Here she is. Mary Eleanor. 11 days old in these pictures! So quiet and peaceful, she's so different from Elliot at this age!

Elliot is a fantastic big brother. He's been very helpful during diaper changes (he gets Mary's diapers and hands them to Mom or Dad). He gives her kisses all day long (Mary gets more kisses than Mom and Dad combined). He says "It's okay Baby Mary" when she's crying. It's very, very sweet.

Introducing Mary Eleanor!

We welcomed Mary Eleanor to our family on July 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 am. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3.5 oz and was 22 inches long.

Elliot is a proud big brother, and has adjusted wonderfully to his new role. He's very helpful and wants to involve Mary in all that we do.

I (Anna) am adjusting well to life with 2 kids! We've already made it to a couple playgroups (for Elliot), the library, and we even got groceries this week! It just takes a little more planning, and twice as long to get out the door!

Kyle is a pro at this fatherhood thing! The 2nd one is SO much easier! He's a natural now! :)

4 years!

Kyle and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary (a few days early) by going up to Minneapolis for a night! Rent (the Broadway musical) was coming to Minneapolis, and we were both excited to see it in a real theater after the miserable performance we saw in Des Moines' civic center 5 years ago. We found out that it was going to be in the cities for just one weekend, so we decided to get tickets. It turns out that TWO of the ORIGINAL BROADWAY actors were going to be in the performance! Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark)! I seriously almost cried when the performance started. To be in a theater, and hear a performance that sounds exactly like the the Broadyway soundtrack you've listened to for over 10 years is just amazing. So many times during the performance I just sat in awe- that was really THE Mark and THE Roger up on stage! La Vie Boheme was fantastic!!!! Kyle and I really really really enjoyed the show!

Rent wasn't the only thing on our itinerary! We dropped Elliot off at my parents' early Saturday morning and made our way up to the cities. First on our list: car dealerships. Kyle and I have decided that we are not going to be able to make another long trip to Ohio w/o a mini-van. The Suzuki is just going to be too small when we have 2 kids, so we're doing some research. :) I warned Kyle ahead of time that we weren't going to have another "Subaru Incident" (when we stopped at a dealer just to "look" and walked out w/ a new car), and that we were just looking. We made it to 4 dealers w/o a purchase. I think we know what we want though!

We the hit the Mall of America for lunch- at our favvorite sushi restaurant. Yes, sushi in the MOA- it's actually quite tasty! Oh, Tiger Sushi, we love you!

Then it was time for some shopping- Kyle needed to go drool on Best Buy's newest ultra-thin LCD tv- yes, there's a Best Buy in the MOA. I need to check out Gymboree and Motherhood's latest styles, and then leave Motherhood grumpy at the hideousness of some of this spring's styles. Grrr.

After that we headed to downtown Minneapolis to check into our hotel and just chill until dinner. Our hotel room was quite nice- I'd recommend the Marquette to anyone having to stay downtown! We had dinner at our favorite seafood place- McCormick and Schmicks- before the show.

On Sunday we headed to the west metro to have brunch w/ Brandy, and then did a little more shopping before heading home to pick up Elliot. We had a great time! It was the first time we've left Elliot at my parents' and actually gone somewhere overnight. He's stayed there before, but we ususally just go to a movie or out to dinner and then go home! Elliot missed us, but I think he had a great time. He talked about the chickens and collecting eggs for HOURS.

So yeah, that's our big anniversary "celebration". We can't believe it's been 4 years already! How much things change in such a short time! I wonder how things will change in the next 4 years?

Another Good is on the Way!

That's right! We're expecting. Actually, I'm the one who is pregnant (you won't see Kyle on Oprah w/ a big round tummy).

The baby is due in July, the end of July, so w/ my luck it's going to be in the 90s by early May. It's going to be a hot summer for me! :)

We're VERY excited, and Elliot is.....well, I don't think he totally understands yet. We thought he knew that Mommy had a baby in her tummy, until he pointed to Kyle's tummy and said "Baby". We have a little more explaining to do, I think!

That's about it for us for now!

Ohio!

In November, we ventured to Ohio to visit Kyle's family. We stayed w/ his parents for a week, and what a great week it was! We were busy, but it was a great time!

