McNabb Family Blog

If you are wondering what is “in” for the 17 month old in your life, Ensley has volunteered to help you out. Pink sunglasses that are usually so fingerprinted that they are hard to see through are a must for any summer ensemble. They can be worn a variety of ways including upside down on your face. Grandma’s old costume pearls make a nice addition to the stylish look. You can also wear the pearls like some sort of a sash over one shoulder. But the most important look is by far the always important teal foam sandals. They pretty much match anything including pajamas. It doesn’t matter if they are too small and your toes curl off the front of the shoes–just don’t leave home with out them (even if that means screaming for twenty minutes in the car).

Posted on July 10th, 2008 by Lisa
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Ensley is becoming such a little person. Her vocabulary is expanding and she is letting us know her opinion more and more. I love watching her learn new things. I keep thinking each stage is the best until we get to the next phase and then I think that is the best.

This summer has brought on so many new things. Ensley now likes to eat all her meals with silverware. She’s not too good at it, but she is getting better. Usually it’s about 70% fingers / 30% silverware, but it’s a start. She also will bang on the fridge when she is hungry and usually requests “eese” which is string cheese. She’s been known to throw a fit or two if she sees you open the freezer and not take out a Pop Ice. She likes ice in her water and will show you the ice dispenser if you forget.

Ensley also loves to help. It’s nice to be able to ask your child to do some “chores” like “Ensley, go get your shoes” or “Throw this diaper in the garbage.” Ensley loves to boss Tuxie around and if she hears one of us tell Tuxie to go to her kennel she will go find the dog and start yelling at her. Poor dog.

If Ensley wants you for something she will usually grab your hand and take you there. If that approach doesn’t work, she’ll stand where she wants you and clap her hands or slap some part of her body (like her belly or legs). So sassy.

When we were on our house painting spree, multiple times Ensley took the paint tape and start “taping” the walls. One time she even took the wall putty and spackling tool and started to “fix” the walls. I guess I should have been spending more time watching my child and less time painting the walls.

Evan got a Wii for his birthday. Ensley loves to sit in his lap and play Mario Cart with him. She’ll move the remote like it’s a steering wheel. She probably could beat me; I’m so bad at that game (which might explain my actual driving sometimes).

Ensley still loves to turn anything into a seat. If we have any car seat in our house, she will find it and sit in it. She likes to open the kitchen cabinets when I am cooking dinner, push back what ever is in there and make a little seat. This time she found a box to sit in. Why do we buy her toys when she has this much fun with our garbage?

Ensley can have some crazy hair. She is really good about letting me comb her hair though and doesn’t seem to mind. She’ll pull her bow out and then bring it to me to put back in her hair multiple times a day. I am still trying to figure out why you pull your bow out (it has to hurt a little) just to put it back in to do again.

Ensley is always so excited when Evan gets home from work. As soon as she sees him, she gets this huge smile and yells “Daddy.” It’s kind of become the routine for Ensley and Evan to go outside and play in the back yard (and eat Pop Ices) while I clean up dinner. It’s a nice trade. I get some quiet time and Evan and Ensley get to play. Recently, Evan and Ensley have started playing pony. Ens still has a little bit of a hard time staying on, but it’s very cute to watch.

One of the many computers in our computer museum (Evan’s office) is an OLPC. One Laptop Per Child for all you non-geeks or folks who aren’t married to a geek. It’s a laptop for kids in third world countries. Well, Ensley just loves this thing. She loves to pretend to type just like Dad. We have to hide it from her so it stays intact (we like working or “mostly” working computers in our museum).

The other day I was babysitting my friend’s little man, Aaron. Ensley and Aaron decided to lounge together in the dog bed with the blanket. This is how I found them. How cute is this?

Posted on July 9th, 2008 by Lisa
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Over the 4th of July weekend Evan’s family came to visit. Nancy came about a week before and then the rest of the gang came in Wednesday/Thursday. Paul and Stewart drove in from Illinois. Peter, Andrea and Brita flew in from Salt Lake City and Andrew and Karen flew in from California. We had such a great time. We went down to Jacksonville, NC for the McNabb family reunion at Aunt Martha’s place. Most of Paul’s family was there. Ensley got to see her Great Grandma McNabb again and meet a lot of new family. Here is a little photo log of our weekend.

Evan and Stewart in Aunt Martha’s pool. I think we managed to keep Stewart in the pool about long enough to take this picture and get his swim trunks wet. He had puzzles, alarms, and truck magazines waiting inside for him.

Ensley and Brita in their 4th of July onesies. Trust me, there are many pictures that look a lot like this one, but of Ensley looking at something other than the camera. Why can’t she just be cooperative and smile at the camera the first time?

Ensley stole this hat from cousin Jake. She put it on herself; can’t you tell?

Ensley and Evan watching fireworks. Ensley liked them for about 5 minutes than she wanted to go inside. When we tried to take her outside again, she held the door shut, poor girl. I think they were just way too loud for her. Next year I am going to try and remember to get some ear plugs.

What’s a pool party with out some ball playing? Ensley loved the pool. After we took her out of her baby floaty there was no going back in it. She did like sitting on this net float that made a little “floating pool.”

