A warm welcome back

I had a hard Tuesday morning. I didn't want to leave the house but I had to suck it up and be a grown up. This was at my desk upon my 6:30am arrival:

Colby even sent flowers!

From my wonderful co-workers!

I brought in two picture frames as well as a small photo album to help me get through the day.

8 Weeks Old

Today is very bitter sweet. Elleanor turned 8 weeks old. Unfortunately, that also means that Kim's 8-week maternity leave is over. After her bath tonight, Elle posed for a couple of pictures on her favorite rug.

As all beautiful models know, posing is hard work. she only made it a minute or so before it was lights out.

I think she was dreaming about being a bunny rabbit at this point.

Here she is telling mommy it will be A-Okay. Tomorrow will be rough but we know she will be in great hands as Gamma and Gampa will be filling in this week. Kim has left lots of milk for Gamma to give her in hopes that her 2-month appointment on Friday is a good one. We're going for 100% across the board!

P.S. If you happen to know tomorrows winning powerball numbers, please pass them along ;o)

All she ever wanted...

Elle has decided that she will only tolerate a bath on the condition that she have a soothie for something to do. I think this is a sign of lots of bath toys to come. Luckily, we have already started. The tub upstairs is already filled wth sponges, cups, and even a rubber ducky for daddy to step on. Just don't tell her, we are hoping the soothie satisfies for now.

Shown up again

So I have totally given up on trying to keep up with our neighbor. I mow the lawn, he mows it an hour later. I get our grass at least a shade of green mixed in with the brown and his looks like they are playing the next Mariner game there. I thought about putting sprinklers in and he has them in over the course of a week



I think we are going to have to have a chat about this one. Kim asked when I was going to buy the spray paint for our yard. (she also just added that there are flowers on their counter) Aargh, I'll never win. (but I'll keep trying)

Football already?

Elle tried to watch the game but just couldn't stay awake...

Daddy's daycare

Today Colby took care of Elleanor so I could do this:

No, not to polish my halo :) but to get a cut and highlights. But, don't you agree it looks like a halo? Colby just couldn't see it... Anyways this is how I found them when I returned:

It was nice to see that they were both happy and content. Here is a better pic of my new do! I also got a going back to work outfit. Who can cry about going back to work when they have new duds right? I sure hope this works!

Pure bliss

Knock knock

Who is there?



Elle and I ventured out to Redmond to visit Auntie Liz at work. Impressived door to her office huh? Have you Binged today?

Even more impressive is that Liz doesn't have to share her office!

Cleaning

I only have a few more days of leave left so I am trying to make the most of it. Yesterday I began organizing the pantry which lead to a full blown reorganization of the kitchen.

Here is the pantry before but after I cleared off the top shelf.

All of this was located on the top shelf...

In order to get the pantry/kitchen organized and keep Elle happy I resorted to putting her in the baby bjorn. It worked out quite nicely.

I even packed her around while I made brownies with pb cups and lemon bars. I am trying to show my domestic side to Colby.

Ta Da! Here is the perfectly organized pantry. I even placed the boxed items by expiration dates just in case. Crazy, huh Mom?

Whatcha looking at?

I was going for the foam goatee look but she won't hold her head still long enough so it is more of a cheeky thing!

Oh, the places you will go

Last night we set out to Enumclaw in search of ice cream to celebrate the jeep passing 100,000 miles. It amazes me to think of how much my life has changed since I purchased the jeep.

How the jeep came to be... Tracy drove down from Bellingham in October of 2002 to help me buy my first car. First thing she said when she walked in was "Change, you look poor. You want them to think you are a serious buyer, go change" I did change and off we went. We decided to head up Aurora to all the dealers. I was sure I wanted a 4 wheel drive vehicle so I could make it home in the winter without chains. Tracy pulled into the jeep dealership first and we began to walk around assessing their inventory. We were approached by a salesman who asked what we were looking for and I responded " I would like to see a Durango" which he responded "uh, we are a jeep dealership" to which I said "great, show me a jeep". This totally flustered the poor fellow and he ran into the bump of one of the cars. :) This totally set the tone for the day. We test drove a few jeeps before settling on the white one. She was pretty with only 21,000 miles on her and I felt an instant connection. We headed into the dealership where Tracy took over and negotiated the deal. The salesman didn't stand a chance! In fact he got so upset he slammed down on the table we were sitting at, calming Tracy told him to walk away and gather himself. Which he did and came back with cookies and pop as a peace offering. It was so amusing to watch and I wasn't the only one to think that as the rest of the salesman huddled together to listen. In the end a deal was reached and I drove home very happy in my new 2002 Jeep Grande Cherokee.



Colby even gave her a bath to celebrate!

Who would have thought I would be riding shot gun to my husband as we approached 100,000 miles!

Even crazier is that I have a beautiful daughter sitting in the backseat.

When we got close to the 100,000 mile Colby pulled over and let me drive. It was on our way back home when we passed the 100,000th mile, just the way it should be done. Heading to our home!