Elna turns 3!

Our sweet little Elna refuses to stop growing up.  “Mom, I’m not going to stop growing and you can’t cry or die. Okay, Mom?”  (A few days before she said this I told her I would just die if she keeps growing up)

The day before her birthday, we celebrated by eating at Veggie Grill.

The night before her birthday Brian and I blew up a ton of balloons and snuck them into her room.  She was pretty giddy about them in the morning.

In the morning she opened up a new outfit to wear on her birthday.

Then we had birthday cake pancakes, which she thought were pretty great.

We spent the morning and early afternoon at the zoo.

Trying to figure out how to put 3 fingers up to show how old she is now.

It was her birthday, so I kind of took a lot of pictures of her.

After the zoo and naps, we headed over to the outlet mall to do some coin rides.  We usually only do one, but since it was her birthday, she and Hattie went on all of them.

Harriet had a hard time sharing with Elna.  Apparently she didn’t comprehend the whole reason behind why we were there…

But Elna was sweet as could be, and didn’t mind sharing at all.  In fact, she actually made Harriet start every single ride without her because she still has PTSD from her elephant ride at Voodoo donuts a few months ago, and she wanted to make sure the ride wouldn’t be too crazy before she got on it. 

Such simple pleasures for these two.

We ended the evening by having pizza and dessert at Grandma and Papa’s house. 

Grandma had Elna go on a little hunt for her birthday gifts.  I love the look on Elna’s face when she found it.

It was a Little Tykes golf set.  So fun!

And from us she got a helmet for her Strider bike and a Fisher Price Little People Zoo, which was a hit!

Eating some birthday dessert.  Happy birthday to this wonderfully sweet, kind, funny, and determined little girl!  We love her with everything in us!

All Elna.

I took Elna out to the park on her birthday to take a few pictures of her being all cute and THREE years old! 

I love so many of these pictures of her.  I felt like her personality was really captured.

She’s 3-fingers old!

I wish I knew how to either be a better photographer or a better photo-shopper, because some (like the one on the left) are a little washed out.  Some day I will figure this stuff out!

Oh, the cuteness, the sweetness, and the joy from this girl are sometimes just too much!  We love her so much!

And a few things about Elna from a little birthday interview I did with her (these are her answers)

Nicknames: Elle, Elna Fae, Bubs

What is your favorite color:  pink

What is your favorite book: Now One Foot, Now The Other (not really her fav, but it’s what she read the last few nights before bed—her favorites are probably Lily’s Big Day, Marianna May and Nursey, and Good Night Moon)

What is your favorite TV show?  “George.  And I like Caillou too.”

What is your favorite movie?  She said Monster movie (Monsters Inc.), but she doesn’t actually like movies.  They scare her.

What is your favorite song?  Do A Deer & Itsy Bitsy

What is your favorite food?  Cheese sandwich

What is your favorite drink? Smoothie

What is your favorite breakfast food?  Strawberry pancakes

What is your favorite snack?  “pretzels and apples, and I like peanut butter too”

What is your favorite outfit?  blue

What is your favorite game?  “memory and I like Spot It”

What is your favorite toy?  dress ups

Who is your best friend? Cedez and Sawyer

What is your favorite thing to do?  Play with Hattie

What is your favorite thing to do outside? play at the park

What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  my baby

Where is your favorite place to go?  the park, Imagination Station, and Grandma’s house and Joanna’s house, and the zoo

What is your favorite restaurant?  Veggie Grill

Where do you want to go on vacation?  Costco

What do you want to be when you grow up?  librarian

What makes you laugh?  Hattie

What do you like to do with your family?  “it depends”  go hiking.

Harriet Joanne (at 1 year…and beyond)

Harriet just had the worst rash when she turned one year old, and though I got a few pictures of her, I really never did a photo session of her like I wanted to.  I still haven’t, but I have her 1-year old stats that I still want to post, so I’m just going to do it, with or without a photo shoot.

She kept this bow in her hair for about an hour, which is a record for her.  She beat her last record by about 59 minutes.  I like to hope that this means I can start putting bows in her hair, but I’m not convinced.

Blowing kisses.  She also does this to make an Indian sound.

Love this little kissy face.

So, so cute!

Hattie’s stats: (at 1 year)

• 23 lb. 14 oz. (93%)
• 31 inches long (96%)
• head circumference of 18.25 in. (85%)

At 12-14 months, Harriet:

--loves blueberries, grapes, chickpeas, goldfish crackers, and larabars.

--hated swinging at 1 year old, but now loves to at 14 months—maybe the cold weather?

--hates hates hates it when Brian or I have hats on our heads.  Or sunglasses.  And she will fuss at us until we take them off.

--loves to dance and if Raffi is on the car she will shake and move her arms most of the time.

--says mama, dad, Elna, hi, uh-oh at appropriate times, and quacks and barks (they sound the same) if she sees a duck or a dog.

--likes to have clothes (like my pants or hers) around her neck.  And she will put towels or anything over her head and face to play peek-a-boo any time, but refuses to wear a hat.

--strangely loves to hold a pair of Elna’s panties, and she will crawl around the house with them in her hands or bring them with her in the car.  It’s weird, but funny.

--will put toys away if we are cleaning up. 

--has the best laugh ever.  And she laughs often!

--loves taking baths!  At the end of dinner when we mention it being bath time, she goes crazy with excitement—bouncing up and down in her high chair, breathing hard, and laughing.  It’s cute!

--loves to read books and begs for them often.  Every morning after I nurse her, we read books for a while before Elna wakes up and comes in.

--when Elna comes in, Harriet quickly climbs out of my lap and races over to Elna, and holds her arms out for a hug.  There’s nothing sweeter than this.  Really, nothing sweeter!

--loves school busses and waves to them and says “hi” when she sees them.

--waves and says “hi” to people.  She waves and waves and keeps saying “hi” over and over again.

--loves to lounge.  She will climb onto the couch, just to sit there and relax. 

--is a cuddler!  This is probably my favorite thing about this sweet girl!  She doesn’t just cuddle near naptime or bedtime, but in the middle of the day she will want to be held so that she can snuggle into my shoulder.  There isn’t anything much better than this!

We are so smitten with this sweet girl of ours and feel so blessed to have her in our family!