A Park of Redwoods

Eleonora and I headed out for a day at the park.

Love the redwoods of Northern California!

Such a sweet walking partner  :) 

2 Year Old Dress ;)

Eleonora has begun voicing her opinion more and more... 

She wants to watch a certain movie.  

She wants to go outside for a walk.  

When on the walk she wants to go this way.  

She wants a certain food for a snack.  

She wants to wear this shirt and these shoes.  

With all these little assertions during the day I assert my authority when it really matters.  

And today the fact that she was wearing two different shoes wasn't on my list.... so we went out and about with her wearing a tennis shoe and a boot that is 2 sizes too big  ;)  

Watermelon Summer

This has been such a lovely summer.  

I have been enjoying each moment with my sweet Eleonora.  

This afternoon Eleonora and I went to a friend's house to enjoy a late afternoon dip in the pool.  While I was swimming with Eleonora, my friend and I were talking about how much Eleonora has grown.. she looks like a 'kid' and not a 'baby/toddler.'  

She was right!  

Eleonora isn't my sweet little baby girl, but growing up into a sweet little girl.  

I love watching her little personality come out, 

the perfectly unique personality the Lord blessed her with. 

She is funny... she loves to laugh and make others laugh

She is compassionate... if there is a crying baby she wants to get the baby's bottle -- if there is a crying child she goes and gets a toy to give to them and make them happy again

She is loving... never giving enough kisses and hugs -- when she wakes up in the morning she comes into our room and crawls in bed with us to snuggle for a couple minutes  :)  I love starting the day with my love bug snuggling next to me. 

She loves adventure... she always wants to go for a walk or hike or go to the pool or beach  -- she keeps me on my toes  ;)

Snuggly Fever

Last night was one of those difficult nights where you wish you could take the illness and fever from your little one.  Eleonora was burning up and had a stomach bug  :(  

She woke up this morning and felt a little better, not throwing up, but still not herself.  We had some good quality snuggle time this morning watching choo choo trains, fire engines and doggies on youtube. (It is quite entertaining to watch... here is a ride along video of a fire truck  ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LtehjcEBj8&feature=related)

Hopefully tomorrow she will be her chipper self, but today I'll enjoy every minute of her sweet snuggles that just don't seem to let her get as close to me as she wants.  :)

love my sweet babydoll.  

Yawn...

       

She is so tired.

Thankful for every minute.

Buses, fire trucks and butterflies :)

Michael, Eleonora and I shared a lovely morning in the city.  

We wanted to take advantage of the precious few hours we had free together.  After a quick stop for a delicious egg mcmuffin at McDonalds :p , we went into Golden Gate Park for a stroll and to kick around the soccer ball.  It was a beautiful day and we just soaked it up.  :)  

For lunch we wanted to try a restaurant recommendation in Chinatown and decided to take the bus since Eleonora has a fascination of buses, fire trucks and butterflies  ;)  

What a THRILL for Eleonora!  As it approached she kept yelling "Busss... Busssss!"  

We sat in the back and she just soaked it up.  

My heart just melted when she started singing "the wheels on the bus go round-and-round."  

Precious.

It's so fun to see things new again through the eyes of a child.  

I love being a mommy  :)

Eleonora's 2nd Birthday!

What a lovely day  :)  

We are so thankful that we celebrated Eleonora's 2nd birthday with so many great friends that love her.   

Here's the 

Birthday Girl!

Eleonora in her adorable outfit from Mimi  :)

 

Bouncy house!

How does this work?

She got the hang of it ...sort of.  It was really more like a love tap  ;)

           

Lydia's turn!

Great memories  :)

Hourglass Life

Everyday is precious.  Every moment is priceless.  "Hourglass Life" is a blog that will allow our family and friends to be a part of our everyday lives.  We chose this name for our blog because every moment, every grain from the hourglass, is a gift and should be lived to the fullest.  

Today's adventure was baking cup cakes for Eleonora's 2nd birthday PaRtY tomorrow :)  Eleonora has had such a willingness to help me with whatever task I am working on whether it be dusting, vacuuming, unloading the dishwasher, doing the laundry, weeding the beds outside, etc... and I love that willingness in her.  I find the greatest challenge is to slow down... but it is so worth it.

My little helper  :)

She was concentrating so hard  ;)

I'll have to post our finished cup cakes tomorrow  :)