First, we visited Trevor and Karri (Kyle's brother and his wife). They bought a new place in June and we were excited to see it. They had some great news...they're expecting their first baby in June 2009! We're VERY VERY excited for them!

We visited the Newport Aquarium, where Elliot, fresh out of his stroller, sprinted through the entire place. We made it through the entire Aquarium in one hour (it took Kyle and I 2 hours last time) and that's with Elliot stopping at the Frog Bog for a good 15 minutes. He was just VERY excited to be out of his stroller and free to roam!

We hit the Montgomery Inn Boathouse on the Ohio river for dinner. You've got to love those ribs! Kyle and I will always have a special place in our hearts for the boathouse because we went there for dinner the day Kyle proposed. Awwwwww.

We HAD to visit our favorite restaurants while were there. It was Elliot's first time eating athem! Bob Evans, Penn Station, Skyline, Chick-fil-A, Bill's Donut's (and I already mentioned Montgomery Inn).

We also got to see our good friends, the Dreyers. It was great to see you Nash, Kelly, William and Ella! We'll go to Skyline with you anytime!!!!

While we were there, we celebrated and early Thanksgiving w/ Kyle's family. It was SO nice to see everyone (and the food was great, too!)!

Elliot got to spend a lot of time w/ Grandma and Grandpa! They miss him SO much! Elliot loves to see them and play!

Campaign For Change/ Election day

We had some beautiful weather the weekend before the election. During the day it got up in the 70s! I decided that I wanted to be a part of the "Campaign for Change" and volunteered to go knock on doors to remind people to vote. While I was out being political, Elliot and Kyle raked leaves and played in them. On Election Day, Elliot and I got up early, ate breakfast, got dressed, and went to vote. I was worried that we'd have to wait awhile, but we didn't! We had plenty of time to vote, relax and play a little, and then go to Toddler Class. Sorry this picture is sideways, I forgot to turn it before I uploaded it. Here's Elliot on Election Day. Usually, I don't advocate using children to further their parents' political views, but I thought this ONE day wouldn't hurt.


Oblivious to the importance of this day, Elliot played on.
After class, Elliot and I grabbed a quick lunch, then headed to the Obama Volunteer HQ. It was our last chance to get out there and help. We knocked on doors all afternoon. It was a beautiful day! Elliot was a trooper! He slept through the first half of the afternoon!

That night, as the election results came in, I was overcome with so many different emotions.
And exhaustion, as it had been a busy, busy day.

More Halloween!

The fun continues at the play place in the mall. Elliot has NO time for mama when we're there. He is busy, busy, busy!

I managed to grab him and get one picture though! Mommy and her little wookie!

Wookies have to eat too, you know. After lunch we went home and napped, we had more activites planned that night! We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Domeier at our favorite vietnamese place, and then we were back at the mall for some trick-or-treatin'.Here's Elliot and his friend Lauren. Lauren even convinced her mom and dad to dress up! They were the cutest little bee family I've ever seen!

Here is Elliot getting some of his loot. Between all the kids in costumes and the people who kept giving him stuff, he was entertained enough to stay in his stroller. I was relieved! There were SO many people there (I heard there were close to 3,00 kids who went through), I didn't want him getting lost in the crowds (he's a bit of a runner).


Elliot didn't realize candy is edible until about 1/2 way around the mall. I noticed he had 1/2 of a tootsie roll in his hand, with the wrapper still on and bite marks on the end. He was going to town chewing on something- the other half of the tootsie roll, complete with wrapper was in his mouth. So much for no candy!

Halloween!

RRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!

Accoding to Elliot, that's what a wookie says. Can you tell Kyle picked out Elliot's costume?

This year we went Trick-or-Treating with MOMS club to an assisted living facility (a few days before Halloween). Elliot was SUCH a good sport, considering he's never worn a costume before, or trick-or-treated!Below is the gang from MOMS club. We had a lion, a ghost, a princess bride, a frog, a wookie, and Elliot's favorite, a doggie. A small group this year, but very managable!


The kids made their way through the halls. Elliot, errr, chewbacca is checking out his stash (shh...he doesn't know what candy is!).




On Halloween our playgroup met at the mall just before lunch, in costume! Here is the wookie

on the run.

