Stroller Time!

So, for Elisa's birthday and Christmas she got two dolls and a stroller. I've been shocked by how much she loves her baby dolls... I guess I just didn't expect her to be old enough to play with dolls yet. Today I took her outside to take one of her babies and the ever present Itty for a walk. She had such a great time...

Elisa found what I call (for lack of horticultural knowledge) "pokey balls." So she picked up a bunch of them and put them in the stroller with Itty and Baby Doll.

We had a lot of fun outside in the beautiful weather!

Shoes and accessories

Leesi wore her first tie on shoes today. So cute. (This picture has the added benefit of showing our new carpet.)
She found this sweat band somewhere in the house the other day. So we had fun putting it on Momma and then putting it on Elisa for awhile tonight. And yes, she isn't wearing pants (even though she's wearing shoes). What can I say - I was too lazy to put them back on after one of the seemingly endless diaper changes today.

Update

Well, Greg called me today from Portland. He made it there safe and sound. He said his Gramma was actually looking pretty good this afternoon. The doctors said that she indeed did have a stroke. (For awhile they thought it may have been something less severe.) The stroke has affected her vision - she can see in certain spots but not in others. Still, it sounds like she's improving. She used her left hand a couple of times throughout the afternoon, which is really good. It sounds like everyone is just exhausted: physically and emotionally. So please pray for them.

As for me and Elisa... we're doing pretty well too. The carpet-layer finished the carpet this afternoon, and several guys helped me move the big pieces of furniture back into the living room. I was supposed to work tomorrow. But I was able to find someone to switch Saturdays with me at work so that I wouldn't have to find a baby-sitter. And I found a ride to church Sunday (since the car isn't working). I feel very grateful... I often get worried about little details like these.

Just keep praying for Greg's family, particularly Gramma.

Toddling

Greg and I have decided that there really is nothing cuter than a little kid toddling around. And we can't get over how cute Elisa is when she's walking around. For the past few days Elisa and I have taken a "constitutional" each day... just to get out of the house. It's so much fun.

She really is getting quite good at walking now. The falls are few and she can be pretty fast...

hmmm.... where to begin...

Well, it's been quite the week.

We came home on Saturday and walked into our apartment to a horrible smell. Both Greg and I looked at each other and said, "What is that!" We spent the next two hours smelling houseplants, the christmas tree, the empty garbage cans and anything else we could think of to try to locate the source of the smell. We finally decided to take down the Christmas tree and put it outside to see if that would help. While I was taking it down I noticed that my socks were getting wet. That's how we discovered that the carpet had gotten wet and then sat for weeks while we were gone. So we emptied out our living room, and the last few days maintenance has been in and out of our apartment, tearing up the ceiling and working on the plumbing... tomorrow they recarpet for us.

So, this week has already felt like a week of upheaval: with furniture everywhere in our small apartment and maintenance workers, plumbers, and painters coming and going.

Then tonight our car broke down while Greg was "in town" with Leesi at Sam's Club. They had to be towed home.

And to cap off the week Greg's Gramma went to the hospital today. She had a stroke. She got to the hospital very quickly - so that's good news. But please pray for Gramma and the rest of the family. Greg is going to fly out tomorrow morning for the weekend just to be there with the family and see his Gramma. In the next day or so they will be able to determine the extent of the damage. Right now we don't know a whole lot, but we are optimistic.

And we're back

So, it is 12:48 am Sunday morning Central time... but only 10:48 pm Saturday night Pacific time. We got back into town earlier this evening. And I'm about to head to bed... but just thought I'd put up a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas Break. More to come!

Leesi misses you all already!

Okay, actually she was just mad that I wouldn't let her have the camera.