Too Nice to Wait

"Ella use shovel" to put soil into our containers

So, my plan was to wait until tomorrow to get my vegetable plants and cut the lawn....but, it is just too nice today to wait. Ella and I headed out this morning and picked out tomato plants, an eggplant plant, basil, and banana peppers, as well as a few flowers for our fence boxes and a porch container. She loved helping me pick them out and liked telling me what color the flowers were and how many we had (she can count to 13 now)! The cutest was when she helped me carry some of the little plants up the driveway and line them up in front of the garage when we got home. Ella was excited that she was a "good helper" (her words). Then we worked on planting them in our containers. Hopefully we'll have some great veggies this summer to eat. It will be practice for our real garden next summer.

Now that tomorrow's outdoor work is already done, what will I do? How about enjoy sitting and playing outside?! Sounds perfect to me.

A Few More Cute Ones

Here are a few more recent favorites...enjoy!

one of my all-time new favorite pics!

feeding the birdies with Pappy

and using new bird food bucket and froggy boots
(thanks Pappy and Baba!)

in the yard

fun in the tub!

Fun Day

climbing

pushing the ball through the tunnel

arranging the balls on the mats

Last night after surviving a very rainy drive back from visiting Pappy and Baba's, Ella and I were excited to see Rob after work. He and Ella went to the art class at Romp 'N' Roll where they finger painted and Ella made a painted pot holder. They stopped for pizza ("zappa") on the way home. I had the night out with my college friends, April and Trish.

Today, Ella slept until 8:15 (a big deal for her!) and then we went to a gym class at Romp 'N' Roll. As like last week, Ella preferred to play on the equipment rather than sit for the formal activities like singing (but who can blame her when there is a whole room full of colorful things to climb on). In addition to playing basketball and climbing through the tunnel, Ella enjoyed hanging from the uneven bar and pulling her legs up all by herself...maybe we have a gymnast on our hands!

Then, we went to our friends, Vivian and Xander's house. Vivian and I worked on making blankets for Project Linus while the kids played together. They were so well behaved when we had to give so much attention to the project. The cutest was when Ella would pretend to look for Xander. She would call out, "Xander....are you?.....sofa?...no. table?...no..." Then he would run out of his room and yell to get her attention, and she would shout, "Found you!!" They also had a secret conversation, which Vivian and I are not so sure was all about...maybe they were plotting about how to escape to the backyard to play.

This afternoon is a beautiful Spring day, so I am going to work on finishing the blanket on the porch while Ella naps. We are looking forward to Saturday being really nice, too. I am hoping to buy and plant some vegetables for my container garden and Rob wants to do some things around the house, too. Then Math and Linda (Buck and Wu) will visit for dinner.

Enjoy the day!

"The Wheels on the Bus"

"The mommies on the bus go, 'Shh, shh, shh...'"

"The babies on the bus go, 'waa, waa, waa..'"

Ella enjoys singing songs. One of her favorites to listen and sing to is "The Wheels on the Bus," which has been sung many, many times on car rides to keep her occupied. She loves making the hand motions, like spinning wheels, babies crying, and mommies quieting the babies. In these pictures, she was singing in the bathtub!

Easter Sunday

family photo

Easter dress from Auntie Ceejee!

loading up her basket with eggs

dinner is served

chowing down on the "traditional" blueberry yogurt

We had a really nice Easter celebration yesterday with our families. We started the day with Mass at our church. My parents and Gram joined us there and it was packed. The choir had beautiful music and it was a great way to start out day. Rob's family joined us all at home for our meal and egg hunt. Ella enjoyed all of her goodies from the numerous Easter baskets and gifts she received--thank you, everyone!-- and had a good time searching for her eggs in the yard that Rob hid. It was a busy, fun day, but we are so glad that we could have all of our family (minus Math and Linda :( ) there to spend it with us.

Praying

Rob and I have been working with Ella to teach her to fold her hands to pray before we eat meals. She is so precious when she does it and she even mimics Rob when he often puts his face into his hands and closes his eyes. Sometimes she even reminds us if we forget to pray during less formal meals.

On another note, Ella likes to save her quarters to take to Jesus at church. She puts them in a tray on the hallway table and on Sunday mornings, puts them in her pocket to take. During Mass, she has really been a good girl. She eats her snacks and likes to read her bible and, her favorite new activity, sing aloud with the choir (or perform her own solo during especially quiet moments of the Mass). Ella also yells out, "Amen, Jesus," "Moses," "angels," and "cross, right there!" While it isn't the easiest thing for a toddler to sit quietly for an hour, she does really well. We hope that she is starting to learn the skill of patience and how to be respectful.

