota of stealing other peoples pictures, these were taken from Sydney's FB page. Thanks Syd!

Consignment

This post was all written out and ready to go and then BAM! it posted with no content no pictures no nothing. Blah! Try #2.

Last week at Story Time, my new friend, Andrea, gave me a ticket to get in early at a huge consignment sale. When I say huge, I mean the biggest one I have ever seen! It is at the arena where Denver's annual stock show is held. So not only was it huge but it was an OCD person's heaven! It was so well organized that I simply stood in awe when I walked in. It was beautiful!

The sale is held every 6 months so most (pretty much all) of the items for sale were for spring/summer. It is mainly baby items, but they have clothes all the way up to teens. Guess where we will be going every 6 months? Yup! The only downside is the $5 parking fee and if you donate, volunteer, are a 1st time mom, military or have a friend who gives you a pass (like I got), you don't have to pay the $2 entrance fee. I guess $5 to save a whole bunch isn't too bad.

I got Elianna quite a few things: imitation crocs, hat, swimsuit, swimsuit with floaties in it, 3 sets of sleeping clothes, big girl underwear (which I checked for stains), dress, shirt, Leap Frog video, toddler yoga video, and portable toilet seat. My favorite deals are: 1) the imitation crocs - she also has a pair of pink ones from Target and she switches between the two constantly. We are living in crocs this summer! 2) dress - I am planning on having a Minnie Mouse party for her birthday this year and this dress jumped out at me and said "Minnie Mouse!" 3) portable toilet seat - it folds all up and fits (in a plastic bag after being wiped off with sanitizer wipes) inside my purse. No more touching the nasty potties! Wahooo!

The Boo Boo Song

The Boo Boo Song has been a huge hit in our house. So much so that Elianna even decided to put on a concert for us. It's a classic! Maybe I should put it on YouTube so it can become a sensation. Everyone will be singing it soon! Or maybe even American Idol will let her on at a young age. You never know! Whatever happens, you can say you saw it first! ;)

Fun Times

Last week Chris was gone Monday thru Wednesday for a conference in Nebraska.  While he was gone, I decided to schedule some special things so 1) it would be some special Elianna and I time and 2) it would help with keeping me sane. Elianna thrives on being out and about - social like her father.

Confession: I have been a bit slack in school. Not really sure why, but we are picking it back up. Because of my slackness, we are reviewing the letters we previously learned before starting on the new ones. This week we reviewed the letter A - A is for alligator, A is for apple, A is for avocado. Avocado - weird, right? We love love love avocados so it was pretty appropriate for our family. But back to our fun adventure. Because we were reviewing A, Monday we decided to go to Bass Pro Shop and look at the Animals. Bass Pro Shop is probably one of Elianna's favoritest places to go! She loves animals and enjoyed running around looking at all the different ones, watching the fish, riding the glass elevator, and going in and out of the tents amiss sleeping in the cots.

I also tried to use a free drink certificate from Starbucks. It's for April 23-26. Brilliant, huh? Thankfully, the barista was a girl from our church so we just chatted with her before leaving the store empty handed. Guess we will be going back next week. Duh!

Tuesday morning we Oovoo-ed with Grammy who was so patient and kind to listen to Elianna serenade her with a piano. Elianna's favorite song to sing to Grammy right now is "Boo-boo". It goes a little like this: "boo-boo. boo-boo. boo-boo. (etc etc and etc)." I have no idea where it came from but it's a little weird in my book! 

That day was all about apples so we headed to Whole Foods over in Glendale and shopped for some, yup you guessed it, apples. They have these adorable kid-sized grocery carts that Elianna loved to push all over the store. The bad thing about these carts is that all the wheels are free moving. Meaning none of them just go straight - they all go wherever the child pushes them. Thus a small fast moving child pushing a cart that goes wherever running willy nilly over the healthy people store.

Wednesday we studied avocado and although I had read somewhere that you could freeze avocados, we quickly realized that fact is simply untrue. Sadly we did not get to have the guacamole that was planned. And, although most of you will simply not care, Sprouts (a farmers type market) only had severely overripe (read mushy) avocados for sale. Now since I have been thinking so much about it, I really really want some guacamole!