Ensley developed a unhealthy obsession for ice this trip. I don’t know if it just felt good to eat because it was so hot, or because she could put her little fingers in the ring of ice, or her mom was dehydrating her unknowingly, but for two days Ensley would go to the cooler, say more, and beg anyone close to open the cooler. There was a time when she would want to get out the pool get a cube of ice and then come back into the pool. It kind of got a little annoying after a while and so we gave her a cup of ice; at least it kept her stocked for a good 10 minutes or so.

Ensley and her Great Grandma McNabb

Grandma McNabb with her two grandbabies, Ensley and Brita

Evan’s ant farm provided for some entertainment. We were all waiting for the ants to connect two tunnels (i guess we are very easy to please) (FYI they were really close to connecting, promise) when tornado Evan came into town and put the ants in a sleep scare. Yep, they just went right into the corner and stopped working. (I can’t believe I just posted about an ant farm, wow, see what marriage does to you?)

Ensley loved jumping (almost, more like falling off while holding your fingers) off the waterfall edge of the pool.

All I can say is, isn’t this just such an adorable picture of Brita? She’s was just too cute in her little suit and hat.

I can’t resist posting this picture of Andrew in Ensley’s sunglasses. What a goober.

Andrea and Brita.

Ensley and Brita. It’s funny how Ensley thinks that Brita is so much younger than her when in a few years it wont even really make too big of a difference. One time the girls were in the bath and Brita started crying. Ensley started talking to her (who knows what she said) and rubbing her back. I love it!

Ensley and Grandpa McNabb. I am sure they were playing some sort of game.

Andrew and Karen (I think I might like the other glasses a little better).

For Nancy’s “birthday” we drove up to Beaufort, NC and had dinner while looking out onto the water. We can’t go anywhere close to a large body of water with out Nancy needing to go site seeing (yes, that counts lake Michigan in Chicago).

The whole gang after our water-view dinner.

Posted on July 9th, 2008 by Lisa
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A few times I’ve trimmed the edges of Ensley’s hair, but the time had come to hand over the job to a professional. Ensley sat in Evan’s lap and didn’t really seem to mind at all. The hardest part was keeping her from wiggling and trying to grab the hairdresser’s tools. She even let the lady blow dry her hair and curl it under. It’s amazing what a difference trimming up the sides and back makes. I think my days of a hairdresser are over.

Posted on June 19th, 2008 by Lisa
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Over Memorial Day weekend Evan and I met my cousin Amber and her husband Jared in Chicago. We dropped Ensley off with Evan’s parents and enjoyed our first weekend childless (It was very nice, but I was ready to get home to my baby.) We stayed in Chicago for two and a half days, drove down to Champaign stayed the night there, went to the Indy 500, and then spent another day relaxing in Champaign. We had such a great time. The entire time we were in Chicago they were experiencing “unseasonably cool” weather. Needless to say, I know I am wearing the same sweatshirt in every picture, but I did shower and change the rest of my clothes each day. I just didn’t think it would be sweatshirt weather the entire time, or I would have packed different.

The first day we rode the Metra train into town and then put our lives at risk by taking a taxi to the hotel. After we had dropped our things off we went up to the top of the Sears Tower. 103 stories up is sure high. It’s crazy how much of the city you can see. That night we went to Millennium/Grant park. We got stuck in the middle of a 23,000 person 5K race, so it took us about 45 minutes to cross the street. It was pretty entertaining watching all those people run though especially the guy who cheated.

There is this sculpture at the park that is so fun. I think we looked like elementary school kids on a field trip posing and entertaining ourselves with this jelly-bean shaped mirror. The official name is actually Cloud Gate, but jelly bean is much more descriptive. The best part of the sculpture is that it reflects the city skyline. Here is a picture since my description is not very helpful.

There is also a fountain at the park called Buckingham Fountain. It does a light show every hour (but we missed it due to 23,000 of our friends who where blocking the cross walk). It’s quite the site and of course a great place for a photo op, right?

The next day we went to the Shedd Aquarium. I love aquariums. I’ll go to any one I can. One of the best things we did was take a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was pretty cold, but the scenery was beautiful especially the sun set. We learned about the history of Chicago skyscrapers and Lake Michigan. If you are ever in Chicago, I would highly recommend Wendella Boat Tours. Just make sure you’re on a boat with an indoor as well as outdoor section.

The morning before we headed out of Chicago, we went to Navy Pier. Even though it was a total rip-off we had to ride the ferris wheel. I don’t remember the last time I rode a Ferris wheel. Evan introduced us to “elephant ears” which turns out to be the mid-western version of southern funnel cakes, just a different shape.

Evan’s grandparents have had tickets to the Indy 500 for years, so their seats are pretty good. We got there early and walked around the stadium. It’s crazy how many people are there. I think the race is a big rush. The cars pass by so fast you can feel it in your chest. Even though the two drivers we were going for didn’t do too hot, we still had such a fun time.

Thanks Jared and Amber for coming out. It was such a fun trip. And thanks to Mom and Dad McNabb for watching Ens so we could go play.

Posted on June 15th, 2008 by Lisa
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