Little E. at 14 Months

The Bite!!!

Little Elye, at 14 months you . . .

-have been walking full time since June 8th.

- will try to say many words. You also try to woof, meow, baa, roar. You've got the meow and woof down pretty well. Call Reesi Sissy (Reesi's request), but it comes out more like ti-tea. Call me Mama or Mimi, but will only call Mimi Mama. I think you may love her a little too much!! You will sign and say more(sounds like or, but totally have copied my inflection). Other words: bi-bi (baby), I can't think of any more right now but I know there are more so I will come back and add them later when I think of them.

-are off the bottle and formula. I started using a training spout with your bottles and you never blinked an eye. I have slowly been adding more soy milk to your formula and are drinking full soy milk cups now.

-love a food one day and throw it on the floor the next. You are so fickle when it comes to your meals. If you take a bite and don't want it, then you throw it on the floor immediately. This is the only time I have ever wished I had a dog.

-blow kisses and make a real kiss sound.

-love to give love. We will say, "Give them love." Whether it is a baby, kid, book, stuffed animal, or photo you will lay your head on them and say, "ahh." However, beware, because in the nursery at church you do this to a friend and then pull their hair as soon as the love is over. -can be a stinker. You like to pinch, pull hair, and recently bit your sister. On your defense she does tote you around all the time. You scream to let her know to stop, but she doesn't listen. Maybe she will listen now!

-learn so much everyday. I should really do weekly updates. You will repeat everything.

-are facing forward in the car now. I know I am supposed to leave you backwards until you are like 12 years old, but our vents in the back of the car aren't positioned well. You would never get any air and would be sweating bullets every time I got you out. You also were screaming constantly. I thought it would actually be safer for me not to be halfway twisted around trying to hand you a toy behind that gargantuan car seat of yours.

-have started sleeping later during the summer. You wake up anywhere between 7:15-8:00. The later wake up time has messed up your two nap a day schedule. Most days you aren't tired enough by 2:00 to go to sleep and you still refuse to take your second nap if we don't lay you down by 2:30.

-will bring me my cell phone when it rings. If you find a snack laying around or a water bottle you will also bring that to me for a bite or a drink.

-are, to quote Meemaw, "FULL-TIME!" Aunt Jenny says that's why God made 1 year olds so cute. I think she is right. You have the sweetest laugh, cutest smile, and I am amazed at how much a 1 year old can do. It's a good thing you have so many qualities that make me want to squeeze you and kiss you because you are "FULL-TIME," especially at a restaurant.

Swim Lessons

Reesi has had quite the fear of swimming for a while now. She did swim lessons at three, but they did no good. We should have done them last summer, but we didn't want to spend the money. This year we knew we had to do them. So she had eight private lessons with Nancy Anderson, an amazing swim teacher. I was worried there would be screaming and tears, but she did great. She will now swim underwater without holding her nose. When she is in a pool where she can touch she does so well. However, the last few days of swim lessons Mrs. Anderson had her tread water. Reesi did not want to tread water in the deep end. It was pretty tough to watch. Reesi would tread, but when she started sinking and going under Mrs. Anderson didn't help her back up. She made her get herself back out of the water. Reesi could do it, but it scared her half to death. She hates treading water and is too scared. So when we are at Meemaw's pool, where she can't touch at all, she relies on her swim vest. Larry is much better at making her swim without it and she will do it, but just not full time. Mrs. Anderson is wonderful, but Reesi started from ground zero and she really needs several more weeks of lessons. I just wish we started with Mrs. Anderson when she was three! We've maxed out our budget for swim lessons this year so it looks like it's up to Larry. Hopefully, with several trips to Meemaw's this year Reesi will be treading water without the look of terror in her eyes!

Weekend Company

The Melting Pot-

As you can tell we enjoyed it very much.

Is there something on my lip?

Elye being Elye at Puckett's

Girls' Slumber Party-

Pizza and Nails

This past weekend my best friend from high school came down for a visit. Larry had games all weekend so we only got out one time without kids. As soon as Larry got home Friday night we headed down to The Melting Pot for a late dessert. Chocolate Turtle Fondue~soooo good! Emily convinced me that Reesi would love it and I need to take her there sometime.

