June 2014

With our family vacation kicking off the month of June the rest of the seemed pretty quiet in comparison. 

We did celebrate Paige's birthday at mom and dad's one night.  It is now the norm for Henry and Elle to sit on the birthday person's lap and help open all the presents.  Imagine the crazyness once Charlie is helping as well! 

We had some fun times with the Voss boys this month.  We watched Charlie Bear one Saturday while Mary, Nick and Henry went to a Cardinals game.  Eric had to work that night so it was just me and the 2 babes.  Game changer.

The next weekend Henry, Mary and Charlie came over for a slumber party.  Henry loved Elle's little toy laptops and worked most of the night. :)  Mom and Dad stopped by with surprises for the babies, an ice cream cake and fun new cups! 

Then the next weekend we had Hensy over for a slumber party while Mary and Nick were at a wedding.  Eric was working again so I was on my own.  Henry loved Elle's "Go Husker's Barbie" as he called it.  Now every time Elle plays with it she talks about "Hensy".  These two were crazy so I ended up taking them to the splash pad in the hopes of wearing them out.  I was shocked at how timid Henry was at first but before long he was right in the middle of all the action.  My plan to wear them out did work, they came home, ate dinner and soon were fast asleep. :) 

 

Smelling the flowers :)

Elle still loves being outside.  Sidewalk chalk is one of her favorite things right now.  Elle and I go outside and doodle.  I write our names, draw pictures of puppy dogs, ice cream cones, the sun.  I laughed so hard when Eric sent me this picture at work one day.  This is daddy's version of sidewalk chalk.  If you can't make it out it says ITALY...in support of Italy's World Cup Game that day.

Vito celebrated his 9th birthday this month!  Elle had so much fun going to PetsMart to pick out a birthday present for him.  First was stopped to look at the "fishys" and she loved them all!  The last thing we need is another pet...famous last words.  Eventually we made our way over to pick out a toy and treats for Vito.  She saw a Mizzou jersey when in the store and pointed to it and said "Daddy!"...this girl knows her Father's team!  I'm pretty sure Elle thought Vito's new toy was for her but to my surprise she gave it to the birthday boy when we got home.  I love this picture of Hermann pouting in the background, his feelings are hurt so easily!

Elle has decided she no longer likes sitting in her highchair so she does meals at the table with us now.  I just got her a booster seat last week which is working really great, I needed something to keep her little buns strapped down!

We had a few splash pad visits this month and Elle and daddy go to the pool together when he's off during the week.

Some more Elle highlights:
-Her speech is out of control.  She forms little sentences and can say just about anything.  She mocks things the we say all the time.  If I yell for Eric, she yells "Eric", I always have to tell Hermann to go to the bathroom in the grass so when he's outside sometimes she beats me to it "Mermy, grass!"
- Calls Vito monkey and hates when they bother her when she's walking around eating a snack
- Says "Hensy" in the cutest little voice, Will imitates her perfectly
- Loves watching videos of herself on my phone
- Asks to see pictures of babies when I'm looking on Facebook or Instagram
- Every night before bed we either watch "Elmo" - Elmo in Grouchland, "Barney Ho Ho" - Barney Night Before Christmas, "Birds" - Rio or "Zen" - Frozen...every once in awhile she requests "Monsters" - Monster University
- She is such a caretaker, always holding her baby dolls, burping them, giving them bottles and she loves to hold Charlie Bear!

 

Flying a kite

 

Unc helping with a ponytail

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day we celebrated with Eric in the morning and my dad in the afternoon.  Eric worked Saturday night so when he got home Sunday morning we had breakfast ready started and were able to enjoy some time with him before he went to sleep.  He also had to work Sunday night so this was our only time to spend with him. :(  The day before Elle and I finished up our shopping, we got him a Bass Pro gift card and framed a cut out of Elle's hand-print.  I took Elle to Target to let her pick out a card.  She was pretty dead-set on a dancing and singing Hamburger card that was $8 (!!!) but changed her mind when she saw on Elmo card.  It read "To Dad from your Son" but I was happy to cross out son, replace it with daughter and save about $5. :)

Elle is so lucky to have Eric as a daddy.  I will never forget the night she was born and how ecstatic Eric was.  Women get 40 weeks of falling in love with a baby before they're born and for Eric it hit him like a ton of bricks that night...and Elle has had him wrapped around her little finger ever since.

In the afternoon we headed over to mom and dad's to celebrate my #1 dad.  We are all so lucky to have him.  My dad passed on the trait to both Mary and I to get out and have experiences with our kids.  He was always taking us to the Zoo, Science Center, Magic House, New Kids on the Block, Six Flags, Barbie on Ice, etc.  I remember loving these little adventures so much as a kid so it's something I've already started with Elle, I mean we already have our tickets for Frozen on Ice in February 2015. :)  Plus, there is something to be said about a dad who will withstand thousands of screaming kids at a New Kids on the Block concert...he's a keeper!   My dad is someone who has always put his family first.  He has worked hard his entire life to give his family so many amazing things and experiences.  A cute car when I turned 16, you bet.  An unforgettable trip to Disney World, absolutely.  The wedding of my dreams, of course...and the list goes on and on and on.

Not only is he amazing to me, he has my sweet Eleanor absolutely spoiled and is always there when Eric and I need a hand with something.  He treats this little Hylton family like gold and we are forever grateful for him.  Love you, dad!!!

