Painting with Vickie, Pamela, & Lexi

New living room & dining room

Lexi's yellow gumball

Elsa's pots & pans

Elsa is really into kitchen stuff. Her cousins, Nick and Aubrey, sent these pots with Vic. As you can see, Elsa loves them.

Elsa's Pucker

Elsa's new thing is giving kisses. She is really into kissing her loved ones. She has a spectacular pucker. Greg calls them "Jolie lips."

Aunt Vickie's Visit

My sister, Vickie, has come from Illinois to spend a week with her new niece. Vickie and Elsa became fast friends. Vic chases Elsa exclaiming, "I'm going to get you!" Elsa shrieks and runs, then erupts in laughter when she is caught. Now Elsa is mimicking Vickie by yelling and stomping around with her arms outreached like she is going to "get" all of us.

We have broken in the new jogging stroller that Vic and Jeff got us. It is a VERY nice pink and black Schwinn. Since our other stroller is a Quinny, we now have a Quinny and a Schwinny. We (Vic, Elsa, Coco, Bloo & I) went down to the beach and did about 6 miles one day, and about 3 the next. I was pooped out but Vic can just keep going and going. Elsa was so worn out the first day that she took a 4.5 hour nap. The dogs slept for 2 days.

My best friend, Pamela, and her daughter, Lexi (4), came for a visit on Friday. They live 1.5 hours away and planned to just spend the afternoon. They extended their visit until Sunday night because Vic and Pamela decided to bless us by painting and transforming our gigantic living room. The end result was so spectacular that they kept going and painted the dining room, too.

The back story - due to Greg's work situation we recently moved and the new house desperately needed some love. We weren't even using most of the massive, historic ranch house that we now live in. The house is situated on a 27 acre lemon orchard that is 2 miles from the beach. We can see the ocean from the property. The house is fantastic but has been neglected and it's age was really showing. We had made changes already by pulling out the old carpet and Greg refinished the beautiful wood floors in a few of the rooms. We redid Elsa's room but, with Elsa and Greg's new work project, there simply weren't enough hours in the day for much else. Greg was using the living room as an office, we used the dining room as the living room. The kitchen, where I spend most of my time, was cramped with our dining room table and difficult to work in. Vic and Pam painted, moved all the furniture, pulled out our accessories from the garage, and totally transformed our home. Vic even bought Greg and I the enormous giraffe patterned area rug that you see in the photos. Every room is being used as it should, and we are marveling at the changes. Our living space has at least doubled. Elsa is having a great time running around the new living room checking out our new digs. Bloo and Coco chase each other from one side of the house to the other. Greg and I wander around and marvel at all the changes. The whole family is enjoying the house immensely. Our socks have blessed clean off!

Sadly, Pam and Lexi had to return home last night. We were all sad to see them go. Elsa was really upset after they left. She really bonded with Pamela and loved all the extra attention. She and Lexi are great friends now. Lexi was very excited to have sleep overs at Elsa's house. She was patient with Elsa and looked out for her. We all miss them.

Splish Splash, I was taking a bath...

Gen. Robert E. Lee or Colonel Sanders???

Bubble Mohawk

Elsa's New "Do"

Elsa's New "Do"

Elsa has been sick for over a week. Primarily, it has meant an overabundance of dirty diapers. With the exception of a few brief outings, we have spent the time at home. Elsa is pretty bored. We thought that the illness had passed and went to an indoor playhouse on Monday for about an hour. She really enjoyed it, but she was sick again the next day. Sally, her pediatrician, said that it is just the nature of the illness this season. Elsa did get her first haircut this week. We went to a family salon that specializes in cutting kids' hair. The stylist draped both of us and Elsa sat on my lap, facing me. She was a bit baffled by what the lady was doing. It went okay at first, but Elsa started growing at her towards the end. The stylist was very patient and kind, and the cut turned out cute. No more baby mullet! Upon leaving, Elsa offered up a pucker to kiss the stylist goodbye, so I guess she wasn't that mad at her after all. Elsa wouldn't cooperate to take a good picture of her new haircut, so the above pictures are the best I could get.

Daddy got Elsa some Dora bubble bath. Elsa and I used it together the first time. Fortunately, there are no photos to commemorate the occasion. Elsa LOVED it. The above pics are of Elsa's lone bubble bath experience.

Our camera is still in the shop

We have no new pictures as our camera is STILL in the shop. They called last week to say that another part was needed and it would have to be ordered. Bummer. So, no new pictures of our little chica, but I'll share some recent developments.

Elsa made her first public appearance last weekend. We went to a party at the home of some close friends. Elsa was the Belle of the Ball. Any concerns that we had that she may not be ready quickly dissipated after our arrival. Elsa took immediately to our friend, Ann, and did her little head-butt thing with a few of our close friends. It was really sweet. There were lots of kids there and Elsa loved all of the interaction and attention.

Elsa came down with the flu two days after the party and it seemed to constantly evolve all week. She seems to finally be on the mend but it caught up to me on Friday. Needless to say, it has been a quiet week. Quiet in terms of staying home, but certainly not quiet. Elsa has been chatting up a storm. Her language is really developing. Something seemed to click for her in the past week or so. I heard her in her room the other day saying "mama-dada-coco-mama-dada-coco-mama-dada-coco...." Coco is our beagle, Elsa's truest friend. Coco is the word that Elsa uses the most and the most acurately. She always wants to know where Coco is and what Coco is doing. She tells us all about Coco all the time. "Coco-coco-coco-coco-coco-coco...." You get the drift. No, it is definitely not quiet around the Paley household.