Anniversary, Back to School, Maternity Leave!

David and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Monday August 23rd, we headed to the cities for a nice dinner. That meant that Elle got to snuggle ALL evening with Grandma Maureen!

Our first dinner just the two of us since Elle was born. We even stopped at Target to get a few things.

I am enjoying my first glass of wine since before I was pregnant. I got half way through and told Dave I don't think I can finish it...but I did and it tasted really good! We went to a wonderful restaurant in Roseville Chianti Grill, we both ate WAY to much!

Elle found her hands this week, she loves to suck on them and boy does it make quite the sloppy sound. ;)

Daddy and his girls...Paisley continues to be very good around Elle. She is curious, but keeps an appropriate distance.

Elle, Paisley and I headed to Oconto Falls for the weekend. This was Elle's first trip to Gramma and Grandpas house, so of course they would do as any grandparent would and "showed off" their grand daughter. The neighbors and family friends came over for a grill out. It was so nice to see everyone!

Elle was chilling on the table outside while everyone was starring at her. She was the guest of honor!

Gramma and I have been talking about black and white books and how they are developmentally appropriate for her age right now. Leave it to my mom to find some on Amazon, she also found this really cool bumper with black and white pictures of one side and color for when Elle is a little older. Elle LOVES it and stares at the pictures! Grandpa was making sure she could see herself (there is a mirror too).

Saturday night, I picked up Megan, Shelly, Matt and Brent and headed to our 1o year class reunion. I cannot believe it has been 1o years! I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends, it is like we haven't missed a minute when we get together. From left to right: Megan, Beth, Shelly, Me, Lori (in the back), Chloe and Liza! It was interesting to see who showed up and what they are doing now.

Gramma and Grandpa let me take a nap after the late night, this is what they did while I was sleeping. I told my dad that if he ever wants to see his grand daughter again, he might want to pick different reading material. I do have to admit, the girl looks good in green! :) Oh, how the fun has just begun.

Sunday after the reunion, the girls and kids got together at Chloe's house. It is so funny how our lives have changed in just 10 short years! It was a busy house with kids ranging from 6 weeks to 2 years old.

Here they are: Elle, Jace, Cami, Lilly and Anna. Missing from the picture are Tess and Gwen, they were with their dad.

We have been working on tummy time more and more. Elle is getting so strong, look how she is looking at her black and white bumper! She doesn't like to be on her tummy for too long, but can go between 5-10 minutes.

It has been a busy two weeks, the school year has started which means countless hours of work in the classroom. Even though I am on maternity leave the first 12 weeks, I know how much work there is to get the room ready and I have to come back to the room so I couldn't give up all control. :) I did meet my students Wednesday Sept. 1st, I feel it very important to the parents that they meet me. Kindergarten is a big deal and for some it is their first ALL day school experience. Elle and I took a traditional first day of school picture.

More tummy time, this time on her activity mat! I promise she wasn't choking, even though it may look like it.

The week and a half of working at school wore this mommy out! Elle and I spent my first day of maternity leave on the couch cuddling! I am so lucky to have so much time off, I don't know how moms go back after a short 6 weeks...I never could!

I stopped over at our neighbors house (Heather and Jeremy) Wednesday afternoon and they both looked so tired. Heather is a kindergarten teacher in the district as well and Jeremy works in Menomonie. Knowing how tired I was after working all day, we offered to make dinner for them Thursday night. That meant a picture opp. for the two newbies, Avery is now 3 months old and Elle is 7 weeks. One of these days, we will get Olivia (2) in a picture! I can't wait until Heather starts her maternity leave in October, we will have lots of play dates!

Our Thursdays and Fridays while I am on leave are reserved for Heather and Finley time. ;) On Friday, we met the two of them at the mall for a walk and some play time on the toys for Finley. We decided to walk in the mall considering the temperature outside was about 50 degrees! I am hoping we will be able to get a few more walks outside before the snow starts to fly!

I was way over due for a hair cut...Friday afternoon we visited our favorite stylist Marie. She is so excited to cut Elle's hair, which may happen sooner that I was hoping.

Little Red Riding Hood ventured out to the farmers market with us, again temperatures were in the 50's and very windy! I was ready to get out the bundle me to put over her car seat...brrrr.

It wouldn't be a visit for my dad, if we didn't have him do some type of project?!?! We are just starting to add girlie details to Elle's room, here is a start; Simply Adorable is centered above her crib.

Elle takes a really long morning nap and since I know the transition to her crib will come before we know it, we have started putting her in there for naps.

Sunday we headed to the cities to look at bedroom furniture for David and I. Our dressers are falling apart, so we headed out to start looking . Elle always makes sure she is dressed to impress...is she not the CUTEST thing on this planet!

We stopped at Grandpa Bill's house for a visit after shopping, then back to Grandma Maureen and Papa Coach's for dinner with Jeff, Sue and the kids. Brock is getting to be such a big boy, and he took his role of holding Elle very seriously....look how proud he looks in this picture!

I am looking forward to my first full week of maternity leave, Dave is off and I am hoping to get some things done around the house.