Eila's Three!

From May/June2013

Happy birthday little Eila! The challenges of your third year were more than we would have imagined, but you continue to show us all your strength, courage and heart. You are inquisitive, caring, determined, vocal, and happy. We love you so much and are so incredibly lucky to have you in our lives.

Today we celebrated in true 3 year old fashion; we opened presents,

From May/June2013

played games,

From May/June2013

read books,

From May/June2013

and ate cake, of course.

From May/June2013

Eila's special request was for Grandpa to make her a newt cake (our spring visit to the pond made a big impact on her), and it turned out so cute. Thanks Grandpa!

From May/June2013

Happy third birthday, Eila!

Mini golf

Well ... it kind of works at these ages.

Bedtime Talking To

Rocking Eila before bed, pretending to be in lecture mode:

DAD: "Eila" (sternly)

EILA: "yes"

DAD: "Eila" (sternly)

EILA: "yes, daddy."

DAD: "I want you to listen to me.  Are you listening?" (very serious)

EILA: "yes"

DAD: "Eila, this is very important." (sternly)

EILA: "okay"

(pause)

DAD: "I really, really like cheese." (very serious)

EILA: (uncontrolled laughter)

(pause)

EILA: "okay," (still giggling but calming down) "... do the 'don't poop in the tub' one"

Remission, 2 months

Eila was back up to DCH today for her 2 month check-up with oncology.  Her ultrasounds and x-rays were clear of tumors! 

She has been talking about bones a lot this week (thanks to a pair of skeleton pajamas), so she was extra excited to see this great x-ray (interesting to see her port, too).  She'll go back for her next check-up in July.

Helicopter Ride!

Dana spent Saturday driving around the Willamette Valley drinking wine with her friends.  While the girls and I were out doing some mother's day shopping, Eila noticed that a helicopter was circling downtown.  We followed it in our car and discovered that they were selling helicopter rides on campus.  We parked our car at the football practice field parking lots and reserved our place in line.  We ended up being the second to last flight before the rides were shut down (residents in the nearby neighborhoods complained about the noise -- boo hoo, Corvallis).  

We got up in the air real quick and flew over the OSU football and baseball fields ...

... it was loud.  The pilot flew over our neighborhood (you can't actually see it, but our house is in the middle of the picture, about two-thirds of the way down).

Annikka sat bravely in the backseat by herself while Eila sat on my lap on the front seat.

It only lasted about five minutes, but it was a BLAST.

Panties!

Eila went to preschool in underwear today for the first time.  She was so proud and excited.

And she made it all day without any accidents!  She got to go to the treasure box again (this time she picked an airplane).

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, Annikka & Eila brought me breakfast and gifts in bed - Annikka was so excited she might have burst, it was incredibly sweet.  Then later we went out to the duck pond with a big bag of bread.

Eila couldn't stop talking about this duck that took her entire piece of bread and ran away.  She is barely taller than the ducks, so they would come right up to her.

Annikka understood that throwing the bread helped to keep some space between her and the ducks.

It was a fun day together.