Middle of July

Just about the middle of July...Summer sure is going by fast!

Today Ella and I had a busy day! It started out getting up and getting ready for church...

I gave Ella 2 options for which dress to wear....she very eagerly chose the orange one! With the fun pockets!

I had nursery today at church. It was my first time serving in the 2 year old room...it was a little overwhelming! Let's just say that Ella was by far the quietest and just about the most well-behaved child in there....ahhhh! I do think she's also the youngest. I was tired after that! "No don't do that!" "Please, say you're sorry for pushing!" Etc, etc! :)

So after church...Ella and I went to the lake. Josh was in another shooting competition early this afternoon...and then he had to work 3pm-11pm tonight. We had lunch with Grandpa and Gigi. Then Grandpa brought out some cool bubbles to play with (by the way - Josh says 'thanks!') - which the extra got sent home with us. After bubbles, we went to the pool for an hour. Ella kept asking me to wash her hands...they were all shriveled up from being in the water and she didn't like it! Ella made a new friend at the pool...a little 3 year old boy named Morgan who brought some toys over to play with. After the pool...we hit up Sweet Frog for some ice cream....and by then it was 4:30 and I had a very sleepy little girl....so we headed home where she fell asleep on the way home. Since Ella wasn't going to see Josh tonight we quickly swung into his office to say hi for a few minutes and then headed home. Dinner, Bath, and Bed!

Last night we went to a "Gender Reveal" party. Our friends are having a baby and they just found out what they were having...so they had a party to tell all their family and friends at one time. And the way they told everyone was by handing out cans of silly string to each person and we all sprayed it at the same time....and it was PINK! Very exciting! Although Ella really didn't like the silly string and was actually quite scared of it!

So Ella really likes broccoli...we had that a few times this week and she kept taking it off my plate after she finished hers! She was a big fan of that!

Ella and I cleaned out her toybox...

This way we could pass on some of the "baby" toys to our friends' new baby! :)

Well that was our weekend!

July 4th has come and gone!

Last Friday night....I had a girls night! I don't do that often...and yes by 9pm I was yawning :) I did however make it til 11pm! We had a fun night catching up and having dinner (and chocolate cake for dessert!)

Josh spent the majority of his weekend working on homework...soon it will be over! There is a light at the end of the tunnel...mid-August!

It was just another normal week for us. Actually Josh had Tuesday and Wednesday off...not due to July 4th however...it was time he took off to finish school work as the end of the semester is today.

July 4th - it rained almost all day! Surprise Surprise! However the sun did come out in the afternoon and we went over to some friends house last night....where we had a BBQ and did some fireworks....

Ella liked the sparklers...we took turns helping her hold them....we did a few bigger fireworks too...she said those were, "noisy fireworks."

We bought Ella a booster seat and her very own Minnie Mouse plate with matching silverware...so she now sits with us at the table for all her meals instead of her high-chair. She thinks she is hot stuff!

I made Ella pizza last week (this was before I bought her a plate/booster seat) and I was eating a salad...well Ella kept pulling all the veggies out of my salad and eating those instead!

 

Ella's little friend at the sitter's broke her arm last week (not at the sitters - but at her house over the weekend) - poor little thing...she's about Ella's size...a few months older...and has a big bright pink cast on her arm. Ella was excited to tell Josh about it!

 

Ella LOVES to color...can ya tell?? This is her art gallery! That we clean up every night...but she colors a little bit on each page and then puts her picture on the floor to "save it" and moves on to the next one. She loves for Josh or I to draw stars or balloons and then she wants to color them in.

Josh is going shooting tomorrow and is in another competition on Sunday. I'm glad he's getting a little downtime in...instead of all the homework he's been doing!

Almost July!

I can't even believe that next week is July 4th - the beginning of summer is FLYING by!

Pretty much our weeks are all the same. This past weekend...Ella did stay with Grandpa and Gigi...

 

Well...they stayed at our house. Josh and I went to Charlottesville for a night. We went to our concert...I didn't even know that they make concerts standing only...but glad I was wearing flats! 4 hours later...my legs were jello...but it was so fun! 

