Ella's new things

(this is an old post I forgot to publish)
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Dan was on call at the hospital and had to stay over night. So, since Dan couldn't come to us, Ella and I went to him. We went to the hospital and met him for lunch. When we were done, Dan walked us back out to the car. As I Dan getting ready to walk away from the car he peeked in the back window and gave Ella a wave goodbye. The sweet little girl looked up, smiled and waved back! Dan was shocked! He can back up to my door and told me that she just waved bye to him. So he did it again, and so did she. I turned around and looked over the seat at her as he did it one more time. Sure enough she waved right back! Cute little girl. I didn't even realize we had waved to her that often but apparently it was enough for her to learn how to do it! She'd such a smartie!

While Dan's parents were here visiting Nov. 4-11, Dan's mom taught our little Ella Bella how to give kisses. It's so cute. A couple days later I was playing with her, doing different faces. Well, I did a fishy face with my lips out; Ella must've thought I wanted a kiss so she pushed her little face up to mine and gave me a kiss right on my lips! I wasn't even expecting it. She's so sweet.

Mommy's Helper

A few weeks ago I was working on the computer and Ella was quietly playing on the floor beside me. My sweet little girl decided I needed some "help" with my crafts. Earlier I had gone looking for a scrap of fabric in my fabric box and when I was finished I left it sitting out on the floor. My lil cutie couldn't resist helping me find my fabric while I was busy with other things. When I looked down at her this is what I saw:
Too cute. She spread that fabric clear around the room. So I took a picture, instead of cleaning up the mess. Well the next day, I was looking up something on the computer so I set Ella back down on the floor to play. (with the fabric from the previous day, of course :) She decided the fabric wasn't the only crafting supply I needed, so she proceeded to empty my shoe box of other crafting odds, such as wire, thread, curling ribbon etc. (notice the last one wrapped around her waist :0)
I love my little helper!

Happy Halloween

Ella's First Halloween:

For Halloween we dressed up Ella as a chick. On Friday the 30th, Ella and Holly went to the ward Trunk or Treat. We dressed her up in her little fluff and Holly dressed up as a cowgirl. (Sorry no pics) Dan met us there later after he got off work. A lot of people from the ward gave him a lot of slack for being "so original" with his costume. He didn't have time to change after work so he came to the church in his work scrubs. So the doc dressed up as a doc ;) Anyway, Ella looked so cute and was so interested in all of the people in their costumes.

On Halloween, in preparation for the Trick or Treaters, I opened all the candy and put it in a bowl. I set the bowl on the floor in the living room so it would be handy when the kids started coming. Ella was sitting in the living room playing with her toys; I walked out of the room and when I came back this is what I saw:
She wanted that candy so bad. She ended up working herself forward enough so that she could grab it and go to town.
Got it!
Which one should I eat?
I think I'll eat the Starburst
Good Choice
A couple weeks ago we went to a place called "Gene the Pumpkin Man" for a playgroup and got a bunch of pumpkins. Gene's farm was pretty awesome. He had big barns that were painted bright orange, he had a big orange cadillac and Gene himself was dressed from head to toe in hunter's orange. He was the coolest old guy. On Halloween morning, we got up early and carved our pumpkins. (we had a pretty busy week and with Dan's schedule that was the only time we could get it done) We carved a little pumpkin family. Aren't they cute?
We ended up having a ton of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. I thought we'd have some extra candy for us to eat. But we ended up running out. Good thing we had some caramels in the cabinet for a recipe I was going to make. I guess maybe we should have taken Ella trick or treating so we would've had some treats :)
Here's my little Chickie and Dan, in his classic Halloween tee
She looks sleepy
We finished our Halloween adventures by going to Dominic's party. Mike told Dan "Your daughter is the cutest chick at this party!" Boy was he right!

Home Sweet Home

I know you've been waiting to see it, so here it is.
This is our house! We LOVE it!
Here it is 3 weeks later as the leaves changed to their pretty fall colors. I love how bright the fall colors are out here! (Can you see my burning bush in the back corner of the house, I was so excited to find out that we had one!) I wish I had taken some pictures of the road leading into our subdivision because it is all foresty and it was the prettiest yellowy golds. Fall is definitely gorgeous out here!

Happy 8 Month Birthday Ella Bella!

