Ella Jayne Stephens

Ella's 4th Birthday

2009-11-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

Ella had her 4th Birthday Party at The Jumpy Place ( a warehouse full of inflatable moonwalks, slides and obstacle courses). This was her first indoor party, which was a good thing because we received some much needed rain during the party. So much rain in fact, it was difficult to get the Hannah Montana cake inside safely. Thanks to Kim for all of her hard work on the "best birthday cake ever". We were so happy to have our family and closest friends there to celebrate with us. This was also Ella's first party with friends from school. All in all, we had a great turn out and a great time. Someone even thanked me for the "healthy food" that I served. (notice it pictured below). What isn't picture is all of the ranch and other creamy dips to make that stuff taste good.

Summer Dance Class

2009-07-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ella finished up her last hip hop dance class yesterday. They put on a mini performance for the parents.

Basketball Season #2

2009-07-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

We began Ella's second Season of Basketball a few weeks ago, she is on the Dream team. Unfortunatley, Things didn't work out just right this season, so Holly is not her coach. But she is having a great time with her new coach and teammates. She even remembers a few of the Fundamentals Coach Holly instilled last season. She has really improved. Her attention span is much better, and she loves to rebound.

Conquering Fears

2009-07-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Ella had a lot of firsts and conquered a few fears on our Vacation.

As you may know Ella has a healthy fear of "Big Fuzzy Things". This fear includes dressed up characters (like Mascots), large animals (alive or stuffed) and Santa Claus, among other things. I can't tell you how many pony rides I have shelled out for, only to walk away with bruised arms where she pinched me until we were a safe distance away. (Please don't think I force her, she always says she wants to until the moment I try to actually put her on the horse.)

We spent some time at my Uncle's Cabin on Armenia Mountain when we were in Pennsylvania. This is a hunting cabin by the way. In one of the rooms Ella found this hanging on the wall.

This definitely met the criteria of big and fuzzy. She had to walk right under it to get in the room, not realizing it was there. As you can see by her expression it was not easy to talk her in to leaving the room. We had to run through the doorway.

Ella did take a step in the right direction while were were away. She had her first pony ride. The man at the animal farm even let me lead Sunny around. (Or maybe Sunny was leading me.)

Summer Vacation

2009-07-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

My Mom Ella, and I spent the last week and a half in Pennsylvania enjoying the cool weather and lots of Friends and Family. We had a great time. It has been 3 years since we were there last. I am hopeful that Ella may remember some of this trip.

Sum... Sum... Summertime

2009-06-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ella and I spent last Sunday afternoon hanging out in the front yard. The weather was nice, so we busted out the good old slip and slide. This one is a little fancier than last years, it comes with an inflatable boogie board. She had a ton of fun. Summertime is our favorite time of year, she loves the water and playing outside.

Ella's First Dance Recital

2009-06-01T09:21:00.001-07:00

Ella preformed in her first Dance Recital on Saturday. She did a wonderful job and obviously loves the stage. She would have danced on the stage for each preformance if she could have. She also asked when she was going to get to use the microphone. I think we will have many more dance recitals in our future. Her class preformed twice, one ballet and one tap dance. I will post video soon. (I have to figure out how to get it from the camera to the internet)

Ella with her friends, Brenah, Maddy (who preformed 12 times on Saturday), Bristol and Beck.

Ella with her teacher and class backstage.

Maddy and Ella Backstage "warming up".

Hannah Montana

2009-04-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

All of my efforts to thwart off the Hannah Montana obsession have failed. It is official, Ella is a fan (has been for a while, I am just begrudgingly admitting it now). We went to see the Hannah Montana Movie on Friday and the Easter Bunny brought her the soundtrack. On Sunday afternoon she spent hours dressed up in various outfits pretending to be Hannah. When I suggested it was bath time, she told me she would take a bath when she was Ella again right now she is Hannah. The best part was when she set up her barbies as an Audience, and then danced and sang for them.

Easter Part III (The Final Chapter)

2009-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday started out with lots of rain, but turned out to be a beautiful day. We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had left Ella a Basket full of Goodies. After Church, we had a pot luck lunch with our Friends and Family and another Easter Egg hunt. It was a very nice Easter.

