MBA completed and to Vermont and Back!

Well Josh survived his week at Liberty...it wasn't pretty...but he's done! :) They got assigned their first case on Wednesday afternoon - they were the first group to leave the school at 3am. He was in bed by 3:30am and up again at 5am to get in the shower and then head to school. They had to be there by 6:30am to get set up and ready to present by 7am. After they all presented then they got assigned their 2nd case...this time they were only there til about 1:30am...and again up at 5am. He was so excited Friday night - he was done. And he passed! Ella and I went to go visit him Thursday night after I was done work. They were in the business department working on their project...so we stopped by...Josh forgot to mention it was also the same day the Freshman were moving in - that was just great! Here I am driving around a campus that I don't know very well and there is all this construction so the usual road I go on is no longer a road and everything is only one way....I was getting frustrated! But - we finally found our way!

Saturday night we went to Red Lobster to celebrate Josh completing his MBA. Sunday was another normal Sunday for us....except in the afternoon - Josh didn't have any homework to do! So he helped me clean...next thing I know he's moving the couches around and re-arranging the living room! I like him being done with school!

Well now it's time to head to Vermont. Josh took Thursday off to do some sleeping during the day. I worked. After work - we headed to Vermont! We decided to drive through the night on the way up - which worked out perfect! Ella was asleep around 8:15. She did wake up at 12:30 when we stopped for gas. She was so excited - she thought we were there - we were only in New Jersey. However, she remained WIDE AWAKE until 3:45am!! She was very good - never made a peep - but her eyes were as big as saucers! And well she never whined...but she did ask if we were in "ma-mont" yet! She can't quite say Vermont! We arrived a few minutes before 6am...hung out for a little bit...Josh went and laid down to get a few hours of sleep. Nanny took Ella to the store with her while I took a shower and also laid down for a little while. Ella kept on going! She didn't lay down til her nap time.

Ella's two favorite things in Vermont...feeding the cows and riding the golf cart!!

This is the three of us riding the golf cart! And you can see the little barn behind us...we just finished feeding the cows!

Ella also got to ride a bike....slowly learning...

 

And yes I know - she doesn't have a helmet on...but we didn't let go of the bike! One of us was right by her side at all times! :) A helmet is on the list!

Nanny and Ella did get some baking time in...

 

The first scoop of cookie dough went into the pan...and then the spoon went right into her mouth! We had to have a lesson on you don't get to eat the cookie dough! :)

Friday afternoon Ella and I went to visit our friends, Scott and Cheri and baby Chace (who's almost a year old now!)...and I didn't get a single picture of it!

On Saturday night - Josh's sister, Joy and her family were over. They arranged for a sitter to come to the house for all the kids and the adults went up to Burlington and went out to eat - which was really nice!

 

On Sunday there was a special service for the Taylor's 25th anniversary for being at the church for 25 years - which made for a really nice day. And it was so beautiful out - about 78 and sunny. It was great!

On Monday Josh and I headed to Boston for a few days. Ella stayed with Nanny and Grampy while we went. We did a Duck Tour, Quincy Market, walked around for miles sight-seeing!, the USS Constitution museum and then the tour of the USS Constitution. It was perfect weather - slightly cloudy but right around 80 degrees. Nanny and Grampy took Ella to the Champlain Valley Fair...where she had fun. They said her favorite thing was the pigs! She looooved the pigs and piglets. And she even asked to go on a ride. So Nanny took her on a little ride. I think she had a great time! On Tuesday they headed over to New York and got a few hotel rooms. They cousins went over and met them at the hotel...and they went swimming!

Nanny and Grampy with the big grandkids - the twins were out of the pool.

Josh and I came back from Boston and met everyone at the hotel. Then we went to Joy and Joe's house for dinner and a campfire!

 

Ella loved her s'more!

On Wednesday we packed up and started our track home. Since we were near Albany - that saved us 2 hours. So we only had 10 hours to drive....which we chose to do in 2 days. We drove about 5.5 hours on Wednesday. We stopped at outlets on the way...yay! Got Ella stocked up with some cute Fall clothes! And a stop for Josh....

Which was just as much as a stop for Ella. She loved seeing all the animals inside. While Josh was looking around Ella was pulling me this direction and that direction to see all the animals! It was pretty impressive!

Thursday we got up and made it the rest of the way home. We were home around 1:30. I ran to the grocery store, and played catch-up on laundry.

That's it - that's the highlights of the last two weeks!

Overdue!

I know...I'm overdue in posting! Ella lately hasn't been getting into bed until almost 8...and then by the time I clean up...I'm ready to get into bed!

Let's see...so last I posted...it was Ella's first night in her "big girl" bed....well we're 10 days into it and it has been just fine. Not even one issue in getting her to stay in her bed! Yay! Even nap-time she does just fine and stays in her bed.

