The first spaghetti dinner

This is a picture of Elsie's first spaghetti dinner. We had some friends over and had a fun time laughing at the pieces in her hair.

The moring after

Toys every where!!! But she looks happy!

As promised...

Here are a lot more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Elsie had a fun time eating her cake and ice cream. Will started by feeding her it with a fork and spoon. Then we let her dig in herself. Mostly she liked to wipe the icing off the cake and hold her hand out for her Daddy to lick. She did not put much of the cake in her mouth but what she did eat she liked. As for the ice cream she liked it on the spoon...though she made a few faces of disgust but she kept coming back for more. When we gave her some on her plate she just grabbed it and smooshed it and dropped it on the floor. The cold did not bother her at all.

It was also fun to see how much involved she wanted to be in opening her presents. She went right to the table with them on it an started pulling them onto the floor. She is getting very good at ripping the paper too. After each piece she ripped off she would hand it nice and neat to her Daddy.

You ask what I was doing this whole time...I was taking pictures of course.

Elsie turned One yesterday!!!

We are so happy to have Elsie in our lives. She has been the most wonderful little girl anyone could have asked for. She brightens each of our days with all the little things she does. And it is amazing to realize that this little blessing has been with us for one whole year!!! We went to her one year checkup today and she is now 20 lbs 1 oz and 30 inches long!!! She is just getting so BIG!!! More pictures to come soon.

Justin Roberts

I have to take a minute and tell you all how much I love Justin Robert's music. He is a children's music singer who is absolutely amazing. His stuff is so cute, funny and witty that I will not do it justice here. But to give you an idea of what he sings about...an imaginary Rhino, sidewalk chalk, picture day, a meltdown, day camp, a space ship to the moon, crossing guard and much much more. I am not a kid any more but I think he sings about things that interest them...or are in their lives any way. I love how upbeat the music is and the lines are so catchy and humorous. You have to check out his music if you have kids. Justin Roberts site
Check out his music by clicking on the radio on his web site. Let me know what you think.

I am very happy to say we got to see him in concert on Saturday (there was a big children's festival here in Kansas City this weekend). As a bonus we got to see They Might Be Giants too. TMBG have three children's cd's out now and some of the songs they sang where quite fun...but no where near as awesome as Justin Roberts.


Here he is the man I love...well I love his music anyway.
Here is the real man I love and our little angel.
And here is They Might Be Giants.

A little help please

If any of you have moved with a small child you know what we are going though. It is almost impossible to unpack with this little explorer on our hands. She is constantly getting in the way and getting into things. Here she is unpacking a few things for us unfortunately she does not know where to put them away.

Our new house

So last Friday we went to sign all the papers and buy our house. It went very smoothly and we got the keys and went over to see the place and clean it a little before the big move in. While we were there I took some pictures to show you all the inside of the house. It is empty but I figured better to take them before we have a million boxes everywhere than after. And I was right the house is still a mess four days after we moved in.

All set to move

It took a lot of work but by Friday we were all set to move. Here is Elsie showing off her balancing skills.

The zoo

Last week we went to the zoo with our play group. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had lots of fun. You can see we saw a variety of animals and I have to say this zoo is better than the Boston Zoo. In this last picture Elsie is playing the game "So Big".

Enjoying the grass

On nice days Elsie and I like to go out side and sit on the grass. She is still hesitant to touch it very much but she does not cry so we continue to do it. We have not made it onto our new lawn yet as it has been raining off and on since we moved in...plus all we have been doing is unpacking.

A new walking /riding toy

One of Elsie's Uncles bought her this toy. She likes it a lot...for now. It is amazing how quickly toys loose Elsie's interest. If she is in the living room with all her toys she would much prefer to play with a water bottle or the remote then any of her toys.

Garndma's house

We went to Grandma's house and had lots of fun. At first Elsie was being scared of everyone except mommy and daddy but she warmed up to all the attention and love soon enough. Add to that a few fun toys and a nice walk to the park and you have a wonderful day. It was very fun to have all Will's brothers and sisters together.

Exploring the great outdoors

Elsie has now had several chances to sit on the ground and explore. The first time she did this we were on a hillside that had a lot of small sticks and dirt on it. So as you might guess she tried to eat all the sticks and got quite messy. On a few other occasions I have put her down on a nice lawn and she does not know what to do with herself...until she finds something to grab. Here she has a small pine cone. She also enjoys pulling apart leaves on our front lawn.

Grandma and Grandpa Shumway

On a recent trip to Utah we had a quick photo shoot with the grandparents.

To the park we go

Elsie loves the park so we decided to go visit one with her little friends.
Ready for a stroll around the park.


The yellow duck really made Elsie think a bit as it was so cool and hard to sit on.
She would rather hold on to the side of the slide then go down it!!

Sleeping Beauty

This is her new favorite sleeping position...with her bottom in the air.

The big news

For all of those people who thought we would never stay in Kansas we are going to prove you wrong!! We are buying a house!! And here it is!
Yup on May 23 we sign the papers and we will officially be home owners. We are so excited and pleased with our great find. Our new home is located in Overland Park (the city we are currently living in) and is sooooooo cute. It is a 4 bedroom ranch on a 1/4 acer lot. The whole house is redone inside and out with hard wood floors and a partially finished basement. I can't wait to share more photos with you when we move in!!!

Another sox monster

It seems Elsie really likes socks...or is it that Will really likes socks?? This time I do not think she really looks like a monster though maybe more like a baby with puppets on her hands.

Bath time

Elsie loves bath time. She is getting more and more adventurous with her toys though. Here one of her bowls is also used as a hat. And she even matches the ducky.

The thinker

We had a morning photo shoot a few days ago and I like this one the best.