Easter Part II

2009-04-14T09:50:00.001-07:00

It was a little chilly out on Saturday Morning, but we braved with weather and went to The Big Hunt at the Thunder Hill Raceway in Kyle. The Raymonds were there as well. The kids had a good time. Why wouldn't they, there were bounce houses, music, the Easter Bunny, and lots and lots of eggs to hunt (okay pick up off the ground). There were also Firemen and Racecars, truly something for everyone.

Up and Down the Super Slide.

Ella get so excited to see the Firemen at Community Events. She wants to go meet them and then gets scared and hides behind my legs. She really is enamored with them. The picture of her in the truck is funny, because she took off her shoes and got comfy like she was going for a ride.

A couple of pictures of the kids with their loot and silly faces.

And Here it is... The closest Ella's has ever been to the Easter Bunny (or any suited character for that matter). She even hung around long enough for the picture. Thank goodness Maddy was there to buffer. She was still very skittish, but also very brave in facing her fears.

Easter 2009 Part 1

2009-04-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Ella and I made Cupcakes for her class Easter Party. She did a great job helping with frosting the cupcakes and adding the decorations. She was very excited about her party and getting to see the Easter Bunny. She insisted that she would not be scared this year and would sit on his lap. When I picked her up afterschool, I noticed that all of the other kids had pictures of themselves with the Easter Bunny in their Cubbies. Ella's cubby had a picture of all of the kids hunting eggs on the playground. She said his eyes were too big she did not want to sit on his lap. Stay tuned for more Encounters with the Easter Bunny...

First Haircut

2009-02-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago (2/7/09) Ella had her first haircut. She has been asking for one for quite some time now and I finnally decided I should face my fears and just do it. She acted just like a "big girl" sitting very still and following the stylists directions.

Basketball Season #1

2009-02-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

Ella just completed her first basketball season this morning. Holly was nice enough to take on a third team this year, so that she could be Ella's coach. I pretended to be her assistant. Ella played on the Monarchs team with a great group of girls aged 3-6. It was definitely a fun experience for us both. I think Ella has started to learn a little bit about team work. When we first started the season she was not sure why she could not just be out there on the court all by herself with everyone watching. She also wasn't sure she needed coaching. By the end of the season she seemed to grasp the concept and even made a few baskets. It was also very exciting for so many of her friends and family to come and see her play. Thank You all very much for making the time.

Christmas (Better Late Than Never)

2009-01-29T13:52:00.001-08:00

Ella was a very lucky girl this Christmas. She got to spend some time with her Great Grandma Jo and Great Grandpa (Pa Pa Art), who came to visit from Pennsylvania. We enjoyed spending time with them and Ella has no problem getting spoiled by extra grandparents. Santa weighed down his sleigh with huge presents for Ella. She got a real big girl bed with a bookshelf and drawers and Dora bedding to go with it. She got a Trampoline and a Playhouse*. As if that wasn't enough she also got a bicycle, which she is prepared to ride "all the way to Grandma's House".

Waking Up in a new Big Girl Bed on Christmas Morning and Hopefully for many more mornings to come. It is one of my Resolutions to train Ella to sleep in her own bed all night. Wish me luck!

Everybody took a turn jumping on the Trampoline. I'm the only one who got caught with photographic evidence. It is actually just as much fun as you might remember. Even with all of its safety features Ella has managed to find dangerous stunts to preform on her trampoline. She enjoys walking around the edge on the OUTSIDE of the net, and she has mastered flips.

*Playhouse- formerly Papa's deer blind. As if the yard didn't look white-trashy enough with the trampoline and big blue pool we now have a camouflage playhouse. I have requested that it be painted a nice girly color like yellow or purple.

Ella's Third Birthday

2008-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

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Make a Smilebox slideshow

I have been a little neglectful of the blogging lately, so I have decided to catch up periodically. Ella turned Three on Oct. 1 and had 2 wonderful parties. On the day of her Birthday we went to Gattitown and had pizza and cake and played fun games with our Friends and Family. Ella also had her traditional Birthday party at home complete with a bounce house, pinata, burgers and hot dogs, cupcakes and most importantly, all of her friends and family to help her celebrate. She was very surprised at how many presents she received and kept asking if they were all hers and if she could open them all by herself. It was very cute.

