Grandpa...Great Grandpa...our Rockstar!

I had to put a picture of the article in the newsletter of my grandpa's nursing home.  He is the resident of the month!  My grandpa is one of the most amazing men one could ever know.  I'm so glad he was noticed for being the wonderful person he is!  We love you, Pa!!

Being 2...Continued!!

HELLO SPRING BREAK!!!

Juan and I have been longing for this time for awhile now.  Just knowing there are no alarm clocks, no school bells, no having to be somewhere at a specific time every morning...ahhhh, a dream come true.  Today feels so wonderful to just be at home knowing we don't have to be planned for another week ahead.  We can enjoy ourselves, take some naps, and maybe catch up on an email or two.  We do have one milestone with Elena that we are going to work on this week and that's POTTY TRAINING!!!  Yikes...it makes me, for one, nervous to embark on this adventure for the first time.  Juan and I just don't know what to expect.  She may catch onto this in a day or two or it might be another 6 months of working through this.  It's the not knowing that kind of stresses me out a bit.  But, I've read lots of blogs, books, etc. that tell us to just always be positive and when she's ready, she'll be ready.  Elena has shown readiness signs for a few months now.  But, last night, we went and bought new "underwears" and a princess seat to put on the "big toilet".  Thanks to her cousin Peyton, Elena has been practicing how to be a big girl on her Dora potty.  Tomorrow will be the big day that we make conscious efforts to use it or the big potty.  We figured we'd leave our options open. We'll be sure to post how things are going later this week.  But, for now, we are just anticipating a fun day tomorrow of lots of questions, stickers, gummy bears for a job well done, hugs, tears, and of course, jumps for joy when we go for the first time!  Happy Spring Break to us!!  :)

Our Sesame Street potty chart...ready to start tomorrow!

 Our beautiful angel

 Sunday afternoon silliness

 I've been ready for the park for like 2 minutes...LET'S GO!!!

 Strolling around at the park

Having fun at "Stepnie's" house

Elena reading some of her book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

This was the first time we watched Elena get out of her bed...I couldn't believe she did it! Now she gets in and out often without our help...she still needs reminders to stay in bed!!

Elena loves to watch NBC Nightly News when we come home each night. She says goodbye to Brian Williams when it's over...it's priceless.

Just being 2!!

It's President's Day!  That means we got a free day off school!!  Not that we really needed it or anything with all the snow days we've had this month, but nonetheless, it's been a great, relaxing day at home.  These past two weeks since our snow days have been very busy...I don't feel like I've been home much at all!  Last Monday, I turned 33 years old...YIKES.  I SO don't feel 33.  I also had parent-teacher conferences that evening, so it was a very long and tiring day...I suppose I DID feel 33 by the time I got home that night.  Twelve hour days just aren't for me, that's for sure!!  Knowing I had to do another twelve hour day on Thursday, too, was kind of torture!  The light at the end of the tunnel was a day off on Friday for the two nights of work.  So, now that we are at President's Day, I'm feeling refreshed and ready for the week ahead. 

Elena's had a great couple of weeks as well.  Juan and I bought her a fish and she named him "Fish."  She absolutely loves it and just likes to sit and stare at it.  We have to keep the fish up high most days just to be sure our cat, Mittens, doesn't get to him!!  Elena got lots of little gifts for Valentine's Day and enjoyed all the goodies like cotton candy, fruit snacks, and chocolates.  Of course, Elena likes to eat these treats, but try to get her to eat normal food is still a challenge.  We were so proud of her yesterday for eating a peanut butter sandwich, some chips, a squeeze fruit (basically applesauce that she squeezes out of a pouch), and water at lunch.  It was a good food day ;)

Being silly with "Fish"

 Making a pizza with "Aunt Shell" for PawPaw's 60th birthday

 Valentine's Day crown from Daddy

 Valentine's Day cheese pizza...mmmmm

February Snow Days!

Good morning hair...

 That's better :)

 Love this girl.

 Dinner is so good when you can watch the ipad and eat!

 Happy Snow Day!!

 Ready to go out...this was MY snowsuit when I was 2 years old!  It fits Elena!!

 Ooops...the zipper is broken on one leg!!  And...she just HAD to wear her tennis shoes outside :)

 Our little eskimo :)

We tried to get a good picture, but the snow was too much fun for posing!

Videos:

 

  Being a good mom...

 The bear is so happy now.

Seeing what sticks to contact paper on the window...she had SO much fun with this!!

We had SO much fun on our snow days this week!  It's hard to believe we went to school on Monday and haven't been back since!  Seven to eight inches of snow plus some ice will do that to a town!!  Back to a normal day tomorrow and then the weekend!!  How much fun is that?!  Elena LOVED the snow this year, which is so great.  We threw snow, laid in it, tasted it, and just ran around in it!  Daddy shoveled, of course ;)  I know I am DEFINITELY over the snow and will be happy without another storm this year.  Bring on the warmer weather!!  We had a fun week on our snow days, but we are ready to get outside in the warm sunshine!

