All Smiles!

What a little cutie pie I have! :)

Check out this face!

Big smiles!


And gettin' some kisses from his awesome big sis.

I can deal with being utterly exhausted much better when I see these smiling faces. :)

Summertime Fun

Ella enjoying her sand and water table, er.. mud and water table...

Her swing...

The other swing (I really like this one!).

Climbing the ladder...

Ready to go down the slide...

And this is what William did while we played.

:)

Flag Craft

Since the 4th of July is coming up soon, we decided to make our own flag today! Ella put the glue on herself, the stripes, (I cut them of course), the blue part, and star stickers.

Working hard...

Peeling off the tiny stars.. she's good at this!

But she got tired and was "done." ;)

Ella's finished flag!

Fun, fun. I really enjoy making things with Ella!

Mommy & her Son

So, so in love with this little boy!!!!

Red Robin Video

Ella really loves going to the Red Robin. We make sure we go on the night that the big red bird is walking around. She loves to shake his hand and talk to him. We went tonight for her free birthday meal, and sadly, the bird wasn't there! We still had a really good time though. Ella made tons of friends with the servers (I had 3 people today tell me what beautiful children I have...how sweet!), and they also sang Happy Birthday to her and we all shared her ice cream sundae. AND, she left with three balloons! :) Here is Ella being sung to at Red Robin.

Little Boy is 2 MONTHS OLD!! Wow!

Again, why does time seem to go by so quickly??? We're definitely still a bit sleep deprived and I really can't wait to sleep 8 hours straight again, but looking back, these past two months have flown by. He's such a sweet little boy and he has so much to say! He is constantly smiling and cooing at us. It's almost like he's having a real conversation with us. It's wonderful! I'm excited for all the firsts that lay ahead of us with this little sweetie. We have much to be thankful for, and much to look forward to.

The Birthday Celebration Continues...

Ella only had time to open one present last night as it got so late so fast, so today she had two left to open.

She's getting really good at tearing the paper off!

Thanks Nana and Pa! Daddy had to set this up right away as well, as she couldn't wait to start playing. And she's slowly getting more interested in her tricycle as well. :)

She received a couple cards in the mail too that she opened today too. She especially likes finding little gifts in the cards! :)

The second gift...

Pretend play Animal Hospital. Mommy and Ella both enjoyed this one! Thanks again Nana and Pa! She loved her gifts!!

She figured out how to open the little doors too with the matching colored keys....what a neat toy!!

Ella is growing into such a sweet and funny little person. We love Ella so much!

2 Years Old Today!!

My baby turned 2 years old today. She's doing so much now. She's saying a bunch of new words every day, and developing quite the little personality. It's hard for me to realize she's not quite my little baby anymore. (Though she'll always be my baby.) I remember Ella's birth day like it was yesterday. It was such an exciting, happy day. How have two years passed already?? I never knew being a mommy would be such work and so exhausting. But I also never knew being a mommy would be so much fun. Ella has enriched our lives so greatly. I thank God every day for her. She is such a blessing to me, her daddy and her family that love her so much.

We had a fun day! We did a few art projects...

Painting over the marker with water to see the colors run like tie-dye...

Randomly painting...

And Ella also had her first try at scissors today. She did pretty well and enjoyed actually being able to touch scissors of her own! After cutting up a bunch of different colored scraps of paper, we made a collage. (She enjoyed the glue too!)

Later we went to Bounce City where she got to burn off some energy jumping all over the place!

The ball pit was a big hit.

We drove home in a huge thunder and lightning storm and lo and behold, our entire neighborhood had lost power. We had fun lighting candles and eating birthday cake by candlelight. Ella really, really loves being sung to. :)

Daddy and Ella enjoying the cake. Ella actually didn't seem to care for the cake which I'm totally ok with. Shocked because she's our daughter and we like cake! ...but ok. :)

She also wore her birthday hat.

And opened a couple presents we saved just for her actual birthday. She was really excited, can you tell?? :)

She wanted her bear dress up puzzle opened immediately...

then went right to work dressing mama bear, baby bear, and papa bear.

It was a little bit of a crazy night and Ella didn't get to bed until way later than usual, but it was a special day. My little girl turned 2.

My Cuties

To me, Ella's my little baby. It's strange having someone smaller than she in the house now. It amazes me to see the difference in size between the two, yet only 22 months apart.

She loves her little brother.

Smiling happily.

My sweet little ones.

This is Ella waving to William. So sweet.

And smile from the littler one. :)

It's still a little crazy that I have two children now.

We also made a new record last night! William slept 8 straight hours! Ya-hoo!! 9:30-5:30am, then back to sleep for a couple more. Hopefully this is the start of something new and wonderful! :)

8 weeks

I really hate how time seems to go so fast. My little boy is already almost 2 months old...

Father's Day

Between the birthday party last night that we went to and tonight's trip to the pond to feed the ducks, Ella's getting a little too used to getting to bed late. Her afternoon naps have been long lately (we're talking 2-3 hrs! I think it's the cold she has...), and she's not ready for bed until 9pm or later. We're all pretty tired around here.

Here we are outside, William wearing a baseball hat which makes him look entirely too old! (but too cute)

Ella loves her swing. I think it's a little too comfortable.. notice the yawn? :)

Before we knew it she was conked out! Just like that!

Sweet, very sweet...

And William later on napping in his swing. (We haven't seen much of this during the daylight hours.)

We had a nice Father's Day. We went to church this morning and Dave got a blessing which was nice. We relaxed at home, played outside, went for a walk, fed the ducks, and played at the playground. All in all a very nice day.

Here are Ella's gifts for daddy:
She made him a picture frame and a card.

And got him a mug with pictures of herself with William. Daddy loved it!

Here's to many, many more happy father's days. And to my own father, thank you Dad for all that you do. I couldn't have asked for a better dad. I love you so much.

6 Years of Marriage

6 years ago today we were married. It's hard to believe it's been that long already, and it's fun thinking about all we've accomplished in the last six years. We had no clue in six years we'd have the two best little babies in the world. Lucky us!

I have the best husband in the world. He's really, really good to me, always.
This picture is an oldie - from our dating days. :)

And a recent picture. We celebrated our anniversary early when Nana and Pa were in town by going out to dinner at the melting pot.

Wonderful husband and two wonderful children. What else could I want?