Yes, another girl has entered our family… our extended family. After a long first labor, Elizabeth gave birth to Lucy Elizabeth Danks at 11:25 p.m. on January 29, weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces! I guess she and I were destined to have a few giant girls! Of course our girls are thrilled and can’t wait to meet her. From the pictures we’ve seen, she looks just like Elizabeth did as a baby but with a tad less hair, though it’s just as dark. Lucy has adjusted well and Elizabeth is lucky enough to not only have Zak home this week, but also her mother-in-law.
We will not get to meet Lucy until the summer, but then we’re really going to get to know her. Picture this: a green minivan with a topper on the luggage rack, a bike rack on the back bumper loaded down with three bikes and a trailer, several suitcases, toy boxes, pillows, blankets, food boxes, a cooler, and electronic devices piled up inside, oh, and a family of five, a dog, and a cat. That’s us driving to Kentucky the day after school gets out. We’ll be spending the entire summer there so that Lucy doesn’t have to go to daycare! It’s going to be one crowded house, as Elizabeth and Zak already have a dog and two cats–oh, and did I mention just one bathroom? But we’ll make it work. Family is what it’s all about!
Anyone need a place to stay in Aurora this summer? LOL…
We have been busy! Isabella has attended two birthday parties this past month–one at Skate City to fuel the fire of her new obsession: roller skating. She absolutely loves it, and last weekend she and Mythili had their first of six lessons. Mythili learned how to march with her group, and Isabella learned how to stop and skate on one foot. The girls are happy and so are we: in addition to the affordable price of lessons (just $30 for the six-week session), the girls get to skate afterward at the first open skate of the day. AND it’s just over a mile from our house. Can’t be beat!
In addition to the excitement of roller skating and bike riding, Riona has reached her own milestone this past month: potty training. We hunkered down and stuck with it at the very end of Christmas break, and by the end of the first week back to school, she’d mastered the bathroom. After nearly seven NONSTOP years of changing diapers, we are officially beyond the baby stage! Exciting times in the Vittetoe home.
I have been busy working, baking the brownies and a new recipe: flourless chocolate cake (sure to be gone in an hour or less), and keeping up with my new blog. Bruce has been busy coming up with amazing new recipes and creative ideas for our dinner every night–everything from homemade hoagies w/meatballs to pepper lime chicken and latkes. It’s all about the food. 
Another exciting event: as I write this post, my sister is in labor with her baby! More news to come when s/he arrives!
February is sure to be as busy. How the time flies when you’re having fun.
Tags: baking, cooking, potty training, rollerskating, Skate City, writing
Isabella riding her bike with no training wheels.
Isabella has started to learn to ride her bicycle without training wheels. For a while now her bike has only had one training wheel on it. Her bike was run over by one of our cars when it was left sitting behind the cars in the garage. Luckily the only damage done was one of the training wheels was bent beyond use. Isabella had lost interest in riding her bike since she could only lean to one side without falling over. Well yesterday she decided she wanted to get her bike out and try riding it again. She was so excited to let us know she could balance on two wheels without using the one remaining training wheel. We went out to watch her ride around a bit and noticed she would still lean on the training wheel sometimes. I asked her if she would like to have the training wheel off and she agreed. It only took her a few times to realize she couldn’t lean that way anymore without falling over. The hardest part for her was getting started. We adjusted the seat, to make up for the growth spurt since she last rode it, which seemed to help her a little bit more on the take offs. With a little more practice she will be a biking champ like her mom.
If you would like to see a few more pictures of Isabella on her bike, check out the Fun Times gallery on our SmugMug photo page.
So…. about that Christmas post I was going to do… hmmm… a little behind, but better late than never! Christmas has come and gone and we are well into the new year. We had a very busy break with Bruce’s family here for the first ten days. One of the highlights was that we took a trip overnight to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Our cabin was beautiful, with three large bedrooms and a sleeping loft for the kids, a giant living room with a two-story stone fireplace, and an enormous dining room that could seat us all, but most importantly, it SNOWED! The Tennesseeans were so happy about that. We took all the kids and Uncle David sledding and snowshoeing and it snowed all day long. It was a great way to welcome in the Christmas spirit, as the following day was Christmas Eve.
With our special-order Sun Prairie Grass-Fed Beef, we prepared two delicious pot roasts, using two different recipes, and homemade pumpkin pie with the last of our garden pumpkin for our Christmas Eve meal. Everyone ate it up, even picky little Riona! We then opened our presents and watched as the girls squealed over every little item. The best was when Mythili and Isabella opened their iPod with an amazed expression and Isabella said, “I’ve wanted an iPod my whole life!” which is probably, sadly, true.
The next morning, Santa brought Isabella a Barbie scooter, Mythili yet another Barbie set with formal wear for Ken and Barbie, and Riona a new train set to add on to the one we already have that she cherishes so much. The girls just LOVED their Santa presents–he somehow knew exactly what to get them! Truly magical!
We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner, the best Christmas dinner ever–prime rib that Dad gets for free every year from his job. As usual, it was mouthwatering, and just writing about it now makes me already look forward to next year.
By the weekend, everyone was gone, and I felt like I was running a bed and breakfast, washing a million sheets–again–and cleaning up holiday remnants. After a couple of days of recovery, we celebrated Dad’s birthday with snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the mountains, then came back into town to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Mentzers. We partied hard to bring in the new year, and the kids, as usual, had a total blast.
And here we are, MLK day, year two of us participating in the Denver Marade. I’ll say it again–I loved it last year and I loved it again. It makes this day so much more meaningful. But if you’d like to read more about what the Marade is like, check out my new writing blog: Step Write Up.
So, that is what I’ve been busy doing, in addition to working full time, running the Girl Scout troop, selling cookies, and spending quality time with three little girls every day… life is good.
Tags: Christmas, Denver Marade, MLK, New Year
