First visit with Santa...what a scary beard!

Elise had her first visit with Santa last night at our ward Christmas party. I didn't know how she'd do with him, especially since she seems to be afraid of facial hair. A bearded or goateed man comes near her and she clings to us and screams. Once, her uncle came to visit with his new goatee and she cried every time he looked at her. It took almost 2 days before she'd play with him. So, I didn't have very high expectations for a happy Santa experience. And I was right. The beard was just too scary. Elise jumped out of Santa's arms and back into James' arms just as fast as she could. Here's some pictures.

(Sorry I couldn't get this turned the right way...just tilt your head and it works fine!) Elise is trying to figure out why she's being taken over to this strange man in a red outfit.

A split second after being placed in Santa's lap, she's out of it again as she lunges for the safety of daddy's arms.

Elise would talk to Santa as long as she didn't have to TOUCH him.

Or...not.

But Santa has to be okay since he DID give Elise a crinkly bag with candy in it...Elise loves crinkly bags. Maybe in a few more years she'll figure out what this Santa thing is all about.

Thanksgiving updates and more...

It's been a long time since I posted to the blog...life has been crazy. James has been busy with school, I've been busy at work, and Elise has been busy learning a bunch of new skills--she can now get to a sitting position on her own, pull herself up to stand, tries to walk when holding our fingers, has 3 teeth that have popped through, and loves to explore. She's growing up fast! We also went to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving for a week, and it felt so nice to have a good long visit.

Here are some pictures to catch up on what we've been up to lately:

Elise talking to her grandma on the phone-as soon as she hears her voice she smiles so big!

Our first day in Wisconsin it snowed 4 inches, so we had to go play in it. While Elise liked the cold, she did NOT like riding down the hill on the sled!

Elise and her dad out in the snow.

Elise and Grandpa watching the boys play in the snow.

We went to a meat market and bought beef sticks...Elise decided it looked yummy and stole Julie's and enjoyed it so much she refused to give it back! She sucked on that beef stick for 45 minutes!

Elise hanging out with her dad, uncles, and grandpa.

Elise, grandpa and Julie on Thanksgiving.

Grandpa, grandma, and Elise before we left to drive back home.

We set up our tree and decorated for Christmas. This is Elise on her first Sinterklass Day that we celebrated (the Dutch christmas). She loved opening the presents!

Tired out and sleeping in her crib.

Trick or Treat...ladybug style

For Elise's first Halloween she was a cute little ladybug. She loved all the attention, even if she's too young for the candy! We went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church and then on Halloween night we took her to a few of the neighbors houses.

Videos of Elise playing

This board book has pictures of babies in it, and at the end, is a mirror where Elise is always surprised to see herself!

I love listening to Elise laugh. The other day we were playing with her blocks together, and she was laughing so hard, I had to get out the camera and take a small video of it. Enjoy!

Elise loves music and gets very excited when she hears it playing. She has a little toy house that plays music when she touches the right buttons, and she loves it--its one of her favorite toys.

We read Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood together. Elise really likes turning pages, and it's hard for me to read fast enough to keep up with her!

More pictures of Elise...

I'm really enjoying having our camera back, so here's a few new pictures of Elise:

Now it's getting colder, Elise gets to be all bundled up just like Dad!

Elise loves wearing her bunny rabbit hat...












Elise playing on our couch with one of her favorite toys.

She is very flexible, and tonight spent a good deal of time sucking her big toe. I'm glad I was able to get at least one picture before she noticed the camera.

Elise loves stealing her dad's water bottles to drink out of (and spill on herself...notice how her entire pajamas are wet from her neck to her knees?)

Tag of unspectacular quirks...

My friend Amy tagged me to list my unspectacular quirks...

