Eliza @ 18 Months

How in the world did it happen?! My baby is 18 months old. This post is late because I just couldn't bring myself to write it down and make it real. I don't know how I feel about it all. However, I must document it and all her fabulous cuteness!

Here is some info on her at this exact moment in time:
Length/Height: 32.75 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 22.6 lbs (25th percentile)
Noggin: 45.5 cm (25th percentile)
Yes, she is tall and skinny. Wonder where she gets that from? Oh, and she only has five teeth. Poor toothless girl would really like some teeth.
Activities: Dancing, climbing into and onto everything, music makers, cheesing for the camera and seeing the "baby" afterwards, taking a "bubbo baas," playing with her sisters, running away from anyone trying to get her dressed (and getting her pants off as soon as I get them on), trying on everyone else's shoes, coloring, reading, snuggling, kissing, saying family prayer, waving at strangers.

Learning: Names of all her family and friends, animal identification and their sounds (almost all of them), color identifying (yellow, blue, pink), physical moves like riding a bus or twirling. Her vocabulary is finally taking off and she is adding new words daily - especially now that she knows if she says what she wants, that she'll usually get what she wants. Yes, she got several "noo baw" or lindor balls (noot balls in our house) today. She learns very quickly and amazes me daily. Guess she's got to keep up with her sisters!

I think her favorite thing in the whole wide world is getting her sisters to play along with whatever she wants to do...usually singing "If You're Happy and You Know It." (The movie below shows off her singing and dancing to Daddy in Disneyland.

She's got all of us wrapped around her goofy, happy little finger. Oh, how we love our Liza-loo!

Disneyland Video January 2011

With the new video capabilities, our family video from the vacation ended up ridiculously long. Eliza loves to watch these home videos more than just about anything. So, if you have 17 minutes, feel free to join us in our reverie. CLICK HERE!

Some exciting things about this trip: Sara got her rollercoaster legs and fell in love with the tamer coasters like Big Thunder and Matterhorn. We got more family pictures than ever before because of all the amazing characters and plethora of photopass photographers about. Eliza calmed down about characters and would even kiss the princesses and Mickey. Laura discovered that food is delicious at Disney and ate like a champ. I got to see World of Color all the way through and loved it.

Half Full

What is the benefit of having your clothes washer, microwave and vacuum all bite the dust within a month of each other? Having big boxes around the house to play with of course!! The washer box has been the biggest hit because it is the biggest! Friends have joined us in playing in the rocketship and it reminds me of darling Laura in years past!

Disneyland - January 2011 New Things

We go to Disneyland enough that this post is just going to be a list of the new things we discovered on this particular trip to Disneyland.

Here they are:

1. Family Fun Weekends - Big thumbs up! We met new characters and had a blast at the lunar new year celebration. We loved meeting new friends and the girls adored being in the lunar new year show.

2. Big Thunder Ranch BBQ - It was as expensive as a character breakfast, but it was amazingly tasty and was the only meal we ate all day because it was an all-you-can-eat experience.

3. Character Sketches from "Off The Page" store in DCA - did you know that you can get a character drawn specifically for you by a Disney artist for the same price as a stuffed animal?! Neither did we, but they sure do look adorable in the girls' rooms - pictures of the redone rooms to come later when curtains are complete. Major thumbs up!

4. New Shows at DCA - I give them a thumbs down. The talking, blinking Mickey was cool to see (once) at "Mickey's Dance Crew", but the show itself was kinda lame and had very little audience participation and familiar Disney-isms (our favorite parts of "Drawn to the Magic" that Dance Crew replaced). I also give a thumbs down to "Disney Channel Rocks" where there was absolutely NO audience participation. I know they were trying to get the tweens demographic, but really, not even Laura was thrilled.

5. Pixar Pals - Thumbs up! This was in lieu of a parade. We did both the Monster's, Inc. one and Heroes in Training. The girls participated and had a great time with familiar characters and lots to see.

6. Cafe Orleans Priority Seating - we love this restaurant (Pommes frites, salmon for the girls, crepes and a HUGE Monte Cristo) and now we can do it more because we don't have to wait! Hooray!

