When Daycare’s Away...

Our wonder-woman daycare provider, Jamie, powered through 9 months of Eila-care all whilst creating a new tiny-human in her belly.  At the end of May, that beautiful baby girl was issued an eviction notice from the womb, and Jamie started a much deserved maternity leave break from her tiny charges.  

We are so lucky to have amazing support systems all around us to help with Eila-care while the scholar came to a conclusion.  

The wise Wilhoits ventured South for a few days at the start of Jamie’s due-date week so we weren’t waiting for the emergency “come and get her ‘cause baby’s coming” phone call from daycare.  

Eila shows Opa her musical skills.

Opa and his littlest ladies!

She even learned a new trick with Oma and Opa!

The moment her own school year ended, NomiAnn hopped on a plane from Omaha to come to our rescue for the final five weeks of Puyallup’s year.  It takes a special woman to get off of a pre-dawn flight, drive Adam to work, and then take Eila and the car home all on her own, just to get back in the car and drive up to see her daughter’s students sing at choir contest all on the first day she’s in town!  We tried to reward her with a Memorial Day trip to the beautiful town of Westport. 

Road trips are really just Andrus-women excuses for well-deserved car naps. 

Such beautiful weather to start the summer season!

Thankfully, the next day brought out the sun and the smiles for beach time fun. 

Back on the home front, Eila and NomiAnn shared many adventures together while mom and dad were off at work.  Sometimes they even let us tag along!

Mmmm - corn dogs.  Nothing but the finest culinary delicacies for our kiddo. 

Adam has had a summer-long goal to get Eila a “scoot” balance bike.  I think this one might be a bit too big for her little legs.  

NomiAnn was sure to bring Eila to Aylen as often as she could, either to help out with class parties or just show off the cuteness that is my mini-me.

As if keeping our little-one out of trouble, doing our laundry, and finishing a myriad of projects around our home, mom often fixed delicious dinners while we were at work.  On beautiful days, all food tastes better al fresco. 

NomiAnn made valiant efforts to get Eila interested in our local splash pad - but her aversion to water in her face makes  spray toys less than ideal.  We’ll keep trying!

One of my favorite parts of having NomiAnn around is being a kid again and asking my mommy to do things like braid and curl my hair.  And then I remember she mostly did my hair in the 80s...:)

Curly Sue is concert...ready?

NomiAnn is always happiest when she is near the water - whether that be the Puget Sound or simply a pool.  Since we’re in such close proximity to her favorite things, we made sure to include a few water-loving field trips.

It’s not a trip to the NW without a ferry ride!  We took this one to Vashon Island.

This little ballerina is ready for her YMCA swim time.  NomiAnn made huge strides with Eila in her quest to become more comfortable in the swimming pool. 

Tacoma’s Owen’s Beach is always a local favorite.  The pod of seals was a particularly cool addition to the adventure.  

Once school was FINALLY out, NomiAnn, Eila, and I finally braved our way to downtown Seattle for Eila’s first visit to Pike’s Market and all of our first visit to the Seattle Great Wheel.  Taking great advantage of a gorgeous day and the extremely generous VIP Great Wheel package given to us by the Stimsons for Christmas, we all really enjoyed our experience.

Eila wasn’s sure whether she should look up or down.

Ever her daddy’s girl, she was most interested in whichever buttons she could push.

Is this safe?

 No worries, baby girl!  We got you!  If you get nervous, just pet the pig!

Pikes Pig!

May Mania

May can be a pretty crazy month for us, as it is pretty much the only FULL month of school, that includes testing and preparations for the final push in June.  Thankfully, our little munchkin is a great excuse to leave work behind and just play.  

May was also wonderfully warm, inspiring some super cute pre-summer wardrobe choices.  

Exploring the stairs!

 While Mom was ignoring her work, Dad was busy with his own studies at UW as he finished up his Masters.  Escaping to the library was a smart choice both because it provided a quiet, distraction-free zone and air conditioning.  At least, it was distraction free until we came to visit...

Channeling her inner Papa-Kay at the library. 

Right outside the library is our local big toy, playground.  Eila’s learning how to play tube peek-a-boo.

Krazy Kiddo.

Every now and then we introduce Eila to new foods.  You can create your own caption for her reaction to buttermilk.  Sorry, Papa Kay!

We really do try to put work away on the weekends.  Olympia recently opened a new children’s museum, which is amazing.  It may even rival the Omaha Children’s museum.

I can’t squeeze through!

I’m pretty certain children’s museums are purposely made to be just as entertaining for the adults.  

