Elizabeth's 2-year portraits

We finally got the kids out with the photographer last week. We haven't had much luck getting good pictures of Elizabeth in the studios, so we used a photographer that took her to a local park and followed her around for a while. That seemed to work much better - the pictures turned out really well and she even managed to get a few smiles out of her! And, although she wasn't able to get a "real" smile out of him, I think the pictures of Jonathan really show how handsome and big he's getting!

To view the proofs, go to this site: http://alisonwheelerphotography.com/#

Then click the "enter site" link, go to "proofing", and our password is "dicks".

We're going to have a hard time deciding what to order!

I just quit 1/2 my job

My job has been so incredibly stressful and time-consuming for the past several months. We've had so much work lately, I've had to both manage my office (14 employees), then pick up the additional structural engineering jobs that nobody else could get to. Last month, I ended up billing ~160 hours, plus handling my management responsibilities, so I literally worked 2 full-time jobs! I've worked every night/weekend for the past several months, and I'm just completely burned out. Plus, I know Elizabeth is getting to the stage where she's going to start remembering things, and I really don't want her to only remember me working all the time!

After praying about it and discussing it with David, I decided to tell them that I was going to give up my manager's position and convert back to being a full-time producer. This would eliminate 1/2 of my current job responsibilities, plus the engineering projects are what I enjoy - the management activities basically just involve cleaning up other people's messes. Plus, if I'm only doing engineering work, my travel will be a lot less and I'll be able to work from home a lot more, so I'll get to see my family a lot more.

So, I did it - I told them I'd continue in my current role for 1 month to give them time to find someone else and transition me out, then I'm going to be a full-time producer. They were disappointed (and tried really hard to talk me out of it), but they finally agreed to do it. And - get this - they're not going to change my salary at all. My request came at the right time - they just lost several engineers and are desperate to keep the rest of us. So, basically, I just lost 1/2 my workload, I'm going to be able to see my family a lot more, and my salary isn't changing. WOO HOO! I feel like such a burden has been lifted off my shoulders!

Deciphering Toddler-ese

This afternoon while we were driving home from church, Elizabeth asked me to sing the "Kitty Takes a Bath" song. I had to think about it for a while, but the lyrics finally came to me. Any of my loyal readers want to venture a guess as to what song she wanted to hear?

The sound of music

You probably won't be surprised to hear that Elizabeth loves to sing. After all, I've been singing to her since before she was born, plus every day and night since. When I'm not around, Gran and Daddy (and Barney) are also always happy to reinforce her love of singing. For a while, I was afraid that she was horribly tone-deaf, since everytime she tried to "sing" it came out as a complete monotone. But, lately, we're actually starting to hear some tone variation, so I think the girl may have potential for continuing on the Alto family choir tradition!

Elizabeth's latest musical trick is to burst into song, pretty much anywhere and everywhere. She also seems to believe that every song should be sung at the top of her lungs - and dinner seems to be the prime time for singing her melodies. She's obviously got the Camp Crestridge gene!

While her most favorite song is obviously the Barney theme song (you know, "I love you, You love me..."), she does show a lot of other variety, and her memory and vocabulary for the songs is very good. Just a few of the songs we've heard from her in the last few days include:

- Baa, Baa Black Sheep
- Rock a Bye Baby
- Do You Know the Muffin Man?
- Ring Around the Rosey
- The Alphabet Song

And, did I mention that she loves to sing the Barney theme song? We hear that one ALL THE TIME! Here's a video of her belting it out at dinner one night this week:



And, here's her latest rendition of "Rock a Bye Baby":



And, heaven forbid you try to sing along with her. One of her favorite phrases continues to be "No! All by myself!"

Happy Father's Day!

It's hard to put into words how much of a blessing David is to me, Jonathan, and Elizabeth. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father, sweetie! We love you!

Here's a reminder of how things have changed over the last 2 years - and what a wonderful daddy David has been through all of it!

Happy Father's Day!

Business travels

My business travel seems to come in spurts. I'll go several months without much travel at all, then I'll have to travel a lot all at once. This month is no exception. I haven't done much traveling since February, but I've now had to travel for business the last 3 weeks in a row. Last week, I went to Cleveland to testify at an arbitration. Then, at the beginning of this week, I had to go to Wisconsin to give a daylong presentation (combined with 2 days of travel) on the effects of earthquakes on buildings. Finally, at the end of this week, I had to go to Cincinnati for a seminar.

But, this last trip was different. The seminar was in a new resort next to Kings Island that has an indoor waterpark, and David and Elizabeth got to come along with me! While I would have preferred to just spend the day vacationing with them, it was still very nice to have them there in the evenings and to sneak out to spend some time with them throughout the day. Definitely the best way to travel while on business!

On Friday, David and Elizabeth spent most of the day playing at the waterpark while I was at my meeting. Elizabeth really loved playing in the wave pool with David:




We also convinced her to go down one of the mini water slides once, but she really didn't like that as well. She wasn't very fond of the water splashing all around her. But, she did really like a big bucket that filled up with water and dumped it out on other people standing below it. I think she would have been happy just watching that all day!

Then, on Friday night, we all went over to Kings Island for a few hours. Elizabeth absolutely loved going on the carousel. I think she'd still be on it if we hadn't finally made her get off!





She also enjoyed trying out all the other kiddy rides. She really wanted to go on all of them - all by herself, of course - but with all the height restrictions, there were only a few that she could go solo on. One of those was the little racecars, which she really enjoyed "driving." The first time she went on them, she got paired up with another little girl:



After that, she asked if she could "drive" with her little "friend" again, but before we knew it, the little girl's big brother had jumped in the car with Elizabeth!



