Note to parents of young new skiers – ski school for newbies is often high priced day care with minimal amounts of skiing. There is a lot of waiting and the magic carpet is pretty flat (no real need for pizza). They do focus a lot on making it fun, putting on equipment and practicing the leg work inside – so its not a loss.  But possibly consider 1 day a ski school and 1 day of skiing with parents. The Edgie Wedgie was a must (pink tube holding the tips together)!

Elsie was giving them all her mermaid wisdom … she had just fed the sting rays and was very impressed with herself.

After the tour we ate in the Water room … Silas was too interested in his lunch to watch the fish.

Finally a quick shot of our little Shark lover!

See the video below:

I am going to try to do this a bit more frequently so we can see how the little bean is progressing – she is a chatty lady.

The below video is from May 4th 2009

Elsie enjoyed a great view on Papa’s shoulders

then they had some fun on the train

And finally they HAD to ride he carousel because its her fav!

The next morning we headed out to Gymnastics. Elsie helped Papa get warmed up, making sure he knew how to wiggle his toes

and then she showed her stuff on the bars

After the gym, we headed to the Children’s Museum for Playgroup (our week to host). Papa read her some books

and shared some fun with Saffie

The next morning Papa took us out to breakfast in Boulder and we decided that a little walk in the hills would help work off our big meal and give us a chance to look at the changing leaves. Elsie happened upon a shelter that she and papa explored.

It was fun, but nothing was as fun as collecting rocks! (there are just sooo many rocks to find)

It was an action packed weekend – we had so much fun showing Papa Michael all of our hangouts! We can’t wait for the next visit.

Even saffie loved them!

I hope it wasn’t elsie that gave kai that bruise on his head!

We found Little Gym and signed up for the Little Birds Class. This place was so cute – we arrived and met Miss Melissa (our teacher) and were amazed at the facility. Each week has a theme – and this week was backwards week. We worked on walking backwards and a backwards somersault as well as just exploring the different apparatuses. Little gym does a great job of providing lots of short little exercises/activities for the kids, but allowing them to participate when they want to. We found that any time music was on, Elsie would run to the red mat to show off her dancing moves.

Here she is practicing the beam with dad…

doing it on her own

Trying out the parallel bars

practicing on the bar with miss melissa

and now with dad

and her favorite activity, doing a backwards somersault!

If you are looking for a great gymnastics program – Little Gym is awesome!

. . . .

Favorite quotes of the day, both from mark…

before class: “from a dexterity point of view, Elsie is definitely above average”

after class: “she’s just like shawn johnson, only shorter!”

Of course the mama giraffe was sure Elsie belonged with the other giraffe’s …

But wouldn’t you know Elsie’s favorite animals were the on the carousel – she rode 4 different times so she could truly see if riding the ostrich, gorilla, zebra or peacock made a difference.

Here she is hoping no one catches her sneaking in for one more ride

I expected more from the hair cut. At one point the lady asked me if I wanted Elsie to have bangs? (clearly she didn’t realize my child didn’t have much hair) She then proceeded to literally snip 4 times. Here is elsie after the cut …

The only difference … $24.99 out of my pocket.

Next cut will be at Turkey weekend when Auntie Sandy can trim us up!

Elsie checked out the fresh water fish first…

Then on to the tropical fish – Lion Fish must say “RRRROOOOAAAR” right?

A visit to the sharks

watching the tiger, not so sure

and finally channeling her surfer self …

Elsie was exhausted and decided a nap on the ride home would hit the spot

The next day we headed to the Broomfield Breakers pool with the Spruills and the Richau’s. We got a perfect space under the shade and spent some fun time in the pool.

After Lisa and Dirk’s wedding in Montana, Mark and I flew home without Elsie. She opted to stay in Montana with Grammie and Papa for a week of grandparent spoiling – as my mom says “but she really wanted to do it, so I let her”.