Happy

My sister sent me this video earlier today and I just figured I needed to add it to the blog as another one of Elena's favorites.  She likes to dance to this...Juan and I do too :)

Elena-isms

It's been a busy month getting back into the swing of things after a long Christmas break!  We had an extended break due to the snow that came at the beginning of the month.  It was really nice to have an extra couple of days at home!  We all cuddled on the couch, made snow ice cream, and just played, played, played!!  Since then, the weather has been fine, just really COLD!!  Now that we are getting towards the end of January, I, for one, am ready to say good-bye to the cold weather.  It's time to get outside without a coat on!!  (I hate wearing coats...my hair is always full of static and sticking to my face when I wear a coat).
Elena has been wonderful, as usual.  Her personality is blossoming and we are learning so much about her everyday.  She is starting to read some words, compliments of mama and papa getting her an easel for Christmas so we can practice letters and words.  Her new Leap Pad, compliments of abuelo and abuela, has really helped her be an independent learner and work on tracing her letters.  It's quite remarkable to watch her concentrate!
Elena is also enjoying just playing with her friends too.  She LOVES her buddies at daycare and talks about them all the time.  We got to spend an evening with cousins a few weeks ago and Elena got to play on the trampoline and slide down the playhouse slide at Peyton and Harper's house.  It was a blast to watch them all play.

We decided it was time to put our list of "Elena-isms" online so we don't forget them over the years...here is our list so far...

• Binkie-snuggle (this means I want a binkie and a quick snuggle because it's time for bed)
• Hol-chu (this means she wants someone to hold her)
• Char-Drown (Charlie Brown...her new FAVORITE Christmas movie)
• Reesy-Nora (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...her other FAVORITE movie)  She loves it when her Aunt "Shell" sings the songs to her.
• Tup (Cup)
• Aredoe Worms (she wants to play Play-dough and make worms)
• Shhhhtttt (the sound she makes when she is pouring coffee into a cup for us to enjoy)
• Georges (these are fruit snacks...the first ones we ever let Elena try were Curious George themed and calling all fruit snacks Georges has just stuck...Juan and I even find ourselves calling them Georges :)
• Pwease (Please)
• Oh, Oh Yeah! (says this when she remembers to do something)
• Wa-Wa, Wa-Wo (abuela, abuelo)
• Tendo (Nintendo)
• Maweeo (Mario)

We are sure there are others, but for now, this is the start of our list   :)

 Snuggles...

 Adding some pink "pretties" to her snow ice cream

 LOTS of them...

Reading some names...

Merry Christmas!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone for us all, but what a fabulous Christmas season it has been.  I always feel so excited on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but once Christmas Day is over, I can't help but feel a little sad!  All the hustle and bustle of the best time of the year is over and it's time to move on with the new year! While wonderful to start over again, it's always hard to see the best days of the year come and go in a flash.  We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It all started on Sunday with my nephew's (baby Blake's) baptism at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis.  We had a private baptism at one of the most beautiful churches.  It was decorated for Christmas and was simply stunning.  It was a perfect place to welcome Blake into the Catholic Church.  After that we were able to enjoy a party and eat the most delicious pizza in St. Louis, Saullo's.  They will be closing their doors on December 29th, so if you are in St. Louis and need a place to get some pizza, GO THERE.  They have been family friends for many, many years and you will NOT be disappointed.  I could go for a slice...or better yet, a whole pizza, right about now!!  After eating WAY too much pizza after the baptism, we headed home to enjoy a good night's sleep and get ready for the Keeven Christmas on the 23rd.  It was a great day surrounded by the family, eating lots of great food...again...and opening presents.  Being together is always the BEST present of all, and it truly hit home this year since more and more of our families are far away.  It was truly a Christmas blessing to see everyone from STL to KC to Florida...we all made it back together for awhile. After a beautiful early Christmas in STL, we headed home to enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve together here at home.  Juan and I put Elena to bed...a little later than usual...and then we helped Santa put a few presents under the tree.  It was a magical evening for us as this was our first Christmas knowing Elena would wake up the next day and understand that "Kwa Kwas" came with presents.  We had so much fun.  Elena woke up on Christmas Day and opened up some of her new gifts including a Dora bike, golf clubs, and a new cash register, which has definitely been her favorite so far.  We enjoyed delicious cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then headed to abuelo and abuela's house for the afternoon.  We ate a delicious dinner and opened lots of presents together.  It was a blast.  So, here we are the day after Christmas with not many things to return to the stores, which is always a great thing because I honestly don't like shopping at all...I do not like wasting time standing in lines, I like to just go, get what we need, and get out!!  Ha...We'll make it out in the next few days to return what we need, but for the time being, we are just enjoying putting the house back together after an awesome Christmas, opening all of our new toys, and just being at home.  Juan and I are looking forward to a few more days off school to re-energize and get ready for second semester. We wish everyone a blessed new year!!

 My new bike from "Ernie" and Blake!

 Ring Ring!!!

 I want to play!!

 Playing with Papa and Baby "Bwake"

 Sisters...I know I have a sweet t-shirt on...

 Blake and Juan having a chat.

 Beautiful family!!

 Loving her new baby

 "Nems!!"

 Homer wants to see too.

Playing with Mr. Potato Head and blocks!!  And look...E actually let me put a bow in her hair!!!!