Little Gym

With the end of the school year comes the end of gym for Ella.  We've been taking classes for a year now and I think we are both a bit burned out.  Here are a few pics to commemorate our time at the Little Gym...

 No question, the beam is one of Ella's favorite activities at gym.  She even got brave towards the end and would try and walk on the lower beam without any assistance.  I'm not sure she ever made it the full length, mainly because she'd get distracted and start looking off and not paying attention to where she was walking, so I'd have to swoop in! 

A close second to the beam was jumping on the spring board.  She could kind of make it bounce herself, but the fun typically involved me jumping with her.   This picture was right after she'd jumped up and she was on top of a mat wanting me to help her jump down.

Third on the list of her favorites was swinging on the bars.  At the beginning she would never hold on to the bar, would grab it for a second and then let go.  But she got to the point where she would hang there and swing for a bit.  Her least favorite thing at gym was anything that was a group activity.  Fortunately they encourage "exploring" and there were plenty of other explorers like her.  Oh, and maybe the all-time favorite was getting stamps at the end of class.  She always wanted one on both hands, both feet and her tummy.  Ella was always excited to show Addy her new stamps when we'd pick Addy up at school. 

Our New Pets

I'll admit I was not a fan of the idea when Dad scooped these out of his pond and said we could bring them home.  But Michael and Addy are great tadpole parents and are taking great care of them.  I figured they wouldn't last a week, but they have and they are growing, and I'm kind of excited to see if we actually end up with frogs/toads from this little science project.  Addy claims that one of them has legs now, but pretty sure that is not the case.  Hopefully the next update will be that they are ready to hop off into the great big world.  We will not be keeping them once they have legs!!

Let The Summer Fun Begin

We've been spending a lot  time outside the past few months, enjoying the nice weather, but now it is time to add water to the mix.  This particular weekend we had backyard splash fun one day, swimming at Grandad and Meme's the 2nd, and topped the weekend off with a swimming birthday party at the JCC. 

 This pic is one of many I think we'll see over the next month or so (or until Ella decides to get wet).  I thought that Ell would be more excited about the squirty ball this summer.  Not yet.  She stayed clear from the water, until something happened and the ball squirted right at the climber.  Then there were shrieks that you could hear down the block!

 Not exactly water related, but we are having lots of fun with the bubbles that Cousin Betsy gave Ella for her birthday.  Lots of fun "bubble pipes" that work really well.

 Addy was one happy camper once she got on Sally the float at Granddad's house.  

 Here is Star standing guard, ready to jump in and save Addy should she have trouble jumping off the diving rock.  Star hates it when anyone jumps off the rock!

Ella didn't get wet this day either.  She hung out with Granddad on the swing watching Addy have fun in the pool. I found the water to be quite chilly, so maybe that is why she didn't want to get in...she loved the pool last year, so imagine she'll be jumping in before the summer is over. 

Mother's Day

We had a nice and relaxing Mother's Day.  I was honored with a yummy pancake breakfast and all kind of handmade goodies from the girls.  Addy always manages to find good ways to use the chalk board and this was what she put together for Mother's Day.  I like how she leaves a spot for Ella to add her own touch.  I think that Addy actually ended up doing most of the "scribble scrabble" in the Ella section, but Ms. Ella just isn't into the arts as much as her big sis! 

Bathroom Update

No, it isn't fully functional, but we are in the home stretch.  Main holdup right now is waiting on the glass shower surround, but it is hopefully in fabrication as we speak.  All the pretty stuff is done though, so thought that I'd post some pics. 

As a reminder of what we started with

And even though it has maybe taken longer than we would like, the end result is going to be so fabulous.  Coloring is kind of quirky in the pics, but here it is!

Helmet

Ella is an official rider now.  The helmet looks huge on her head, and I remember thinking the same thing when Addy first got hers.  Also want to note that she can totally pedal on the tricycle now, but won't even try when we are out on a ride.  I've seen her do it on the patio though, so I know it is possible!

My Baby is 2!!

