Evie and Annalise Taller: June 2007

Work Weekend, Day 1

With Evie shipped off to Northwest Ohio for a few days, it was time to get down to some serious work.

Annalise isn't much help with taping the wood trim when she is EATING the tape. Needless to say, we didn't get much done while she was awake!

A little later, mom left the room for 5 minutes and came back to screams of pain. Annalise's giant forehead came into close contact with the tile floor resulting in this beauty.

Then, since no one was around to pick on her, Annalise had to pick on someone smaller. All she could find was a Polly.

While Evie is gone, mom and dad had to decide exactly which color beige to paint the family room. Yes, we are pathetic in that we actually bought 5 samples of different beiges. And what else is pathetic is that some are so close that you can barely tell the difference.

Well, this is the color we chose. We think we like it. We'll see what it looks like in the morning. I will say one thing. There is a lot of trim in this room! And no more peach faux walls!

Nate's Caring Bridge

After our quick update on Nate Wells yesterday, we got the following picture from Nate's parents:

He's looking pretty good for a kid that had his chest cracked 7 days ago. We put a link to his website under the rest of our links. Please check it out and leave a message for Nate and his parents!

A truly messy baby

We had mashed potatoes for dinner....all of us.

Some of us did a better job of getting the mashed potatoes in our mouths than others did. We aren't naming names or anything.

Annalise heard that Oliver is trying bitter biscuits. But, can he eat one with no hands??

Straight to the bath after the biscuit and mashed potatoes. This is Annalise's best Mick Jagger impression.

A little dessert?

An update on our friend, Nate Wells. Following a number of serious setbacks, Nate was transferred from Children's Hospital in St. Paul to Fairview University Hospital in Minneapolis. There, he had his heart surgery last Friday. I spoke to his mom, Michele, and she said that he is doing well and they hope he will be off the ventilator today. To give you an idea of what was corrected, Nate's heart is the size of a golf ball and he had a hole between the ventricles that was approximately 1/3 x 1/3 inch. Nate will need another surgery to address his reflux problem before he can come home. Please continue to keep Nate and the Wells family in your prayers. Eventually, Nate will have a Caring Bridge website. When it gets up and running, we will post a link on our page to Nate's page.

Package Day!

Today, Evie and Annalise received two packages!

Thanks grandma and Grandpa Taller for the stickers, the foam bath capsules and the bib for Linky! (not pictured because she was taking a nap)

Ethan also sent a package for Evie complete with wrapping paper!

What a beautiful painting! Thanks E!

Annalise puts stuff in her mouth

Annalise pretty much puts everything in her mouth. We have to be careful of what toys are on the floor. Here she is playing with the parts of a stacking toy.

This ball is about the size of a golf ball.

I think there is a picture of her sister with this same piece in her mouth

What a stinker.

Fishers Freedom Fest Parade!

On Sunday afternoon, we left the mess of our laundry room to go to the Fishers Freedom Fest Parade with our friends, the Lupkes.

Here are Scott Lupke, Mike Lupke and Evie waiting patiently for the parade to start.

Wait! there's the first firetruck!

Annalise doesn't like the fire truck's siren or horn. This face was too funny not to post.

Evie not only scored a bag of candy, but a sweet John Deere hat. It was a little big until a grown up adjusted it for her.

That's a pretty big piece of machinery -- even by Indiana standards.

Annalise didn't know that you are supposed to unwrap the candy before you eat it.

Andrew and Kathleen Lupke and Annalise and Jim enjoy the kiddie sized beach balls.

Tunnels

Mom had the bright idea that she could get some wallpaper removal done if the kids had something to do.

Annalise liked to crawl into the tunnels with Evie.

Evie played in the tunnels too.

Here comes the Stinker!

And then they took a break in the tent.

Guess who took pictures and didn't get any work done?

What we did when Hank and family didn't come to visit.

We had our first cancelation at hotel Taller this weekend. Hank and his parents couldn't make it down due to some intestinal distress (were not saying who was distressed the most). When mom got wind of a no visitor weekend, it quickly turned into a work weekend.

Linky worked on her clapping skills. She has them down pat because she practiced for about a day and a half.

Mom saw the weekend as an opportunity to start some new projects. Down came the wallpaper in the laundry room. In my experience with removing wall paper, this hasn't been too bad. The worst part of it is that the washer and dryer, utility sink, and chest freezer are all sitting in the middle of the room and are out of comission (except the freezer).

This is a big change for us to do projects with an audience. Fortunately, no one learned any new words during this experience. We even had some audience participation!

In case you never got to see our pretty wallpaper before it hit the trashcan.

Craft time with Marin

While Marin visited, we had a craft time. It kept them both busy for about an hour. This was great until all the little foam pieces started to fall off everywhere and Annalise tried to eat them.

Marin and Evie with their completed projects.

Zoo!

We went to the zoo on Tuesday. We met up with our friend--Zookeeper Tim. He is an elephant keeper. Tim showed us behind the scenes at the elephant barn. Evie was most intriged by the water fountains that come out of the floor for the elephants to drink.

Here we are up close to the elephant, Sophi. She is 39 years old and is very gentle. You may have noticed an extra kid. We are taking care of Marin while her parents are on vacation. Bet they don't get to pet an elephant!

This is Tim showing off his new trick of hanging from the elephant's tusk and one leg in her mouth. He is very brave!

Evie and the baby giraffe. It was born April 23.

WE also visited the zoo's new exhibit of touching sharks. It was exciting and no one got eaten.

This is evie and Marin in the dolphin dome. It's like being right in the dolphin pool.

Here they are watching the dolphin swim by.

The zoo was a lot of fun.

Annalise's first french fry

We went to Mc Donald's before the zoo because it was still raining.

Annnalise had her first salty french fry

It was too good to let go!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all the dads out there. We had a nice quiet day. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves since no one was visiting and we weren't going anywhere. It was kind of strange. No worries, the Taller hotel opens its doors again tomorrow and for the rest of the week.

Evie and Annalise play with dad...until mom shows up. Annalise is at that stage where the only person that she wants to be with is mom. She is crawling away from dad to get to mom in this picture.

Dad and Evie continue wrestling.

Then they take a rest to lounge around.

Apparently, Evie has inherited her stinkiness from her dad.

This is Evie's best pirate look. Pretty threatening.

Dr. Appt Update

Annalise went to the Dr today for her 9 month check up. She is a-ok and right on track for where a 9 month old should be.

She weighs 18 pounds, 9 ounces (40%) and is 28 inches long (70%). That's probably a good two pounds smaller than her "little" cousin, Oliver

Evie made a chain with Grandma to count down the days until we send her to live on the farm. It's 17 if you are wondering and the only animal on the farm is Mary Alice, the cat.