junebugs and snowbabies

Did you know that we call Eliza our Eliza bug, which was originally short for Junebug?

We call her that because she was born in June.

I always thought that Junebugs were lightening bugs.

And I thought Eliza is very much like a lightening bug because she is very fiesty, pretty, and lights up our lives. (I know cheesy.)

Turns out Junebugs are not lightening bugs. They are those giant beetles that flew into my hair and freaked me out as a kid when I played outside.

But that's OK. It still sounds cute. And now we mostly call her the bug, without the 'June'.

She is her own kind of hybrid bug: fiesty, pretty, lights up our lives, and freaks me out a little. 

But mostly she is beautiful.

I think she will be a wonderful big sister.

I guess we will have to call our next baby something to do with snow as he/she is expected in January 2013. 

Our snowbaby:

 

Better Than Nothing

A post with no pictures is sad... but better than nothing right?

I hope to get around to posting pictures soon, but until then here is our summer so far:

1- After Eliza turned two, we headed to Florida with my parents to drop off my sister who is working at Disneyworld for 7 months. Kase, Eliza and I drove to Chatttanooga to meet my parents. On our mini-road trip, we listened to a 90's music playlist that Kase had created for us. It was full of those ridiculous songs that are fun to sing to from back then. One of the songs we listened to was "If I had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies. Eliza loves to sing in the car. She usually sings ABC's, nursery rhymes, or primary (church) songs. A few days later, Eliza was singing to us as we rode with my parents somewhere. She mixed up a church song and our 90s music and sang "I love to see the temple, If I had a million dollars." It still makes me laugh everytime.

We drove down in my parents RV. My brother and his wife joined us a few days later. You know that movie National Lampoon's Vacation? That was pretty much us. ha ha. Ok not really. But we did have a lot of fun and it was nice to spend some time with my family. Especially my brother and his wife because we don't get much time together.

While in FL, we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld. I was a little worried about taking Eliza. I imagined us walking around with her crying ALL the time, and her being scared of everything. I imagined it being a nightmare. But I was pleasantly surprised. Eliza could ride a good majority of the rides at Disney, and she actually liked them! Her very first ride was Buzz Lightyear. She just sat and stared at everything with a very serious look on her face. When it was over she did her sign language for "more" and said "More rides mommy! More rides!" She had fun. She rode Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, the Haunted Mansion, the jungle cruise (she slept through), and Alladin's Magic Carpet Ride (she did cry on this one at first because she was upset we didn't get the blue carpet). She did not like the Tiki Bird show, but really I can't blame her. Dad got to be on "TV" at the Monter's Inc Laugh House show representing good ole Tennessee. That was pretty funny. Overall, I say our Disney experience was a success. Growing up, our family went to Disney a lot for vacations so I have a lot of fond memories there. It was nice to be there again with my family and to see Eliza experience it for the first time. Another plus, Eliza is still free! That is ALWAYS good.


2- Did I mention my sister is working at Disneyworld? That is pretty cool. I am proud of her. I'm not going to lie, I'm thinking that Disney is pretty close to slave drivers but I hope my sister holds out and makes it through her time there.

3- When we returned from FL, it was back to the real world. Eliza had her 2 year check up. She did so good. They had to prick her finger to take some blood and she didn't cry at all.... UNTIL the nurse said something about getting a bandaid. Eliza DOES NOT LIKE bandaids. So it was all over then. She weighs 30 lbs and is 35.5 inches tall. She is such a smart little girl.

4- We visited my family again (in TN this time) for my brother's 25th birthday. His wife was totally awesome and had a ton of yummy food for us. We watched the last 2 batman movies and had icecream with our own Marble-slab type mixins. Soooo fun. I think he should have another birthday soon.

5- We had a fun fourth of July. We went to our friend Holly's for her annual celebration and then we went to Kase's parent's house for swimming with the grandparents, aunt, and cousins. Eliza is afraid of the pool. (Have I mentioned she is afraid of a lot of things?) I was able to drag her in kicking and screaming literally. After a while she warmed up to it and I think she had fun. We had dinner with Superdeb and Grandpa later, and ended the day watching our neighbor's fireworks and eating smores. Nothing better than that!

Sooooo our summer has been really great so far. Right now I have a few things I am looking forward too: going to see the new batman movie (yes I'm a dork), visiting my mom for her birthday, and taking Kase on a birthday get-away. I've always been a fall kind of girl, but this summer has been pretty nice. Even with the 100 million degree temperature.

Happy summer!