I am happy to say that Ella branched out in eating a few different things last week! I made gorditas one night...and she surprisingly ate quite a bit of that. The next night I made a chicken/broccoli alfredo dish...and she was chowing down on that! Plus the usual cucumbers, bananas, yogurt, etc. Tonight it was pizza and she did pretty good eating that. Slowly she's trying new things! 

Another picture with Ella from the birthday party last weekend on the swing...she was having a blast!

 

The little princess posed with me last week...I was trying to get a picture of her outfit...but she doesnt like me to take pictures...she wants to see what is going on...so I had to flip the camera around but couldn't get her outfit in....you can really tell in this picture...we have almost the same hair color!!

So Josh is probably not going to appreciate this picture :) But this was a few days ago...Ella gets her very own magazine in the mail (thanks to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa) - Highlights for Kids (but geared towards pre-school age) - well she thinks it's great to have her own magazine! Ella and Josh read it together and then she pulled out the little inserts...well I was cooking dinner and I turn around to see this...Josh teaching Ella how to hang the paper from your bottom lip....really that's what you're going to teach her?!?! :) She however thought it was soooo funny!

That's just about been it...we've had a few attitude problems with Ella...but it's just the typical 2 year old thing...testing the waters to see what she can get away with....which isn't much! It resulted in a few spankings and a few time-outs the past 2 days! And a few tears!

Well it is 9:15...and I made brownies for the girls at work tomorrow...so I need to go cut those and cover them up for the night (and hide them from Josh - he's already gotten into them!)

Another Busy Week

Last Sunday Josh and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary! Well actually he worked on homework the entire day and I didn't even see him...but we're celebrating next weekend! Grandpa and Gigi are coming over Saturday and watching Ella while Josh and I go out of town for a night to a concert!

Poor Josh has had a crazy schedule this past week. He work Monday and Tuesday - 7:30pm - 3:30am. Then on Wednesday and Thursday worked 12:00pm - 8:00pm. He had Friday off...but had to have Daddy Daycare because our sitter was taking a vacation day on Friday. So when Ella took a 2.5 hour nap...so did Josh! And he had to watch her on Saturday while I worked! Just for a few hours though.

I forgot to post this picture last time...Ella is building...while Daddy reads directions!

 

They were building a bookshelf for Ella's room....I got tired of picking up books all over our living room....so now she has a nice bookshelf in her room where they all go!

When Josh watched Ella on Friday they had all kinds of fun. He took her to a park where they went down the slide and ran in the grass. Then he took her to another playground where they played more. And then they came to visit me at work. No wonder Ella took a 2.5 hour nap! 

Saturday afternoon Ella had a birthday party to go to....her friend Neko (my co-workers daughter) was turning 2. They played on bikes and a large playground.

Sunday - Josh had to work 10:00am-6pm...so we went to the early service at church. Then Josh went to work while Ella and I headed over to the lake. It was a beautiful day! Last year Ella went right in the pool...she was a little hesitant this year! She really didn't want to get in...after about 10 minutes she warmed up to the idea...and a few minutes later she was having a great time playing!

This picture just cracks me up....Grandpa and Ella reading together in unison.

And we finished the day with a little Sweet Frog!

Ella was tired out and slept the whole way home...and even went to bed a little early tonight! She was a little on the grouchy side for sure! Between playing at church, then headed over to Grandpa and Gigi's house...where she played with numerous Tigger's, went for a little walk with Grandpa, picked flowers, went swimming, and had ice cream - she was a tired girl!

Ella's in bed, I finished sweeping and cleaning the floors, picked up, did the laundry, cleaned the dishes, Josh is home from work and finished up some homework....it's almost 9:00 and my eyelids are getting heavy! Time for bed to begin it all again tomorrow morning!

Week after Vermont

Now that I'm caught up about our Vermont trip...We got back on a Wednesday...and we both had work at 8am on Thursday morning...so really Thursday/Friday was a bit of a whirlwind as we hadn't even unpacked everything from Wednesday.

