Friday, April 25, 2014

H Family

My friend Lindsay, who is also my neighbor, wanted to get her family's pictures done this spring. I was lucky enough to be the chosen one to take them. We took them yesterday but we were definitely worried that yesterday wouldn't work. It rained all day Tuesday. Then no rain Wednesday but the forecast for Thursday was 100% rain. It rained that morning and then the clouds parted most the afternoon so we were happy that we would be able to get them done. And it was overcast which was also great because we could take them really at any time rather than waiting close to sunset which is so late during this time of year. Anyways, we started at 6 and were just finishing up around 7 when the thunder started rolling. As soon as we got into our cars and drove away, feeling successful and accomplished, DOWN POUR! We couldn't believe how lucky we got. And to top it off, they turned out great. But, how could they not with such a great looking family.


The boys earned their treat for being well behaved. We went and got some ice cream.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Backtracking to February

This is February. Ellie is 14 months.

She got into that basket all by herself.


Unfortunately, I can't remember why I took this picture. I think she was trying to manage holding lots of things. But I do love when she holds her little baby doll.

She loves when I hand her towel to clean the floors with. I think she feels like she is really helping.

James built some desks for our office and Ellie was wanting to be in the action.

Getting Jolie out of her crate in a morning highlight. And Ellie is into zippers lately and  she was able to unzip the crate that much to try to get her out (too tiny of a hole though). I didn't even know she trying to get her out all by herself. So very cute.

Valentine's Day pictures. It is getting hard to take pictures of her by myself. I can't get her to stand still. Here is me saying, "Where is your belly button?" 
  "Fold your arms for prayer."
 "Sit here or else..." Kidding. James was home by this time. Good distraction. 

 There is a (tiny) local aquarium here and we bought a yearly pass. Ellie is enjoying it more and starting to ooh and aah. She also enjoys touching the animals (aka touching the water).

Valentine's church dress. I found the darn dress I had been saving for V-day AFTER V-day so we wore it to church. 

Playing in a fort.

This is an old picture of Tania's kids, Sadie and newborn Everett. Ellie frequently goes and finds it on the shelf and carries it around pointing to the baby. There is also a picture of James and I that she likes to get too and points to "dada."

Too flipping cute for words! I rarely check on her before bed. I know she's fine and I don't want to risk waking her since the door is right by her crib. But we were having space heater temperature issues and so I went to check the temperature in her room and found her like this. 

The stage kids go through-walking in big people shoes. 

There you have it. A quick overview of February.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter stuff

I hate being behind on blog posts. I decided to just skip ahead to now instead of back tracking. Maybe I'll go back someday. But for now...here is April.

They are building a new mall by my house and there are a few stores, restaurants and a movie theater that are already open. They also frequently hold little events in the common area and I find out about them on facebook. This particular day they had a petting zoo type set up that we thought Ellie would enjoy. She did of course. She loves animals and walked around to the different areas like a big girl.




I was at the regular mall the other day and Ellie was getting tired and hungry so we were on our way to the car. On our way out we saw the Easter Bunny and I wanted to show Ellie. I took her over to him and she started waving and smiling. I was super surprised since she wasn't a fan of Santa. Anyways, they let you take a picture and purchase a digital image at home which is so nice since who wants to pay $30+ for crappy pictures. Anyways, no line, I thew Ellie on his lap and she was so happy (I don't think she knew what to do with her arms though, haha). Glad I put her new bunny shirt on that day.

Last year, when Ellie was 3 months old, we went to my friend Amy's mom's house for an Easter Egg hunt. We wanted to do it again this year too. I dressed Ellie for the occasion, in her Bunny shirt. Then....just as we pulled up to the house I hear a noise, look back, and Ellie was throwing up all over herself.  She had been sleeping too so it woke her up. It was so sad. I'm not sure what upset her stomach but thankfully we were at the house so I ran in and got paper towels and a plastic bag. James took apart the car seat and got to do the fun part. I took Ellie in and got her cleaned up. I always have an emergency outfit in the diaper bag. It's been in there a long time. Size 6 months and still fits haha.
Anyways...she didn't quite get the concept of the egg hunt. She'd say "ball" and then pick it up and try to open it. It was cute. She also got to eat a few pieces. I figured she already threw up so what was the harm....but she was fine the rest of the day so maybe it was just a fluke.

Last year. 

Next, I wanted to take some spring pictures of Ellie in her Easter dress so we went out one evening and took a few. She's getting so big. We are loving this age. She is learning so much and is starting to say more and more words. Second picture down she's waving and saying hi.

 Easter morning Ellie got to see what was in her basket. She got 2 balls, bubbles, a book, cheddar bunnies and a stuffed bunny that my grandma sent her (with directions to dress it up) so I crocheted a little dress for it. Hehe. Ellie's favorite things were the balls, of course.




We had dinner at our friends house with another couple (we are each other's family on the holidays). There was also an Easter egg hunt for the kids. 
she loved this big "ball"