Christmas!

This was our first year staying home for Christmas. It was very different, and, of course, we missed those that we weren't with, but it was actually very relaxing and laid back for the three of us. Elizabeth was a bit overwhelmed on Christmas morning, so we went easy with the camera. The video here is when she finally stopped opening presents and played with her new nativity for several minutes--she started coming out of the haze by the end of it :)

Thanksgiving in Minneapolis

This year the Link family Thanksgiving gathering was hosted by Wade and Suz in Minneapolis. We had a great time with everybody and even had snow! Elizabeth put her new snow suit to good use, although, as the temperatures were in the single digits, the kids didn't last long outside.

Halloween

Elizabeth decided to be a firefighter for Halloween this year. She had a great time Trick-or-Treating, although she was a bit too polite. Anytime she was offered more than one piece of candy, she replied "No, thank you. One will be plenty." We'll work on that for next year...

Elizabeth turns 3!

We had a great time celebrating Elizabeth's big 0-3! She chose a Dora the Explorer theme, so we had a scavenger hunt, monkey cookies, chalk, bubbles, tattoos, and even cupcake decorating for all the little munchkins! (I highly recommend cupcake decorating as a means for busy mamas to avoid having to decorate an entire cake--the kids love it. Said busy mama looks like a hero rather than a slacker.) We were very lucky to have so many friends and family in town to help party, and the weather was perfect! The wind even died down at just the right time to allow for candle lighting :)

Notice

As you all have noticed, I'm doing my best to update the blog and keep it that way! I just uploaded a new post for June, so check it out if you're interested. I'll have a couple new posts coming in the next week. Thanks for all your patience and incessant nagging...

Grandfather Mountain

We spent Labor Day weekend in North Carolina, and we made the trip up to Grandfather Mountain on Sunday (along with everybody else in the state). Despite the crowd, it was a great day--perfect weather, perfect scenery, and perfect company!

Elizabeth loved seeing all the animals...

She learned some new growling techniques from the bears...

We made the trek up to the top and were treated to amazing views. And, of course, we made the trip across the mile high swinging bridge (that's a mile above sea level, not the ground!)

Our Washington Vacation

We just got back from our highly anticipated week-long vacation in Washington! We had a wonderful week with Gege and Gramps and Anna and Thomas. Elizabeth was busy, busy, busy but managed to find some time for relaxing, too...

The Boat

Elizabeth was very excited to get to ride on Gege and Gramps' boat and especially to get to wear her "boat coat" that she had been talking about for about 3 months. She seemed quite pleased with the coat's design, particularly the color--good job, Gege and Gramps!

She never would sit on Gramps' lap and help drive. Who would want to drive when you can play with the radio?

These first few shots are from our very first afternoon there. Our plane got in around noon, and I think we were on the river by 3pm--no need to waste time!

Elizabeth wasn't a big fan of going too fast in the boat, but she loved it when Gramps would stop for a bit so she could sit on the back of the boat and dip her feet in (or Anna and Thomas could dip most of her body in!).

The second day out we took the tube with us, and miraculously, Elizabeth decided she needed to ride. She barely moved the whole time, and the truly amazing part was that she barely spoke! She did say later that she liked it, though.

The Game

On our third evening there, we went to a Dust Devils baseball game, the AAA team that they have in the Tri-Cities. Elizabeth still wasn't completely adjusted to the time change, so we really weren't sure how long she might last. Sure enough, during the first inning she decided it was too loud and started crying. We got the kid an ice cream sandwich and let her run around in an open area along the 3rd base line, and surprisingly everything was fine.

Also aiding her recovery was the fact that she got to run across the field with Dusty (the mascot) and all the other kids after the 5th inning! Right before we (yes, I was the lucky one who got to run with her) ran out on the field she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, this is a great adventure!"

You can see her in this picture right in the middle in a red dress, and I'm in front of her in a red shirt. We had some video, too, but it's pretty shaky because Ed was laughing so hard...

