Back in Action

We are back from vacation. We had a wonderful time! We had 4 great days of boating, 4 fun nights with our friends, and 1 spectaular day of fishing. And it feels good to have my Ellie back!!! Time to unpack and get settled again.



Vacation Bound

Derek and I are taking a vacation to Minnesota for a few days with 4 other friends. This is our first real vacation in about 3 years. We will enjoy spending time with our pals, go boating, fishing, and hopefully relax a little. Ella is staying at Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson's house for a couple days! We know she is in very good hands and have no worries. She has nothing but fun, good food, and lots of kisses coming her way.  But I will miss my little sweetheart!!!

 

True Story

There seems to be some puppy love between Ella and the little neighbor boy, Jax.

The night they first met, we chatted with the family and later said our goodbyes. Ella stared longingly at their house waiting for him to come back outside. She stood still for several minutes with her hands crossed over her belly waiting for him to reappear. She was so heart broken to leave him.

Last night, after E went to bed, Derek was out in his garden. It was almost dark, and the neighborhood was quiet. He heard a lone voice calling from the neighboring house. In the 2nd floor window was a pitch dark room and a sweet little voice calling "Lella! Lella!" It was Jax!

Third Generation Boaters!

I cannot get over how cute this picture is. This is my Dad and my niece, Jada on a boat ride this past Father's Day weekend. Boating has always been a favorite Cozart summer hobby.  It is so exciting to watch the next generation start getting into it! Jordon, Jada, and Ella all love a good boat ride.

Although I don't anticipate a third-generation Gustafson deer hunting picture for a couple years, I know a few who are anxiously waiting for it. In the mean time, we will continue plumping up the local deer with left-over Captain Crunch Berries.

Baptism

This past weekend, we had a baptism ceremony for Ella.  Our friends, Brian and Stephanie, are her sponsors! We feel very blessed to be able to baptize Ella in a welcoming church with a fantastic pastor. We also feel blessed that she did not burn the church down when she tried to grab the pedestal holding the candle.

Trade-Offs

The secret to a level-headed marriage is accepting that you both have equally annoying habits. And laughing at them occasionally. I know that 50 years from now:

I will still hog the covers.

Derek will still leave his socks next to the couch as soon as he gets home.

I will still park my car crooked. Everywhere.

Derek will still leave his nasty worms in our fridge until I finally throw them away.

I will still be forgetful.

Derek will still be frugal.

Thinking Ahead

Each time Ella sits in her time-out stool, she is just devastated that Mommy or Daddy is upset with her. When we finally rescue her from her time-out (usually only 2-3 minutes long), we approach her and ask: "Are you ready to be a big girl?" She wipes away her tears, stands up, and greets us with a hug laying her head on our shoulders. That is her way of saying she is sorry.

Tonight, she actually told me "sowwy" when we were sitting on the floor. I already forget what she did, but evidently she knew she wanted to bypass the time-out that she knew she deserved. Smooth.

Fun Weekend

We had a wonderful time at the Heinze wedding this weekend! We enjoyed sharing our day with the lovely bride and groom.  Both were beautiful and glowing all day. Many happy wishes to them both!

Beetza Night, Part 2!

We usually make homeade pizza about once every two weeks. Pizza ("Beetza") Night is really starting to become one of Ella's favorite. We know because:

6 weeks ago: She was shouting "Beetza Beetza Beetza!"
4 weeks ago: She recognized the pizza going in the oven and began shouting "Beetza!" through the oven window.
2 weeks ago: Upon hearing the oven timer, she gasped and yelled "Beetza!" as she sprinted to the kitchen.
Tonight: She successfully reached three forks in our silverware drawer as we were dishing up our "Beetza."

The frequency of "Beetza Night" is really starting to get embarassing.

I Hear Wedding Bells!

Our family is getting ready for a very important day---Jeff & Trista's wedding! They are so excited for their big day, and so are we! Time to start polishing up the last details. :)

Dandelions

It's bittersweet that all of the dandelions are gone in our yard. The grass looks better, but now there are no flowers for Ella to pick for me and say "Here-go!"

Fishy Tales

We got acquainted with our new fishies tonight! We were off to a rough start when Ella launched a spatula into the tank after I took off the lid. But as the night went on, Ella began shrieking at the site of them when she walked by and started having longer conversations with them. I think she is growing rather fond of them!

Photography

I love taking pictures. I was optimistic (and naive) when I purchased my camera, thinking I might catch some better shots with a quicker shutter speed. There's a small amount of truth to that.

Fact: The best camera in the world cannot get your toddler to smile and say cheese. I hope to have all of my camera's functions figured out by the time she learns how to sit still.

Little Monkey

Me: "Ella! Get down! You are such a monkey!"
Ella: (totally straight face) "Oooh Oooh! Oooh Oooh!"

I think she hopes I mistake her for a monkey. :)

Late-Night Impersonations

If there is one thing that really gets me laughing, it is Derek's impersonations of people that annoy him (usually people on TV).  There is one thing that really gets him going-- newscasters who can't talk correctly. Its taken him a couple years to forget about Melissa Sissler who unfortunately had a bad lisp and a really bad name to go with that lisp. Last night he had me really laughing at almost 11pm as he pretended to be Colleen O'Shaunghnessy - a local reporter who seems to have a partially saggy face, a lazy tongue, and a speech imediment.

A Night at the Pond

What awesome weather! We spent an hour at a local pond trying to fish. Derek caught a nice crappie. I left my pole unattended for about 30 minutes and discovered a bluegill on it as we were packing up. And on our way out, we said "hi" to a turtle crossing the road! He was not so thrilled.

We lost our shoe hurrying out of the car. :)