Ella's 1st dance Recital

2008-12-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ella began taken dance lessons at Dance Unlimited in Buda this Fall. She takes a one hour combination (ballet, tap and tumbling) Class. She is lucky to have her friend Bristol in class with her. She looks forward to every Wednesday when she gets to practice her moves. Here is a video from the mini-recital they had last night to show off their Christmas Dance.

Wursfest

2008-11-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

(Posted much much later)

We went to Wurstfest in New Braunfels for the first time. I didn't know what I was missing. It was a lot of fun. I might even start to like Beer. The kids had fun on the rides and games, and we all enjoyed the weather.

Above Left: Beck on the Super Slide
Right: Ella and Bristol on the Ferris Wheel

Left: Maddy and Brennah on Super Slide

Below: Group- Jessie, Jeff, Ella, Maddy, Beck, Kels, Sam, Holly and Bristol

Ella's Political Training

2008-10-31T13:24:00.001-07:00

UPDATE....
On Sunday at the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure Ella's (and maybe mine a little too) Dream came true. She got to meet her President... Bobby Bones. He was very nice to her and she was very happy to meet him. She is more convinced than ever that he is cool enough to be the President.

To recognize the political atmosphere and in trying to teach Ella new party tricks I have been teaching her who the president is and who the next one will be. So every once in a while I quiz her... "Ella who is the President? and who is going to be the next president?" The other day we were watching the Obama-mercial and so I asked, Hey Ella who is the President?" And with a wry smile she looked at me and said "Bobby Bones"* and then just started laughing like she new how funny she was. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time.

*Bobby Bones is a local radio DJ that we listen to every morning on the way to school/work.
Maybe I should start listening to NPR.

Halloween I'm Back.....

2008-10-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some preliminary Halloween Pictures. I dropped Ella off at Daycare this morning dressed as Cinderella so, needless to say we were both big hits. Ella's Pink hair was very confusing to some of the Kids. They wanted to make sure it would come off, and she wouldn't have pink hair forever. She is Dee Dee Doodle Bop in case you can't recognize her. We also carved a spooky spider pumpkin on Tuesday Night.

The Beach

2008-07-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Schlitterbahn

2008-07-07T09:27:00.001-07:00

San Antonio- The Zoo, The Alamo, The River Walk

2008-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Monday Brandon and Laura and I took the girls to the zoo. It was a lot of fun. I haven't been to the zoo with Ella since she was about Abbie's age, so it was exciting to see her actually excited about the animals. The zoo also has a pretty great kids area, where they have created a "riverbank" for the kids to plat in. I think this was definitely the highlight.

Abbie playing in the water. Abbie checking out the lizards.

Ella posing with a Lion. Ella posing with some animal.

The girls took a little snooze while we headed to the Alamo and Riverwalk to meet up with Josh and Kristen. We saw the Alamo first. It is a good thing they had a brief info tour because I was having a hard time remembering my Texas History and why it is exactly that we are so proud of a lost battle. We headed over to the Riverwalk to take the boat tour and have some dinner. It was a long hot day, but we had a good time.

Ella Crockett

Checking out the artillery.

Friday thru Sunday

2008-06-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

We took it easy the first few days.

On Friday we floated down the San Marcos river. This was Ella's first time to float down the river (Abbie's too, of course). Ella rode in her own tube with a bottom. She was of course disappointed that she could not use the rope swing or go over the waterfall at the end. Maybe next year.

(These are not actually pictures of us. It is pretty difficult to take pictures while tubing and not get the camera wet.)

Saturday was difficult for me to remember. I think it might be because I spent the first few hours of the morning getting New Kids on the Block tickets and everything after that just doesn't compare.

(Also not a picture I took but check back after October 17th and maybe I'll have the real thing.)

We went shopping on Saturday to prepare for Abbie's 1st birthday party on Sunday. We had pizza, cake and party hats. Abbie got her first piggy bank from Aunt Sue and a xylophone. Her Uncle Josh made her the necklace she is wearing in the second picture. He even made the chain!! Ella even got a present, Aunt carol got her a folding yellow chair to match her play table. After all the excitement everyone went to see the bats in Austin.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE...

Family Fun

2008-06-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Aunt Carol, Laura, Brandon, Abbie and Josh came all the way from Pennsylvania to visit.
They were here for 10 jam-packed, fun-filled days in the Texas sun. Here are some random pictures to identify everyone. (No pictures of Aunt Carol, sorry I will see if I can fix that.) We had a great time and are very happy they were able to come visit. It is never to early to start showing Abbie how great Texas is. The trip was filled with a lot of first's for both Abbie and Ella. Abbie even celebrated here 1st Birthday while she was here. I will elaborate in later posts about all of our adventures.