Last Sunday....we got up and had breakfast...and she wanted to read her magazine while eating her banana :)

 

We then went to the early service at church. Josh headed to work after church. And Ella and I went to the lake. Grandpa had to work too....so it was just the girls. We had lunch and went to the pool, and of course Sweet Frog. 

Monday - our sitter was on vacation this past week....and wouldn't you know it....our back-up sitter was on vacation the VERY SAME week! So ummm....what to do now?? Well a co-worker of mine was in the same boat as I was....no sitter (her daughter goes to the "back-up" sitter) - so we "hired" another co-workers daughter to watch our two little girls! Kimberly is her name....and she has been around the both of them a handful of times...so she wasn't a complete stranger! :) Well those girls had fun!!

Ella and Payton as princesses!

 

Born to shop! (notice the purses!)

Everyday this week...Ella has asked about going to Payton's house....I think she had a fun week last week!

Josh has his week at Liberty this week for his intensive class...he said so far it hasn't been awful....but the next 3 days are going to be brutal. He has to be there at 7am tomorrow for an exam. And then they are assigned a case that is all group work. And the professor said don't expect to be done until 3 or 4am and then they have to be back at 8am to present it. And they do it all over again on Thursday. He is very eager for the next few days to be over!

I think Ella's vocabulary/knowledge grows everyday! Today on the way to the sitter's...Ella counted to 5 all by herself...without any prompting from me! I was impressed! She can sing part of "no more monkey's jumping on the bed." She sometimes is a little hard to understand...I can usually make out most of what she is saying....and she is very determined...sometimes I have to keep guessing words trying to figure out what she is saying...but she knows what she is trying to say and won't stop until I say the right word! I sometimes have to interpret for Josh...he says..."I have no idea what she is saying!" 

This past weekend was kind of a lazy weekend...which we all enjoyed! I did do the normal cleaning. And I rearranged some things in Ella's room....brought more toys in there....trying to get some of our living room back! :) We went to the grocery store...and Josh picked out a special cart for Ella to ride in...it's the one that has the car attached to the front of the cart....well oh did she think she was hot stuff driving that cart around....thanks Josh! I told him he started something bad...because now she will always want that....and that thing is hard to steer! I told him she can only ride in it when he's with us!

We've been bribing Ella to eat her dinner...that's so bad isn't it! We started a bad trend...but if she eats all of her dinner (fruits and veggies included) she gets a little treat....mainly it's the tiniest bit of ice cream with sprinkles...it's really about 2 tablespoons of ice cream...so I don't feel too guilty...and she thinks she's spoiled with her little treat!

Well...time to go fold laundry and Josh is crying because he wants a brownie....and he did eat all of his dinner...so he can have a treat too! :)

Kids Say The Darndest Things!

My day started out at about 4:45am when Josh's alarm went off. He was working 6am-2pm today - and I laid in bed until 6:30 - never falling back asleep but hoping I would! I finally got up and got in the shower and got ready, got Ella ready, and then we headed off to the grocery store. Well we are walking into Kroger and there is a man walking in behind us. He was older and just kind of shaggy looking. Ella pointed at him and started saying, "bad man" over and over! I didn't know what to do but to just talk to her loudly, get her to stop pointing, and hope that he thought she was saying, "batman!" :) I asked Josh later if he has ever pointed out a "bad man" - he said no...so where that came from...I'm really not sure!

And then last night at dinner...I told Ella she couldn't eat her sweet potatoes yet that they needed to cool, and she said, "yes ma'am." Wow! The sitter is teaching them some manners! And sure enough...she said it again numerous times today. I thought that was so funny - it completely took me off guard last night!

This afternoon, I did some good cleaning. Vacuumed everything! Did 4 loads of laundry. Swiffered the floors and polished them. Cleaned the bathroom. And even wiped down all the doors - to get any paw prints off the doors - those puppies sometimes can make a mess!

Annnnd....we moved Ella to a big girl bed...first night is tonight! We'll see how it goes. Our friends gave us one to use for a while...I really wasn't quite ready for it - she's been doing just fine in her crib...but Josh was ready for her to go to the bed. And Ella was ecstatic about it!

We're about an hour into it...and so far so good. She hasn't made a peep. We put safety knobs on the door knobs that will prevent her from being able to open the door. And the baby gate is going right outside her door. Just to be on the safe side!

Our little girl is getting so big!

We went to dinner with our friends tonight who loaned us the bed. Ella ate a huge piece of pizza (almost the entire thing), a few fries, and a few chips. How healthy! But she did eat grapes and quiche for lunch. That helped balance it!

Well I need to go shred the pork for BBQ this week for Josh. It's easier for me to make things ahead for the week on the weekends.

Bubbles, Bubbles, and more Bubbles!