After running across the field, she decided it wasn't so loud after all, and it was okay to go back to our seats with everybody else. As luck would have it, Dusty pretty much hung out right in front of us for the rest of the game!

Anna got her a giant pink #1! The excitement of this gift got her through to the bottom of the 9th, when she very calmly requested to go home, and so we went with a very happy, very tired little girl.

The Birthday

We were lucky enough to be able to help celebrate Gege's birthday on the 17th. That night we took the boat down the river to a restaurant for dinner...

and on the way back home for cake and ice cream, we were treated to an absolutely gorgeous sunset. Happy Birthday, Gege!

The Parks

This was the first time we had been out there during the summer with Elizabeth. We discovered that the Tri-Cities has great parks.

She was sure to wear her new "Super E" cape... gotta look good when you're meeting people.

One of the parks (that is right on the river and has some beach access as well) had a wading pool for the kids, and it was free! We're not accustomed to free pools around here. Elizabeth had a ball--she was not pleased when it was time to go meet Gramps for lunch even though she was shivering and had purple lips.

Smores!

Bob and Julie have a fire pit in their backyard, so we thought it would be fun to make smores one night. Since Julie won't be around for Elizabeth's birthday, she went ahead and gave her her gifts while we were there--which included this fetching wing and tutu ensemble. Elizabeth wasn't that into the smores. She ate the chocolate off of hers (smart girl) and then spent the rest of the evening flying around the yard as Peter Pan.

Spudnuts!

So these pictures are mostly for my dad (Calvin). He had read or heard about The Spudnut Shop out in Washington state several months back. He mentioned it to me, but I hadn't thought anything about it since. Well, on our last afternoon there, we just happened to eat lunch at a restaurant in the same shopping center as the Spudnut Shop, so, of course, I had to stop in for dessert, and Elizabeth was happy to join me in the taste test. A spudnut is a doughnut made with potato flour, and turns out, tastes pretty much like a doughnut...go figure!

The Plane

Elizabeth did great on the plane rides (two flights each direction). Going out there was a piece of cake, but our return flights were pretty bumpy--note the spilled juice down the front of her shirt. Thank goodness for the Princess Lea headphones that Ed borrowed from work so that she could watch Sleeping Beauty...and Snow White...and a few Thomas episodes.

She was certainly glad when we were back on the ground in Atlanta. The Super E cape helped her navigate us to baggage claim!

Huge thank you's to Bob, Julie, Anna, and Thomas for a great trip!! And to Sully, as well, for tolerating Elizabeth's intolerance of him.

Baby Benjamin

Elizabeth's newest cousin, Benjamin Anderson Bocksnick, was born on July 3rd! We gave Megan and Hans and big brother Jack a couple weeks before we barged into Charleston for a visit, but we wanted to be sure to get there before Gege left.

Elizabeth wasn't really interested in the baby, but on the other hand, she and Jack had a GREAT time playing together! This trip was really the first time that they've been such good little playmates--they've always just sort of been interested in their own thing or worried that the other may try to steal a toy... It was so much fun to see them interacting so well!

And Benjamin is such a cutie pie! Welcome to the world, Benjamin! Can't wait to see you again soon...

Fourth of July

This was Elizabeth's first year participating in Decatur's Fourth of July parade...or any parade for that matter. Our friends, Frank and Jenn, offered her a spot in their wagon with their daughter, Flora Jane, and Elizabeth was quick to accept the invitation! The Decatur parade consists of a few hundred kids with decorated bikes, wagons, scooters, etc., a sprinkling of political candidates, the obligatory Boy Scout troop leading the way, and the fire truck bringing up the rear. It's perfect for the kids, and miraculously the heat wasn't as brutal as it could have been.

The parade is followed by a concert and picnic on the square, and, of course, fireworks at dark. Elizabeth tolerated about 5 minutes of the fireworks before deciding that they were too loud--this was a vast improvement over last year's 30 second stretch!

She was a quick study on the "parade wave"...

Thomas at Tweetsie!!