On Saturday, my grand plans of shopping around town were hindered by a certain 14 month old's nap schedule and tolerance for sitting still. We still ended up making it to lunch at Puckett's, dessert at CeCe's, shops at downtown Franklin, and Marti and Liz Shoes. Emily got Reesi all excited for a girls' slumber party Saturday night. We made pizza, cupcakes, painted nails, rolled hair, and made some flower barrettes. It was so much fun!

We ended the weekend with nursery duty (thanks for the help Emily) at church on Sunday and brunch and The Phunky Griddle. Thanks to Emily for the brunch and for spending her weekend with me and my girls. It was great to have some company since Larry was gone, but I hated that we didn't get more time without the kiddos. Luckily, Emily and I can have a good time no matter what we end up doing. We are going to have to plan these weekends more often than every couple years!!

Holiday World and Indiana

Holiday World!!

The Museum

Reesi's trip into the corn fields. Papoo is giving her a lesson on the different types of weeds that plague Indiana corn crops.

Picking blackberries, very carefully

Larry had some days off this week so our family headed up to Indiana to visit and go to Holiday World. We went to Holiday World on Wednesday after 3:00 and planned on buying a next day ticket for Thursday since this was the best deal according to Mrs. Cheap. We went to Splashin' Safari and made Reesi ride several water slides against her will. She was a trooper and tried them, but came out crying on two of them. At least she tried! Then we went to the regular park. She wasn't tall enough to ride any of the roller coasters and there were no lines so it didn't take long to ride everything. Her favorite was Raging Rapids. By the time we left we decided we had gotten our fill of Holiday World and it wasn't really worth $65 for day two. However, it is a fun park and I love not having the crazy crowds like Disney. It was worth the trip!

Thursday, Larry found a museum for us since Holiday World was a no go. It was only $3 and had a great little play area for the kids. Elye loved it and now my mom is planning on getting a membership so she can take the grand kids to play when they are in town. Then we went to Big Dipper for lunch. It is a little burger joint drive-thru with the best burgers ever and it is so cheap. A meal for all five of us was only $12 and their milkshakes are only $1.70. I ate there twice while I was in town and am craving some more just writing about it!

Reesi also had to do her walk in the corn while we were there and we picked some wild blackberries. Unfortunately, I found out the wild blackberries are covered in thorns. I am bringing gloves next time. It is always so nice to go home to the country and relax. I love having the free time in the summer to enjoy trips home!!

Summer Time

Larry and I have to sleep in Reesi's bed so they can all sleep together.

The past two weeks of summer have been wonderful!! Elye is sleeping until 7:30 and now Reesi is sleeping until 8:30. Yesterday, we finally had to wake her up for church a little before 9:00. Larry has had more time off last week so Reesi has had some fun days. There has been swim lessons, Dippin Dots (Larry's favorite), many trips to the candy store at the mall, Adventure Science Museum, Grace and Lyla slumber parties, VBS, and we put up our little big pool in the backyard. For some reason, I haven't been taking many pictures or sending the camera with Larry on their field trips. So this is all I have!

Reesi

My sister's blog reminded me that I meant to do this when Reesi turned six. A little late, but here is her interview.

What's your favorite food? - Macaroni and cheese

What's your favorite thing to do in the summer? -swim

What are you most proud of? -I'm gun to learn how to swim.

What's your favorite color? -pink, purple, and red

What's your favorite thing to play? -house

What's your favorite thing to draw? - my sister

What do you want to be when you grow up? -so many things I don't know: vetenarian, palentologist, teacher, day care teacher,

Who's your best friend? - Lydia, Anna Kate, Caroline, Bella, Kate P., Kate H.

What are you good at? -taking care of my little baby sister

What is the most important Mrs. Anderson taught you this year? -God is a human being. (When I asked for clarification she said) We are humans, God is a human "being."