Easter Preparations

pouring magnets into a bowl (or "helping Mommy cook")

drawing Pinkie with new sidewalk chalk

putting on the final touches to the bunny cake

bunny cake ready for Easter!

On Saturday, we were busy preparing to have our families over for Easter. While Rob and I were cleaning and cooking, Ella was working on one of her favorite activities in the kitchen, "mix, mix." She likes to use bowls and spoons to mix and pour little toys or noodles. She also played with sidewalk chalk, a gift from her friend, Xander. We drew Pinkie, her favorite thing to draw, and made sure to add his belly button. Later in the day, Ella helped me decorate our bunny cake. My mom and I had a tradition of making an Easter cake each year, so now Ella and I will start one. She put on the eyes and nose, but then quickly found out how yummy the frosting tastes when it got on her fingers!

Friends

October, 2007

February, 2009

I was looking through some older pictures and found this adorable picture of Ella and her friend, Xander, when they were babies. I met Xander's mom, Vivian, at the first MOMS' Club meeting I went to in October. Xander and Ella were barely 2 months old. The top picture was the first day we got together with the babies and had lunch. They enjoyed laying on the floor babbling and smiling together. Xander and Ella still see each other at least once a week at our playgroup get-togethers, along with her other 3 friends and their moms. It's been a great way for me to meet other moms in the area and it's been so neat to watch how the babies are growing up together. We used to just meet and talk and the babies would either eat or sleep. Now at playgroup, they are running around, sharing (and sometimes, taking) each others' toys, and we can't keep after them. We are really lucky to have found such a great group of friends that we can spend time with.

Cheese and Trains

Toward the end of winter, we were at a loss for what to do on Friday nights when it was too cold to do anything outside and we had grown stir-crazy inside. That's when Rob started our Friday night tradition of eating dinner at Panera and visiting Barnes and Noble. Ella loves eating "cheese" (grilled cheese), yogurt, and tasting our broccoli cheddar soup. When we get in the car, she tells us, "ask girl...cheese, soup, yogurt...please!" After dinner we walk across the parking lot to the bookstore. Ella plays with the trains and stuffed animals, and Rob and I get a chance to scan a few magazine pages or look at the new releases. Tonight might have been our last Friday night Panera/Barnes and Noble run since the weather will be getting nice and we can spend our evenings eating out on the porch and playing in the yard. Maybe next winter we'll check out a different restaurant and store....or, maybe we'll go back to our cheese and trains!

Romp N Roll

Today we went to check out a new kids' place called "Romp N Roll" where they have music, gymnastics, and art activities for toddlers. They had a free trial class for our MOMS' Club. Ella's little, or should I say big, personality was shining there! The instructors had a few structured activities for the kids, like singing, but Ella was much more interested in climbing on the gym equipment, going up and down the slide, and playing the musical instruments. She told me she was doing "nastics" and while the rest of the kids bounced with their parents in a seated position, Ella was standing and yelling "jump, jump!" She (and I) had a blast! Next week, there are free preview classes, so guess who gets to take Ella to the art class in the evening? I'm sure Rob will have fun with Ella and all of the other toddlers making crafts!..I'll update you on that later.

Signs of Spring

This afternoon, Ella and I experienced two signs of Spring around our house:

playing with worms while weeding
(we're working on being "gentle")

the first lawn cutting of the season

A Few Older Pictures

Here are a few pictures from last month of Ella having fun...

being cute with Pinkie

drinking from Penn State bottle--go Lions!

wearing personalized Arizona jacket from Paulette and Jerry

reading books to her baby

Ella loves to be outside...even in the cold weather!

Spring Flowers

rain on our blooming crocuses

daffodils in the side garden

crocuses in the front garden

These are some flowers that have been springing up in our garden. We are hoping for nice weather soon so we can prepare a plot for a vegetable garden next year.

First Test Post

Ella and the daffodils on a great Spring day!

Sitting outside on her truck

Ella "petting" the flowers (wearing her dress from English Nanny and H)

Ella watching Logan blow bubbles for her.

This is the first test post to find out if I can upload any pictures. Hopefully if I can, we can use this to update you on Ella and what we're up to here in Willow Grove and show you a few pictures, too.