Fully Fenced!!!

I'm so excited! Last weekend Dan was able to finish up the little fence and gate. Here are some pictures of the progress:








When it was finished Elliott looked up and said, "Oh no, now I can't get out without Mommy!" Exactly little bud, that's why we did this. He also told us that he doesn't like the gate. It is really nice to know that we can now be in our backyard and not have to constantly look up to see what/where Elliott is. We also got a new patio set, so now we can serve more than 2 people outside. We're moving up in the world!

Dan's next project (one of an endless list) is to build a little area for Elliott's castle play structure. We also need to get our garden planted as it's finally warming up enough. I'm hoping to get a lot done in our yard before baby #2 arrives because I have a sneaky feeling I won't want to be outside weeding, etc. post baby.

Photo Update

Here are some recent Elliott pictures:

Building Fences

We currently have a long, semi-fenced yard. There is a nice fence on one side where a new house was built. On the other side there was a busted chicken wire fence that sort of worked. But, it was also over-run with ivy. The back was semi-fenced with either chicken wire or a scary, rusty, poky broken wire fence. With our tax refund I told Dan that all I really wanted was to have a properly fenced in yard so that Elliott could go outside and I would feel safe not having to watch him the whole time. He's a runner - ie, he will get into the front yard and wander...not fun!

Here are some pictures that Dan took before we moved into the house, back in 2006:




The Monday after we got home from Denver Dan had scheduled a fencing company to come out and put in posts for the fence we are installing in our backyard. It was worth every penny spent to have these guys do the posts for us. It was cold and rainy, not fun building weather. They arrived at 8am and were done by noon! They installed all the posts and the two gates we asked for. They also delivered all the extra wood for rails and fence boards along with hardware.


That Saturday Dan recruited my dad, his dad and our good friend Brad to help him install the rails and boards. Being Oregon, it was wet, though not raining. Those poor guys were all coated in mud! (Dan's shoes are still out back as I don't know what do to with them). This is the end product, I'm so happy!!











Dan is working on building a small railing and gate that will close off the yard completely. Our garage is detached and behind the house on the side. There is about a 6 foot area that includes a stairway onto our patio and a super dangerous drop off to the patio (at least 3.5 feet down to concrete). Then we just have to bark dust and get some plants. Baby steps, but our backyard is finally starting to come together. I'll keep you updated on progress as things get better.

I can't thank Dan, Larry, Bob (aka my Dad) and Brad enough for all their hard work on a muddy day! The fence looks great!

Denver

Last Wednesday night we flew to Denver, CO to visit Dan's family there as well as attend the first MLS game for the Portland Timbers. This was the second flight for Elliott and Dan's first with both of us. Let me just say, it's a lot easier to go through the airport and plane ride with another person there helping. Elliott was really good the flight over, just busy. He was excited to run around in the Denver airport while we waited for our baggage. Then, even more excited to see Uncle Lee and Aunt Connie! He was amped up the entire ride back to their house and then some!

Our first full day was spent driving to Breckinridge to walk around the ski town. It was beautiful. Even though there was a lot of snow on the ground it wasn't really that cold, especially when the sun was shining on you.


Horses decked our for St. Patrick's Day in Breckinridge:


That night we went to Casa Bonita for dinner. Dan has been telling me about this restaurant since we met. He went when he was 15, I think, and loved it. There was a lot of talk from the Denver crew that the food was so terrible you can't even eat it - though we were told the sopaipillas were really good. I was starting to get a little worried about how bad it was going to be, I even suggested going elsewhere but Dan would have none of that. This place is like Disneyland! You wait in a winding line to even order, then another line to get your food, then another line to get seated. Connie asked that we be seated near the waterfall so that we could see the divers in action. The food wasn't great, I would rate it as low quality Mexican food, nothing to write home about. The sopaipillas were good though, really good! But, I'm pretty sure no one goes there for the food. There is so much to look at and watch. They have cliff divers, puppet shows, magic shows. Even little while they have a pinata for kids to smash. We went and Elliott really wanted to swing the bat. Thankfully another kid broke it open and the empl0yee said Elliott could have 1/2 of the pinata to take home. Connie even bought Elliott a little light up sword, he was in heaven! If you go to Denver and want to experience a restaurant like you've never seen before, go here.





