They're Here!!!!

If you want to see more pictures like this....

and I know you do....

...then email me at polleys527@gmail.com for the password and instructions for entering the site.

You will love them! I just know it!

ATTENTION!!

I haven't recieved the password to look at Eloise's photos yet....BUT Erica at COA Photography has put up a contest for some of the pictures she has taken, and Eloise is one of them!  People can go to her blog and vote for the "best" picture (they are all good) and the picture with the most votes will win some prizes.

Eloise is #10.  I am not saying you have to vote for her when you get there.  But, if you are going to vote...vote for her!  haha

Click here to go vote! Hurry it ends today at 5pm! (I didn't even find out about it till today........)

Christmas! (Part II)

Our trip down to my Dad's was successful!  We had a lot of fun, but we are tired now.  I was glad to be back on Saturday so we could have a day (today) to catch up on sleep, laundry, relaxing, etc. 

We got down to Battle Creek around 4:30p on Wednesday, and we waited for my sister and her family to arrive (along with my brother).  We exchanged presents that night because Olivia and Izabella saw the gifts waiting in a magical pile in the corner and could not wait until New Years Eve morning to see what they got.

Nick, Bill, Ted and I watching the Little Ones open presents

Nick receiving Dramimine as a gift. (He's enter the Navy Seals in March)...get it?

Izabella with a gift.  Notice the tree in the tv...do not be fooled it is not a reflection. :) You can thank Kenny G and his Christmas scenes DVD for that....haha

Liv with a new coat.

New Years Eve was full of football, food (thanks Tami!!!!) and picture taking.  My sister Samantha works at the Sears Portrait Studio in Grand Rapids, so she has connections to the one in Battle Creek.  She had a great idea to get a family picture, since everyone was going to be together with my Dad.  There were 13 people in the photo: 10 adults and 3 kids.  It was kind of stressful (and hot) but the picture looks great and I am so grateful we did it.  Sam, Nick and I also got one together, just the three of us; and then my Dad hopped in and we got one with him too.  Oh, and I can't forget about Eloise.  Of course she had one by herself, she is staring into a mirror which makes her looking at the camera because of the angle.  It is hard to describe, but when I recieve them in the mail (in a couple weeks) I will scan them and post them here.  GOOD JOB and a big THANKS to my sis for the photos!!!

Chugga with her Aunt Samantha

At night on NYE we went to the casino that was just built about 3 miles from my Dad's.  We were only there for about an hour and a half, because we wanted to ring in the new year at home.  My Dad taught my sister and I to play Craps (the dice game) and Ted and Bill (my sis's one and only) watched over our shoulders.  We didn't win any money, but we didn't lose any either. :)

When we were home again, we hung out for a while (ate more food...does it ever end??) and shot off some fireworks right at midnight.  They were beautiful, and definitely illegal, but fun all the same.  Eloise was, of course, not up for the light display, but she celebrated the New Year in spirit.

New Year's Day we basically just watched football....

Tami's daughter Catheryn with Bella, Eloise, and Liv

On our way home the next day we stopped at my Grandpa's to have breakfast.  Eloise loves to smile at her Grandpa Grape (a nickname Olivia gave to their Great Grandpa), and my Mom was there too.  She was stopped by even though she is super busy packing up her house and moving on up to Elk Rapids. 

Ted and I stopped at a Babies R Us on the way home to return some bottles that Eloise will never use and we exchanged them for a JUMPER!!!  She loves it. I am going to take some pictures over this next week.  We don't think she grasps that she is controling her movements, because all of the sudden she will have a suprised look on her face when she bounces or turns in a different direction.  It is the most adorable thing ever (or close to it).

We hope everyone had a great New Year and we are looking forward to sharing how Eloise is changing and how she changes us over 2010.  (Watch out snowshoers, campers, beachgoers, hikers, and festival-goers because here come the Polleys!!)

Center of Attention!

Today was a BIG day for the Little Cheese. We went out beyond Boyne Falls and got her first set of professional photos taken (it's about time!).  We even got a couple family portraits, which Ted really loved posing for.  :-P

Based on a recommendation from a a coworker in Boyne City, we went out to Center of Attention Photography.  I cannot begin to tell you about how excited I am to see the results.  She has them on her website in about 10 days.  They will be secured with a password, but for those of you who are dying to have a pic of Eloise Iden on your mantle, I will share the password so you can pick your favorite. 

Let me tell you....it will be hard.  We had her in about 5 different outfits (including a couple DARLING dresses) and she is sitting in baskets and in chairs and lying on fluffy rugs.  She was a little model.  :) 

She was so, so good too!  She lasted way longer than I thougt she was going to.  About 258 pics in 60 minutes.  (In one outfit, over to the backdrop, SNAP, SNAP, SNAP (x10), okay.  Out of that outfit, into the next outfit, and this headband, SNAP, SNAP, SNAP...over and over again.  Whew!)  She was a trooper.  Although, Eloise was getting a little testy when it came time for the family portrait.  I think next time we will try to do those first.

So about 10 days folks! 

In the meantime....

We are headed downstate tomorrow to see my side of the family and to have our Christmas with them.  We also get to celebrate New Year's.  I know I will have a ton of pics after that adventure.  :)

OH!  And I almost forgot to say that yesterday my Mom visited us after her first day at her new JOB!!  It is in Elk Rapids, so the visits won't be few or far inbetween.  Ted and I are excited to travel to Elk Rapids as well.  It is a cute little town on Lake Michigan and I have heard about their art festival called Art Rapids, which Ted and I are super pumped for!!