Honey, I shrunk my family!

Since Eila sometimes suffers from RSF (Resting Sad Face) perhaps her shoes will serve as evidence that she actually had a blast playing in Olympia.  She scuffed them beyond recognition on the outside tricycle track - too bad it was the first time she had worn the adorable kicks!

When it is finally time to try and get something productive done, we let Eila have full run of the condo.  Since stairs are no problem, nothing is really safe or sacred - including Zoe’s bed.  

Ahh, the sweet look look of contained peace and quiet.

In case you were wondering, Zoe wasn’t overly amused by Eila’s invasion of her home - but that paled in comparison to her opinion of shared bath time.  Tough!  It’s a rite of passage to get the sister tub time picture.  

Eila was sure to keep things “G-rated."

I’ll leave you for this evening with our own little Cinderella keeping the house clean.  Since I’m fairly certain Eila’s NEVER seen me do this, I’m fairly confident we can attribute this new trick to Jamie-the-wonder daycare provider!

Easter in Omaha 2016

Before I dive into a full blown post recapping our entire Spring Break in Omaha, I’ll leave you with a quick photo dump of our wonderful Easter from my i-phone’s vantage point.

The Wheeler’s were awesome and packed everyone up to spend Easter eve in West Omaha with Papa Kay, NomiAnn, Eila, and I.  Thankfully the Easter Bunny has a pretty good GPS and was still able to find all the Wheeler and Wilhoit kiddos.

Talia stylishly curls her hair while diving into her basket.

Eli looks pretty excited by the Star Wars sandals the Easter Bunny left.

Brooklyn sports a new “do."  Mr. Bunny must have checked ahead of time to be sure her jimmies matched her bandana.

Annika’s favorite part of her basket was definitely the bouquet of Tootsie Pops.  Alia appears to be rapping about the wonders of a sugar-filled Sunday morning.

The littlest bunny finally woke up to join the party!

Bunny ears and a bunny tooth-ed smile.  So sweet!

Eila wasn’t sure what to think of her purple Peeps.   (Note: Annika’s death grip on a Tootsie Pop in the background)

Momma steals the perky rabbit ears while Eila turned into a flop-eared bunny courtesy of Oma and Opa Wilhoit.

Surely no cuter family of bunnies exist. We were sure to try and get a group photo before church while everyone was still looking clean and chocolate free.  Coordinated clothing courtesy of Nomi Ann, of course.

After church and pre-egg hunt Papa Kay tried to introduce Eila to the zip-line.  I think she may need to wait until summer to fully appreciate its merits.

Egg hunting, on the other hand, she was a NATURAL at.  The big kids set up a hunt in the front yard for the little-und so the older ones could go hog-wild in the backyard guilt-free.  A win for everyone!

Our little clepto looking a little guilty.  

Brooklyn gives Eila some pointers about how to get the best loot.

HAPPY EASTER!

March Madness

March is actually quiet around our basketball-clueless home.  Still, we manage to find trouble here and there to keep ourselves entertained.

Pioneer Park: As Eila becomes more and more stable on two limbs instead of four, it’s becoming more and more fun to explore.  Ever the independent young lady, Eila usually insists on holding Zoe’s leash on our walks.

Enjoying the library from the cement bookcases.

St. Patrick’s Day!  We may not have indulged in corned beef and cabbage - but we splurged and bought Adam a new suit.  Eila was cute in her green duds and her daddy toted his littlest froggy proudly through the stores.

Check out the turtle shoes :)

Sundays are always a good excuse to play dress up and add bows to the pigtails.

You’re not taking this cup, are you?

Daddy’s pretty, pretty princess.

Saturday afternoons, on the other hand, are a good excuse to stay in your pajamas all day and go for a carpet picnic.

Can I interest you in some plastic watermelon or perhaps a acrylic slice of pie?  

Before we knew it, the end of the month was nearing and it was time to prepare for another Spring Break trek to the midwest.  Eila and I did some Spring fever shopping.  Our caterpillar continues to grow new wings.

Now for some quick, live action memories.  

Teaching Eila to give smooches.  I’m guessing in about 13 years Adam will regret having been eager to impart this particular skill.

Bedtime wiggles.  Sometimes it’s just SO hard to give up and go to sleep.  When the music lives in you, you just have to let your booty boogie.

Before we knew it Eila and I made our way back through the friendly skies and into the Mid.  west again.  Leaving Adam and Zoe is never easy - but at least Adam was able to look on the bright side of living toddler-free for a few days.

Simple pleasures.