Pumpkinland

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we took a trip to nearby Pumpkinland to get us some, well, pumpkins. We got there late in the afternoon and had just enough time to check out the little petting barn (they called it a zoo, it was a barn), take some pictures, and take the hayride out to the fields to pick out our pumpkins. The barn was pretty cool though- they had a "catwalk" for their goats going all over the place- there were goats in the "balcony"- CRAZY!!!

As you can see by out OSU gear, there was a Buckeye game that day- againt Penn State, and we knew they'd need all the support we could give them. Alas, it wasn't enough and they lost 6-13.

Oh, Elliot LOVED the animals! At home he loves his books that have pictures of animals in them, and has been working hard to know their sounds. So far he's a big fan of quacking, meowing, and his version of a rooster's crow. After seeing the cow, Elliot started making Moo noises. Most of the time though, you only get either the MMMMMMM or the OOOOOOOOOO, not usually both together.

It's NOT cold an flu season, it's NOT cold and flu season, it's not...

Already? Is it REALLY here? After HALF of Elliot's Toddler Class came down with some sort of ailement after last week's class, I have to say a resounding YES is the correct answer. The class was on Tuesday, and by Wednesday night, Elliot was running a fever. A fever that came and went for the next few days (disappearing ususally during his doctor's clinic's hours, causing me to not worry too much, only to come back in full force at night, making me worry and stress and regret taking him in that afternoon). By Monday I knew something had to be wrong- he wasn't playing, he wasn't eating (much), and all he wanted to do was sit on Mommy's lap and snuggle (not that I'm complaining, but he ususally doesn't have TIME to snuggle w/ his mommy because he's too busy playing). The Doctor's diagnonsis? A DOUBLE ear infection. Poor guy! Elliot made it through cold and flu season last year without one...but to get one already this year...does that mean we're in for more? Agh! I don't want to think about it! We're 36 hours into anti-biotics and Elliot is back to his normal self- playing, babbling, getting into everything, and, most importantly- laughing and smiling again.

Emma Krumbees

This weekend we took Elliot to Belle Plain, MN to Emma Krumbees (a restaurant/ orchard/ bakery type place) for their annual Scarecrow Festival. Now I've never experienced a Scarecrow Festival before, but it's evidently the thing to go see everyfall. People from all over MN submit their scarecrow entry, and for the month of October they're on display. We saw batman scarecrows, Michael Phelps scarecrows, a really creepy witch scarecrow wearing a Kiss mask, and an "American Gothic" scarecrow pair, just to name a few. Some people went ALL out. Elliot thought some were more interesting than others, but mostly I think he was just excited we let him out of the stroller and let him explore.

After checking out all the scarecrows, it was on to the maze. Elliot led the way, evidenced by all the "back of the head" shots I have. At first he went down EVERY path, but after having to turn around a few times he started to figure it out, and soon he led the three of us out of the maze.

Then it was on to the silly cemetary. Each "tombstone" has some sort of rhyming epitaph (like Humpty Dumpty, Rest in Pieces).

And finally, he got to sit way up high on the pumpkin wagon. He thought that was really cool. One of his favorite sayings right now is "Wooooooooooooah!" Every thing is Woah! It is really, really cute. :)

To end our journey, we stopped at the Taco Johns in St. Peter for supper. Taco Johns, for those of you who don't know, is kinda like a Taco Bell, but a step up (a small step). They're famous for their Potato Oles (think small tator tot w/ seasoning). Dip one of those in nacho cheese sauce and you're in Tex-Mex heaven, if your arteries hold up. ANYWAY, while we were there, eating our lovely meal, the employees must have been bored out of their minds because three of them took turns dressing in their mascot costume- Taco John himself (he kinda looks like Guy Smiley with darker hair and a sombrero) and walking out to the street corner to flag down some business. At about the same time a guy in a red car got pulled over, and he pulled into the Taco Johns parking lot. So while this guy is getting pulled over, out walks good ol' Taco John and does a little lap around the patrol car. And we're inside watching this whole thing. Elliot is nuts about the flashing lights, and this cartoon costume dude who keeps waving at him. But then things took a turn for the worst for the man who was pulled over- he got arrested! The cuffed him and everything (yeah, Anna, that's usually what they do when they arrest people)! Kyle had to add- Hey, they're using REAL handcuffs and not just those pastic zip lines! Then they searched his car. What a dinner show! Elliot got to see his first arrest at 16 months! What's next?

