Flashback Friday - 10 years!!

I can't believe my 10 year high school class reunion is this weekend!! Wow - when did I get that old?! :) I am so excited to see everyone - it is going to be a blast. Here are some fun pics from the good ol year 2000!!

Puddling.

The other day I was getting ready to give Elena a bath when I realized that the water was not warming up, the stinking pilot light on the water heater had gone out -- how annoying! While I was restarting the light we heard some thunder in the distance and then it started pouring down rain. Since we had to wait for the water to warm up anyways I decided to let Elena play in the puddles at the bottom of our driveway after the rain had let up. She thought this was so much fun!! I snapped a couple pictures between raindrops of her having a blast.

This picture is a little blurry but it is too funny - jumping up and down with her tounge out!!

I also got a fun video of her enjoying the puddles~ (it is a little shaky from me trying to keep up with her!)
After we went inside she kept saying "puddling" -- her new word for playing in the puddles! She has been saying puddling and then laughing out loud for the past few days. It is so cute that she thinks of the word and then remembers how much fun she had splashing around!!

Pickett Visit.

This weekend Elena, my Mom and I took a trip to Missouri to visit my Aunt Marge and Uncle Jim. It was so great to spend time with them and have a nice relaxing weekend.

We cooked~

read some books ~

played games, and enjoyed eachother's company.

Of course we had to take a sprinkler for Elena - heaven forbid she start having water withdrawals! ;) (much better view to look at than from our house too!)

Grandma and mama even had some fun in the water too!

The Pickett's have the greatest deck, with an amazing and peaceful view. When we move into another house I am going to demand a screened in porch! This was so great - we ate every meal out here! Loved it!!

Elena loved it too!

My cousin Chris is a cook at a restaurant in town and we went there for breakfast. He surprised Elena with a fun pancake! She thought it was about the coolest thing ever!

She even tried to lean in for a hug from Mickey. :)

Another funny thing is that instead of Chris - Elena would say Christmas for his name! Pretty hilarious that she would think of that - I can't remember the last time she even heard the word Christmas! lol.

Marge and Jim have a great garden with lots of fruits and veggies. We picked out a yummy cantaloupe to take home with us.

It managed to sneak into some family pictures! I don't think we even realized it was in the pictures, I guess no one thought to just set it down.

Elena did great on the car ride, until the last 20 min or so from home and then she was ready to be out! At one point she was taking a nap and fell asleep with her monkey on her head!! Couldn't resist taking a picture!!

Thanks for everything Marge and Jim and we can't wait to come back for another visit!! We love you very much!

Ice pops.

Today I realized that Elena has never tried an ice pop. I know right? What kind of mom am I - mid-summer, 100 degree weather and no ice pops for my baby? Yeesh! :) So I grabbed a couple flavors and let her give them a try.
What are these things mom?

These are pretty yummy! She even said sno-cone - so at least I haven't totally failed with the summer treats all together!

Hmmm...she wasn't loving orange or lime, so lets try berry and cherry. Hey Cooper-these aren't for you!

Silly!

We have a winner - Cherry! Yum!

Purple Bath!

While grabbing some stuff at Wal-Mart tonight, Elena spotted a little package with Elmo on it. As I looked closer I realized that she had pointed out some fizzy tub colors. Since they were only a dollar I decided to get them. When it was bath time I asked Elena if she wanted to take a purple bath - purple is one of her favorite colors so I figured she would be excited about this. We grabbed a blue and a red tablet and threw them in the tub~
Soon we had a purple bath!

She thought this was pretty neat!!

She splashed around her purple bath and when I asked her if she liked the color of the water she told me 'orange' - lol, guess we will try orange next time! :)

For tonight though, she had a fun time playing around in her purple water!

Fountains!

Today we checked out the fountains in Riverside Park. I guess I should say 'mountains' since that is what Elena calls them! I have corrected her about a gazillion times and even tried to explain the f-sound like f-f-f-fountains with her, but she just says f-f-f-mountains! LOL - that girl has a mind of her own! As soon as she saw the fountains she took off in a dead sprint towards them!

Can you blame her though? How fun does this look?!

She sized the place up at first~

and then started to test the waters...

Then she went for it!

Soon she ended up all the way in the very middle with the really big fountain splashing down on her!

She absolutely loved it! (big surprise) She ran around the entire place like a crazy woman screaming with glee! Finally she slowed down a bit and realized this felt pretty good~

Ha ha ha! What a goober! That's my girl! :)