Big kid bed

Have I mentioned our little girl is in a big kid bed? She has graduated from the big girl bed, which was her crib converted into a toddler bed. Erica made the kid vs. girl distinction. A friend of a friend gave us a twin bed.






The whole family is enjoying having more space to read and snuggle and play. We did end up buying a bedrail after Erica rolled out of bed 4/5 nights. Nothing like the sound of your kid hitting the floor in the middle of the night to make you spend $20 for a bedrail. How are they so cheap!?!

Homage to public transportation

Oh how Erica lives the train!


















However, she does not love the mall, the destination of the train.

A sled!

Now we just need more snow please.

How to teach your kid to be a dork!

Here is a geeky reason I love being a mom. Lego charts! The colored bars represent the number of Legos we have in each color, if we only account for the 2 x 2 blocks.



Note that the weird orange/yellow and forest green are very low values, and green is the highest followed by red. Sigh. I should put this in Excel for additional analysis.

Storytime

You have to love the cuddle up moments of stories before bed.


Happy Friday!

E cares about clothes

Last week Erica decided she wanted to dress like a princess while mommy was out of town. Here is what a daddy/Erica princess outfit looks like.

Snow angels!

On New Years Eve, Erica made snow angel after snow angel after snow angel!


Happy 2011!!!

Mobile blogging

So, I am trying out blogging from my mobile device. Perhaps now you will see more frequent updates from little Levene!

We finally got our first snow with any accumulation this winter today. E still loves eating snow. She seems to have finally figured out cold too, as in "Mommy, I am cold!". The picture is a little dark, but, well, it was dark!



Happy New Years Eve Eve!

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Happy Holidays 2010

Sprinkle-y cocoa treat on Boxing Day.

Florida Adventures (longest blog post EVOUR)

Ah Florida! Daddy had a business trip in Orlando the middle of July, so we decided that Mommy and Erica should fly out at the end of daddy's conference and we could all have a vacation together.  We could see some attractions, go to the beach and hang out with family. 

Erica and mommy had a great flight, again.  She is such a great little traveler!  Here we are in the food court in Orlando waiting for Daddy to come and pick us up.  We had some lunch and then got some ice cream to share.  See how many spoons Erica has?  Mommy has none.  That is not good sharing!

We got checked into the hotel and just went to the hotel pool the first day.  Erica had so much fun and started jumping off the side of the pool by herself for the first time.  This was fun, but a little shocking when she did it and we were in water so deep we couldn't touch bottom!  The next morning Nate had a meeting, and after he was done we went to Disney World Animal Kingdom.  We figured the other Disney's wouldn't have much that Erica would enjoy, and this seemed like a big zoo. 

We actually stood in line to meet Mickey Mouse.  As a kid I didn't like mascots, or Mickey, or any puffy creature, and Erica was similar.  She liked Mickey from far away, but as soon as we got close she was not so fond of the big mouse, as you can see.  

It was so hot that day.  Can you see how sweaty my little girl is?

We got to the farthest reaches of the park and the sky opened up and it started pouring rain.  No, we aren't sweaty anymore, we are soaked in rain.  Here we are on the train back to the main amusement park.  Erica loved the train. We had just finished seeing some animals, petting some sheep and goats and learning about owls.  Erica loved the owl, and wanted to pet it too.  The owl seemed to like Erica too, and wanted to eat her.   

Erica also adored this giant dino.  She wanted to take it home with us.  I think it would have exceeded our carry on or checked luggage limit.  The only ride I think she would have done in the whole park was by this giant dinosaur, but it was still raining when we got there, so the ride was closed.  No ride for my little girl. 

After an afternoon at Disney, Erica got to meet her cousins.  (Second cousins once removed?  I have no idea, so we'll go with cousins.)  Here she is being chased around while her youngest cousin exclaims "I'm a monster."  3 months later she's still talking about it.  She had so much fun!

