Play Date

We had some friends over for a play date.

Andrea & Owen and Jill, Baylie, & Maddie all came to play.

Addy & Owen
Addy, Owen, and Maddie are all just a few months apart.
It is so fun to watch and compare the differences in their development. Maddie is a crawler she can get all over the house. Owen just sits and smiles and Addy takes it all in with her big wide eyes. They are all so cute.

Longview Christmas Party

We hosted a little Christmas gathering with all my best high school girl friends. It was so fun to catch up with everyone and spend time with each other's boyfriend/husbands.

Lindsay, Andrea(Owen under the blanket), Crystal, Theresa,
Teresa, Katie, & Charity

It is funny, even though we don't all get together very often, as soon as we see each other it is like no time has passed at all. Here we are all gathered around listening to one of Charity's stories. (Somethings never change :) Thanks girls for such a fun night!

Prayers For Caroline.

My sweet niece Caroline was born with a hole in her heart. If that wasn't scary enough, she recently picked up a nasty respiratory virus that built fluid around her lungs and heart causing her fragile little heart to have to work way to hard for her body. Due to her lack of energy she has been hooked up to a feeding tube to ensure proper nutrition. She has been in the hospital since Monday, they are monitoring her heart, fluid levels, and nutrition. We are hoping she will be able to come home soon. Our family would appreciate prayers and positive thoughts toward Caroline and her Mom & Dad as they deal with this difficult situation.

We love you Caroline and we want you to get better soon!

Addy's Newest Tricks

I know it is sideways but it is too cute not to post.

Addy is getting very close to crawling and she loves to clap her hands. Enjoy!
P.S. Let me know if anyone knows how to rotate a video so you don't have to view it sideways. Thanks.

Snow Snow Snow

They just said on the news we could receive up to six more inches of snow on Saturday! We already have at least six inches on the ground. This is crazy.

Gabby Girl

So Gabby doesn't get quite the attention that she used to but I thought she deserved a little shout out for being such a good dog. Watch this video of Addy Mae and Gabby Girl together and you'll see the sweetest dog around!

The three of us have spent some quality time together since we have been stuck in the house since Tuesday! More snow, no school, another day at home! We hope to at least go for a short walk today to enjoy the winter wonderland.

Snow Day!

Well the weather out side is frightful... but it is SO delightful to spend the day at home with Addy Mae. We are blasting the Christmas tunes, getting the house cleaned up, and looking froward to an afternoon of watching holiday movies, drinking hot chocolate, and wrapping presents. Snow days are one of my favorite parts of being a teacher! There is something magical about an unexpected day off! It even made Matt contemplate becoming a teacher as he was leaving the house this morning. (He was quite jealous of the fact that I got to stay home!)

I took Addy Mae outside to capture some pictures of her first snow.
She was not quite sure what to think of it.

Our backyard full of snow! It has been snowing nonstop since I woke up at 6 AM this morning.
If it keeps snowing at this rate, we'll not have school the rest of the week.
Then it's X-MAS Vacation so we might be having an extended holiday break this year!
Happy snow day teachers and to everyone else that got the day off.

Bake Off/Craft Fest 2008

One of my favorite holiday traditions is our annual card making and cookie baking party. Digs and I started this fun weekend four years ago and it has been growing ever sense. This year we had quite the turn out! Laura flew in from California! Digs and Cabe drove down Friday night after work. And Jamie, Ruthie, and Krissy joined us on Saturday. We stayed up until three AM baking, laughing, sewing, dancing, card making, singing, eating, story telling, & crafting. Having this time together really helped us to get some December projects done but just as importantly allowed us to spend some quality girl time together. We made some great memories!

We had to make several grocery store trips to gather all our supplies! We went everywhere as a big group. The rule is NO separating.

Laura kicked of the baking in the kitchen!

Digs made some adorable holiday pillows.

Krissy was the official taste tester and craft helper! Cabe was the all star baker/crafter. She made the most batches of cookies, washed piles of dishes, sewed her & Todd's name onto their stockings, and became quite the card maker. We voted her ALLSTAR crafter.

