Happy Birthday Elsie Mae!!

A week ago, Elsie Mae turned 1!  We did actually go a couple of weeks with no dr visits and great health for everyone.  Elsie weighs 17 lbs 10 oz (5%) and is 29.4 inches tall (55%).  With all the sickness the last few months she dropped off the weight chart but seems to be gaining it back ok. 

She's signing words like: puppy, up, milk, thank you, please, all done, and book.  She isn't really saying anything yet but she says Da-Da and Ma-Ma (It seems like she means Brad when she says Da-Da, but not me for Ma-Ma yet.  Seriously?!)   

She's not quite walking yet but has found herself standing without holding onto anything - which she doesn't like, and she can walk only holding on to one of our fingers. 


We were able to celebrate her birthday with my parents and Aunt Deb, Uncle Scott and Cousin Matt the Sunday before her birthday and we had a great time.  We had a BBQ and enjoyed spending time outside.  Mom and I made Elsie a strawberry cake and Brad fixed up some really yummy BBQ chicken. 

Thanks, Judy, for the cake decorating kit.  I'm not a pro but I did get to use it!


















When I asked Addy what she wanted to give Elsie Mae for her birthday she said a puppy dog. So, Addy made Elsie a birthday card with a puppy dog sticker in it. :) We're not ready to give into that one yet. 
















Here we are after church the day of Elsie's birthday party.  How did our little babies get so big?!

 Elsie really liked the cake but when I put the plate down in front of her she started signing 'please' over and over again.  I had to feed her with the spoon.  :)  However, I will say, unlike Addy who didn't want to even touch the food at this age, Elsie's little hands crept onto the plate eventually and she picked up the ice cream scoop.  She didn't like holding it for very long and she ended up shaking it off her hand.  I'm glad we ate outside. 

 It was a great evening and Elsie had a ball. Most of all I think she loved the attention but second place was definitely the musical toys she received. We don't tend to buy toys that make noise but she LOVES music and the book from Great Grandpa Hulsbos that plays music and the Lettersaurus that plays songs from Deb & Scott were major hits. We knew she like music but you should have seen her dance when we pushed those buttons!  

Everyone loved the food and Elsie loved just sitting outside looking around while we ate.




 Elsie Mae loves books and she loved having Gramma here to read to her!

 Side note. . . This is what Mae Mae does with Easter eggs any time she finds them.  Picture her opening and closing her mouth over and over again with the egg inside. I'm pretty sure she can't swallow them.  :)  Actually, Mae Mae puts everything in her mouth and if she needs to go somewhere, she uses her mouth as an extra hand to carry whatever she wants to take with her while she crawls or cruises to her destination.  She's a hoot.  However, she does tear things up like Brody used to.  I thought cardboard books were supposed to be made for babies.  Oh well.

We decided to try our hands at gardening this year but not being sure if we'd like it, we decided to go the cheap route.  We officially started last weekend by digging in the dirt.  At first we thought we'd just dig up the soil, add some peat moss and compost and plant our plants.  After doing that (I will just say, Brad dug up a 9x5 foot rectangle of soil about 1 foot deep and mixed it with peat moss and compost on a tarp.  Then he dug down another foot to loosen the soil.  It was a lot of work. . . for him!)  it looked like it was just going to turn into a mud pile.  So, we took a peek behind our garage and found boards, bricks and sandstone pavers.  After a little bit of work we have our 8x4 temporary raised garden bed make entirely out of the junk behind our garage.  :)  It's pretty funny but we were really proud of ourselves for making it work without buying anything. 

Here's Brad with the finished garden bed.  Not bad for honky tonk free!  :)  After mother's day we'll put the plants and seeds in and set up the watering system.  We'll let you know how it does!