Naptime

I just put Ella down for her nap and all I can say is...ahhhhh! Some days, even though I always look forward to my "alone time", I'm actually a little sad that my little buddy is gonna be sleeping for 3 hours. Not today.  I don't know what her deal was but it was like she just couldn't find enough things to get her in trouble!  She was going through all my bathroom drawers when I was in the shower, she wouldn't eat her oatmeal for breakfast so I got her some Honey Nut Cheerios and after eating a couple bites of those, she tosses the rest all over the place.  Then I had to run to the grocery store for a few things and you would have thought I was torturing her when I was trying to get her to sit down in the cart.  We come home and I look at the time and think, "Yes! Ella goes down for a nap in like 20 minutes!" So I hurry and make her a PB&J, applesauce and try to give her some juice (for some reason she doesn't like juice but I keep trying--she's got to get sick of milk and water some day!) Anyway, I turn around to make myself a quesadilla and her applesauce is poured onto her tray, her sandwich is stuffed into her cup of juice. On top of that, she's spreading the applesauce around her tray and all in her hair.  That's when I kind of lost it.  I had to just scream.  I felt bad cuz it scared her a little (but at least it didn't leave a bruise!)  Also, lately she's not really into the part where I wash her down with a washcloth at the end of the meal so of course there was a little fight there too.  Finally I gave up on getting all of the applesauce out of her hair and just changed her clothes and put her to bed with a couple of books. Normally I would have read her a couple of stories before putting her down but I just didn't have the patience today (plus, she kinda likes to just look at books in her bed as she's falling asleep.)

The funny thing is about all of this is that today isn't that out of the ordinary. I mean she's 21 months so it's not like she ever eats a meal without making a mess.  And she's a SUPER active child who doesn't like to be told what to do. I guess it's just that some days I have more tolerance and some days I just don't.  Anyway, I'd just like to say that it's on days like these where I am oh-so-grateful for nap time!

Fun with Grandpa Jim

Last week my dad came out for a little visit.  Ella was LOVING all the attention/sugar he gave her. I was loving that I had about a week's vacation from cooking dinner.  If my dad wasn't taking us out to dinner, he was making it for us at home. Here he is in the kitchen about to get to work.

Ella was busy decorating the little Halloween house that my dad brought her with stickers

On Halloween we went to the zoo.  It wasn't very crowded so we took a train ride and had it all to ourselves. 

Ella trying to get in with the ducks

Here's Ella talking a little trash to that cougar. You see, she was already getting into character for what she was dressing up as later that night...

Later that day while Ella was taking a nap, Ryan and I ran a few errands. (And can I just say that I forgot how easy it was to run errands before I became the mother of a toddler!) Anyway, we decided to pick up this little toilet training seat since Ella insists on taking her diaper off. I don't think we'll be using it anytime soon but I thought we'd have it around just in case... So this is what she does with it...

Before Ella headed out to trick-or-treat, we thought we should give her a little practice

I know the pom poms don't match...but that's all I could find at the dollar store that day (I know I'm kind of a slacker mom when it comes to planning costumes for Halloween. Maybe I'll be better next year.  Probably not.)

This is her very fist trick-or-treat house. It only took her like 2 seconds to realize that she LOVES this thing called Halloween!

My favorite part was after she would get her candy, she would try to slam the storm door in their face and yell BYE! Not the most polite trick-or-treater...but I thought she was cute.

Ahhh...finally she got to taste some of her hard work.

A big THANK YOU to my dad for coming out to visit us!  And what a great visitor he was!  Beside keeping us all full the entire time, he was a HUGE help with Ella.  He read her countless books, babysat her so Ryan and I could go to the temple and even had a night out at the movies,  and played with Ella until the cows came home!  We miss you already! 

Good List

This is in response to Hot Stuff and Hug-n-Kiss. L-train, you're next!

**The rule for this little game is your response to each question can only be one-word.

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Where is your significant other? school
3. Your hair color? dunno
4. Your mother? inspirational
5. Your father? giving
6. Your favorite thing? sweets
7. Your dream last night? dancing
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? Ella
11. Your fear? snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? west
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? artsy
15. One of your wish-list items? airplane

16. Where you grew up? California

17. The last thing you did? Panera
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? guilty pleasure (sorry, 2 words)
20. Your pet? nope
21. Your computer? dying
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? always
24. Your car? X-terra

25. Something you're not wearing? shoes

26.Favorite store? Target

27. Your summer? beach
28. Love someone? forever

29. Your favorite color? changes

30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? October