Garden Enhancements

We got a very generous upgrade to our garden this past week. Grandma Kathy gave us 5 nice plants to add to our sad little garden! It looks 1000 times better already. We are hoping for a nice blooming garden next year!!

Future Career Path

The mechanics at Everett's Service better watch out! Ellie is already working on her mechanic skills.

A Bug's Life

We had an unwelcome visitor tonight in our yard, a praying mantis! He was in our driveway and I covered him with a vase so Ella could get close. Gross!!

Happy Girl

Ella was out of control tonight. I have never seen anyone happier than she was. I'm not sure if she was sugared up, or goofy-tired, but she was SO darn playful and full of laughs tonight as we were trying to wind down for bed. I couldn't get her to take anything serious. We had a lot of laughs watching her literally falling over from giggling so hard.

Potato Hunt

Is there anything cuter than watching two little toddlers celebrating the discovery of potatoes? Ella and her sweet little neighbor, Carter, had a BLAST hunting for potatoes while Derek dug them up. They were yelling "tato!" and "bucket!" as they were gathering their crop. So, so cute. Who says you can't have an easter egg hunt in the fall! :)

Ode to Motherhood

If you see any mothers walking around with a mouth shaped peanut butter smudge on the shoulder of their shirt, please give her a break. :)

Vocabulary Update

We are getting a kick out of Ella as she tries new words and phrases. She's getting so good with her talking but everything ends with a "t."

"I want downt!"
"Get upt!"
"Runt!"
"Grovert"
"Here's your chint!"
"Tonguet!"
"Stopt!"

Harvest

We are enjoying our home grown harvest! Although our tomatoes are slowing down, we have a pile of potatoes ready to be cooked and had our first sweet potato squash tonight with supper. Yum!

Dr. Ella

Lately, Ella has taken a very active interest in owies. Any time she sees the littlest owie on someone (cut, hangnail, pimple....) she grabs it with both hands, gives it a thorough inspection and says "what haaaapened?" Then she tilts her head, says "ooooowie" and gives it a big ole smooch.

Maybe we have a future doctor or nurse on our hands!

Mini-Mom & Mini-Dad

Some of the best moments of parenting involve watching your own traits come out in the wonderful little person you're raising.

It is comical to see Ella eat her favorite fruit at the speed of 1 raspberry/second. Definitely Derek's baby!

It is so sweet to see her get out of the bathtub, get in her fleece pajamas, ask to have her towel wrapped around her, and another fleece blanket on top of that while she lays on top of me. Her and her mom can never be too warm!

Abort the Icee

Mark my words.... I will never give Ella the last of my Icee again!

I gave her the bottom of my drink as we were grocery shopping. After the sugar settled in, she wanted out of the cart. I was literally running down the aisle after her----she was out of control. She was sprinting in the other direction, hair blowing, cheeks jiggling, shreaking like a pterodactyl all the while carrying a big can of sweet potatoes and giggling hysterically. She was running so fast she couldn't even stop.  There should be a warning label on Icee drinks.

Sparkly Sparkly Sparkly

Ella: "Woooooooow! Pretty!" (as she watches me put on my sparkly flats for work)

I'd like to think Ella has really good taste in shoes.... not that I wear shoes that belong in the children's department.

"Mom! Mom!! MOM!!!!"

"Mom! Mom!!! MOM!!!!" I heard as I was doing the dishes. I dashed across the house to discover my little cliffhanger in need of a rescue.

Three's Company

Something we have NEVER done is let Ella sleep in our bed. This is purely to Derek's credit, because I've tried getting away with it when E is sick or when a thunderstorm is coming because I don't mind the company. =)

To my surprise, Derek let Ella stay in bed with us at the hotel......... we were all one big happy family that night sleeping comfortably in a huge king bed. This is a picture of us starting off sleeping soundly.

It only lasted until about 1am. Derek described the sleeping situation similar to below:



I was very sad to see her go in the pack and play, but I couldn't really blame him (although I think he might've been exhaggerating a little bit).

Please don't be jealous of my Paint skills.

A Trip to the Zoo

We enjoyed a brief little getaway to Minnesota this past weekend. Besides some shopping and hotel swimming, the highlight was the zoo! We had a great time, wonderful weather, and had a lot of furry visitors against the window saying hello!

This was the wolf Ella was calling Tucker (confusing him with a massive family labradoodle)

 Ella was yelling "WOW!" and gasping constantly during the dolphin show.

 Funny ole bear

 Another window visitor!

 One of Ella's favorites - the monkeys!

Camels!

Seahorses!



CoOkIe FaIrY

2 nights ago, we let Ella take a bowl holding her half-eaten cookie bar upstairs to bed. Not a very frequent occurrance but she's gotten away with a lot the week of her birthday! She dozed off to sleep, and the next morning we went in to wake her up. Before she even opened her eyes, she whispered "coooookie...." She turned on her stomach and lifted up her pillow on a misson. There sat the bowl and half-eaten cookie bar. LOL! ....she is very possessive of her leftovers.

"Open!!"

Ella was so funny the night of her birthday party. As Derek and I were trying to clean up the house a little, she was going through every single gift she received. She would pick it up, sprint across the house to find one of us (hair blowing, cheeks jiggling) screaming "Opeeeeeeennnnnnnn!!!!" and wait patiently as we took it out of its wrapper or container.