Saturday - our friends, Micah and Dan, just had a baby...actually born the same day Ella was - just 2 years later! So I made them a meal and Ella and I brought it over Saturday afternoon. It was the first time Ella got to hold a newborn baby...and she was LOVING it. (however, don't get any ideas - Ella is still remaining an only child!)

She held Baby Wyatt two times...and for about 15 minutes. She had a great time!

This past week has been a very busy week for Josh...he had to take a class - a General Instructors class...which was held where he went through the Police Academy...so he has been there from 8 to 5 each day...and then the class had assigned a lot of homework each night! Which he was just loving...so he was up til 10:30-11:30 each night just doing homework for this class...and he didn't even touch the homework for his Master's classes. That was Monday - Friday...then he had to work at the office on Saturday from 6am-2pm....so pretty much all day Saturday afternoon and so far today - he has locked himself away while he works on his homework for his other two classes.

Ella had her 2 year check-up on Tuesday this past week. Poor thing...she knew where we were when I pulled in. She started crying while checking in, sitting in the waiting room, calling us back, seeing the nurse...and cried even harder when the Doctor came in, and WAILED when she got her shot....whew! She is 24.4 pounds and 33.5 inches long. Tall and skinny! After getting her shot...they bring us back to a little lab where they had to prick her finger and they test to see the lead level in her...kids putting stuff in their mouth I guess can lead to elevated levels of lead in their body. While we waited they had a Big Bird chair...well that made Ella stop crying...she loved the Big Bird chair! And as a matter of fact...when they pricked her finger...she didn't even wince! She was too excited about the chair! We got home and Josh asked Ella how the Doctors visit went...she was so excited she kept saying,  "Big Bird, Big Bird Chair!!" We're done for another year! 3 years will be her next visit.

Ella always likes to repeat things we say...but she is really doing it a lot more. I called to Josh one night this week...and yelled down the stairs, "hey babe - dinner's ready!" Well...Ella decided that is what she was going to call Josh for the rest of the night..."hey babe"...I thought it was sooo funny! :) Josh kept saying..."no I'm Daddy!" :)

Ella is all about routine...good thing...so is her Mama! We have the exact same routine everyday...and Ella knows it down pat. Sometimes she will even say what it is that we need to do next.

Ella knows her colors pretty well...the only one that gets her caught up is yellow and orange. When we're at the store she'll point at things and say what color it is. She can kinda count to 3. We're working on that...her favorite number is 3...so whatever you ask her..."Ella - how old are you?" "3!!" 3 is it for everything!

Ella has her favorite foods...so she eats a lot of yogurt, applesauce, bananas, cucumbers, and pizza!

3 weeks later....

Life has been a whirlwind...it may take me a few days to catch up!

So I thought Ella did well with her antibiotic....about 4 days of being off of it....the symptoms started again....just as we were getting ready to head to Vermont...so I filled her up with some Benadryl Sinus and Allergies...and hoped for the best! I was giving it to her morning and night...and it was helping to "dry" her out so it wasn't turning into a sinus infection at least!

Josh got home Thursday around 1pm. He took the car in for an oil change before we headed to Vermont. Friday morning we were up and ready and out the door by 7:30am...we were hoping to leave by 7...so we were only 30 minutes behind schedule. Lesson learned - never drive to Vermont listening to the GPS, with a 2 year old, Memorial Day Weekend, and expect to drive it all in 1 day. This fancy new GPS is supposed to be able to detect traffic (how it does I have no idea) - and tell you which route is the fastest with not a lot of traffic....well we didn't like the route it took us...especially when we were in bumper to bumper traffic with a crying/whiny 2 year old! She did well for about 6 hours....after that it took everything in us to keep driving instead of just stopping. 13.5 hours later....we were in Vermont....oh and it rained almost the whole way up...and it was like a hurricane when we got to Vermont..I don't remember that wind blowing so hard! With a high of 43 degrees! Long story short....Josh said never ever again will we do that trip in one day (we left early on the way back so we could split the trip into 2 days!)

Saturday morning....Ella was up around 6:30 I think it was...it may have been a little earlier. Mama was tired! We all got up and went to the Echo which was fun!

Ella got to touch a starfish...She thought that was pretty cool!

