Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas! May you and your family rejoice in the day and celebrate the reason for the season.

The Life of an Elf

Tonight, Nate, Elyse and I joined Tom, Jenny and Aiden downtown to go through the Macy's Christmas Production of "The Life of an Elf". Last year just Jenny and I took the kiddos and Elyse missed it all because she was only 3 months and slept through it all. I was super excited to take her this year as well as Nate since he's never seen it. As we got to the entry way, Elyse looked up, said, "Oooooh" and had lots of smiles as shown in the picture below.

Then we walked through the door and this was Elyse's reaction the rest of the time. As parents Nate and I were disappointed, but we couldn't help the fact that Elyse was terrified of the freaky mechanical elves. Therefore, two years unsuccessful, maybe next year!

After Naps

I love when Elyse wakes up after taking a good nap. She is in the best moods and loves to be read to. Recently after her naps if we aren't in a hurry to do something, Elyse has decided she doesn't like being read and rocked to anymore; but would rather do it herself. She will sit there for a good five minutes reading her books and rocking. It gives me great hopes that she will LOVE her Christmas gift from Nate and I.

Computer is still broken if wondering :(

The Things They Say

It seems like Elyse is learning a new word daily and completely understands 100% of what people are saying. So, I know every parent goes through moments where they laugh so hard because of something their child says. Well last night Nate and I had one of those moments. We were talking about adoption and the this is how the conversation went:
Natalie: God blessed us with a daughter that has so much of our personalities it's ridiculous.
Nate: Yes, very much so.
Natalie: Although Elyse is way more beautiful than what we would have biologically made.
Elyse looks up out of the box she was digging in
Elyse: YEAH! (spoken with lots of enthusiasm too)

Also Elyse and I spent some time shopping with our friends this past week and thought I would post a fun picture of how us Moms took over the mall :)

Body Art

I got the idea of painting with pudding from a friend a year ago and couldn't wait for Elyse to do it. I also knew a bath was to follow and it would be fun with a buddy. Therefore, when the family was here visiting, I thought it would be a perfect activity for Elyse and her cousin, Liam. As you can see from the pictures, it started as them nicely painting the paper (the intention) and grew to them painting themselves or more common, just to eat the pudding. They loved it, and us parents loved watching them have so much fun.

The Big 3-0

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, NATE!

Today is a very special day in the Klauser home, and that's because Nate turns 30. I love celebrating birthdays, especially when parties are involved and this one was a lot of fun for me. See on Sunday nights, Nate and I attend a bible study and it was suppose to be our annual Christmas party (hence the red and green decorations). However, I threw Nate a surprise party with our bible study friends, college friends, family and neighbors instead. Overall, it was a very packed house and a very successful party. That's right, a surprise party that actually was a surprise party. Nate had NO idea. Therefore, I want to thank everyone who attended for keeping it a surprise for as long as you did, you did great!
30 must also mean 2 cakes :) because Nate got the opportunity to have a small birthday party with his side of the family when they visited last week too.
Now to Nate...I love you so much. I feel so blessed to have you as my husband and the father to Elyse. Everyday I thank God for bringing you into this world 30 years ago. You really are a man of God and I love you so much! Happy 30th Birthday My Love!!! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Thanksgiving Week

I want to start off and say the computer still is not fixed. However, after attaching the camera to the computer, opening a folder, downloading the pics and uploading them one by one to Blogger, I am able to finally post pictures! Videos are still a no go though.

So this year for Thanksgiving, Nate, Elyse and I had the joy of hosting Nate's family from New Mexico and Iowa. Our nephew, Liam and Elyse really hit it off. Not only are they cousins, but they grew to be the best est of friends. Overall we had a very fun and packed week. Here's just a few things that we did...
Went to the Minnesota Zoo: Went to the Train Museum which was the highlight of Liam's week since the boy knows everything about trains! Took the kids to the Children's Museum in which they got to...
...hide in caves,
...play with water,
...grocery shop,
...and play doctor.