[I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit, but I'll come back later and post what I missed. Today is her 8 month birthday so I want to post about my girl (plus my fam keeps asking for current pics, these are as current as it gets. These were taken this evening.)]
My little baby is 8 months old today!
I thought I would quick share two little things that have happened, Oh- She's so fun!
Today I had one of those “oops!” moments. It was just before bedtime, I was feeding Ella her nightly cereal. We had started a new kind this week and it thickens up a little more than the others; so she was gulping and struggling to swallow. There was a sippy cup right there and so opened it up I poured a little water in the cereal to thin it down. Worked like a charm; she seemed better able to swallow. There were only a couple bites left and she looked kind of thirsty so I said “Do you want a drink?” and picked up the cup and put it up to her face. The whole cup of water spilled out right into her lap! Poor girl sucked in a breath really quick and looked up at me with big, shocked eyes. “Mom! What did you do?!” Okay. so she didn’t really say that, but I know that’s what she was thinking. I felt so bad! Apparently when I finished pouring water into her cereal I only set the lid on top of the cup, not screwed it back on. Ooops!
(Don't ya just love those little teeth!)
Last night, I went to a knitting/crochet night at a Ward member’s house and Ella got to join me since Dan was working the night shift. The home where we went has a little dog, Tonks, who is just the cutest. Anyway, Ella was so funny with her. When we first got over there, Ella wasn’t so sure about Tonks; she would watch her and had this little quizzical look on her face. Every time the dog would come in the room Ella would follow her around with her eyes. I would ask her “What’s that? Is that a doggy?” “Dog.” Soon Ella started saying “Da” when Tonks would walk around. And eventually it turned into yelling at the dog to come to her “Da, Da, Da, Da.” Over and over. She got so frustrated that she couldn’t get the dog that she would ball up her fists, her body would go stiff all over, her face would go all red, and she’d go “Ughhh!” It was a riot. She had the whole room laughing. She wanted that dog so bad. I put her on the ground next to the dog and she would’ve pulled it’s fur off then tackled it if I had let her. At home, she’ll take her stuffed animals and squeeze them really tight and rub her face into them. I think this is what she wanted to do with Tonks. I moved her away so that she couldn’t reach the dog and she proceeded to call to it, then stiffen up in frustration. She even went about doing a fake laugh because she was excited the dog was so close. She is so funny. Everyday it’s something new that makes me smile.

My First Haircut!

Saturday, September 12, 2009:

We decided it was time to give Ella her first haircut. She literally had hair on the sides of her head that was like 3 to 4 inches long. The top had pieces that stuck way out and others that were barely there; and the back was super short from rubbing it all off. She was starting to look like a little orphan. So we gave her a little trim. What a challenge! Dan tried to entertain her while I trimmed the hair. She wiggled and grabbed at the scissors and tried to look to see what I was doing. It took us forever! She got really bored with the whole ordeal and eventually we just had to call it quits even though there were a few more pieces we could have evened out. It ended up a little shorter than I wanted, I was worried that it was a boy haircut. But I got over that pretty quick, she doesn't look like a boy! It looks really nice, especially now that it's been a month(I'm working on posting those pics); it allowed some of her really short hairs to catch up with the others. Her hair is starting to get thick now, but it's super fine and platinum blonde so it almost disappears with her skin. Everywhere we go we hear "Look how blonde her hair is, she's so cute!"
Before:

After:

"Yahh! I can play now!"

♫ “This is the way we wash our clothes…”♫

“This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes. This is the way we wash our clothes so early friday morning!”
Friday, Sept. 11

Beach Baby!

We got this really cute swimming suit for Ella and she was starting to outgrow it so we had to get some pics before it got too small. When we took the pictures she showed off some of her different personalities.

Cutie:
Glamorous:
"Don't I look beautiful, Darling?"
Silly:



Missed a few

I was looking back at some pictures I saw that I missed a few. So, I thought I’d post ‘em!

Here are some cute pics of Ella, these are back from August 29th. We were sitting in the living room, and Ella noticed her shadow on the couch. She was so cute trying to grab hold of it. I know you can’t see her shadow in the picture because of the flash, but it was so funny to watch her try to grab it,

then be confused because she couldn’t get it.

Next, are some picture I took on September 2nd. Dan just barely started his first Ortho month of the year and was on call that night. Ella and I had had a pretty rough day. She didn’t like that it was only the two of us I guess. I was feeding her cereal and we were both struggling. She was pretty grumpy and I was exhausted. Finally, she grabbed the bowl of cereal and started to play. Normally, I would’ve taken the bowl away. But her mood changed and she was instantly this happy little girl, so I let her play. Whatever works, right? She made a big mess and looked really cute so I snapped a couple shots.


The Great Transformation

When we bought our house our deck looked bad, and not the good bad, the bad bad. Dan was worried that it was a total loss, but I had hope. I knew somewhere in that mildewy, neglected wood was the potential for beauty. We slaved for 2 full days on this puppy and yes I was right, now it looks SWEET!! I guess we could possibly be okay at this homeownership thing. We have a little bit of handyness in us :)


Before:
This is what we saw when we first looked at the house back in April. Everything else about the house was great. The deck was the only real drawback. Can you tell why? Mildew, Algae, sinking corner... to name a few. Thankfully the listing realtor fixed the sinking corner we just had to do the rest.

During:
Working in that cleaner to get off the gunk, this part took FOREVER.
This is what is looked like after the cleaning. WOW, look how great it looks already!
After:
Ta Duh!!! What a transformation!! We are awesome, I am so proud of us. Although I never want to have to do that again. HOLY COW, I've never worked so hard!

To sum it all up...