The rules are:
*Link to the person who tagged you ... Amy
*Post the rules on your blog
*Write six random things/unspectacular things about yourself
*Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
*Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

So, here are Julie's unspectacular quirks...
1. I'm a bookworm, no surprise to most of you, but how do I have so much time to read? Well, I read as I cook, as I do my hair and my make-up (I know, that explains a lot!), on my breaks at work, and I read while I nurse my baby. I have a few rules that I never break though, I never read while driving or while crossing the street--that can be very dangerous!
2. I drink a lot of milk...4 gallons a week all by myself.
3. I like to sleep with my feet hanging off the edge of the bed.
4. I drink Dr. Pepper medicinally to get rid of migraines.
5. I hate cleaning the shower and avoid it as often as possible (James cleans it by default).
6. I don't instinctively know right from left and have to think about it when giving or following directions.

***I now tag: Ann, Heather, Delee, Timille, Emily, and Brooke.

New pictures! We got our camera back...

We got our camera back, so now I have pictures to post again! Yay! So here are some of the pictures that I've taken since I got the camera back...

James and Elise bonding with the XBox...She loves playing with the controllers.

Elise reading one of her favorite books with her sleepy dad.

Elise and Maribel who we visited this past weekend. Elise loved all the attention from family that she got while we were visiting in North Carolina.

Elise playing intently with a toy...

Elise and her cousin, Kyle, playing with toys together on the couch. They had a lot of fun playing with each other.

Elise has reached a new milestone this weekend...on Friday, October 10 she cut her first teeth! She now has two bottom teeth and did very well with her teething. Hardly fussy at all. I am so lucky! She keeps playing with her tongue as she runs it over her new teeth.

Elise has also expanded her vocabulary. Mom is "ma ma ma" and Dad is now apparently "naa naa naa." When she wants him to hold her, or when he leaves a room and she wants him to come back she calls out for "na na na." I think it's rather cute.

Elise loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...

We watched General Conference this weekend, and Elise loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When they first started singing, she got a big grin on her face, laughed and waved her arms around excitedly and then tried to sing along. I LOVE listening to her sing. She loves all sorts of music, but each time they sang during conference, she loved it. She also really liked the children's choir in the second session of conference...she was enthralled and didn't move a muscle the whole time she watched them sing. She just grinned and listened to the songs. Elise also seemed to like listening to President Monson. Each time he came on the screen, she smiled and waved her arms around.

We watched most of the sessions here at home over the Internet, but we did go to the church to watch the Sunday morning session. There were some very powerful talks that I want to go back and read again--like Elder Uchtdorf's talk on hope, Elder Bednar's talk on prayer, and President Eyring's talk on unity. I was also excited to hear the announcements about the new temples to be built throughout the world, especially for the news of the Rome, Italy temple!

"Mama ma ma ma..."

"Mama ma ma ma," is now what I hear when Elise sees me when I get home from work, or when she's hungry, or when she's sleepy and wants to be held. The first time she did it, on Thursday, I had just come home from work and she was smiling with James and put out her hands and reached for me while saying, "Mama ma ma ma..." It made me smile. She's done it a lot since then, but I don't think she knows that it's a word that means mom, I think it's still just a new sound that she's trying to master. But it's fun to hear! She's also saying "ba ba ba ba ba" quite a bit now, too.

Elise is so social, she loves being around people. It's impossible to get her to nap during church where there is always someone to watch or to smile at. After church she came home and took a long nap to make up for not sleeping at all during church. She just loves people and being able to smile and interact with them. She spent most of church today either trying to smile at people, or rolling around on the floor and underneath the benches exploring.

This week went by quickly for us. James is busy with school, and I'm still trying to keep up with all the demands of my new job. James and I are toying with the idea of buying a home. We've met with a mortgage lender and started looking at houses. One seems promising, we might go look at it again this week. It's exciting to think about, even if it doesn't happen for awhile!

Temporarily misplaced our camera...

Well, I've temporarily without a camera, so there may be no new pictures posted for a little while. James' brother, Ben, visited us last weekend and somehow our camera went home with him. So, until we get it back, the posts may be a little bit boring.

