Swimming

Elliot had his first swimming lesson this week! Recently, he had been playing a new game at home which consisted of him taking off his shirt and then "diving" onto one end of the couch and "swimming" (crawling) as fast as he could to the other end. I figured we should take advantage of his interest in this while we could.
I was expecting some hesitation even though we had talked a lot about it so we went to the pool early so he could see other kids having their lessons. When it was time for his class to start, the teacher asked him to come sit on the edge of the pool, which he did very tentatively. Then she asked him to come in a little further and sit on the first step. He said No. She asked him to see how big of a splash he could make while kicking. He said No. She asked him to try to squirt the other teacher with a water toy. He said NO. He wouldn't do anything! I figured it would take a lesson or two for him to warm up to this.

BUT THEN... after class the instructor hung around and played with Elliot until she got him to warm up to her a little more. And then somehow she got him to finally get in the water. And THEN somehow convinced him that he should swim out to the middle of the pool with her to help retrieve a toy he had just thrown in!

Stella, on the other hand, would have given up all her pacifiers to be in Elliot's shoes/swimsuit that day. She wanted to get into that giant bath tub sooooo bad! I had to spend most of the time there carrying her around because when I set her down she'd head straight for the water, like a turtle!

More Snow Fun

We took advantage of some nice weather again a couple of weeks ago. This time Stella got to join the fun and she was ready to dive right into the snowbanks!

Stella's favorite part of the day seemed to be the snowballs. I suppose next year she'll be more interested in throwing them at her brother than eating them :)

And a little bit of sliding fun...

Elliot said that he was climbing Mt. Everest. He then switched to Pirate Elliot and started burying treasures - like his hat, his shovel, his snowball maker - and made an X to mark the spot. I hope we don't find any surprises when all the snow melts!

Skiing

In preparation for a trip to Steamboat to see Grandma Linda, Matt took Elliot for his first skiing lesson last weekend. I think we did a darn good job of preparing him for it (parent hi-five) so he was excited to go and seemed to really like it. He told me beforehand that he "already knows how to ski fast, but they can teach me how to ski slow".

Look out Steamboat!

Monopoly

E's first time playing Monopoly...

Little Tigers

Elliot has been taking a beginner's martial arts/self-defense class through Parks and Recreation, called "Little Tigers". It is for 3-5 year olds and is just 30 minutes once a week. The first class was spent mainly on which way is Right and which is Left... he's learned some pretty sweet moves since then.

Showing Stella a "chop" (his term)

Kicking and punching practice

Don't worry, your children are not in danger - the instructors remind the kids every week that they can't practice the moves on other children, or pets :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had fun making our own Valentine's Cards for some very lucky recipients this year.

And Elliot made a special Valentine painting for Matt's new office.

We celebrated Vday by having a nice dinner together, although not all of us loved the mandatory vegetable eating part of dinner. Then Elliot, Matt and I had Game Night. We played Monopoly since Elliot had seen it on a shelf a few weeks ago and really wanted to play. He did great at first - counted the dots on the dice, counted out the squares on the board - but didn't like having to pay taxes, or rent, or go to jail... who does? (Video of this will be coming soon). We also have started playing a digital version of Checkers on Matt's ipad, which Elliot loves. I'm all for playing games in real-life, but this has been a good exception because the game doesn't let him make illegal moves, which would be every time he takes a turn :) We're having a lot of fun with games lately, but I'm desperately looking forward to the time when we no longer have to let him win!

I hope everyone had a love-filled day!

Snow Fun

While in Perham for the Holiday we made sure to get out and make the most of the cold weather and snow.

Why walk when you can be pulled on a sled?

Stella's first visit to the fish house. She was mesmerized by the bait... and my camera.

We found perfect snowman making snow

And did some sledding - down the driveway!

Christmas Catch-up

This year we were "up north" from Christmas through New Year's and we had a lot of time to enjoy the holiday, relax with family, and play with cousins.

Picking out cookies for Santa

All TWELVE stockings hung by the fireplace (mom, dad, sistas, spouses, grandkids - we add up!)

A little Girl Time

Waiting for the Vikes

And a cousin train

But the highlight of the week... was Nerf Wars. The boys (both young and old) all received Nerf guns from Santa. Here's a clip of Matt vs. Elliot, Tate and Mia.

Happy Holidays!

We have really been enjoying the holiday season here as Elliot has become much more interested in what Christmas means and how Santa works. He's really loving the Advent Calendar, pictured below, because it shows him exactly when the "present days" are. It is very hard to wait to open presents so occasionally we will have Pretend Christmas and give each other random things around the house. I most recently gave him a couple of pens from our home office and he thought they were the best gift EVER. Stella just loves all the new toys (ornaments) hanging around to touch and shake and jingle. She has been practicing her "Thank You's" with everything she gets her hands on. Here are a few more highlights from Christmas preparations at the Meents home this year...

A new Advent Calendar from Great-Grandma Neva and Grandma Echo (assisted by Auntie Hannah):

A tasty gingerbread house from my friend Lisa's annual holiday get-together (Elliot was more than happy to help take it apart):

Outtakes from the holiday card:


There are so many more just like this.

And finally, I've had lots of help from Elliot while wrapping presents... Someone very lucky is going to find this under their tree this year:

Hope you all are having as much fun as we are!

Talking

I need to hurry up and make a list of all the words Stella is saying before I can't keep track anymore! I keep thinking that I'll be able to catch them all on video but every time I try the result is usually a video of Stella either crawling away, crying, or trying to grab the camera from me. A good old fashioned list will have to do...

1. "Uh-oh" - this was her first word (if that counts?) and started around 9 months old

2. "Hi" - ALL the time. Hi to strangers at the grocery store, Hi to toys she hasn't seen in a while, Hi every morning when I go into her room. Hi. Hi. Hi.

3. "Mama" and 4. "Dada" - I think she only started using them on purpose just recently

5. "Knock-knock" - she does this while knocking on doors, walls, toys, her tummy, Elliot's head, etc.

6. "Bye-Bye" - usually says this and waves only after daddy has closed the door behind him, but she's starting to catch on

7. "Tickle-Tickle" - or at least her version of it, which is a high-pitched "tictictictic" followed by her giggling; she does this whenever you leave your feet near her and unattended

8. "More" and 9. "All Done" - these are accompanied by the 'baby signs' for each word so it is a little easier to tell what she is trying to convey when she says "mo, mo, mo" and "ah-da".

See, this would have been better on video.

Birthday Girl

This past Thursday marked Stella's First Birthday!

Needless to say, she LOVED the cake.

Dentist

Elliot had his first trip to the dentist right after Matt and I returned from Africa. He showed no fear and was very calm during the whole cleaning. I think it helped that the dentist mentioned a 'prize' basket for him to pick something out of when he was done.

Halloween

A little out of order here, but I had to put up some pictures from Halloween. We were at the Annual Reside-oween office party (Matt's office).

Chief Executive Ironman

Matt as Slash (again), helping Penguin with her bottle

I was Little Dead Riding Hood (again)

The "noooooooooooo! don't take my picture!" picture