Horseshoes

At the beach this weekend we introduced Addy to the game of horseshoes.  I was quite surprised - she really got into it.  Figured she'd throw them a few times and then claim they were too heavy and her arm hurt - nope, she had a blast.  And in true Addy style, she even started making up her own rules to the game.  Neither Michael or I ever had a clue what the real rules of her game were, but we just took turns throwing the horseshoes and Addy kept score for us. 

 Ella tried to get in on the game a few times.  Fortunately she never got hit by a horseshoe, or dropped one on her toes.  We ended up having to bring down some other entertainment for Ella to distract her from the horseshoes.  

 Here she is in action!  (and no, that is not a UFO in the sky, ugh, think it is a smudge on my camera...hopefully I can get rid of that)

Ella Playtime

Just some fun pics of Ella's favorite activities these days.  And note the cute clip in her hair!  She finally has enough hair that we can kind of start doing stuff with it.  Her teacher still puts it up on a regular basis and at first it was just silly looking b/c her hair was so short, but now it is looking much cuter.  I especially love the clips that my friend Merri makes, they are super tiny and stay in great.  She doesn't even really realize it is there, for now at least.

 Cute smile.  And she is actually sitting at the art table, not climbing up and down on the chair!

 The artist in action.  Apparently crumpling the paper makes it more fun to color on.

 Cars.  Oh goodness, both girls are obsessed with cars right now.  Maybe Ella a bit more than Addy.  There are hot wheels all over the floor and pieces of track spread around all the time now.   Ella really just likes to hold them and then watch you launch the cars.  She is pretty good at retrieving the cars too. 

Climber.  Note that Ella is standing, not sitting on her train.  Not safe for a number of reasons, but Ella doesn't really seem to care.  We try to make sure that the train is always on the carpet since it doesn't roll as good on the carpet and if she falls (which she has) it isn't too hard of a fall!

Diver

What a difference 2 weeks makes in the world of swimming...2 weeks ago Addy would hardly go near the deep end and today she was jumping off the diving rock (for those that don't know, the diving board got replaced with a diving rock during the last pool redo - think that Mom was trying relive summer camp days and also go for a more "natural" look!)   First she was jumping to a noodle and by the end she was just jumping and swimming to us.  So proud of her!

 Getting ready to leap

Proud of her jump!

Granddad has both noodles, she is jumping on her own.  A couple of times this past week she came home and was talking about jumping off the diving board at the JCC during swimming, even talked about doing "cheerleading kicks" off the board.  I'm glad we were home this weekend so we could swim and see it for ourselves! 

Ballerina

Finally got my hands on the professional pics that Addison took for her dance recital. So glad I was able to track this down, I love it!

Fashion Model

I'm not sure exactly where this idea came from, although I have my suspicions...Addy has been playing a dress up "paper doll" game on the iPad and suddenly the other night she had to have a fashion show. She picked out all the parts of the outfits, did the wardrobe changes herself and actually posed and smiled for the camera! The smiling for the camera was my favorite part, although her ensembles were quite creative I though. Here are her glamor shots

Growing Up

Ella seems to be getting older and wiser every day, at a much more rapid pace than in the past.  Now I actually feel like she knows what I am saying and while I don't always know what she is saying (although she is super chatty) she is getting better at showing me what she wants.  She has apparently figured out where we keep the snacks and fortunately she hasn't learned how to open the door, but it seems like every 20 minutes she is standing at the pantry door shouting.   When it is actually snack time and I grant her wish to open the door, she is really cute as she looks at all the boxes and makes her pick.  Right now she is OBSESSED with what we call "circle crackers" at our house.   Here she is tying to help herself. 

Last week, on multiple occasions, Ella's teachers told me how much she likes to do art.  I must admit that the art supplies at our house are typically off limits to Ella.  Historically they just went straight to her mouth, not to mention that I'm convinced that she is going to be the kid that draws on the walls.  Addy never really drew on the walls, but I just have this feeling with Ms. Ella!  So, under supervision, I busted out the crayons and some paper and below is Ella's masterpiece.  She definitely enjoyed herself, but I'm not sure if she enjoyed the drawing more, or climbing up and down off the chair at our little kiddie table.  Our little climber!

Beach

Not as successful with the casting net as we were the last time we were there, but fun times were still had by all.  Even got some rain on Saturday morning, but fortunately it didn't slow us down.

Not a lot of people on the beach, so Star got to hang out with us for a long time.  

Ella found the visor in a bag and suddenly everyone had to have it - good ol' sibling rivalry!

Who needs toys when you have coke cans!  Ella spent TONS of time taking the cans out of the box, putting them back in, stacking them on the stool, stacking them on the shelf...it was fun to watch and also helped confirm for me that I don't have to have a toy box full of toys for the girls to be entertained! 

