Memorial Day Weekend

My parents were in town for Memorial day weekend and we had a great time with them. I love when they come to visit, it gives me a since of home. We always have a fun time with them and we try to do something new each time they visit. This time we went to the Garfield Conservatory. It is someplace that Marc and I have talked about going to, but we just never got around to it, and as it turns out it is only about 2 miles from our house! It was a great place to go though, free admission and free parking!!! Ella had fun just being with "papa" and "nana", and seeing all the flowers and trees. The conservatory was gorgeous and it even had a little indoor play area for the kids. Here are some pictures from the day.
While they were here, mom and I gave Ella her first haircut. She really didn't need that much trimmed so we didn't want to take her someplace and pay $20 for a trim, so we decided to do it ourselves. Here are the couple of pictures we took. Oh, and a picture of Ella with her new bow in her hair.

The weather turned out to be great all weekend and it was a great weekend. I had such a good time being home all weekend and not having to work. I look forward to seeing my parents again soon and Ella can't stop asking for "papa" and "nana".

Baby at the Park

Since the weather is finally starting to get nice, Ella and I spend most of our afternoons at the park. She loves going to the park and being a big girl, doing everything by herself! This week she has started to want to bring "baby" to the park with us. "Baby" is just one of her dolls (all the dolls, stuffed animals, etc are called "baby"). She loves to take baby with her on the playground and have her do everything with her. Here is a video of her going down the slide with baby.

With all the playing and activities we have been doing she definitely sleeps well at night. Actually, nap time is pretty good too. We just have to get over the initial hesitation of actually wanting to go to sleep, but then once she is out, she is out. Last weekend I worked and her and daddy had the whole weekend to themselves. They spent time cleaning on Sunday morning and Ella was so busy helping and playing that she literally pasted out in her crib.
We are looking forward to my parents visiting for the holiday weekend, and have been prepping Ella. I ask her every morning, "who is coming to visit Ella this weekend?", and she responds, "papa!". Then I have to add "and Grandma" (but she can't say that yet). I'm hoping to get her hair cut this weekend as well, so I'll let you know how that goes. Hope everyone has a great Memorial day weekend!

Mother's Day

It was a great second Mother's Day for me. Marc and Ella made me a wonderful breakfast of french toast to start the day. We were supposed to go to a Cubs game at 1:20pm that day, but it was raining pretty hard all morning and we weren't sure if the game was even going to be played. So, we just lounged around all morning, read the paper and relaxed. About 12:00 or so the rain finally started to slow down and eventually stopped, so the game was on just a little delayed. Ella even got in a little nap before we left and we all got ready and headed over to our friends house to go to the game. We went with our friends Amy Jo and AJ, from church, and their son Easton, who is 5 months old. We walked from their house to the game. We had great seats, they were seats from AJ's work.

Ella and mommy

Once there we had fun and Ella was pretty good. It took her awhile to settle down and sit on our laps, but she finally did and overall was really good. It was fun to hang out with friends and have the kids at the game with us. Here are a couple more pictures from the day.

Outside of Wrigley

So, all in all I'd have to say it was a good Mother's day. Ella was a good girl all day and we got to do something fun. I hope every mom had a good day as well.

Dancing Ella

Ella has been into dancing as long as she was up and mobile, and it is so cute. I love the fact that she likes to dance (taking after her mom!). She loves to listen to music as well, and in her mind most songs require a dance. She has a few moves that she always does, "ba" = bounce and wiggle = wiggling her hands. Marc and I encourage her to dance all the time, but most of the time she just puts some music on one of her toys and starts to dance on her own. Her newest thing has been to try and get Mona (our cat) to bounce with her. Her is a video of her dancing.