Okay so its official. I am a terrible blogger. I love to read other people's blogs, but I have a hard time sitting down and posting on my own. It's not that I have nothing to write about, because Ella gives me plenty of good material. I even take pictures and think, "Hmm I should put this on the blog." But then I always say, "Oh, I'll do it later." Which never happens. So now I am still WAY behind. I haven't even written about our move to Michigan. So basically here is a quick run down of the last 3 months. After graduation we had to say goodbye to many of our good friends and our "Wisconsin Family." That was one of the hardest things I have had to do. I had a hard time not crying every moment. But we did have a few more good moments before we all left. Like here where we went for one more girls day out at Stir Crazy (mmm they have the BEST food, oh I really miss this place)

One more BBQ with the Jagers and the Austins (I miss you guys!!!)
One more round of Guitar Hero-this was an especially fun night, this is the night Ella laughed for the first time.
But all good things must come to an end so we had to pack up our stuff and go. Ella was a little confused the night before we left so here she is gripping her doll for dear life. She looks a little scared, but she was so cute.
The next day we loaded up our stuff and said goodbye.
It looks so lonely.
Closing the door one last time :(
One last picture-so many good memories here.
Welcome home Michigan!
This isn't the best picture but it'll do. You can't tell but this is the Michigan welcome center.
We were super excited (and pretty lucky) to get to move into our house right away and rent it from the sellers until we closed. This is us eating our first meal in our new house! mmm frozen lasagna and steamer bag broccoli and cauliflower (sure beats fast food).
I must say I LOVE our house!!! We have SOO much space. I almost don't know what to do with myself. I have been having fun trying to figure out where things go and decorating. Also big on my list is little improvements we can make to the house. First off was the yard. We have spent a big chunk of our time tackling that one. The previous owners took good care of the house, but when it came to the yard they were minimalists. We have had lots of bushes to cut and clear, and TONS of weeds to clean out. In fact back behind our garage there was some kind of a two level garden that was growing wild flowers(?) It was really weird because one tier was one type of plant the other tier was another. But they looked like weeds to us. Anyway it was a mess. I wish I had a before picture but I got my camera out too late.
The weeds were seriously like 6 feet tall.
We fed the missionaries then roped them into helping us clean up the weeds. HUGE mess. Thank you missionaries. I would have died. I have never seen so many spiders in my life. It was awful. yuck. We have a pretty cool yard though, there are lots of trees and it's really big. (I am sure there will be times when that seems like a bad thing-lots of lawn to mow) We've put in lots of hours and its starting to show. I hated yard work as a kid but it's actually really rewarding to see what you've done, I get excited now, I'm like "Hey should we do yard work today!?!". Our current project is the deck. I'll post before and afters-it is amazing.

Anyway, since we've been here we've done a few things-Dan started working (finally a paycheck!!!); we went with another resident to a lake house for the 4th of July. Dan was super excited to do a little sky skiing. Then we all went out on the pontoon to see the fireworks (Ella too, even though she slept through almost the whole firework show. I wish she would sleep that soundly at home.) But the bummer was we forgot the camera. So no pics of her first boat ride and fireworks. And the big one-we closed on the house, YAAHHH we are officially homeowners. I feel like a real grown up now.
Also during this time Ella learned how to roll over. We gave her food for the first time, and we bought her a high chair. When we put her in it for the first time she looked so tiny.
Since then she has grown a ton. She also learned she has toes
and has discovered that they taste really good-as does her thumb.
She's so darn cute though. We just love her so much. She's such a happy, smiley child.

Also, over this time we went to dinner at Dr. Elluru's home; he's a Plastic Surgeon that Dan was working with in July. He and his family were super nice. They have a lake house so they took us out on their boat for a little spin. This is how much fun we had:
Just kidding, Ella didn't fall asleep right away, it was after she threw a fit because she wanted to drive the boat.
It was really fun, we ended up towing a stranded boat back to shore so our cruise around the lake was extended, which was great.
Shortly thereafter, Ella and I took a little trek (okay flight) to Utah for a couple weeks. We had so much fun. Ella got to see all of her cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents. She was thrilled with all of the attention. We went to Park City with Dan's family for a few days. Went to my grandma's family reunion. Ella celebrated her 6 month birthday!! Where does time go, I can't believe she is already 6 months!!!
We had a grand old time. We were so sad to leave everyone behind, but I know Dan was really excited to have us back. Since then we've been getting back in the groove of things, Dan finally started Ortho this month so he's really excited. They have some great programs for the families here so Ella and I have been doing the play group and the ortho wives have a monthly girls night out. So it's been really fun. I love the city. It is perfect. Small city, but not lacking anything. It's so cool if you leave our subdivision there are corn fields and forests. It is so pretty. It's like we live out in the country but like 5 minutes away is the grocery store, Target, Kohl's, restaurants, etc. It is so neat! Also our ward is really great. I have done a few play dates and this week we are going to the farm with some of the girls. We are slowly getting adjusted. It's still hard though, I reaalllly miss our "family" and our real family. I think it will always be like that.
So there you have it, I know it's overwhelming but I knew I just needed to get caught up. Hopefully now the task won't seem so overwhelming and I can keep up on it!