Reunion, Chattanooga, etc.

This week was unbelievably busy, and the next one is showing to be the same. Sunday (at the beginning of the week, not today) we went to church, then went back to church for the congregational meeting and to set up for the yard sale Saturday. Elena hung out here (for a minute-mostly she was in a front pack.) Some other pictures of people getting ready for the sale. We went to that too-It was fun and we got a few neat things for our house, and got rid of some things we didn't need anymore. We missed Sunday, so we don't know how much they made, but it was nice to have a chance to visit with some people from church.

Leni is able to crawl a few hands at a time. She'll start, then quit and lay on her belly. These are of her crawling the other day in her usual outfit-a dress with the whole bottom shoved in her bloomers.

Since she's eating more food, it's occurring to me that she might get thirsty. I had some cups from Cami, and this is one of those. Then we went walking with some people from church, and one of them suggested soft nozzle sippy cups. They worked much better.
On our walk with the two Sara's, plus kids. Even though it was a greenway, someone's farm with horses and llamas backed up to it and they were pretty close to us. A llama in 100 degrees sounds pretty miserable to me.
Leni on her walk.
This week Cami also started tap/ballet/gymnastics class at the Little Gym. As soon as she saw those other kids with tap shoes and got some on her feet, she was off!

Elena had 3 mysterious "sittings", where she'd be on her belly and we'd turn around and she was on her bottom. Considering one of us is with her every waking (and many sleeping) minute, we were baffled at how she could keep evading us. Then, we went to visit our neighbor Polly and she was up and down continuously. This is the first time we caught her getting from belly to sitting.
She took the opportunity to play with her "little pink sock", which is a reference to a comic strip. The comic is the only reason we gave her a sock to play with.
She loved the vent when it was blowing cold air. She'd lean over it and let it blow her face.
The better sippy cup. It is her new favorite thing.




This is how she fell asleep the other night-totally zonked.

She loves to sit up in her bed, and she loves her bear. She flings it back and forth-I don't know what it is about this particular animal that involves flinging.
Hitting her beach ball with one of mama's wooden spoons-she thought it was great fun.
Saturday was Chris's reunion in Chattanooga. He wanted to visit with the Marlars and Powells (who we didn't take any pictures of! yikes!) and it just so happened that Cliff and Pam were visiting the Marlars also.
Cliff was whispering to Elena, and she loved it! She'd lean back against him to try to hear him better.
We stayed in the Marriott where the reunion was, and my parents came and took care of Elena! Thanks a lot to them-we were able to enjoy it so, so much more knowing that she was with the people she knows best and was close enough that we could get to her if she was upset. Really-thanks mom and dad! Chris had more fun than he even thought he would, and it was nice to meet so many of his old friends. He got to catch up with a lot of them, and there were several that we had a lot in common with and may try harder to keep up with. There were lots of other stay-at-home moms, so I had people to talk to also.

In the hotel, Elena suddenly turned and put this part of her dress in her mouth and kept it there-it looked so silly!

She fell asleep holding the remote! My dad gave her a choice of several toys (later) and the remote was nearby-and guess what she went for! Goofy-I guess that's what we get for not letting her watch much tv.
Looking out over Chattanooga.

Chris, Elena, and I went to brunch at Mudpie's, then hung out a little in Chattanooga. We went down to Coolidge park, but she was pretty tired.
This is how she spent her entire trip home-from the minute we got on the interstate until we drove into the driveway-then she woke up! It was a glorious trip! I smocked and we sat in total silence-no stopping to pee on this trip! I did get the boring part of her Christmas dress smocked-the backsmocking and the holding stitches, so that was nice too.
This week is my birthday (28!), a visit from the Tappans, Boomsday, and just the regular work, etc. stuff. Busy. That's all for now.