(l-r) Abbie, Ella and Laura

(l-r) Abbie, Brandon, Josh, Ella and Kristen

Headline News: Our very own Bee Movie

2008-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well I have officially had my fifteen minutes of fame. Let me start at the beginning.

This was just supposed to be a blog about bees. We have had a issue with bees for a while now. They found a crack between the window trim and the siding and were able to build a hive inside the wall of my house. After many failed attempts to spray them with bee and wasp spray, I found these guys who come out and remove the bees and the hive. This seemed to be a great way to go, the bees are gone for good and there is no rotting honey inside the wall of my house.

Well when the guy called to tell me they would be here on Tuesday he also mentioned that a news crew would be out as well. Here is the link to the news clip. Ella and Maddy can be seen in the window. And of course there is me and my wonderful soundbites. Feel free to laugh.

http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=e026cf25-54e5-42da-a792-1a662abb84f2&articleID=18909

Here are some pics of the bees and the news crew. We were total dorks and stood outside while the did the 10 o'clock news live in the front yard. That was totally unexpected, they finished up the interviews at around 6 and then left we thought for good, but they showed back up later to film live. I have to admit it was pretty exciting. (Don't forget I live in a small town, we don't see this kind of action very often.)

Above: The bee wranglers are hard at work.

Below: The bees in their new temporary home.

Michael was interviewed, as well, but didn't make the cut. Either I am just fabulous, or they took the dorkier of the two interviews.

Here is the reporter putting on her make-up and practicing her lines, before they went live.

Slip-n-Slide Lessons

2008-05-22T08:58:00.001-07:00

Slip-n-sliding is not a basic human instinct. It requires parental guidance and example, as demonstrated below.

1st a drink for courage. (No need to take your socks and shoes off.)

Get a running start and then... JUMP!!

Run...

Here is the slip.

And the Sliiide.

Riding A Tricycle

2008-05-21T12:37:00.001-07:00

Ella finally stopped pretending that she doesn't know how to pedal her tricycle. She has grasped the concept for quite sometime now, but knew if she held out some one would just push her. Well the gig is up. I witnessed it, photographed it and won't push anymore.

I guess now that she can officially ride it she has already moved on, because today we were out for a walk and she told me she needed a little car. I told her that she didn't need a car because she had a bike and a 4-wheeler. She disagreed. She says she needs a pink car with doors and seats that she can drive around. I told her she should ask her Daddy and she said no I'll ask Papa.

Side note: How 'bout that kool-aid moustache?

ROCKBAND

2008-05-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

You all already know how much I love rockband. Ella has learned how to play now also. She takes after her Mom, she likes to be the singer. Uncle Amos plays the guitar. She is surprisingly good at it.

Funny Ella Part 2

2008-05-07T11:30:00.001-07:00

This week is teacher appreciation week. Ella and I picked out some mini rose plants and baked some chocolate chip cookies for each of her teachers. I was telling her that she should tell her teachers "Thank You, You're the Best", when she gives them the gifts. She kept repeating her "line" back to me, "Thank You, I'm the best" We went back and forth several times me correcting her and her insisting I'm the best. I finally realized she was doing it on purpose, she new what I wanted her to say. Ella is apparently just a little bit full of herself.

Ella has a dollhouse in which the above family resides. The other day she was playing with the family and stopped to tell me that the Mom's green shoes did not match her pink shirt. I think I may be creating a monster.

Flip Flops,Sunglasses, & Swimming Pools

2008-04-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ella and I treated ourselves to new flip flops and sunglasses recently. The weather was warm and it seemed like a good excuse to do some shopping. Ella picked out this particular pair of sunglasses because they had stripes like a tiger (raaaar). I picked out mine because they had little rhinestones (bling). We also started cleaning out the swimming pool. I thought about putting up before and after pics, but the before is just to gross, so I'll post soon about our first swim of the season.

Redneck Pictures

2008-04-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

NOTE: You'll have to forgive my neglectful blogging lately. Now that I have gotten back to it I found alot of things I meant to blog about of the last couple of months, so again sorry about the silence. I will try to be more regular.

