Easter

We had a wonderful Easter in MN with my family. Besides all the snow in MN (yes, snow about 8in of it), we had a good weekend up there. It was busy as usual, trying to see everyone and having all the kids at my parents all the time. We went to church on Easter morning and then out to brunch. Here are a couple of pictures of Ella and Kaia at brunch.

Ella "smiling"

My mom gave us all Easter baskets, even the "big" kids. Alicia also bought all the kids bunny ears to wear. We never managed to get a picture of all the kids with the ears on, but here is a picture of Ella with her ears on.

We even managed to grab a couple of family pictures while we were still dressed in our nice clothes. Ella is into smiling now when you ask her to, especially for pictures. It's a pretty cheesy smile, but cute.

Cheesy smile!

We did an egg hunt for the kids in the house, since there was snow outside. They had so much fun. Ella didn't quite understand the whole concept yet, but she did get a couple of eggs with a lot of help. It was more fun for her to open the eggs and keep dumping out the contents. The other kids did really well and even Kaia was into it this year. Here are pictures from the hunt.

Finding the first egg

Yeah, I found one!

Amelia on the hunt

Ella checking out the goods

Besides all the Easter celebrations, Ella enjoyed just playing with her cousins. Here is a picture of her trying to kiss Harley. She was calling him a baby the whole time, it was so cute.
And here is a picture of Alicia reading to all the kids. They were getting pretty tired!

Having Fun

Happy St. Patty's day everyone. Ella and I didn't really do anything fun for the day, but she did wear a cute t-shirt. It's her "daddy's lucky charm" shirt, it's very cute. Today Ella got to color with crayons. I have tried to let her color before, but she just ate them. Today I filled out an application at Goose Island Brewery, for a server position to make some extra money. I had Ella with me, so while I was doing that (it wasn't easy with her) the hostess gave her some crayons and a coloring sheet to try and keep her occupied. She was very into it and we brought it home with us and she colored some more tonight. Here are some pictures of her from tonight.

Last week with the mild weather we took a few walks and even went to the park one day. The day we went it was a little colder than I thought it was so we didn't stay long. It is so fun to bring her to the park now that she can walk and run around. I enjoyed following her around and exploring the playground with her. Here she is with her cheesy smile.

The other thing that is new the last couple of weeks is Ella wanting to sleep with all her babies and teddy bears in her crib. She has been insisting on having her two babies, two teddy bears, a giraffe and multiple bankies in her crib with her for naps and bedtime. Sometimes I wonder how there is even room for her in the bed. Here is a picture I took of her napping the other day. I had to peek in on her after she fell asleep to she how she was managing with so much company in her crib and this is what I found.

Trip to AZ

We got back a couple of days ago from our six day trip to Arizona to see Marc's dad and stepmom. We always enjoy visiting there around this time of year when it's so warm there and still not so warm here in Chicago. This was the longest trip that we have taken out there in the last few years, and we had a lot of fun. The only problem with going out there is the time change and the long travel time and Ella gets off of her sleeping schedule. She did pretty well after a couple of days, but those first couple were a little rough.
The trip started out great with great weather (close to 80 degrees) and we went to the zoo. It's a huge zoo, so we only saw a little part of it. It's hard to get around to everything with a tried baby. We did make it to the children's part of the zoo and Ella got to pet some goats.

Mommy had to pet the goats first

Ella finally got up the nerve to touch an ear

At the Phoenix zoo they also have a place called Monkey Village where the monkeys aren't in cages at all, but rather just jumping around in the trees and can go where ever they want. It was pretty neat to see the monkeys so close, one even jumped onto an information sign right in front of some people.

The next day Marc and I were going to leave on our little vacation of our own. We had booked a bed and breakfast room for a night in the mountains so that we could spend a day skiing. We were really looking forward to time to ourselves and Eric and Susan were looking forward to some time with Ella. Marc and I drove the 3 1/2 hours to White Mountain, where the Sunrise Ski Park is. Our trip was great until we were about 10 miles from the B&B. We had been using Eric's GPS to give us the directions to the B&B and it told us to go a certain way up a mountain road to get to the B&B. Well lets just say that it was not right and it lead us up a road that still had snow on it from the last snow storm they had (about a week prior). We were doing fine in the Envoy (with 4 wheel drive) until we hit about the third large area covered in snow. We got stuck!!! I know, we are in Phoenix and we are stuck in the snow.
We had no idea what to do really. We tried digging ourselves out with our skis! After that didn't work we decided to call the owners of the B&B and see what they suggested we do and if they could give us a number of a tow company. To our surprise the owner, Ruth, said that her and her husband would come up and get us out. So, they did and after they got stuck themselves we both managed to get out and we followed them to the B&B. When we got there we realized that we had been only about 5 miles from it when the GPS had told us to turn and go onto the other road!!!
Once there the B&B was a whole different story. It was definitely homey to say the least. Here are a couple of pictures of our room.

We can't complain about the room though, it had the most gorgeous views out the back. They live on this huge ranch and it's right in the base of the mountains.

The owners were very kind and we had an awesome breakfast the next day before we headed out to ski. The ski park was huge and so pretty. We had a great time skiing and it was nice to have a whole day to ourselves. I had never skied in the mountains before so it was a brand new experience to me, but I had a great time.

One of the beautiful views

Getting ready to go home

The only bad thing about our day skiing was that we both got sunburned on our faces. Mine was not so bad, but Marc had pretty severe burns on his whole face and is still healing.

The other big thing we did while on vacation was go to a Cubs spring training game. Although I didn't get to see any of the game (I was playing and running around with Ella), it was a fun day.

Ella and Daddy watching the game

Having some lunch at the ball park

Posing with the cactus at the ball park

We had a great trip, but are glad to be home. Thanks to Eric and Susan for the hospitality and for watching Ella for a couple of days.

Visit to the Shedd Aquarium

Yesterday Ella and I meet other moms and kids at the Shedd Aquarium to look at the fish. We had a great time. The Shedd offers free days every so often, so general admission to the aquarium is free (that makes it even better). Ella had a great time, she loved looking at the exhibits and being able to run around some. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Watching the fish (and sharks and sting rays)

Making new friends

We were there with a stay at home mom group and a couple of other friends. This little boy Henry (in the pic with Ella) was just learning to stand on his own and was using Ella as a pull up tool. He was so cute.
Ella had so much fun, she was very vocal while we were there. She was banging on the glass of the tanks and making all kinds of noise. It was so fun to see her exploring and having fun herself. Plus all of our friends were there so it's fun to see the girls as they are getting bigger. Here are a couple of more pictures.

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