Another week

Chelsea was in the kitchen while Rick was doing dishes or something and all of a sudden just plopped down and stuck her head between his legs. Usually she only hangs on your legs if she wants something right now. She wasn't requesting anything this time. I guess she just missed her Daddy.

A coworker of mine has a daughter who had a birthday, and we were invited to the party. Here is Chelsea on her way into one of the many blow up jumpy things at Planet Pizza. We were quite impressed with the jumping forts. I think Mommy had as much fun in them as Chelsea did! (Yeah, she carried those balls everywhere-we joked about how crazy Chels would go in a ball pit. Can you imagine it? haha!)

Here she is on her way out. We even got Daddy to go through one of the jumpy things. It was quite large and had ladders and slides and obstacles (and many kids) throughout. There were no signs that said no adults allowed. We checked. And so we jumped. :)

This is next to the jumpy things. It is blowing air under the ball so it is floating (just out of reach!) and you hit the ball with a bat at the targets. Can't get enough of the balls.

I have been reading a lot lately on different blogs about their construction projects resulting-at least in part-in a lovely garden area. Well here is the extent of my garden. I have a pot with two tomato plants, a pot with two pepper plants, and a pot with some foliage. I hope they live through the summer, and if I'm lucky, produce some fruit. Or veggies. Whichever. I'm proud to say that one of my pepper plants has a flower, and the other has buds! It's only been about a week since I've planted them.

There used to be a third face, but Chelsea smashed it. She loves to carry them around. There used to be another purple plant, but it didn't make it. The rest seems to be thriving. But I'm proud of my itty bitty garden! (but I do look forward to a HOUSE some day with a YARD with space for a REAL garden.)

Zoo Time!

A few random photos before we get to the zoo.

What a smiley day! She's proud of herself for putting her own hat on. Hats used to be agony to wear, but now she knows how cute she looks in them, and is willing to wear them. (at least for a few minutes at a time)

Put the hat on, take the hat off, put the hat on, take the hat off. She's getting pretty good at getting it on. She's always been great at taking it off.

I love this simply for the long string of drool. Oh, she's got 8 teeth now. Four on the top and four on the bottom. She's working from the middle out, for now.

Having a ball. Get it? Ball! Ha!

Talking talking talking

Here we are near the beginning of the zoo trip. (Monday evening. Michelle and Randy missed out on this one.) Rick is talking instead of pointing, (a very cute pose) like he was a second before. Chelsea's expression is really cute though, so I'm putting this one up instead.

There are a few places at the zoo to take your picture. We took advantage of all of them. I even got a smile (and a hand) on this one!

I don't think she was too impressed.

Say "cheese" little penguins! We got Grandpa and Grandma penguins too. Let me know if you want to see them. :)

Chelsea loves to push her stroller-probably more than she likes riding in it, actually. She only sustained one minor scraped up knee from tripping over her own feet, or going too fast for her little legs. I'm not sure which fall got her the scrape. There were a few.

Yet another photo op. Chelsea was thirsty and more interested in having her drink than sticking her face through a hole. Oh well.

I know this is how you open the bag...but it just won't open! I need help Daddy! What better treat to eat at the zoo than....animal crackers! If only they weren't in such a tricky bag.

Waiting patiently for Daddy to open the bag and give her her treat. This is one of the cutest pictures I've taken in awhile. I love her dimples. I was trying to capture her crystal blue eyes, but the shadow from the hat hides it in the photo. In real life, her eyes were "popping blue" as I like to call it.

This is about the coolest drinking fountain you will find anywhere. Who doesn't love the thrill of sticking your head into the mouth of a LION while at the zoo!?

Eating a snack next to the flamingos on the way out of the zoo. It's about five minutes until closing time and Chelsea is very ready to sleep. It was up to Greg to keep her awake on the way home, where she got a bath, the rest of her snack, and went to bed. It was amazingly easy to put her to sleep this night. She was one tuckered out cutie. We oughta do this zoo thing more often. :)

June already

We got to celebrate Grandma Kelly's birthday on June 2nd. (Actual birthday is on the 3rd) Games and cake and ice cream...Mmmm!

Cake and ice cream before bed. Isn't it great? Talk about a champion moocher. (yes, it took a little longer for Chels to fall asleep this night, whether it was the sugar, or the fact that there were people over, I don't know.)

Chelsea has learned a new trick: sitting on the floor and dangling her feet through the bars by the stairway. She's waving at Mommy. The bib is to help soak up some of the neverending drool. Tooth number 7 has broken through, and number 8 will be here soon. Luckily this time around it's mostly drool and not some of the other less desirable side effects of teething.

I'm ready to go, Mom! Come on, Mom! Let's go already!

Do we have a Heit or what? The finger sucking may continue in another generation. Hopefully not, though.

This was Monday morning. Awake, but not quite ready to get up yet...

I had to wake Chelsea up at noon from her nap in order to go visiting teaching. She didn't get another nap this day. By 6:45 she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. I didn't want her to take a long nap two hours before bedtime, so I woke her up at 7:00. She was out cold, just like a little rag doll. I put her on the floor and stretched her out. Then put her on her chair and posed her there. I lifted her and jiggled her, and it took about 10 minutes to wake her up! A bath helped complete the wake-up process. She slept all night later on! (It did take a little longer to fall asleep, but oh well.)

Random set of pictures

At Grandma Kelly's house for lunch. We just kind of let her go at it and didn't worry about the mess. And boy was there a mess! Spaghetti is such fun.

Play on, my cutie!

Peek! Well hello daddy! This little one hates it if the bathroom door is closed, whether she is on the inside OR on the outside. Now she's discovered that there is someone in the shower, and she hates it if THAT door is closed all the way. She used to just stick her fingers under the shower curtain and feel the water, but now she's tall enough to look around and see who's inside. Good thing we aren't too shy, hehe.

Here is Parker Nordquist with Chelsea at Parker's first birthday party. The dads were helping them dance together. Of course, Parker decided he was done once I brought out the camera. Why do they always stop the cuteness when I'm ready to record it forever?

We put pigtails down low today. Isn't she just a cutie pie!? She was having fun playing Dr. Mario with Auntie Elizabeth. Here I think she kind of looks like Michelle from Full House, if any of you have ever heard of that show before. :)

I couldn't get a better expression than this, sorry. The pigtails didn't last very long. They never do. Sigh.

Isn't this a cute outfit? Chelsea even chose to put the hat on herself. I helped her a little bit. But it was all her idea!

Here is our little fish. Shark fish that is! Chelsea's hair was put back in a way that it looked like a little shark's fin. She was even swimming around on her tummy until I got the camera.

Mom and Dad stuck toy Ernie in Chelsea's unders. Yeah we are weird, but it was funny. (Both parents were a little sleepy by this time of day. Just about anything would have been funny.) The reason she is only partially dressed is because we just went to Oak Park and decided to see what Chelsea would think of the splash park. Well of course she got wet. She liked it, but was very cautious. Good girl. :)