Winter water play

Eliana still LOVES playing in the water and since the weather has cooled now we need more indoor activities, so she's taken to playing at the sink.  Just a small drip of water keeps her content for quite awhile!

After she played for a while she went to go get her spoon ("poon") and went back to the sink to spoon the water into her mouth.  Cute AND resourceful!

Pinning away

I was inspired by Pinterest to make some no-sew roman shades.  You know the saying "you had me at hello"?  Well, this pin "had me at no-sew".  Luckily my mom was in town so she was able to help with the first one (on the right) and I managed to do the 2nd one on my own!  Don't look too closely at mine & don't touch it - it will probably fall apart. :-)

These are perfect in my bathrooms because the windows have a privacy screen on them, so I don't need real shades or blinds.  It adds color and texture to my walls... and some how I managed to find fabric that matches the ugly tile in my bathroom.

Yay for Pinterest!

Fun with Janey

My co-worker Carla's daughter (Janey) and Eliana are in the same day care class and adore each other!  The other day we had a play date with Carla, Janey and our friend Laurie (not pictured).  The girls had a fun afternoon snacking and playing in the playroom (have I told you how much I LOVE our new playroom?!).  Janey is about 6 months older and it was cute to watch Eliana follow her around and imitate her.  Janey is really into reading and Eliana was really into being CLOSE to Janey ~ Eliana just couldn't sit close enough to her.  

It would appear that Eliana is really into reading... but really, she just wanted to do whatever Janey was doing.  We have a social butterfly on our hands!

"Ewwww"

Last weekend I decided I wanted to bake our pumpkin seeds so Eliana and I went to work.  

 Eliana's new saying is "ewwww" when she sees something dirty or yucky....

Halloween 2012

Even though Eliana is still a little too young to enjoy everything about Halloween she still got into the spirit of celebrating!  Ever since people started putting pumpkins out Eliana has really loved anything "pumpin", so this costume ($1 @ Goodwill!) was a hit.  I actually had to hide it after Halloween since she wants to wear it ALL of the TIME!

Our friend took some great pics of the kids at the day care Trick or Treat parade.  Eliana got to enjoy the pretzels and mommy and daddy enjoyed the candy :-)

Apparently I was slowing her down.

Remember when you used to trade Halloween candy with your friends?

She LOVES sharing with Haley!

We are looking forward to Trick or Treating around the neighborhood next year!

Fun with Haley

Eliana L-O-V-E-S Haley.  They actually met when Eliana was just 3 weeks old (both babies attached to the boob and being bounced on the exercise ball!) and then ended up in the same day care class!  Eliana had her shoes on since 7am waiting for "Aaee".

These kids are so busy it was hard to get a good picture!






It was a tearful goodbye... good thing they'll see each other tomorrow.

Helper

Eliana helped me make the salad tonight ~ I cut the cucumber, she'd put one piece in the bowl and two in her mouth. :-)  Not sure I could have done it without her!

(Poll:  Keep the wall hanging in the background?)

18 months!

Our sweet BABY turns one and a half years old next week! WOWZA! We are SO proud of Eliana it's unbelievable. She is learning so much and continues to amaze us with her understanding of what's happening around her and her growing vocab!

  New words: Star, Pillow, Blanket, Apple, Strawberry, Shoes, Mine (much to my dismay!), Hat, Truck, Up, Down, Baby, Stir, Dance... Oh and so many more!

  New sayings: "Wow", "Oh no", "Thank you", "I dunno" "Bless You" (This last one cracks me up, because we alway say "Saha" which is Arabic... she must have learned Bless You at daycare!)

  Favorite activities: Playing with cousin Kaira, Auntie Michelle and Auntie Mo. Going to Grandma's house and daycare! Trying on mom and dad's shoes, pushing her bus around outside, playing in "her" drawer in the kitchen, taking the trash in and out (yes, she's doing chores), dancing, playing catch with big balls.

  New Skills: Perfecting the use of her spoon, jumping, running, spinning, climbing ladders, taking off her shoes (not always at appropriate times...!)

  Naughtiest Moments: Playing "row, row, row your boat" on the oven handle, kicking the screen door to make the screen pop out

  Sweetest Moments: Lots of random hugs and kisses (yay for closed mouth kisses!), getting us a blanket and pillow and saying "nigh-night" when we lay down (anywhere, anytime!), saying "I dunno" while putting her hands up (and usually at appropriate times!).

                                                Playing with her buddy Brody at the park!

Our new home!

After FIVE months of owning our home and LOTS of time, energy and money put into it we FINALLY moved in! We love our new home. Eliana has so much space to run around and it's so open that we can go about doing lots of different activities while still being "together". Every day we have a new project but it feels good to be doing something to better OUR HOME, a place we know we'll be for a long time.

Okay...

THIS is getting ridiculous! I MUST update this blog! But does anyone even still read it...?? Or have I lost all my fans?!