Now, you'll have to excuse me for the barrage of pictures showing Erica's first time at the ocean.  We went to the beach adjacent to Nate's aunt and uncle's condo.  It was a beautiful day, and Erica had a great time.  It took her awhile to warm up to the ocean, but daddy taught her that the ocean would spin you around if you sat in the right place.  So the two of them sat in the water and laughed as the water spun them around. 

Love the reflections....

So much to see in the water...

It spins you around!

So much fun!

Ah Nate's cousin got a cute picture of Erica and Mommy at the beach!  I can't believe it!

Now my two favorite shots.  The scenery is beautiful, and so is my daughter.  It was such a fun day, and I love these pictures. 

Isn't she such a big girl?  I love the suit, the sand on her face, her determined look, and her purposeful walk.  She's amazing. 

The day after the beach we went to this wonderful zoo.  It was small, but there were places the kids could feed the animals, and a toddler water park at the zoo.  It was great.  This is a picture of the giraffe I fed.  Erica still seems put out that she didn't get to feed the giraffe, but I was afraid that wouldn't go well.  Just so you know, giraffe's eat Rye Crisp crackers, just like we do.  I wonder where they get them in the wild...

Erica checks out the giraffe she didn't get to feed.

Whoa, look at that long black tongue!

Just in case you think I am too adoring of my little girl, check out this shot that I took.  What's up with that face?  I think that giant bird wants her apple though.  While we were there, a little girl threw him a Cheeto, and I told Erica that you weren't supposed to feed the bird Cheetos.  She still reminds me, when we eat Cheetos, "Don't give these to the big birds." 

Here is Erica and her oldest "cousin" feeding the birds at the zoo.  One of them bit her, while Nate had her.  I thought she wasn't paying attention and the bird bit her, but no.  She was poking it with her finger and the bird bit her. Well, what do you expect kiddo? 

Here we are at the water park at the zoo.  Watch out for the huge sea monster in the window! 

We are on a "nature walk" by Nate's aunt and uncle's house.  It was supposed to be a nature walk, but really it was a HOLY CRAP THERE ARE BIG SCARY SPIDERS HERE walk.  Honestly, if I lived in Florida, after this walk I would have moved.  They were terrifying.  We are cute though.  This is mommy and Erica, and Nate's uncle and his cousin's son.  (Again, Erica's "cousin".)

The whole gang after our nature walk (SPIDERS) before we head back to the airport.  It was a great trip.  Erica was a champ on the flight back, and momma loved having daddy to help her for this flight.  We had a wonderful trip, and now Erica has finally met the entire family on her Grandma L's side.  We still have family to meet on all the other sides though!

Bridging the vacations

First we had our fun mother daughter trip to Minnesota, and then we took a family trip to Orlando.  Between the two trips we had a very wet 4th of July celebration.  We went to our friend's house that have a lake membership (oh-la-la) and spent the afternoon at the lake.  Here's Erica on her second ever boat trip.  It's a little lower in the water than the pontoon in Minnesota!  Note that daddy was okay with this boat trip. 

Not the best picture of Erica, but the daddies look happy.  Erica's friend is looking at her like she's nuts.

After the boat trip it started raining.  It rained and rained.  Here's Nate with two wet girls.  So cute.  The girls like shouting "Two girls!" when you hold both of them.  

There are no pictures of the actual fireworks, but it was crazy.  Just as it got dark and the show started it started drizzling.  By the time the show was 5 minutes in it was pouring!  We were all so wet.  Well, not all of us.  Erica loved fireworks with my parents and me last year.  This year she spent the show huddled on the floor of the car with daddy sitting next to her.  Not mom, dad, grandma or grandpa could convince her to come out and see the show.  I was a good mom and decided she should be brave and come out and see the show so I forcibly dragged her out of the car to see a few of the fireworks.  She was miserable and I got to spend the next two weeks with Erica telling me "I don't love you anymore."  It was lovely.  You haven't had your heart broken until your 2 year old tells you that they don't love you. 

