sleepover at Eva's.

Last Saturday we dropped Miss Ellee off at our friends Jeremy and Amy's.  They have a little girl named Eva who is 2 months older than Ellee.   This was the first time we have had Ellee stay overnight with someone other than family.  I was a bit nervous.  Not because I was leaving her with Jeremy and Amy but, because I wasn't sure how Ellee would react.  Apparently I had no reason to be nervous because Ellee did great!  She had a lot of fun playing with Eva and she got along great with Jeremy and Amy.  Amy said that every time Jeremy would leave the room Ellee would tell him "bye-bye".
The only problem they had with Miss El was that she didn't want to sleep in the Pack n Play in their spare room.  Amy ended up sleeping on the couch with her.  It is so nice to have great friends we can trust with our little girl!

Here are the cell phone pics Amy sent to me:

Amy said that Ellee gave her and Jeremy lots of hug!

Yum, Yum - Eating some snacks!

Ellee and Eva watching Mickey Mouse Club

Ellee found a new playhouse

While Ellee was having a great time playing with Eva, Shayne and I were hiking Mt St Helens.  Despite it being the hardest thing we have ever done it was well worth it and a lot of fun.  It was nice to have a short break from parenting but, we were so happy to pick up Miss El.  We missed her so much!  The look on her face when we walked through the door was priceless!  A combination of excitement/I'm going to cry/Is it really you??!!!  If you can imagine that. LOL! : )

The AMAZING view from the top of Mt St Helens

(Click on the photo to see all the rest of photos from our hike!)

Toutle 2010.

This was Ellee's second year (our fourth) at the Toutle for the annual Labor Day weekend "camping" trip.  Camping is in quotes because if you remember last year our version of camping was spending all day down at the river with Shayne's family and then staying the night in a hotel not far from the camp site. : ) 
We got there Friday and spent the evening around the campfire.  Saturday, we spent most of the day by the river.  Ellee loved playing in the sand.  One of Shayne's cousins has twin boys who are about a month younger than Ellee and they had so much fun playing together.  I floated the river with Shayne's Aunt and his cousins.  I tried to convince Shayne to float with us too but, he wasn't interested.  Even though the weather was a bit chilly the water wasn't really that cold.  Ellee had so much fun running around and sitting by the fire in her pink camping chair!  It was a good weekend!

Click on the photo to see the rest of our weekend!

Sunday, we drove to Oregon to go to Greg's family picnic.  We had a lot of fun chatting with his family and riding the zip line.  Ellee had fun running around with all the other kids!  Greg got some great photos on his camera so I will have to upload those later! : )

tooth number 5.

Tooth number 5 is making its way through as we speak and we have proof!  Not only can you see and feel it but, you can also tell by the REALLY bad rash on Miss Ellee's bum!  Poor girl!  I have tried our usual (bacitracin and Desitin Extra Strength) to get it under control, no success.  I then tried just plain old corn starch, which has also worked in the past and still no luck.  Last night we let Ellee soak in the tub with her Aveeno Baby bath soap and then she was diaper free for the remainder of the night.  I can't wait for her to be potty trained!  Let's just say we had a few "accidents".   After layering her crib with a few towels we put her to bed with out her diaper.  Her rash was still there but, seemed to be much better this morning.  And, thank goodness she only went #1 while sleeping and not #2. : )  We plan to let her go diaperless tonight also.  I'm hoping this helps, otherwise we are off the the store tomorrow to try some suggestions given to us by friends!
At least she hasn't been complaining of the tooth being painful.  She is a trooper!

Ellee now has her 2 front top teeth, 2 front bottom tooth and the top left eye tooth.  It is still kind of weird to see her with teeth!  I've been trying to get a good pic of them but, haven't been successful.  I will be sure to post one when I do!

I'm gonna get you game.