Monday, July 1, 2013

Countdown to 3!

In two weeks, Eléa turns 3... It's amazing and she is doing/saying/thinking new things everyday! We've been so busy and I've had a harder time keeping up the blog posts since we've been back in the States.  As you can see from the pics and videos below, Eléa is having a blast and she is keeping us entertained.  She is so funny and non stop active! I will write more about what she's been up to soon, but wanted to get these up while I had a second.  Enjoy!

Videos:


Ladybug gir's tush

Fun at school!

First canoe ride with Papi and Grandpa

Visiting favorite spot, the Blue Hole in Wimberly

Thompson family vacation!

At Blanco River

 


What?

Father's day love

Fun with friends.

I'm supposed to be scary???

Precious

Dress up fun at school


Look at papi go


Holi party with friends...

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Busy, busy, with some fun and adventures thrown in!

We have had a busy past few months with work schedules and life in general, but as you can see from the pictures, we've had some time for fun and new experiences!  Eléa went to her first and second birthday party, and I am pretty sure is convinced that for a birthday party to be legit it needs a bouncy castle.  We also went to a neighborhood festival that had a small petting zoo and Eléa got to hold a guinea pig, 2 rabbits, and a tortoise.  She also really enjoyed the musical performance, though was hard to capture her "dancing"in photos.

We also took a short trip up to NYC to visit old friends and Eléa was so excited to hang with Baby Jaya.  She clearly fell in love and still talks on and on about Baby Jaya since we've come back.  Other firsts included first popsicle and first popcorn, both big successes as you can imagine.  Eléa has really begun enjoying make believe games and has started swimming lessons at our local YMCA.  She has started to get a bit more fearful about some things... when she sees a cat she says, "cat no eat me!"... and she didn't want to ride a pony or sit on a longhorn bull during my father's weekend birthday celebration.  I think a little caution can't hurt us and usually fearless offspring.

first bouncy castle 

bunny is so soft...

guinea pig don't eat me!

kisses for baby jaya!

cooking up some grub for grandma

more bunnies!

getting down to the groove

popsicles are yummy!

popcorn too!

Ring around the rosyfun

very serious

sharing

swinging fun

veging out with mami

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Busy Toddler Fun....

The past few months Eléa has become so fun, so busy, so active, and so opinionated!  She is enjoying make believe, games of chase and hide and seek, and generally running around like a mad woman.  Her sense of humor is really developing, and she knows when she is being funny, and naughty, of course.  She is singing a lot more now, and her repertoire at the moment consists of happy birthday (see video), twinkle twinkle, and a clean up song.  She is displaying her above average imagination, as her teachers say she likes to make up her own words to the songs while singing.  

She also loves to count, though can truly only go up to five (see video)... She thinks she can make it to ten, but not quite.  Eléa has also finally begun making more animal sounds.  She now has horse, monkey, gorilla, snake, chicken, and cow (see video).  

We've really settled into our new house, and are working on planting our first vegetable garden, with Eléa's help of course.  Our good friends came over to help us move some soil, and some toddlers around the backyard!  Hopefully we'll have some vegetables to show for ourselves pretty soon!

Videos:

Eléa sings happy birthday to Abuela (aka: abi) - http://youtu.be/W9fuZ7D-1DU
Eléa the cow - http://youtu.be/TS0og-nX0wg
Breakfast of champions - http://youtu.be/uiOli-ahDxE
Counting to five - http://youtu.be/wOoMVUqXqyk

Eléa and Saskia loving their "ride"

Precious cargo

Around and around the backyard!

Papi and me


First time dressed up for new years.

Make believe house play with Abuela

Where to?

First bicycle

Fun with bubbles

Following in the Thompson footsteps, driving GWH

I like you too!!!

I'm helping, right?

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Bye Bye 2012, Welcome 2013!

My sincerest apologies for the ridiculously long silence since the last post.  As you can imagine, we have been busy settling into life back in the USA.  To recap the last three months.... Eléa did great on the flights back to Texas and seemed to make the adjustment quite smoothly.  We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Luke's parents for two months in Austin while I looked for work and we found a place to live.  Eléa started at an incredible daycare center where she gets to play and get messy everyday.  She is really loving it there and seems to be thriving.  I started work at an interfaith public policy organization, and am so happy to be working on criminal justice issues again.  We bought a station wagon (super fancy) and found a lovely rental house with a gigantic backyard and a beautiful study space for Luke.  We are now pretty settled into daily life and are, of course, open and eagerly hoping for visitors. 

Eléa is becoming so fun and funny!  She is talking up a storm and went from 1 word when we got to the USA to easily over 50 now (I've lost count).  She is even putting four words together, a real change.  She loves to play all kinds of games and definitely has a large,and fantastic, sense of humor.  We love that she is still super affectionate, loving to cuddle and kiss.  She remains fearless and will jump off of and climb anything she can find (though she has yet to attempt the crib).  She has even starting "peeing in the big girl potty", though we are holding off on full scale potty training for the moment.  We are super lucky to be among family and Eléa is enjoying her time with Tia, her abuelos and her grandparents, as we are also enjoying the free and generous babysitting and assistance. 


Enjoy the many, many, many pictures over the past few months! Sorry they are not in chronological order....

Making friends at Sea World

Let me at it....

So excited!

Peek-a-boo!

Made it!

I love playing with water...

Yeah!!!


Christmas lunch with family and friends (welcome Sujung, Catherine, Saski, Ryan, and baby G)!

Christmas morning before the opening of the presents!

Opening fun

First trip to the Zilker Christmas tree!

Train ride with mami!

First Halloween trick or treat....Eléa's a dinosaur!

Enjoying stories with grandma

"Decorating" tia!

Our little ladybug...

Brrr.....it got cold!