Jumping Fun

Glenn had a big surprise for Ella this weekend - an inflatable jumping house, like a mini of what they have at Hoppers House or Monkey Joe's. Glenn inflated it in their garage - I'm sure it goes without saying, but Ella LOVES it.

Hmmm, what is this??



So much fun!



Whoa




Big jumps!





A funny video of her running in there - notice her little pep talk where she says "Run Ella!"




Glenn also tried flying this kite, and another one with Buzz Lightyear on it, he is Ella's favorite character - she always says "it's Buzz" when she sees him on anything





The pull of the bounce house was just too much though and Ella soon walked away from the kite saying "more jump please." She loves it!!

Weekend with Grandma and Grandad

Steve and I have gone away by ourselves overnight, without Ella, probably 3 or 4 times before. It's always been for about 24 hours max, and usually more like 12 hours. Last weekend we went away from Saturday morning until Monday evening, so we were gone almost 3 days!

Ella did great, just as I knew she would. We wanted her to be prepared that we'd be gone for a few days so early in the week we started telling her that we were going on a trip over the weekend and Grandad and Grandma were coming to stay with her for the weekend and that she was going to have so much fun all weekend. She really seemed to get it and by Friday night was so excited for Dad to arrive.

Ella gave Dad about five minutes in the house before she said "play bubbles?" so they went outside to play bubbles -



Tea party



Reading a book after bathtime



We left before 5 am on Saturday morning and Dad said that the first thing Ella said when she woke up was "Mommy Daddy gone." They spent a LOT of time outside, playing in the backyard, and many walks in the neighborhood. They ate out and went shopping and they all did great.

We called to check in several times and Ella was SO chatty whenever I would talk to her. It was so funny, she would just go on and on about all kinds of things, mostly Cory and being outside and taking walks.

Here are a few photos that Donna took and sent for me to see while we were away.

In Chico's bed


At the front door


Playing in the tent


Steve and I were dying to get home to Ella and so happy to see her on Monday night, but it was so good to know that she was in such good hands and had such a wonderful weekend.

On Tuesday morning when I woke Ella up and we came downstairs she realized that Dad was gone and said "where'd Dad go?" I said "he's back at his house." She said "ohhh, back home with Chico" - it always comes back to the dogs!

Frogfest

Two Saturdays ago we went to Frogfest at a park nearby - it was a kids event with all different kinds of frog-related things. Ella loves frogs (foggies) and we had a great time!

Ella and Dominic ready to go digging for frogs - although they were both pretty hesitant at first


Ooooh I see one...



Got it!



Ella really liked this little frog. She managed to keep track of him for several days and then one night when I was getting her ready for bed she asked me where the frog was and I didn't know. Steve was out at a softball game and Ella told me to ask Steve when he got home. I figured she was just talking, but I did ask him and he said they were outside in the backyard and the frog got lost in the backyard - tiny green frog, green grass, pretty understandable. The next morning Ella asked me first thing "ask daddy foggie?" I couldn't believe she remembered but it was her first thought in the morning. Days later she was still saying "foggie gone outside."

Steve ended up getting her a new little toy frog a few days ago. In a funny little move, she named him Buey! Right now Buey is sleeping next to Ella in her crib :).

A different kind of "froggie pool"



First time trying a water gun






Dominic was very brave and went right up to this turtle to touch his shell (Ella said "nope!" when I asked her if she wanted to touch it)



Going down the slide

Another Beautiful Day

We had another beautiful day on Sunday and Ella wanted to go to the playground and play in the sand, so we headed to a different playground than usual because it has a really big sandbox.

When we got there, it was closed for maintenance. Ella must have said 100 times, "play sand closed, uh-oh!" so I needed to get her to another playground stat!

The one that we ended up at is just about 5 minutes from our house and I had been there once before when Ella was smaller just to walk around the lake, but she was too little to do much on the playground then and I haven't been back since.

