We are ready for the beach!!

Even Ella is excited about going to the beach! She keeps getting my beach tote out of the closet and carrying it around like a purse. It's bigger than her! Daddy thought it would be fun to "tote" Ella around in it. As I snap pictures, I'm just praying the bottom of that bag holds up!!!

From 7-30-09

From 7-30-09

Then Daddy and Ella conspired together to do this:

From 7-30-09

Poor Kenzie, she was so stressed out! Ella thought it was hilarious!

From 7-30-09

My Little Stair Master!

I feel like I'm always yelling, "AAHHH!! No, Kenzie, get your tongue out of Ella's mouth!!! Mckenzie is our dog, by the way. Every time I turn around, she licking Ella's legs or back. Or sticking her tongue up Ella's nose or in her mouth! UGH!! Disgusting!! Ella loves every minute of it though. Good Grief!!! Once I have gotten the dog to cease, Ella screams and runs after her with her cute little plodding run, screaming "Kenzie, Kenzie," Play with me!!!

From 7-27-09

These are all of Jason's old stuffed animals from when he was little. They were all lovingly taken care of and still look brand new. Ella hasn't really formed any attachments to any "thing" yet. There isn't a blankie or baby doll or toy or anything she really prefers. She loves books and she will find a book that she likes and want to read it over and over, but even those make the rounds. She doesn't even really need her paci, we are thinking about taking it soon. I don't know. I wanted her to be able to keep it until all of her teeth came in, but I don't know if she would really even miss it that much. Any advice?

From 7-27-09

Look at my little stair master!! She has mastered the stairs! Up and Down without help, holding the banisters, not crawling. She used to come down backwards on her knees, which I was much more comfortable with. She will still get in BIG TROUBLE though, if she goes on the stairs without Mommy or Daddy! We don't have any baby gates.....(all readers GASP). Don't worry she knows her boundaries. She always comes and gets one of us if she wants to go on the stairs. She's a really good baby.

From 7-27-09

From 7-27-09

Gorgeous Diaper weather tonight!

From 7-27-09

Daddy to the rescue!

Ella can now open the back outside door in the Master Bedroom, but for some reason, she can't reach any other door handle in the house. She's mad becasue she can't see and she's tired of wiping her hair out of her eyes........ Daddy to the rescue!!

From 7-23-09

From 7-23-09

From 7-23-09

From 7-23-09

From 7-23-09

Stay at home Daddy

Jason has been staying home with Ella some while she has been sick. He sent me this video, taken by his cell phone. Should I be worried?

Baby Einstein Puppets

Ella now knows what ALL the puppets "say." The dog says "woof, woof." The duck says "quack, quack." The monkey says "oooo, aaahh." The goat says "baaa." The dragon says "blah." And the cow says "mmmmm," close enough. We took three puppets with us to the doctor Monday. It was a great idea! She did a show for everyone in the waiting room and the nurses once we got called back. She had a puppet on each arm when they weighed her and she stood perfectly still. I was so proud of her I forgot to ask how much she weighs. She didn't like it when the doctor looked down her throat but she liked to look down the cows throat!! She did great, even though she didn't feel very good. Diagnosis: Croup. I feel like I am always posting that she is sick....(sigh).

From 7-19-09

Unfortunately, MeeMaw did not have enough hands to satify Ella.

From 7-19-09

Tannehill Trade Days

This weekend was "trade days" at Tannehill. It's the third weekend of every month, March - November. It's only $3.00 per adult, $1.00 Children (Ages 6-11) and ages 5 and under are free. We hadn't been this year and I wanted to take advantage of the great weather. There is no shade in the trade show area and if you have to pay to do something....you can't pay much less than that! Also, a friend that I met through this site, mentioned that it would be fun to actually meet!! I had no idea that she was so close to me or I would have suggested it sooner! Her son, Tad, is 3 months older than Ella. It was so great to get together!! I just knew from her blog, A day in the life of a housewife, that we would get along great! She is really talented too, check out her etsy shop.

From 7-19-09

Who knows if the kids liked the train, Tad was trying to escape and Ella was kind of in a daze. She did manage a "Choooooo, Chooooooo" sound.

From 7-19-09

From 7-19-09

We let Ella go down the big slide all by herself! She loved it!

From 7-19-09

Tad wanted a turn too! That is definitely the face of a boy having fun!

From 7-19-09

Then we tried on our TUMMY!