How is being 6 different than 5? - you can hold Elye much longer.

What do you think about Dad? -He's so fun. He takes me to games and he takes me to Chuck E. Cheese.

What do you love about Elye? - I love to play with her and I love her stinky diapers

What do you love about me? -You're always so nice and encouraging and you always fix me dinner.

What does it mean to be married? -You'll never break up.

What does it mean to go on a date? - When they're going to get married they just do that. Every day of school you won't have to be like, "oh I want to see my boyfriend, or oh, I want to see my girlfriend."

What makes you mad? -When Mom and Dad joke me.

How do you feel about first grade? -Pretty happy, nervous

What's a word that always makes you laugh? -poop

Tell me your best joke. -Knock, knock. Who's there? Ant. Ant who? Antartica!!

What are the three best things about you? - I am so nice. I like to encourage. I love my friends.

What are the three things you need to make better? -swim lessons, I need to be nice to my sister Elye. (she could only think of two!)

Why is it better to be a girl than a boy? -Boys wrestle and they might hurt someone. Girls don't wrestle and they won't hurt someone.

What makes your mom happy? -cleaning up the house

What makes your dad happy? - winning a baseball game

What makes you happy? -swimming

What makes Elye happy? -doing whatever she wants

Indiana!

Last Tuesday Reesi, Grace, and Lyla started out their summer vacation at Mimi and Papoo's farm. I believe it was like heaven for them. Their day consisted of playing on the water slide, riding the go cart, playing with Sophie, playing with all of Mimi's toys, going to the sprinkler park, and eating Popsicles and Little Debbie treats (in Mom's defense fruits and vegetables were thrown in their too). They literally played and ate on the covered porch all day long. Reesi's teacher told her class to try new things over the summer so Reesi did exactly that. This time in Indiana Reesi rode the go cart, stuck her head out of the sun roof riding up the drive way, and wasn't scared to be outside with Sophie. Let's hope she keeps this attitude when swim lessons start next week! On Thursday Julie, the babies, and I came up to join in the fun. Jenny, Julie, and the kids left Saturday while my girls and I stayed behind. We went and picked strawberries and cherries at a local orchard and I got to go out with some high school friends on Saturday night. I headed back to Tennessee on Sunday leaving my girls behind so I could work some in-service days this week. It was a nice break and I took around 250 pictures! The scenery was just too beautiful up there for me to stop myself. Of course, these pictures will probably never leave my hard drive, but at least I have them!

Go Sounds!

Don't let this sweet face fool you. It is not fun to take a 13 month old baby to the Sounds game. She did not want to sit in the stands and when she doesn't get her way she tends to throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs. So I spent the first four innings of the game hunched over holding her hand while she walked back and forth in the walkway. Luckily, Meemaw and Papa Van stopped by on their way home from church and took her home to bed. So I finally got to enjoy the game! I love that crazy baby, but it was not fun at all until she left. Then I got to enjoy the game. Reesi loved it and she especially loved the fireworks afterwards. It was a great game too. They were losing in the ninth inning and hit a home run to win the game. A perfect Memorial weekend event!

Reesi, Parker, and Austin

Reesi getting a little silly.

Lesli and Jeff

Larry and Reesi celebrating the win.

Reesi and Lesli dancing their way out of the stadium.

When we got back to Meemaw's the kids went looking for frogs. Meemaw has a major frog problem, but Reesi loves finding them. This time they found two, one on top of the other. Reesi decided that they were fighting. According to her, the girl was mad at the boy so she jumped on him. Reesi's probably right, but I have a feeling Meemaw's frog problem is only going to get worse.

A Much Anticipated Visit

On Memorial weekend, Larry's sister and family came in town from Florida. This is their first visit in town since I can't remember when, maybe Xmas 2008. So the whole family was looking forward to a weekend full of Hardings. On Sunday we stopped by Granny and Papa's and then went out to eat with Poppy. Elye showed off her walking skills. She is so proud of herself and, of course, wants everyone to clap for her every time.

The only way to get through dinner with her. This only works about 1 out of 2 times.