Midwest Tour, Part Deux

Settle in for this blog post...it is going to be a long one!

We spent Thanksgiving week on a whirlwind tour of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. I was smarter this time and broke up the travel so Elle was slightly happier than the August trip. She was still hating her car seat by the time we returned home but there was a bit less crying, so I'll consider it a success!

First stop, Fort Thomas Kentucky to visit my friend Angel and her family.

The Cincinnati skyline behind us.

Elle's new friend Zoey. What a cutie!!

Zoey's mama, Angel

We enjoyed getting to spend more than an hour with them this visit!

After we left KY, we headed to Indianapolis for a quick visit with my friend Jenni. I think we were there for about 24 hours!

First stop, we showed Elle where her Mommy and Daddy got married. That is the Statehouse rotunda glass above her. It was even more beautiful with Elle there :)

The atrium behind us is where Clay and I were married.

Ahhh, fond memories. I have a very similar picture of Jenni taken 10 years ago in this same phone booth while she was wearing her bridesmaid dress!

Hey, this trip is pretty fun!

Elle really enjoyed spending time with Jenni's daughters. This is Evie...she has a great ability to make Elle laugh!

Elle and her admirers (myself included).

We went to Annalise's Thanksgiving program...Elle and I were very excited to see all of the preschoolers singing!

After we left Indy, it was off to Knox to see Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Elle had a great time playing with them both!!

While we were in the area, we were able to visit with 45 of Clay's closest relatives at Thanksgiving dinner! Here are just a few of the pictures.

This time, Elle didn't cry. The next time Great Uncle Dale picked her up, she did. Hmmm, can anyone explain it? :)

Elle with her 3rd or 4th cousin Elena...I can never remember how that works. Anyway, Elena declared that Elle was her favorite cousin! So cute!!

Aunt Pat was Elle's favorite this trip!

And then we were off to our final stop, Bryan Ohio to visit my family.

Uncle Ray must be pretty funny!

With Aunt Angie...go Buckeyes!! Way to beat Michigan!

Elle was obsessed with their dog Jack...and I think he liked her too :)

Oh yea, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hope you all had a great holiday with friends and family.

Thanks to everyone who hosted us...we really enjoyed all of our visits!

Real food!

I have been holding off on starting Elle on solids until she was closer to 6-months old. I have been doing a lot of research and really like the concept of 'baby led weaning' aka 'baby led solids'. Basically, you skip the purees and just let them start eating real food by feeding themselves. Here is a link to more information if you are interested: http://baby-led.rhgdsrv.co.uk/

We are only doing one time a day for now...and only if it 'works' with how our day is going. Elle is basically still exclusively breastfed...and dinner time is play/exploration time with food! Here she is trying steamed broccoli and chicken strips. She liked the broccoli but didn't really pay much attention to the chicken.

I was eating some blueberry yogurt so I decided to offer her some. She had no interest in me feeding her so I gave her the spoon. She knew exactly what to do with it :) I refilled it a couple of times before she was covered in yogurt!

Mmmmm, blueberry yogurt is good!

When we are travelling, I try to order her plain sides of veggies. So, in Pittsburgh, she had asparagus...

Double-fisting veggies...a habit I am happy to encourage.

She was having a lot of fun with it!

So far, Elle has tried: cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, apples, blueberry yogurt, pickles (yep!), carrots, sugar snap peas, bread and bananas. I think she has liked it all - or at least she kept putting everything in her mouth! Hopefully she keeps playing along and some day learns to chew and not just gnawing on stuff! I think it is pretty fun to watch her explore everything.

Gosh she is growing up fast!

Last work trip for the year! - Pittsburgh

Last week, we were off to Pittsburgh for the last out of town meeting for the calendar year. Yea!!! (for the meeting, not necessarily Pittsburgh!)

We went up a day early and my whole committee met up for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. It was beautiful and I am glad to have finally made it to this iconic piece of architecture! This was a close as Elle made it to the house though. Apparently their insurance company won't allow anyone under 6 years old in the house...regardless of a stroller. So, fortunately, my Mom was travelling with us that weekend so she and I took turns on tours.

