Sleeping Beauty....Or Not

When I went to check on Ella Ann last night before I went to bed, this is what I found.......

After laying in bed and saying her ABCs and counting to 10 (Ella Ann's own randition goes something like "1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10") over and over until she finally fell asleep 1.5 hours past her bedtime, the above picture is what she looked like. I guess she wore herself out! I couldn't help but take a picture of her because she looked so funny! Note that she surrounds herself with all her favorite animals. The bear and the duck are at the other end of the bed and yes, I have to drag at least 2 stuffed animals AND the blanket wherever we go!

Kentucky Bound

This past Tuesday, Ella Ann and I loaded up and headed north to stay the rest of the week with my parents in Kentucky. Spencer was very busy at work so I decided I needed a break and I knew my parents could give that to me! We arrived early afternoon on Tuesday and played nonstop the entire week. Ella Ann walked into the house to see a corner in the living room, her little corner, full of some new toys, books, bath toys, etc. She just didn't know where to begin! It was so funny because my parents had gotten her all this new stuff and what she immediately went for, which she carried around during our entire visit last time, are these wooden ducks that are decoration in their living room! Seriously, she carried around wooden ducks for a week! Although the duck-mania didn't last that long because she hopped on her rocking tricycle, that eventually detaches to be a riding tricycle, and went to town playing and reading! My Mom picked out a book that is all about animal tails, which for those of you that don't know Ella Ann kinda has a tail obsession. She carries all her stuffed animals around by their tails and sucks her thumb. The tail could be just a little nub and she'll still hold onto it while sucking that thumb! Anyway, she would lay down on the book and suck her thumb while holding onto a puffy tail that sticks out on the cover. The kid is weird! :)

We had a really fun time hanging out with my Mom and Dad all week. Ella Ann loved helping my Mom water all of her dying plants outside. She was soaked one morning and stripped down completely naked playing in the hose before 8 a.m.! This child was entertained every waking minute while we were there, so it will be not so fun for me adjusting her back to the real world at home! :)

My Mom and I dropped her off to stay with her Nana and Papa on Friday while we drove up to Evansville to do some shopping and mother/daughter bonding. We also made a stop in Newburgh, Indiana and walked around their quaint downtown on the Ohio River and bought some neat things for Ella Ann at some little boutiques. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant on the river and then we went to the mall in Evansville and shopped some more, mainly for Christmas. My parents and I went to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant that night and just hung out....fabulous for me because I was minus Ella Ann! Late that evening, I dragged my poor mother to the movies to watch the premier of "The Nanny Diaries." I read the book several years ago and I knew this would be my one and only opportunity to get to see it at the theater. It was worth the very late night because my Mom and I both really enjoyed it!

Ella Ann and I headed home on Sunday morning. I know Spencer really missed his girls and was glad we were finally back! Thanks again to my parents for the fun visit!

I took a ton of pictures, so here they are!

Ella Ann's favorite thing to do at my parent's house is pet Dottie. She asks for her 24/7 while we are there!

She also wanted to hold her and no one was allowed to touch Dottie at the same time as her. Ella Ann would push our hands away and say, "No, no, no!"

Poor Dottie finally gave in and laid down so she could pet her. Ella Ann was so cute and laid down beside her!

This is the fun new ride my parents got for her. It's a tricycle that rocks and will detach from the base to make a riding one when she is older.

As you can see she thoroughly enjoyed it!

We always visit my Dad at work during the day and he always gives balloons to her and she has always been afraid of them until this visit.....when she had to bring home 6 gigantic ones and drag them everywhere!

Too cute!

Helping Mimi water her plants on the deck in the morning.

Soaking herself while drinking from the hose!

What a nut!!!!

This picture turned out fuzzy, but it was so cute I had to post it.

This is Ella Ann with 10-month-old Briley, who is the daughter of a couple close to our family. Briley and her Gran stopped over to visit with us one afternoon.

Ella Ann really enjoyed playing with her and sticking stickers on her arms and legs. Poor Briley!

Showing Grandpa how to grill some pork tenderloin!

This is downtown Newburgh on the Ohio. It is full of fun antique shops, consignment stores, and botiques. We hit them all! :)

Mom and I at lunch at Edgewater Grill.