March 2 and 3:
In an effort to continue Ella's redneck education we went to the Kyle racetrack to watch our friends Bryon and Cody participate in the Endurance Race, (it is longer than the races they generally take part in). Ella and I missed most of the race, but we were there when it counted... The End. The kids loved playing in the car after the race. Unfortunatley, Bryon wrecked fairly early on in the race and I think that particular car has seen its last race.

(L-R) Ella, Maddy, Beck, Bristol and Beau

That same week Holly, Brandy, Julie and I all went to see Gretchen Wilson at the Rodeo. Thanks to Holly for getting us the tickets and VIP lounge accesss. It was a good time. Before the show we got to watch the rodeo, which provided us with some good laughs. It was a great girls night and I have to say a actually like some of Gretchen Wilsons stuff, and I didn't even know it.

Child Labor

2008-04-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ella went to work with her Daddy the weekend before last. Some of her duties included, riding around making sure the properties looked good, dropping off invoices, shopping for trees and planting trees. She had lots of fun, got dirty and even got paid. Two whole dollars and a Gatorade. She probably would have preferred a handful of change to the paper money because in her opinion only coins are money. Please don't forget to appreciate her work clothes. It was very important to wear her "boy shirt" and boots. She calls it a boy shirt because of the colors of the camouflage (pink camo is not a boy shirt, just so you know the difference), it is not really a boys shirt. In fact, the lettering which says "you can't see me" is glittery. And one must always wear pink goulashes when working on a soggy day.

Easter

2008-04-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

We had a enjoyble Easter with our family and friends. Ella is still enjoying her Easter candy, and still tells me quite regularly that she does not like the Easter Bunny. He came to visit her school, and Ella kept her distance as she does with any costumed individual. (I googled this as a phobia, but was unable to find anything specific, just that some people still fear them as older children and adults.) She also did not like the fact that he would not talk.

We went to a community egg hunt in Kyle on Saturday, all our friends came out to enjoy the festivities as well. Ella managed to pick up about five eggs before the swarms of people overran the field. It was a sight to see. She also got to play in a bounce house, always a favorite of hers.

The Easter Bunny left Ella a nice basket of goodies (minus the large chocolate bunny, apparently they were hard to come by when the Easter Bunny got to Ella's basket.) He also hid eggs for her outside. Our dog Minnie managed to eat the M &M's out of the eggs before Ella got outside. They were the only ones that had loose candy inside (the others were prepackaged inside the eggs) She was able to sniff them all out, so poor Ella hunted some empty eggs. (The dog is fine, by the way, after eating all the chocolate.)

The Easter Bunny wanted to make sure Ella didn't get missed so he also left her a basket at Grandma and Papa's and Amos and Kristens. We also hunted eggs again. So, anyone who was feeling sorry for her after I told you that the dog ate her M&M's, can rest assured that she recieved more that her fair share of candy.

We also colored some Easter eggs Saturday evening. Ella was having fun at first but got very tired, see picture below. The finished product turned out quite well.

Funny Things Ella Says

2008-03-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This is a post a I wrote a while back and forgot to publish.

While we were watching American Idol the other night, Ella decided she wanted to watch something else*. I like American Idol so I tried to talk her out of it. I said, "but Ella you have that singer** don't you want to grow up and be an American Idol?" Ella said, "No. I don't." So of course I asked what do you want to be when you grow up. She immediatley responded, "A Tiger".

*-something else- Doodlebops AGAIN!!!

**-singer- a toy microphone that turns your voice into a weird echo. Ella sings Twinkle Twinkle little star into it alot, but we are also working on Alicia Keys- No One and Amy Whinehose- Rehab (she really likes singing no no no)

Ella had her first official week of Big Girl panties. She refuses diapers and pull-ups, and we have even ventured out in public wearing big girl panties. (I try not to freak out tooo much when my precious little baby is using dirty public restrooms. Its is funny I never really thought of myself as a germ freak, but this has brought out the crazy in me.) To say the least she is doing very well and we are proud and amazed.

During the training process at school I got this note from her teacher:

Ella found a BM ball in her panties today. I asked her how that got there and she said, "I don't know, I think Daddy did it."

