We simply must have you for dinner!

Hello, beautiful. Is it you, or is it hot in here? Why don't you scoot closer...there you go...

What? That little guy? Don't worry about that little guy. He's harmless. Sorry about the mess. I was going to clean that up right after I.......

Oh, yes, I did. Knives don't kill tomatoes, people kill tomatoes. And you are mine.



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA.

Not one...

Not two...

But three! wicked batches of tomato sauce.

Oh. Wait. What have we here? You are friends of who? Tomay, tomay what? What does he look like? Describe him. Red, you say. Red, red, red. I'm afraid I do not know of whom you are speaking. What was that? Oh, that little guy. Don't worry about that little guy. He'll take care of you. You know, I like you. Please, you must let me have you for dinner. I insist.

Been a long time...

Facebook? Blog? Wash dishes? Read book? Watch football? Check email?

Blogs are so 2009.

How about just a quickie. Here's "little" E, just a few days before Thanksgiving 2010. It was a chilly day, but she wanted to be on the deck. As soon as that wind grabbed hold of her hair, I knew I had to get a shot. My beautiful girl!

Ellie-speak

As I wrote a few posts ago, Ellie's vocabulary and ability to pronounce words has exploded over the last couple months. Right around her birthday, something clicked in her toddler brain and off she went. She's stringing together several words, which tickles me to no end. Other than her tendency to answer every question with "yeah", we are enjoying the ability to have a conversation with our kid! The other night, she was calling out "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" And then, out of nowhere, she yells "Daddy! Sit there! Eat supper!" Keep in mind that for her, each word has it's own little punctuation, so it sounds more like "Daddy! Sit! There! Eat! Supper!" Which makes it even more precious.

I've captured some of her speak in little video snippets, where I ask her to say something and then she repeats it. I'm hoping to someday be savvy enough to edit all of these into a little film, but now we all just have to be satisfied with one or two words per video.

I hope you enjoy video #1. Topic: Exercises, Banana, but no Toast.

Kargers x3

Right before Ellie's birthday, one of Bonner's brothers and his family came through town on their way to a wedding. I alluded to their visit in the previous post when I mentioned that we went swimming at their hotel. I was digging around, looking for a new video to post, when I found these four photos. These three kids are so stinking cute! To be fair, all the cousins on all sides of the family are cute as can be, and B. and I really do wish we all lived closer. As Ellie has gotten older, she's really started to appreciate the awesomeness of cousins. Or as her daddy taught her, "cuzzies".

I am completely baffled by how, in this sequence of photos, the cuteness quotient increases exponentially. It's one thing to maintain a level of cuteness, but I've never seen such a thing.

Here's Ellie, showing off her mad popper skillz*.

And here you'll find Ellie, Ridley and Bryce.
I don't know why E. and B. don't have any pants on.
Maybe that's part of the cuteness quotient?

OK, seriously. Does this not just make you giddy inside?
Look at Ellie; she looks like she's about to explode with glee.


And our final, parting shot. One of only two boy cousins of the seven total on B.'s side.
This is a picture I expect to see posted on one of those potentially
embarrassing "photo boards" that parents and siblings put together
for high school graduation:

Show's over! Did I not try to tell you about the cuteness quotient? Did I not forewarn you of the expanding balloon of cuteness that just exploded?

*A quick story about the popper, which I think is funny and I remembered it when I saw the photo. Grandma Cindy gave that popper to Ellie for Christmas this year. At the same holiday gift opening extravaganza, Grandma Cindy also gave cousin Z. a similar popper, but this one was more of a rolling cylinder that sounded tinkly and fairy bell-y when you rolled it. So as the girls were running around with their new rolly/poppy/tinkly toys one day, Z.'s dad piped up and, speaking as if he were Z., explained how "First, you have to pop the floor. Then, you can fairy dust it."

Happy 2nd Birthday!

My baby! She's 2 years old today! As we drifted off to sleep last night, Bonner and I reminisced about Ellie's birth. "What were we doing two years ago right now?" I asked him, at about 10 p.m. Without going into gory detail, I can tell you that we decided my water had broken, and I was in the bowels of hell. Had I known then what I know now, you can be damn sure I probably would have worked even harder to get the little munchkin into the world. Who wouldn't be eager to experience a day like this, her second birthday?

We eased into the day with a birthday serenade before her eyes were even fully open. She loved it! She loved it so much she wanted me to sing it 'gin, 'gin, 'gin (again), and then she wanted me to change the words and sing it to myself, and then sing it to daddy. At some point in the day I even sung happy birthday to Dora and Mickey Mouse. Next stop was a hotel in town, where Ellie's cousins had stayed overnight. We joined them for about an hour in the pool, where Ellie got to use a floaty for the first time. After nap, we skyped with Grandma, and I frosted the cake, and then we went to the doctor for her 2-year check-up, which she came out of with NO shots and a clean bill of health.