From 7-19-09

Ella got her hands dirty and Tad is trying to show her how to wipe them off.

We had a great time with Courtney, her husband Bobby, and her son Tad!!! We hope we can get together again soon!

Little did we know that the reason Ella was in such a daze was because she had a fever of 102!! We thought she was just flushed because it was hot outside!! I took her to the Dr. Monday morning and she has the CROUP! She didn't even cough once until Sunday night! I hope this won't be too bad. I feel so terrible for exposing Tad to Croup!! We are praying for Ella's quick recovery and for Tad to STAY WELL!!

The Botanical Gardens

It couldn't possibly have been a more beautiful day today! It was the perfect day for a picnic and a walk in the gardens! There were a lot of people that had the same idea. At least two weddings occurred while we were there! It was a glorious day!

From 7-18-09

You can't go wrong with PB&J!

From 7-18-09

The sunglasses didn't last very long.

From 7-18-09

From 7-18-09

From 7-18-09

From 7-18-09

Whether I should say so or not, my husband looked HOT today!

From 7-18-09

We found a pretty fountain, but Ella wanted to get in it. Not going to happen....so this is how this played out:

From 7-18-09

Don't cry baby...you don't need to get your shoes wet.

From 7-18-09

Why don't you lay on your belly and put your hand in (the dirty water).

From 7-18-09

Watch Daddy he's silly.

From 7-18-09

What's wrong?

From 7-18-09

You want to touch the fountain too?

From 7-18-09

OK - hold on princess. Daddy's are pushovers. She's got him wrapped!

From 7-18-09

She found a baby that had cute "piggies."

From 7-18-09

Then we let her play in the little fountain at the front of the gardens. Toes and fingers only.

From 7-18-09

We never even saw the west side of the gardens, her eyes were closing as we were trying to get her in her car seat. Hmmm...sounds like a great time for Mommy and Daddy to get some TCBY!

Beautiful!

What can I say? Ella was just beautiful this morning! INSIDE and OUT!

From 7-18-09

From 7-18-09

From 7-18-09

Etsy store Pattern

I ordered Ella these Baby Einstein puppets for her birthday back in April. She has really started taking an interest in them. She chases Kenzie around with the dog puppet saying "woof, woof, woof!" She also has a duck, cow, monkey, goat, and dragon. She knows the duck says "quack" and the monkey says "oooo, oooo, aaahh, aaaahhh", from the Playhouse Disney song. She's not really gotten the hang of the cow or goat yet. And, of course, if your familiar with Baby Einstein, you know that the dragon says "Blah!"

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

I made Ella a dress last night from a pattern I purchased a while back from http://www.etsy.com/. Its an online store where you can buy and sell homemade items. I love it! This pattern is called "The Little Mademoiselle Dress". It was super easy to make and the directions were very straightforward. Actually, I forgot to print out the directions (but I had read them), so I just made it from memory. My straps turned out too narrow - Whoops! I added the pockets because I really loved the fabric. The pattern did not call for pockets. I think it turned out a little long though and I will probably hem it tonight. I'm making a pair of pants for me using the same materials. I will post pics of it in a couple of days.

From 7-14-09

From 7-14-09

From 7-14-09

From 7-14-09

From 7-14-09

From 7-14-09

Saturday...we needed a freebie!

I petitioned my facebook friends for some free activities for the weekend. Despite still having our jobs, the recession is taking its toll on us financially. No raises, no bonuses, no overtime. Ouch. Not only that, but its very expensive to eat healthy and we are not willing to compromise on that. Therefore, we are trying to tighten the belt on our budget for a while, no more buying patterns, stock piling fabrics, or dreaming about fancy sewing machines. No more ebaying, or randomly buying clothes. No more eating out....(That's a big one!) Anyway, we decided to take Ella to the park. The one we wanted to go to was at a church and the gate was locked so we ended up in Hueytown.

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

Then we went to visit Nonnie and Don T.

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09

Then Finally, we went to our Neighbor's house (Kevin and Holly Andrews) for a shrimp boil/pool party/ UFC fight night. The bugs nearly ate me alive!!! The food and Fellowship was great though! We put Ella to bed at 8pm as usual and carried the monitor back over to the Andrew's. UFC on the other hand is a whole nother story, its way too violent and bloody for me. After one fight I was out of there! I curled up in bed and read! O happy day!!! Jason said he came home around 11:30, I had long been asleep by then.

From 7-11-09

From 7-11-09