Quiet Weekend

2008-01-28T14:43:00.001-08:00

We did not do much this weekend, Ella has quite the case of Terrible Two's, so I try to limit our public appearances. We did attempt our weekly breakfast at Cracker Barrel, but the service was exceptionally non-existent. Ella decided to entertain herself and all of the other diners by getting out of her chair and making a mad dash for the "country store", causing me to have to abandon our table (and belongings) to RUN after her. When I caught her, and was as mad as I could be she just giggled and laughed like we were playing a fun game. As we were checking out, she told me, "you can put me down now I won't run away anymore". I told her I didn't believe her, the cashier thought we were so funny. My only saving grace has been the portable DVD player she (I) got for Christmas. She becomes, so engrossed in what ever the selection of the day is, I can usually get somethings done. I took this picture on the way home from school one day (I know, its only a twenty minute drive, but it keeps her from begging for bug juice* all the way home). She looks so cute with her monkey head phones.

*Bug Juice- I don't know how they get away with calling it juice. It doesn't have juice in it- just sugar, water, coloring, artificial flavors, oh and they toss in some vitamins and minerals so they can write that on the packaging. Ella once drank one so fast she threw up, you would think that would quell her desire for the stuff.

Ella loves parks!!

2008-01-21T12:06:00.001-08:00

Ella loves to climb, run around and show her independence. What better place to do that than at the park. We went to the park with Grandma and Grandma Jo Jo a couple of weeks ago and Grandma Jo Jo took theses pictures. We also went to a larger park this weekend with Ella's Nonnie (Michael's Mom). It is so interesting to just watch her figure things out. She will climb up things that are probably meant for kids twice her size and age, she always figures out a way. I have always tried to instill independence, but I now know I was overly successful. Ella's most used sentence is, "I will do it all by myself". It sometimes takes a lot of patience to wait on her to put her shoes on or get into her seat "all by herself", because we are usually running late and if she would just let me help we could be on our way. But in the end we are both rewarded with her success. It is a proud parenting moment, when you witness your child accomplish a new thing, even when it is just climbing to the very top of the playground, and you know she is so happy to be standing there waving at you.

I love Rockband!!

2008-01-21T12:05:00.000-08:00

One of the Christmastime highlights for me was playing rock band at my friends' house. No, a twelve year old boy has not taken over my blog, it is still me. Holly invited some people over Christmas evening and it wasn't long before Jeff busted out Rockband. A few Maragartitas later and I was convinced that I was, indeed, the most awesome lead singer ever. The game even tells you when your "AWESOME". I have no singing talent whatsoever, but I was still somewhat successful at this, which only fueled my fire. I couldn't stop talking about it for days, and I still think about it periodically and smile (hence this late post about it). Holly or Jeff if your reading this I think it is time to reunite "Fallen Puppy", (our band name) I think I am having withdrawals.

Here are some pictures. See how much fun it is. Look at the smiles on the faces of the adults. To keep the kids involved (we couldn't possible give it up long enough for them to play) we dressed them up as rock stars and let them sing back-up.

What you talkin' 'bout?

2008-01-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

A while back I put this picture of Ella in the sidebar with the caption "What are you talkin' 'bout?"

I didn't really elaborate, but then I found this....

I searched a little harder and found this. It is perfect. The picture of Ella was taken around Thanksgiving (those are baked beans she is making), and she had been saying "what are you talkin' 'bout?". Close enough right. Now I just have to figure out where she has been watching re-runs of Different Strokes.

Christmas

2008-01-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful. It was so much fun to witness the excitement of Ella's Christmas morning. When she saw that Santa ate his cookies and noticed all of the presents under our previously empty tree, she turned around and looked at me and said, "Santa was at my house, he ate his cookies". It was like being a kid again.

We started our Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve at the Candlelit Service at church. I can tell she is growing up because she is getting much better at sitting still for longer periods of time. She enjoyed all of the singing, and asked a little too loudly during one of the solo's "Who's that making that noise?" We then went to Grandmas house for snacks and eggnog. It has always been a tradition in our house that you are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve after church. Ella opened her gift from Grandma Doris, a pink velour track suit.

On Christmas morning everyone came to our house to open presents, then we went to Grandma and Papa's house to open MORE presents, we must have opened presents for 4 hours. Everyone got everything they wanted and we had plenty of new stuff to try out. I am still trying to find the time to put some music on my new Ipod. We had a great Christmas dinner and as Ella once told me "we found some big naps". It was a great day and we were very happy that Grandma and Grandpa Dickerson were able to come all the way from Pennsylvania to spend time with us.