A Car Ride With Elliot

Elliot is quite the chatter box in the car. No matter where we go, he's always got something to say. He also likes to take of his shoes and socks in the car, which is fun when we need to be someplace that requires him wearing shoes. We'll see how long that lasts once it gets cold! This video was taken on our way back from Emma Krumbee's Scarecrow Festival. Hopefully, I'll get the pics up from our little day trip soon!

Catching Up!

Woah, it's been awhile since I've updated this! A lot has been going on in the last month. I'll try to fill you in with all happenings:

Elliot is walking like crazy. It's more like a perpetual run. Always in motion, always into everything. Some of his favorite things to do right now: put items in/take items out of the recycling bin (we finally caught on to this, AFTER a pair of his shoes went missing for days), emptying the kitchen drawers, putting stuff in his assorted boxes he has collected, and bringing toys to whoever will accept them. OH, and STORIES. He LOVES to be read stories. Today I read 10 (yes TEN) books in a row after naptime. It's AWESOME (remember, I was a reading teacher!). He also thinks the park is the coolest place ever, now that he can walk. He has to check out all the equiptment now.

Kyle has been busy at work lately. He had one audit this week and another big one coming up soon- in other words- STRESS! He's also working weekends at that place that sells all the cool electronic stuff. He's got his eyes on one monster of a TV, so we'll see if this job pays off.

I (being Anna) have also started 2 part time-jobs. I work at Lane Bryant (8, sometimes 12 hours a week) and at Sylvan Learning Center. It's nice, tutoring. I feel like I'm getting to use my teacher brain again, but still don't have the requirements (i.e. time) of a classroom teacher. AND, Sylvan is just down the street from us so that's an added bonus. I really miss Elliot when I'm gone though, and I'll be happy to go back to being "retired" once we get some bills paid.

Elliot gets to spend a lot of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Domeier when I'm at work. He LOVES it when they come to visit, he loves it more when he gets to go to their house (because they have chickens and a big flight of steps to climb). Sometimes, Ellliot gets to go play with his friend Lauren on days when I go to work at Sylvan and it's only an hour until Kyle gets home. He loves playing at Lauren's, he doesn't even notice when I leave! Lauren came to our house one evening this week while her mom was teaching a night class. We took Lauren to baby sign class with us, and then it was time to get all ready for bed- including bathtime!

Labor Day weekend we braved the pre-convention (more on that in a bit) crowds and visited the Mall of America for a bit of shopping. My brother Aaron met us there for lunch and we enjoyed some tasty sushi. Elliot got new shoes (the ones he put in the recycling bin), Kyle got Heroes Season 2 on dvd, and I got a pretty, pretty new diaper bag.

Last weekend we went to West St. Paul to see our friends the Klemmes. I went to college with Deacon and Kendra, and their little girl Annika is just one week younger than Elliot. Deacon coaches the high school football game, and we went to watch them play. It was Elliot's first footall game. He LOVED it (yes, he loves just about everything).

Ahhhh, that darn convention. All eyes were on St. Paul in the aftermath of that crazy man's selection of a runningmate. And then she gave that darn speech that people are still talking about (and she's been repeating that same speech at every campaign stop since then). I hope and pray that all this excitement dies down and we can get down to the real issues again. Which candidate is going to be better for our country? Who is going to solve our economic issues? Who is going to be able to mend international relations that have been stretched thin after the last 8 years? Who is going to fix (or better yet, get rid of) No Child Left Behind? Who is going to make healthcare available to all Americans? I don't just think about how I will personally benefit from a candidate, I have to think about those less fortunate than me. How can things improve for them? What about equal rights for all Americans? I don't want a leader I can have a beer with, or find out where she shops. I want a leader I can believe in. Those that know me well know that I'm showing a LOT of restraint here. :) Let's just say....this Momma is for Obama!

Elliot Walks

Elliot has been a avid crawler since February, and really hasn't taken that much interest in walking. Since his birthday, though, he's taken a few steps here and there, but always goes back to crawling. This last week he's been getting more and more adventureous. He gets SO excited he bounces. It's quite entertaining.

