Full House

We had a full house this weekend...Audra came to visit and brought Aidan, Neely, and Hank-dog. We had an absolutely gluttonous good time...what is it about being together that makes us lose all restraint? I guess it goes back to college, although we've moved up from spaghetti and butter, Chicken Helper, and Krystals. The kids had a blast playing together, and Maddie and Neely are already friends. I'm convinced Aidan and Maddie are getting married some day; they make each other laugh, and that's key in a relationship!

Speaking of Aidan, I won't tell stories on him (I'll leave that to his Mom), but he is by far the funniest kid I have ever been around. I love you, Aidan!

Audra has some much better pictures on her blog, but here are some that I snapped!

Sweet Neely

Pretty Girls

The Gang's All Here!

Aidan the Cat

Okay, so I will tell ONE story on Aidan...it had gotten a little too quiet, so I went in my bedroom to see if Aidan was in there looking for the cats (they tend to stay away when he's around, hmmm....). I found him sitting on the windowsill above my tub, talking to Claudia, brushing his teeth with my toothbrush. I literally almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard. When we busted him he told us he was a cat. He also said he brushed Claudia's teeth with my toothbrush, but I'm choosing to believe that was imagination.

Introducing...

Rylan Allen Elkins
April 18, 2009
8 lbs. 3 oz.
21 inches

Love at first sight! I can't wait to hold him and tell him how much his Aunt is going to spoil him! Congratulations Allen and Amber, you will make wonderful parents!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Have you ever had a weekend where nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen, but on Sunday night you sat down and thought, "Wow, what a great weekend!" That's how I felt about the last few days. We just relaxed and watched a movie with Scott and Sarah Friday night (and I got to hold Abigail, yay!), then Saturday we ran errands and had some steaks on the grill. The weather was nice until late Saturday night, when some crazy storms came through. Easter morning was cold and stormy, but we decided to stick to our plan of making it to the 7am service. My thought that it wouldn't be as crowded as the later services couldn't be more off base...still standing room only. With the exception of being completley wired and passing one very loud baby toot (at a key quiet moment in the service, of course), church went off without a hitch!

We celebrated with coffee and doughnuts while Maddie played with her Easter basket from Uncle Al and Aunt Amber.

Next were two of my favorite activities: A nap, and then baking! I made some pineapple coconut bars and a strawberry cake to take over to Lucy's (Sarah's grandma) for Easter Dinner.


Our adopted family came through for us yet again! I even made some hairbows for Abigail and Maddie, and burned myself on the gluegun less than a hundred times. Success! We also got to chat with Grandpa, MiMi, and Grandma Linda on the webcam. End the evening with a frozen pizza and a couple hours reading a great book, and I went to bed happy. Like I said, a great weekend...hope you enjoyed this long and super detailed recap!

Two exciting things coming up this week: First, Audra and her kiddos are coming to visit! Stefandra and Stefandra 2.0 are reunited again. I'm hoping that since Neely and Maddie are both sitting up, they might actually notice each other and become friends. Also, Aidan is very skilled at reminding me that I need to childproof my house, so I'm looking forward to his help ;) As for the second exciting thing happening this week (at least I hope it happens this week!): If all goes according to plan, I should have a blog post soon about my new nephew Rylan! I have been waiting for this baby for a long time! Everyone keep Allen and Amber in your prayers for a safe and speedy delivery and a healthy baby.

BTW, Maddie has two teeth now and will be crawling any day...yikes. She is getting so big! I'll post some more pictures from Easter when I get my stupid camera working, but here are pics from my phone.

Soooo close to crawling!

My friend Dawn gave me the "cold carrot as teether" tip. Worked like a charm.


What a ham!

Easter Morning

It's happening....

Maddie is teething. It started on Tuesday and I knew I was dreading it for a reason. Would you like to know what my life has been like for the last few days? Well, lucky for you I captured it in video! If you are a big fan of Schadenfreude (Google it, you probably are), then this is for you!

On lighter note, here are some memories from happier times.
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Maddie and Daisy

Maddie and Abby. Maddie loves Abby, she is like a really cool new toy. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite learned that she can't pick up the new baby and fling her around like the rest of her toys. By the way, how awesome is it that Abby can smile like that at 5 weeks old!? She is so sweet!

Here's another example of Parenting Cliff's Notes from Andy. I asked him to get her ready for her bath, and he strips her and continues to play with her, naked on the couch. I wish he had gotten peed on. At least her clothes and dirty diaper are neatly stacked up on the couch to make it easier for me to pick them up later. There really isn't anything cuter than a naked baby, though, so I wasn't too mad.

I feel bad for posting that grouchy video, so here is a happy one.