Leadership Forum

As an early birthday present for "T", we bought tickets to the annual Leadership Forum at Ohio Christian University in Circleville where John Maxwell always presents as the headline speaker.  This year was a bit different.  Maxwell had a special guest speaker this year - Tim Tebow!!!! It was a very inspirational, touching and spiritual experience that left tears in my eyes after listening to Tim Tebow speak.

2012 March of Dimes

Today we walked in the 2012 March of Dimes in Downtown Chillicothe.  We walked in memory of Ava & Ella Burke and for Simi & Libby Anderson. Despite the cold weather putting a bit of a damper on the morning, it was a great time.  It is always such an amazing thing to be part of.  Wasn't able to get many pictures but here are a few.

Elli bundled up in her stroller.

The "Anderson Girls" crew waiting to walk

Ethan with his Uncle Joe

Emily bundled up in her stroller too

Cozy with Uncle Canon

Bad Dogs

Poor Elli only got to enjoy a part of her Easter gift from the Easter Bunny for a couple of hours.  Part of Elli's gift was a puzzle that had over sized pieces and the one below was one of them.  On Easter Sunday she had it in her hand when we went outside to let her get Easter Eggs and we put it on the front porch.  Well Mommy and Daddy forgot to pick it up when we let the dogs out and this is what we found in our yard later that week.  Just when we thought the dogs had gotten out of their puppy stage and chewing everything up..........I guess we were terribly wrong! 

Easter Weekend

We had a very eventful Easter weekend.  On Saturday, Grandpa Duckworth and Grandma Tammy came over to visit with Elli.  Pa & T also came over and had dinner with us and helped us color eggs.  T & Elli had fun getting into all the colors.  Sunday, we went to church, back home to hunt Easter eggs, out to Grandpa Propers and then to Pa & T's for some more Easter Egg hunts and fun. We were a bit exhausted by the end of the weekend but had a great time with Elli on her first Easter and with Family.  We really missed you Sikora's and can't wait to have you back home for next year.

Elli had Smurf hands by the end of the night!

 Waking up on Easter morning!  All Smiles as usual.

 The Easter Bunny hid Elli's basket in her favorite cabinet. 

 Elli was more interested in tearing the grass out of her basket than finding the eggs.

 Sophie enjoyed rolling around in this new contraption.

We took Elli mushroom hunting for the first time.  We didn't come up empty handed but only found 3. 

10 Months

Yesterday, Elli turned 10 months old.  She has really started to walk a lot around the furniture and we occasionally catch her standing on her own. Lately, she has started to mimic noises we make and some motions.  She finally started picking up on some signing.  She mostly does the sign for "more" and occasionally "eat."  Over the past month she has become more and more mischievous by the day.  At Elli's 9 Month Check-Up (which was just a couple weeks ago)  she weighed 18 1/4 pounds (48th percentile) and was 28 3/4 inches long (90th percentile).  Elli finally got some teeth as well over the past month - she is now up to two!!

 Visiting the cow with T

Elli got to swing for the first time this month  - she wasn't to sure at first but loved it by the end.

 Our ornery girl getting into every cabinet that isn't locked

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan & Emily

This past week my cousins twins, Ethan & Emily turned a year old.  It is so hard to believe that they are already turning one.  This weekend they had their party and it was so sweet to see them both walking around interacting with everyone. Emily dug into her cake, but Ethan wasn't really to sure about all and they both had fun opening their presents.  It was a real eye opener for me as it won't be long and it will be Elli's turn!  Happy Birthday Ethan & Emily!  We love you!

Ethan &  Emily when they were born - so tiny!

Elli enjoyed playing with their new toys too! 

9 Months

Where has the last the month gone?  This past month was jam packed with activities and I didn't blog about one of them! We celebrated my 30th Birthday, which I must say I struggled with a bit but got over it in a day or two.  Elli had an overnight with Pa & T while we had an adult evening out with some of our friends. For Matt's birthday, T had bought him a date night in February at Sur la table with cooking lessons for us.  Most of you know that Matt doesn't need cooking lessons so I think this was more of a way to get me to like cooking.  I must say it was a ton of fun and the food we made was awesome! But sorry T - I still hate to cook!  

During all that, Elli turned 9 months old last week. We celebrated her 9 month with her first ear infection and a touch of the croup.  She seems to be doing better but still a little grumpy during the night, which Mommy and Daddy are not used to.  She has started to cruise around the furniture a bit but has realized she can get to things on the furniture that she wants just as easy by getting down and crawling over to it. She gives us kisses, shakes her head no while saying "na-na" and plays peak-a-boo.  We have come to realize that this little one will only do things on her own terms though.  All the things mentioned above she will not do when we ask her to, only when she wants to!  She knows what "no" means and usually listens pretty well, for now. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Moose a Moose/Zee on Nick Jr. and lights up with excitement when her daddy comes home from work.    

She loved playing with mommy's balloons from her birthday.

Elli's new Jacuzzi

She got her first boo-boo this month too.  Fell into the cabinet - OUCH!

Sitting Pretty

I don't know if you can see them but the dogs are on the other side of the door.  She loves to watch them out the door and we swear she is trying to say "dog"

Mommy and Elli tuckered out after a long sleepless night from being sick.

This picture sums up how Elli has been feeling for the past week!