The birthday girl!

In all her chubby adorable happiness. She'll get her first taste of thai food at her dinner out tonight!

Its obviously past July 1st but had to share her Canada day outfit. What a a cute little Canadian stink she is!
It was her FIRST Canada day too!!!! 

One year already...

A whole year already?
Its absolutely crazy that time could pass so fast. But I am so happy God blessed us with a such a wonderful beautiful little girl and look forward to everything she may become!

Long over due...

Its been a million years since I have posted. That's either due to my laziness or the non-stop never-ending flow of in-out-go-here-go-there-people-here-people-there lifestyle our little family has taken on!
But its time for things to slow down. From now till the end of July, is my intention.
Matt is heading out to Belgium for work the end of July into mid-august. And we HOPE that I can venture with him, but lets see if time, money, and children make any of that possible!  Children because we don't intend to bring Ellee, and baby Dudge #2 will be 25 weeks along, eek!
In the meantime, there are still many festivities occurring till then but the time will pass too quickly I am sure, and then our summer will be over :( Oh and I'll be as big as a house.

Next weekend is Ellee's first birthday party. Were having a few friends and family coming from Canada and Wisconsin to help us celebrate. I have to find some creative idea for her cake :) Matt informed me cupcakes were just not cool so I will be whipping up some sort of pink, white, black, polka dot and stripe cake. I am excited to do it non-the-less since you only turn one once :)

 

Last week her first present made an appearance on our doorstep. My sister lives in Saskatchewan with her husband and since they wont be making the several day long journey to get here it was super sweet of them to get her a present and have it shipped. Need less to say, she loves it, but it will definitely take some time for her to figure out the workings of the slide!

The painted piano!

It looks great, we love it! Only problem is it.has this sticky issue...what do I do...

Living room Redo

I had my sister in law staying with me for a week this past week and I decided to take advantage of the extra set of hands and her personal painting skills. Finally, I was able to start the redo on our living and dining room. Its one giant room off to the left of our house and its basically the first room you see once you walk into the foyer. And boy, was it horrendous. White walls, old looking piano, futon from college, paper blinds, and a decent dining room table but just extremely off coloured. (it was free, I have nothing to complain about :) )
Things are really coming together now! The walls are painted in a soft light grey. Its very light, bright, and airy. We've got one set of curtains up, they're in a dusty purple colour.

Well, the piano got a royal sanding down to the bare bones, and then layered with several lovely coats of a dark granite gray. Can you say gorgeous? Not to mention slightly retro-eclectic. It turned out awesome. Now I have got to get some decor to put on top to spice it up. Also, the bench has yet to be tackled. I am thinking the same gray colour although, I could go for yellow.

The dining room table is also waiting for its redo. I have yet to start it. I am hoping to do the table in a soft yellow, actually called lemon drop, and then I'd like to also paint the chairs yellow, but then hope to cover the chairs only in the same gray as the piano and maybe sand some edges down to pull the yellow through :) We'll have to see how this turns out.

On another note,
ELLEE SCARLETT HAS FIGURED OUT TO MOVE IN A FORWARD DIRECTION!! AKA. CRAWL IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS.

The child finally has realized she can propel herself forward. Its been a long time coming. She'd be on her belly and she'd push herself backward mostly in frustration. But then one day, she just figured out how to go forward. Its definitely not a crawl, its more of a squirmy belly wiggle. After calling matt to tell him the AWESOME news, his response, "Was it forward?" "Yes! like 5 feet!" "But forwards?" Hahaha.
I understood his disbelief. It made absolute sense to me, after watching our daughter grunt in frustration and cry when a toy was a measly 3 inches out of reach; success. Finally!

GNOCCHI!

Way back when, 2007 actually, I ventured to Switzerland and Italy and was able to taste the deliciousness of all the Italian cooking. Real Italian cooking. While at Pisa, I had gnocchi for the first time. It was so delicious I just don't know how to explain it. When I had it at Pisa, and I mean I was literally 100 feet from Pisa, it was cheesy and very yummy.
I have been feeling under the weather lately so food hasn't been on my good side. But gnocchi just sounded so delicious. So did pesto. I mustered the strength to get my pathetic self to the grocery and store for the ingredients. I repeat, under the weather, so I bought jarred pesto. I hope to make it next time. The gnocchi turned out okay but I think I seriously need to figure out how to make them myself. So good.
I also made some basil chicken, to go with the pesto flavor, to add some protein. Turned out very well. :)

In the meantime of dinner, I ma realizing how much I absolutely enjoy having Ellee be such an independent child. She plays so well by herself, that is until she removes herself from a sitting position thinking she can get something out of reach and then is stuck. I wish she would learn to crawl. Matt tries very hard to get her going but, nothing. She just isn't grasping the knees-keep-large-round-kissable-tummy-off-the-floor concept. Hopefully she gets it soon. I cant wait to chase her around the house :)

 This age is quite amazing. She is quite amazing actually

 



















Photo credit Emma May Photography
Located in the Detroit Metro

Hello Spring Time!

I have continued my hand at gardening and put some of my sprouts in the ground. Broccoli, cucumber and parsley. They are looking pretty pathetic however. I hope they make it through. In the meantime my other seedlings have all blossomed and I have much more to plant! I was quite concerned that these were not gonna sprout but as you can see I really didn't need to be that concerned!

This weekend Matt finally tackled the front garden and got a retaining wall almost all completed! Amazing! The mister, that is :) He did a fantastic job. Level and all! I just have to scurry myself to a greenhouse now and purchase some annuals to add a lovely dose of colour. I'll have to pray, however, that the pesky infestation of rabbits in our neighborhood will not eat all the heads of my lovely petunias!!!

















In the meantime of gardening, Ellee has been the best little stinker. She eats EVERYTHING, its actually quite ridiculous. I can nurse her, sit her down and feed her a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and she still has eyes for more food. I promise you I am not starving her I just don't think she needs to eat EVERYTHING in the pantry. One of the great things with her though is her ability to feed her self. She actually enjoys that the most, and really seems to prefer that over spoon feeding. Maybe the Lord is prepping her for being the independent oldest child; we do intend to have more children.

As the weather gets better and better, I find myself loving it and appreciating it more then I have in previous years. I cant seem to figure out why though. And then I realized, I didn't get a summer last year. Ellee was born the beginning of July and  I spent every waking hour sitting on the couch trying to learn how to cope and feed the screaming child. There was the occasional walk with Matt but those were fleeting. I definitely intend to make the most out of this year, specially with Ellee. She's  a fish at heart you know. Loves water, swimming, baths, you name it. This picture is a couple months old but serves the purpose :) Love her!

Easter weekend is coming and we are heading to the in-laws for the long weekend. Nothing says relax like a trip to the farm where cell phone reception is difficult and getting a laptop out is not nearly as interesting as talking a walk, riding a horse, screaming at cows, four wheeling or just plain relaxing. However, prepping to go on weekend getaways now is much more work with a child. What stroller to bring, do we have baby food, bottles, diapers, etc. etc. etc. The list of to brings and what to bring is endless. But still, an enjoyable time will be had by all.