Ellie received some wonderful gifts. Thanks to my Aunt Dianne, Bonner's aunties Bee and Glenda, and Grandma Cindy.

Special thanks to Grandma Cindy for the book of 2000 animal stickers!

On to the cake!

Time to blow out the candles!

Blow, blow, blow!

Didn't quite get it...

Try again!

Yay! Ellie did it!
(With a little puff of air from Daddy...but I won't tell if you don't!)

A close-up before the frosting hits the fan...

Mmmm...num num num...

Fingers work better than forks.

The girl may just love this frosting more than I do.

Don't worry...it's not a real knife.

This is sure to make some of you flinch. Someone generously gave us a play kitchen set, including the giant plastic structure (which has been relegated to the side of the house until winter) and a big bag full of plastic food and utensils. Some of the plastic food is fruits and veggies that are actually two pieces each, stuck together with velcro (excuse me...hook and loop closures). As you'll see in the video, there is also a plastic chefs knife and a cutting board. Ellie had, up until the filming of this video, been satisfied to sit on the floor with the veggies, knife and cutting board, and she had a decent amount of success cutting those veggies in half by wedging that knife between the halves.

On this day, however, I discovered her standing in the living room attempting to cut those wiley foodstuffs with the knife in one hand and the produce in the other. Keep an eye out for classic concentration faces, right at about 25, 45, and 57 seconds. 25 is our favorite.

Eye-eee!

Ellie continues to grow almost as fast as the weeds in our garden. About a month ago we got this quick video of her messing about with a Fisher-Price Little People house (an awesome collectible I found at a garage sale but didn't pay nearly enough for to keep them away from little hands...and she loves them). She's pulling the house around and knocking into the little dingy bell. For some reason she really liked sitting on it's peaked roof on this particular afternoon, which gave me the opportunity to ask who, exactly, is sitting on the house.

New Pictures

Too ...

tired...

to be witty.

Just...

pictures.

Here's little miss sunshine herself:


Here she is having fun with the packing fluff:


Here she is eating a tortilla:

Tortilla shot #2 because one just isn't enough...
did you notice the perfect little half-circle bite marks?

And a video of a budding artist:

Words

Just a quick note to impress you all with Ellie's expanding vocabulary. Up until a few weeks ago, I was getting a tad concerned that she didn't have as many words as she "should". (I do pride myself in not freaking out about milestones but this one got me.) Out of the blue, shortly after her 18 month appointment, something clicked in her brain and zzzzoooommm, off she went. She went from signing "please" and saying mama and daddy and no* and puppies, to saying...just about anything we say. When she's alert (i.e. not tired) her repetition of our words is astonishing and astonishingly cute.

For instance, a lot of things are plural. We talk about the puppy, and she says puppies. And to top it off, her "s" has a little bit of a lisp, so it sounds sorta like puppiesh.

The real reason I'm making this post, though, is to update you all on the next phase of lanugage: multi-word statements! Yes! She's using two and three words together! The first time I realized that she had strung two words together was when she asked for "more bites." I said, OK, I'll get you more bites. It took me several minutes to realize that she asked for "more bites" without prompting from me and oh-my-gosh... that was two words! TWO words!!!

And only then did I realize that REALLY the first time she had used two words was when she starting imitating us when we say "Where'd it go?" And she says something that sounds like "Der go?" As an aside, listening to her say "der go?" is truly one of the cutest things in the world. If I can capture it on video I will post immediately. She's recently added the gestures to accompany the phrase: upturned palms and a slightly quizzical look. (Funny story about der go?. Anty Mary and Grandpa were here this weekend and we took some time to "hide" eggs in the backyard. Mary and Ellie were collecting the eggs and Ellie had one in each hand. Out of the blue, completely un-prompted, Ellie throws the eggs to the ground, turns up her palms and looks up at her aunt and asks "Der go?")

And this morning's big accomplishment: "I got you!"

She does got me!

Pictures next time.

*A note about her use of "no". It was cute until this weekend when she started using it to let me know she's really, really mad. Rewind to first 100,000 times she said it and it was still cute because she was starting the sound before she parted her lips, so it sounded like mmmno. mmno. Who can say no to that? Not me.

Ellie's House

We ordered an item which arrived in a box which was obviously, obviously, destined to become a little house for a little girl named Ellie. It has provided hours of fun in the weeks since Daddy put his construction skills to use. Note the skylight! One evening of particular fun, we caught some moments on film. The highlights are: a little hand reaching a snack out the window to share with Mama; and at the very end, as the camera zooms in, Ellie has so much fun that she falls out the door.