I finally convinced my mom to give me some photos of the week. Monday morning Grammie and Elsie headed out to “the country club” for a Mommy Grammie and Me swim lessons which lasted all week. They both had a blast

G.G. Ruby came out a couple of days to watch the bean in swim class, and one day Audrey joined in too.

One day after swim lessons, Karen (my mom’s friend) brought Kennedy (her grandaughter) to have a play date. Kennedy and Elsie were fast friends.

Each day after swim lessons they headed home for a nap followed by activities at home … like push fat cat around on the water bottle

Sometimes they watched superwhy

or waded in the froggy pool that papa got

Elsie even went for another play date with her BFF Finley Lauren (Grammie and heather couldn’t convince her to get a professional photo, so a backyard playdate was the ticket)

Each night they did the Richau tradition of heading out for dinner and meeting up with friends

Here they are at Fuddruckers where you can feed the ducks

and here is Elsie at the Club Barbeque with John

During the week while Elsie was in Montana Mark and I took full advantage of the time going to movies, dinner, and golfing – it was wonderful, but we were ready to have the bean back. Grammie and Elsie flew home on Friday and grammie stayed with us for the weekend.

It was a great week and a tradition we hope to continue!

Our trips are entirely focused around relaxation and yummy drinks …

Of course we still got gussied up for a couple of photo shoots

Some mom and Elsie shots (in our matchy matchy from auntie amy!)

We had such a lovely time with the Johnstons and are already looking forward to next year’s adventure – although we are contemplating a non-toddler adventure so bring on the grandparents.

Some Vacation Awards given by Mandy:

Scott wins the award for most books read (also the award for the dorkiest book read: Robots and Empire – the sequel to Robots and Dawn).

Julie wins the award for being having the most rigid adherance to beer o’clock (she doesn’t like drinks for breakfast).

Nicholas wins the award for littlest amount of food consumed on a vacation

Elsie wins the award for most spa water consumed – yuck!

Mark wins the award for best Vodka/Gin and Tonics created

Mark and Julie again with the joint award of best trip planners (and so Scott and I should win the award for best supporters of planners!)

Cheers to a great trip!

Here’s a darling picture of her looking ready for the beach.

with her suitcase packed with all the necessities (cuddles, wolfgang the dog, binky and an extra change of clothes). We opted for her Colorado Buff’s shirt in honor of Andrea’s last day (and her new adventure at CU)

Here she is making her way out the front door

and finally waiting for the bus (actually dad driving in the MDX)

the day was a success. Andrea showed up at 12 to join Elsie for lunch and play and then they came home around 1:30. It was a great first day – Elsie is already picking up Spanish words (thanks to Andrea’s early practice and the 100% spanish at school). I pulled out my Spanish for Dummies hoping I can actually be useful – Mark’s french and my piglatin aren’t really working here.

She was quickly drenched with water so we stripped her down and let her have a little bare bottom sun time

but when your clothes aren’t creating a buffer between the cold spray and your sensitive little skin it makes you VERY VERY SAD…

Dad quickly unhooked the hose. Elsie decided it was much more fun to push the giant ball around the lawn – no spray needed.

well maybe a tiny baby pool will do the trick … back to the store I guess!

Perfect size for a little boy. After our naps we got dressed up again in some cute outfits …

and hunted for golf balls

Niko found a green sand strainer which was the perfect size for a golf ball

And Elsie practiced putting the ball in the strainer (a new form of carry the egg on a spoon and don’t drop it – much cleaner!)

Later we used the strainer as a lollypop

The next game was for Niko to run around with the lifelike stuffed rabbit and Elsie to try and catch him

Its hard to run as fast as Niko! Fortunately Sumo was there to rescue elsie if she fell…

Later in the afternoon, Saffie, Josh and Amy came over for some grass time (more cute outfits!!)

I was happy to see that Saffie also did not like Julie to hold her (I was beginning to take it personally – but now realize that Saffie is a momma’s girl)

Niko had more fun in the house

We all had a lovely dinner (cooked entirely by Me – which is  amazing because I totally suck at cooking!)

