A little Catch Up

It's been a little while since I've put anything on here so I'm just gonna jam it all into 1 post. Naturally, the majority is all about Ella.  What can I say? She kinda runs things around here.

A few weeks ago, Ryan had a day off so we went with some friends to a Bounce House place--you know...one of those big warehouses with a ton of Jumpy things in it.  Anyway, Ella has these two friends that are so cute and she LOVES to hang out with them.  Hope, Chad and Ella are quite a team.  We do a little play date with them twice a week where they all play at one house and the other two mommies get to have a little "kid free" time.  I love it. She loves it. It's a win-win situation. Here's the three of them climbing the big slide.

 

Recently I feel like I have been witnessing my little baby turn into a little girl right before my eyes! I don't know if it's cuz we're gearing up for Baby #2 but it's like she grows into this sassy little girl more and more each day.  Ever since we've been home from our Christmas trip, she's been LOVING her princesses.  It's like she went from being the little baby who loves Elmo to a little girl who can't go anywhere without her princesses. I mean, she still can't get enough of that Elmo--and who can, really?--but those girly princesses are like her new best friends. It's so fun to see her in her little imagination talking to them and dancing with them. Her little friend Hope has some dress up princess dresses that I literally have to RIP off of her every time we leave her house because Ella just loves to put them on and twirl.  Anyway, this is a picture of Ella with all of her necessities when she goes to bed: Yankee, two blankets, Ariel in one hand, Cinderella in the other, and that wretched binky--I think the Binky Fairy is gonna have to come to our house and rip that thing out of her hands! 

About 2 and a half weeks ago Ella turned 2!! To celebrate the big occasion we had a little party with some friends.  Here's Ella with her friend Chad.

Ella's cute friend Atticus eating some "noo-noo's"

Cute little mommies Lindsey and Holly

Somehow the Wii found it's way out

Ella clapping for herself after we sang "Happy Birthday"

Finally, we were able to get an ultrasound today of the new baby and we found out that we're having another little girl!!!  We're so excited. I think Ryan is starting to get a little worried about the fact that he teased his sister that she would have all boys--which she did-- and now karma is coming back to get him. Whatever it is, we're all anticipating the arrival of this new baby girl! I still don't think Ella completely gets it but I do think she senses something big is about to happen. She's been acting super clingy to me lately.  It's like how the animals somehow know when a storm is coming--they act all weird.  Same thing with Ella. Hopefully she gets it out of her system before her new little sister gets here!

One last California post

Alright, this is the last one...I promise. The day before we flew out we decided make the most of it. We went down to Coronado Island (why they call it an island, I don't know because it's actually a peninsula. Whatever.) Anyway, after a quick stop at Panera for some lunch (yum), we went over to this spot right by Hotel del Coronado to rent a 4 wheeled bike. Is that what they're called? I know it's not a "4-wheeler". My sister called it a surrey but for some reason I don't think that's right either. I thought a surrey was that cart in the musical Oklahoma? ANYWAY...I'm gonna call it a 4 wheeled bike because that's basically what it is. So it was my mom, my sister and her 2 kids, and then me, Ryan and Ella.

We first got on the bike all excited to go up and down the boardwalk and all around but quickly realized that the pedaling was a lot more difficult than it looked. We were so confused. We saw all these "older people" cruising along like it was no big deal. What was our problem? I mean, none of us claim to be in the best shape of our lives, but were we THAT out of shape? So we do a little rearranging and when my sister switched to the back and Ryan took the driver's seat, we quickly learned that it was MUCH easier to pedal when you take the parking brake off. Thanks Linds. My thighs still shake a little when I think about what you put them through.

This is my mom helping Ella with her "hat"

Carson and Ella had their very own spot up in the front

All of us (Carson was not a huge fan of the helmet. Can you tell?)

Ky-Ky's Birthday Party!

A couple days before we left San Diego to come back to Oklahoma, it was my youngest cousin, Kylie's, sixth birthday and what better place for a girl to celebrate this momentous occasion than the one and only Chuck E. Cheese's!  The food was not the best but the company made up for it!

Ella and the Birthday Girl

This was Ella's first experience at the Cheese's and boy did she LOVE it! Plain cheese pizza, sugary birthday cake, and all the games she could sucker her Grandma Karen into paying for!

La Jolla

One of our most favorite places to take a walk and enjoy some beautiful nature is in La Jolla. Seems like no matter what time of year, we always make time to head out to La Jolla shores and breathe some fresh ocean air.  This time we went we my sister and her family and my brother too. 

This is Kaitlyn (my sister's little girl) and Ella.  They're almost exactly the same age difference as my sister and me.

Ella loves Kaitlyn

And Kaitlyn loves Ella

My little monkey

Ryan and Ella with Owen and Kaitlyn

Raking leaves with Grandpa Jim

One afternoon, we were hanging out with my dad and my sister's family.  My dad had just finished raking some leaves and the grandkids just couldn't resist undoing what he just did.

My dad has this bucket for mopping the floor and Carson wouldn't let it out of his hands!

Hike at Torrey Pines

One of the days that we were in San Diego, we went with my mom and Dave to a really cool hiking trail that was on the cliffs over looking the ocean in Torrey Pines.  It was kind of an overcast day but we still had a great time enjoying some great views.

Rose Parade Floats

On New Year's Day, we went with my mom and Dave up to Pasadena to go view the rose parade floats.  We're never ambitious enough to spend the night on the sidewalk to see the actually parade (a fact that I think Ryan is very grateful for) but they park the floats after the parade and people can walk around and see them up close.  We actually timed it just right this year and got there about 10 minutes before the gates opened.  Last year we learned that if you wait and go later in the afternoon, you're going to have to deal with half of southern California trying to see the floats also.

We had to take a family shot in front of this float.  It was done by the city of Huntington Beach--our old stomping grounds last year.  

Look at how HUGE those gerber daisies are! Gorgeous!

This picture is a little shout out to our Alaska friends--the city of Anchorage did this one.