Ella at 22 months

I have really been needing to do a post for Ella to keep track of all the funny things she's up to lately. I haven't done an update on her since 18 months, so here we go. :)

• She has so many funny phrases I hear her say constantly, including "Awww man!" which is probably my favorite. She's never afraid to show her dismay. Also if something seems wrong with Carter or anyone else, she'll ask "What happened? You ok?" Anytime she's playing out of my sight, she'll constantly check in with me by yelling for me, "Mommy, doing?" I'll answer her with something like "cooking!" and she'll say, "oh, ok!!" as if to say, "just checking, thanks!" So funny.
• She recognizes me in my work out clothes and asks me if I'm going to "cer-size"... she even loves to attempt push ups and sit ups with me.
• Her favorite playtime activities would be having a tea party, and cooking in her kitchen. She opens and closes the oven and says "ready now!" She is also such a little mommy and loves to play with her babies. She gets them a lovey when they're tired, does "diaper changes", snuggles and rocks them, puts them down for night night. She takes it very seriously :) She recently got a little barbie doll, and she brushes her hair and makes sure she has her purse and shoes on. And she loves to take pretend trips to Target to go grocery shopping! I love watching her pretend play..... she does it  more than Carter ever has! 
• She is in love with horses right now. She still talks about the horse races we went to last month, and just always seems to be drawn to them.
• Her favorite movie is Dispicable Me...... still loves the minions. She immitates them and it's hilarious! Her favorite shows are Bubble Guppies and Dora.
• She always sings songs with us. She knows most of the words and tunes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, You are My Sunshine, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me, and Rocky Top (yes, seriously... you know that's all Eric). Also, her favorite songs on the radio are Cups and Wake Me Up (which we discovered has a horse in the music video, so it's at the top of her list now).
• She loves to dance to any kind of music. spinning and twirling, and generally just running in circles. I can't wait to put her in her first dance class!! She's going to love it!
• Now regularly speaks in 4-5 word phrases/sentences. She and Carter have their own little conversations together. It's so cute, I love it! 
• She has a very distinct and high pitched squeal she likes to shock us all with anytime Carter does something she dislikes, pesters her or even just walks in the direction of a toy she is interested in. He doesn't have to do much at all to solicit a very loud, piercing scream from her! I wonder who she got that from? :/
• She is generally pretty well behaved and listens pretty good. She hasn't started testing us too much, but I'm sure that isn't far off. She does like to throw a good fit occasionally, usually over something she wants but isn't getting, but we can all handle a little of that. :) She's a good girl, and we love having her as a part of our family. Can't believe she'll be TWO in just a couple short months. 

And I have to add a few recent cell phone pictures of our little lady

Just taking a moment to relax at breakfast

 Her favorite part of bath time --- doing silly hair!

 Playing at Chickfila

 All tuckered out

 Kisses for Mommy!

Family Night at the Ranger Game.... Ella's First one!

On Saturday the 17th, we headed to Arlington with the kids to the Ranger game. Carter was, as usual, so excited to go.... I think he's been 4 or 5 times now. And Ella had never been, but she was excited too! She is quite familiar with the Rangers from the TV (imagine that!), so she seemed to sort of understand where we were going. We left to head out there a little early so we could grab dinner before going to the ballpark. We ate at Boston's... this has become sort of our before game go-to restaurant. We walked in and sat at the table, and Carter said, "Hey, I've been here before with Daddy and Travis!" (That was about 4 months ago... good memory!) So we enjoyed our dinner then went over to the ballpark. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was about 90 degrees on the walk in from the car, but once we were inside and got to our seats (in the shade!), it was so comfortable, not at all like the baseball weather we're used to! It was definitely the perfect night and the perfect game to go to! Ella noticed the field and the players right away, and was really fascinated with it all. She also loved all the music they were playing, and was dancing to every short snipit that would come on. Every time it would go off, she'd say "MORE! more dancing!" Probably withing about 15 minutes of us being there, Eric got her up into his lap because she was dancing non stop and he said, "Maybe they'll put her on the big screen!" Literally before he could get that sentence out of his mouth, I looked up, and THERE SHE WAS! Well, there all 4 of us were, but I was focused on Ella because she was just happily dancing away. Carter saw all of us, and himself, too... so he thought that was pretty cool. He asked me right after that, "Mommy, are we gonna be on that big TV again?" Some people spend years doing silly things and dressing up in hopes of making it onto the park's big screen..... and all Ella had to do was show up looking cute in her pink Rangers shirt and red curls and shake her groove thing. Hard to top that first time park experience!