So I think out of 7 nights - 6 of them we have gone outside to play with BUBBLES!!! Ella really likes her "bubble blower!"

 

And Ella and I snuggling...I fell asleep on the couch on Saturday afternoon....Ella woke up from her nap and Josh brought her into the living room and she crawled right up on the couch with me to go "na-night" too.

Our week was again a normal week. Saturday - I went and got my hair cut. Ella kept saying she wanted to get her hair cut too...but I told her not yet! I'm not ready to cut her hair! We then went to cook-out for lunch as Josh was crying that there wasn't any food at home (I was way overdue for a trip to the store!) - and surprisingly...Ella can eat a corn dog like no other! Not my kind of thing....but she loves it...and ehhh once in a while it's ok. At least she's eating! Then in the afternoon we headed over to one of Josh's co-workers house for dinner. They have 3 dogs. And Ella loves dog. They have a chihuahua, named Lucky...but they called him "grumpy" because he was being kind of grumpy! So Ella called him grumpy for the rest of the night! Another dog - that was I don't really know what...about 30 pounds...a smaller dog...named Reese who wanted to lick you to pieces...and another dog that was about 100 pounds named, Max. Well Ella really hasn't been around a big dog. Of course she wanted to be friends with him as she loves animals...but I made her be friends with him from a distance! It was really funny - she kept calling him, "Bear" - I think she thought it was a bear as she hasn't been around that big of a dog. And we have a book that has a bear in it...that really did look like that dog! Ella had a great time - she really opened up and made friends with everyone. 

Ella has really been being a good eater - hopefully I'm not jinxing it by typing that! But she has been great about eating everything that we have given her over the last week. Which I'm thankful for! 

Ella helped me clean today. She always says, "I do it!" And wants to take over! 

Time to go fold laundry!

HOT!

So a heatwave has hit....and I am reminded again how thankful I am for central air! :)

It's been a fairly normal week - a regular work week for both Josh and I. Which means it was another week at Beth's house for Ella. Ella can't quite say the "th" sound...so every morning she says, "Beff's House." It's cute! And there is a little boy named Ethan that goes there....and it's, "Effan." Some names are easier than others!

I bought fruit today and make a big fruit salad. I honestly don't think I have bought fruit since Ella has been born...well except for bananas and apples. I don't really like fruit. I'll eat every vegetable that there is...but just not a fruit person. Well of course I want to set a good example for Ella...so I thought, I better start buying some fruit besides bananas for Ella! (She does eat all natural applesauce as well). So tonight we had fruit salad. Well it was just cantaloupe, strawberries, and red grapes. I cut all of it up and put some on her plate. The grapes were the biggest hit. Cantaloupe she chewed and then spit out and said, "yucky." And she did eat the strawberries. So it was a good start! I did eat the cantaloupe and red grapes...and just couldn't eat the strawberries...thankfully Josh likes most fruit and he ate all of it! Josh made "black and blue" burgers for the grill. Hamburgers with blue cheese and black pepper. They were great! It was honestly our first time cooking out this summer...isn't that awful. Normally, Josh is always working on homework that I make dinner and he just comes to the table when it's ready. But we branched out tonight! :)

Well...Ella has been asking for bubbles since last weekend. Since Grandpa and Gigi got her a really cool bubble toy. It was a few days before I took her outside...because it was sooo hot! However, Wednesday night I think it was...the sun wasn't out so it wasn't awful...still about 85 but at least the sun wasn't beating down. So all 5 of us headed out....(Bella and Brinly too!)

It was lots of fun! Ella did chase the dogs some with the bubble blower...they weren't thrilled about that!

Yesterday...on just about the hottest day ever....Ella and I went to the zoo. I know...crazy. However, when we made plans to go we didn't know it was going to be that hot!! I went with a friend and her girls. I brought the stroller thinking that Ella wasn't going to want to walk....but I was wrong...she wanted to walk and walked just about the entire zoo! I couldn't believe it! We went through lots of water and sunscreen. I'm not sure the last time I was that sweaty...eeewwww. I came home and took a shower! :) And after Ella's nap...she got a bath! They had a 2 week old baby piglet...now I'm not sure if I have ever said that a pig was cute...but this thing was ADORABLE! It was actually a little smaller than Bella...and they had it in this little grassy shaded area where it was just strolling around. Ella and I got to pet it.

Saturday night we went to dinner with some friends and Ella did great...I was a little nervous about taking her to a restaurant. But I brought her coloring book and a few crayons...and she was pretty happy! Plus I did let her get french fries with her meal...of course she was happy! Afterwards we went over to a park and walked down to a big pond....and Ella got to throw a few stones in....life was good!

Ella and I did a little posing for the camera this morning...(she loves the camera like her mom!)

And another week starts....!

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!