What Green Bean?

So we're eating dinner the other night.







Eliza loves her green beans.







Kase looks over and sees this:

Can you find where Eliza's green bean went?

A Sick Day

Nothing makes you feel better than your little girl.

She knows lots of things that make you feel better

Things like lining up her animals on the bottom stair and getting her mommy to take a (blurry cell phone) picture of them.

Or putting her clothes in daddy's drawer. (I think she is taking over our room.)

Yesterday, she cracked me up so much. After a fun day at church and evening at Grandparent's house, we came home. Eliza walked into our bedroom, saw her play kitchen and said "Hi Kitchen, I miss you!" As if she hadn't seen kitchen in forever.

At nursery yesterday, one of the other kids walked up next to her and slyly began pushing her out of his way so he could play with the toy building table she was using. She looked at him, gathered her toys up, and said "Be Nice!" as she stomped away. Hilarious.

I feel much better now.

We Call Her the Bug

This week we went out of town together for training with my work. It is so nice to be back home! Eliza did not sleep so well in the hotel (this includes but is not limited to taking up the whole bed shared with her mother, burrowing her head into her mother's back during sleep, waking up screaming inconsolably really loudly, and so on) but she did have fun hanging out with her daddy while I was in class. We're glad to be home and back to our regular schedule.

we have been enjoying watching Eliza's personality come out more and more lately. She talks a lot and is really funny.

Some things I want to remember are:

- She loves her friends and always asks about them on days she doesn't go to daycare.
- She loves bananas oatmeal yogurt oranges and cheese.
- She has started calling me mommy sometimes instead of mama. It's a sweet sound.
-She loves to read. Her favorite book right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She loves to say the names of the
food he eats and say he is still "hun-gee". It is the cutest thing I have ever heard.
- She loves her baby dolls and talks to them a lot. The other day she put Kase's shoes on her baby and walked her around the house saying "walking walking"

Now don't get me wrong she isn't a little angel. We have entered into our toddler tantrum phase (I hope it is a phase). This makes shopping and eating out a little difficult. Yes, we are those people with the screaming kid that you wish would just get lost. But for the most part she isn't too bad. As long as we make sure she isn't tired or too hungry we can make it through. (along with a stock of plenty of snacks, toys, and books.)

But no matter how frustrated we can get with her all she has to do is say one sweet mommy, daddy, or hun-gee and we melt. She is worth all the ruined trips to target, and that says a lot.

She makes us so happy.

Hello 2012

This year I hope to:

- Attend the temple more often.
- Continue reading.
- Take more pictures.
- Be better about recording our memories.
- Be more positive.

This year so far we have:
- Welcomed a new nephew into the world. Cute little Olsen Creed at 2 lbs 15 oz and he is going strong.
- Eliza had an ultrasound on her kidney to see if the blockage in her ureter is still there. (She has had it since birth but it is getting better.) It has not cleared up yet but we are hoping that it will.
- Finally got my car into the repair shop from the wreck I was in back in November.
- Gotten sick a lot, but that just means more snuggle time at home.

So far the first 19 days have been pretty good!

Goodbye 2011

It feels as if I blinked and 2011 was over. I remember thinking at a July 4th get together that it felt like we just had New Years 2011. Then the next thing I knew it was Christmas. They say time seems to go by faster as you age and your children will grow up in a blink of an eye, I believe it!

2011 in review:
- January- We started 2011 with a smiley 6 month old who could sit up really well. We also had several snow days. I went from being a contract employee to a federal employee.

- February- Eliza had a 23 hour EEG to check on her weird "posing" (which she still does sometimes) it came out OK with no signs of seisures, but the EEG was miserable.

- March: I began my last year as a "twenty-something" and Eliza learned how to crawl.

- April: I worked a lot in preparation for our office's evaluation. Kase and Eliza accompanied me on a work training trip to South Carolina. We had fun eating out and playing in our hotel room. I also finally started going to a book club. More on that later.

- May: Thanks to our neighbor and friend "P" Eliza learned to walk. During church, P was playing with a ball. Eliza figured out how to walk with the ball and she has been going ever since.
Kase's job was really slow and he was not getting many hours, but we made it through.

- June: Eliza turned one! She had a fun owl themed birthday party.

- July: We played a lot outside. Kase turned 28. In an effort to be more productive and money smart, we canceled cable. (This was big for us as we love to watch tv, BUT we have not missed it!)

- August: Kase and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with our first night away from Eliza. It was nice to sleep in and relax. But we missed her. Eliza began talking a lot!

- September: I took a week off just to stay home with Eliza. It was awesome! Eliza was a very pleasant 15 month old.

- October: I switched my work schedule to getting every other Friday off. It has been really nice. Eliza began singing a lot (The Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle Twinkle). We were the Flinstone Family for Halloween.

- November: Eliza entered into the first of her temper tantrums and meltdowns. But we love her any way. We hosted our 1st Thanksgiving and cooked our 1st turkey. It turned out pretty good! I got into a car accident (not my fault!) and fought with the other driver's insurance company for the next month. Booo

- December: We spent a lot of time with family for Christmas. Eliza enjoys singing a lot (Love is Spoken Here, I'm Trying to be Like Jesus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, I Love to See the Temple, I'm a Child of God.) I enjoyed another week off with Eliza, although it went by way too fast!

We had a wonderful year. It is so amazing to me how quickly Eliza is changing and growing. Every new stage is my new favorite. She is our life and our love and we wouldn't change that for anything. Watching her grow up is better than any trip we could take or adventure we could go on. We're excited to experience another year with her.

This year, I have also really enjoyed reading again. What have I read you ask? Let me tell you!
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
- Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
- The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
- Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Matched by Ally Condie
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My favorite was The Book Thief. Tied for second would be: The Help, The Hunger Games Trilogy, and Unbroken.

I didn't really like the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy by Carrie Ryan, but I had to read it once I started.

I hope to keep up reading this year!

Goodbye 2011


PS It is my Daddy's birthday. Just so you know, he is the best. He can fix just about anything. He makes the best smoked turkey and popcorn. He is kind, smart, sweet, and extra cheesy. He is the perfect dad for me. I love you Daddy!

A Very Belated Christmas Post

This Christmas we spent a lot of time with family. Unfortunately, I did not spend a lot of time taking pictures. But I did get a few.

We had Kase's side of the family came over for an early Christmas party. This is Eliza and her 3 cousins. It is really hard to get a picture of 4 kids.

This year we spent actual Christmas with my side of the family. It was nice to relax and hang out. My brother hung out with us quite a bit and it was a real treat. I have a few more pictures of Christmas morning but I figure people don't like being on the internet in their pajamas. So those will not be posted on here. Eliza got a new baby that she is very fond of. But I think the biggest surprise was that my brother and his wife got Eliza a pink VW power wheel! We were all shocked and amazed. Eliza immediately loved it. She doesn't know how to drive it but she loves to sit in it. At home, she feels safe in her car and loves to sit in it while I vacuum. (She is really scared of the vacuum.) When we made it back to Knoxville, we had a 3rd Christmas with just the 3 of us! Our tree: Eliza ran immediately to her little people barn, but she also loved her kitchen (I may have found it on the side of the road, cleaned it up, and it's as good as new!)Kase got an ornament for his 2010 graduation. It's a little guy holding a camera. So cute.

Eliza also likes her rocking horse. We had a wonderful Christmas!

New Year's resolution: take more pictures!