walking and talking...

Yeah...finally, a blog entry! We are very excited to share an update of our little guy...so much change has happened in four months. Elias is such a joy...each day brings new adventures as he has entered the "toddler" stage. As Chris and I started to write our blog entry idea "a day with Elias", we literally ended up with pages and pages of stories, memories, etc. So, we decided to share just a few of the many moments we are truly enjoying at this time in our little sweetie pies life. To begin, here are a few summertime photos and updates...(pics taken by auntie Sal!...with a few iphone pics) Mom and Elias in Northfield...

Elias walking at Big Woods State Park...

Exploring Sal and Tim's new yard and sandy beach at White Sand Lake...

Mom and Eli enjoying the sunset on Gull Lake...

Bubbles...I love bubbles!

Anyone need a ride??

I love my Mikko....

Getting our feet wet on White Earth Lake...

Mikko's famous dock jump....

Learning to walk....

Swimming with Dad....

mmmmmm...popsicle!!

Elias is walking/running all over! My latest favorite moment with him is taking him to the grocery store where he gets his own little cart and shops next to mama...putting all kinds of goodies in his cart!! It is too cute!!!

We are really enjoying his many words...he was an early talker and continues to be a little chatter box! Here are some of our many favorite Eli words and phrases...

*waking up to our natural alarm clock "hi dada", "hi mama", "no Mikko, NO"

*"happy boy" usually means he wants to listen to his favorite song "happy song"...he LOVES music, dancing, playing instruments and his music class "Music Together"

*anything to do with hockey and fishing..."hockey tick"(hockey stick), "hockey putt"(hockey puck), "hockey boop"(hockey book), "bobber boop" (fishing book)

*"paper-bip" (paper-clip)....he loves small things he can study and hold for hours!!

*his communication words..."hi", "more", "up", "open", "all done", and his favorite "more nigh nigh more" (more milkies)

*"Mikko come", "hi Mauwa" (hi Marla)....he loves Mikko and Marla

*"bumpa" (grandpa), "nana" (grandma)

*"dada beer"...his new favorite thing to do is go to the fridge to get dada a beer and bring it to him...and then returns to the kitchen for the froggy bottle opener

*he loves reading stories and can name and point to many animals and other pictures, which has been so fun to observe

*when we put on his shoes and socks we will say "one sock" and he continues with "two sock"..."one shoe...two shoe"

A few of his favorite foods: peanut butter toast, yogurt, tuna melts, Annies mac-n-cheese with black beans, pizza, fruit, all kinds of snacks and of course ice cream "I neen" with dada!

I truly feel like we could go on and on....as many of you know who have little ones! We just adore being parents to such a sweetie pie. I sometimes cannot believe we created him....he is the love of our lives!!

Love and hugs to you all...

Up North

This past weekend, we traveled up north for our first family camping adventure! We camped at Bear Head State Park (near Ely)...a beautiful campground nestled in the thick forest on Bear Head lake. Despite trying to escape the mosquitos and the occational rain, both Chris and I agree that our experience was absolutely wonderful and memorable. We loved being in the wilderness... listening and feeling the earth...and sharing this passion with Elias, who was a true camp trooper! Here are many pictures we wanted to share of the beauty we experienced... The first few days of our trip it rained off and on...our only escape was the car! Elias loved to play "driver"...hours of fun!

And when the skies were clear, we spent time on the lake!

Mikko's graduation photo. He has learned to stay in the boat and not jump out after anything he thinks is a ball! Congratulations Mikko!! He actually was a wonderful camper too!!

Daddy showing Eli a worm!!

Tired boys!

Campfires...love them!

The morning of our last day...it was gorgeous!

Helping take down the tent...

Bye Bye camping adventure...bye bye mosquitos!!

Elias standing on his own!! This is his new trick...and he thinks it is so great! He just giggles the entire time!

I think we have a gymnast on our hands!!!

Sending our love and giggles...

Swinging Streaker...

Here's our little swinging streaker...naked in the sunshine. Eli loves the swing we hung from a tree in our yard and loves to be naked!

Oh, what have I discovered down below...hmmm, something very interesting!! :)


Here is a little video of our peanut starting to walk with his little walker... (thank you Courtney...we see why this was a favorite of Brinnon's). He now walks all over the house with this fun toy and has started crawling up the stairs...it's a whole new world!

Happy Birthday Sweet Love!

Our sweet love turned one on April 10th....it was a beautiful and emotional day filled with sweet memories as I thought about how much we've all grown in one year. My heart was filled with so many emotions thinking back to that beautiful moment when Elias was born. Our dear friend Amanda, who shared this moment with us, gave us a precious gift on Eli's first birthday...
our birth story. We are forever greatful for this beautiful gift of our story...thank you Amanda!

We celebrated Eli turning one this past weekend with family and friends on a beautiful sunny spring day! Here are a few (okay a lot) of pictures from the birthday party and easter...thank you to all who helped bring this day together...and thanks to Sal for these great photos!!

Happy Birthday sweet stinkle toes....we love you so much!

The Vogt clan on Easter Sunday...we sure are growing!!

Thank you uncle Tim for the hockey helmet...it's just my size!

The goofy goobers hunting easter eggs...

Nana and Grandpa loving stinkle toes....

It's my birthday party....yahoo!

One of my favorite pictures of our peanut...so cute!

Mama and Eli opening gifts...

Mama with all the yummy food...

hmmmm, not so sure what to do with this yummy cake...

Auntie Gigi and cousin Liam helped celebrate too....

Our easter birdies...

Pictures and clothes from Eli's birth... he was so tiny!

Eli at a year old: (oh so much that we don't want to forget...here are just a few of the many things that make us smile!)

*4 teeth (two on top and bottom)
*17.5 lbs, 28 in.

*Crawling all over and faster each day

*Pulls himself to standing position and goes from standing to sitting over and over

*Loves to be outside and could spend hours on the back patio studying rocks and sticks

*Eats all kinds of food

*Loves to snuggle

*Has some really sweet dance moves

*Loves to be chased when we say "I'm gonna get you!"

*Points at everything (sometimes points and yells at Mikko)
*Loves his furry friends

*Is very ticklish and has the sweetest giggle

A few of his many words:

mama, dada, hockey="ha", kitty="kee", ball, nana (for nana and banana), star="dar", puppy="bup"