What a fun weekend!

My mom and dad came to see us this weekend. We had such a wonderful visit and really enjoyed our time with them. As great as it is to see our family when we go home, we never seem to get to sit and visit with each other the way we do when they come to see us. Ella had so much fun with Grammy and Pappaw and, of course, was horribly upset when they left (understandably so, because she gets away with all kinds of things that don't usually fly when she's here with just Mom and Dad).

Here she is breaking the rules with Pappaw- she's not supposed to get this close to the water (and she knows it!). But of course when she asks, Pappaw says, "Sure!" They spent lots of time throwing rocks in the water- sounds like a blast, huh? Not sure why, but she loves to do that!

Helping Grammy open her birthday presents

We took Mom to Mitchell's Fish Market for her birthday dinner. It was so good!!!! And so fun! Ella was such a good girl, too. She sat in a big girl chair and ate a ton- not much of her own food, but everyone else's. :) Tonight she discovered she really likes french fries dipped in tartar sauce.
Isn't this such a great picture?!!
A last pic of Ella about an hour after Grammy and Pappaw left. She missed her nap and was exhausted!! She took one lick of her ice cream cone, handed it back to me, then laid her head over and went to sleep. She is so absolutely precious. :)

"Mommy, I'm tired"

We are glad to be have gotten through Ella's first week at daycare- it's been a roller-coaster of emotions for all three of us. Thursday (yesterday) was her first full day and she had a pretty hard time. When I got there to pick her up in the afternoon, I could tell by her red, puffy eyes that she had been crying quite a bit. Her teacher said she kept asking, "Where's Mommy and Daddy at?" Talk about breaking my heart!! When we got home, she was wiped out. She said, "Mommy, I'm tired" and grabbed her blanket and just wanted to lay on the couch and cuddle. Awww...

Friday was a little better. She was more upbeat when I went to pick her up. They have an aquarium with baby turtles and she gets to feed the turtles before she leaves. Today when she saw me, she said, "Mommy, let's feed the turtles and go bye-bye!" Then when we got in the truck, she said, "Mommy, school was lots of fun today!"

When we got home, she grabbed her blanket and hopped on the couch, saying, "I'm tired." I think I see a new routine forming here. :) It's great because I love the cuddle time.
As hard as it's been for Chris to leave Ella there screaming and for me to be at work knowing she's with people she doesn't know, I did see a small change in her tonight. We were at Macy's and a lady looked at Ella and said, "Hi, what's your name?" Ella looked up at her, waving and smiling and said, "Hi!!" That might not seem like a big deal, but usually when strangers talk to Ella, she hides behind my legs or looks at the ground and doesn't say a word. So yea for the little things and for daycare maybe bringing Ella out of her shell a little bit.

All that needless worrying...

Ella had a "get acquainted day" at her new daycare today- just a time for her to play and get more comfortable with her teachers and the routine. Everyone who knows Ella knows she can be a little on the shy side when it comes to meeting new people, and Chris and I have been pretty nervous about starting her somewhere new. We weren't sure how she was going to handle a whole day at daycare when we still can't make it through a whole church service without Ella's number coming up on the screen!

Anyways, when she woke up this morning, she was really excited to "go to tool (school) and see the wittle tids (little kids)". And you should have seen her walking in with this big, nervous smile on her face. I was so proud of her for being so brave. When I left, there was a bit of screaming and some tears (on both our parts). I half wondered if she would spend the day in the corner, not talking or playing with anyone.

But as I should have known, the little girl had a blast!

When I walked in, Ella was playing nurse and taking care of this little girl's "boo-boo".

Her teacher said she only cried for five minutes and then jumped right in, playing and singing. She also said Ella was so kind to the other kids, giving them toys and making sure they had food at lunch. She also filled up her diaper for them, so she must have been feeling pretty comfortable!
I am so thankful that this first day seemed to go so well. When we got in the car, Ella said, "Mommy, I had lots of fun at school." When I asked if she would like to go back sometime, she said, "Yeah, sure." Yea!!! Thursday will be her first full day, so please say a little prayer for us that it will go so great.

It's a sad day...

Uncle Jared is leaving us to go back to college. :( We were so lucky that he agreed to come spend his summer with us and take care of Ella. He did such a great job, too- always being super patient and doing fun things to make Ella happy. She just loves "Jeed" to pieces. Good luck at school, Jared! We'll miss you!!

Just the two of us...

Chris and I took off last week to Florida. After much hem-hawing around, we decided on Clearwater Beach, because it supposedly has the most sunny days of any city in the U.S. If you know our history of vacations, you know we get rained on no matter where we go and regardless of the month, season, etc. We both wanted to do nothing but sit in the sun. Well, once again this year, the sun was just not in our cards. You have to laugh, because that is just the way it usually is for us. We had a great week nonetheless, and we both managed to end up with sunburns anyways. Who knew you needed sunscreen when the sky is gray and pouring rain? Here's a few pics from the couple minutes of dry weather we had.

While we were on vacation, Ella had her own fun holiday with the grandparents. She has been talking for days now about the "ucky totes" (the yucky goats), the horses, the bird, the pup, Payton, Lexi, and baby Carson. Here's a few pics of her helping with the animals.

Just a cute pic of Ella hanging out with her buddy, Payton.

Introducing our family...

This is my first post. I'm just going to post some cute pics from the summer to introduce you to our family. Enjoy!!


Ella with Pappaw and her cousins, Lexi and "baby Carson".

It's not very often I can get Ella to sit still for a picture, but this day, I told her to sit in front of the flowers and she just plopped down and said, "Cheeseburgers!"
Fishing with cousin Payton.

Helping Daddy "mow" the flowers. She gets "mow" and "water" confused. :)
A fun day at Kings Island.
One of E's favorite things to do: sit on the counter and eat ice cream!!
Giving Pappaw some sugar. How sweet!