 

Let's see...other adventures we had....Sunday...it rained again...we went to church, came back to the house and had lunch, the girls went to a baby shower while the dads stayed home with all the kids!, then church again at night. Josh gave a presentation about internet safety to the youth group and their parents...he did a great job...I was very proud of him! 

Monday - the sun came out!!! It was beautiful! We of course went to the Memorial Day Parade...with Ella we thought...hmmm this could be either really good or really bad...she's very noise sensitive...and of course....at a parade there are lots of noises! 

 

Ella and all her cousins had a great time! They were all wearing matching shirts! :)

After the parade...it was a birthday party for Ella (2nd Birthday) and the twins, David and Silas (their 1st Birthday)

 

Tuesday we went over to visit Cheri and Chace...which Ella wanted to take over all of his toys (sorry Chace - she's still learning to share!) We went back and had lunch and then started our journey back to Virginia. We made reservations in Edison, NJ. So this way we had a destination and knew it was going to be about 6 hours. 

Highlights of Vermont - Ella loved the cows. She would go down (with her new barn boots) and help call the cows ("hey girls!") - she is very good at doing this! She LOVED the golf cart - she got to ride all around in it. Her Nanny even took her one morning at 7:15am and they rode all around! Ella loved being outside...she kept wanting to "run"....over and over and over....which was great...she was using up energy!

On our way home - at our New Jersey stop....we were going to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner...as we were headed there....we passed a Rainforest Cafe...so I said well that would probably be more fun for Ella...so we went there instead...and yes...she found it fascinating! :) She had a great time there!

 

Oh and so the hotel was supposed to supply a crib for us - since we didn't bring a pack and play for Ella since we didn't know we were taking 2 days to come home....so it was supposed to be brought up to our room after dinner....and what do you know.... it wasn't...they were out....or really never had one...I don't know..we went back to the front desk and the guy and Josh went to every floor looking in their "supply room" for one...and nothing....so Ella slept between Josh and I....poor Josh got like an inch of the bed....as Ella kept moving towards him...kicking him, hitting him....hahaha....while I had practically the whole king bed to myself! :) Josh didn't dare move her as she was sleeping and he didn't want her to wake up and start crying...poor guy!

Next day - we headed home....it was still long...we left around 10:00ish...I think....and we got home around 5:30....still made for a long day. Ella was done. We got home and she just ran all around the house....getting all that energy out!

Well....that catches you up on our Vermont trip...I'll have to write again tomorrow to catch you up on our last week!

Early Birthday

The past week has been a normal week...Ella finished out her antibiotic and seems to have recovered well this time around! Josh had a whole 3 days off from school from when the last semester ended to it restarting again this past Monday...so he's back in the swing of things - 2 classes again.

Josh left on Saturday to go to Orlando for a few days...for a conference. So Saturday night...I partied at home...are you ready for it...I cleaned the floors, polished the hardwood floors, polished the stainless steel appliances and kitchen sink, and washed all the kitchen windows....whew...it was a good time! ;)

We went to church today...Ella and I...I got paged to come get her...but it was a false alarm...she had calmed down...so I left her in there...and I sat out in the lobby (there is a TV where you can watch the sermon)....just in case I got paged again (Ella doesn't really love the nursery) - and I was sitting towards the front of the church...I didn't want to keep going back and forth. Which was fine - she did well. Then we headed home. Grandpa and Gigi were headed over and bringing lunch!

Oh...this is a picture of Ella chowing down on some pizza Friday night...she's not at all like her Mama...she LOVES pizza!

So Grandpa and Gigi came over....and Ella might have a slight obsession of playing with her Grandpa...she was a little show-off and wanted to do everything with him (sorry Gigi!)

They brought lunch, a birthday balloon, and birthday presents for Ella!

 

We had a fun afternoon! Ella took a great nap after they left...while she was napping I made mini-cupcakes...for Ella to bring to the sitters this week. Since we won't be here Friday - I figured it would give the kids there a sweet treat for the week! And that was it for the day...Ella had a bath tonight, she's in bed now and I have a load of laundry going and I am about to go open my book and read! :)