This past weekend we were expecting the arrival of Tropical Storm Hannah, but it didn't turn out to be much of a tropical storm. There was wind and rain, but it was pretty mild--2 years ago tropical storm Ernesto was worse than this was, at least for our area. The power went out for about 3 hours on Friday, before the storm even hit, but that was about the extent of it.

At church I got released as the Young Women's secretary and put right back in as the first counselor in the Young Women's presidency. It's going to be a lot of fun and a great presidency to work with. So now James and I have basically the same calling...he's first counselor in Young Men's, and I'm first counselor in Young Women's. Elise gets taken to all the activities, but she loves it and loves taking her turn going to be with the girls and then getting to go with the boys.

Alice the Camel goes to the beach

Elise loves when we sing "Alice the Camel" with her. Ever since she's been a tiny baby she has smiled or laughed as we sang the song and bounced her legs up and down. She can be crying and inconsolable and we just have to start singing and she's quiet and happy until the song is over. She especially loves when Alice loses all her humps and turns into a plain old horse-that's when she usually laughs the hardest. We couldn't resist posting this video of her giggling while I sing the song.

Last Saturday was the stake youth beach party in Nags Head, North Carolina. James and I were both chaperons, so we took Elise with us and made a family day of it playing at the beach. On the way down Elise started getting fussy and hungry, but we were so close to our destination that we tried to see if she could make it till we arrived to eat. How did we appease her and distract her? You guessed it, we all sang "Alice the Camel"--including the youth in the car with us. We sang it over and over again, sometimes starting with 5 humps, sometimes with 10 humps, and always counting back down to no humps. But she stopped crying and smiled until we got there, so it worked! Elise loved the beach--she loved watching the waves and the sea gulls, she loved the sand and the sun, but she didn't like the cold water. It was a perfect day, the temperature was only in the mid 80's and it was overcast so the sun didn't beat down on us. And Elise didn't get a sunburn! I was very glad about that!

Elise taking her nap at the beach. She loves being underneath her blanket when she sleeps, and was perfectly content to be all covered up.

6 months old already!

Elise is now 6 months old! Time has gone by so quickly! We got Elise's 6 month portrait done, and they were all such good pictures I had a hard time choosing which ones to buy. The photographer said she wished ALL the babies she takes pictures of were so easy and happy. Here are some of them, you can see why I had such a hard time choosing!
Elise and her guinea pig!

Another busy week...

I finally was able to make a small video of Elise rolling over! She's always so happy when she is able to make it all the way over!

It's been a busy week! Tuesday evening we had dinner at our neighbors house, they invited us over for dinner in exchange for a brief bicycle repair class from James. They are going on an 8-day ride and wanted to learn how to change spokes on their wheels in case they break, as well as a few other maintenance things. We've lived next door to them for just over a year, and this was the first social thing we've done with them. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was interesting :)


Wednesday was the combined Young Women/ Young Men activity. It was at a local swimming pool and we had a cookout, too. James had fun with the boys in the pool, and Elise and I watched from the sides, ate, or talked with the youth as they came for food. James had gotten Elise dressed for the pool party, and she was adorable...little cover up and shorts over her little swimsuit. She loved having the attention of the girls!

Elise smiling in her swimsuit...

..and pausing mid-kick to look at the camera!

Thursday some of the women I work with at the library got together for dinner and a movie. We'd planned it originally just to have fun, but they turned it into a congrats party for my promotion. They even had a cake that said, "Congrats Boss Lady (aka) Julie" on it! It made me laugh.

Friday night felt good to just stay home and finally have a night in. I was able to talk to my mom on the phone and finally hear about her trip to Tonga. She'd been back almost a whole week and this was the first opportunity I had to call and see how it went! She and my aunt went to the King of Tonga's coronation ceremony. (He and my aunt were childhood friends and he invited her and a guest to come to the ceremony. My grandma and grandpa lived in Tonga for 6 years as missionaries when my aunts and uncles were young. Grandma was pregnant with my mom when they finally made it back to the US. Grandpa served as principal of Liahona College/High School and translated the Book of Mormon into Tongan.) I'm glad she had a safe trip.

