side note.. not really

just an incredibly happy proud mom wanting to write that her little baby is now walking. she took 20 steps in a row today, but i mean who is counting. so exciting. she is so excited.. she is having a hard time sleeping at night. ruthie is such a go getter..... i love it. i will post a video as soon as i take one of our little go getter/ walker!!! i mean wowswers, she is tooting her own horn.

new/old friends..

of course kimberly is an old friend of mine, but a new found friend to elly m. she adored these two people. i guess i know now who to give her to if something ever happened to us. she acted as though they were her parents the whole time we were at the zoo. it is so great to meet kimberly's husband terry. he is such a special guy. we love him already...

a crush..

here is a pic. of elly m.'s new crush... she adored with goo goo eyes and all, kimberly's husband!!! he is such a precious person. the whole fam. loved him and wishes the two of them lived closer.

a couple of my mom.

here is my mom and her little elly m. the moment meme gets her elly m. is memefied. it is amazing just how much i don't exist!!!! great though at the same time that she can love someone else so much.

our little swede

here is ruthie our little swedish baby following a potato around the dining room floor. there are also a couple pictures of the sisters, which i don't seem to get to often these days. they aren't sitting all that often.

My mom, sister and elijah came

I was so happy last thursday when my sister called me and said that she was coming to visit me.. with my mom and my nephew of course. it was so much fun to have them here. I often wish that they lived much closer. I have posted a lot of pictures of their time here. we had a lot of fun. the first night they were here, we went to el porton. a favorite of the incoming guests and then the second day, bella let us use her pass to the zoo and we spent the day at the zoo. elijah is at such a fun age to do this. he enjoyed the whole zoo.. from the animals to the face paint. to the horsey ride, to the water all the way to the end. it was a blast. elly m. and ruthie got really tired from it...so we went home, put them to bed and went to costco. that night my mom and em. watched the girls while we went to a wedding reception alone. which is unheard of from jonathan and i. it was nice to be able to chat at the party without having to keep a close eye on our children. the next morning we got up early and headed to nashville. we dropped my mom off with her sister and we headed to the children's museum in nashville. it was perfect for someone elijah's age. so overstimulating for me though. that night we spent the night at my aunt's house and enjoyed relaxing in their sante fe home. it is really beautiful out there, but the most exciting thing i saw was a cow fight, so you can only imagine.. what it is like to entertain three small children in such a place. after that we drove back to memphis to the park/water fountains for kids. that night we wrapped up our evening with getting our butts kicked at scrabble by my mom. jonathan wants revenge though. then we ended our trip with a nice lunch at corky's.. i love you guys and can't wait until you come to visit again. it was so much fun.

keep em' comin'

Some more pics of family time.

It was so great to have my mom and sister and nephew come to visit. We did so many fun things!!! and the cousins really enjoy each other. Of course, they argue every once in awhile, but most kids do.

more of the fam.

Elly M. is getting a little more picky with her food choices these days. She enjoys meat most of the time and would prefer it. so she ate the big pepperoni's off of my sandwich... don' they look yummy.

and more pics.

more pics.

a little better today....

Here is elly m. she is feeling a little better today. she was even happy to see me this morning when she woke up. and all smiles for the first couple of hours. the dress she is wearing my mom made her. it is so cute!!!! of course elly m. makes everything look cute, but the dress is perfect for her... and the hat of course she had to wear the hat all morning long... she is so fun.