Wednesday is also library Story Time and check out books and movies time. Being the cool mom that I am, we checked out "The Toothfairy 2". Please people, save your time. Dumb dumb dumb.

Wednesday was also the day The Papi Man came home and boy we were excited!  I hate it when he is gone for a couple days like that! I don't sleep so well for one thing. Last few nights - slept like a rock!

Bottom line: Elianna and I had some fun memory making time together but we are sure thankful Chris is home!

The Smile

Elianna has recently adapted a new smile for picture taking purposes. It is hilarious to me because it reminds me of something I used to do as an adult a child. "Does this look like a tree?" That was my question to my family who found me not at all hilarious! I'm not sure what brought this new smile on but it is super funny and not to mention cute!

Cooking Elianna Style

When we were making our Easter Hot Cross Buns, Elianna decided to help. Yes, we often hang out in our pajamas for a bit before getting dressed. Call me lazy. Call me comfortable!!! Anyway, Elianna had quite a bit of fun making a huge mess rolling the dough and playing with the spices. Slowly but surely I am trying to remember that making a mess is not a big deal. It is simply one vacuum away from clean. Plus it makes for good memories and that is the most important part of all!

Easter - Past and Present

Although I said that Friday's post was the last Easter post, it sorta kinda is . . . sorta. It was the last post dedicated solely to Easter 2012. This post visits Easters past and present. Wait, isn't that a Christmas thing? Ah well.

It is simply amazing to me how much Elianna has grown in just the 3 short years she has celebrated Easter. Time flies! I cannot believe how big she has gotten. She has recently gotten in the habit of telling us "I'm getting big!". Yes you are little girl, yes you are and I don't like it one bit! Well, I sorta do but I have to constantly remind myself to not wish time away. Those days when I think my buttons that she has pushed all day are officially broken only to be reminded the next day when she pushes them again that, nope, they are still there. But I love that little girl. And she is growing up so super fast. *Sniff*

We love you Elianna Joele!

Easter 2012 - Part 3

This Easter we attempted some new traditions in addition to the Resurrection Eggs. On Friday we made Hot Cross Buns which is a tradition that we will not be carrying on. They were dry and a bit bland for our palate. They had quite a bit of spices in them, but just didn't thrill our souls to the very depths. Plus after making resurrection eggs and cinnamon rolls, we really don't need another sweet thing in the house.

Saturday evening we made resurrection cookies which we were also a bit disappointed with. They were not as hollow as I would prefer. It may have just been 1) my plopping technique onto the cookie sheet OR 2) the fact that it was the second batch and I was tired. Our first attempt, I put the nuts in right away. My recipe didn't specify otherwise and I didn't really think about it. Egg whites don't fluff up very good with chunks of nuts in them. On to attempt #2 it was. I have the most humorous picture of Elianna beating the nuts but I am going to save it for another day (read: another day when I have nothing else to say so I will simply put pictures up).

Sunday morning, Elianna opened the oven while we finished the resurrection story to her. She also had a few gifts to open from Uncle Marky Mark and Aunt Rhonda as well as from my mom. She received horses, flashcards and candy from M&R and stickers, watering can and cute outfits from my mom. Grandmother also sent her an adorable Easter card.

This year it was just us for dinner (compared to last year it was nice!) so we simply had a ham steak cooked in peach jam, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and banana pudding. I ate too much! That's how good it all tasted to me!

We also made cinnamon rolls that were intended for Easter breakfast. Due to a rather busy schedule which included Chris working Saturday, we saved them for Monday morning breakfast. They are The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and are simply delicious!

My friend Karan went to visit Toree and took her a beautiful Easter cross that her son picked out. Beautiful and so thoughtful!

At Story Time (the week before Easter), instead of a story and songs, they decorated Easter eggs. It was a fun craft but I think a few of the children were disappointed that there was no story or songs. Next time kiddos!

And that concludes our Easter 2012 activities. Happy Easter!