eliana is changing and growing so much, it is just unbelievable! she is....
enjoying her own little rocking chair that was here at the house. she thinks she is such a big girl now with her own seat in the living room. 
climbing on anything and everything! the house we are living in is a part of a home owner's association that has a private park, which has a pool, playground, and big open grassy areas to run around in. we try to go and enjoy that whenever we can! 
we're also enjoying air conditioned malls with play areas as the month of August was quite warm here in Texas! 
learned how to say sunglasses (it really sounds like "su sha" but she definitely gets an "A" for effort!). of course, she prefers playingwith the "su sha" (i.e. pulling them apart so that Daddy has to fix them over and over again) to actually wearing them, but we are working on it! 
learned how to open zip loc bags...
and then eat the precious cargo they hold! 
we're working on dressing ourselves...just not with her own clothes. she prefers the clean or dirty (depending on the day!) laundry mommy is folding. 
learning how to clean up a little...or at least pretend to clean up...and you must not forget your backpack when you clean. it is absolutely essential!
as is your purse when you are taking your baby for a little stroll. 
and, of course, we are enjoying lots of attention from two sets of adoring grandparents! I love all the different expressions of the grandads and Eliana in this pic! Vip's parents have made two trips out to see us, which eliana absolutely loved. My parents have been giving us weekly date nights since they live a little closer to Dallas, which we have been so thankful for and eliana also loves the play time with Grandpa and Lao Lao. she is definitely one loved little girl!! 
on Nanny and Gampa's second visit, we went to the dallas world aquarium. fun fun!
We also took advantage of a recent sale at Build-a-Bear for Eliana's Christmas present. she put the doggy on her back in the mall and walked the entire length of one of the walk ways with "Ezzy" on her back! it was too cute! we have since put Ezzy up so she can forget about it until Christmas! :) the facial expressions in these next few pics were just too cute i thought. she is definitely developing quite the personality these days!
and, as you might guess from this picture, she is becoming quite the daddy's girl! he's been out of town since last Wednesday for a conference, so she is missing him for sure. i can't wait to see what she does when she sees him at the airport tomorrow! 
lao lao helped us get a hair cut. she stopped being willing to put her hair up, so we had to cut some bangs so she didn't have it falling in her face all the time. and, how did we get her to sit still long enough to cut bangs? an elmo video and a piece fo cheese! (we didn't think about the fact that the hair we cut would fall onto the cheese though! we had to clean it off a few times!)
our new duck towel...we love swimming in Texas! 
and, we are eating lots of good food!! our favorite spots are anything, tex mex, barbeque and, of course, chick-fil-a and Uncle Jim's pizza! 
We've also gotten to play lots with our cousins! Eliana LOVES them! i need to get a good picture with all of them, but this is a good one of her and Lindsey (who was my flower girl! am i that old??) Lindsey made that quilt, which showed in a quilt show in Plano recently. isn't it awesome??!! i have some more fun pictures of the kiddos, but they are still on the camera. ahh! so, that is all the pics for now. sorry that i am cramming them all into one big post! i'll try and stay on top of it a little better now so that i don't overwhelm you with one massive post! and, i promise more posts that aren't just about the Elly Bean!
hope you are having a good week, and would love to try and meet up with any of you in the DFW area!
