Beautiful Day

I took these pics the other day. The lighting was pretty harsh but she was too cute. By the way, did ya'll know she can talk now? Allow me to demonstrate some of her favorite phrases.
THis one is called, "A Cheeee" Please end this word in extremely high pitched tone.
"Oh....Nice" probably my favorite of all her phrases. Said in a positive tone. I may offer her beverage and instead of saying " thankyou she says "oh....nice".
Anna is really animated. She growls like monsters and quacks and makes monkey sounds and pulls faces across the table with Eric at dinner time.
When Anna is tired and ready for bed we tick her in and she takes out her binky and says "Bzuuuuuu, Daddy". again, end these with high pitched tone. she did this for 2 months and we couldn't figure out what she was saying. Last night it dawned on Eric that when he layed the blankets on her he makes a plane sound. He felt so flattered that she would think of him each night.
One of her favorite things to do is ask me "da sing?" and push the frog on her leapfrog fridge toy. We get down to old macDonald and then she does it all over again. about 30 times over agin to be precise.

The spring fair

We celebrated Springs comeback by going to the Spring Puyallup fair as is tradition the last few years. Grandma Chelle, braved the animal pens with all kids in tow.
Anna and Orion enjoyed a lazy ride through native territory it appears.
Liam , Anna and Eric went for a ride in the fire truck ride. This was Anna's first real grown up ride and she loved it. She kept asking to go again.

Lot's and lot's of food. Orion attempts a giant hotdog. There was also, BBQ, Macho nachos, Elephant ears, Biscuits and jam, ice cream and cotton candy. Whew!
Connor, Orion and Liam may looked utterly bored but they are really watching an exciting pig race.

And there they go? Will it be Britney Spareribs or Sara Jessica Porker? Aaahhh the Fair.
I would say this might be our proudest moment as parents ever. A break'n crew brought out this floor and did a little show for the crowd. They asked the kids to come out and show their stuff. Liam headed out first and just stood there awkardly for a moment. After great speculative thought he put his head down and flipped his legs over landing in an awesome pose. HIs cousins all joined him and they totally copied the moves they had just watched. THe crowed cheered them on. We were laughing so hard. One of the dancers ran up to this wall and did a backflip off of it. I saw the wheels turning in Liams head and before I could even panic he was heading towards the wall and everone was yelling " no, no!" I'll just leave you in suspense.......................Okay, he didn't do a flip but I got this awesome shot and we sure are glad he knows his limits.

Dress up

This is an example of Anna's ensembles each day. Headbands, underwear, anything she can get her hands on. If Liam's good friend Machayla is knocking at the door, Anna gasps and throws on whatever she can find, grabs her purse and races to meet her at the door. To her chagrin, she watches them bolt out the door to explore the world without her. She clings to me and sobs "Kayla? Kayla?" Seriously, it's the saddest thing ever watching your child get left behind. She gets over it quickly though and is soon cooking up something yummy for me in her kitchen set.

Flashback Friday

I thought I would join the Flash back Friday crew because I have loved seeing the old photos on their blogs. This was taken in Leavenworth when Aunt Becky and Uncle Jake came to visit. I don't remember how old Anna is, but doesn't she look like a gnome?

Happy Easter

Anna woke up with a chick in her arms and Liam came running into our room to announce the Easter bunny had come. This is a little snippet of Easter morning.

conference weekend

We went for a family walk between sessions. It was a gorgeous day outside and the kids burned off some energy.

Liam is currently figuring out humor. talking in funny voices and funny faces are "Hilarious".
Anna carried her Hello Kitty purse on the walk and filled it to the brim with dirt and rocks. We love that she is girly and not so girly at the same time.
Say "oooooo". totally random, but they are so cute!

rain, rain go away

okay, not really. We love the rain at our house. really, we do. I love going on walks with the kids and they love splashing in the puddles.

Anna's " i'm stressed out. Can you help me?" face.
Liams" smile for the camera" face.
There are trails through the woods all around our neighborhood with really pretty views. The rain makes all the colors pop and I love it. I love these two little kiddos too.

Brella

cute kiddos.

The Jungle Beat

It appears that Liam was born with "the jungle beat" in his veins. Since he could first dance he would lose himself in the music and he continues to shake his tail feathers with great enthusiasm.

4 generations

The cast outs, thanks to our maiden names, as Great Grandma Elton put it.
The Elton blood line flourishes. We love you Great Grandparent's Elton! It was so good to see you.

Thanks to Aunt Becky for the adorable leg warmers that she knitted for Anna. She knew they were hers right and away and she has not been without them on her arms or legs daily since their arrival.

Hike to Twin Falls

Liam and Anna love to travel together. they turn into two little hooligans in the back of the car.

Geared up and ready to go.
This was awesome. Two trees grew over this old broken tree stump.
Anna was a trouper, hiking for a good 1/4 of the trip and Liam was still running around when we got home. The falls was of course lovely, but I sure like my family. Their pretty cool.

The little gymn

Liam has graduated from his "giggleworms" gymnastics class. He is now in a sports skills class where he will work on learning how to play with the team and not for himself. We are so proud of how he is growing.

A Very Special Message from Eric

Hello,

I'd like to welcome everyone to my first computer internet web blog ever. I never do this sort of thing, but I would like everyone to know just how cool I am.

Also, I want everyone to know that I went ice climbing a couple weeks ago and it made me even cooler than I was before. I even have pictures to prove it.

Look at this series of images.




Then my crampons (spiky shoes) broke. Twice.


But then I fixed them and climbed some more.
Beautiful.


These are the routes I took:
(I was tired from two false starts, but I still made it kind of high)

Ice fell on my nose. Blood.

Now I am tired.

And then I went home.

Thank you for listening.

{Eric Elton}

Happy Valentines Day

It's true! We do love you all so very much! We just wanted you all to know that we are thinking of you today. We couldn't imagine life with out a single one of you.