Weekend at Grandpa Lindy's

We spent a fun-filled weekend at Grandpa Lindy's farm. Lots of family members were in attendance for Grandpa's 65th birthday. 65! Despite inching his way towards inevitable codgerdom (that one's for you, Dad!), Grandpa did not hesitate to grab Ellie and scoot down the little sledding hill. During the first couple runs you could hear Ellie laughing all the way down. It got to the point where we had to drag her inside (complete with the requisite toddler kicking and screaming). She is officially an outdoors kid. In a moment of inspiration, I grabbed the camera and, with Grandpa and Ellie in one sled, and me in the other, I captured a few moments that I consider to be truly priceless. (Be sure to watch to the very end...)

Errr...Mother's Day 2008

Yes, I mean 2008.

Mother's Day 2008 was my very first mother's day as a mother. I loved it! I can't wait for the next one! And I now have no clue what we did that day. I think I remember a turtle sundae from Culver's, but I can't be sure. What I am sure of is that I documented the day with the following pictures. Now that I'm looking at our outfits, I recall something else: that Ellie had been wearing something really cute and awesome and precious and I think she urped or pooped on it and I had to put her into a t-shirt. Which turned out OK, because then we matched, and the pictures of us cuddled up were that much more special. Evidence of said specialness is below:





Kisses for everybody!

Compare that little button of a baby with the child she is now... sitting on a big-person's chair to eat dinner (don't mind the phone book), or creating art and tasting the markers.

Valentine's Day Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

Or should I say, Fantastic Bubbles...

Static Electricity Can Be Cute

Ellie the Improver

In this short clip, you can see where we taped the outline of where we plan for new carpet to butt up against new kitchen flooring. After months and months of discussion interlaced with total disregard, we finally sat down one Saturday morning and made a plan. BK/Daddy and I did a lot of pointing and talking and making invisible demarcations with our arms, and Ellie couldn't help but get involved. However, as you know, a toddler's attention span can be short (unless the topic involves fruit snacks), and you will see her first dance inside the taped-off space (her other favorite thing to do within the magic box), then point and talk about the lines like a pro, and then head off to pick up a small bottle of hairspray. Short attention span may be an understatement...

The Best 4-Second Video You'll Ever See

Don't be afraid to turn up the volume...

Rewind to September 21st...

Earlier this fall, on September 21st, our very good friends M&C tied the knot. It was a Sunday evening wedding, sweet & short (emphasis very much on the sweet), with a helluva good party to boot. I was honored to make the wedding cake for them, and I do believe it's the best looking and tasting wedding cake I've done to date. I also made a sheet cake...three layers of almond poppyseed cake with raspberry filling. The wedding cake was layer upon layer of vanilla bean white cake (the vanilla specks were beautiful, but lost to the dim mood lighting in the theater) with homemade plum jam filling. I need to make that cake again. It was really damn good.

Here you see me with M (bride) and C (groom).

Here is the first slice oh-so-gracefully tipping onto the plate,
about to be consumed by the happy couple... But what I really
want you to notice is the striking beauty of the plum jam filling
against the cake. Yeah, baby. I did that.

And here is a nice arty shot. I love this angle. I'd like to take
this opportunity to point out that the bottom tier contains 4 layers of
cake...and the middle and top tiers each contain 5 layers of deliciousness.

I'm done tooting my own horn for now. Soon enough it will be Thanksgiving, the desserts of which I have become the maker (except apple pie...sister Mary can have that, and she does a wonderful job...so good I don't even want to compete). I heard from Dad today that 23 people are expected. Ha! Bring it on.

For Grandma C.

We spent last weekend back home in northern MN. We got to see Nana L. and G'pa M., plus all the aunts and uncles and cousins from BK's side of the family. Little E. obviously had a great time. As a bonus, we also got to spend a little time with my sisters, Alice and Mary, as well as with Grandpa Lindy. Alice's daughter ZeeZee (my nickname for her...) turned ONE last weekend and Ellie and I attended the fun birthday party and brought auntie Marnie and cousin Nat-O along.

For all the fun we had, we missed out on one very important visit. We had made plans with Grandma C. (my mom) to spend Sunday afternoon/evening at her house in the woods, but sadly Grandma C. came down with a bad cold (after clearly overextending herself to prepare for an art show, but then kicking ass and taking names at said show...wait...that's probably not the right lingo to describe such a sophisticated event, but I'm sure Mom will appreciate the props I'm trying to give). Our separate, but related, mothering instincts told us we should bag the visit and aim for Thanksgiving.