Best part of the weekend was family time on the porch!  So, so, so wonderful to just be able to let everyone roam freely and not have to worry about anyone going down stairs or taking a tumble off.  We all loved it.  Ella loved running from side to side, looking out the rails and we loved just sitting in our chair and watching, not having to run along side her! 

Addy decided to make a pool out of chalk.  Ella decided to sit in the "pool".  

Ella and Addy ended up covered in blue!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!

I forgot to take my own pics at Michael's birthday dinner, but fortunately the restaurant caught on that it was his birthday and took this one! 

Remember Michael's gift from Addy last year, the hot wheels track?  Well, this year we got 2 new parts to the track so we can do all kinds of fun things now.  I'm no hot wheels expert, but apparently we have been missing out by only having the 1 section we did!  

Happy 30 something birthday!  

4th of July Weekend

3rd weekend straight of traveling, but another great weekend!

 Another big hole in the sand.  My favorite part of this pic though is Addy's big, natural smile!! 

Have cooler, will climb!

 So fun - Granddad and Meme joined us for the weekend!  

 Ella is currently obsessed with her toothbrush.  Took a while before she had enough teeth to make brushing worthwhile, but now she is a huge fan!

Fun times in the pool on the deck.  

 Sisters playin' around in their fun new chairs. 

 Super Star!!

 "Being at the beach is SO fun!"

 We caught a squid!  So, Addy has been a bit bummed about fishing after a number of unsuccessful attempts with the fishing rod.  So Michael got a cast net for his b-day and oh goodness did they have success.  They caught fish, shrimp, crabs and squid.  Kind of makes me scared to get back in the water.  Wow! 

 This pretty much sums up how we all felt by the end of the weekend!  Addy was asleep probably 5 minutes after pulling out of the driveway at the beach and slept until we pulled into our driveway in Houston.

Austin Weekend

June 24th - 26th we made a trip to Austin.  Michael had to go for work over the weekend and the girls and I tagged along.  Traveling with 2 kids solo was a bit tricky, so I totally flaked and didn't take pics, but there were a lot of 1st over the weekend that I wanted to capture. 

• Ella's 1st road trip that wasn't beach related.  She did great, slept nearly the entire drive both to and from Austin.
• The 1st weekend we slept in a hotel room as a family of 4.  Addy loved it, had a big huge bed to herself.  I'd say Ella was luke warm.  Once she got settled at night she was OK, but Saturday night there was a long period of screaming that I thought would never end.  Turns out both girls were completely fascinated just standing and looking out the window in the hotel room.  We were in downtown Austin, so there were tall buildings and all kinds of neat things to look at.  
• 1st time Ella met the Tilson family.  We had a fabulous time hanging out with Gabe, Sawyer, Lexie and Lyndon.  The girls had a blast playing in the pool together and just playing together in general.  And catching up with Gabe was great.  Always makes me sad though that we don't live closer and can't hang out more often!  
• 1st time both Addy and Ella met my friend Lauren.  Not sure how exactly it has been 4 years and Addy and Lauren haven't met.  Guess Lauren and I tend to hang out on girls weekends and adults only weekends. Very glad to be able to hang out with Lauren!
• 1st time I took both girls to the Children's Museum alone, and actually it was Ella's first time to a Children's Museum ever.  Fortunately the Austin museum isn't huge, so it wasn't too hard to chase after Ella and still keep an eye on Addy.  Pretty sure that I don't want to try the Houston museum with 2 of them and just me anytime soon though!  
• Michael might have a somewhat different version of this story, but I think that after this weekend I can say that Ella officially said her first word.  There has been discussion about how "da" was her first word (interpreted as "dad"), but there are a lot of things that are "da".  In my opinion (this is where we might differ a bit!) But this weekend, I'm claiming she officially said "dog" and was actually talking about a dog.  Good ol' Austin, there are dogs everywhere, walking along the street, hanging out at restaurants, you name it.  Every time we'd see a dog, Ella would say "dog" and point and get very excited.  The dog obsession has continued too and she of course gets a lot of practice with Star in the house.  I also learned that I need to keep a watchful eye on her when we are around dogs, especially small ones, because she is not gentle.  One of her favorite activities at Gabe's house was going to lay on the dog bed, with the dog in it.  Ella is a lot bigger than Pudge and he was not real happy to have a toddler plopping on top of him.  I don't blame him!

It was somewhat of a tiring weekend because Michael was working most if it, except Sat night when he got to join us at Gabe's for dinner, but it was also loads of fun.  When we were leaving, Addy told me she wanted us to move to Austin.  (Gabe - don't get your hopes up!!)

Ella's Antenna

Ella's teacher Ms. Maria apparently plays beauty shop at school sometimes and has started "styling" Ella's hair.  Ella doesn't sit still for much, but she LOVES to have her hair brushed so I think that she really likes this.  There isn't much hair there to work with, but Maria does the best she can.  Some of her other teachers refer to her "pig tails" as her antenna, which I have to agree is a pretty appropriate description.  But it is still super cute!