If you aren't familiar with this house, the waterfalls run underneath the house, which is cantilevered over the water. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the house though.

Back at the hotel...it is much more fun to spend a few days with Grandma instead of a stranger/nanny!

Grandma and Elle playing. Here is another new skill. Elle started getting up on all-fours and rocking this weekend. I have a feeling that crawling is just around the corner!

They went out for a walk one day and found a cool little toy store nearby. Grandma thought Elle needed this neat old-fashioned top!

Miss Smartypants seemed to figure out how to make it work pretty quick!

On the road again - New Orleans

About two weeks ago, we had to go down to New Orleans for work. As usual, Elle was a trooper! A few of my co-workers were on the same flight and were surprised by how good/quiet she was on the flight!

While we were there, Elle learned how to show off her advancing mobility! It is pointless to put a blanket down anymore. She isn't going to stay on it very long at all! She was under the crib, bed and tv stand at different times...and very proud of herself.

One of the nights, we actually went out for dinner with one of the speakers from my conference (a fellow Ball State grad coincidentally!). This is a very rare occassion these days since she goes to bed so early. I wasn't actually planning to eat out so I hadn't brought any toys with me. So, to entertain her while we waited, Elle played with the little pumpkin...until it rolled half-way across the restaurant. After that, I decided it was ok to try some real food. Up until that night, she has only had one piece of cauliflower. At dinner though, she gummed a piece of bread (in this picture), a sugar snap pea and a carrot. She looked like Bugs Bunny!!

We finished up at a reasonable hour on the last day so we went for a walk. The French Market was our destination. It was a beautiful day to be out...the market was a bit like a fancy flea market.

We walked along the bank of the Mississippi River for a while and saw this paddle boat. Elle is definitely getting to see a lot in her short life!

Mmmm...beignets and coffee!

How many different ways can you get your palm read or fortune told??

If you ever want to get weird looks, walk down Bourbon Street with a 5 month old. She loved all of the lights and sounds but the crazy people probably thought I was the crazy one.

Halloween - part 2

My mom's group meets twice a month on Sunday nights. We didn't meet on Halloween night so someone suggested we all bring our kids the next week in costume. Before anyone started to meltdown (we meet at 7:00pm...), we tried to get a group photo with only so-so results!

It is hard to get a group photo when only 3-4 kids can sit up on their own! We tried leaning them into each other...it was kind of like dominoes.

Elle was less than impressed to have the other kids leaning on her!

This is the closest I got to a group photo! Maybe we'll have better luck next year! Oh well...I think the whole thing was more for the mom's than the kids anyway :)

Hope all of you had a safe and fun Halloween!

10 Years!!!

Where were you ten years ago today?

Many of you were in Indianapolis helping us celebrate our wedding day!

It is hard to believe that it has already been 10 years. It certainly has flown by! I guess that is what happens when you move a lot and have a lot of random adventures. One of these years, we hope to actually get to celebrate this day together!

I wanted to put one of our wedding pics up here...but they are in Indiana.

Most of our pics are on my computer in Virginia...but we are in Pittsburgh right now.

So, here is a repeat picture from earlier this summer.

I hope you all remember our wedding day with the same smile that we do. We really enjoyed that day and all of the memories we have made since!

Here is to another 10...

or 20,

or 50!

Sad news

Last night Butch was admitted into emergency surgery for a twisted stomach...the vets thought he was a good candidate with a good chance for a full recovery. Unfortunately, what they found when they got in wasn't looking good and while we were discussing the options, his vitals started to plummet. In the end, Butch didn't make it through the surgery.  

We will miss you Butchie...

You were a great dog and we loved having you in our family for the last 9 years.

 

You were such a sweet little clown and always made us laugh.

Back together again...

Butch and Sundance the best Boxers ever.

We loved you both!!!