Ella being Ella

Ella is being so funny and cute lately (well, when she isn't whining!). The past week actually wasn't so much fun, Ella had a fever for a few days and a really stuffy nose. She wasn't really sleeping for more than 2-3 hours at a time for 2 nights in a row! It was horrible for both of us. She is feeling much better now and sleep almost all night last night and so far tonight is doing well. Needless to say we didn't have a very fun week, her and I spent most of the week in our pj's just hanging around the house. Thank goodness that Marc came home early one day so that I could get out and have some time to myself!
The week before last though was good and Ella and I have been having a lot of fun. I took her to the Nature Museum here (they have free days on Thursdays) and we met up with a friend and her daughter. They had a lot of fun playing in the little play area and exploring the butterfly garden. Here is a video of her going through the butterfly garden.



She has also been very into having her clips in her hair (although she doesn't usually keep them in very long). Here are a couple of pictures with her clips in.

Another thing she is doing lately is trying to wear my or Marc's shoes. We usually keep a pair or two of shoes by the front door and she goes over and tries to put them on herself, or she gets us to help her. If she gets mine on she can actually walk around in them, it is so cute. Here she is wearing my shoes and drinking her milk.

Being like mommy!

Then the other night she was trying to be like daddy and carry his briefcase! It's way too heavy for her to carry, but she was going to try anyway. She also has her little overnight bag that was lying out on the floor.
We just can't believe how much she is changing lately and how fast. We are trying to encourage new words with her, but her favorite right now is "ba-by". She calls everything baby. Although if we ask where her baby is, she does go and get her baby dolls. The only other words she has right now is "hi" and "oh-oh". We love the way she says "hi", it is just a such a sweet little voice and she has the beauty pageant wave to go with it!

Trip to MN

It's been a while since I have written here in our blog. A lot of stuff has been going on, one of those is Ella and my trip to MN a week ago. We went to MN to go to Amelia's 4th b-day party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Amelia had specifically requested that Ella be at her birthday party, how could we say no. While in MN we spent most of our time with Alicia and Kaia. Ella and Kaia are so funny together, they like to play together, but they still fight for attention from us. Here is a picture of them trying to share the chair together.
Ella likes to visit Grandma and Grandpa's because they have Molly, the dog. She was pretty funny with her and always wanted to say hi to her. Every time we pulled into the garage she would start saying "Mo-mo", and I would ask her if she wanted to see Molly and she would nod her head yes. Here she is giving Molly a "hug".

Ella had fun at the birthday party. She didn't really want to go on the rides there, but she loved just being able to walk around and be a big girl. Here are some pictures from the party.

Amelia got her hair done!

Ella and Kaia on a ride.

Harley enjoying the cakeElla riding the magic bike

Ella really liked to play with this steering wheel

On the last day that we were there Alicia and I took the girls to the Children's museum. They had a lot of fun. It's nice to be able to let them just run a little without having to be right next to them the whole time. They had a Sesame Street exhibit when we went, it was cute. We have a picture of the girls sitting on the front stoop in the neighborhood.


There is a great part to the museum where it is set up like a small town; they have a grocery store, restaurant, post office, bus, doctor office, and a music store. In the music store you can make a little music video. Here is the video that Alicia made with the girls.

We had a lot of fun in MN, it's always a good time and Ella loves playing with her cousins. She is changing so much still. She is becoming such a big girl. She is starting to say words now. She has, "oh-oh", "Hi", and "Baby". In between those she is constantly babbling. We are still trying to get her on video saying one of her words.

Christmas' (the last two)

Well, this week is back to work and the old routine. It is actually welcomed though since we were so busy over the last few weeks. Christmas was good to us, even despite all the traveling we did. We spent four days in Missouri with my family over Christmas eve and Christmas day and enjoyed watching Ella trying new things. This year in Missouri we actually had a white Christmas, which doesn't happen very often. With the snow we spent more time outside and the kids loved it. There were a couple of 4-wheelers at my grandparents house and everyone took advantage of them. Here are pictures of us enjoying the great outdoors.

Ella and Kaia

Ella and I going for a ride

The kids going for a wagon ride

Besides playing outside everyone had a good time opening presents and spending time with family. Ella really got into the presents and enjoyed opening hers and trying to open other peoples as well. It was so fun to see Ella interact with her cousins and trying to play with the big kids!