We had such a fabulous time with Niko and crew (yes, Scott, Jul and Sumo you are now just Crew and Niko is the main attraction! ) – we loved seeing the kids start to really interact with each other.

Cheers to great friends!

Josh and Saffie stopped over for a visit…

so we went into the yard for the parade

We positioned the girls in front of the Tulips, Saffie did not like her legs touching the grass and let out a big WAIL … Elsie, kindly joined in

Fairies do not like to be bossed around … but they do like to fly!

While dad likes to build sand castles, elsie much prefers to SPLASH!

One waterproof smock from Etsy is on its way!

Here is Mark telling Elsie all about the team of destiny …

She isn’t convinced … but she sure looks cute in green!

Dear Jets, Don’t break my daughters heart this year.

We were lucky to have lots of help getting ready for Elsie’s big day. My parents flew in on Thursday night and we spent Friday pulling together details and making cupcakes. Mark and my dad spent the day getting the backyard ready and doing some last minute shopping …

Friday night we spent decorating cupcakes. My mom decided to do a mix of fondant flowers with buttercream frosting – yum. She frosted all of the cupcakes and then let all of the girls help make flowers. Each cupcake was a masterpiece!

Here are some finished pans

In the morning Elsie was ready to party, she spent some time showing Heather and Finley (who flew in for the event) around the house …

She also wanted to show Finley how much fun it is to play with her elmo table

Grampa set up her new picnic table and Elsie gave it a try

After a fun morning Elsie was off for a nap to prepare for the festivities …

Elsie prefers the role of jockey – Go grammie, go!

Our first ski day was at beaver creek where Mark had us skiing moguls till our legs gave out …

We met up with Josh, Amy, Saffie and Elsie for Apres Ski at the Park Hyatt – Elsie brought her pink uggs but decided to switch shoes with grammie for a bit

For the second ski day we headed to Vail with Josh! It was a perfect spring skiing day – sadly we forgot that mountain sun and reflective snow = sun burn! We all paid the price the next day. Tuesday we headed back to vail for a quick lunch/tour before we had to get back to the real world …

I am sad to see the ski season go, if anyone wants to buy me a mountain house – please send me a note!

Auntie Chloe gave Elsie a Stanford Onsie for Christmas … its still a bit big, but she loves it! (her stanford spirit did not help them win the basketball game)

She also now seems to only want to hold her bottle by herself

Little Miss Independent!

I went to my trusted source (amazon) to look for some books that might help me be successful – that is when I came across Annabel Karmels 100 Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Meals for a Happy Baby – key word here easy.

Making baby food is really easy … I usually take an afternoon every couple of weeks to make batches of food that I freeze. Each sitting I pop out a few cubes and Voila! homeade baby food. I am sure there are lots of books out there, but one of the reasons I love this one is that she really experiments with flavors – I think I am really making an adventurous eater.

I took some photos last time to document my process:

First you cook the food (don’t worry, first you cut all of your stuff up and put it in little bowls, then dump it in according to the recipe … which I follow to the letter!)

We spoon the food into ice cube trays – each batch makes about 1 tray and Elsie is now up to eating 4 cubes in one sitting (3 veg/meat and 1 fruit).

The cubes pop right out of the ice cube tray. Here is “Eat your Greens”, “Broccoli and Yams” and “Chicken with Leeks and Carrots”

I batch up the cubes in little ziploc bags

and here is our freezer which is dedicated to all things for Elsie (oh and Mark’s pesky bread which falls out every time you open the door!)

Well that seems fine, but how does frozen baby food travel? you ask …

Homeade baby food travels well. I snagged a few baby food jars (glass not plastic) and I put one cube in each and heat it in the microwave.

I then purchased this cute Dwell Bottle holder that perfectly fits 4 mini jars of food on the go. I think I have finally started to understand the joy of cooking … I guess since Elsie can’t talk she doesn’t judge me on my poor cooking (sorry Els, hopefully I continue to improve).

