Quality Time with the Grandparents

My Mom and Dad came down this weekend for a visit. After Ella Ann quickly warmed up to them, she was dishing out hugs, kisses, smiles, and giving them books for one of them to read to her. It was fun to watch her interact with them. Ella Ann is becoming more and more social, expressive, and interactive that is was really fun for the grandparents to play with her. Each time they see her she looks different and has mastered new skills, such as showing them where her shoes and socks are or pointing out the animals in a book. She is really into balls right now and loves this inflatable one that she has. My Dad was her playmate tossing the ball back and forth and making her fetch it! Ohhh she loved it! She also enjoyed sitting in my Mom's lap and looking at books with her and playing with Baby Tad.

We went to a neat deli for lunch on Saturday that served up some amazing sandwiches. We shopped around the mall that afternoon and came back to our house to play. Unfortunately, Spencer had to work all weekend so he only got to see my parents for a short time Friday and Saturday night. We went to dinner on Saturday night at a really, really neat restaurant that we all loved. The food was amazing and the service was spectacular! It is very close to our house, so we will be going back for sure! Ella Ann had a blast, too, and enjoyed some of my Mom's grits!

My parents went to church with us on Sunday and said their goodbyes to Ella Ann and I. It wasn't too sad for them to leave because we will be seeing them again next week. Thanks again, parents, for all the food and goodies you brought us all! Ella Ann has eaten all my blueberries and raspberries! You'll need to bring a separate container just for her next time! ha!

Ella Ann won't be sharing any of her grapes with Mimi! She stuffed both handfulls in her mouth at once! She loves her fruits and veggies! That's my girl! :)

Baby Tad is a permanent fixture in our living room these days! He often goes on errands with us because Ella Ann refuses to part with him!

Reading with Grandpa.

Ella Ann was playing peek-a-boo across the table with her Grandpa at dinner on Saturday night. As you can probably guess, she had spaghetti for dinner!

A quick picture after church on Sunday.

My Sweet

As I was cleaning my kitchen this afternoon, Ella Ann was secretly digging into our candy dish in the living room and enjoying some Dove chocolate! I didn't know she had gotten into the candy until she came running up to me holding a mangled piece of what used to be a square of chocolate! Besides eating ice cream, this was her first experience eating a sugary treat since she hated her birthday cake! The child has good taste--who can pass up some Dove??? I propped her up on the kitchen counter, and after I wiped down her hands (she was touching everything with her chocolate-coated fingers), I snapped the picture of my mischievous little girl. Fortunately she was wearing a navy shirt, which makes it hard to see the streams of chocolate that were running down her front!

I was wondering why I hadn't heard any noises from the living room for over 5 minutes! Ella Ann had also smeared the candy all over her new chair that she sits in in the living room! No worries, though, I washed it and it came out clean!

Life Update

I feel like I haven't updated you all on our lives in my posts lately. I have just been posting on our outings, holidays, or visits from family members. So I thought I would just post on what's new with us. I used to post about all of Ella Ann's new tricks, smiles, faces, steps, etc., but now that she is walking I guess I think that everything else after that is just everything else! I thought that her walking was the biggest thing ever, so nothing has really compared to that in my mind, which it all should! Shame on me! :) Sooo, with that in mind, I will just let you know what Miss Priss is up to these days! She is as crazy and fun as ever! As soon as her little feet hit the floor in the morning, she is nonstop, literally, until she is back in bed at nighttime! She is constantly in motion, which is fun, but tiring! She can practically run now, so I cannot do anything in another room, even as fast as I can move it, she is right behind me! She points to people in pictures now and tries to say their names, but I think only Spencer and I at this point can figure out what she's trying to say. She can say "milk", but it's "meeeee" and she says "please", but I think she thinks I'm saying "peas", so it's "peeeeeeeeeeeeees"! She'll say "niiii niii" for night night and she also says, unfortunately, "NO" quite often! She has no stranger anxiety right now and will go right up to a stranger and wave, smile, dance, or give them her furrowed brow. She is known in our playgroup now as "the girl who makes the mean face"! Ohh no!

She also seems to understand what Spencer and I say to her. We tell her to go get a diaper, which she does, get her milk, or any of the many farm animals she has and she will usually get the correct one...she even says "llama"! She is also still our dancing queen. She will start dancing to the music of a commercial or any other sound that sounds like a beat! She loves dancing to the "Electric Slide" at my gym's nursery! I cannot believe I let them corrupt her mind with the "Electric Slide"! She has now started to stomp her legs with music, which is her latest smooth move. Ella Ann doesn't like to watch television, but she will stand in front of it if the Mickey Mouse Club is on and dance along with Mickey and the gang. She points to Mickey Mouse and says "Meee"!

She is my shodow now more than ever and loves dishing out hugs and kisses, and greets her Daddy each night by running to the door when he walks in and giving him a huge smile and hug or kiss! Ohhh I love it, and I know Spencer does to!