Elizabeth didn't mind at all, but it sure seemed to make David nervous to see how the boys already want to be around his little baby girl! :)

Here's a video of her showing off her driving skills on the Diego jeep ride. I found this video particularly amusing because Elizabeth didn't look around for David or me one single time - after all, she had to focus on her driving! - while the little boy in front of her kept screaming and waving at his mom and dad!



Other highlights of the evening were getting to ride some trains and seeing a BIG Dora:



So, although I had to work, it was still a great way to do it!

I have to go out of town for one night next week, then I'm hoping all the business travels will stop for a while!

The competitive spirit

For those of you who know my family, you know that we are quite competitive - to put it mildly. The Waggener household is the only one that I know of where board and card games can (and have) within a matter of minutes turn into shouting, throwing, and possibly punching matches. And, I'm not just talking about when we were kids. In fact, I distinctly remember a card game at Erin's house a few years ago.... ah, but I digress. The main point is that our father has instilled in us the competitive Waggener gene, and both of my sisters and I inherited strong versions of it. In fact, my competitiveness was well developed by the young age of 4, when I taught myself to read just so Amy wouldn't be able to do something that I couldn't.

Well, as it turns out, Elizabeth is not only a Bridger...she's definitely got some Waggener in her also! Forget the books, potty seats, big girl panties, sticker charts, jelly beans, Dora toys, etc. Turns out there was no reason for any of that. The only thing we needed to do to get Elizabeth potty trained was to use the magic phrase: "Cousin Brooke is wearing her big girl panties now." Sure enough, the day after I told her this, Elizabeth woke up last Saturday morning and refused to wear anything but her big girl panties. We had a few accidents over the next couple of days, but now, a week later, and we're 3 days accident-free. It appears that Elizabeth is fully potty trained (except while sleeping, of course)! Woo hoo! Let the celebration begin!

And, thanks for providing the incentive, Cousin Brooke! Keep up the good work!

Picking strawberries

Last weekend, David, Elizabeth and I headed to Boyd's Orchard to pick strawberries. Due to the cold snap we had a while back, the strawberries were not nearly as big and plentiful as usual, but Elizabeth still enjoyed picking them and putting them in the bucket!









Afterwards, we all had fun playing on their playground. Mommy and Daddy both tried out the big slide:





But, Elizabeth decided she'd rather stick with the little slide and the sandbox:



Then, the best part was the yummy strawberries we got to eat for the rest of the weekend!

Aunt Amy Tate

This week has been very hectic at work, so I haven't even had a chance to update on our trip to Arkansas last week!

As most of you know, we were very nervous about the trip, based on Elizabeth's past travel experiences. But, she surprised us all by having a great trip. She made it through both 12-hour drives with very minimal fuss, and she even slept through the nights in the hotel room. We were very grateful, because the sleep we got allowed us to enjoy the trip so much more! It's amazing what a few months have done to improve her ability to adapt while traveling.

We got to Eureka Springs on Thursday evening, so we had all day on Friday to visit with family and to explore the town. We spent the morning driving the "historic loop" around the town and walking around the shops on the main street. There were natural springs scattered throughout town that were all beautifully landscaped, plus we really enjoyed looking at the restored Victorian buildings. Here's a picture of Jonathan climbing on some rocks by one of the springs:




And here's Elizabeth sitting with my dad in front of one of the shops:



And eating gummy bears from the old-fashioned candy store. Yum!



Grandad and Granny Pat gave her the necklaces and bracelets. She wouldn't take them off the entire weekend! (Except for during the actual wedding when they were...ummmm....conveniently "lost".)

After that, we hooked up with Jack (Amy's new stepson) and headed to see the Big Cats at the Wildlife Refuge.



It was pretty hot by that time, so most of the animals were sleeping. But, the kids enjoyed playing on the swing set:



Then, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. It was held at a wonderful German/Czech restaurant. We were especially excited to have Cousin Brooke (and her parents) join the party:



The next morning, we got up and Erin, Amy, Robyn, Shannon (Amy's friend from college) and I went to watch Amy get her hair done. Then, we all went back to get dressed and head for the big occasion. Amy looked absolutely beautiful in her dress...and still managed to give last minute instructions to the rest of us! Once a minister, always a minister... :)



Here's a good picture showing off the back of her dress.



She looked so beautiful, and David even commented afterward that he had never seen her look so "joyous." Oh yeah, and Neal looked pretty smart himself:



While we were finishing up the last-minute touches, Brooke and Elizabeth were getting along well:



And Aunt Beth was playing some beautiful hammered dulcimer music. Finally, everyone was there, and Amy walked in, and...the rest is history! The service was beautiful and the minister, who was a close friend of both Amy and Neal, did a wonderful job.

Don't tell Aunt Amy, but I think Elizabeth's favorite part of the whole thing was getting to throw rocks in the lake after the ceremony:



Either that, or the automatic bubble machine at the reception!



No, wait...I completely forgot about the lovely Precious Moments decorations! (Hee, hee!)



After the cake was cut...





Neal and Amy rode off into the sunset for a nice, relaxing week in Mexico. While I rushed back for my incredibly hectic work week...doesn't seem quite fair, does it?

It was a beautiful wedding and a fun weekend. And, now Elizabeth keeps calling "Aunt Amy Tate" on her toy phone, so I guess it's official! Congratulations, Amy and Neal!