Which brings us to this presentation, solely dedicated to Grandma C. from Ellie. I must fully disclose that I actually filmed this a couple weeks ago, but the sentiment remains.

We love you, Grandma, and we can't wait to give you big kisses!
MMMMWWWWAAAHH!

p.s. I'd like to point out that the wall behind Ellie has since been painted in full with that greenish color, a Behr paint called "Garden Path." Gotta thank Mom for that inspiration.

p.p.s. Yes, I'm patting myself on the back for my first successful video post.

The Fleeting Moment...

I know it's been awhile since our last post, but I think our single reader is most likely too busy to notice (Hi Marnie!). If we have other readers, please leave us a note. Otherwise it is much too easy to ignore this blog.

My purpose for logging on this fine, blustery, overcast October afternoon is to report that my not-so-little baby fell asleep in my arms today. We offered her a nap a couple hours ago, sure she would take the opportunity (I peeked in and she was still, and thus I assumed, asleep). But noooo. I had to rescue her from the apparent hell that is her crib. After some time in front of the football game and a snack of apple slices and tiny little teddy grahams (mmmm, those little bears are tasty), I perched her on my lap in order to put on her sweater and jacket for a fun foray out to the yard. Instead of reaching her little arm out to help me get the sweater on, she simply laid her head on my chest and relaxed. Awwww! So I wrapped my arms around her and we rocked gently for a few minutes on the sofa. I figure it's always better to err on the side of an attempted nap, so we cruised down to her room where I offered her a binky and the blankie, plopped into the rocker, and there she fell asleep.

What came to me, after the initial thought that I better just sit there for a few minutes and soak it in, was how this was so unlike the little baby that used to fall asleep in my arms. Nursing to sleep was always the precedent, and that's several months past. This 15-month old girl was facing me, straddling my lap like little kids will do, with her cheek to my chest. We cuddled for some time, and as I was rearranging her (and me) in order to stand up and lay her down in the crib, I caught a glimpse of her face. Sweet, relaxed, innocent, protected, loved...all the things I saw would take days to scribe. But what I saw most was something I haven't seen for a long time, because we've been busy watching her grow and change, and those are things that are easy to get caught up in as the days go by and we are in a constant state of amazement and wonder. What I saw was my baby girl, as a baby again. Any mother understands the slight tug and yearn backwards to when your baby was really a baby. I'm happy to say that I have a picture from when my baby was really a baby, and it's a perfect representation of the face I saw within her 15-month old face just a few minutes ago. She was about 10 weeks old when I took this picture:

Weekend Extravaganza

We made it through the big one-year birthday and the ensuing weekend of family time. My dad, my sister Mary, my sister Alice and her husband Mitch and their daughter Azalea, all joined us for a much-too-quick weekend of non-stop kid-a-licious fun. I even got to go out with my sisters for an evening (we chose the quietest, farthest away table at a bar next to the bar we really wanted to go to, but it was closed for a private party, and my sister Mary immediately got hit on by a drunken college-y, greasy, short guy, hence the quietest, farthest away table).

So here we go with some pictures to document the weekend!

First, we must clean up for our guests!

Then, we must share snuggles and sippies with our guests.

It is of utmost importance to let your guests have the run of the house,
even if that means allowing them to get their hand stuck,
over and over and over, in the handle of a step stool.
(Good thing Grandpa Lindy was there to rescue Azalea time and again.)

We must also warm up to and play with the guests. I'm happy to announce that it only took Elliea few hours, rather than a few days. This is Ellie and her aunt Alice (Z's mom).

Of course, there must also be a parade-of-babies...
(make note that usually Z is the naked one; E is scantily clad due to her high fever possibly from one hand-foot-mouth virus...we must admit she wasn't a constant barrel of fun but she did pretty well, considering the 103.2 temp she had Saturday).

And then, right before our guests leave, we take a quiet morning walk with Grandpa and cousin Z to the park for some good old fashioned swinging. Ahhh, we love swinging, and now we
especially love swinging with Grandpa.

Here is a super cute close-up of cousin Z...

And one more to demonstrate the fun the two girls have together...
I mean, just look at the smile on E's face!

All in all it was a great weekend, but it didn't last long enough. They arrived Friday night around 10 and were gone by 1 pm Sunday. But at least AMZ are no longer in Miami! For the time being they are a quick 8-hr drive away. The kids are the #1 reason to try to spend more time together, but unfortunately it's the kids that make the trip hard. Anyone that's traveled for more than 20 minutes with a small child knows what I'm talking about. Of course, it's well worth the effort, I will never argue with that.