Oh, and one more thing, you want to know the best part about this whole photo thing???  We are getting more family pics downstate with my sister and her family, my brother, my dad, Tami and her girls.  So, even if these do not turn out so well (which I highly doubt), we have another opportunity in about 3 days.

Poor Eloise.  I think she will be able to dress herself when we are done with all of this!  :-P

Oh What Fun!

Santa came!  And, boy did he deliver!  Eloise woke us up around 8am on Christmas morning, and then we all ventured into the living room.  Stockings came first, and for Eloise, what was in her stocking ended up being her favorite toy: Max! He is a hit!

She also got some sippy cups and some spoons in her stocking. 

Then, Eloise moved on to her presents under the tree.  She got lots of blocks (also a favorite), a book, a Classic Pooh Ornament, some outfits (of course), and some Automoblox cars (which she is a little young for, but Daddy and I thought they were so so cool).

Santa also got Momma and Daddy some great gifts too!  Ted got lots of books...he's super into reading right now (as am I), The Swell Season (the couple from the movie Once have a real band, and this is their CD), and the latest PASTE magazine.  I got a 4GB flash drive to store photos on, a book, some ultra comfy socks, a new snow hat, a water bottle, and an amazing vase from this art gallery that's on the way to Traverse.  Ted remembered that I said I liked it about a month or two ago, and got it for me!  He is the best!

Take a look:

and here are my super cute socks and hat!

Which...you can't really see my new haircut under the hat...so here you go!

TA-DA!  (I really like it)

anyway...

Ted and I got lots of little treats like hot chocolate and candy and cherry-chocolate bars in our stockings as well.  Santa is so good! Eloise had tons of fun Christmas morning, and that was just the beginning. 

We went over to Boyne City and joined up with all of the rest of the family, and had lots of fun exchanging gifts and eating a yummy turkey dinner.  Ted got a nice 4 person Kelty tent (so we are camping this summer!) and I got a cute pair of vintage wool mittens from our sibling gift exchange.  Oh, and Mom Polleys made a beautiful (I cannot say this enough!!!!!) quilt for us.  I will have to post a picture of it, once we get all organized and unpacked at home again.

We hope you had a very merry Christmas as well!

Love, The Polleys'

(Christmas Eve 2009)

Six Months Already.....

It is finally Christmastime...and what Ted and I have been dreaming about for the past year or so....

Eloise's first Christmas!

We can't believe it is finally here.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Eloise will have visions of sugar plums dancing in her head (well more like mashed apples and bananas--her new fave!)  while Santa (and his wife) put out all the goodys for good a good little bear cub and her parents.  :)  We can't wait!  Seriously...we can't. I have been so tempted to put out presents early and let Eloise look and drool (literally) over them.  But, Santa comes on Christmas Eve! 

Something that is so crazy to me is that it's not only Eloise's first Christmas, but also she is past her halfway mark toward her first birthday.  I know parents say this all the time, but the times FLYS by so, so FAST. 

Example:

Just two nights ago I was looking in the mirror and playing with my hair when it hit me that I hadn't gotten my hair cut or colored for six months.  SIX MONTHS.  The last time I got my hair cut was the day before I went into labor.  I immediately told Ted all about my hair and what was wrong with it, and the next morning I had an appt. at 11:35! (Such a sweetie!) So, now that my hair is all ready to go, with about 5 inches cut off, I am ready to move on to the next thing we haven't done in six months: go to the movies.  Renting movies is nice, but I miss going out to a movie, and I know Ted does too.  We should get on that while I am on Christmas break.

Sorry, back to the original topic of Eloise and how she is already 6.5 months old....I looked through some pics since her birth, and decided to have a little review of how our little baby has grown and changed.  It is amazing how different she is already...I can't imagine what next June will be like.   So sit back, relax, and scroll down to see Eloise Iden Polleys! :)

Oh my.  My Little Baby is no longer so little.  This last picture was taken this past weekend, when we went for about an 8 minute walk, because we decided it was too cold.  These next pictures were taken this past weekend too. She is such a blast to be around!

Oh, and that heart outift is from Eloise's Aunt Samantha for Valentine's Day....but, um, if she doesn't wear it now, she won't ever wear it..so, Happy Valentine's Day! haha.

Okay, so I think this post just needs a few more pictures and then it will be all set...

Kidding. 

HELP!

We're addicted!

...to nicknames that is.  Ted and I have about 1.2 million nicknames for Eloise.  Some of you know most of them, but others are probably a little confused when I talk about something "Choo-Boo" did. (Although, you can most likely guess who I am talking about....who else??)

I thought I might list some of the nicknames, because they are so cute, and they won't last forever.  Some nicknames are already almost forgotten because we have moved on to others.  Okay, so here we go. (I will try to put them in order of progression.)

Eloise:

Weezy...Squeezy...Cheesy...Parcheesi...Weezer...Cheeser...Squeezer...EllaCheese...EllaWeezer...EllaSqueezer...Chugga...ChooChoo..ChooTrain...Relly...RellBell...RellyBelly...JellyBelly...ChooBoo...RooBoo...RooChoo...RubyChew...Chewy...ChewyMcChewerson...BabyBearCub...LittleBiggum...BabyChewy...LittleOne...(and many more variations of all of these)

Ted's favorite nickname as of now is Chugga.  Mine is RooChoo.

I wonder what Eloise thinks about all of this????







Oh Eloise, please forgive us. :-)