Lazy blogger

I guess we all slack from time to time, huh!? The summer was so busy with our little one running around that I barely blogged at all. Now that I'm back to work and have more time (ha! funny how that works) I promise to be a better blogger. Oh, the other issue is that I have used almost all my free space that google will give me on this blog and I'm too damn cheap to buy more. Horrible, isn't it? I guess I'll buy myself a birthday present... (YES! It's my birthday! More on that later.) The two big things that I MUST update you on are the HOUSE and the WALKING baby. Yes, she started walking the first week of summer. I was working summer school and Geoff was daddy day care for the week and he made it his goal to get her to walk. See, she had been walking while holding our hand for a LONG time and we knew it was just about confidence at that point. So Geoff came up with the brilliant idea to hold on to one end of a stick and have Eliana hold on to the other... and then LET GO and she'd never guess a thing. It worked! I have some great video too. The HOUSE is really coming along! We plan to be moving in around Sept 15... keeping fingers crossed that everything goes as planned because we have given our 30 day notice. More pictures to come. I CANNOT believe we have owned this house since February and we are still not living there! Argh. I have definitely learned patience from all of this! Hope you haven't given up on me... :-)

Water Play

We have a major water baby on our hands! This girls LOVES to play at a water table, take the hose to her face, run around in the shallow ocean water, splash in the tub.... you get the point.

Water fun during a backyard play date with Eliana's daycare buddy, Haley.

The difference a year makes

I have been a horrible blogger lately. The truth of the matter is, now that I'm not working (well, in the classroom) I have much less time to do fun stuff like blogging. This little one is keeping me busy... but we're loving every minute of our time together this summer. We just got back from Seattle and a trip up to Family Camp. I'll do an update post soon, but I was looking at these two shots so I had to post. The difference a year makes...

Family Camp 2011

Family Camp 2012

Reading!

Lots to update on (we've got a walker, people) but I just had to post this picture of Eliana and Grandma reading together. Yesterday was the first time Eliana went and got a book, brought it over to someone, (tried to) hoist herself on a lap and snuggle in for a good read. I think it melted Grandma's heart. <3

A celebration for Rob, Robin and Luca!

Today was a GREAT day because we were together with some fun friends celebrating an amazing couple and their baby boy! Rob and Robin did a wedding AND first birthday extravaganza today ~ it was PERFECT and a brilliant idea, if you ask me. Eliana and I met Robin and Luca at mommy's group when we both showed up in sweatpants, dirty hair, sore nipples (!) and tears streaming down our face. We knew we were meant to be friends ;-) I feel SO lucky to know these three wonderful people - they explode with happiness and you can't help but have a good time when you are around these guys! Despite the temps getting up to 100 degrees it was lovely afternoon celebrating an incredible family. A wonderful ceremony at the park. The Kirtley boys, keepin' it real. One hot baby in her cute jumper. Yummmm, strawberries! The Pullen boys goofin' around. Four babies and their hats. LOL.

Big girl feeds herself!

Eliana loves feeding herself oatmeal in the morning. She starts nicely with the spoon...


But quickly realizes her hand does the job much quicker...




Love starting the morning with the face!


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Summer vacay!

Even though I am working five days of Summer School next week, I considered today our first official day of summer! We had a GREAT day with Auntie Mich and cousin Kaira at the beach in Santa Cruz. Eliana was a champ today ~ she had a short morning nap in the car and another short afternoon nap in the stroller on the beach, but was in a great mood all day. She was so stimulated by all the kids, dogs, crashing waves and of course her favorite person; Kaira! We finished the day with a few beers at a new brewery in Santa Cruz. It was a perfect summer day!

pool party

We went to our first pool party of the summer... I think it'll be the first of many! Can't wait!




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Project #1 (of 1million)

Our new roof is being put on as we speak!
Finally SOME work is being done but still waiting on our permits to do any fun indoor remodeling.




This whole process sure is a test in patience!

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Best buds

These two have SO much fun together. My sis and I just love watching them play together. Every week their friendship seems to grow and it's just like sisters. <3

The other night Michelle and I were able to sit and finish our dinner while the two of them played nicely in the other room. We're hoping that was the first of many times like that!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Eliana helped Grandma blow out her birthday candles! Happy Birthday Grandma, we LOVE you!

(We forgot the candles... so we improvised!)

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be a mamma to Eliana! We had such a lovely day - I'm declaring every Sunday is Mother's Day :-)

The morning started off with a sleep-in and waking up to Geoff and Eliana returning from an outing with flowers and starbucks... already a perfect day... and it got better. First we took a family bike ride down to the market to pick some things up for the week and enjoy the morning sunshine. Then, Auntie Mo came over and hung out with the baby while Geoff treated me to brunch (and unlimited mimosas.... yum!) in Los Gatos. It was heavenly to not worry about the time, enjoy our meal slowly and spend some uninterrupted time together. Geoff came back to be with Eliana and I escaped AGAIN to do some shopping! In the afternoon we all hung out and then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate all the mom's in the family. What a perfect day!

Cousin Amelia helping Eliana learn to walk!

More, please!

Eliana officially does three signs- "more", "all done" and her newest one "please"! What a smart girl!

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Happy first birthday Eliana!

Celebrating Eliana's first birthday with the whole family was absolutely perfect. We were so happy to be able to spend her birthday with the people who matter most in her life. It was a lovely brunch celebration, complete with mimosas!

Siti made the most precious bunny cake for our little "bunny girl"

The whole Abo family together - dream come true!

Big girl opening her presents - the paper is SO fun!

Cousins Alex and Amelia ~ so sweet with Eliana.

Cousins Porter, Keaton and Kaira ~ best buds!

The Pease family (without Uncle Derek), including Eliana's Great Grandma Beaulah!

My LOVES!