Some of our favorites: Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple, Lovely Lentils, Eat your Greens, Cinderella’s Pumpkin, Pasta with cauliflower, tomato and Basil, Apples with Cinnamon.
Some not so favorites: Shepard’s Pie, My First Beef Casserole (both made by dad, I might add!)

and here are some photos of Elsie Lane (also wearing her new Puma’s in honor of Sarah Herman)

This cute little dress was a hand-me-down from Saffron to Elsie (saffie’s head can’t fit through the top, but elsie’s pin head can) – its a super cute baby nay outfit.

I am definitely a neurotic mom so most of the time I am with Scott I feel nervous in my tummy – is he going to drop Niko?, should Niko be swinging that high? – but it is really good for me. The process usually goes: me verbalizing my concerns – Scott and Mark telling me I am crazy, Mark imitating Scott’s behavior with Eslie to add more nerves to my tummy, Julie listening to me and nodding (secretly feeling the same) and finally me seeing Niko and Elsie love it.  Little by little progress is made!

I got my first dose when we arrived and headed to the park:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=IyuD2SiQm_Y[/youtube]

Elsie loved it! She also tried out the little rocking zebra.

Niko was very generous with all of his toys

On Sunday, Scott and Julie hosted cocktails and drinks so we could have a chance to see a few people … of course we didn’t get very many photos but I did capture this one: It was cute to see how times have changed

Monday through Wednesday Elsie spent the day with Julie and Niko – she had so much fun. We have no idea how Julie managed two babies (SUPA-Star!) but we were so thankful!

Thanks Scott, Jul, Niko and Sumo for taking us in!! We had a wonderful time!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_wzaymwESg[/youtube]

Josh and Amy cooked up a yummy brunch of crepes, frittata  and lots of breakfast meat – YUM! They had set a beautiful table and even made a space for the bean to have her own christmas brunch – puffed wagon wheels!

Saffie greeted us in her Baby’s first Christmas Bib:

After a yummy brunch we moved to the presents. We tried to scale back this year – pleading with my parents (who didn’t listen) … but still we ended up with piles of gifts

Mostly for the new babies…

Underneath these piles were two adorable chair for the girls … elsie started her warm up exercises to get ready to open the gifts.

It was very hard, but rewarding work – although chewing and ripping paper was the most fun.

Elsie was pooped and borrowed saffie’s swing for a nap!

Eventually we finished the marathon opening and headed back home to eat some more. Chloe and Mark cooked up some Braised short ribs (from our local cow we purchased) on a bed of polenta with cranberry sauce. It was great to have the two sladden’s manning the kitchen and serving up a delicious dinner.

Success I say!

Santa had a list of all the neighborhood children (most of whom had been nice) and after he led a sing-along with all the kids at his feet, he entertained requests from each one.

Here’s Jenna Baro telling Santa what she wants:

and Elsie was much more tolerant of Santa this time around (see an earlier post for her first encounter with the man in Red)!

Of course all the parents couldn’t get enough of the kids and Santa – it seems these days the paparazzi is a staple of any young kid’s life.

Elsie enjoyed hanging out with dad and showing off her pink ribbon: spoons are fun!

She is even grown up enough to wear a ribbon in her hair (okay, so we had to stick it on with Caro Syrup!)

Elsie spends most of the time trying to grab the legs off of the body suit and put them in her mouth … hmmm, things I wish I would have anticipated.

The best part of dresses – is pulling them up and chewing on them …

Here we are at the party with our new puj baby sling

The party was lots of fun – we are still to young to socialize, so we had fun playing with toys on our own … more things to put into our mouth

Jessica purchased a “kid friendly” Dora the Explorer  pinata – just pull the strings and out come the goodies …

Elsie picked out a disguise … I don’t even know who the little bean is?

Of course there was cake, here’s Emma getting ready …

Sophie’s first cake

It was a great birthday – Emma made a great princess.

Yes its soo fun to see yourself on screen!!

So was grandpa!

(note dad in the background, surveying the cost of all of the new things Elsie will be begging for!)