Happy Birthday!

This past week has been busy for us, but also a lot of fun. Andy's parents flew in last Thursday to spend a long weekend with us. Andy's birthday was on the 11th and we had a good time. We spend the weekend playing Beatles Rock Band and looking at animals at the zoo and the wildlife safari. We had an interesting experience with some large dive-bomber bats and some girly screams. We drank Sprechers root beer and ate cotton candy, played games and cheered for the Utes (go UTES!) and we laughed until we cried. A good time was had by all.

Eden's birthday was yesterday and she was all about the princesses this year. She asked for pretty much everything she could see that had a Disney princess on it, and she's so loved (aka spoiled) that she got most of it too. She played at the park with some of her friends in the morning and then opened her gifts after lunch. In the evening we had cake and ice cream and wanted to watch a princess movie she got for her birthday.

Eden shows us how old she is

Belle!

I can't believe my little baby is already 3 years old. How does the time go by so fast? It seems like I was just getting used to her being 2...

Last hurrah of summer

Last weekend Andy had a few days off so we decided to go to on a mini vacation in central Nebraska. Andy and Eden wanted to go camping and I'm more of a hotel girl. We decided to compromise and get a little cabin at a KOA. This ended up being a much better idea than a tent as it was extremely rainy both nights we were there and I think we would have been washed away in our tent.

We spent Friday in Grand Island looking around and found a really neat park with a playground called Kid's Kingdom. It was huge and had a castle, a pirate ship, a tree house, a fort, a barn and probably some other things as well. Eden really had a lot of fun playing there.

On Saturday we went to Hastings to celebrate the town's Kool-Aid Days. Hastings is the original birthplace of Kool-Aid, which is Andy's beverage of choice most of the time (unless there's a Dr. Pepper close by). We really had a lot of fun. We got to visit the World's Largest Kool-Aid Stand (with over 14 flavors of kool-aid) and play carnival games and meet the Kool-Aid man. Eden got to play in a bounce house and get her face painted too. In the evening they had a classic car show and then a band called Yesterday and Today played Beatles music and they set off fireworks. We had a good time.

(That's part of the Kool-Aid stand in the background) They had every flavor of Kool-Aid imaginable. My personal favorite is Mango, but it's hard to find in stores.

Of course, after that, it was back to work for Andy. I've only seen him briefly a few times since then. We're hoping to go back next year!

The Primary Colors

This is one of Eden's favorite songs right now. She sings it over and over again and I wanted to catch it on video before she stops singing it. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know some of the words she's singing, but that has never stopped her before.

Catching Up Part 2

My niece, Emily, who is 11, decided to come to Omaha with us for 6 weeks or so and we're having a lot of fun playing with her. Eden is having so much fun and it makes it easier for me to get everything done. I'm trying to convince her she should stay for the full year, but she's not going for that. I'm really glad she is here this month because Andy has a horrible schedule in July and I have hardly seen him at all. He's working 14 or 15 hour shifts and has been on call every other day doing neurosurgery, so it is nice to have Emily here for to keep me sane.

Emily generously shared her Nintendo DS with Eden on the long drive to Omaha.

She also threw Eden a 'Princess Party' one day, complete with princess snacks, appropriate music, princess coloring pages, and they made their own crowns. Emily is always willing to dress up with Eden and pull her around the house in her "coach".

Andy had the afternoon and evening off on the 4th of July so we set off a few fireworks. Eden loved the smoke bombs and they snappers but wasn't a fan of anything that whistled or was loud. She also liked the sparklers until she dropped one on her bare foot (she's okay).

For those of you who were interested in our landscaping, you can kind of see it here. I still need to take some better pictures. Also you can kind of see what the weather was like on the 4th. I think it was the coldest 4th of July I've experienced. We got rained on a couple times.

The biggest news of the month is this:

Eden is a princess! But it's more than that- she's a POTTY TRAINED princess. I wasn't sure she was ready for it, but we just started in one day and she's done great. She's only had a couple accidents and can do the whole thing from turning on the light to washing her hands all by herself. She's really surprised me with how enthusiastic she has been. I made her a potty chart that she could put stickers on and she gets a smartie for going. It was really much easier than I was expecting it to be and I'm really proud of her.

Catching Up Part 1

We've had quite a lot happen since the last time I blogged so I have a lot of catching up to do. Here's a quick run down:

Our budding artist drew her first family picture that had human forms in it. Unfortunately, I have since cleaned the bathroom and this picture is now gone. Andy is the top right, I'm the top left and Eden is below Andy. Cat is on the bottom. Eden is obviously very proud of herself.

We took a quick trip to Utah to see our families. We got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with Andy's parents and sister and the cousins. It was a beautiful temple and we had a nice time there.

We went bowling with Andy's family and had a good time. Eden got to bowl for the first time and did a pretty good job with her ramp!

Eden had a lot of fun playing with her cousins! I hope we can move closer to them some time so she can play more often.

Happy May!

Here's what we've been doing in May:
Eden is still our little artist and one of her specialty mediums is bathtub walls.

She also continues to have a unique style that is all her own.

Well, sometimes all her own...

My parents came out for a visit and we took a day trip to see Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The weather was really beautiful and the trip was a lot of fun.

Eden loves to make dandelion wishes.

Eden loves Grammy and always wants to have picnics with her, even in windy weather.

Happy April

Easter was a week ago but I guess it isn't too late to post a few pictures. The Easter bunny stopped by while we were sleeping and hid some eggs and peeps for Eden and she had a lot of fun finding all her treats (and eating them too). She asks for "eggs" every day now and I don't think she would be too thrilled if I fried up the real thing.

It's been a busy week for Andy. He's working noon to midnight from last Monday to the coming Tuesday with only Friday off. We get to see him for a couple hours each morning but not as much as we would like. Thankfully, after that he gets a 5 day break. I think we're all looking forward to that. Here's a few random pictures from the last week or so for your enjoyment.
Also included is a video of Eden dancing. I think it's a mixture of ballet and rain dancing...

Eden's alter-ego: Her Royal Highness SuperBallerina Riding Hood. Get used to seeing pictures of Eden in this dress (with the sparkly pink skirt under it). She puts in on over everything she wears.

PEEPS!!!

Happy Easter!

Sleepy Girl. She's so sweet.