A few pictures at dinner.

Each of the kids got a Rangers wrestling mask upon entry at the ballpark. Kinda weird, kinda awesome :)

 Love this!

 Made it to our seats, and checking out the view....

 .......not bad!

Had to sneak a pic of this cutie during the National Anthem :)

 

 

 Haha!

 Ella was loving the peanuts we brought. Eric couldn't open them fast enough to satisfy each kid, so at some point Ella got tired of waiting and just started gnawing on it, not even caring about the shell.

 See the hole? Gross!

Carter was probably most looking forward to the promised cotton candy. Ella had never had any before, and I'm pretty sure she thought it was amazing.

 

Both the kids were well behaved and really seemed to enjoy the game. It was such a fun family night... and we look forward to lots more of these in the years to come! 

Back to School Pictures 2013

One of my sweet photograper mommy friends had a cute idea to get the boys together last year for some back to school pictures, and even more fun, to make it an annual tradition! So we did what anyone would do..... dressed them in coordinating outfits and set up a photoshoot! ;)

Here are a few of this year's pictures of our boys, all 4 years old. 

Taken by Laura Tye. :) 

 And for fun, have a look at last year's. 

They've all grown and changed so much!

And a few more Laura took that include all the younger siblings. :)

While we were there (also, because I color coordinated their outfits!), I thought I'd try to snap a few pictures of my two babies. That didn't go so well. Ella was pretty uncooperative, so this ONE, right here, is about as good as it gets, folks. 

 Can you tell that she is saying "Noooooo!" in this picture?
Well, she is. :/

 And it's alllll downhill from there.....

 Serious drama queen here...

I mean, there's not even any tears!! Rotten girl. ;)

Hill Country Vacation - Part 2

The second half of our trip was spent just the 4 of us in San Antonio. We spent 2 days at Sea World, and the rest of the time enjoying the amenities at the resort that we stayed at.

Carter enjoyed all the little kid rides. Can you find him below? And Eric's there too, with a blue hat on :)

Riding with Mommy

Ella was over the moon about the carousel. She requested a "purple one" every time.

Time to see Shamu

Very excited!

Taking a look at the dolphins, or "golphins" as Ella would say

Carter loved everything about the aquarium

 

Here he is making his shark face.... haha!

  Day 2 at Sea World started with carousel rides. LOTS and lots of carousel rides. :/

Carter was excited to meet Franklin

But he was most excited about riding Journey to Atlantis. Eric said he was a little nervous at first, but handled it like a champ, and of course, came off the ride saying how awesome it was! And the best part was that there was literally no line, so we were able to ride several times!

Eric and Carter in the back row.

Carter and Mommy in the back row.

Taking a break from the ride to get splashed

And they got to ride in the front row the last time.

After that excitement, we headed over to the Sesame Street water park area. The kids had fun, but it was crowded so they were good with about 30-40 minutes of playtime before they were ready to move on.

Later that evening we all enjoyed the lazy river back at our hotel.

 

More fun in the pool with Daddy!

Last night there, this little babe was exhausted. Couldn't resist this cute shot of her lounging before bed. I'd have to say though that this would definitely be the best way to end a wonderful family vacation! Our kids are still talking about all the fun we had. I'm so grateful for the time with family, but as always, we were all happy to be back home, too! :)