Our Godson - Owen Terry Ehlers 10.24.10

If Owen liked me this last picture would have turned out a bit better. I think he is just paying me back for the rough time Veda gave Auntie Kel. Now she loves loves her Auntie so I'm hoping Owie will warm up to me. I think I just don't have his "hold" down yet;) Actually - he's probably still ticked at me for making him wear an Iowa onesie.

We are so honored to play this role in his life. It was a special day and we are thankful to have been a part of it.

And don't you just love his outfit? It's a onesie! Krissy made it for him so if you are dying to have one I'm sure we get her small business going...;)

Little Angel

Veda ran right up to the alter for children's story time... all by herself. She sat quietly and even raised her hand to answer the questions... which I'm pretty sure she didn't know. I wish they would have called on her just to see what she would have said.

Trick Or Treat

We had our first Halloween photo shoot at the Ehlers while we were in town for Owen's baptism. Veda was loving all the costumes. She kept herself occupied trying to poke the blue alien's eyes out.

Converted Badger

We stole the little Badger and turned him into a Hawkeye for the Day!

Off the Bench

Adele is no longer watching from the sidelines. She has learned how to crawl and is conveniently attracted to anything and everything that Veda and her friends are playing with. So far they just kind of ignore her... although Veda did tell her to "Shoo" the other day - it wasn't effective so I'm waiting for her to start swinging.

Mommy Moment

I got home from dropping Veda at daycare this morning and found her shoes. I never put them on. It's raining out and she walked to the car and through the wet grass in her socks and she never said anything. Whoops. I'm going to blame it on the fact that I'm sick and can't think straight... which I've decided isn't so bad because 1) I can't smell poopy diapers 2) I can't taste anything so I'm not interested in raiding the fridge 3) I have an excuse to go to bed at 8pm and ignore household chores.

Harvest Festival

We braved the gloom and mist today and ventured out to Underwood Farms' Harvest Festival. We met up with Jonathan, Christina, Teresa and the Twins. Just when we thought Veda couldn't have anymore fun she ran into Jenn and Ella in the corn maze. The highlight was when I upstaged the big boys at the coconut pitch ... they were busy showing off their fast balls when I knocked two out with one toss;)

5:45a

It's 5:45a and we're all up. Do you think that "Eggs and Things" has an early, early bird special?

Yee-Haw

We decided we would let Veda pick out her own Halloween outfit. She's old enough to tell us what she likes and it just made it all the more fun to see her get amped up about her choices. Of course she nixed the cute little Tinkerbell and SnowWhite costumes and went straight for Jessie from Toy Story AND of course they didn't have it in her size. She's happy and it is all about her afterall.

Yum Yum Bunny Ears

Rub-a-Dub-Dub... Not much room in this tub!

Driver's License Please?

More Pictures From Clear Lake

Monster Bite you Mommy?

I cut my hand trying to pit an avocado. Veda is obsessed with owies and halloween decorations right now... so she keeps telling everyone that a "monster bite mommy's hand." We've had another bout of illness. Almost nothing for two years and now it seems that she gets REALLY sick every few weeks. Ugh. Her temp got up to 103.8 Sat night and Diane and I had to rub her down with ice packs and wet wash clothes until Gary could get home with some medicine. After another night with a fever Mom took her to the Dr. today and she was fine. I'm relieved since I had to leave for Columbus this morning and it killed me to think I was leaving a sick kid.

Minnows

Veda got braver as the fishing experience progressed. The "Bob" that she picked out of the bucket later didn't make it - she squeezed him to death.

1st Fishing Trip with Papa

Evenutally they moved to fishing from the boat because Veda was a little too animated with the pole... she definately would have gone in if we weren't holding on to her.

Konstantinidis... es

On our drive to Clear Lake Wed we stopped in Fort Dodge to visit with my good friend Steph and her family (Chris, Lucas and Elle). They will be moving to Australia soon and we plan to visit - hooray! Veda was especially excited that Steph and Chris have taken up the Hobby of making balloon animals. Weird but true - apparently there isn't much else to do in Fort Dodge;)

Frequent Flyer

Veda loves flying now that she has her own seat and her very own seat belt to buckle. I'm flying solo with the girls next Friday so let's hope she's this chipper at 5 in the morning (Todd is meeting up with us at MSP to fly back to LAX so I only have to survive the short flight from CID).

Dress Up

Aunt Diane would be happy to know that she has a little fashionista who loves her jewelry as much as Nana does. Veda is wearing clip on earrings if you can't tell.

Potty Time

We decided we would try some potty training yesterday.  Veda spent a good amount of time on the potty downstairs reading books (as pictured above).  She did a good job, going about 3 times, but then as mom & dad were pre-occupied un-packing, packing, etc Veda had a couple accidents on the floor.  We decided it was probably best to wait until we got back from the two week trip to Iowa (potty training on the plane to and from Iowa is probably not a good idea).  She is definitely ready, we just need to dedicate a couple days to it and we should be good to go. 

Gifts from Mexico

Veda was very excited to see us when we returned from vacation on Friday.  Bringing gifts back for a 2 year is as close to a sure thing as there is (they love everything).  We bought her a Nemo fish shirt and a $1 dragon bobble head that Kathy bought from a homeless lady on the street cause she felt bad for her.  Kathy's beach hat was also a big hit.  The second picture is of Veda limping on one leg.  Apparently she got a bee sting at day care on Friday morning (which was still quite swollen when we got home).  Not sure if it hurt that bad or if she was just trying to get extra hugs, but she hopped on one leg for the rest of the night (apparently she was walking just fine before we got home - she gets points for her acting skills.)

Beach Photo Shoot

Last full day in Cabo....time for a photo shoot with the nice camera.  We decided that since we packed it, we needed to at least break it our for one day.  I had Kathy posing on the beach (as you can tell by her faux running along the beach).  It was reminiscent of my childhood years where my dad would stage my sister and I for our family vacation pics...."stand up straight", "get that stupid look off your face", "smile dammit", etc, etc.  This also took place on the first day of school, where somehow the picture taking would start just as the school bus pulled up....the bus driver would honk, the kids would yell out the window at us, etc, etc....but that wasn't going to stop dad from getting that "natural" first day of school pose.  Anyway, we had a great last day in Cabo...took full advantage of the 2-4pm Happy Hour with 2x1 drinks and then a nice dinner at Javier's next door to our hotel.  Going home tomorrow at 2pm....actually very excited to go home and see Veda and little Adele!