Birthday catch up

I'm so sad that I didn't find the time to write about Eleanor's birthday right after it happened :(. Better late than never...(I guess)

What's the best way to start a birthday? Presents, of course! When Eleanor woke up on that beautifully mild July morning, I put her birthday shirt on right over her jammies. It is an adorable shirt that I purchased from Etsy. In pink and green, it had a big number 1 and her name on the front. So cute! We brought her into the living room our little apartment and let her open most of her presents from us while she sat in her new polka dot chair (our big gift to her). She also got books, a pink elephant, some puzzles, a shape sorter, a Little People dvd and cd, and a Little People mini van. Of course nothing beat playing with wrapping paper while sitting in her chair.

We were lucky that Brian was able to take off work so we could spend the day as a family. We had lunch, and I baked cupcakes and a small cake for Eleanor. Her party was at Zachary's Playground in Lake St. Louis, and as I said, it was a beautiful day. I expected everyone to be sweating at the party, but mother nature proved me wrong.

We kept the invites to family only. Brian and I didn't think we needed to blow things out of proportion, especially since she won't remember that day at all. Attendees included both sets of Grandparents, the Fank family, the Stecker/Hartwein family, the Schierdings, the Scheffers, and the Dankners. As the guests arrived everyone was told to help themselves to pulled pork and turkey, pasta salad, chips, and fruit salad. All very yummy! From there, the kids set off to play on the super cool playground and run through the splash area.

After all the kids were a little worn out (and soaked!), we did presents. From her Grandma and Grandpa Meiser she got a cool pink car (she loved this so much that she cried whenever we took her out of it), and Grandma and Grandpa Schierding got her a slide, jewelry box, and a bracelet. Uncle Bruce, Aunt Katy, and Caroline gave her a Dora car to ride on, the Fank family gave Eleanor a bag full of goodies for the beach and a towel with her name embroidered on it, the Steckers gave her a Little People tractor, Elmo doll, and a cell phone. The Scheffers brought Eleanor a book and some shorts, and the Dankners gave Eleanor a pony to ride on. Brian and I also saved one gift for her - a straw purse shaped like an elephant with a Hello Kitty wallet inside. Eleanor loves playing with purses and bags. She was so lucky to receive so many wonderful gifts!

After presents we had cake and cupcakes. I decorated her cake and the cupcakes with green icing to look like grass, and I put little jellybean ladybugs and bees on them. They turned out very cute, and I hope I can outdo myself next year. Eleanor had no problem digging into her cake. She had green icing everywhere! The icing was surprisingly easy to clean up, and after we managed to get all the icing out of every little Eleanor crevice, it was off to the playground for more playtime. She also got another chance to play in the splash area with her daddy and her cousins.

It was a perfect day with our perfect little girl. Brian and I will never forget it.

Ahhh! Where has the time gone?!?

I can't believe that I haven't written a thing since June! So much has happened...so maybe that's why I haven't updated things. My next series of posts will have to be flashbacks to the highlights of summer. Let's start with Destin.

On August 14th Brian, Eleanor, and I packed up and headed south to Destin, FL. Eleanor was great during our two day car ride. We stopped often to let her stretch her legs and eat, and that seemed to be enough to keep her happy. Of course we made sure that we ate at places she loved, including the Cheesecake Factory. Eleanor and I love sharing Crusted Chicken Romano. Even more impressive than Eleanor's coolness in the car was her cuteness in the hotel room during our first night. She thought it was so funny to peek over the side of her pack n play and see mommy and daddy lying in bed next to her. And of course Brian and I couldn't keep from laughing. It's amazing that she eventually just went to sleep on her own.

We finally arrived in Destin around 5pm on the 15th. Our condo unit was great. It was clean and didn't have too much that Eleanor could disturb (i.e. break.) We ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom, which was great because Eleanor loves pizza (and Brian and I love the parmesan & garlic pretzels.) It was pouring by the time we finished dinner, so we didn't get to check out the beach, but we did get the grocery shopping out of the way. I wish we had a Publix up here. The lunch meat was great, and they slice every order fresh while you wait. No angry workers to deal with when you ask for shaved turkey and ham. But anyway...

The next morning we ate breakfast and headed down to the beach. It was a gorgeous day! One of the best things about staying at Edgewater - the free beach chair and umbrella set up. We grabbed a spot and headed for the ocean. Eleanor hated the sand. She hated the ocean. Good thing we were spending a week on the beach. Throughout the week she warmed up to both as long as we let her do things at her pace. Our beach time was put on hold after Eleanor pooped at the beach (and of course we didn't know it) and got sand in her swim diaper. It made for the absolute worst diaper rash ever. Luckily she didn't get a sunburn, but Brian got enough of one for all of us. He didn't sleep much on our last night, which made for a crabby daddy on the way home.

We had some great seafood in Destin. Eleanor wasn't into eating fish, but she loved looking at any that were on the wall or in a tank. She would very enthusiastically point them out to us while saying, "ish, ish." Too cute!

We decided to leave a day early because of rainy weather. Eleanor did just as well traveling back to MO. We even got to stop in Clarksville, TN to see Sarah Coyne. It was a short visit at 10:30 pm, but worth the stop.

We had such a great trip! Hopefully summer in Destin can become a Schierding family tradition!