I am so glad I re-discovered it because she loved it, and we will definitely be back often!













And check out this video for her latest trick!


A highlight of the day for me was that when we were driving home, Ella said to me - "Mommy, I had fun play." It was awesome - it's the first time she's proactively told me (without being asked) that she enjoyed doing something and was so nice to hear!!

Grand-DAD-dy Daycare

Steve was out of town for several days the week before last, and Dad came up to watch Ella for me while I went to work each day. Ella shortens most names and usually says the last syllable, and add to the fact that she hears me call him "Dad", and so she calls him "Dad," which is pretty funny.

She was up to her usual tricks of requesting to spend the majority of her day outside, and Dad was a very good sport and complied with her wishes. He asked her if she wanted to go to the library, and she said 'walk Cory'; he asked if she wanted to go to the playground, and she said 'walk Cory' - so, as you can imagine, there were many Cory walks and lots and lots of time spent outside!

I told Dad that Ella is really good about letting you know what she wants to do, and that's exactly what she did - she told him when she wanted to eat, when she wanted to nap, when she wanted to play, etc. It was so nice to have him here for a few days and so great that they had such a good time together!!

Glenn's Birthday - 3/29/10

Glenn was here on his birthday a few weeks ago, and watched Ella during the day and then we went to dinner after I got home from work.

Ella calls Glenn "Gee" all the time, and said lots of "Happy Gee" for "Happy Birthday Gee", and we had a really good dinner. Ella seems to be well out of her phase where eating out was really difficult, and it's so nice to be able to eat at restaurants again!

Some pics of Ella and Gee after dinner -

Steve and Ella's Trip to MD - 3/24 - 3/26

Steve took Ella up to MD several weeks ago to visit his Dad and Carole and they had a really nice trip. They have an amazing backyard for a nature lover like Ella, so Ella was in heaven and got to have plenty of fun with her grandparents and do lots of exploring and fun outside!














With Tio Carlos


They had a really nice time and I'm glad they got the chance to go!

I love...

I have been waiting anxiously for the day when Ella would say "I love you." She is super affectionate and always gives tons of kisses and hugs and other sweet things, but whenever we say "I love you" to her, she just smiles and nods. Sometimes she'll blow a kiss, but that's it. When I ask her "how much does Mommy love you?", she will say "SOOOOOOOOOOO much" - but still, no "love". Well - all that has changed!

On Saturday night, I was getting ready to drive Ella back home and Mom was saying goodbye to her in her car seat. Mom said "I love you Ella" and I said to Ella, "can you say 'love you Grammy'?" and Ella said "I do!". We were so excited and I said - "awww, you love Grammy, that is so sweet!" and then Ella said "luffff" - it was AWESOME, I could barely believe it! She kept saying it "love, love". Be still my heart!

The next day she started saying "I love", and then today she is saying "I love Mommy" - aaah, I do not think there are 3 better words out there!

We are still waiting on the "I love you" combination but in the meantime we are "luffing" the "I loves"!!

Easter

On Easter Sunday it was my Sunday to work in the cafe at church which I do at the 8:30 service every other week, and on those Sundays I need to be at church early, and then Steve gets Ella dressed and ready and brings her to church.

Because it was Easter, I didn't want to miss the chance to dress Ella in her Easter dress and get her ready so I ended up going early to do my cafe stuff, then came home so that I could get Ella all dressed and ready, and we went to the 10am service instead.

Some pictures of my sweet girl in her Easter dress before church









After church Mom and Glenn, Dad and Donna, and Erin and Josh all came over to our house to celebrate Easter. We set up an egg hunt for Ella in the backyard and she loved it!

























She found all of her eggs and then we went inside and she got many Easter goodies from everyone!

Discovering the joy of her first Robin's Egg (yummm)



Ella got pretty sleepy and wanted her nap, so she slept while the rest of us ate brunch. Everyone headed home in the afternoon but Ella kept wondering where all her buddies went!