A great start to 2011!

Ending 2010, we were disappointed that Elise still had not figured out that she could walk on her own yet.  She constantly asked us to walk with her.  Or she would take a step or two then drop instantly to the ground, but would not just let go and walk.  We went to her 18 month appointment with the doctor in mid December, which was when she was actually 19 1/2 months, and the doctor was even puzzled.  This was the first time she had a child who had not walked by 18 months, so the next step would be to have her hips x-rayed.  

We had decided to not schedule the x-ray until after the holidays, in hopes that she would just suddenly start walking.  It still had not happened into the beginning of January, and yet we kept putting off making the x-ray appointment.  

Finally, on January 11, 2011 our prayers were answered!  I was putting Elise to bed, and she suddenly got all excited about her toys in her room the minute we walked through the door.  She started walking faster, let go of my hand, and took 7 or 8 steps until she realized she was walking on her own.  Then she dropped to the ground, of course.  The realization that she walked on her own was exciting to her, so she wanted to continue doing the same routine over and over again.  She went back to the door, said "Walk!", then started walking a few steps without holding on until dropping to the ground.  

Then, I sat on the ground within 3 steps of her toy kitchen.  I asked her to walk to her kitchen and bring food back to me.  We did this several times, while I moved further apart each time, with her taking no more than 7 or 8 steps total each time.  Well, we made progress!  I was so happy just for that, but it was now past her bed time and we couldn't keep this going all night. 

So, I walked over to her crib and told her it was time to go to bed.  Of course she did not want to go to sleep, she was on a high from walking without help.  Instead, she walks out the door of her room and keeps walking.  I thought, what in the world!!!  Did she really just do that?  

And from there she walked and walked and walked across the entire house for another 30 minutes.  Never mind that it is now waaaaaaaay past her bedtime!  Oh well!!  I was too excited to care!  We waited until Daddy came home to see her walking all over the place, and then we finally decided to put her to bed.  WOW!

Not only did 2011 start with our little girl walking on her own, this past week she went pee on the potty for the 1st time!  

She received a potty as one of her Christmas presents (no we are not mean parents, and yes she got plenty of toys too).  I just wanted to slowly introduce her to sitting on it at first.  She screamed the first time I sat her on it.  But I kept asking her every now and then if she wanted to sit on the potty.  Sometimes she would say "No," and sometimes she would say "Yes."  

After sitting on the potty 5 or 6 times in the past couple weeks with no results, she just yesterday decided to sit on it before her bath and read a magazine.  Next thing I know, there is a puddle in the bottom of her little potty!  Are you serious?!  I couldn't believe my eyes at first.  It didn't scare her, she just sat there looking nervous.  We praised her for going pee pee on the potty!!  Yay!  Her eyes suddently lit up, and she became excited along with us and clapped for her accomplishment!

Needless to say, January has been a very exciting month for us!  God is sooo good!!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!!!

During the week of Christmas, we traveled on our third and final family vacation for 2010.  But before we left on our trip, we celebrated an early Christmas dinner and opened gifts with family on my side.

This year we started a new tradition exchanging cookies and having a contest of who made the Best Cookie!  There were many great entries into the cookie contest and so full of creativity too!  We all voted for the best overall cookie, and I am happy to say that Derek and I won for 2010!  Woohoo!!!  We made these delicious Mint Oreo truffles!

The rolling pin trophy was given to the winner for 2010, Derek and I, and we will bring it back next year for the 2011 contest!  It will be passed along to the next year's winner....unless of course we win 2 years in a row!  :)

The week of Christmas we spent time with Derek's family in Philadelphia.  One night we decided to travel into downtown Philly to eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant named Bobby's Burger Palace.  The food was amazing!  We watch him all the time on the Food Network channel, so naturally we were curious to visit his restaurant!

We also went ice skating one day during that week.  Logan just finished taking his second ice skating lesson, so he wanted to show Papa and Nanny how well he could skate now!  Another day we took a train ride to this cute little place called Media!  We walked through the shops and ate lunch at one of the restaurants.  This is a tradition that Derek remembers doing every year at Christmas time when he was younger, so he wanted to share it with his kids.  What a fun tradition!  :)

Lastly, at the end of our trip it was finally Christmas day!!!  The kids were getting anxious all week to open their presents since Christmas fell on the last full day we were in Philly.  Here is a picture of them Christmas morning ready to open their gifts!

Logan was so blessed and got almost everything he wanted this year!  Elise had a great time opening her gifts, but halfway through she was tired of having to move on to the next present.  She wanted to just be able to sit and play with each toy as she opened it.

Overall we made many great memories with both of our families and had tons of fun!  Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving in Arizona

So we didn't take a vacation during the summer like we normally do, but instead we have been planning all our traveling during these last 4 months of the year.  Between buying and moving into a new house, and then taking our scheduled trips at the end of the year, we have been super busy lately!

Over Thanksgiving week, we planned a visit to see my Dad in Arizona.  They moved down to the warm weather, which is great because now we have someplace warm to visit when it's cold up here in the North!  Our trip just happened to be during a little colder week for what they typically have, so the weather was only a high in the 60's during the day.  But I would take that anyday over snow, which I heard Ohio had while we were gone.

We did some sightseeing around the city of Phoenix.  Saw LOTS of cactus, which were pretty interesting!  We took a picture next to one that was at least 3 times taller than we were!  Mountains surround the entire city and it's such a beautiful view!  When the sun sets, the mountains display the most amazing colors!

One day while we were there, we planned a train ride through canyons north of Phoenix.  The views were breathtakingly beautiful!  The train ride was 4 hours long round trip, and we rode through very remote areas of Arizona.  We saw an eagle's nest tucked onto a rock ledge, heard history stories of the area, and viewed the rock formations.  We took some amazing pictures, went through a cool tunnel, and enjoyed our first train ride through the countryside!

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all the things we are thankful for, and this trip really showed God's artwork in His beautiful creation!  Among many other things, I am so thankful for that!  God is good!

Overall, we had a great visit!  The grandparents were able to see how much Elise had grown in the past 8 months!  Lots of fun!!