4th of July, part II

After our not-so-fun adventure to the Elysian parade, we made our way to the Thompson residence to just chill the rest of the day. Their little girl, Lauren, is one of Elliot's good friends. They usually play quite well together when they're not going after the same toy. Since it was such a nice day, we let the kids play outside for awhile. Lauren had a new toy she was eager to play with- the big yellow school bus. Elliot thought it was pretty cool too.

But after awhile, he decided to check out the other side of the driveway. All he found there was more grass, so he headed back. He's not quite walking yet, so on surfaces he doesn't like- like cement, sand, and grass- he does this sort of crab-walk crawl up on all fours, butt in the air.

Here is Lauren, Elliot, and me (Anna).

After a long day of fun, there's nothing like taking a bath with your best friend! And what mom can resist this photo op?

After this we put the kids to bed and we able to catch some of Mankato's fireworks from the driveway. It was a great, relaxing way to end the day!

Summer festivals in Minnesota/ 4th of July "fun"

I'll start off with a disclaimer: this got to be REALLY long. Before you begin, you may want to refill your drink. I'm thinking that I may be a bit bitter about the events that took place on the 4th (well, the ones in the early afternoon anyways. the later ones that were much more fun will end up in a different entry). Really this should be 2 entries, but now that I've invested this much time in it, I'm just going to keep it as one. Part one is my homage to the Minnesota summer culture. Part two is the events as they happened as the Good family took part in once of these summer activities. Maybe someday I'll have a separate blog entitled "Anna Vents" until then....

Minnesota summer festivals. They're as common as the mosquitoes, garage sales, heck, even the lakes. Most small towns have them, and the bigger towns have even bigger ones. Around here we've got Friendship Days, Bullhead Days, Tator Days, Hay Days, St. Clair Days, and Fun Days, jus to name a few. There are also the more-creatively named Pioneer Power, Bavarian Blast, and Kolacky Days. This year, there's an added bonus to Minnesota's summer festival season, it's also the 150th birthday of Minnesota's statehood. There are several Sesquicentennial parties going on all over the state. Try saying Sesquicentennial five times fast!

Most of the above-mentioned festivals are just weekend-long celebrations. There's bound to be a pageant of some sort-each festival has it's own "royalty". They're mostly teen girls, but some have the little girls fighting it out for a crown too. On Friday and Saturday nights you'll often find a beer "garden" fenced off in some city parking lot or behind the local bar with a beer truck parked in the middle offering up is foamy beverages by the pitcherful. If you're lucky you'll get to hear the best local cover band crooning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Alabama hits until the wee hours of the morning. During the daytime hours you'll find softball and volleyball tournaments, raffles, hog roasts, and some even offer carnival rides (complete with traveling carnie-people).

The capstone of these festivals is always the parade. To be a Minnesota parade, you must include the following: Color Guards from ALL of the tri-county area American Legions and/or VFWs, the volunteer Fire Depts from the same area, sheriffs, marching bands from the local high school and (hopefully) one of the area drum corps, the girl scouts, boy scouts and 4-H clubs from the town, old tractors- the older, the better, hopeful politicians, the Shriners and their noisy little cars, horses (and the poop picker-upper cart), some sort of old-timer band (not marching, but on a flatbed trailer), all the royalty from the above-mentioned pageants, if you're lucky you'll get the royalty from the neighboring towns too- and they wave (think wrist-wrist, elbow-elbow)- finally, you also have to have the local businesses- some with actually floats, some just a buick with a sign taped on it (the sign is optional in some parades though, so you're not quite sure which business it is). Then there's the candy. Candy, you ask? Yes, the candy. The floats throw candy. Lots of it. Tootsie rolls, jolly ranchers, dum-dums, and this years' latest trend- freezies (which, according to Kyle are called something else in Ohio. Ice pops? Is that it?). Anyways, they throw out tons of it, and sometimes free stuff too- Frisbees, can kozies, stickers for the politicians, etc. How else are they going to get people to come out in the heat and humidity, sit on the curb/ sidewalk and watch everyone go by?

Evidently, in Ohio, small towns don't have weekend-long celebrations each summer. So this is new to Kyle. Parades Minnesota-style are new to him too. I had a lot of explaining to do on the 4th of July.