Erica LOVES lotion.  She also likes turning on the TV in the bedroom and saying about the static "I made that!"

Before our trip to Orlando, Erica and mommy went to run a bunch of errands to get supplies.  I told her that if she was good I would get her a treat.  She was great, and her treat was a blue ring pop.  Nice tongue kiddo.

Next blog?  Erica's first trip to Disney and Florida!

Summer vacation to Minnesota!

At the end of June, Erica and Mommy took their first ever solo airplane trip to visit friends who have a lake house in Brainerd Minnesota this July.  It was terrifying for Mommy to figure out the logistics of flying with Erica and no help from Daddy, but it ended up being an amazing trip.  Erica is a spectacular traveler and we had so much fun.

 Here is Erica and her friend Sadie at the lake in Brainerd.  They are so safe in their life vests.

 I love pictures of Erica playing in the water. 

 It's an Erica and Sadie stand off, but I think Sadie will win.  She's got the gadget that throws balls for dogs.  Take that Erica!

 

Here you can see Sadie with her cousins and one of her two brothers and her mama.  It was a whirlwind of kids at the lake, and Erica loved them all.  

 Erica got to go for her first ever trip in a boat on our vacation.  She loved the pontoon boat, and we got to have a picnic lunch.  Great fun!

 However, Erica did not really seem to enjoy her first jet ski ride.  She was all excited to get on, and then something happened on the boat and she fell down.  That led to a total freak out, yet mommy still took her on the jet ski.  After we were done I asked her if she had fun and she said "no".  Then I asked her if she wanted to do it again and she said "no".  Ah, my poor girl being forced to be brave by her mommy.  Note that Sadie is just calmly hanging out at the front of the jet ski.  Brave little girl.  There is no way Erica would have done this if her daddy was there. 

 See, Erica doesn't look that traumatized by the jet ski ride, and she did love the boat!

 Okay, one day at the lake and there are brothers and cousins, and boats and jet skis and a PUPPY!  Little Dublin was very popular with Erica.  She'd sit down next to him and say "Tiny dog, tiny dog." in this little voice.  My little girl was in heaven.  I kept telling my friend that after this vacation Erica was going to want to go home and have siblings, boat,s and dogs, and I wasn't planning on any of that in the future.  

 Erica and Sadie loving their late night watermelon snack.  The lake house was so far north that it wasn't dark until 10:00.  Erica didn't nap a day that we were there, and fell asleep around 10:00 every day.  It was crazy, but she was a trooper!

 The view from the lake house porch at 8:30 p.m.  If you can see, there is a little play set down toward the bottom right of the picture.  Erica let herself out of the house, walked down the hill and would go down to play all by herself.  She was so independent this trip it was phenomenal to me.  What a beautiful spot!

 You know you are having a good vacation when you fall asleep with swim goggles. 

 Day two we woke up and went strawberry picking.  It took Erica awhile to figure out that these were strawberries momma was picking, just like the ones we ate at home.  Once I made her eat one, she was in heaven, and ate at least one berry for every 3 I picked.  Look at her shirt!  She was a strawberry disaster!

 Oh happy girl.  Do you love your strawberries?

 

After strawberries we went and got lunch, and then had ice cream.  Erica had a bowl of her own, and every inch of her that wasn't covered in strawberries was quickly covered in ice cream.  Ah the joy of vacations.  

We had to leave at 4:00 the next morning to make our 8:00 flight (who booked that horrible time?) so I woke Erica up, put her in her car seat and drove to Minneapolis.  Again, my little girl was the consummate traveler.  She stayed awake in the car for awhile, then slept the rest of the drive.  She sat in her car seat and let me wheel her around when I needed her wheeled, and walked when I needed her to walk.  She did great on the plane.  It was an amazing trip, which was good, because she and momma were going to fly again to visit daddy in Orlando!  Pictures of that adventure coming soon!