Ella's official birthday was the Monday after her party. Addy's allergies were bothering her, so I felt it was the perfect excuse to keep her home from school and we headed to the zoo.

Granted, there is food in her mouth, but she is looking at the camera smiling!  

Note quite sure why the concerned looks/

If you'll recall, the last carousel experience was a the rodeo and Ella screamed the whole time.  I was surprised she even wanted to ride the one at the zoo.  All started out great, she got a bit frightened when it started up, but eventually was OK.  Just a moment of screaming instead of 3 minutes!

On Friday we went for Ella's 2 year check-up.  And we were back to the screaming.  As soon as we got called back by the nurse, a look of fear set in her face.  She tried to be tough, but did a good amount of screaming.  And there were no shots involved.  She broke down in tears when the nurse asked her to step on the scale so we could weigh her.  The nurse had to leave the room before she'd step up.  Goodness!  But we survived and she is healthy and growing like a weed.  She is around the 69th percentile for height and 91st for weight.  She weighed in at 31 lbs - no wonder I can only hold her for a little while before I start hurting!  

Here is a little about Ella at 2 years old...

• Favorite color - yellow
• Favorite song - Baby Moses, her teacher told me that sometime they'll ask the class what song they want to sing and Ella is always the 1st to answer and she'll shout "Baby Moses".  I'd say the baby bumblebee song is close 2nd and sometimes we even get a mashup of the 2 which is always entertaining.
• Favorite playtime activity - playing with baby dolls, and most recently she is into changing the baby's diaper (even though they aren't wearing diapers) and she goes into her room and gets wipes and starts cleaning baby up.  Then she'll start wiping the floor and the tables...next thing you know she has 15 wipes out.
• Ella is crazy feisty at diaper changing time these days. 
• Favorite past time - giggling and making other people smile with her big smile
• Favorite tv show - Dora
• If given the option, Ella could play outside all day.
• Favorite food - chips and queso and she is getting into the salsas too, mostly the green sauce, but she is known to eat some of the red sauce too.  Not much the girl won't eat though. 
• Ella can put her shoes on like a champ.
• She is super curious about noises and when she hears something she'll put her finger up to her ear and say "listen"
• There is not really 1 favorite book, she loves all books and pretty much has Brown Bear memorized and a couple of others she knows good chunks of the book. 
• Ella loves to run.  When she does run, it looks like she is going to fall any second, but remarkably, she doesn't fall that often.

A Purr-fect 2nd Birthday Party

Ella LOVES kittens!  Which is ironic since the rest of us in the house are dog people, but it made for a perfect birthday theme.  We had kitten silhouettes in windows, in yellow of course, her favorite color.  And Addy wrote Happy Birthday on the chalk board.  We had Granddad and Meme, Grandma and Grandpa, Granny, and Jean and Tom over for a fun get-together.  Ella was super excited, super happy and I think felt totally celebrated!! 

 What a difference 4 months makes - at Christmas Ella could have cared less about presents.  As soon as she saw presents on the table she was saying "open presents". 

 Thank goodness for Addy, otherwise we would have never made it through the gifts.  Made the mistake of opening Addy's present first which was a kitten that meows and purrs and moves around.  It came with a milk bottle - Ella fed kitten while Addy opened most of her presents.  Granted, a lot of her presents were clothes, which she totally needed, but for a 2 year old were not the most exciting gifts to open! 

 A new sandbox built for 2.

 Ella clearly has figured out cake and it took no time for her to start sampling the icing.  Note the clothes she has on.  I say that they weren't exciting to unwrap, but I guess kitten got full and she stopped feeding it and she decided to try on some of her new clothes.  But she took them to Granddad to help and he just started layering the clothes.  She ended up with 2 dresses, a pj top over the dresses and pj bottoms under the dresses. 

 Next time I start fretting about the cake not turning out exactly like I wanted I will pull this pic out.  Does she realize how long it took to try and make those eyes look perfect?!

 The family!

Best free party decoration ever!  Pictures of cats doing funny things that I got off the internet and printed.  Ella cracked up at these for days!