Miss Us?

Remember that crazy chaos I referred to last time? Well, it didn't even involve a crashed laptop with an un-saveable hard drive. Add that to the mix and you get no blogging. Boo.

So - just briefly checking in to say we are alive and fine. I have a new laptop, but have yet to find my pictures.

A few Ellen-isms to tide you over ....

"Everyone get in lime!"

"Mom, see and check if you have it."

"Are we going to ride the alligator?" (escalator)

Ellen - hurry up - there's a line (In the public restroom at Panera). "A lion? Raawwrr!"

And (my favorite) as she was lying down in bed tonight and listening to my singing, she pointed at me and said "You're the boss." Clearly my indoctrination has worked (cue evil laugh here).

And, my parting advice to you ...
Go right now and backup everything on your computer. Use an external hard drive AND an online subscription service (I use Backblaze) AND burn favorite photos and movies to a DVD AND put important work files on a thumb drive (and I'm going to experiment with Dropbox).

You know, just in case.

Also, and this is a bummer one, be sure to back-up your browser bookmarks or favorites in a file on your desktop. All of those carefully selected blogs and websites that I've accumulated over the last 4 years? Yep, gonesville.

True, this is minor trauma. I've had friends, though, who have had their laptop AND external hard drive stolen, or our incredibly sad neighbors to the South who just lost everything in an instant - you just don't know what might happen tomorrow.

Entertaining

Entertaining, as in our child is still pretty entertaining, life is sometimes strangely entertaining, and we've been entertaining! (For all these reasons and more, please excuse the lack of blogging. It is only likely to get worse, but I will be back - swear!)

We had our annual Cinco de Mayo party two weekends ago and it was a hit! (I think ...) Ells did her best to help us get ready, but mostly lounged around. Lazy bones. I think this was our 5th year of the party - which seems impossible - but I do think we finally have the formula pretty much correct. Not too many leftovers, though we do have a few Tecate's which have come in handy lately (see above re: life is strangely entertaining).

Last weekend, I hosted a baby shower for my cute sister-in-law. My other cute sister-in-law co-hosted (yes, I lucked out in the sister-in-law department, though wish cute sister-in-law #3 lived closer!).

I was planning to be outside on our deck, but the cold snap in this crazy Kansas weather did not allow it, so I had a chance to play around with cute decorating inside. I don't think you can see it, but the blocks spell "fiona" - tee hee. Also, Ellen came down from her nap to see that I had stolen all of her toys to decorate with. I told her we were sharing them for baby Fiona's party and then she could have them back. "Oh, Mom! Thank you so much!" - I hope she is always so easy to please. Well, she already really isn't, but I can dream.

We had some yummy snacks: haricot verts with an orange mayonnaise, Marcona almonds, mixed berries, pimento cheese sandwiches and turkey tea sandwiches. And, Izze's of course - so festive!

And, if I can do one thing as an aunt, it will be to instill a love of dessert in this baby girl! :)

And here is the mama-to-be with the darling baby clothes that everyone ooh'd and aah'd over. She got lots of goodies and is all set to have that baby! Well, in truth, are you ever set? She does have a car seat, so she can get the baby home, and then they are on their own. :)

Really fun stuff! No more parties on the horizon, just some general stress-inducing chaos, which you know is exactly how I like things. Or, wait. Reverse that.

Nonetheless, will try to check in again soon!

Yep, I love being her mom

Happy Mother's Day!

Whoops, Easter

Guess I forgot to post these?


Ellen had a very nice visit from the Easter Bunny! Lucky girl - after lots of potty success treats, she got MORE treats from the Easter Bunny. It was too cold for an outdoor egg hunt, but luckily E.B. hid them inside. :)

Whooo!
(Here she is mid-chew)

Oh! And Mr. Bunny brought a bike! (It's hard for Santa or the birthday fairy to bring a bike in December).

And we had a great family Easter get together at Erik's parents' house. Ellen got a new helmet, and you can see the pure joy on her face! (Thanks Aunt Betsy for the pic!)

Still here ...

I haven't abandoned blogging. Spring finally sprung around our house, so we've been spending lots of time weeding, bike-riding, weeding and weeding some more. It's about this time of year that I am preparing to call the local cement truck to come and pave my yard. Argh. It's just an overwhelming task! Not to mention that "spring" was so rudely taken away ... 76 degrees on Saturday to 47 degrees on Sunday? Wha?

I digress ...

I finally had a chance to look through our pictures from our Texas trip. I'll post more later of our sweet little friends, but I think you can see here why Ellen keeps asking to play with them.