Attempt at taking a cousin picture

Reading with Aunt Alicia (in our matching pj's)

After we returned from MO, we were home for a day and then headed off to Ohio to do Christmas with Marc's mom and the rest of his siblings. After driving through every type of precipitation possible to get to Ohio we made it, only to have Marc wake up the next day feeling sick. He wasn't feeling well for our entire trip and then I wasn't feeling good for the trip back home. It was nice to be there though and see everyone. Again Ella enjoyed the presents. Ella even got to spend a whole night with Grandma and Grandpa Keyes, and it sounds like she had fun.

Playing with Daddy's presents

Sharing daddy's candy

The last day we were in Ohio, Ella and I went with Rachael to see Great Grandma Brash. Ella was such a trooper all day with the traveling and did great at the nursing home. She liked seeing the resident dog, Bella. Here a few pictures from the visit.

Posing with Great grandma and Rachael

Watching Grandma

Silly Ella

Ella has been a ham lately and is starting to know when she is being funny. One of her favorite things right now is to wear her winter hats while in the house. She can even put some of them on herself! Here are a couple of pictures.

Cheese!

Is it cold in here?

She is also starting to want to climb on things, but she can't quite get her body to follow her thoughts. This is how she is starting, putting one leg up on things!

So close!

Christmas #1

This past weekend we had Christmas with the Brash's (Marc's dad and stepmom). We had a good weekend, a little chaotic, but nice. Eric and Susan got in on Friday afternoon and Marc's brother, John, picked them up from the airport and they came on over to the house. That night we did dinner at Goose Island and everyone was good, for the most part. Ella learned how to "dip" at dinner! She had a couple of fries and Uncle John gave her a ramekin of ketchup and she was dipping!! She loved it.

Saturday we did Christmas and it was a busy day. Katie, Johnathon, and I made a gingerbread house, and I think we did a pretty good job.
We even made a big dinner and it was great once it finally cooked. We only had a 7.5lb turkey breast and it ended up taking almost 4 hours to cook, it postponed us a little bit. But once everything was done, Eric cut the turkey and we were finally able to eat.
Then after dinner it was time for presents. The time that our nephew, Johnathon, had been waiting for all day!!! Ella was so tired by that time that we weren't sure she was going to make it though. Once we started with the presents though she was asking for more (with her signs). Here are some pictures from the whole process.
All in all it was a good first Christmas celebration. The next Christmas, real Christmas, is just around the corner and we'll be in Missouri to celebrate with my family. Then we'll be home for a day and then head out to Ohio to do Christmas with the Keyes, Marc's mom and stepdad. It's going to be a very busy week and a half, but I'm looking forward to it.

Busy!

It has been a busy week and we are just getting started. This weekend is our first Christmas with Marc's Dad and Stepmom. We are looking forward to it, but it's going to be busy having extra people in the house. I have been baking for the last three nights and it has been exhausting!! We made treats for Marc to bring in for his assistants and we also brought treats to all the ladies who work in the daycare at the gym. They all got their treats today and everyone had rave reviews, so all the work payed off!
I am started to get really excited for Christmas and seeing my family. Having Christmas this weekend with Eric and Susan will really kick off the holiday and make it real. I can't wait to see how Ella reacts to all the festivities. She is just growing up so much lately and acting like a toddler more and more each day. She understands almost everything we say and knows exactly what she wants and does her best to communicate it to us. She is also very into her winter hats now and wants to wear them all the time, even in the house. I don't have a picture yet, but I'll post one soon. She has so many of them that I let her pick out which one she wants to wear when we leave the house, it's pretty cute.

Winter Fun

Of course December has been busy already as expected. Ella has been a trooper so far and is trying to roll with the punches. Last Friday I took Ella to an indoor play area in Skokie and she had a ton of fun. Here she is riding on the fish rocker.

Ella and I have been running a bunch of errands to try and get ready for the holidays and keep the house running at the same time. The other day we went downtown and met Marc for lunch and went to see Santa. I have to say the Santa was a little disappointing, not as cute as I was hoping for. I didn't think Ella would be afraid of him, but she was. She didn't cry, but would not go to him or even sit on his lap. So this was the only picture we got!
We have our Christmas tree up and Ella is very interested in it. She has been really good about not pulling on it or the decorations, however we still put up a baby gate around the tree. Here she is examining the tree.
With our new snowfall this past week Marc wanted to take Ella out into the snow. She spent about five minutes outside compared to the 15 minutes it took to get her all dressed for going outside. She wasn't a big fan of sitting in the snow, or even being outside in it at all. We got some really cute pictures though!

We are getting ready to do our three Christmas' with our families and a very busy next few weeks. I'm looking forward to it and seeing our families. I haven't seen my siblings and nieces and nephews in a long time and the kids are growing so fast!