Great Wolf Weekend!

Finally, we were able to schedule a weekend to go to Great Wolf Lodge! Elliott earned this trip quitting his thumb-sucking! We've caught him a few times sucking it, but always when he is asleep. We are really proud of him and had a great weekend to show for it.

First we drove up to Seattle to spend a little time with Lauren, Justus and Cora. It's been a while since we saw them last and we won't see them again until late May. This was the perfect time to sneak in a quick visit. Holly was VERY excited about Cora! She wanted to attack her. Holly's dragon voice/yelling scared sweet Cora a bit. We spent time at the park near L&J's house. The weather was gorgeous and we were happy to enjoy it.

Holly was having a great time on the swing

Cora joined her for a bit.

This was Elliott's donut shop. They sold his favorite kinds, Apple Fritters and Green frosted.

We tried for a cousin picture but Elliott wasn't into it. Instead we got the baby girls

Then Holly goes into attack mode...

After our night in Seattle we drove back down to Great Wolf Lodge. We had a blast playing in the wave pool, climbing the fort and wading around in the little kid pool. Holly has no fear of the water and would have happily crawled right into the wave pool had I not stopped her. Elliott takes a little more time to warm up to new things. But, after a while he was in the deep water with me, floating with every wave. Dan and I were thankful that his parents joined us for the trip. We were able to ride all of the waterslides together. Howlin' Tornado was really fun! He also got to do the MagiQuest game, which I heard he really liked. When we left Elliott said he wanted to stay there forever!

Cupcakes at Great Wolf

Elliott heading out to the story time dressed in his jammies and new Croc Crocs

We arrived home to amazing weather and super long grass. They happily hung out in the sun for a while.

Then the guys mowed the lawn

Easter Weekend

We had a busy Easter weekend. The weather here finally decided to get nice. I think it was the first nice weekend we have had since the fall. A break from the cold and rain was very welcome. It also made for two great Easter Egg hunts!

On Friday night we decorated eggs. I thought this kit was adorable. It was a lot of work, but the eggs were cute.

On Saturday we went to Wilsonville and participated in an egg hunt there. I'm not sure if we will do it again next year because it is so crowded. They have separate areas based on age. But, in the 1-3 area parents are allowed to help their kids. I think Elliott got a little overwhelmed when it was time to go as he got charged by parents eager to get eggs for their children. He was very happy to get two eggs and a bouncing ball which he had obviously been eyeing beforehand. Elliott is not competitive and doesn't care about getting the most. I'm thankful for that because he was thrilled with what he got.

So happy with his "haul" :)

On Sunday we spent the morning at home and then went to my parents house for Easter dinner. The weather was amazing so we were able to do a great egg hunt in their yard. They hid over 150 eggs for the grandkids to find. There were even eggs that were set out for Holly and Paige to find on their deck. Elliott had the time of his life playing all day with his cousins. He was sobbing when we left because he wanted to continue playing with Cameron. After the initial egg hunt Cameron and Brooke took at least 1/2 the emptied eggs and hid them again. The kids played outside happily for hours.

Holly, up 1.5 hours before Elliott checked our their baskets and founds a few eggs hidden in low places. The Easter Bunny went a little wild, though we used gift cards we had lying around for a lot of it. Next year we'll have to tone it down.

When Elliott finally woke up (past 9am) we were treated to this amazing hair style!

Porter Family picture

And they're off..

I forgot his easter basket, so he used an old trick-or-treating pumpkin.

Holly and Paige raided Cameron's unattended basket. They were quite happy about it.

This is Caleb. Caleb turned 3 at the end of January. This is Caleb riding his bike without training wheels! He's been doing this for at least a month. Not only can he ride, he was riding in circles around the driveway. He tries to pop wheelies, and will do tricks with his feet, including pulling one leg over so that both his legs are on the same side! This kid is amazing!

Holly is 9 months old!

Last week Holly celebrated her 9th month! We got her official weight, 17lb, 3oz. She is in the 23rd percentile for weight and 67th for height. She is just a skinny thing. She has a few rolls, but not anywhere close to Elliott at the same age. We had some really rough nights this past month. Holly decided she was a newborn again and wanted to eat up to 3 times a night! That, along with her being decidedly picky about who can feed her (me) made for some long nights and tired days. Her personality is great though. She is a happy girl who loves to see what everyone else is doing. If you talk to her she will reply back to you in baby babble. She adores Elliott and wants to be doing whatever he is. This has resulted in some trying times, but Elliott is learning to share a bit more, and Holly is learning the word "no".