On Friday we drove out to the Red Rocks Amphitheater. What an amazing place. It had snowed late Thursday night/Friday morning. There was snow on the mountains and it was gorgeous and sunny. We ran around and then ate lunch.




Dan and Uncle Lee:


Aunt Connie with Elliott:


Family Shot, Elliott not liking the sun:


That night Dan's cousins all came over to have dinner with us. It was really good to see all the family. Elliott loved playing with the twins, Hayden and Hunter (age 7) as well as Matthew and Cole (15 and 14, I think). I didn't take a single picture from here on out...

Dan and I went to the soccer game on Saturday afternoon. The Colorado Rapids fan section hosted some pre-game events which we attended for Dan's soccer blog. Elliott stayed with Connie and Lee. He was schedule to have his first sleepover party with Hayden and Hunter! The report we got was that the boys were up until 11:30pm! When Dan and I got home after midnight (we had met his cousin downtown Denver) the boys were all sound asleep. I really wish I had take a picture, it was so cute. Hayden and Hunter were so good with Elliott. I think it helped that they had to be in order to gain access to the iPad! :)

The soccer game was a lot of fun! The Timbers lost, 3-1, but it was very exciting to be part of their MLS debut and the huge crowd of Timbers fans (Timbers Army) that was there. Over 400 Timbers fans had purchased tickets!

Overall, we had a really good trip and it was great to see all the family. The weather was perfect the entire time, such a nice break from our constant rain.

Lego's and Lights

Those just might be Elliott's two favorite things. About a week ago one of the lightbulbs in Elliott's room started to smoke - thankfully E and Dan were both in the room at the time and caught it right away. So, we took out the bulb and actually haven't replaced it yet. Every night (and day) Elliott has to talk about the smoking bulb and getting a new one. He thinks we need to get a giant ladder to install the new bulb. I keep telling him that Dan can reach it standing on the floor so I think we are okay. It seems to be a huge deal for him. We also have an unworking pot light in his room, we have to discuss this daily as well. I try to pawn it off on my dad, saying Grandpa will need to come fix it. Still, Elliott is not deterred, we have to talk about it all the time. Obsession!!!

He also loves Lego's. Not just duplo legos that most kids his age play with. He has those, and the sets he has are pretty cool, if you ask me. No, he is crazy about the Harry Potter Lego sets that I have purchased as an adult. He will happily play with Harry's car or the Burrow for probably 30 - 40 minutes. He sits in his little chair while the lego set is on the table. You can hear him from the other room chatting away with the characters. He knows all of their names. They do things together. I'm completely amazed that he doesn't destroy these sets. Yes, things will get broken, as expected. But, for a 2 year old he keeps things amazingly in tact.

Here are some recent pictures of Elliott.

Playing with The Burrow:


Giving me a 31st Birthday Kiss:


On the 24th we had snow! It started snowing the night before and we woke up to a pretty dusting all over. It was probably 1 - 1.5 inches, nothing big. It was beautiful and sunny out, so Elliott and I went on a walk to stomp around. Because it was so sunny basically everything melted away (at least on the streets) by 11:30am.

'

Happy to stomp around in the slush:


Not so happy after falling down in the yard:


That's the kind of snow I can deal with. It's there, you can have fun. Yet, you don't have to shovel your driveway or start your car 5 minutes before you leave just to heat it up.

Baby Girl!

Dan and I went to the 20 week ultrasound this morning. We are so excited to say that we are having a baby girl!! I was trying not to wish for a girl too much. It would have been great to have a little brother for Elliott, so either way would have been good. I think it will be fun to experience both boys and girls. Elliott wants to name her Polly Pocket. We'll have to figure something else out...

I've been feeling pretty good. My Colitis was flaring up badly for the first 14 weeks. I've gone back on Prednisone (a low dose, thankfully) and things seem to be under control. Last Friday night D & I went to see "The Kings Speech". Right in the middle of the movie I felt a huge kick, baby must like Colin Firth too.

Elliott is continuing to talk, a lot! His favorite thing to ask is, "What's your name?" or, a variation of that with middle and last names. All of his cars and guys have to have names. He amazes Dan and I with his memory of things. He will bring up an event that was 3 months ago that we haven't talked about since. We are working on potty training again, after taking a break. It's slow going but I think we are making much more forward progress than the first time we tried.

January 2011