Sanity Soda

My hormones are raging, thank you OB/GYN for a shot of craziness. The kids are sick, grumpy, hungry, and have cabin fever. So, what's a girl to do?! Go to Sonic, of course. Vanilla cream Dr. Pepper for me, Jr Candy Sundae with Oreo and no cherry for Sara, and the peace of the car for Eliza. Ahh...Sanity!

Valentine's Day 2011

Valentine's Day began with baskets of little treats for the little girls! Just a few little things always make the morning special.
Sara's favorites in her basket were the paper and stickers. She used up all her stickers in just one day. They made the trip to the doctor (stinking croup) a lot more tolerable.

Laura's favorite was the fingernail polish. It changes colors in the sunlight. Way cool!
As expected, Eliza's favorite was the chocolate. Specifically, she loved the Dove Dark Chocolate. Yep, the 18 month old definitely prefers dark chocolate over any other candy and it shows...all over her face.

All the girls were particularly into the light up spinners. They love to look at them in the stores at Disneyland, so I was pretty sure they'd be a big hit at home. They've been great fun.

My special prize was that Jason stayed home from work to help me with sick kiddos so I could still do Laura's class party. I love being Room Mom. Other than passing out valentines at the party, we had 4 stations: 1. Lip Suckers 2. Conversation Heart Stacking 3. Word Search 4. Heart Walk (like a cake walk, but with actions that Laura made up for me).

I was so late - only 5 minutes early instead of the 15 that I usually am - for the event (running from Visiting Teaching and the doctor's office) that I forgot my camera. However, here is a picture of Laura with the lip sucker.

I wasn't able to make it to Steph's valentine exchange this year because we had a family viewing to attend that same night. But, I made great use of my idea and all the valentines I had made already by passing them out to each of the girls' teachers, my visiting teach-ees, and some of my girlfriends.

I had really wanted to make fondue for dinner that night, but it just didn't happen. We delivered all the out of school friend valentines, grandparent, and cousin valentines instead. At least I tried out the heart hairdo shown to me by my neighbor.

Oh, Jason and I celebrated by going out for sushi on Wednesday. Also, he is giving me a washing machine and I am giving him a gas dryer. Romantic, aren't we?! However, I love him dearly. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Deja Vu

As I was cleaning the kitchen the other day, Eliza started helping.

She was having so much fun that I really let her go at it.

Then she went a little further with it. Remind you of anyone? Yah, me too!

Awfully Quiet

In the rush of getting ready for Disneyland and a broken washing machine, it became awfully quiet in the house. Naturally, I took advantage of this time. I thought Eliza was downstairs playing with her kitchen and throwing play food all over the place. Alas, I was wrong. This is what I found.
Oh yah, look at that baby! She is a climber and a fabulous mess.
It took three changes of water in the bathtub to get all that off. I would like to thank Crayola for making WASHABLE markers!

Sibling (almost all) Get Together

It was just luck that almost all (missing only my bro. Steve) of my siblings were going to be in the LA/San Diego area at the same time. (This was while we were visiting Disneyland.) So, we coordinated and got together - definitely worth the little effort. Check it out! I got a (rather terrible, but at least you can see each one of us) picture of all that got together.
Sara was so incredibly excited to see Aunt Mel (and quickly warmed up to everyone else as well) that she was happy to give up DL time to hang out with family!

My sister was a wonderful hostess in her second home despite having her refrigerator go out that very day. And, oh Laura had so much fun writing notes with her!

We chatted and laughed until so late that the girls fell apart. How I wish we could all get together more often. It was definitely the greatest treat and highlight of our trip to be with my family! Oh, and there are lots more pictures of the event on the photoshop site.

Moment In Time

Okay, this movie is ridiculously long. However, it is a PERFECT snapshot of my life with the kids right now. Each girl's personality shows through exactly how she is at this moment in time. Their interactions, games played, and my responses are documented. To me, this movie is hilarious! To you, it will probably be absurdly long and silly. Well, it's the family journal and I'm entitled to something silly and indulgent every so often, right?

If the above movie doesn't work, please click HERE to view it on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5PAmKBGf5U