Getting her grove on again with Mimi and Grandpa!!

Concentrating on her moves!

Searching for Dottie who is obviously hiding from Ella Ann in the monkey grass!! Ella Ann would keep saying, "Come Dottie, come!!"

A picture with my Aunt Bee that lives across the street. Ella Ann would point to her and say "Aunt Beeeeee!!!!"

Yeay Friends!

This past weekend two of my best friends from Kentucky came down to visit me! I pledged ADPi with Katie and Erin at UK and, along with a few other girls, we became a very tight group of friends. I am so thankful that I can honestly say that I am still very close to them, even though they live 7 hours away from me! I hadn't seen Katie in almost a year and it had been well over a year since I'd seen Erin. In fact, Erin had never met Ella Ann! The tired girls arrived Friday evening and we just hung out and did a lot of catching up. Saturday they got woken up by Ella Ann peering around their sleeping heads and we hit the ground running and they, I pooped out Saturday night, kept going on into early Sunday morning! :) I took them to a really neat, quaint area of town and we did some boutique shopping and browsing. We went to an awesome Mexican restaurant for lunch and pigged out. After that we hit the mall and came home to grill out for dinner. Poor Ella Ann, we dragged her all across the city and back! I don't think she minded a bit, though, she absolutely LOVED the girls and wanted to be around them every waking second! She wanted them to read to her, sing to her, dance with her, play with her, etc. and you name it, they did it! They were such great friends and aunts! :)

Saturday night they went out with some old friends of theirs from Kentucky while I stayed at home and went to bed! I'm not used to all this entertainment and fun! I had such a good time with them and we were all very sad to see them go Sunday morning. I miss them so much, but we had a blast exchanging old funny stories and catching up on what we've all been up to. They have never seen me in action in my "mommy mode" so I'm sure it was quite entertaining for them to see me in a different light! ha!

Thanks again, Katie and Erin, for coming all the way down here to see us! I really appreciated you making the long trip!

Shopping on Saturday morning. Ella Ann just kicked back and went along for the ride!

The girls brought Ella Ann a fun new toy and she kept wanting them to play with her.

She loved scooting around in Katie's shoes!

Poor Katie, she couldn't even enjoy her cupcake without Ella Ann putting Baby Tad in her lap so she could sing and dance along with it!

Once Katie sends me her pictures I will post them too. These two pictures are from church this morning. I took them because Ella Ann looked so pretty in the dress her Nana gave her!

Finally Some Family Time

We have been long overdue for a visit with Spencer's family, so this weekend we loaded up and headed to Tennessee to see everyone. Spencer got off early on Friday so we got to Mandy's house around 3 central time, which was great. Unfortunately I think Ella Ann is starting to not be able to sleep in the car because she slept for only 1 hour on our way there and for a whopping 30 minutes on the trip home this afternoon. This is NOT good for my very long trips to Kentucky when I'm all by myself with her! Thankfully she doesn't mind being in her car seat and doesn't complain/whine too much...usually!

Craig and Kasey came over and we had dinner with everyone Friday night after lots of playing and catching up. We just hung out on Saturday and the girls did some shopping while the boys kept the sleeping kids. We went out to dinner on Saturday evening, church Sunday morning, followed by lunch and then we hit the road. It was a short visit, but I was so excited to go, as was Spencer, so it was worth every minute on the road! Ella Ann couldn't stop talking about Carter and "Seff" most of the way there and would ask for everyone by name on our way home. Her and Carter just played and played together and Ella Ann loved helping feed Seth his bottle and pushing him in his swing! The older they get the more fun it is to watch them all together. It is very entertaining!

Carter gave Ella Ann a Sesame Street sticker book, which she loved!

She also got some new books from Nana and Papa and would bring one to anyone willing to read to her, which was not Spencer or I the entire weekend! :)

Playing with Carter's new modeling clay set.

Even though the swing is motorized, Ella Ann felt the need to help it along!

Seth snuck some chew time in with Ella Ann's beloved horse!

In case you were wondering, no, the stickers never ended up on the pages, they always were stuck to Ella Ann! She kept putting the largest ones on her face! She also enjoyed being pushed on Carter's new tricycle, which tumbled over on her twice and she got right back up and never missed a beat!