Family Vacation - Heyward, WI

This year for family vacation we packed our bags and headed up north, way north to Heyward, WI...where the cheese curds are delicious and the mosquito's are plentiful. ;)

Eric, Elle and I left a tad earlier than everyone else in the hopes that Elle would sleep through the night in the car.  Eric was coming off a couple of night shifts so it was a no brainer to have him drive overnight.  After I got off work Friday we finished up some last minute packing, headed to Chick-Fil-A for a quick dinner and run through the play area and then hit the road...after stopping at a gas station to get Elle's beloved bedtime sting cheese.  15 minutes out of town and she was fast asleep.  She let out a few "mama" whimpers throughout the night but overall did awesome!  We spent early Saturday morning having a quick St. Louis Bread Co. breakfast (I just can't call it Panera) where Elle sat in a booster seat for the first time and then treated other diners to a rendition of "Let It Go" complete with dance moves.  That's my girl!

After breakfast Elle and I slowly browsed through Target so Eric could get a tiny bit of sleep before driving the last hour into Heyward.  Once we got there we met up with the rest of the fam for lunch at a neat little brewery.  We were all so excited to be off the road and officially on vacation!

Once we got to the house we noticed "wow, there are a lot of mosquitos outside" which was a running theme all week...but my goodness it made this vacation memorable!  We spent the week taking boat rides, eating way too much yummy food and for the guys fishing, fishing, fishing.

The house we stayed at was so nice and right on the water which made for such a pretty view.  Elle threw a stage 5 meltdown one afternoon as we were sitting on the dock with our feet in the water.  She was insistent on jumping in with her clothes on.  I'm proud to say this mama won that battle.

There was a little upstairs loft at the house which had 2 twin beds and a little TV.  Henry and Elle were obsessed with it.  They were both constantly asking to go to "jing jing's" (their odd term for going upstairs, I swear those 2 are creating a secret language).  One night Elle asked me if we could go to jing jing's, when I said no she hit up Eric.  When he said no I saw her walk over to Will and say "Unc, jing jing's?".  She was so excited when Unc said yes, she immediately ran to grab Hensy so he could join the party.

One night for dinner we went to this neat BBQ restaurant on the water which had such a pretty view.

 

After mom and dad treated everyone to ice cream.  Don't these 2 look like they're on a little date?!

 

Movie night!  I beleive Frozen was our movie choice.

 

 

One morning Henry asked me to make a fort.  Being lazy I told him you're supposed to make forts at night when you're cozy in your jammies.  Little did I know the second he put his pj's on that night he would remember and request a fort in the living room.  I obliged and these 2 sat here as sweet as can be for a good 3 minutes before it was destroyed. :)

To break up all the eating out each family took a turn cooking a meal one night.  The Hylton meal was St. Louis burgers and pasta salad.  We were all sitting at the kitchen table eating when Henry noticed cheese in the salad.  Big boy doesn't like cheese.  My dad jokingly said "toss it here Hen, I love cheese!" Henry took this literally and threw a cheese cube at my dad which bounced off his head.  We all died of laughter.  There is no one in the world like our Hensy!

The boat rides were always lots of fun.  Will was always the driver, the ladies were always on high alert with the kiddos on the boat and the guys were always laid back with a beer in hand.

 

Saying "hi" to a "fishy"...love Nick holding onto her life jacket.

 

Elle didn't like the wind in her face so she would cover her eyes :)

 

One boat ride that was particularly memorable was one of our last nights there.  We took the boat to a restaurant on the water.  As we were docking the mosquitos were Out.Of.Control.  There was screaming, running, swating, panic.  How I wish we had a video of our crazy family running on and off the boat that night.  I'm laughing and feel itchy just thinking about it.

The day the guys went on their fishing excursion us ladies took the kiddos to the "zoo" in Heyward.  I use the term zoo loosely (I think the STL Zoo has us spoiled rotten), this was more of a wilderness walk.  Elle kept telling the goats to "get back", she didn't like them all up in her business. :)  Most animals were more of the farm variety (horses, goats, pigs, ducks, etc.) but there was a tiger who was in no mood to see us.  As we approached the cage we joked about how non secure it seemed and made sure to grab on to the babies in case we needed a quick getaway. :)  We also saw the tiger crouch low and zone in on something.  Seemed a little creepy.  Then there was an insanely loud ROAR!!!! and the tiger jumped down from the platform it was laying on.  I had Elle in my arms and ran to the exit.  Mary took off with her boys in the opposite direction and little Mama Rita was at the cage trying to get a picture!  Turns out the tiger hates strollers and it was close to his feeding time so he was a little testy.  Not easing my fears.  We left very shortly after.

We spent one afternoon at the Fishing Hall of Fame.  They had a stocked pond for kiddos to fish in.  Elle was able to catch a few fish and screamed in delight each time.  It was the cutest thing ever!

 TJ photo bomb!

Spoiled rotten, laying in bed, watching Frozen and getting a foot rub from daddy.  If you stop she says "more".

On Saturday after a week of fun we said farewell to Heyward and headed to the Mall of America.  We took the kiddos to lunch at Rainforest Cafe which was so neat.  When the thunder would start and the lights would flicker Henry would run around the table into my lap and say "monsters coming".

We spent most of our time in the mall at the Nickelodeon Universe theme park.  The kiddos loved it! Elle's favorite kiddy ride was the rollar coaster, I thought it was a tad too fast for her but she loved it!!  The rest of the family was planning on driving a few hours then stopping for dinner and staying at a hotel but the Hylton family hit the road for home.  This little theme park adventure wiped Elle out!  As soon as her little buns hit her carseat she was out.  She slept a solid 3 hours before we stopped for a quick dinner and then we hit up another Target to let her run through the toy aisle for an hour.  After we got her back in the car she watched Frozen and then slept the rest of the way home.

Elle was such a great traveler, which is totally out of character for her.  I was really really dreading the long roadtrip but we did it!  We had such a fun time and we are so so thankful to my mom and dad for such a fun trip.  They even snuck in a little surprise, everyone came home to freshly mowed lawns.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, best parents ever!!!