Flashback to the 80s

A few days ago, I was in our bathroom and giving random objects to Ella Ann to keep her occupied while I put on my makeup. I gave her this red headband that I wear when I workout to play with while I got ready and she loved it! She carries it around the house and knows that it's "her headband" and tries to put it on her head! I took the below picture of her last night wearing it. She will come up to me and hold her handband up so I can put it on her. If she tries to do it, she ends up wearing it around her neck all day, which looks even more 80sish!!! I call her my little Jane Fonda! Now I just need to find her some leg warmers and off the shoulder sweatshirts!!

Workouts with Ella Ann!

Ella Ann's Aunt Emily and Uncle Paul recently took a trip to NYC and sent Ella Ann a t-shirt for Valentine's Day!!! Isn't that so nice??!!! She looked so cute in it, even though it will be a little while before she can wear it out of the house!! It looked adorable on her and we really appreciate you thinking of Ella Ann!!!!!!!! Thank you guys, you two are so sweet!!!!!!

A Trip to the Grandparent's House

Since Spencer was going out of town for work last week, Ella Ann and I went to stay with my parents in Kentucky so we wouldn't have to spend the week/weekend all alone. We had a really good time with them, especially Ella Ann because of the constant attention, playtime, and fruit! ha! We mainly hung out at their house and relaxed because it was way too cold to get out, but we ran lots of errands and went out to eat. My mom and I took Ella Ann down to the mall and let her run free for about an hour, which absolutely wore her out! She loved the open space and went crazy over a huge Beenie Baby display at a bookstore! Of course my mom couldn't let her leave empty handed and Ella Ann refused to put down a really soft white bear so it came home with us and she hasn't parted with it since! She sticks her thumb in her mouth each time she holds it! She also got her Valentine's Day present from her Mimi and Grandpa, which was a Little People Valentine set. She kept carrying around the table with the umbrella attached to it and would try and say "umbrella".

We also went shopping and out to eat in Evansville on Saturday. It was so nice to get out and walk around and I even was calm, cool, and collected when Ella Ann was over an hour late for her 2nd nap! For those of you who don't know or couldn't guess that I'm a complete crazy person when it comes to Ella Ann's naps because I'm such a stickler about them! So, for the people that are always telling me to calm down and not worry about it because Ella Ann would be just fine if she missed a nap or was late for one, you all should be proud of me!!! :) Ella Ann also had a very sweet ride while we were at the mall (see below) and enjoyed being pushed around!

While we were in Kentucky, Ella Ann's cousin Seth was born! Spencer's sister had her second little boy last week! We stopped on our way home on Sunday to visit with everyone and meet Seth. He is SO cute and SO tiny! Carter was really good with him and was very proud to show me his new "Baby Seth"!!! Ella Ann loved our pit stop because she got to play with Carter and all his fun toys!

We were glad to get home on Sunday and see Spencer, though. Ella Ann was very happy to see her Daddy and started smiling and pointing to him when we pulled in our parking lot! Spencer brought me home a variety of hot sauce from New Orleans, which I've used twice already and it's only 8:30 a.m. the following morning! I have put it on everything I've eaten so far! He also brought home a huge carmel and chocolate chip covered apple, which for some reason, I have been craving lately. We said we would only eat a piece of it last night, but of course the whole thing was gone in about 1 minute!

Thanks again to my parents for all the fun and food! We had a good time and we'll see you again soon!

Ella Ann showing Grandpa the bow from her present. She played with that bow for 4 days!

Ella Ann had just polished off some spaghetti and after cleaning her off, this was the result!

This was her car that she got to ride in at the mall. She loved it!

Rolling and tossing a ball with Grandpa and Mimi provided endless entertainment!

Ella Ann, Carter, and Seth. Carter did so well holding him! Nana and Papa now have THREE grandchildren!!!

Playing in Carter's car.

I wanted to post this picture of Ella Ann when she was 4 months old. Seth is borrowing her green seat in the next few months. The seat was stored at my parent's house, so I had brought it upstairs so I could take it to Mandy. The last picture is of Ella Ann in the seat last week. It's amazing how much she has changed and how big she has gotten in only 11 months! See, she's also grown hair.....finally!!! I was able to put a bow in it last week for the first time! She's wearing her new bow in the picture with Carter and Seth! We will be sure and put a bow in her hair now every time we leave the house so she will no longer be mistaken for a boy!!!

4 months

15 months

Don't ask why she has this hat on inside before she went to bed. She put it on and wouldn't take it off! I think she kind of looks like a pilot getting ready for takeoff!

Toddler Time

Since Ella Ann seems to be transitioning to only 1 nap (she hasn't taken a 2nd nap in like 4 days and wouldn't take her morning nap yesterday)....ohhhh so sad for me, I thought we would do something fun this morning instead of fighting a nap so we went to "Toddler Time" at our library that is close to our home! It was only about 30 minutes long, which was plenty of time for me! :) It was for ages 15 months to 2 years. Ella Ann and I walked into a room full of pre-schoolers, and a few toddlers around her age. Ella Ann LOVED it! She didn't necessary enjoy the storytime because she, of course, didn't pay any attention, but she really liked watching all the kids and interacting with them. Three stories were read with singing breaks in between each song and then they finished with a song that included an alligator puppet. Ella Ann would run in circles around the kids gathered in the center of the room to listen to the story and stop and point in their faces! Geez! She would also stop at each adult sitting with the children on the floor and the adults that were sitting in chairs around them and give them her biggest smile ever! Once they smiled or said hi to her, she would go to the next adult and do the same thing! It was hilarious to me, but I'm sure annoying to them!


Ella Ann would stand with the kids and sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "The Wheels On the Bus", "The Hokey Pokey", and several songs that I wasn't familiar with. I guess I should start brushing up on my nursery rhymes! She loved the puppet show and kept trying to squirm out of my lap and go up front and snatch it from the man's hand! They also played music before and after story time and Ella Ann would just stand and shake it like it was nobody's business!! :)


I think getting out during her usual morning nap today was great for her. The chaos wore her out and I put her down after I fed her an early lunch a few minutes ago so hopefully she will sleep a long time!

I took this picture of her as storytime was beginning. I got the "are-we-really-staying-for-this look"!

Well as you can see, she warmed up quickly to the entertainment! This is her distracting smile that she would spread across her face before she took off running in front of the kids and back again! I apologized to the man reading afterwards!

"And you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around!"