In June,--June 12 to be exact, Brendan's 9th birthday!-- two of Elizabeth's favorite things collided. Thomas and Tweetsie!!! Her first Tweetsie experience was last summer, and she has talked about it ever since. It just so happened that the Day Out with Thomas tour made a stop there this year. And to make it all even better she got to go with her boys :)

It really is a great day for Thomas fans. When she first saw him coming around the mountain she gasped audibly and uttered a quiet, reverent "Thoooomaaaas"...

In addition to all the Thomas fun, we did all the "regular" Tweetsie stuff, too...

Ian had a little trouble staying on his side of the helicopter (dang that centripetal force). Elizabeth was not as amused by this as I was :)

A great day with great kids!

Jack Turns the Big 03!

Elizabeth's cousin Jack turned 3 on May 4th, and we made the trip to Charleston to share in the super fun festivities. The highlight of the party was the cardboard play house that the kids got to paint! Happy Birthday, Jack!!

She's always looking for an excuse to take her clothes off, so when she saw a much younger little girl get her shirt taken off for the cake eating, Elizabeth was sure to follow suit :)

Uncle Bobby's Visit

Elizabeth finally got to meet her Uncle Bobby! Bob was in town for a few days at the beginning of May, and miraculously our schedules matched, and we were able to have breakfast together. Although Uncle Bobby is not our "real" uncle, he has always been a very special part of my life. Hopefully he'll talk to me again some day soon now that Project Blog Update is underway...

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

The non-profit that Ed works for, Young Audiences, had its annual Mad Hatter's Tea Party event on May 8th. Unfortunately, Ed had class and couldn't be there, but Elizabeth and I weren't going to miss it. She had just seen Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" a couple weeks earlier when Grandma had come down for the weekend, so to say that Elizabeth was excited to meet all the characters would be a bit of an understatement! We took the train into Midtown (another huge plus in her book), and spent the morning with the characters making crafts, watching some performances, dancing, and even making a tea cup completely out of candy. It really was a great event, and Elizabeth was a very happy girl!

(Video translation: At the beginning, she's jabbering on about Thomas the Tank Engine since we're waiting for the train; Mr. Eric is a musician who performed at the event--Elizabeth has one of his CDs and is a big fan; she also says we'll see the Mad Hatter, Alice, and the Cheshire Cat; at the end she says she's also excited to see "the blue worm" who will turn into a beautiful blue butterfly.)

Dress-up

Elizabeth LOVES to dress-up and pretend to be every character in every story she has ever heard or read. She started this trend back in February, but she is still going strong and then some. She is constantly "changing" between characters. Keeping up with who she is at various moments throughout the day can be quite a challenge. She is always sure to assign roles to everybody else as well. For a long time, I was always "The Evil Queen," which was totally unfair because Ed was always the prince, but she has since branched out in her character assignments, and things are much more evenly balanced!

Here are some photos and footage of some of my favorite ensembles from the past few months...

Easter eggs!

We spent Easter weekend in Morganton this year. Elizabeth was SO excited to dye eggs at Grandma's house. In fact, one morning the week before Easter, she came into our room at 5:00am to ask if it was time to go to Grandma's house and dye eggs! It was not the time or even the day, and I have since learned not to give her quite so much warning about trips to Grandma's house and such.

There was a lot of splashing and several cracked eggs, but she eventually got the hang of "gently" and was quite pleased with her finished products.

Spring Is In The Air

The snow left as quickly as it came, and with it went the cold weather. Spring in Atlanta is great--warmer weather but no bugs yet! We spent many evenings in March packing picnics, riding our bikes to parks, and letting Elizabeth burn off her seemingly endless toddler energy.

We faced the challenge this year of helping her overcome her fear of the bike helmet. Unfortunately, last year we pinched her chin in the helmet buckle on what would be our last ride of the season, and she had been understandably terrified ever since. With much coaxing and patience, we finally got her comfortable with the helmet again--the deal that worked was that she got to snap the buckles on our helmets...talk about terrifying!