I have been busy with three weddings over the last four weeks. My mother-in-law and Kirk were great and helped take Eliza while I was away from the house. It is always a blessing to see two become one. It was great to get to know each couple and help them during this exciting time, and I look forward to the next two I have this Fall.
Kirk had to go out of town for work, so Eliza and I took the opportunity to go up to Saline for a visit. We went with Grandma to get her haircut, hung out at the house, and went to the Pottery Barn outlet and scored a great deal on rug pads and a rug. Eliza got to eat her favorite graham crackers from Zingerman’s and got Grandma’s special grilled cheese. Otis was able to hang out with Wesley and be in dog heaven, too.
Eliza has been loving water. The newest pastime is going out into the yard with a half filled watering can. Her and Grandpa Stew went out and had some evening fun while dinner was on the grill. Grandparents always let you get wetter, messier, fuller, and stickier than moms or dads ever would…Eliza loved every minute of it!
All of this water led to the need for even more water…bath time!
The cutest thing that Eliza has been doing lately is giving kisses. But if she gives a kiss to one person in the room she has to give them to all! That includes Otis as well, or in the case of this week’s grocery run, the deli lady. I tried to explain that the deli lady was very busy and couldn’t give kisses at the moment (nor did I want her to). The funny part is she will just continue to pucker up in hopes that it will happen. Here she is giving herself a kiss in the mirror.
Papa had just come in from the heat after helping us cut up the fallen tree.
Eliza just got home from church in her pretty whites.
Aren’t they a pair?
Last month, Gram and Papa took Eliza for the evening so we could have a nice date night out with our friends Ryan and Emily. We met for dinner at The Cobblestone Grill in Zionsville and very near their new house. The food was pretty good as we enjoyed a wedge salad, pork scaloppini Marsala, and chicken Florentine, but I don’t have to go back any time soon. After dinner we headed over to the Elmore’s new house in Carmel, and it was fun to see how they setup their first home together. They made us a great summer dessert, too – berry shortcake with homemade whipped cream!
This summer has been very busy which is why we haven’t posted as often as we’d like. Eliza has been growing and talking a lot, so each day is full of new experiences. She loves to brush her teeth now and will laugh when she catches us brushing ours.
Eliza just walked across the entire room for the first time today! She had taken a few solo steps here and there, and she still absolutely loves to walk quickly around the house using her race car or baby stroller. Eliza can turn around on a dime! She also finds it very funny to run around the dinner table with the race car. Where did she learn that auto racing is all about turning left? Now that we are in a more mobile stage, we’ve added gates more frequently and always have to make sure doors are closed, partly due to the fact that she has learned how to flush the toilet!
We also put out her swimming pool and let her play around in that a few times. This has been a very hot summer in Indiana and so it has been hard to find days when the sun is not blazing and the thermostat isn’t reading 90 or above.
The pool came with four butterflies that velcro onto the four posts! Perfect! She loved taking them off but hasn’t figured out how to put them back on. The pool did not stay this clean for long, but the dead grass (from the fallen tree) made for a nice spot in the yard. She loves splashing around, trying to climb in and out of the pool, and playing with her beach ball.
Did I mention that she has been getting into everything! All of the kitchen cabinets, even the ones without dangerous materials, are getting latches now!
Eliza has also found a love of flopping down on pillows! It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end but it will be nice to have some cooler days.
I grew up wearing Saltwater Sandals. They were my first pair of shoes and my mom kept them all these years. Eliza has had small feet so far and only recently fit into my old sandals. Next summer we will have to get her a pair of the hot pink ones!
Yesterday the garage was cleaned out to start demolition on the roof and garage doors. Most things went into a storage unit while a few things found there way into the house. Eliza loves that her helmet was one of these items, and that it is now easily accessible. As soon as she saw it this morning it had to be put on. Due to the fact that they are starting construction today, we will call it her hard hat.
It looks like we will have a day of entertainment! I think she is explaining to Otis what is going on, giving him the play-by-play.
Then we had to get out the toy truck and play with it, too.
The hard hat had to stay on for breakfast and snack time.
Eliza has become an expert at using her fork, and she also loves ice in her water (it's hot out!).
Hopefully we can remove the hard hat for nap time (and maybe hide it while she's sleeping).
So a tree fell through our garage. The bad news – damaged cars, damaged garage, ugly tree, dead grass (from the tree laying on it too long), slightly tilted swing (which Kirk had finished only a few days prior). The good news – I didn’t pull into the garage three minutes later!
The reason for banged up vehicles.
It took a while dealing with IPL (power), their emergency tree crew, and then the power guys, but by 3am we were finally back to normal (and with 80 degree temps we finally had some air). The food didn’t spoil, and Eliza enjoyed watching the tree crew work until 10:30pm when she crashed, despite having to sleep in a very warm house. When the tree fell/lightning hit, it didn't just knock out power on half the block, but it also fried a couple appliances in our house and partly welded the circuit box closed in the basement.
This is not something I ever expected to see in our narrow driveway! The tree guys had some trouble making it to our backyard in their wide truck. They did some damage to our rocks and trim lining the driveway but after seeing all this, that was minor compared to what I thought may happen.
It was close to 11pm by the time they were able to start sawing the tree . Since this was considered an emergency they worked through the night! When IPL has an emergency tree removal, they only remove enough to get the power back on, but fortunately for us they determined the whole tree needed to be removed from the roof for IPL crew safety. But the tree service does not remove the tree from the property, so we had limbs and large trunk pieces all over the yard still.
Just this week the neighbors’ cut down the other 2/3 of the tree, which is better in the long run, but it also takes away some great bits of shade throughout the day (one reason why Kirk built the swing where he did).
Starting this week (we hope) the crew will finally start repairing the garage. We look forward to the new framing, roof, and garage doors, and we can’t wait to finally park inside a garage again after two months. The Buick already spent over a week at the body shop (it must be the nicest 2000 on the road now!), and the Infiniti will get it’s cosmetic surgery soon.
Hi there! It has been a busy summer but we’ve taken a ton of pictures and have lots to blog about, so expect more posts soon.