Today has been full of errands and house cleaning, but I did get to sleep in! Yay! That felt wonderful. Also, we finally went out and bought a new TV. James has been wanting one for quite awhile now, since we have had to bang and strategically hit the TV to make it work right--now we won't have to hit the TV to make it through a whole show or movie! James is thrilled with it.

Parties, playing, and promotions...

We've been busy the past few weeks, hence the reason there's a gap since my last post. Last weekend we went to North Carolina to celebrate James' grandfather's 80th birthday. It was a lot of fun! The family had so much fun holding and playing with Elise, and she soaked up all the attention. She is VERY social and loves to watch people, and she especially loves to have them smile at her. There was a large group gathered to celebrate with Abuelo--he is well loved.

James and Elise are spending a lot of quality time together lately--since his semester ended he's been caring for Elise full-time until the fall semester starts up at the end of August. They've been having a lot of fun, Elise loves spending time with Daddy. We got her an exersaucer for her to play in, and she LOVES it! It's so fun to watch her play and work her way around the circle of toys. She is so proud of herself every time she does something new on it or discovers a new toy it has. It's also helping her get more strength to support her head and body. She is actually starting to sit up on her own, she's still very wobbly, but she can do it for a few seconds on her own before she tips over!

Elise playing in her exersaucer.

And, in other news, Julie just got a promotion at work! After much thought, I applied for and was chosen for a management position in the library. It's a wonderful opportunity, but I will no longer be the children's librarian anymore, which I will miss. I love working in children's services, but I can't wait to see what new things I can help accomplish in the library system with this new job.

Elise rolled over!

On Monday, July 14 Elise rolled over for the first time from her back to her belly. She has been uncooperative as we've tried to get her to do it again. This week she's also figured out how to roll from her belly to her back, a much easier feat and one she will repeat for us. (I don't know how much she likes her belly...)

She's also discovering new toys to play with. She's getting better transferring toys from hand to hand and doesn't drop them quite so easily. She always grins big when she can keep a toy in her hand.

Today she played with this toy in the picture for quite a while. We propped her up so she could practice sitting, and she played with the wires and the blocks on them for about 20 minutes before she lost interest.

Visiting friends in D.C. and going to Balitmore

Last weekend (July 11-13) we went up to D.C. to see my friends Blake and Debbie. They are in D.C. this summer for an internship. Debbie and I grew up in the same ward and have been friends our whole lives. Blake and I have been friends nearly as long, I first remember him being in my classes in elementary school, and then became better friends in high school. They have two boys, Zach is 3 years old, and William is 6 months old. William and Elise are about the same age and it was fun to watch them interact together.

On Saturday we went to Baltimore to see the sites. We first went to Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner during the attack on the fort during the War of 1812. It was neat to see.




James helping in a flag demonstration at Fort McHenry.











Elise in her stroller enjoying her ride.















After Fort McHenry we walked around downtown Baltimore. It was fun to see the city and all the historical sites that are there. We went up to the top of the World Trade Center building there and could see miles around. The city is huge! We walked into Little Italy and had some delicious gelato...it was worth the trip just for that!


Debbie, Blake and their sleepy children in Baltimore.



Julie, James and Elise on the waterfront in Baltimore.

We went to church with Debbie and Blake in their Maryland ward before we drove home. James had a pleasant surprise, the bishop of the ward was someone he knew from growing up in Wisconsin. Jeff was in James' Manitowoc Branch years ago and James had home taught Jeff's mom. It was a fun to see him.

After church Elise and William played together on the floor while we packed up and got ready for the drive home. It was a fun weekend!