Memorial Day Weekend

Whew, we had a busy weekend. It was a lot of fun, though!

First of all, the past week or two Eleanora has really perfected walking all around the family room with her walker toy thing,



Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we spent the day in Eau Claire with Bryce's dad and step-mom. We had a really fun day relaxing and eating yummy food. Eleanora went swimming for the first time! She has an adorable swimsuit, but we forgot it :( So she swam in her swim diaper. Here she is with Grandpa Gary,






Monday we went to Nisa & Ben's and hung out in the backyard. Eleanora loves being outside. She went down the slide with daddy's help,



She is no longer freaked out by grass, so she crawled all around the yard moving their rocks around, she must have a landscaping remodel in mind for them,



We got to spend time with little Keaton,



Eleanora especially loved stealing his stuff. I think the power of being an older cousin has gone to her head. She crawled over to Nisa and yanked Keaton's pacifier right out of her hand, stuck it in her mouth and crawled away. I so wish I had a picture b/c it was hilarious. She also helped herself to his bottle,



After a good laugh, we replaced it with her own sippy cup,



There was a Cheerio explosion when Bryce opened her bowl, and it was appreciated by both Eleanora and their dog Hooper.



Notice Hooper's licking her lips,



Nora's thinking "Ah, heaven!" This girl loves her Cheerios!



Busy weekend, but nice relaxing fun was had by all.

'Unemployment is fun!' - Bryce

We had a really fun day at the beach today! But first, last night Eleanora got dressed up to go to Grandma Kate's with daddy while I stayed home to finish setting up her new VERY OWN room. I had to take a picture of my girly-girl,



So today the weather was beautiful, and Bryce submitted an application for a job he'd love, so we decided to take Eleanora and Kirby to the park/beach.

Swinging,









Contemplating life,





And having a ton of fun on the beach (she loved the sand)








This girl refuses to crawl on hardwood floors or any type of un-carpeted floor really, but took off on the sand?! I couldn't believe it,






We had a little trouble keeping the sand out of her mouth. We were doing pretty good. When I set up this picture she was smiling at me with her hands in her lap, by the time I snapped the picture her hands where on their way to her mouth,



Definitely a dirty girl after the beach, but we had a great day!

Lions & Tigers and Bears (not really), Oh My!

Last week we took Eleanora to the zoo for the first time,



We saw lions,




And tigers,



And sea otters, oh my!



Eleanora taunted the lions for bit,



It was a nice day but I think Bryce and I had more fun than Nora. She kept looking at us like, "yeah, what's the big deal?" But it was it was fun, free entertainment.

Later in the week we went to visit Carsten and this new guy,



And Eleanora taunted a much smaller cat than before,



Tonight before her bath, we let her hang out for a little bit in just her diaper,



And yes, she can climb the stairs in the family room! She mastered that about 4 days after she started crawling,



Even the big step!



And here's one from her bath with soaped up hair,



All these brand new babies around got me looking back at Eleanora's pictures, so I will leave you with a cute picture of her a few hours after she was born,

Another new cousin!

Carsten came over Wednesday night while his parents headed to the hospital to start the induction process. Thursday morning we got the call that things were definitely happening today. We waited anxiously for updates, and things got a little nutty around here...

Eleanora helped herself to Carsten's sippy cups,
(she has shown no interest in her own sippy cups that we've been trying for a month)


Carsten helped himself to Eleanora's jumper,



Finally we got the call that my brand new nephew was here safe and sound. So we headed to meet him last night.

Carsten on his way to meet his baby brother,



And for reference, since they look so much alike, here is Carsten about an hour after he was born,

(NOTE: this is Carsten, not new baby)


And introducing Travis Isaiah Peterson! 7lbs 8oz, 20 inches long. He's adorable and looks just like his big brother,












Carsten giving Travis a kiss,



The happy family of four,



Congratulations Chris, Amy and Carsten!

Eleanora is one lucky lady to have so many cousins!