Elliot and I had made it to two parades already this year (Friendship Days in Nicollet and St. Clair Days in, well, St. Clair- my hometown, btw). Kyle looked at me a little odd when there was a pile of candy on the dining room table when he came home from work (he's working weekends at the local Buy-More- if you watch Chuck you'll know which store I'm talking about). I explained the candy-throwing phenomenon. He looked skeptical, but shrugged it off. On the 4th of July, he got to experience a parade himself.

It was supposed to be the idyllic 4th of July celebration. Flags everywhere. Sunshine. Patriotic music coming from outdoor speakers. The town decorated in red, white, and blue. Crowds of people lining the streets supporting America the Beautiful. We had all that, and more.

We arrived at the small lake town of Elysian about 40 minutes before the parade's start. We found a parking spot not too far from what was the beginning of the parade route. We walked along the parade route looking for 2 things- food (Kyle and I had not eaten lunch, we were waiting for the fares that awaited us- funnel cakes, corn dogs, cotton candy- our mouths we watering in anticipation) and a place to sit.

After 3 blocks, we had not come across either. We could not believe the crowds! Some parts (the shaded ones) were already 5 rows deep of lawnchairs! People must have camped out to get some of those prime shade seats! But even the direct sun places were already full! People who lived on the main drag had their yards roped off, saving their real estate for friends and family. We were neither. We moved on. After 5 blocks we found the food. What we found: taco in a bag, milkshakes, and burgers. Disappointed but hungry, we grabbed two burgers and continued on our journey. Another block down the street (Elysian is a SMALL town, there wasn't much parade route left!) we found a small gap in the crowd. There was about 3 feet of unclaimed territory between two pre-teen boys and and old couple. It was in the direct sun, but we couldn't be picky. It was ours. We parked the stroller behind us, spread our little blanket on the curb, slathered on the sunscreen, and broke out the chilled sodas I had packed in the mini-cooler. We were ready. I was excited. I hadn't been to this particular parade in over 10 years. I had gone to it pretty much every year my entire life, until I went to college. I was excited to be able to share this with Kyle, and with our little guy. At this time, I didn't know my excitement was to be short-lived.

The parade began with the usually starter: the local sheriff with his lights flashing. Behind him was the traditional American Legion and VFW color guards. This must have been the ONLY parade in the FIVE county area, because I swear there were at least a DOZEN color guard troops. All you could see for blocks were these little brigades of old men (and some women) holding their American flags. Some had guns on their shoulders (which they do fire off periodically, and then the kids scramble to get the shells that drop on the street, Kyle got a kick out of that).

The first convertible carrying royalty came by. They were waving their pageant wave. Kyle did a double take at that. "What's wrong with their arms?" I believe that's what he said. He just shook his head. But then it happened. The event that was to be the first in a downward spiral of events that would end the fun. The young princesses were suddenly squirted with water. Squeals/screams of shock and awe came out of them, but these young gals held on to their bouquets of roses and smiles carried on. I was impressed. I was thinking, Oh, that's not fun. Did I mention that these princesses are fully dressed in their pageant gear- complete with hair and make-up? Not big-time Texas hair, but some had some nice up-dos going. I felt bad for them- here they are, representing whatever pageant they had won (the first one may have been Princess of the Lakes, but I'm not positive), sitting pretty in their sparkly-crowned glory, waving to friends, family, and strangers, and these two little punks had to go and soak them.

That's when I noticed them. Across the street from us was a little shabby house. In its front yard was probably about 20-30 assorted people. Before the parade, I didn't pay too much attention to them. They just looked like your average people getting ready to enjoy a parade. There were 2 boys, probably around the age of 10 or 11 or so. They each held a "water stick" of some sort. Not a super-soaker, but this "stick" you stick into a bucket of water, pull back on the handle and it "loads" the stick with water and voila- instant water weapon.

These boys proceeded to spray just about every float in the parade. Time and time again they'd unleash their ice-cold fury onto an unsuspecting person-on-float (not quite sure what to call them). Some did enjoy it and welcome the refreshment. I'll admit that. But mostly, you could see the look of irritation, rage, annyoment, and embarrassment come over the face of the victim. And time and time again, we had to witness it. Do you know how fun it is to watch someone ruin someone else's fun? It's not.

