Weekend fun!

Daddy is in the Southern Tier this weekend working on his tractor, but Ella and I have still been having fun. Ella enjoyed her new favorite this morning-- a blueberry waffle. She even tried to feed Otis some and said, "Yum!" as she handed it to him. Thankfully I was videoing her at the time. I was so excited! I tried to get her to do it again, but of course she would not.




Around 10 we went to work, then went for a walk and then to lunch with Grandma Lisa. We also ran into Amy at Panera and so Ella got to visit with her and meet her mom Nancy.
Then we came home for Ella's nap. Later on, Carly stopped by and we met up with Abby, Kory, Abby's dad Jeff and Ava & Nora and had ice cream. Ella had her first (teeny tiny) ice cream cone. She LOVED it and got so mad when it was gone. Luckily Abby got some good pics of her!


Then we hit the park for a bit so the girls could play and Ella had a fabulous time in the swing.



Later tonight we all had dinner together at our house and the girls had lots of fun playing. Even Nora had tons of fun playing on the playmat!

9 months old

Yet another month has flown by and today my baby is 9 months old! I find it unreal how fast time is going and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Ella is growing by leaps and bounds every day. She is starting to pull up on things to standing, rolling all around like crazy and feeding herself so well. I think she will be crawling very soon and I need to get moving on the baby proofing or I will be in BIG trouble! She is very smart too, she knows what we are talking about when we ask her if she wants a bite (food), a bath, or milk. She still absolutely loves music and dances and sings (babbles) when she hears it. She also loves Daddy's turkey call-- I think she thinks it is music.
Here are some pictures from her 9 month photo shoot we did at lunchtime today.

Fun at the outlets

Sunday Daddy went fishing so Ella and I hit the outlets after church with Abby and her two girls. We had a really great time and all three babies were SO well behaved! I found some great deals while we were there too. I got E a pair of winter boots for next year & a belt from Children's Place, an adorable sweatshirt dress from Gap, a Christmas tshirt from OshKosh and an adorable swimsuit from Old Navy!
Now if it ever warms up, Ella will be all set to swim. She's got these suits for summer--


Now another pair of sandals, a few sun hats and we should be good to go! :-)

Easter Photoshoot

We had a pretty successful Easter photoshoot last week. Ella's beautiful Easter dress that Mimi bought her fits perfectly and looks so pretty on her. We also did a few with her Easter t-shirt that I bought her last year when I was still pregnant and some bunny ears. Those did not go quite as successfully-- I will have to add those later as I didn't upload them yet. Enjoy!



My absolute favorite!



"C'mere Mom, I'll give you a kiss!"




"This baby in the mirror is pretty silly"

Such a big girl!

I forgot to post earlier this week that on Monday, 3/16 Ella finally got the hang of feeding herself. She started with her favorite snack, Cheerios and now she is getting good with everything. She's also decided that it is pretty funny to put her hand down and let the dogs eat food off it while she is sitting in her high chair. Otis and Remington think it's great of course, but I'd prefer if she'd wait 'til she was done eating, haha. Tonight for dinner she had her very first blueberry waffle and not only did she love it, she fed herself the whole thing! She is also loving bananas, cheese, goldfish crackers and YoBaby yogurt right now and turning up her nose at most of her baby food purees-- she is getting so big!

She is flipping all over the place on the floor and gets on her hands and knees but has not quite figured out the crawling thing yet. I think it is coming pretty soon though. She will also turn around in a circle while she is sitting on the floor, lunging forward and grabbing anything and everything in her reach. She does the same thing in the tub, still loving her baths so much and pretty much refusing to lay down in there anymore. She's got to be sitting up and splashing and spinning, which definitely requires mom and dad to have quick reflexes to make sure she does not lose her balance!

She'll be 9 months on Wednesday...crazy!

Easter pics sneak peek!

Just a little sneak peek of Ella's Easter pics I took the other day. These are a few of many and definitely not the best of the bunch...you will have to wait for those!!

A day at the park

Hangin' out on the jungle gym

Ava after she climbed up the rock wall

First time in the swing!

She looooved it!

My beautiful crocuses blooming in the garden

That smile melts my heart!

Love those cheeks!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (and Happy Birthday Grandpa Jeff!)

Spring is in the air

Spring is finally in the air around here and we have been busy, busy, busy! The weather was gorgeous here this weekend and we got a lot done around the house, along with celebrating Nena's birthday and Grandpa Jeff's birthday. We were even able to take a walk today around the walking trail at a park near our house. We were going to take Ella on the swings but she zonked out before we got a chance.




Ella also had her first ride on the 4 wheeler today with Daddy and she LOVED it!


...and here are a few adorable pics from Ella's first bath in the kitchen sink last weekend. She loved it!