no more toothless grins!

elise got her first tooth today! well, i noticed it today, anyway. typically their first tooth is on the bottom, but elise is getting her top two teeth first!

take a hike

we went to the scioto audubon metro park today and hiked all the way downtown. bethany was with us. she has been asking to see me, and misses me :) she was supposed to be mine, anyway.

we visited stephon at aep for a moment. i have a hot husband ;P

sucker !

it's adorable and really funny to see what a softy stephon is :) shelby has him trained to feed her from his plate... looks like she's teaching elise as well! they had both just finished their dinners, but it doesn't matter. it's a daddy / daughter thing ;)

paige

paige elizabeth hines is my new niece ... i finally got to see her today! she is seven weeks old and absolutely adorable. i can't say who she looks like, though. jen seemed pretty sure that she has the right baby, though :) she weighed seven pounds and 14 ounces last week. shelby weighed seven pounds and 15 ounces when she was born!

i got a sneak peak at nathan's grades for this term on-line today. they look good! okay, i sneak and peak at them almost every day, but the teachers are finalizing grades for the term in the system now.

elise'isms

it doesn't seem like i did much this week. i took some pictures of elise'isms, though :)

there are four big, soft, baby einstein blocks that we keep in a tupperware bucket. elise likes to dump out the blocks and put the bucket on her head. it's hysterical! when she puts it on, she will pooch out her lips and stick out her tongue to stick them on the wall of the bucket ... too funny :D

elise sleeps with the shirt that i wore the night before at naptime, and the shirt that i wore that day at bedtime. isn't she cute!

and ofcourse, we have raspberries...

a pretty productive day

we started out our today at the library like we usually do on tuesdays for story time. that is followed by lunch with sandra at zuppa's.

stephon came home pretty soon after we did so that he could prepare for his last presentation for the class that is wrapping up. it was fun to get to see him and for him to get to play with the girls.

while this isn't an exciting topic to write about, i was very excited to get through all of the baby clothes that were stacking up in the living room! i also got through a bunch of clothes that i took and donated :) i am excited when i feel like i've accomplished something that helps me feel like i'm getting ahead just a little.

nathan spent the evening preparing for exams. they apparently have six grading periods, and the first one wraps up this friday.

i had a victory this evening! i finally out-smarted shelby. vegetables have been a losing battle for me for a few months now. but today i pureed them and mixed them in her 'getti' sauce :) she loves spaghetti and ate two bowls of it! i win!

fashion show

i served in the nursery for the month of september, so today was my first sunday back in the service. it was good. i missed the babies, though!

shelby wore one of my dresses to church! it was the first dress that my dad ever bought me, and maybe the last... i thought it was pretty cool. i called dad and he remembered the dress. i'm sure he thought it was neat, too :)

elise wore the fall dress that i made for shelby for her first thanksgiving :) she was adorable!

nathan wore... clothes. i'm happy to say that he didn't have any meaningful dresses to wear today ;P

he wore those same clothes to a church youth activity this evening. they were going to try to break the guinness world record for the biggest ice cream sundae eaten by the most people. there weren't enough people there, so it turned into a huge ice cream food fight! of course. what else should i have expected? and then those same clothes got hosed down at the end of the night when it was about 55 degrees out. hee hee! i'm glad he had a good time :)

blendon woods

we went to blendon woods park this morning. the kids and i went, anyway. i felt bad for leaving stephon on a saturday, but he has schoolwork to do and i'm pretty sure he was able to get a lot more done this way. he misses us, and we miss him, though, so i was a bit torn. we had a great time, anyway :) made it worth it!

we went to the water fowl refuge and hung out in the observatory for quite awhile. we saw a beautiful blue heron, some wood ducks, and about five or six turtles! they have telescopes in both of the observatories. it was almost surreal. the telescopes are really nice, so the birds and the turtles were real clear and close in them.

nathan and i like looking at the the wildlife. shelby was trying to figure out the telescope. she doesn't quite have the coordination to keep one eye closed and look through the other through the telescope yet. elise likes to look out of the windows and investigate the goodies on the ground :)

it was a cool, breezy day, so the observatory made the perfect place to eat lunch.

shelby informed us that the ducks go poo poo, go pee pee, and go bye bye. she told us that and nathan and i about died laughing!

wildlife

the girls and i went to the play area at the polaris mall with heba today. i should have listened to her. it was so crowded. shelby did fine, she seems to be able to hold her own pretty well. elise was okay because she stayed at my feet. she was more fascinated with our shoes. great. next time i'll take heba's advice and go really early.

nathan loves his guitar. he was singing his heart out and strumming wildly today! he was having a good time :) i should mention that he is tone deaf, but don't tell him that.