Jamie (AKA craft leader) made the cutest paper garland and taught us all how to make her adorable fabric banners. Ruthie making her most beautiful holiday cards.

Thanks girls for making the trip down to Longview! I had such a fun time with all of you!
I am already looking forward to next year!

Beautiful Winter Day!

I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of Addy all bundled up and ready for our walk. It was such a gorgeous winter afternoon, clear, sunny, and crisp. It is sometimes hard for me to get motivated to work out when it is so cold out but once I get out there I love it. We went for a great walk. I was loving my playlist of all my favorite Christmas songs, a combo of Amy Grant, Sarah M., and Celine. All was good until we got home and realized I had locked ourselves out of the house. Thank goodness I had my cell phone. I called my Mom, she came and unlocked our door for us. Thanks Mom! Enjoy this lovely winter weather, you can't say that very often in the NW.

Seattle Marathon

We woke up early to watch our friends run in the Seattle half marathon. It was such an inspiring and amazing event. As I was standing on the corner watching the runners go by I found myself trying everything to hold back my tears. I was surprised how emotional I was watching these runners. I wanted to cheer but if I did, I would have really started crying. It was just so neat to see all kinds of people, young and old, working incredibly hard to finish the race. Everyone (except me) on the street was cheering on the runners, cute little families were holding up signs, taking pictures, and looking for their loved ones in the race. It was amazing to watch so many people pushing their bodies to such great lengths. I am not sure if I am ready to do a marathon but it has definitely inspired me to get back into running or should I say jogging. Congrats to everyone that ran today and good luck to Justin & Laura who are running next weekend in the Sacramento marathon. You guys are amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Addy's 1st Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for our incredible friends and family! We love you! We have so much to be thankful for this year. We hope you all have a wonderful day!

Thank You Sleasemans!

We ended our fun filled weekend with a day at the beach. We packed up the frisbee and the picnic basket and headed to the coast. It was the perfect way to end our weekend.
Thank you Justin and Laura for being such incredible hosts!
We loved our stay with you!

Lucky Day!

The day started with a beautiful walk around Stanford's campus.

As we were crossing the street I just happened to find a $20 bill laying in the road!

Then we went to a sports bar in Palo Alto to watch the Apple Cup. T-Mobile was there doing a promotional event, we won t-shirts, mini footballs, $200 toward food & drinks at the bar, and a Blackberry Pearl.
And to top it off the Cougs won in double overtime! What a lucky day!

Dream Day in San Francisco

Laura and I had a wonderful day of shopping and sight seeing. We walked and talked the entire city. China Town!

The view at the top of Lombard Street-AKA crookedest street ever.

The Wharf!

Riding the trolley.

We ate dinner at The Stinking Rose. I am still tasting garlic-yuck. Poor Justin, he met up with us Friday evening and we were SOOOO stinky!
Thank you Laura for such a great day. That night before we went to bed, Laura said to me, " Do you realize we have been talking all day?"
I replied, "Yes, and I love it! I still have so much more to tell you tomorrow."
We seriously talked and laughed all weekend long.

Update!

Me on the BART

Addy stayed home with Grandma Becky so I decided to accept the BART challenge. I was so proud of myself navigating my way through the city all alone. Thank you Matt for such detailed directions. They got me to the hotel perfectly.

Do you think I should accept the challenge? It may be difficult with a baby! What would you do?

Email from Matt:

My Dearest Teresa -

Please find below instructions for the BART: (Bay Area Rapid Transit to you noobs)

