Trying to win a new mattress!

A mom blogger at www.gograhamgo.com is giving away a mattress from www.sealy.com and I want to win it!

Almost 3

Trying to work out plans for the third birthday bash. Way behind on posting pics, but slowly getting life back in order. More to come. Can't believe it's almost February!

Who is naughty or nice?

Find out who is on the nice list this year at http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/189061-note2jlw/! Merry Christmas to all!

Week One of Play School

E's first week of Play School or Pre-pre-school was a huge success! After that first day of her having a cold, unbeknownst to us when we left her at school, she totally warmed up. By day two she was talking, playing, dancing, and had her first friend. We couldn't have hoped for the week to go any better. There's nothing like waking up to an excited child saying "me school today mommy?" First day pics to come... as usual, I've been horrible about getting the photos off the camera into the blog.

Where has the time gone?

Ellie is now 23 months old. Merely weeks away from her second birthday. Though still shy of using words, she is definitely not shy of the camera. Enjoy the album links on the left!

It's never too early to start wishing!

Christmas is officially less than 4 months away - so I'm starting Ellie's wish list now.
1. We got a smokin' deal on a play/train table - so now she "wants" a train. It doesn't have to be this one - but any wooden, child safe, lead paint free set would do.
2. What little kid wouldn't want a playhouse? A quick search on craigslist for "playhouse" yields lots of less expensive gently used items.
3. Outfitting a girl with shoes is a costly endeavor, even if you can catch a sale - especially when we were recently advised that their feet grow EVERY THREE MONTHS! So a gift cert from Stride Rite for use on their Outlet Store sales, would be peachy.

More to come!

Tax Day - Anniversary - Birthdayversary

Today is Tax Day - luckily, ours were in a month ago and we already recieved our refunds. What a glorious day! Some good friends of ours are celebrating their 2 year wedding anniversary - yes the wedding was at 10:40 :) And today is Ellie's 14 month Birthdayversary. Sorry I still have not posted pictures, but no one's been asking for them either. I've been busy playing with my snazzy new camera too. So once they are "toddlers" do people get tired of looking at "baby" pictures? Not me, I could look at pictures of my Eleanor all day long. Cheers!

It's the Easter Beagle!

Happy Easter to all. Sorry for the delay in posting. I guess that since the 1 year mark has past - my motivation to post every month on the 15th is fading. :) Pictures to follow at some point. Not very many this month - and in the easter photos Ellie is very sick. Running a high fever, coughing, hoarse, and other sickly things. What a weekend! Oh yeah, and Brad was supposed to be done with Student Teaching - but he's been dragging that out. Maybe someday the unit will be turned in to Mickey and posted to the dreaded TK20, just maybe. One can dream.

Happy Birthday Princess Eleanor Kay Wright!

We love you very much Ellie. Thanks for coming into our lives one year ago and making this the best year of our lives. We didn't realize how much you would change our lives for the better. With love, Mama & Papa.

Here are the Month 12 pics and a special Birthday pic album
and links to other people's online albums of the 1st Annual Elliepalooza.

BEWARE - lots of pics to look at!

Happy Elevensies Ellie!

Today marks Ellie's 11 months of life. How fast this time has gone, but amazingly precious. Enjoy this month's pics. Only 4 more weeks to Ellie-palooza!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends. This year should bring Ellie many more teeth, walking, talking, and lots of new adventures. Not to mention her first Birthday - which is in 6 weeks...gulp!

Happy Holidays

Photos of Ellie's 1st Christmas! Happy holidays to all.

An amazing 10 months

We can hardly believe how fast the last 10 months have flown by. Ellie is just incredible and tons of fun. She's started crawling, taking steps, has her first tooth, got her first major cold (bronchiolitis), met Santa, went swimming, celebrated her first Bradicca and she's done it all with a smile on her face.

Please enjoy this month's photos.

The First Tooth

Somehow I thought it would be more...exciting? no...eventful? maybe. Night before last I felt in Ellie's mouth - nope - the bump went down, no tooth. Last night, didn't think to check. Today at Grandma's the tooth popped out, you can barely see it, but you can feel the sharp little thing. No wailing, no crying, no excessive chewing or drooling. Just a single, little, sharp tooth. And one great big smile to go along with it.