This is how Spencer and Craig spent most of the weekend. :)

We tried, once again, to get a decent picture of the 3 grandchildren together to no avail!

Before church on Sunday.

Well we tried again Sunday morning and it failed then too!

Mama Got Her a New Pair of Shoes, or So She Thought

I ordered a pair of shoes to wear around the house because my feet have been hurting off and on for about a year because I usually am never wearing shoes since I stay home. It was a sad day when the high heels went into semi-retirement! Anyway, I ordered a pair of shoes from Naturalizer with Dr. Scholls's gel inserts built in, ohhh I know I sound like an old woman but my feet HURT, and they arrived at my doorstep yesterday. Well, as soon as I took out my wonderfully comfortable shoes that are awesome, some one else thought they were pretty darn comfy too! Ella Ann thinks it is so much fun to put on my shoes, which look like skis on her, and scoot across the floor in them. I cannot get them back!!! I even tried giving her several other pairs and she refused all other options. It was my fabulous new kicks or a tantrum ensued! So much for Mommy's poor feet! :)

Also, I wanted to mention that I have FINALLY spotted something about Ella Ann that resembles me! Check out her legs! She's got her Mimi's and Mommy's skinny, knobby-knee legs! YEAY!!! It is more evident in my previous post...the picture of her going down the banana slide. :)

First Trip to the Museum

Saturday morning my friend, Megan, and her little boy, Luke, came over and Ella Ann and I walked with them downtown to The Children's Museum. The Sesame Street exhibit is there until the beginning of September and since Ella Ann LOVES Sesame Street I wanted to make sure and take her before it was too late. Luke is also a big Elmo fan, so Megan really wanted to take him too! After we walked in the scorching heat and humidity, we arrived at the museum just as the doors were opening. Ella Ann was so excited you would have thought her stroller was on fire and she needed to evacuate! Luke kept yelling "ELMO!" over and over! Once we got them out of their strollers, they pretty much took off to explore all the fun activities. It was a really neat place, but I can see why children 2 and under are free because our kids were almost to the point where they could reach things, but they couldn't understand much or do any pretend play, which is what the museum encourages. They had an area that included a sort-of tree house, which Ella Ann was afraid to do anything in, and it had a miniature pond with a waterfall that was filled with play fish and animals for kids to scoop up, splash around in, and just play. They offered raincoats for the kids, but both Ella Ann and Luke refused to put them on so they got soaked! At one point Ella Ann doused her head!

We also joined in on some group singing and dancing, which Ella Ann absolutely loved and danced so much that people were laughing! When the Sesame Street theme song came on she was busting moves all over the place! We also watched a play that took place on Sesame Street, but unfortunately no actual characters came out so Megan and I were pretty disappointed with the whole Sesame Street exhibit!

Anyway, after we pulled Luke and Ella Ann away from all the fun activities, yes they were screaming because they didn't want to leave, we walked back home. Both of them were pooped from all of the running around, as were Megan and I! It was a really fun morning and I hope to take Ella Ann again sometime because she did love it all so much.

We didn't do much the rest of the weekend. Spencer worked on Sunday so Ella Ann and I hit the mall for the last day of Georgia's tax free holiday! :)

Here are some pics from the museum.

Ella Ann was running around so crazily that it was very hard for me to keep up with her. At one point she had run over to their computer area and started playing on it. I guess she learned from watching Spencer and I!

Dancing along with one of "Oscar's pals."

It took quite a while for Ella Ann to actually hold the paintbrush because she was afraid of it! I kept having to scribble so she would figure it out! She hates anything on her hands at all and kept saying "NOOO!" when I was trying to teach her to paint! But once she did it, there was no stopping her......
Isn't the mini apron cute??!!

This is the pond area I was talking about. They loved the water and all the toys in it!

Luke and Ella Ann playing around in the soft toy and gym area.

Ella Ann would walk around the tunnels because she was afraid to go in!

She loves any rocking toys and gravitates toward them when we go to playdates. This one was a little small for her, but she was dead set on rocking it like crazy anyway!

Going down the big banana slide all by herself! Note the soaking wet shirt!

Headed home and the kids are not too happy about it! We had to stuff their faces with snacks to lure them into their strollers so we could get outta there!