Even though I loved everything we did with the kids, my favorite thing I will post on Wednesday since a more important post will come tomorrow :)

No Such Luck

So here's the deal, computer is still at Best Buy and since we are 2 months over on warranty, they aren't in any hurry to check it out. It may be weeks before we get a successful blog post since this computer I am using doesn't have the power to do pictures or videos. Nate also surprised Elyse and I by taking yesterday off which means he didn't bring his computer home either. Maybe this week, I'm going crazy!!!

All I want for Christmas is my computer to post!

Some of the posts you can look forward to seeing are...
-Thanksgiving Week
-Fun With Pudding
-Wheels on the Bus
-Someone Turns 30!
-Oh Christmas Tree

Stupid Computer

So it's been 2 weeks since I've posted and that's for a couple reasons. Nate and I have been very busy the last two weeks. We had the opportunity to host Nate's family all last week and had a blast! I have so many pictures, stories and videos to share. However, I can't right now, which brings me to the other reason for no post, our computer is currently broken. This old laptop I am using doesn't enable me to upload our photos and videos. Therefore, please continue to check and be patient, I will post our Thanksgiving week and other things the moment our computer is back up and running!

Chase

Nate, Elyse and I went to Tom, Jenny and Aiden's yesterday and Tom captured this video. After seeing it on their blog I had to copy it and paste it for all of you to see. Hope you enjoy, we think it's fun and super cute.

Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo.

#1 Bib

I want to start off and say that I can not take credit for finding these bibs. Our friends, Tim and Christy McCollough recommended these to us and I have to blog on them because they really are the best bibs out there. They were suppose to be a gift for Elyse for Christmas, but Nate and I couldn't wait to use them. They are by Baby Bjorn and can be found online (I prefer going through Target or Amazon).

So why are they so great? Well it's because they fit the necks perfectly, very flexible, big pocket to catch extra food and they are dishwasher safe. As you can see from the video, all of us Klausers enjoy these bibs.

Girls Night Out

So last night was the first "Girls Night Out" I've attended since Elyse was born. All of us girls got dressed up and headed downtown Minneapolis to have yummy desserts at the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant). We only had one rule, no talking about our kids. We figured it was still important to talk about our husbands, which we did ;) The food, atmosphere and company was all perfect. I went to bed with sore cheeks from laughing so much. Overall, it was just what I needed.
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Thank you ladies for such an amazing evening, and a special thanks to our husbands, Nate, Nick, Tom, Seth, Ryan, Kris and Joel for being so supportive and taking over on Dada duties for the evening. You all are wonderful husbands and I can say on behalf of all us ladies, we love you!

Puppy Love

Yesterday evening, Nate and I had the opportunity to watch our good friends, Tom and Jenny's son, Aiden (aka, Elyse's future husband). Anyway, we have watched Aiden a few times in the past, but now that him and Elyse are at the same developmental level of walking and talking to one another tonight was really easy and a lot of fun. The children kept each other entertained. They chased one other on the slide for a good 15 minutes, it was way too cute. We captured some of it, it's kind of long but there are a lot of adorable moments. Who knew puppy love started at 1 years old?!

Meeting Sophie

Nate, Elyse and I had the opportunity to go see my stepdad, Gary and mom late this morning to meet their newest baby, Sophie, a 11 week old West Highland Terrier. Elyse never really knows what to do with dogs, but by the time we left she and Sophie were buddies.

It was great seeing you Gary and Mom, and meeting Sophie.