ONCE, their "mother" (I'm using quotes because 1) I'm assuming it was her an 2) she didn't really act like one) scolded them. ONCE! You could hear people on our side of the street starting to growl over thier behavior. I head someone mutter "Somone otta give those boys a lickin'!" and then " If they were my kids... " You would think they would run out of water. I think that was what I was hoping. But no, someone kept refilling them. This went on the ENTIRE parade.
You would think this was bad enough. But no, it takes more than that to ruin a parade for me. It also takes.....

Water Balloons.

Apparently the little hellions with the water sticks learned their shenanigans from their older brothers/cousins/whomevers. Sitting closer to the house across from us was a row of about 5 late-teenagers. They had a rather large stash of water balloons. And they had bad aim. They launched their ammo at unsuspecting floaters (that's what I'll call them). It didn't matter what kind of float it was, or who was on it, they attempted to bomb them. Floats with tons of paper decorations. People playing instruments. Even floats with little kids. They knocked down signs, knocked candy-about-to-be-thrown out of people's hands. They wreaked their havoc on the parade.

But they only hit their target about 60% of the time. That's not so bad, you're probably thinking. They only made contact a little over half the time. You weren't sitting across the street from them. If the balloon didn't hit it's intended target, it came sailing at us. And the people next to us (old) and the little kids next to them, and the older people on the other side of us, and the younger babies next to them. Balloons were crashing into the street in front of us, splashing water everywhere. Soon I could hear the crowds growling about these hooligans. It was about the time that a balloon landed just a foot from Elliot, spraying us with water, that Kyle decided to do something about it.

Thankfully, that didn't turn into an event that ruined the day! He just went over and politely asked them to knock it off, that there's little kids and old people who were getting hit by their "misses". They said they'd try harder to hit their targets. As Kyle turned around and headed back, he was sure they were going to throw one at the back of his head, but he made it back to our side safely. We had FIVE whole minutes of water-balloon free time. Then they started again, and their aim was as good (bad) as it was before. This time a little kid, roughly the same age as Elliot got hit. Another man headed over to tell them to knock it off. He had a more direct approach though, and I believe there was some cussing involved. He had his finger pointed at them, and it was shaking. He pointed across the street, and then back at the hooligans. The hooligans started smirking, and then you could SEE the attitude. Then their mother jumped in. FINALLY, some parental control. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. She yelled at the pointing man, "GET OFF MY PROPERTY". Seriously, your boys are ASSAULTING a TODDLER with a water balloon, and you're concerned with trespassing? SERIOUSLY? The pointing man retreated, smart enough to not push the issue further, but visibly angry.

It had been an hour and a half. We were hot, irritated, and constantly on the lookout for water balloons. We figured that the parade HAD to be over soon.

Then the old lady next to us wearing short shorts lit up a cigarette. We left shortly after that.

So much for having a good time and sharing the experience with my husband. I'll be lucky if I can ever convince him to go to parade again.

Luckily, Elliot had a good time. He loves parades (except the sirens from the firetrucks). We did manage to take a few pictures of us having a good time. And the burgers were good.

Elliot turns ONE!

On June 7, 2008 we celebrated Elliot's first birthday. Wow, time has FLOWN by! It's just amazing how he (and our lives) have changed. He's SUCH a big boy now- I swear he grows overnight, he's almost walking, but a speedy crawler until then. He gets into EVERYTHING (although he has yet to discover there's water in the toilet! yay!), and is becoming an expert climber. Sounds like your typical one-year-old, right?

Grandma and Grandpa Good came to visit from Ohio. They were so excited to see him (and thankfully, he wasn't afraid of them, that's also a new phase we're in).

For his big-day party we had mostly family, but some of his little friends showed up to help him celebrate too! Okay, seven of his little friends. SEVEN one-year-olds! I may be crazy, but it sure was a good time! The weather was nice too, so we were able to play outside too.

The local bakery made a "smoosh" cake just for Elliot. He wasn't sure what to do with it at first, so Kyle showed him what to do. After a quick glance at me to make sure it was okay (I think he thought his dad was joking), he went to town! There was cake and green frosting everywhere! Here are some pictures from the event: