Chasing Ducks

We spent the morning at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. It was per Elizabeth's request, and you can get a sense of why. It's a blast to chase the ducks and geese -- and feed them handfuls of corn.

Classic Elizabeth

 

Every once in a while I may post an older picture of Elizabeth just because. This one is from a year ago, right after her first birthday.

Pioneer Stock

 

Elizabeth is displaying the characteristics of the hardy pioneer stock that settled this area of the country. We recently went for a bike ride and on the way home it started raining. Although she had a raincoat on, her pants, shoes, socks, face, and hands got cold and wet. (This is March, remember.) She complained not a bit, although she enjoyed telling us over and over about how her pants had gotten wet.

Flubber?

 

Barb and Elizabeth made flubber for the first time today. The recipe involves $3.00 worth of Elmer's glue and some borax and food coloring. It's fun to make and fun to play with. I'll be curious to see how long it lasts, as it's not really cheap with all that glue. Elizabeth loved it, though. A nice break from her current obsession (obsession!!) with Play-Doh. (I'm tellin' ya, every morning it's "Play-Doh Time, Daddy!" and every day after work, when the Play-Doh is already out and has already been played with for hours, it's "Play-Doh Time, Daddy!")

Glamor Girl

 

Elizabeth has taken to wearing sunglasses. Kinda cute.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Aaron invited us to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden today. It's Friday, but I'm home because Barb just got all four of her wisdom teeth pulled today. She's doing surprisingly well.

Elizabeth had a fantastic time playing with Lily and chasing the ducks and geese. Aaron even brought some duck food along so the girls could feed the fowl.

First Photo

 

I made what may have been a huge mistake tonight by teaching Elizabeth how to operate the camera. This was her first-ever picture. She took about forty more, but this is the first. Despite my world-class instruction she doesn't grasp the function of the viewscreen on the back of the camera. Her method is this: she holds the camera over hear head, grimaces mightly, and repeatedly stabs the shutter button until the flash goes off.

Not bad for a two-year old!

Kate, Hairdresser

 

Here is the best picture I got of the hair-do new friend Kate gave Elizabeth last Saturday night. The two girls had been out of sight for quite some time while the four adults chatted in the kitchen. Eventually, Barb asked me to check on Elizabeth. I opened the door to Kate's room and she was fixing Elizabeth's hair while Elizabeth stared, rapt, into the mirror on Kate's vanity.

Elizabeth wore the 'do all night without complaint, although the next day she mentioned that it was 'tight.'

New Friend

We went to our friends the Pedersens house last night for dinner and their 5-year-old daughter Kate immediately took Elizabeth under her wing and spent the whole evening with her. Elizabeth even allowed Kate to give her a hair-do. It was awesome.

The Opposite of Me

Tonight Barb prepared rib meat and sauerkraut and potatoes for dinner. A teutonic feast. Elizabeth ate a little bit of the meal, but her feast began after the meal, when Barb broke out the bone pot.

Elizabeth loves... gristle. There's no way of getting around this fact. She loves picking a bone clean, sucking every last piece of cartilage and tendon from the unchewable calcate core. She likes gristle more than meat! It's kind of weird, especially since I prefer all of my meat to be boneless and as processed as possible given current technological limits.

Remind you of anyone?

Second Birthday

 

Uncle Pat came over for dinner on Elizabeth's birthday which prompted a sort of second birthday. We had a feast of leftovers generated from Aunt Cindy's visit (steak and lamb and mashed potatoes from her dinner with Mom at fancy-schmancy Jake's Grill, Thai food from our family get together Sunday night, pizza from Elizabeth's party), then a second serving of the ice cream cake, complete with candles and an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. Elizabeth was utterly thrilled by it.

In this picture she is asking Pat for help with blowing out the candles. On the first go-round, this afternoon, she asked Riley for help. Although two years old, one candle is about her limit.

Uncle Pat also presented this twelve-inch high robotic Donald Duck (in, inexplicably, an Easter Bunny outfit). Elizabeth is frightened of it. If I can, I'll post a video of the thing soon. No doubt she'll love it, once her fear is overcome.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Rose!

Aunt Cindy

 

We had a great weekend with Aunt Cindy (Grandma's younger sister, so Elizabeth's Great Aunt). She arrived on Friday and left today after getting to enjoy a little bit of Elizabeth's birthday.

The Party's Over

 

Elizabeth passed out cold (in the car, admittedly) shortly after the party and had a nice, long nap.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream... Cake!

Birthday Fun

Reading one of her gifts from Lily, Go Dog Go! with Teresa and Riley.


Cozy time with Riley and Curious George. Elizabeth is holding a rake that is part of a gardening set she got as a gift from Riley. And there's Lily Joy in the background!


The Empress Elizabeth.

Balloons!

 

Elizabeth had three balloons for her birthday and gave one each to Lily and Riley, her friends.

The Birthday Crown

Here is Elizabeth Rose, age 2, making her very own birthday crown. It's going to be a great day!

You sharp-eyed observers will note the scratch on her cheek and the band-aid on her finger. She's been having a rough weekend. On Friday, the birthday girl fell at a restaurant's play area and skinned her knuckle. Last night she had yet another run in with her nemesis, Baby Kitty. Baby scratched Elizabeth on the cheek, forearm, and leg. (We are considering getting Baby Kitty declawed.)

More birthday pictures to follow. Stay tuned!