Absolutely Wonderful

Ever since I started dating Nate, I have gotten spoiled many times and today was no exception and here's the reason why:
I woke up this morning to find all these envelops full of poems for me. The first one was a heads up to enjoy my day and get ready for a day of relaxation and being pampered. At 10:20 I discovered that my mom is in on it and comes up to babysit Elyse all day. Babysitting Elyse all day is a gift for mom too :)
Then the 10:30 envelop informs me I need to follow the directions to an unknown appointment I have at 11:30. I get there and find out I get a pedicure and 1 1/2 hour stone rock massage. Oh my goodness, amazing!!!
After I finish being pampered I read the last note and go home to shower and get ready to go out again with Nate.
Now it's 5:00 and Nate and I are off to a beautiful, romantic dinner and finishing the night with shopping.
Seriously, I have an an absolutely wonderful husband! Thank you so much Nate for such a perfect day. I love you so much and will treasure this day always. (A special thanks also to my mom for watching Elyse.)

Biker Babe

My mom/Elyse's Grams got this toy bike for Elyse as a Halloween gift. No exaggeration, she loves it. She is on it at least five times a day. She loves to push her baby around, read books while sitting on it and honk the horn (she doesn't push it hard enough to hear in the video, but you get the idea). Therefore, thanks mom for buying Elyse her first bike and a toy to keep her busy for at least 5 minutes straight a few times a day :)

Thanks November

November is National Adoption month, a month set aside to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care.

I sometimes take for granted what an amazing thing adoption is. After all I would not have been able to become a mother and parent such a beautiful blessing. I thank God daily for her as well as trusting me to parent a child I never gave birth to. So many friends I know have had prayers answered because of adoption. Therefore, thank you November for celebrating an entire month to such a glorious thing in which gave both Nate and I the glorious little girl in the photo below.

Halloween 09

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! Nate, Elyse and I had a fabulous and fun Halloween this year. We started by having my mom, niece and nephew over to play and eat lunch.
Then we ended the day with having all our friends over for a night of fun. After many attempts at getting a solid good picture, I was able to capture a few.

Wouldn't you pay money to go to a zoo that had this many cute animals?
leopard:Mari, elephant:Aiden, ladybug:Willow, monkey:Elyse, dog:Mason

Beautiful Sight

I believe one of the most beautiful sights you can see as a parent is walking in on your child doing nothing but happily reading a book :) Picture was not staged, Elyse pulled her books by her horse to read

Sharing

Nate and I have spent the last week working on sharing with Elyse. As you can see from the video, she's gotten pretty good at it. She's beginning to share toys, books and food with her friends and us. Ironically I have discovered her sharing of food tends to be food she doesn't like. She sure is one smart and tricky little girl!

Elyse 1 Year Old Pictures

A friend of Nate and I through church took these 1 year old pictures of Elyse. I just LOVE them all and think she did an amazing job. If you need pictures done I'd recommend her in a heartbeat, "Heidi McDowell Photography"! These are just a few. If you would like to see more, please feel free to copy and paste the link below:
Facebook | Your Photos - Elyse 1 Year Old: "http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331133&id=508655202&l=1eb74a7370"

H1N1

So I'm so confused with this entire H1N1 epidemic the news is always talking about. I don't know what to do? Should I or shouldn't I give Elyse the vaccine???? I'm so confident in one thing and then tend to change my mind all over again. So I know your opinion isn't going to make my decision, but I'm just curious what everyone thinks about it. Therefore, feel free to comment any thoughts you may have about the H1N1 vaccine. Please also feel free to vote on the left side whether or not you would give your child the vaccine.

All I know is that I can't be afraid of it or hide all winter, both Elyse and I would go CRazY!

Got the Right Idea

Elyse LOVES to take out my dirty underwear from the laundry basket, carry it around and then put it back in the basket. Well today she thought she would put it back somewhere else instead. I guess she figures she sees Mama wearing these on her legs when she goes pee-pee so I bet they go in there too :)
The one time I don't put the lid down, serves me right.

Busy

I can't believe it's already been over a week since my last post. Elyse and I were busy all last week and then on Thursday, Nate's parents came in for the weekend. We had a great time going to the Science Museum (Titanic Exhibit), Guthrie, Mills City Museum, playing cards and hanging out. Hope this week, I will get more posting done.