*Once left the plane, proceed to the airtram, this is up the escalator after you pass security.
*Whence on the airtram, proceed to the BART station (this shares the same spot as Garage G, and is a few stops after you get on the airtram).
*Once arrived at the BART station. Buy a bart ticket at the bart ticket machine. It will cost you 5.30. You can enter a credit card and purchase tickets for 11.00 to get you there and back (this is what I did). You won't need to do this is the sleasemans take us. Than it would just be $5.30.
*Proceed to the turnstyle. Put BART ticket in. Take ticket. Important: keep ticket! You will need it when you get off.
*Proceed to bart train.
*Get on BART train
*Take fart train all the way to the powell street station. It is exactly 30 minutes after you get on the bart.
*Get off bart train. You will be in the basement of a mall. Take the outside exit (don't go to the mall), once you go up the escalator you will be looking at a GAP. The street next to you will be market. Take market down to 4th street and take a right. You will need to cross fourth street as well. If you did it correctly you will be standing in fron t of a ross -dress - for less store. Proceed down fourth untill you get to the marriott -- 55 fourth street and easy cheesy: below is a link with a map. The number one is the ross store.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=55+Fourth+Street,+San+Francisco,+CA+94103+(San+Francisco+Marriott)&daddr=powell+street+BART+to:Ross+store+san+francisco+fourth&hl=en&geocode=FQOOQAIdiz-0-CGyUk0LuzgUBw%3B%3B&mra=ls&sll=37.785364,-122.405827&sspn=0.001997,0.00339&ie=UTF8&ll=37.785105,-122.405344&spn=0.00379,0.006781&z=17

If you decide not take this challenge, I understand. Cab is $40.00 I think. Make sure you negotiate pricing up front and ensure they take credit cards. Use your judgement, with what works for you and won't stress you out on vacay.... but.... the train is fun, fun, fun!

I have left your name at the front desk, they know you are coming.

Love you much!

Matt

Happy Birthday Jake!

Jake turned six years old today!

We hope you had a great day!

Free Photo Book!

Did you watch Oprah today? It was all about decluttering your house. They had a segment on organizing your photos and to make this easier Snapfish is offering free photobooks from now until Sunday. So get busy and make a photobook for free! Go to snapfish.com and click on Oprah viewers. Enjoy your new book!

You've Got to Love a Baby's Laugh!

8 months old!

Addy is getting to be such a big girl. She had her 8 month birthday on Friday! She is now trying to stand up when she is leaning up against something but if she forgets to hold on she falls right down. She loves to sit and play with her toys but she hasn't figured out how to crawl. I am sure it is coming soon. She knows exactly what she wants and if you give her the wrong toy she will let you know by protesting. It is so fun to try to figure out what is going on in her little head.

Uncle Bryan is Home!

We just got back from family dinner over at my parents house. Bryan is home, which is always a good excuse to get together and have Mom cook us a yummy meal! Thanks Mom! The kids were loving Bryan this evening, especially Megan. She had to sit by him at dinner and when he was holding Addy she had to jump in his lap too. Bryan burned me a copy of the new Kenny Chesney CD, which I am super excited about! I am going to go take a bath and listen to it right now. Have a good night!

We are so lucky!

Addy is so incredibly blessed to have two cousins that are less than a year apart! They are going to have so much fun growing up together. We love you Parker and Caroline!

Girls Night + Addy!

It was so fun to catch up with you girls! Our visit was much too short! We look forward to seeing you soon! Digs, we hope you had a great birthday and that you find your keys.

Happy Halloween!

We are off to Seattle this weekend to see baby Caroline and celebrate Diggy's birthday! Have a great weekend!

Good-Bye Philipp!

Our good friend Philipp is heading back to Germany today. We will all miss him! We had such a wonderful time together the past few weeks. The Elhardt's first met Philipp when he was a foreign exchange student 12 years ago, since then he has been back to visit several times including making the trip for our wedding. He is considered a member of the family. We look forward to the next time we see you-hopefully it will be in Germany!

Look Who's Sitting!

Yeah! Addy Mae can finally sit up on her own without falling over!
It's a big day!

Pumpkin Patch

It was a beautiful fall day at the pumpkin patch! We enjoyed our hayride, petting the farm animals, and picking out our pumpkins. Thank you Phillip for being our photographer!
The fall colors made it such a great day for snapping pictures.

Megan found a pumpkin that was the perfect size for Addy!

Ellie found her pumpkin!

Megan after a long search for her pumpkin!

I found the cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Jake, I think that one is a little too big!


Parker loved the baby goats!

Can We Join the Club?

Since we spend many evenings reading all of your blogs, we thought it was only fair if we start keeping you posted on the happenings of the Elhardt Family. We also thought it would be a fun way to show off pictures of Addy Mae. We hope you enjoy!