Spencer is really busy this month at work. Ella Ann and I don't get to see him much, which makes for a long day sometimes. He is setting up interviews now and will be going to several cities to check everything out. I am excited for him and the next chapter in our lives. It will be neat to see where God is going to place us and the adventure He will take us on. It will be fun if we stay here or if we move. I know we will be happy wherever we are. Spencer also gets to take a trip to New Orleans next month and San Francisco in May to present his research. He says it won't be fun because he'll be doing boring stuff all day, but come on, I think he'll have time to do some fun things and explore! So yes, I'm jealous and mad that I don't get to go! He will be staying in nice hotels and eating lots of good food! That's enough for me to call it a vacation! ha!

I am finishing up my courses to be a certified medical transcriptionist. I have started posting my resume online and applying to a few jobs, so hopefully I will find the perfect job to fit my life soon! It will be nice to make a little extra money for us so that Spencer and I can go out and enjoy ourselves sometimes! My Bible study that I regularly attend at my church has started back up after the holiday break, so it has been great to be back and Ella Ann enjoys going and playing in the nursery. We also still go to our playgroup once a week at church, which gives me a chance to hang with other moms while the kids play. The Dinner Club that was started back in August has really been growing! We have 20 girls now! We meet once a month and three of us cook. The girls who volunteer to cook pick the theme. We have one tonight, our "Souperbowl", serving soup of course, but I cannot go because Spencer is on call and I will stay home with Ella Ann. We are going to do a cookie exchange next month in honor of Valentine's Day and I'm going to have it here at the house. So that will be fun. My friend, Jana, and I have started trading babysitting once a month for each other while the other couple goes out on a date. It is such a treat and all of us benefit from it!

Well, that's a long enough update I suppose! Of course Ella Ann's update is the longest because what Spencer and I do is not exciting! I just posted one picture of Ella Ann below so this entire post isn't just writing! My parents are coming down to visit this weekend, so I'll post more pictures next week!

Ella Ann LOVES her blanket! We now own 3 of them so we will never be without in an emergency! One goes with us wherever we go!

A Visit From Papa & Nana

This weekend Spencer's parents came down for a visit. Although it was a quick visit, it was fun! Ella Ann has been VERY much into hanging on my legs, literally, if I'm not sitting down playing with her, so I was thankful for the break they gave me! I was able to go to the grocery and spend some alone time at the mall....just browsing, of course! I could take my time and enjoy just walking around by myself! My mom is my usual shopping partner, so I did miss having her around...and her wallet! hahahahahaa! :)

It was a very nice weekend here weather wise. We all went to the park on Saturday afternoon and turned Ella Ann loose in the open area. Spencer and I sat on a bench and watched Nana and Papa chase her around! Right now Ella Ann is loving dogs and the park was full of them, so she had a field day running after them and doing some petting!

We went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner on Saturday night that is famous around here for it's southern cuisine. It was really good food and we all enjoyed our meals, including Ella Ann. The waitress swore she would love the homemade yeast rolls and warm cinnamon rolls they gave us, but no chance. The child is weird for sure if she turned down such delicious bread!

We went to church together on Sunday. Spencer had the day off, so it was good to have him there with us since it's a rare opportunity these days to attend church together as a family.

Thanks Gary and Gayla for taking care of Ella Ann so Spencer and I could relax and for taking us to lunch and dinner. We sure appreciated your visit!

Papa trying to get a quick picture with Ella Ann before she chases after a dog that she has spotted!

Ella Ann with her Nana.

She has been set free to run in the park!

Of course she cannot sit still to get a picture with ole' Mom and Dad!

Under the Sea

Yeay!!! We finally made it to the aquarium!!!! We received year passes as a Christmas gift, so we made use of them already and went on Tuesday! All I can say is, WOW! It was absolutely amazing and we will go ALL the time! What makes it even better is that we save $10 on parking because we can walk there!

Ella Ann absolutely LOVED every second of our tour there. She was beyond enthralled by all of the action in the tanks and would squirm in our arms to hurry up and get down so she could race to the glass and see all the fish, sea lions, whales, sharks, jellyfish, crabs, otters, and penguins! Spencer and I had so much fun just watching her enjoy it all so much! It was neat to watch her experience everything for the first time. Of course, you can only imagine how much she pointed at everything! Ella Ann would stand in front of the glass and when a fish or whatever else was in the tank passed by her, she would bounce up and down, smile, and squeal! It was sooo cute! There were a ton of people there, but that didn't stop her from pushing her way to the front and walking over, literally over, anyone that stood in her way! Spencer and I tried to keep up with her, but she wore us out! We lasted only an hour and a half before we were ready to go! At least we know we can go back as much as we want and see it all!

This sea lions were the first exhibit we saw and Ella Ann loved them! They would whisk past her and she would run to the side of the tank were they were headed!

She pushed her way in front of a young boy to see the jellyfish!

How many times did we say, "Yes, Ella Ann, fish!"

I wanted to include this picture of a big, grumpy fish we saw! How would you like to run up upon that in the ocean? It made me think twice about getting in the water!

I wish we were able to capture the whale sharks on film. They were in the massive tank behind us.