When Holly is really happy we get this goofy grin:

Trying so hard to get to the Legos

Usually I don't condone blocking things off (other than the stairs) because I would just rather teach my kids what they can and cannot touch. But, this day I allowed Elliott to keep playing in their playroom because he had tons of small toys out from when she was napping. Holly was NOT happy about it.

We decided to have Elliott start preschool next year. It will be 2 days a week for 3 hours. The preschool is a 2 minute drive from our house! Elliott said he was really excited to go there after we took a tour. He loves to listen to stories and to have us read him books and poems. He would be thrilled if we spent an hour each night reading/storytelling.

Elliott and Holly going for a ride on the chair in their bedroom. She is so happy to be playing with Elliott.

On the go

Yes, Holly has turned into a climber. She can now successfully crawl (instead of just dragging herself around) and pull up on things. Usually it's to get at Elliott's Lego's or one of our iPhones. Just outside of her bedroom door is a nightlight. This has been a constant draw for the past month. She's like a moth to the flame and can't keep away from it. But, now she has discovered the stairs - across the hallway from their room. We will have to install the baby gates again.

Holly will do laps around our coffee table. She things it is hysterical.

In other news with Holly, she has been teething. I hope that and a combination of being a bit sick is the reason she has been sleeping so poorly. On Friday night she ate 5 times between 9pm and 5am. Needless to say, I was tired on Saturday morning! Last night she at at midnight and then slept until 7:15am, yay!! She has finally decided that baby food is good. She will happily eat 1/2 a banana in one sitting. She is a big fan of fruits and we are slowly working on vegetables. She has two teeth, you can see them both here.

Elliott started soccer classes this past week. Dan went with him and said that Elliott did pretty well. He listened and participated well, something he had a rough time doing at swimming lessons. Dan took Elliott out for donuts after his class and he was thrilled. Here he is posing for me once they got home.

Elliott doesn't always want to pose nicely for me when I'm taking pictures. Usually he tries to duck his head so that I can't get a good one of his face. Often when I ask him to smile this is what I get.

I decided to let him take some pictures - with the assistance of the tripod. We now have quite a few of his Ninjago legos. It did help him with wanting to pose though. He really wanted me to take these.

Next week is Spring Break and we are excited to play with his Portland cousins. Elliott calls Cameron his "super best friend". Brooke and Grace are only his "best friends". He likes to tell us Monster stories that often involve being at Grandmas house (she has a basement and he was a bit scared of the sewing machine when the lights were off) with Cam, B & G. Dan and are I discussing the possibility of sending him to preschool next year. It seems really early, at age 3. But, I think he would do really well with the structure of it and with learning and trying new things. We'll see what happens there.

Holly - 8 months

Holly was making noise in her crib this morning so I went in to check on her, and she was standing up.  This is the first time she has fully pulled herself up.  We'll have to drop the crib so she doesn't try to get out.  She's also doing better at crawling on her knees, but still would rather army crawl.  She really wants to walk and will straighten her legs and start walking when you try to set her down to sit.  

Holly is eating solid foods much better now.  She really likes being fed oatmeal and the frozen fruit purees Wendy made last summer.  She also is good at hand-feeding with Mum-Mums (rice biscuit things) and these puffs that look like cereal that dissolve in her mouth.  I'll have to ask Wendy for a weight update, because I think she usually weighs her each month for the blog.

 

Elliott is still very much into Mario, but has also become obsessed with Ninjago.  Ninjago is a type of lego where you put the lego figures onto tops and they spin into each other to battle.  Kai is his favorite Ninjago character:
 

 

Elliott is currently in his second round of swimming lessons and will be starting soccer in a week.  Elliott has gone to two Timbers games with me so far this season, and he likes them for about 1/2 the time he is there.  The other half I let him play Game Boy, eat Reese's Pieces or play around at my feet.  Holly actually fell asleep at the home opener right during a Kris Boyd goal celebration.  If you know how loud it gets after a goal, that should be impossible.

 

Elliott knows what dreaming is now and has talked to me about it a few times.  He has apparently had bad dreams and funny dreams.  He told me that when I tell him stories at night he can picture them on the ceiling like a dream.  I thought that was pretty neat.  He also really likes Shel Silverstein's poems, so poems after books has been added to his nighttime routine.