Kid's Academy Presents...

2008-01-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Ella's daycare held the annual Christmas program earlier in December. They draw quite a crowd. Ella had a very full cheering section, Grandma Doris, Grandma Jo Jo, Papa Art, Grandma and Papa along with Uncle Amos and Aunt Kristen all joined Mommy and Daddy. Ella's class sang and mostly danced to Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bell Rock. For a couple of weeks prior to the performance I started coaching Ella on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, I felt confident that she new the words pretty well. Little did I know the main focus of this performance was the dancing. The kids jumped around and shook their jingle bells, it was very funny and adorable.

Grandpa Art and Grandma Jo Jo are here!!

2007-12-17T13:12:00.001-08:00

Ella's Great Grandparents are here for a Holiday visit. Ella is a wonderful hostess, she invited her grandparents over for a meal in her restaurant (room). Everyone got their favorite drink and spaghetti in color matched dishes of course.

Budafest

2007-12-13T16:45:00.001-08:00

We went to Budafest the first weekend in December to kick of the Holidays. We watched the parade and saw lots of our friends go by. Ella is not a fan of Santa up close and personal, so we avoided the line and tried the ponys instead. She got closer to the pony than she did to Santa but still would not ride the pony. She says she was too scared. She rode the Carousel pony for a little while. I think the highlight of the day was playing with Beck on the hay.

My Nascar Room

2007-12-13T16:34:00.001-08:00

I'm not really sure you can call this Interior Design but...

Thanksgiving

2007-12-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

Monster Trucks

2007-12-13T16:25:00.001-08:00

We want to raise Ella to be a good little red neck, so we took her to the Monster Truck show. It was loud, (thanks to Holly for the earplugs) but she had fun. There were 4 different trucks that Ella described in great detail, the "kitty with big teeth" seemed to be her favorite.

Halloweeen 2007

2007-11-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Halloween was lots of fun. Ella had a busy day. They had a Halloween party at school and hunted candy in a haystack. This is her with her friend Stone. Ella's costume was a hit. It scored her lots of attention which she just eats up. She definitely has the personality to pull off Wonder Woman. I might have to see if utube has some old episodes, because it brought back some fond memories.

Then we went to a carnival at the Buda City Park. It was a lot of fun all of the activities were free for the kids and we got to see all of our friends. Ella loves bounce houses and they had plenty, even one with a slide. I did not think she was going to be able to climb up, but Beck showed her once and that was all it took. She must have went eight times in a row, and even then I had to make her to take a break. Ella won lots of prizes playing the games. She has quite a throwing arm.

We also went trick-or-treating afterward. Ella and her superhero friends made sure everyone had a safe holiday. That is Eric as Superman and Beck as Spiderman. Wonderwoman also had her photo taken with Belle (Maddy). The new babies in our crew came out to play Danny and Kim's Mason was a cute little pumpkin and Nicole and Jimmy's Addison was a sleepy bumblebee.

The Group from l to r:

Eric, Ella, Brenah, Mykayla, Maddy, and Beck

Halloween Preparations

2007-11-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

Ella participated in her first pumpkin carving. We used a kit that is a little less dangerous than using your kitchen knives. Ella helped poke holes through the template to create our craving lines. I thought she would like pulling out the seeds and slimy insides, but she did not. She did like putting the top on just right.

We also made cookies for Ella's class party. We turned fudge stripe cookies and hershey kisses into witches hats and nutterbutters and melted white chocolate into ghosts. It was easier than baking from scratch, and it allowed Ella to help. Her job was to unwrap the kisses, and not eat any. I thought she was doing a good job of it, until I caught her sneaking the kisses.

Finished Product

Ella's 1st Ice Cream Cone

2007-11-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it is possible but I think Ella ate ice cream out of a cone for the first time the other night. Don't get me wrong she's had plenty of the stuff in a dish. It was very entertaining to watch her try to get the ice cream with out biting the cone. She got the hang of it eventually.