Bradicca Blowout 2007

It's been a wonderful Bradicca season, thanks to all of you! I sincerely want to thank everybody for coming out to Bradicca '07 I can't thank you all enough for making this Bradicca the best ever! It was an amazing time, with much mirth and merriment to be had by all. View the additional pics from Jenny and Pat.

Some people didn't get to attend the Bradicca festivities this year, and some of you this was your very first Bradicca experience, so you may not have the low down on the first Bradicca.

Many, many years ago in the Old Country, there was a young man. By all accounts he was very happy and terribly good looking. Everybody liked him because he was very nice. He constantly tried to tell his friends how much he loved them, but there were so many people to talk to, that he would forget who he had told!

He would just walk up to his friends and say "I love you!" That usually worked, and most of his friends would be happy, but sometimes, he would accidently forget to tell someone how much he loved them, and they would be very sad.

Before long, Brad (that was his name), had SOOOOO MANY friends, that just telling his friends how much he loved them took all of his time. He didn't have enough time to do his work, or study for his classes. He certainly didn't have enough time to tell everybody how much they meant to him. He needed to find a solution!

He noticed that certain groups of his friends would take him out to a nice dinner and give him gifts, and ply him with the finest meats and liquors in the land. Nothing made Brad happier than to be plied with fine meats and liquors, especially Sangria, a delicious concoction of wine and fruit juices. Perhaps that was the solution!

Brad would gather all of his friends together into one place, at one specific time! He would make sure to hug everybody, and tell them that he loved them very much, and that their friendship makes life worth living. He wanted his friends to be friends to each other, and that in a perfect world everybody would love everybody else like he loved them!

Everybody loves everybody else, and drinks sangria with Brad! The idea was so simple, and elegant that Brad wanted to put that plan into motion immediately! Bradicca was born that very year.

He invited all of his friends (not everybody could make it, but that's ok, Brad didn't mind, people get busy), but those who did make it were fed Mexican food and swam in LITERS of excellent Sangria. He made sure to tell everybody how much he loved them. It was so successful in fact, that Brad decided that every year, during the week of his birth, he would do it again!

So that's the story of how Bradicca came about.

I love you all very much, your friendship is what makes my life worth living. I have Janet and Eleanor and a tremendous number of genuine friends who keep me sane and tremendously happy. Bradicca is my tool to make sure that there's at least one day that I have my friends together so that I can tell you all the same thing:

I love you. Thanks for being there for me.

Brad

9 Months Old

Ellie is growing very quickly and it's amazing how many of her "old" clothes don't fit. Old meaning sizes 3-9 months. We're getting ready to go to the coast for the night to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and Ellie's 9 month birthday. Looks like we might encounter some "weather". Enjoy the pictures over the last month - including the much awaited Halloween pics.

She's Crawling

Last night Brad put Ellie on the floor. This time, instead of rolling over on her back, moving around backwards in a circle, or crying to be picked up, she achieved forward motion. That's right she crawled. Apparently the motivation of getting to Oliver's (dirty) tennis ball before he could was impetus enough. Poor Oliver, he just doesn't have any idea what he's up against. His little wet nose was bent out of joint before we started cheering Ellie on for crawling to and grabbing his tennis ball.

8 Months Old!

I'm just a few minutes past Ellie's 8 month birthday - also Auntie Lisa's multi-year Birthday. I've been getting some requests for new pics. Our 8th month ended with a fabulous day for a trip to Kruger Farms on Sauvie Island with our friends Jenny and Pat. We also graduated Ellie to a larger car seat - she was looking scrunched in her infant seat, and in her new seat she looks like my baby again, at least for a little while longer. She's growing so fast.

Best Dentist in Portland

If you're looking for a great dentist in Downtown Portland - have I got one for you. Dr. Kang at Green Apple Dental. This is not your ordinary every day dentist. On my first visit I got a complimentary spa parafin hand treatment, my choice of ipod tunes, was a treat!