Birthday Party

Ella is two!! Though if you ask her she will fight and fight with you about how she is one. We had a dance party for her on Saturday. For her party she wore my very first tutu...isn't she so cute?






The party was so fun. Everyone helped out with the food which made it a lot easier. Check out the treats I made:

(Birthday Present Cake)

(Mock Sushi)

I am pretty sure that Ella had a good time, considering that she keeps talking about "birthday party". She loved opening presents. She had all the bags dumped within 30 seconds. The dancing was a hit too. I was amazed that all the toddlers danced for like 10 minutes. That is good for 2 year olds.

Trip to Texas!

We had a whole lot of fun in Fort Worth. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, and to a Cattle drive. I am pretty sure Ella liked the Gardens the best because she could run free while Chris and I chased her. I don't know why it is her goal to run away from us?

While here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Howdy Y'all

So, we are on our way to Texas to visit Chris's family. We are excited to see everyone but worried about a thousand things that come along with traveling with a toddler.

Ella is really excited as well. Whenever I tell her we are going on an airplane she says "Fun". If I tell her she will get to play with Gretchen, she says "Gretchy, fun". Or if I say she will see Gammy and Grandpa she also says "Fun, It's Fun". Her only concern is that blankie can come too and of course, it will!

Where to sit?

There are two chairs in the house that I usually sit in. One is the rocking chair in Ella's bedroom and the other is the recliner in the living room. Ella has caught on that these are the most likely places I will sit down. So, while I am doing the dishes or whatever else I do during the day, she usually brings a few books to my seat. This way whenever I sit down I know it is time to read to her. She's so cute, right?

Recently, she has been getting more and more ambitious about the amount of books she will put in my seat. But I laughed and laughed the night we put her to bed and she wouldn't seem to settle down. I went in to check on her and this is what I found:

I was so impressed, I mean seriously these books are stacked up taller than she is. This took real effort and let's be honest, it was a pretty smart way to get to stay up late.

I hope it makes you all laugh too!!

And PS-Kirsten, just in case you didn't notice, I think you bought her all the books in the stack. Even the dog purse that is currently being smothered at the bottom came from you. So, the way I figure it, you are the reason I don't have a seat anymore!

Do the Elephant

Cold and flu season is upon us and our family is sick yet again. There has been a lot of coughing and sneezing going on, especially from Ella. It is disgusting having a toddler who doesn't understand to cover her mouth. She will be sitting there on my lap and turn her head and sneeze right in my face. Is it any wonder I get whatever she gets?

We are working on becoming civilized and refined. She quickly caught on to saying "bless you" after each sneeze. She also adds a little "bless you" after she coughs because after all we don't want to miss out on any chance to be blessed. But we sure are having a hard time with teaching her to cover her mouth.

So anyways, I found this cute song called "Do the Elephant" by The Jimmies. It teaches kids about the very problem we are having and I think it is genius. Ella loves it. She hasn't caught on to what doing the elephant means because if I ask her to she just dances a little jig. But I still have hope!!!!

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iqZ61fTW9M&NR=1

Like Mother, Like Daughter?

So, I think I know the answer to the question...I wonder where she got that from?

PS-Did anyone else notice that my pants took like a piece of the carpet?

Carnegie Mellon

We were off for another visit to another campus this week. We left on Wednesday and came back on Friday. I took my camera so I could document the trip but only took one picture because it was so busy.

Isn't she a Diva?

We should have known it would be rough when we had to shovel out our car from the 8 inches of snow we got the night before (which all went on top of the probably 4 inches we already had). It was supposed to take us 4 and 1/2 hours to get to Pittsburgh so I was thinking, "we can do this". It ended up taking us 7 hours to get there and we only lost control of the car twice. We are seriously crazy.

So, to the reason why we went. We were checking out Carnegie Mellon University. Chris had an information session with the Tepper Business School at 11:30a so we got up at 8a thinking, "we will get there early", only to find that Chris forgot his tie and belt. So, we ended up getting to campus with 5 minutes to spare and Chris had no idea what building he was supposed to go to (he made it in time, don't worry).

While Chris was informed about the school, I drove Ella around trying to get her to sleep. It was pretty hilly there and with all the snow my car just couldn't do it. There was one hill that it just wouldn't go up. I wanted to cry but I was brave. I backed the car down the hill and went another way and somehow in all that, Ella fell asleep.

The whole family went to lunch with some students from the school. There was a big group of prospective students visiting that day and I felt like we were being watched. It might have been in my head or it might have been because Chris was the only one with a wife let alone a child. Ella did great though. She showed her cute to the important people and we were so proud. What more could we ask for?

They next day we went to breakfast with a student at the school, his wife, and their 2 children. It was snowing again and it took us an hour and 1/2 to go 20 miles. We got lost and ended up on another hill. We conquered it this time but the car smelled like it was on fire. After that we found the road we were supposed to be on but for some reason kept circling under it and beside it. We could see it but we just couldn't get there. We thought of Elder Wirthlin getting lost in southern Utah and laughed.

We are all home now and more confused than ever about where we should go to school. Life is such an adventure!