Kyle Fair and Musical Festival

2007-11-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last, Mom and I took Ella to the parade and fair in Kyle. The parade was fun, all of the local politicians, school and local groups strolled by and tossed candy. Ella liked the bands the best. I tried to be a good Rebel and teach her the words to Dixie, we'lll keeping working on it. The fair was fun, as well, it celebrates Kyle's birthday, hence the cake. She loves tractors, lucky for her small town fairs are not complete with out a tractor display. Ella told her dad all about it over a bag of carmel corn and some beverages.

Fashionable Gunslinger

2007-10-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

I took this picture a few weeks ago, when Papa stopped by with a present for Ella. I am not sure how I feel about my daughter playing with a toy gun, allthough Michael was very impressed and even went out and bought some caps for it. I thought I might use this photo to blog about gun control, but this is supposed to be about Ella, so I will just say... Only my daughter would be playing shoot'em up wearing dress-up heels and a mini skirt.

Harvest Festival and Other Weekend Activities

2007-10-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Annual Harvest Festival in Uhland. Ella is just the right age to participate in the activities. The duck pond, cakewalk and ring toss were big hits, but for some reason she was afraid of the fishing for prizes. I guess the large sheet that you toss the clothes pin "hook" over was casting some weird shadows.

We also celebrated Mom's (grandma's) birthday Friday evening. When Michael and I asked Ella what she would like to get Grandma for her Birthday, she quickly recommended a puppy and then as an afterthought decided Grandma needed some "Choc'late" milk as well. So we went shopping, and selected a stuffed dachshund wearing a green sweater and a couple of pints of chocolate milk (one for Ella too.)

Ella and my camera spent some time with Grandma, Papa, Amos and Kristen on Sunday evening. I got Ella back safe and sound, but found evidence on my camera that she had been riding around with Amos on the 4-wheeler.

We also had a birthday dinner for all the October Birthday's at Grandma Doris' on Sunday. Grandma Doris set a special table just for Ella. It was very cute, but she still didn't eat.

More Birthdays

2007-10-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows one Birthday celebration is simply not enough. We took cupcakes and juice to Ella's class on Monday so they could celebrate her birthday as well. We also had Ella's Favorite dinner on Monday night, Pizza of course, with more cake. Ella has accomplished blowing out the candles and we had to do it multiple times, because it was so much fun. On Wednesday we had a birthday dinner for Amos, with all his favorites, spaghetti and homemade apple pie. Ella was pretty worn out after all of this party hopping as you can tell from the photos. I think she has finally come down from her sugar high, temporarily since Grandma and Papa's birthdays are coming up next week.

Ella's 2nd BIrthday

2007-09-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Ella is now sleeping quietly after a long exciting day. We had a great birthday party for her today (Saturday Sept. 29). Lots of friends and family came and enjoyed the swimming pool and Dora bouncy house. Ella and her friends got lots of goodies out of a Pinata they took turns swinging at. Ella was a little overwhelmed but handled it all very well. She had Beck help her open her presents and he happily obliged. We are so glad everyone could make it and we thank you all for the gifts and birthday wishes. Nonnie, Aunt Lanie, Reagan and Stevie made the drive from Dallas and Ella was glad to see her family.

Ella's Summer

2007-09-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ella will be 2 on October 1st so as we approch the end of summer and her birthday I thought I would put up some pictures of her this summer. Ella loves shopping (I don't know where she gets that from). She insists on walking through the stores. She thinks she is an adult, and has quite a mind of her own.

Ella got this four wheeler for christmas and seems to enjoy riding it. It is hard to tell if she really does, because she is very serious while she is on it. Uncle Amos also got a 4-wheeler this summer. While the boys took turns riding, Ella did not want to be left out. She tried hard to keep up, to no avail.

We got a really great deal on a swimming pool for the backyard so Ella has become quite a fish. She also took her second year of Swimming lessons with Grandma at the Kyle pool. She loves to go"simming". We are also working on her cheerleading moves.

One of the most exciting things that happened to Ella this Summer was getting her own room. Grandma worked very hard fixing up the spare room in our house to make it suitable for Ella. These pictures are of the first time she saw it finished. She is very happy to have her own space. (So am I) We are still working on sleeping there all night. Thank You Grandma!

Ella loves to feed the koi and goldfish PaPa is raising in his cement pond.

The 4th of July was very eventful for us.

Ella had her first trip to the emergency room, where she recieved 11 or 12 stitches on her hip.

We made it back in time for a small fireworks display by PaPa, luckily he didn't hurt homself.